After finishing the paperwork and stopping by Adventurers Way to pick up items for their little expedition, they entered the Dungeon.
Of course, they cleared the upper floors without issue and reached the middle floors.
“Growling torrent gleam, blessed censure. Shatter the noble with thy splendor. Swallow, jaws of lightning. —Luke, get back!”
“Got it!”
With that clear, crisp, and careful cast, magic power began to swell. A vivid magenta magic circle unfurled at her feet as sparks flew. Luke cleared the line of fire while Nano thrust her blessed iron staff forward.
“Zalga Amalda!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!”
A flash of lightning erupted.
Twelve bolts overlapped and transformed into a torrent of pure energy that scorched the Dungeon and monsters. The three liger fangs disappeared without a trace.
“Control your magic a bit more, Nano! We can’t gather drop items or even magic stones like this!”
“Huh?! I’m sorrrry, Mimi!”
“Wait, a cave. More are coming.”
Just as Miliria and Nano were arguing, Cole, the party’s scout, was watching the surroundings even after the fight. His ears pricked up as he noticed an enemy, and Luke and the others turned to follow.
They handled the successive battles the Dungeon sent their way without wavering, calmly handling all the monsters.
“The liger fangs that were so much trouble the first time were like nothing. Not only do they not seem to have a lingering problem with them, but they are even using their tendencies to deal with them…hmm, they really are excellent, almost disgustingly so even…”
Lefiya watched at a short distance away from the party as she tore into the al-miraj, which closely resembled rabbits.
It had been a week since the start of their Dungeon practical. They had reached the point where Lefiya could leave them to handle the combat alone. She would help out in emergencies, but a necessity like that had not yet occurred.
They are growing at a good pace…
Nano, who had a tendency to be timid and wait to see how her comrades were feeling, was starting to give directions more actively, not just signals for her magic. She was beginning to take command of the squad. She would naturally have the widest view of the battlefield since she was in the rear. With her being more active now, the 7th Squad would become even stronger.
The others trusted her, trusting her to watch their backs while focusing on their own movements. Lefiya was stunned to see Luke fall back to the middle of their formation and let Miliria and Cole take point on his own initiative. They had apparently been training when Lefiya was not around and had become able to cover more positions without issue.
It would have been perfect were it not for Miliria looking back at Lefiya with a smug expression.
“Mm, they are improving.”
Turning their failure into nourishment, they were growing through trial and error.
It was not something that could be learned while focusing on other things. It was the result of diligently addressing the tasks they had been given and not compromising. They were dedicated and skilled.
All that was left was to build a sufficient amount of experience, and they would be standout adventurers.
Lefiya was genuinely pleased by their growth, as if she were the one growing herself. She grasped intuitively that this was the true charm of teaching.
However:
But…I have a bad feeling about the Dungeon today…
While she was pleased, Lefiya couldn’t ignore a growing sense of unease that seemed to prickle the back of her neck.
Something felt off, and it was enough to set off an alarm in the back of her mind.
There are no abnormalities around us…no signs of dangerous monsters…so then why?
Should she wait and see? Explore the surroundings until she could be sure? Or should she take serious precautions and turn back?
They were currently on the main route in the fifteenth floor. She and the 7th Squad could react well enough to any irregularity on this floor.
With that presumption, Lefiya pondered what to do…
“Kikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Whoooooooooooooaaaaaaa?!”
Nano’s cry rang out, along with the sounds of rocks collapsing and creatures being born from the Dungeon.
Standing alone in the rear, she was suddenly threatened by dozens of bat monsters overhead.
“They’re just bad bats! Don’t scare me like that.”
“I-I’m sorry, Mimi. Ugh, I’m just all over the place today…”
Just as they were mopping up the monsters, Miliria easily skewered a bunch with a single arrow. Luke kicked off the wall, unleashing a spinning slash that tore through the swarm.
They were strategically scattering the monsters—but that was when Lefiya’s expression changed.
Her ears quivered, and she suddenly looked around.
“Kiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Kikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”
“IIAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
The sounds of countless monsters being born suddenly rang out.
“Wh-what?!”
“Bad bat shrieks everywhere…!”
“A mass spawning?!”
