“Ready? Oh, it’s seven of you this time,” it seemed only then Ranga noticed there were seven students in a party. “No matter. I’m sure you know how it works. Let’s go.”
The group went directly to the Magic Dungeon.
“Hello boys,” Instructor Dreknor greeted the guards at the Magic Dungeon entrance.
“Hey Ranga. Going for some dungeon exploration again? It is becoming popular lately,” one of the guards commented.
“Yeah. Good fun, eh?” Ranga grinned.
“Fun? Say that again once you have kids of your own,” the second guard smirked at the black tiger-looking beast teacher.
“Hmph? Is your wife looking for another husband?” Ranga basically smashed the guard with his comeback comment.
“Ah, no… That’s not… what I meant…” the same guard rubbed the back of his head, becoming flustered.
“Ahaha,” which made his friend laugh so hard he had to hold on his belly. “Be careful what you say around Ranga. He’s too serious to take a joke.”
“But you laughed, didn’t you?” Ranga smirked at the first guard.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Hah…” the same guard laughed again. “Good to see you in such a good mood, Ranga. Well then, let’s not keep you waiting any longer. Here we go.”
The guards pulled on the levers on both sides and the big gates opened, closing right after the group went inside.
“You look really excited, coach,” Flavia knew her teacher well enough to notice it.
“Hah. I won’t hide it. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do with my own two eyes. After Belinda told us how you defeated the strongest level Whitemane Fanged Wolf with just the four of you, even Jean said she’d sign up to be a dungeon exploration guide again. Not sure if she meant it, though.” Instructor Dreknor was open with it.
“Miss Sweetbell will be going into the Magic Dungeon as a guide?” Narias commented, more for being impressed than surprised.
“Probably not any time soon, considering how busy she is and all. But even if she decides to do it, I doubt she’ll bother escorting the students who can’t even reach the first floor’s boss monster’s lair. Heh, I know you guys did it once, and I’m certain you can do it again, but that’s still won’t be worth her time. If I remember correctly, the last time Miss Sweetbell went into the Magic Dungeon as a guide, the group of students she was with went as far as to reach the boss monster on the fourth floor. The students couldn’t defeat it, unfortunately. I think that was also the last time the headmistress went to the dungeon as a guide.” Ranga told the students.
“Wow, the boss monster on the fourth floor,” Narias was impressed.
“The students must’ve been quite capable to reach that far into the dungeon,” Ileena added.
“Apparently not. One of them got injured really bad. It wasn’t life threatening, fortunately. Unfortunately, it got Jean into trouble. The student who got injured came from a high rank status family and his parents blamed her for what happened. She was forced to re-evaluate the requirements of dungeon exploration, including the exploration test for the first-year students. I’d say the current test is a joke compared to what it used to be,” the teacher added to his story.
“But everyone knows Magic Dungeon is dangerous. The students should’ve known the risks of attempting to defeat the boss monster as well,” Ileena reasoned.
“Of course. If you ask me, I’d say the whole deal sounded fishy. Or maybe it was a coincidence. Nobody knows now,” Ranga furrowed his eyebrows, becoming silent for a moment. “Ok, here we are.”
The lift stopped at the bottom, ending the talks as well. The party was once again standing in front of the Magic Dungeon entrance.
“Look, the entrance is white again,” Emilia pointed out.
“Of course. More than enough time had passed for the dungeon to complete its Reset Cycle,” said Ileena.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Flavia was the first one to go through the magic entrance.
“Beat the boss monster again,” Growly sounded unusually excited for some reason.
“Oh my, I feel rather excited myself,” Nicky added with a mild chuckle, then went forward as well.
The rest of the group passed the magic entrance, joining everyone else inside the dungeon.
“Alright, little hatchlings. Show me what you’ve got. I’ll be an observer from now on. Unless you do something stupid of course, which will force me to step in. We’ll turn around and go home right away if that happens,” Ranga Dreknor wasn’t sugar coating his words.
