This is a dream. It has to be.

  Several weeks had passed since the swordsman had gotten the Spirit Sword Indra.

  His adventure on the mountain gave him a new perspective, his life goals had changed from seeking for a pce to die, to living to the best he could; to honor the deaths of his comrades and his great leader.

  He began a new life journey, seeking out troubled souls wherever he could, helping vanquish any monster that threatens the lives of the innocent; this time without his guilt weighing him down.

  Soon enough, the bards had bestowed him with a new title for the people to know; a wandering hero of thunder and lightning.

  Then one day, he heard word of a recruitment drive for warriors to join the fight against the Great Hole; the birthing grounds and origins of every monster in the world.

  To defend humanity against the endless onsught of monsters, such an honor would be the best way for the swordsman to honor his brethren 'deaths; there was no way he would not sign up.

  With that in mind, he made his way to Castle Shreme, one of humanity’s strongholds against the monsters.

  With how Jeanne had reacted the night before, I had expected for her to be against me helping out the three newbie Adventurers; which was perfectly understandable as they were pretty much strangers to the Familia.

  That’s why it was a shocker when she suddenly called everyone into the main hall for a Familia meeting.

  “Do you think that it has something to do with Kaede and her friends?” Tris whispered to me.

  “Maybe.”

  Earlier in the morning, I saw Garos leading them into Jeanne’s office; and neither of them and Jirou showed up for breakfast either.

  “Oh, good; everyone’s here.”

  It didn’t take long for them to enter the dining hall, with the three girls trailing close behind along with Hecate; among the three, the hume bunny Kaede was looking particurly anxious, even more so than her pallum friend.

  “Are those girls the reason you called for a meeting?” Lisa asked, “The ones Dae rescued from some thugs yesterday?”

  Jeanne nodded, “Yes, they are. But first, let me tell you why they are here.”

  She then reyed pretty much what I had told her st night, from getting mugged by their own Familia, my intervention and retaliation against those bastards, and to why I had brought them back to the Arcane Manor in the first pce.

  “That Familia really is the worst!” Lisa cried out, “To go after their own members like that…!”

  “They really are scum.” Kyumaru nodded in agreement.

  “While I agree they are pitiful, what does their circumstances have to do with this meeting?” Drake asked.

  “We’ll be helping them leave their Familia.”

  ““Eh!?””

  The decision definitely came out of left field, especially with how she tore into me st night; what caused her to suddenly change her mind?

  “Lady Hecate, did you approve of this!?” Drake asked.

  Our patron goddess nodded, “Yup! I had read the stars st night; the fate of these girls have long intertwined with our’s, it is right for us to be giving them a helping hand.”

  As usual, her words were hard to understand; though I guess she approved of the captain’s decision.

  “Still, is this really a good idea?” Kyumaru asked, “Despite their Familia’s internal issues, they are still part of another Familia. We can be viewed as poaching them.”

  “Don’t worry, we have a solution for that.”

  Jeanne nodded in agreement, “We are going to hire them as our Familia’s exclusive Supporters.”

  “Supporters?” Emma asked confused, “You mean the ones that carry the bags for Adventurers?”

  “How would that help them?” Tris asked.

  “According to Miss Momiji, the Adventurers of Soma Familia have to pay a tribute to their captain just to get their god to update their Falna.” The elf expined, “To make matters worse, they also will receive a bottle of Soma for their troubles.”

  “Soma?”

  “The drink, not the god.” Jirou expined to Emma, “One of the best wines on the market; one bottle can go up to several million valis.”

  “S-Several million!?!?” The girl cried out, “That’s crazy… and they get a bottle each?”

  “Yeah.” Momiji nodded, “And each time, they are really ecstatic about it; it’s like seeing starving beasts getting fed their favourite meal.”

  “Or like addicts finally getting their fix.” Drake pointed out, “Their Adventurers are known to be notorious alcoholics, after all.”

