“Everyone, stay in line. Advance carefully…wait, Bardain! Nassen! What are you doing?!”
“You’re too high-strung, Alisa! Just charge forward like we always do for fieldwork! It’s only the upper floors anyway!”
“I came last time as well. More important to collect samples. The ground, the walls, and other parts of the Dungeon. I’ve already used up the samples I gathered last time in my experiments. This time for sure, I’ll uncover the true nature of this absurd maze…”
“Nassen! Monsters are coming!”
After they were given permission to enter Orario, the four of them had immediately challenged the Dungeon.
Lefiya had heard countless stories about the Dungeon back in Wishe Forest. In ancient times, it was called the Great Pit, a den of monsters that had once pushed every inhabitant of the surface to the brink of extinction.
The first time she explored it, she had been nervous.
And then…she quickly became used to it.
She had been really surprised to see the monsters being born from the walls and had even been caught by surprise attacks several times, but she was able to defeat low-level monsters like goblins and kobolds in a single blow. They were certainly stronger than the monsters aboveground, but Lefiya and her friends had fought many dangerous monsters during their travels around the world.
Having attained Level 2, they were superhuman.
The residents of other lands and towns lauded them for their strength, and they had no trouble traversing through many dangerous regions. And the Dungeon, one of the three great unexplored regions of the world, was no different.
While hunting goblins and kobolds on the upper floors, their view of the Dungeon changed. “It’s nothing special.”
“But something is different about the adventurers we pass. I’m embarrassed I can’t put it into words, but maybe it’s that they seem more efficient…”
“Yeah, the adventurers’ boobs are bigger, too. Even if they’re not enormous, a lot of them are still well shaped…”
“That has nothing to do with anything, Bardain. But I do get what you’re saying, Alisa. Despite a disadvantage in levels and strength, some lower-tier adventurer parties make much more money than us at the exchange.”
“The first major difference is the custom of gathering magic stones from monster corpses. After generations of breeding, the monsters aboveground have developed far smaller magic stones in their bodies. When dissecting their corpses, the magic stones can be so small that they’re nearly invisible to the naked eye. But the originals are born directly from the Dungeon. Even on the upper floors, the smallest magic stones are between 1 and 1.5 celch—the size of a fingernail. With such a wealth of magic stones, anyone would focus on becoming more efficient. It also explains why they developed a culture of supporters. Specialized supporters appear to be disdained by adventurers here, but they are nonetheless useful in the exploration of the Dun—”
“Get to the point, Nassen!”
Setting aside a certain bull who was behaving exactly the same as always, Alisa and the others had discussed the subject several times in their dorm cafeteria while actively sharing their thoughts with other squads.
Nassen had a bottomless curiosity in the ecology and composition of the Dungeon, which could repair its landforms and birth monsters from the walls. Lefiya, on the other hand, felt her heart race at the scenery that kept changing as she went deeper into the mysterious labyrinth that was beyond the ken of mortals. Each new floor was another frontier waiting to be explored.
Lefiya was incredibly active in the Dungeon, almost to the point of recklessness. She boasted so much firepower that she was worthy of the title cannon. The 7th Squad’s teamwork was excellent, and with directions from Nassen, who was extremely insightful despite only being Level 1, Lefiya’s magic ensured the monsters never found any openings to attack.
She reveled in the feeling of being all-powerful, maybe even omnipotent. It was difficult for Lefiya not to feel a sense of exaltation that she was achieving more than anyone else in the world-famous Dungeon.
“Incredible, Lefiya! Beating that big horde of orcs in a single blast!”
“I-it’s thanks to your and Nassen’s directions…Bardain rampaging up front is more incredible.”
“That’s not true! He’s always saying that he can attack without worry thanks to your support.”
Because of the nature of the Dungeon, frontline and backline roles had to be divided.
At the time, Lefiya possessed an extraordinary level of magic power, even for students of the School District, so it was only natural that she would enjoy the limelight on the battlefield.
“Aren’t you pretty suited to be an adventurer?” Alisa excitedly asked.
Her words may well have been the reason that Lefiya started considering the path of an adventurer.