“Hah, just watch us, coach,” that just made Flavia feel even more pumped.
“So, which way do we go, Narias?” Ileena asked him, adjusting her glasses.
“Yes. Please, lead the way, Narias,” Emilia looked at him as well.
“Huh? Me?” He wasn’t really expecting them to say that.
“Of course. Everyone said you did such a wonderful job last time you were here,” Nicky added with a smile.
“Narias good leader,” Growly was in favor of it.
“Hey, we could go right again, or… we can choose a different path,” Flavia wanted to move out as soon as possible, but then added to her suggestion when she felt a few intense stares directed at her.
I guess… they have already decided on it. Narias knew he’ll have to take the lead again. Ok, let’s see. If we want to explore the dungeon to find more treasure, then maybe we should…
“How about we take the path second from the left?” He suggested.
“Second from the left?” Flavia was really surprised to hear him suggest it.
“Ok,” but Ileena instantly agreed to it.
“I go first,” Growly went forward, with the others following him.
“Hey, wait for me, Growly,” Flavia had to catch up.
There were seven people in a group now, so Narias suggested two-one-two-two formation. Growly and Flavia were at the front, then Narias, then Ileena and Nicky, and last, Emilia and Vivia. Instructor Dreknor was walking at the very back. The reason behind it was because the cave tunnels would become somewhat narrow for three or more people to walk side by side. It would be a little difficult to fight the monsters if the students were too close to each other as well.
- ‘Growl!’ –
The party didn’t have to walk too far to encounter the first few level-one Fanged Wolves.
“Alright, here I go,” Flavia reacted in an instant.
“I’ll take right,” Growly was rather fast as well.
Flavia and Growly didn’t give a chance for the other party members to engage the monsters even. The two Fanged Wolves were taken care in no time.
“Wow, you took care of them in an instant,” Nicky was impressed.
“Piece of cake,” Flavia grinned.
“Nicely done,” Ileena complimented both of them.
Wow, they’ve really improved. Narias noticed how effortlessly both Growly and Flavia dispatched the monsters.
“Magic Crystal,” Growly picked up a tiny, shining crystal from the ground.
“Hey, cool,” Flavia exclaimed happily.
“Lucky, heh,” Ranga Dreknor smirked to himself.
“Shall we keep going?” Ileena suggested.
“For sure,” Flavia definitely didn’t object to that.
The party arrived at the first open cave room. Obviously, it was filled with monsters. The cave was of a normal size, with a few boulders and tall ceilings. Several level-one Fanged Wolves and a few level-one Dungeon Crawlers were spotted in the room. After a brief strategy meeting, the students took care of the monsters easily. Narias and Ileena joined Growly and Flavia to take down the Fanged Wolves while Nicky, Emilia and Vivia dispatched the Dungeon Crawlers from a distance. Two more Magic Crystals were found as well, which made the students happy again.
The cave room had three other paths to choose from and Narias chose the most left one this time, which again, made a few party members curious why he’d done that. But nobody argued or complained about it. They were here to explore the dungeon one way or the other.
A few more cave rooms, a few more fights and a few more Magic Crystals for the students to pick up. No treasure chests were found yet, but Growly was lucky to find a green rarity Crystalized Mold in one of the cave rooms. The exploration continued, with Narias seemingly choosing the paths at random. Sometimes he’d suggest to go left, sometimes he’d suggest to go right, and sometimes, when the cave room had three paths to choose from, he’d suggest to go through the middle one.
“Hey, a dead end,” Flavia exclaimed.
Finally, the party ended up at a small room with no other exits to choose from, but it didn’t look like it was a Supply Point room either.
“I don’t think there are any monsters here,” Flavia’s ears were turning to one side or the other.
“Yeah, I don’t see any,” Narias said after looking around.
“Is this a Supply Point room?” Nicky wondered.
“I don’t think so,” Ileena was almost sure of it.