  It was no wonder those bastards yesterday were shaking them down; they weren’t just desperate for money, they wanted their drinks as well.

  “In other words, they have to literally pay their captain just to get an audience with their god.” Garos pointed out, “The bastard is basically using his Familia to get rich.”

  “How much is the tribute?” Lisa asked the girls.

  “Last I’ve heard, a-at least ten thousand valis.” Coco told us.

  “That’s an impossible amount for rookies Adventurers!” The pallum cried out, “I could barely make a thousand valis a month when I first started out! And that was with a party!”

  “This means that they are literally trapped in their Familia with no way of leaving.” Kyumaru noted.

  “…ah, I see. It is pretty common for Supporters to rent out their services to other more powerful Familias to earn more, so it will not look out of pce for them to be working with us.” Drake noted, “And we can make about that much without an issue; just getting a cut of our total earnings would be a huge boon to their end goal.”

  “As expected of Drake, you caught on quick.” Jirou noted.

  That’s not a bad idea; and as Supporters, all they really needed to do was to keep back whenever danger arose and help extract magic stones out of the defeated monsters, so they were less likely to be in any real danger with us at the lower floors.

  Not to mention that everyone except for Emma and Tris were High Css Adventurers; those thugs from yesterday wouldn’t be able to pull the same stunt as before.

  And with our members, we could earn way more than those three could in a day; just getting a cut of our earnings would be a great help to them leaving their wreck of a Familia.

  “That’s the pn.” Jeanne expined, “Now, if there are any objections to it, please say so now.”

  “No objections!” Tetra cried out, “None whatsoever!”

  “Same here!” Tris nodded, “To let them remain in the same Familia with those bastards is unthinkable!”

  “I agree!” Emma nodded.

  “That’s right.” I agreed; and I’d already decided to help them out as much as I can.

  “I’m not totally on board with the idea…” Drake noted, “But having dedicated Supporters will make our Dungeon dives a lot easier.”

  “I’ll follow whatever decision you made.” Kyumaru stated.

  “Then it is decided. For the next year, they will be our exclusive Supporters.” Jeanne concluded with a cp of her hands before turning to the three girls, “I will allow you to keep using the guest room for the time being. However, know that arrangement will only be temporary; I strongly suggest you find new housing as soon as possible.”

  “We understand.” Momiji bowed, “We would try our best not to trouble you even more.”

  “Dae, you and your party will be in charge of them for the time being.”

  “Understood.” I nodded.

  “Then the meeting is adjourned; you are all dismissed.”

  With that decration, everyone left their seat and headed out of the room, each of them giving the three girls their various greetings on their way out.

  Afterwards, the three girls walked up to me; Momiji stepped forward and offered a hand to me, “We look forward to working with you.”

  “Same here.” I said as she shook my hand.

  “Really sorry to trouble your Familia with our problems.” Kaede apologised.

  “It’s no trouble at all.”

  Though it was a real surprise that Jeanne would try to help them; I wonder what got her to change her mind?

  “So, shall we head into the Dungeon today?” Tris asked me.

  “Yeah. Mind informing Tetra and Emma for me?”

  “Got it; the usual meeting spot?”

  “Yup.”

  She gave me a thumbs up in response before heading out to the two girls in question.

  I then turned back to the three newbies. “Okay; we’ll be heading into the Dungeon soon. Gather your equipment and meet us at the entrance in about an hour.”

  “Got it!”

  “Don’t w-worry, Biriken!” Coco assured me, “We will t-try not to be a b-burden!”

  “…please, just call me Dae.”

  The less I hear that embarrassingly stupid alias, the better…

  “Hey, Dae.”

  As I was leaving my room and heading towards the main hall, Drake suddenly walked up to me; judging by the armaments he was wearing, he was probably pnning on heading into the Dungeon as well.

  “Yes, Drake?”

  “Do you mind if I join your party from today onwards?”

  …This was unexpected; Drake had been respecting Tetra’s refusal to let him join us when the party was first created.

