The leader looked confused. I wished he hadn’t taken my joke seriously, because it just made me look weird. Though, I probably should’ve known this was a weird thing to do, and that anyone would react just like he had.
I eventually removed my hands from my eyes, thinking I would’ve gotten used to the brightness by now— Nope, still too bright. They were sparkling. These people were living in a different world. But if that were true, I guess people like Scrae, El, Sensei, and Miguel would be living in another world too. Wait, they actually were from another world. I’m confused.
The martial-artist-looking person and swordsman-looking boy seemed to be injured, and they were being healed by the mage behind the handsome leader, who’d been talking to me.
I’d wonder what had gotten them. The monsters that appeared around here were Grenade Squirrels, Stink Bomb Bugs, and Murder Mantises. I had no idea why there were no fungal monsters on a mushroom-themed floor, but the monsters here had some really violent names. Stink Bomb Bugs sounded especially dangerous. It’d be pretty scary if a bunch of them appeared at once.
Judging by their wounds, I was ninety percent sure it was a Murder Mantis that had gotten them. This floor was still on the easier side, but Murder Mantises were surprisingly strong. I’d run as fast as I could for the first time in a while when I’d encountered one. They were insects, but they looked cool, kind of like certain masked riders. I’d hoped they wouldn’t hit me with a Revolcane and strike a pose because I’d probably explode and die if they did.
The leader smiled at me and said, “I’m Alex, leader of team Aurora. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh, nice to meet you too. I’m Kudo Akira, a Diver,” I said, returning his greeting. They say greetings were important—or an absolutely crucial courtesy, even.
Alex looked around as if searching for something. There were only crystal stakes and dubiously colored mushrooms around us, so I wondered what he was looking for.
“Wait, are you alone?” he asked.
“Yes, I am. Though, I do have this little guy with me,” I said, then Carbuncle raised its hand as if to announce its presence.
The mage lady who’d been healing her companions earlier crouched in front of Carbuncle and said, “I’ve been seeing this animal near the reception area a lot lately.”
“Oh, you’re right. It’s so cute, everyone seems to love it,” agreed the archer girl beside her. She patted Carbuncle’s head, then it stood on its hind legs.
Carbuncle’s anatomy was quite unusual, so it could move in all sorts of unexpected ways. I should’ve expected as much from a strange creature from this world.
It spread its stubby front paws and said, “Mew.”
“Awww, how cute!”
“Mew!”
The girls were enamored. However, Carbuncle didn’t try to drain the mage’s mana for some reason.
Why does it only drain mine? And why did it do that banzai pose? This thing sure is full of mystery.
The two who’d been injured joined the group, seemingly all better now.
“I can’t believe he came here all by himself,” said the warrior.
“This is a pretty deep floor. How did he get here with equipment like that?” asked the martial artist.
“He doesn’t even look worn out despite all those monsters along the way,” noted the swordsman boy.
“Was that injury from a Murder Mantis?” I interrupted them.
“Yeah. You gotta fight powerful enemies sometimes if you wanna level up.”
“You got hurt because you ran off on your own, Zair. You shouldn’t try to solo monsters just because you think you’re some great swordsman,” said the martial artist.
“I thought I could take it on!”
“What made you think that? I also got hurt because of you.”
Apparently, the martial artist had gotten hurt trying to protect the swordsman boy.
Anyway, I remembered that I’d seen them before. They were the dazzling team that I’d seen when there’d been trouble in front of the rankings chart. If I recalled correctly, they were supposedly a group of promising young stars recruited by the kingdom, and they considered themselves Miguel’s rivals.
They didn’t seem to recognize me though. That wasn’t surprising considering that they’d thought I was a porter. Porters were very important in dungeons, but there were a lot of them, many of them being porters for hire. They probably hadn’t registered me in their hippocampi or even their cerebral cortexes—such was the sad fate of being a mob.
I started making small talk to fill the silence.
“Do you dive here often?” I asked.
“We gained access to this place about two weeks ago, and we’ve been diving only here ever since.”
“I see.”
It was pretty fascinating that they’d already gotten the green light to dive here when they’d registered later than I had. No wonder they were known as promising up-and-comers and had been climbing up the ranks at an incredible rate. I was impressed by how much recognition they’d been getting. I wasn’t, and never would be, the type to compete for a high rank or keep tabs on that kind of stuff, so I was a bit envious.
The members of the handsome guy’s team sat down on the floor with a thud. They were more fatigued than I’d thought, and they looked like they wouldn’t be able to get back up for a while now that they’d lowered themselves to the ground. Their clothes were pretty dirty, which told me they’d been trekking through some harsh terrain or they weren’t that good at exploration. Their group looked like it was constructed with combat in mind rather than exploration too. Not that there was anything wrong with that—everyone had their own specialties.
Their group consisted of six people: the good-looking young man with an androgynous face who seemed to be their leader, the swordsman boy, the seemingly strong-willed mage woman, the mild-mannered archer woman, the aging mercenary man, and the close-cropped martial artist guy who seemed to be having a hard time. If there was a ranking for looks alone, they’d definitely be high up on the list.