“Hey, maybe it’s one of those rooms with a treasure in it. You know, like the one where Growly found a treasure chest?” Flavia remembered.
“Maybe, but… can you see any hidden treasure chests, Growly?” Narias asked him.
“No,” was his friend’s answer.
“Bummer. So, there’s nothing inside here?” Flavia sounded disappointed.
“How about we have a break here then? We didn’t have one yet,” Narias suggested.
“A break would be nice,” said Vivia.
“I think that would be reasonable. There are no monsters in this room,” Ileena agreed.
The students sat down to have a short rest and eat something too.
“Your Wind Slice spell is really impressive Nicky,” Emilia complimented her while enjoying a snack.
“Thank you, Emilia,” Nicky smiled.
“Good spell. Cuts down monsters well,” Growly added, feeling somewhat awkward for some reason.
“Why thank you, Growly,” it seemed like Growly’s compliment made Nicky blush even.
“I must say, I’m impressed with how precise your spell is, little one. You must’ve trained hard to master it,” Instructor Dreknor’s compliment came as a surprise to everyone.
“Wow, thank you so much for such kind words, Instructor Dreknor,” Nicky didn’t expect to hear a compliment from the teacher.
“Hah. Don’t be too humble about it. I can see when a student puts in work into something. I can already see how strong each one of you are. Well, you’ve been fighting level-one monsters only up to this point, but given how well you’re doing, I’m certain level-two monsters wouldn’t be much of a problem for you either,” Ranga Dreknor shared his thoughts.
“Thank you, Instructor Dreknor,” Ileena was grateful to hear the teacher say that.
“For sure,” while Flavia felt like flexing to show off instead.
“Hah, but being at least a little humble isn’t bad either,” the teacher grinned at Flavia.
“Ah… sorry coach,” Flavia tried to put a humble smile on her face, throwing one of her hands behind her head. That just produced a few laughs from her friends.
Wind Slice, hmm… That’s a really awesome spell. Very effective against monsters too. I’m so glad Nicky finally managed to learn how to control it. In the meantime, Narias was thinking about Nicky’s new spell. Maybe… I could learn it as well?
Wind Slice was an improved version of Wind Blade spell. Wind Blade was a basic Wind Magic spell. You’d cast it by gathering mana at your fingertips and swing your hand forward, as if swinging a real sword. As a result, you’d create a half-moon shaped blade which, thanks to the wind pressure a caster would create, will shoot forward at your target. It was a simple, yet effective spell. Unfortunately, Wind Blade spell wasn’t that strong and was too obvious to use against more experienced opponents. Although, some people could use quite effectively.
On the other hand, Wind Slice was much harder to cast, and wasn’t so obvious where it would hit. Instead of gathering mana at their fingertips, the caster would focus on releasing the spell from a distance. It required more sophisticated control of one’s mana flow. In addition, Wind Slice would release two magic blades instead of one. Due to more focused mana control, the two wind blades would be much smaller compared to a normal Wind Blade spell, and would materialize only at the point of impact, but the power and effect would be much greater as well.
Thanks to Nicky’s great performance, she was at the center of attention during the short break the students had. Flavia was still eager to find some treasure inside the room they were in, so she spent what time she had to look around. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything, as disappointed as that left her in the end.
The party continued with their exploration, with Narias choosing random paths to leave each cave room they’ve visited. Or so it seemed at the very least. The other students weren’t bothered by it much, but it didn’t go unnoticed by the party’s guide.
“I’m impressed. And here I thought Belinda was exaggerating about you knowing your way around the dungeon,” Ranga spoke to Narias after they cleared another room of monsters, of which all of them were level two monsters by now.
“Huh? What do you mean, Instructor Dreknor?” Narias was a little puzzled about the teacher’s comment.
“Hah. Your party members might’ve not noticed, but I’ve been here a few times,” Ranga commented with a smirk.
“Well, we’re here to do some exploration, that’s all,” Narias still couldn’t understand what the teacher implied.