  “Can I ask why the sudden interest?”

  “For Jeanne’s pn to work, you will need to dive at least down to the Middle Floor; preferably down to the fifteenth floor.” He expined, “But with your current line-up, that is paramount to suicide.”

  “Ah.”

  That was true; the only High Css Adventurers in our party were me and Tetra, the tter was only strong as a rear guard from the Middle Floors onwards.

  This meant two thirds of the party consisted of Low Css Adventurers, with Tris being the only one among them that had any experience past the fifth floor onwards.

  If we were to dive down into the Middle Floors with our current members, it would be a death sentence to all of us; but with Drake, it wouldn’t be that bad.

  And our vanguard was cking in terms of manpower, especially since it would be just me and Tris protecting four people.

  “…I don’t mind, but you would need to convince Tetra first.”

  The amazoness had been rather adamant on not letting Drake join the party; if I just accepted his offer without consulting her, she might not accept it.

  “Already pnning to; you guys are meeting up at the main hall, right?”

  “Yup.”

  I then brought him with me to the main hall, where the rest of my party and the three girls had assembled with their respective gear on hand; though I was not sure why Coco had a plushie with her, one that was almost as big as her.

  “Hey, Dae! We’ve been waiting for you!”

  They were also surprisingly not the only ones there.

  “Lisa? Why are you here?” I asked.

  Seeing as she was also armed with her weapons and armaments, the pallum was probably pnning on heading into the Dungeon too; but then why was it that she was looking to be waiting for me?

  “For the same reason Drake is with you.” The pallum told me, “With your party’s current members, you need more front liners to even things out.”

  “The same thing Drake had said before…”

  “I see, so Drake wants to join the party too?” Tetra asked.

  Drake walked up to her, “Tetra, I know you don’t want me in our party, but–”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Huh?”

  “The reason I don’t want you in our party is that I didn’t want to keep relying on you all the time; especially what happened a few months ago…” The amazoness stated, “But if we are to help Kaede and her friends out, I can’t afford to be selfish about this matter.”

  “Tetra…”

  It was times like this that reminded me that Tetra had more experience as an Adventurer than me, despite her young age.

  “You’re such a good girl, Tetra~!” Lisa smiled as she patted the small amazoness on the head, which Tetra gdly accept with a giggle.

  “…heh, is that what a proud parent feels like…?” Drake muttered with a small smile.

  I let out a small chuckle in response before turning to him and offered a hand, “I’ll be counting on you, Drake.”

  He grabbed my hand and firmly shook it, “Same here, Dae.”

  I then turned to Lisa, “You too, Lisa.”

  “Same to you.” She nodded with a smile.

  After a final check on our armaments, as well as prepping bags for the girls to use and a quick discussion on the changes to our formation, we headed straight for the Tower of Babel and into the Dungeon.

  “Kyeuh!!”

  “Hiee!!”

  “No, you don’t!!”

  I intercepted several stone hatchets aimed at the three supporters, before using those same ndform weapons to take down the monsters that threw them via embedding them into their owners’ skulls.

  As I did so, a Hell Hound came up behind them and opened its mouths in preparation to spew fmes at them; thankfully, Emma barely managed to get between them to block the torrent of fire with a tower shield.

  Moments ter, Tris put a stop to its attack via sending that canine monster crashing into the Dungeon’s wall with a single swing from her mace.

  “You guys alright?”

  “Y-Yeah…!”

  “Kyuunn!!”

  “Whoa!”

  Several more Almiraj suddenly lunged at Tris, she barely managed to block their assault before they started tching and trying to pull down her shield all the while attempting to stab through the pte of metal with their stone knives.

  Her shield slowly began to glow with each attack by those rabbit monsters; moments ter, she activated her skill on them with a cry, “Release!”

  The resulting shockwave sent them flying off her and crashing all over the ground, before being quickly taken care of by Drake with a few swift strikes from his knives; their bodies turning to ash mid-air and leaving behind their magic stones and a couple of Drop Items.

