Hana estimated it was about thirty minutes since they’d entered Sumifuku. The group had descended to level three. A host of monsters lurked in the shadows. Unlike the wimpy lesser slimes on level one, these monsters would have some fight in them. As she thought that, a monster formed from bones shuffled before Hana and the group.
Katagiri spoke. “This monster is a skeleton, as you can see. Anyone with stats can defeat one. For this training exercise, everyone must defeat a skeleton without assistance!”
Escorts were forbidden from helping? Not that the rule affected her. She was alone.
“Okay.” She hoisted her borrowed sword. “I’ve got this!”
Though it was the same sword, it felt lighter than last time. Today, she could swing it easily. Her stats had affected her already.
She considered if she should use magic. She didn’t possess any magic-type skills, but with Stock, she could borrow one. That said, she decided to take Rin’s advice and hide her skill.
One by one, Hana and the others took turns defeating skeletons under the watchful eyes of Katagiri and Yanagi. Like Katagiri said, the skeleton was weak and easy to defeat for Hana despite her lack of battle experience. Katagiri watched her kill the skeleton, then nodded with satisfaction.
“Well done, everyone,” he said. “You won’t have any issues facing a battle with monsters for the time being. Next, we’re going to teach you more details about the adventurer lifestyle as we move—”
The girl beside Hana gave a high-pitched, tremulous scream that echoed through the dungeon. She pointed in the opposite direction as her whole body shook. Hana turned to where she was pointing, and her eyes widened with horror. Three frightful, imposing shapes were before them.
“What are those?” she asked carefully.
A first glance, they appeared to be trees, but as she looked closer, their forms were human-like as well. They must be monsters. With predatory intent, they marched toward the group. She didn’t need a wealth of dungeon diving experience to know these monsters were different from the lesser slimes and skeletons—they were powerful.
“Treants?! Why would level 5,000 monsters be in a dungeon like this one?!” Katagiri hollered from the opposite side of the treants. The treants had the trainees cornered, and all at once, everyone registered how hair-raisingly dangerous this unusual situation had become.
One of the treants moved with frightening speed and swiped at Hana and her group. The trainees froze, too shocked and confused to run.
“Watch out!” Yanagi shouted.
He sprang between Hana’s group and the treant, blocking the attack with his dagger. He narrowly saved their lives.
Katagiri’s voice then boomed across the space. “Fire Spear!”
A massive spear formed from fire shot out of his hands and struck the treants with a burst of incandescent heat. Somehow, the treants remained standing.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed. “They’re weak to fire! How is it barely burned?!”
The direct hit only left a few scorch marks on the treants. Hana picked up on the panic in his words.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Even the Association people can’t beat these monsters!” another trainee said.
“That can’t be true! What’ll happen to us?!” someone else yelled.
Chaos, panic, fear—the emotions struck the group like a bus with the brake lines cut. For the first time in their lives, they stood on the brink of death, and they discovered that their bodies didn’t listen.
Yanagi spoke above the crowd. “Katagiri-san! Get everyone above ground! I’ll hold them off!”
“Out of the question! We should both stay and let the escorts take them up!”
“There could be other powerful monsters in here! Please, go with them! And—”
Yanagi vanished on the spot.
A second later, a dagger became visible as it slashed a treant at close range. The treant tried to swipe back, but Yanagi countered it nimbly.
“I’m a speed-focused adventurer!” he said. “I can take them on if I keep moving!”
“…Okay! It should take ten minutes to get above ground. If you can buy that time, come back to the surface!” he replied. “That’s the plan, everyone! Follow me out! We’ll do everything we can to protect you in this emergency!”
The trainees obeyed and chased after him.
I need to hurry! Hana thought.
She was unlucky enough to be on the opposite side of the room from Katagiri, so she trailed at the rear of the group. She ran as quickly as she could, but something snagged her ankle from behind and sent her tumbling to the ground.
“Wha—?!”
She looked down and found ivy curled around her ankle. It bound her, shackling her in place. With the vines wrapped so tightly, she couldn’t even stand.
“Ivy?” she gasped. “Why would it grab me…?!” She frantically twisted around to see the departing group growing distant. “Get off of me, I need to follow them!”
As the ivy tightened its grip, the group kept moving without her. I’ll really be left behind, she realized. “Hey, wait—”
The ivy slapped over her mouth, silencing her before she could call for help.
No! I can’t stay here! The group will only get farther away! I have to untie this!
She desperately clawed at the ivy. In an instant, it went slack as if it lost all strength. As it fell away from her mouth, she coughed and gasped for air.
“Why did it fall—no, questions later. I need to get out of here!”
She had more misfortune in store. As soon as she stood to run, a wall shot up in front of her and blocked her way. No—it wasn’t a wall.
It was a treant.
“Get back!” Yanagi ordered.
Hana reeled away. The treant struck hard at the ghost of her from a moment before. She panted with the effort of dodging. If she had moved a second later… Her body quaked thinking about it. Even with a deep breath, she couldn’t ease the tremors.