“But of course you are,” Ranga grinned wide.
“Yey, Growly found another Crystalized Mold. And it’s blue rarity this time. Cool,” suddenly, Flavia exclaimed loudly.
“Sorry, Instructor Dreknor, I’ll go check around the cave as well,” Narias wanted to excuse himself.
“Go ahead,” the big, black tiger-looking teacher didn’t mind. He then thought to himself quietly. No way this little hatchling is choosing the paths at random. Hah, calling him a little hatchling wouldn’t be appropriate anymore. Let’s see you prove me wrong by which path you choose next. Grrr…
The Crystalized Mold wasn’t the only treasure the students have found this time. Growly also recognized a deposit of Soft Steel Ore, which he quickly extracted with a pickaxe. It was quite a big chunk as well, which made everyone happy, especially Flavia. After a short break to have something to eat and drink, Narias suggested to take the left path out of the three available ones. Ranga instantly laughed out loud, apologizing for startling the students right after. When Flavia asked what was so funny, the instructor said he remembered something from his past, which wasn’t very convincing, really.
“Hey, another cave room. This one’s bigger than the previous one we’ve been to,” Flavia pointed out. “Woah, there’s a lot of monsters inside.”
“Level-two Fanged Wolves,” commented Growly.
“I don’t see any Dungeon Crawlers,” Emilia was already used to her role checking the walls and the ceilings.
“Hold on, this cave…” Flavia tilted her head to the side, trying to think of something.
“Yeah, familiar,” added Growly.
“What? What are you saying?” Narias made a few steps forward quietly in order to take a better look. “Huh? No way…”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it. It really feels like we’ve been to this room before,” Emilia had the same itching feeling about it.
“But we couldn’t have been to this room yet. It’s full of monsters,” Vivia pointed out.
“That’s true. But maybe that’s not the point here,” Ileena stated calmly.
“What do you mean, Ileena?” Nicky wanted to know.
“We certainly haven’t been to this room yet, but the same can’t be said about Narias, Growly, Flavia and Emilia,” Ileena explained what she meant.
“What? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand, Ileena,” that just made Nicky more confused.
“Sigh…” Ileena adjusted her glasses. “It’s been too long since I was inside the dungeon myself, but the four of them have been here just recently. You probably have passed this room during your dungeon exploration test run and that’s why it looks familiar to you.”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it…” Emilia touched her lips with a finger, trying to remember something.
“Hey, yeah, that’s why it looks familiar,” Flavia agreed, although she couldn’t remember any details just yet.
“We came from that side last time,” Growly pointed at the right side tunnel on the other side of the cave room, then showed at the other tunnel on the left. “Boss monster’s lair is that way.”
“Hey, you’re right, Growly,” Flavia almost jumped.
“Flavia…” more than one student exclaimed, reminding her to be quiet.
“Oops, sorry…” she apologized, covering her mouth with both hands. Fortunately, no monsters were alerted as a result.
“Did you just say we are close to the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s lair, Growly?” Nicky wanted to confirm.
“Yes. We came from that side last time,” Growly was convinced of it.
“Really? We’re almost at the boss monster’s lair?” Vivia asked, not sounding as excited as Flavia was just a moment ago.
“But I thought it would take us much longer to reach it,” Ileena was actually hesitant to believe it.
“You are right. It usually takes much longer for a group to reach the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s lair, but your leader here took the shortest route possible,” Ranga couldn’t keep quiet about it.
“Really? Narias, you…” Ileena, as well as everyone else, turned their stares at him.
“Ah, wait… I wasn’t…” Narias couldn’t think of any excuse to defend himself. The truth was, he already recognized the cave room in front of him and knew the boss monster’s lair was one more cave ahead. “Well, you see…”
“Hah,” Ranga Dreknor smirked to himself, trying to restrain from being loud at the same time.