  “Lisa, on your sixth!”

  “Way ahead of you!”

  As he did so, Lisa took out several Bad Bats out of the air before they could even emit their dreaded headache-inducing shockwaves; her chained sickle sshing through their bodies and turning most of them into ash.

  “My magic is ready!!”

  “Got it! Everyone, get back!!”

  “Ignitis Lumine!!”

  Peeking out from behind Emma, Tetra unleashed her magic on the monster horde, arcs of fire bnketing the floor in a series of fiery explosions, turning many of them into bckened corpses.

  “S-So scary…!” Coco cried out as

  she emerged from behind Tris, “The Middle F-Floors really are s-scary…!”

  “Indeed; the difference in danger is really striking.” Kaede pointed out, “And for them to deal with them so effectively… as I thought, High Css Adventurers really are something else.”

  “Alright, that’s enough chitchat.” Drake told our newest Supporters, “We don’t know when the Dungeon is going to spawn monsters, so the faster you guys collect the magic stones, the better.”

  “Got it!”

  “Whoa! The magic stones are way bigger than the ones in the Upper Floors!”

  “Is this a Drop Item?”

  On que, the three girls started running about the floor, picking up the magic stones and the occasional Drop Item; with Emma also helping out with the magic stone gathering.

  “That was the tenth time a monster horde attacked us.” Lisa noted, “The Dungeon sure isn’t messing around today.”

  I agreed with that statement; the moment we entered the Cave Labyrinth, hordes of monsters hounded us from all sides almost non-stop to a point that it might as well be a pseudo Monster Stampede.

  It was thanks to Drake taking over the command of the party as well as Lisa that we managed to get through it all okay; experience truly made quite a difference.

  “Well, at least we have more magic stones to bring back.” I pointed out.

  “True enough; although we should still be careful.”

  “Agreed.”

  “We’ve collected everything!”

  Kaede announced as she and her friends returned with their bags filled.

  “Alright; let’s head out!!”

  We carried on down the floors, hordes of monsters hounding us every few minutes or so; thankfully, none of them were too much for us to take care of, so we were able to pass though most of the floors without any trouble.

  Soon enough, we reached the stairs leading down into the fifteenth floor, the destination of today’s dive.

  “We’ll be taking a quick break here.” Drake told everyone, “Try to rest up as much as you can.”

  “Finally!” Tetra let out a huge sigh as she plopped down on the Dungeon floor, “I’m exhausted…!”

  And she wasn’t the only one; the entire party was pretty drained from all the battles we had undergone in the past hour or so, with me, Drake and Lisa being the only ones that weren’t completely out of breath.

  “Remember to keep your guard up, Tetra.”

  “Got it, got it; I will.”

  “Replying once is more than enough.”

  Lisa walked up to our three supporters and asked them, “Are you guys holding up okay?”

  “We’re doing okay.” Kaede told her, “We can still keep up.”

  “Tell us if our pace is too fast for you to handle, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  As everyone sat down and began distributing rations and water skins, I walked up to the nearby wall and smmed my fist into it several times; the dark stone soon broke under my continued strikes and leaving behind a few decently sized dents.

  “That should do it.” I nodded to myself.

  “Why did you break the wall?” Emma asked me.

  “To prevent any monsters from spawning on us.”

  According to the books Mishia had recommended for me to read, monsters do not spawn in parts of the Dungeon that were damaged; many expedition parties used this to their advantage when embarking on long expeditions.

  With how many monsters we had encountered on the way here, I wouldn’t put it past the Dungeon to throw a bunch of monsters right as we were resting.

  Though it would only be a temporary measure, as any damages done to the Dungeon were quickly repaired in time.

  “You know, you can ask either of us to do it instead of using your fists.” Drake pointed out to me, “At least ask us for our weapons before doing so; what if you break your fingers?”

  “It’s fine; my hands are really tough.”