Ear-splitting cries tore through the caverns, erupting from their location well into the distance, in every direction, from everywhere. The students readied themselves hearing that.
Bad bats had hardly any raw combat ability. They were bat monsters whose shrieks disrupted adventurers’ movements. Cole, with his superior werewolf hearing, covered his ears at the din of dozens, hundreds of shrieks filling the caves.
Luke was correct. It was a mass spawning of bad bats.
There was no mistake. This was what Lefiya had been sensing. They had not encountered any of a particular type of monster.
Bad bats were always lurking in the Cave Labyrinth’s shadows, yet they had not seen any.
Other than an extreme irregularity, there was a set number of monsters on each floor of the Dungeon. They had not seen any bad bats because an entire number erupted all around the fifteenth floor at the same time.
Instead of coming out of the walls, they came out of the ceiling.
Oh no!
It was already too late when she sensed a clear and present danger.
The ceiling above Nano, where the bad bats had been born, collapsed like nothing was supporting it anymore.
“Wha—?!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”
The ceiling was filled with holes from the birth of so many monsters, and with a crack, it suddenly fell.
A deadly shower of rocks poured down as those who had leveled up launched themselves into the air with a tremendous reaction speed. They cried out in shock as they did all they could to get themselves out of the way. The side effect of the mass spawning of bad bats impacted the entire floor and a chain of thundering booms rang out like a building collapsing.
And…
“Nano?!”
“Aaah—”
On one side were Nano, Miliria, and Cole.
On the other was Luke.
A massive mound of rubble fell between them, cutting them off.
Luke immediately reached out as their stunned faces disappeared behind the falling rocks.
“Luke, no!”
Lefiya wrapped an arm around his waist as he tried to pursue his comrades, and then she jumped.
It turned out her instinct had been right, because the ground itself collapsed as well.
Lefiya leaped into a tunnel and made an emergency escape from the tremendous cave-in.
“Nanooooooooooooooooooo!”
His shout was drowned out in the thunderous rumble of stone.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Loki! There’s big trouble!”
Aiz and the others were still resting in the parlor when Elfie rushed in with frantic footsteps.
“There was a big collapse in the middle levels of the Dungeon! The Guild is in a huge panic!”
“!”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
The word was that the Cave Labyrinth, particularly the fifteenth floor, had collapsed, and every route had been blocked off. Multiple floors had collapsed, and there was no way through from the fourteenth floor at the moment.
“What about students?”
That was where Aiz’s mind went first.
The safety of the inexperienced students and of her friend.
“The students have to check in with the Guild before going into the Dungeon, so they know how many were down there… Almost all of them have made it back aboveground…but there are two squads that haven’t come back yet, apparently…”
Elfie answered in fits and starts, her face turning pale.
“One of them is apparently Lefiya’s Seventh Squad…”
Everyone stood up when they heard that.
“Let’s go get Lefiya!”
“Yeah, we can dig our way through the rock.”
Tiona and Tione were ready to charge straight in after hearing their comrade could be in danger, and Aiz started to follow them.
But Loki, who remained sitting on the couch, called out, stopping them.
“Calm down, girls. Unless she got crushed by the rocks, Lefiya’ll be fine. She’s a Level Four Super-Lefiya now, ain’t she?”
“But, Loki, if anything happened…!”
“And the number of my blessings ain’t gone down. At the very least, she hasn’t bit the dust yet.”
Hearing that, the hot heads started to cool off.
“If you force your way through the rubble, you’ll just cause another collapse. This rescue mission needs specialized gear and help from mages. Ganesha should be movin’ already, so work with them. You take the lead on this one, Tione.”
“Got it!”
“I’ll let Finn and the others know. Aiz and Tiona, you go, too. Take everyone here with you if ya want.”
“Okay!”
“I-I’ll go, too!”
Tione, Tiona, Aiz, and Elfie all rushed out.
All alone in the blink of an eye after giving her instructions, Loki let out a heavy sigh.
“This is an important moment for her…read the mood, why don’t ya?”
Standing up, she walked over to the window. Looking toward Central Park, where a big uproar was already happening:
“No matter how peaceful the city gets, the Dungeon’s still the Dungeon.”