Niuniax
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“Ready? Oh, it’s seven of you this time,” it seemed only then Ranga noticed there were seven students in a party. “No matter. I’m sure you know how it works. Let’s go.”
The group went directly to the Magic Dungeon.
“Hello boys,” Instructor Dreknor greeted the guards at the Magic Dungeon entrance.
“Hey Ranga. Going for some dungeon exploration again? It is becoming popular lately,” one of the guards commented.
“Yeah. Good fun, eh?” Ranga grinned.
“Fun? Say that again once you have kids of your own,” the second guard smirked at the black tiger-looking beast teacher.
“Hmph? Is your wife looking for another husband?” Ranga basically smashed the guard with his comeback comment.
“Ah, no… That’s not… what I meant…” the same guard rubbed the back of his head, becoming flustered.
“Ahaha,” which made his friend laugh so hard he had to hold on his belly. “Be careful what you say around Ranga. He’s too serious to take a joke.”
“But you laughed, didn’t you?” Ranga smirked at the first guard.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Hah…” the same guard laughed again. “Good to see you in such a good mood, Ranga. Well then, let’s not keep you waiting any longer. Here we go.”
The guards pulled on the levers on both sides and the big gates opened, closing right after the group went inside.
“You look really excited, coach,” Flavia knew her teacher well enough to notice it.
“Hah. I won’t hide it. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do with my own two eyes. After Belinda told us how you defeated the strongest level Whitemane Fanged Wolf with just the four of you, even Jean said she’d sign up to be a dungeon exploration guide again. Not sure if she meant it, though.” Instructor Dreknor was open with it.
“Miss Sweetbell will be going into the Magic Dungeon as a guide?” Narias commented, more for being impressed than surprised.
“Probably not any time soon, considering how busy she is and all. But even if she decides to do it, I doubt she’ll bother escorting the students who can’t even reach the first floor’s boss monster’s lair. Heh, I know you guys did it once, and I’m certain you can do it again, but that’s still won’t be worth her time. If I remember correctly, the last time Miss Sweetbell went into the Magic Dungeon as a guide, the group of students she was with went as far as to reach the boss monster on the fourth floor. The students couldn’t defeat it, unfortunately. I think that was also the last time the headmistress went to the dungeon as a guide.” Ranga told the students.
“Wow, the boss monster on the fourth floor,” Narias was impressed.
“The students must’ve been quite capable to reach that far into the dungeon,” Ileena added.
“Apparently not. One of them got injured really bad. It wasn’t life threatening, fortunately. Unfortunately, it got Jean into trouble. The student who got injured came from a high rank status family and his parents blamed her for what happened. She was forced to re-evaluate the requirements of dungeon exploration, including the exploration test for the first-year students. I’d say the current test is a joke compared to what it used to be,” the teacher added to his story.
“But everyone knows Magic Dungeon is dangerous. The students should’ve known the risks of attempting to defeat the boss monster as well,” Ileena reasoned.
“Of course. If you ask me, I’d say the whole deal sounded fishy. Or maybe it was a coincidence. Nobody knows now,” Ranga furrowed his eyebrows, becoming silent for a moment. “Ok, here we are.”
The lift stopped at the bottom, ending the talks as well. The party was once again standing in front of the Magic Dungeon entrance.
“Look, the entrance is white again,” Emilia pointed out.
“Of course. More than enough time had passed for the dungeon to complete its Reset Cycle,” said Ileena.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Flavia was the first one to go through the magic entrance.
“Beat the boss monster again,” Growly sounded unusually excited for some reason.
“Oh my, I feel rather excited myself,” Nicky added with a mild chuckle, then went forward as well.
The rest of the group passed the magic entrance, joining everyone else inside the dungeon.
“Alright, little hatchlings. Show me what you’ve got. I’ll be an observer from now on. Unless you do something stupid of course, which will force me to step in. We’ll turn around and go home right away if that happens,” Ranga Dreknor wasn’t sugar coating his words.
“Hah, just watch us, coach,” that just made Flavia feel even more pumped.