  “That’s not the issue here…”

  I couldn’t see why it was in the first pce; when I first made aware of this fact, I tested out if I was able to break any of the Dungeon’s walls the first chance I got.

  And after some trial and error, I had managed to figure out how much strength I should put into my strikes and how many strikes were enough to break the hard stone; I’d noted that the walls on the Middle Floors took more to break.

  Of course, it freaked out Tris and Tetra when I suddenly started punching the walls in the Upper Floors; in hindsight, I should have told them ahead of time before attempting it.

  After that little affair was somewhat sorted out, if me ignoring Drake and returning to the party could be counted as getting sorted out, the party gathered together and Drake gave the three Supporters a quick rundown of what to expect on the next floor.

  “From the next floor onwards, there will be monsters that only Lisa and myself can handle.” Drake warned the newbies, Emma included, “As such, make sure you all do not stray from the party.”

  “What kind of monsters should we keep a look out for?” Momiji asked. “Minotaurs, mostly; giant bull humanoids.” He expined, “In terms of danger levels, they are about Level 2 at least. They can easily destroy even the most skilled Level 2 Adventurers, so keep as far away as you can from them if we encounter any of them.”

  “That sounds t-terrifying…” Coco noted fearfully while hugging her stuffed animal very tightly.

  “As long as you all stay close to the party, you’ll be fine.” Lisa assured her, “But remain vigint regardless; the monsters are not the only dangers the Dungeon have.”

  “U-Understood!!”

  “Minotaurs, huh…”

  Those bull monsters were considered the strongest monsters in the Cave Labyrinth; defeating even one of them was extremely difficult, even with a strong enough party.

  If I fought one of them, I might be able to get stronger from the experience, and get ever closer to becoming a hero—

  “Don’t even think about it, Dae.”

  “Huh?”

  Drake brought me out of my pondering; he scoffed when I looked at him in surprise that he had managed to figure out my thoughts, “Your thoughts are clear on your face.”

  “Ah…”

  “Look, you may have defeated an Infant Dragon, but I’ve heard that it is still an extremely close victory; luck might not be on your side all the time.”

  His words rang true; I had been extremely lucky that my st strike had nded true when it did.

  “…I understand.”

  “I sure hope so.”

  After a few more minutes of rest, the party got back into formation; with Drake and Lisa in the lead and weapons ready to be drawn in a moment’s notice, we descended down into the fifteenth floor.

  For the first few minutes of us entering the floor, it had been oddly quiet; no sign or noise of any monsters anywhere.

  “It is even more unnerving for nothing to happen when you are expecting something to happen.” Kaede noted.

  “As long as you don’t jinx us again, Kaede.” Momiji pointed out.

  “Come on, it was just the one time!”

  “Keep your guard up.” Drake told everyone, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

  We continued on, the floor being eerily quiet with nothing but the sounds of our marching feet and the slight cnging of the materials in the Supporters’ bags echoing off the walls.

  “The calm before the storm…” Tris noted, “I believe that’s what the gods would describe this atmosphere.”

  “Indeed.” I nodded in agreement.

  If there was one thing I had learned from my time in the Dungeon, it was the most dangerous when it was quiet.

  As we continued on, we came across one of the many massive sinkholes that dotted the Cave Labyrinth.

  “Woah, that looks deep.” Emma noted as she looked into its dark abyss.

  “Don’t get too close.” Tris warned her, “Who knows how far you will drop if you fall in.”

  “Hrgk! G-Got it!”

  Moments after those words left Emma’s mouth, Lisa raised her hand, halting our movements; she then pced her hand near her ears for a tense moment, before drawing out her weapons and shouting out; “Incoming; straight ahead!!”

  “Moouuh!!”

  Moments ter, a pack of almost a dozen Minotaurs came charging at us with vicious intent, each of them wielding various forms of ndform weapons ranging from clubs to axes.

  “Get into formation!!” Drake shouted, “Keep your backs to the hole; and keep your distance from it!!”

  ““O-Okay!!””

  “Lisa!”