“So, which way do we go, Narias?” Ileena asked him, adjusting her glasses.
“Yes. Please, lead the way, Narias,” Emilia looked at him as well.
“Huh? Me?” He wasn’t really expecting them to say that.
“Of course. Everyone said you did such a wonderful job last time you were here,” Nicky added with a smile.
“Narias good leader,” Growly was in favor of it.
“Hey, we could go right again, or… we can choose a different path,” Flavia wanted to move out as soon as possible, but then added to her suggestion when she felt a few intense stares directed at her.
I guess… they have already decided on it. Narias knew he’ll have to take the lead again. Ok, let’s see. If we want to explore the dungeon to find more treasure, then maybe we should…
“How about we take the path second from the left?” He suggested.
“Second from the left?” Flavia was really surprised to hear him suggest it.
“Ok,” but Ileena instantly agreed to it.
“I go first,” Growly went forward, with the others following him.
“Hey, wait for me, Growly,” Flavia had to catch up.
There were seven people in a group now, so Narias suggested two-one-two-two formation. Growly and Flavia were at the front, then Narias, then Ileena and Nicky, and last, Emilia and Vivia. Instructor Dreknor was walking at the very back. The reason behind it was because the cave tunnels would become somewhat narrow for three or more people to walk side by side. It would be a little difficult to fight the monsters if the students were too close to each other as well.
- ‘Growl!’ –
The party didn’t have to walk too far to encounter the first few level-one Fanged Wolves.
“Alright, here I go,” Flavia reacted in an instant.
“I’ll take right,” Growly was rather fast as well.
Flavia and Growly didn’t give a chance for the other party members to engage the monsters even. The two Fanged Wolves were taken care in no time.
“Wow, you took care of them in an instant,” Nicky was impressed.
“Piece of cake,” Flavia grinned.
“Nicely done,” Ileena complimented both of them.
Wow, they’ve really improved. Narias noticed how effortlessly both Growly and Flavia dispatched the monsters.
“Magic Crystal,” Growly picked up a tiny, shining crystal from the ground.
“Hey, cool,” Flavia exclaimed happily.
“Lucky, heh,” Ranga Dreknor smirked to himself.
“Shall we keep going?” Ileena suggested.
“For sure,” Flavia definitely didn’t object to that.
The party arrived at the first open cave room. Obviously, it was filled with monsters. The cave was of a normal size, with a few boulders and tall ceilings. Several level-one Fanged Wolves and a few level-one Dungeon Crawlers were spotted in the room. After a brief strategy meeting, the students took care of the monsters easily. Narias and Ileena joined Growly and Flavia to take down the Fanged Wolves while Nicky, Emilia and Vivia dispatched the Dungeon Crawlers from a distance. Two more Magic Crystals were found as well, which made the students happy again.
The cave room had three other paths to choose from and Narias chose the most left one this time, which again, made a few party members curious why he’d done that. But nobody argued or complained about it. They were here to explore the dungeon one way or the other.
A few more cave rooms, a few more fights and a few more Magic Crystals for the students to pick up. No treasure chests were found yet, but Growly was lucky to find a green rarity Crystalized Mold in one of the cave rooms. The exploration continued, with Narias seemingly choosing the paths at random. Sometimes he’d suggest to go left, sometimes he’d suggest to go right, and sometimes, when the cave room had three paths to choose from, he’d suggest to go through the middle one.
“Hey, a dead end,” Flavia exclaimed.
Finally, the party ended up at a small room with no other exits to choose from, but it didn’t look like it was a Supply Point room either.
“I don’t think there are any monsters here,” Flavia’s ears were turning to one side or the other.
“Yeah, I don’t see any,” Narias said after looking around.
“Is this a Supply Point room?” Nicky wondered.
“I don’t think so,” Ileena was almost sure of it.
“Hey, maybe it’s one of those rooms with a treasure in it. You know, like the one where Growly found a treasure chest?” Flavia remembered.