  “Yeah! I’m on it!”

  Our two strongest members quickly rushed forward to intercept them; the rest of us kept to our position with me in front of the rookies, Emma and Tetra taking up a defensive point behind me while the amazoness was already beginning to chant.

  Stopping a good distance away, Drake pulled out his bow and fired several arrows at the Minotaurs, his aim true as they pierced the feet of the monsters in the front row, forcing a couple to fall to their knees and stopping their charge all together.

  Lisa made use of that to her advantage and swung one of her chain sickles at the injured bull monsters, the sharp bde slicing through the neck of one of them and severing its head.

  The pallum then proceeded to kick said head into the Minotaur behind it, the head’s horns piercing into its chest and breaking its magic stone and causing the monster to turn into ash.

  One of the uninjured Minotaurs tried to strike at her with its axe, but an arrow from Drake embedded itself onto its wrist before it could swing its arm, forcing the monster to drop the weapon.

  Seizing the chance, Lisa threw her chain sickle and wrapped its chains around the ndform weapon of the dead Minotaur, pulling it out the ground with a yank.

  She then proceeded to spin her body and sent the weapon flying at the wounded monster; the stone axe cleaving through it while also killing two more before crashing into the ground behind them.

  One of the Minotaurs turned its attention to Drake; it let out a loud war cry and unched itself at the man, swinging its massive club down at him.

  Drake smoothly avoided the strike and create some distance between it while simultaneously firing an arrow into its eye, causing the monster to shriek in pain as it tried to dislodge the projectile from its eyeball before it was quickly beheaded by Lisa.

  “Amazing…!” Emma noted in awe, “They are taking on those rge monsters so easily…!”

  “Yeah; and I thought Dae was skilled…!” Kaede nodded in agreement, “That pallum is on a whole another level…!”

  “Not just that; Drake is effectively giving her openings to exploit.” Momiji pointed out.

  When I heard the st words of Tetra’s spell left her lips, I called out to them, “Tetra’s spell is ready!”

  “Got it!!”

  “Ignis Lumine!!”

  Fireballs unched themselves from the amazoness and at the Minotaurs as the two veterans dashed away; they bombarding onto the bovine monsters with a series of loud booms that echoed across the floor.

  When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the monster pack were four Minotaurs, two of which had burns of various degrees all over their bodies and one having lost an arm.

  “As expected, it still isn’t enough to wipe them out just yet.” Drake noted.

  “Sorry, I didn’t get all of them.” Tetra apologized.

  “It’s no big deal; you managed to take an arm of one of them at least.”

  “Drake, let’s end this.” Said Lisa as she dashed at the surviving Minotaurs.

  “Right behind you.” Drake switched from his bow to his trench knives and dashed after the pallum as they engaged with the monsters once more.

  “Looks like the fight will be wrapping up soon.” Kaede noted, “Next will be our turn.”

  “A-Are we really going to be c-cutting into those big m-monsters?” Coco stammered out.

  “Just think of it as gutting a giant Goblin open.”

  “T-That’s even worse, Kaede—”

  “Grraakkk!!”

  “Wah!?!?”

  The sudden cries of the pallum turned my attention to the Supporters behind me; a Dungeon Worm had burst out from the hole behind us and was diving towards them, its grotesque mouth wide open in preparation to swallow them whole.

  Being the closest to them, Tris moved in front of them and blocked the worm with her shield, its many teeth grinding onto her shield as it attempted to devour her with it.

  “Release!”

  But all it did was help Tris charge up her skill which she used to repel the monster off of her. That did little to deter the monster as it immediately dived back towards her, smming its head into her shield.

  Unlike its previous attempt to gnaw away at the piece of metal, the monster had instead opted to sm the entire mass of its massive body upwards into the shield; the force behind the charge sending Tris flying off her feet.

  “Grgk!!”

  “Tris!” I cried out.

  “I-I’m fine!” She assured me, “But that attack pushed this far away…!”