“Maybe, but… can you see any hidden treasure chests, Growly?” Narias asked him.
“No,” was his friend’s answer.
“Bummer. So, there’s nothing inside here?” Flavia sounded disappointed.
“How about we have a break here then? We didn’t have one yet,” Narias suggested.
“A break would be nice,” said Vivia.
“I think that would be reasonable. There are no monsters in this room,” Ileena agreed.
The students sat down to have a short rest and eat something too.
“Your Wind Slice spell is really impressive Nicky,” Emilia complimented her while enjoying a snack.
“Thank you, Emilia,” Nicky smiled.
“Good spell. Cuts down monsters well,” Growly added, feeling somewhat awkward for some reason.
“Why thank you, Growly,” it seemed like Growly’s compliment made Nicky blush even.
“I must say, I’m impressed with how precise your spell is, little one. You must’ve trained hard to master it,” Instructor Dreknor’s compliment came as a surprise to everyone.
“Wow, thank you so much for such kind words, Instructor Dreknor,” Nicky didn’t expect to hear a compliment from the teacher.
“Hah. Don’t be too humble about it. I can see when a student puts in work into something. I can already see how strong each one of you are. Well, you’ve been fighting level-one monsters only up to this point, but given how well you’re doing, I’m certain level-two monsters wouldn’t be much of a problem for you either,” Ranga Dreknor shared his thoughts.
“Thank you, Instructor Dreknor,” Ileena was grateful to hear the teacher say that.
“For sure,” while Flavia felt like flexing to show off instead.
“Hah, but being at least a little humble isn’t bad either,” the teacher grinned at Flavia.
“Ah… sorry coach,” Flavia tried to put a humble smile on her face, throwing one of her hands behind her head. That just produced a few laughs from her friends.
Wind Slice, hmm… That’s a really awesome spell. Very effective against monsters too. I’m so glad Nicky finally managed to learn how to control it. In the meantime, Narias was thinking about Nicky’s new spell. Maybe… I could learn it as well?
Wind Slice was an improved version of Wind Blade spell. Wind Blade was a basic Wind Magic spell. You’d cast it by gathering mana at your fingertips and swing your hand forward, as if swinging a real sword. As a result, you’d create a half-moon shaped blade which, thanks to the wind pressure a caster would create, will shoot forward at your target. It was a simple, yet effective spell. Unfortunately, Wind Blade spell wasn’t that strong and was too obvious to use against more experienced opponents. Although, some people could use quite effectively.
On the other hand, Wind Slice was much harder to cast, and wasn’t so obvious where it would hit. Instead of gathering mana at their fingertips, the caster would focus on releasing the spell from a distance. It required more sophisticated control of one’s mana flow. In addition, Wind Slice would release two magic blades instead of one. Due to more focused mana control, the two wind blades would be much smaller compared to a normal Wind Blade spell, and would materialize only at the point of impact, but the power and effect would be much greater as well.
Thanks to Nicky’s great performance, she was at the center of attention during the short break the students had. Flavia was still eager to find some treasure inside the room they were in, so she spent what time she had to look around. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything, as disappointed as that left her in the end.
The party continued with their exploration, with Narias choosing random paths to leave each cave room they’ve visited. Or so it seemed at the very least. The other students weren’t bothered by it much, but it didn’t go unnoticed by the party’s guide.
“I’m impressed. And here I thought Belinda was exaggerating about you knowing your way around the dungeon,” Ranga spoke to Narias after they cleared another room of monsters, of which all of them were level two monsters by now.
“Huh? What do you mean, Instructor Dreknor?” Narias was a little puzzled about the teacher’s comment.
“Hah. Your party members might’ve not noticed, but I’ve been here a few times,” Ranga commented with a smirk.
“Well, we’re here to do some exploration, that’s all,” Narias still couldn’t understand what the teacher implied.
“But of course you are,” Ranga grinned wide.
“Yey, Growly found another Crystalized Mold. And it’s blue rarity this time. Cool,” suddenly, Flavia exclaimed loudly.
“Sorry, Instructor Dreknor, I’ll go check around the cave as well,” Narias wanted to excuse himself.
“Go ahead,” the big, black tiger-looking teacher didn’t mind. He then thought to himself quietly. No way this little hatchling is choosing the paths at random. Hah, calling him a little hatchling wouldn’t be appropriate anymore. Let’s see you prove me wrong by which path you choose next. Grrr…
The Crystalized Mold wasn’t the only treasure the students have found this time. Growly also recognized a deposit of Soft Steel Ore, which he quickly extracted with a pickaxe. It was quite a big chunk as well, which made everyone happy, especially Flavia. After a short break to have something to eat and drink, Narias suggested to take the left path out of the three available ones. Ranga instantly laughed out loud, apologizing for startling the students right after. When Flavia asked what was so funny, the instructor said he remembered something from his past, which wasn’t very convincing, really.
“Hey, another cave room. This one’s bigger than the previous one we’ve been to,” Flavia pointed out. “Woah, there’s a lot of monsters inside.”
“Level-two Fanged Wolves,” commented Growly.
“I don’t see any Dungeon Crawlers,” Emilia was already used to her role checking the walls and the ceilings.
“Hold on, this cave…” Flavia tilted her head to the side, trying to think of something.
“Yeah, familiar,” added Growly.
“What? What are you saying?” Narias made a few steps forward quietly in order to take a better look. “Huh? No way…”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it. It really feels like we’ve been to this room before,” Emilia had the same itching feeling about it.
“But we couldn’t have been to this room yet. It’s full of monsters,” Vivia pointed out.
“That’s true. But maybe that’s not the point here,” Ileena stated calmly.
“What do you mean, Ileena?” Nicky wanted to know.
“We certainly haven’t been to this room yet, but the same can’t be said about Narias, Growly, Flavia and Emilia,” Ileena explained what she meant.
“What? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand, Ileena,” that just made Nicky more confused.
“Sigh…” Ileena adjusted her glasses. “It’s been too long since I was inside the dungeon myself, but the four of them have been here just recently. You probably have passed this room during your dungeon exploration test run and that’s why it looks familiar to you.”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it…” Emilia touched her lips with a finger, trying to remember something.
“Hey, yeah, that’s why it looks familiar,” Flavia agreed, although she couldn’t remember any details just yet.
“We came from that side last time,” Growly pointed at the right side tunnel on the other side of the cave room, then showed at the other tunnel on the left. “Boss monster’s lair is that way.”
“Hey, you’re right, Growly,” Flavia almost jumped.
“Flavia…” more than one student exclaimed, reminding her to be quiet.
“Oops, sorry…” she apologized, covering her mouth with both hands. Fortunately, no monsters were alerted as a result.
“Did you just say we are close to the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s lair, Growly?” Nicky wanted to confirm.
“Yes. We came from that side last time,” Growly was convinced of it.
“Really? We’re almost at the boss monster’s lair?” Vivia asked, not sounding as excited as Flavia was just a moment ago.
“But I thought it would take us much longer to reach it,” Ileena was actually hesitant to believe it.
“You are right. It usually takes much longer for a group to reach the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s lair, but your leader here took the shortest route possible,” Ranga couldn’t keep quiet about it.
“Really? Narias, you…” Ileena, as well as everyone else, turned their stares at him.
“Ah, wait… I wasn’t…” Narias couldn’t think of any excuse to defend himself. The truth was, he already recognized the cave room in front of him and knew the boss monster’s lair was one more cave ahead. “Well, you see…”
“Hah,” Ranga Dreknor smirked to himself, trying to restrain from being loud at the same time.
Niuniax
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I have another series going. It’s an isekai dungeon exploration adventure with an added haremlit lewdness (just a tiny bit, though /evulgrin).
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