  “We have to get to them! Strike, and break through; Electro—”

  “Dae, look out!!”

  “Moouuhh!!”

  “Whoa!!”

  Just as I activated my enchantment magic, Drake’s cry drew my attention and I barely managed to avoid an axe strike from a Minotaur; specifically, the Minotaur that had its arm burnt off by Tetra’s spell.

  However, its target didn’t appear to be me as it didn’t stay and instead attempted to get past me.

  “Shit! It’s aiming for the Supporters!” Tris cried out.

  The monster, even in its injured state, would easily destroy them within seconds if I let it go past me; and it would only make their current situation even worse than it currently was.

  That left me with only one option.

  “Look over here, asshole!”

  I leaped at it and smmed the soles of my boot into its face, striking at the burns to hopefully deal more pain and get its attention away from the Supporters.

  My attack did the trick as the Minotaur’s attention immediately turned to me, letting out a loud roar as it swung its stone axe at me which I narrowly avoided by leaping back.

  “Tris, go help Tetra!” I told her, “Leave the Minotaur to me!”

  “G-Got it!”

  Tris quickly made her way past the Minotaur and back to the Supporters, leaving me to deal with the bull monster.

  The monster then charged at me while wildly swinging its axe at me; despite missing an arm and covered in wounds, the monster was swinging its massive stone axe like it was made of paper, creating small gusts of wind with each swing.

  I was just barely managing to avoid its strikes, with a few near misses that would have cut into me if it weren’t for my magic’s protective aura; I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take a direct hit from it.

  And with the party still in danger from the Dungeon Worm; I couldn’t afford to drag this fight any longer than it already had.

  So, when the Minotaru made a wide swing and exposed its chest, I immediately made my move.

  Concentrating most of my magic to the tip of my fingers, I dashed in close and swung my hand arm; allowing the electric bde to ssh through its chest and where its magic stone was located.

  “MOOoouhh…”

  Seconds ter, the Minotaur colpsed into a pile of ash, leaving nothing but a broken magic stone.

  While defeating such a terrifying monster on my own was quite a feat for my current Level, injured or otherwise, I could not quite revel in the victory just yet.

  There was still the issue of the Dungeon Worm to deal with.

  “Hang on, I’m coming–huh?”

  When I turned around to rush to the aid of the party, I was greeted with quite the sight.

  From the moment she descended down into the Middle Floors, Emma knew she was completely out of her depth.

  The differences between the floors were starkly apparent, whether it was the size of each individual floor or the viciousness of the monsters; if the newbie Adventurer had stumbled down here on her own, she would have been killed and devoured many times over.

  It was only thanks to her being in the party with her Familia’s more experienced and veteran Adventurers that she was able to traverse these floors safely.

  So, the moment she saw Tris getting knocked away by the massive worm monster, it became clear that the current situation was especially dire.

  “Grraaa…”

  With their only defender out of the way, the giant worm turned its head towards them as its mouth opened like a blooming grotesque flower, revealing its many rows of teeth lining its slimy insides.

  The sight had made her knee buckle, the tower shield she was holding being the only thing that was keeping her on her feet as fear began to take over; and judging by the pale faces of her fellow newbies, she wasn’t the only one.

  This was the first time Emma truly realized how terrifying the Dungeon was.

  “GRRAAHH—”

  “No, you don’t!!”

  “—urk!?!?”

  Just as the Dungeon Worm dived towards them, Tetra ran past them and smmed the end of her staff up into the monster’s head(?), knocking it aside; the little amazoness stood in front of them with her staff aimed forward at the giant worm.

  “T-Tetra…!?”

  “She knocked it away!?” Kaede cried, “Even though she’s so small!!”

  “T-That’s rude!!” Coco cried out, “What’s wrong with being small!!”

  “I don’t think that’s the issue here, Coco…” Momiji noted.

  “It’s not my forte, but I’m still a Level 2 Adventurer, damnit!!” Tetra cried out.

  “Gggrrooohh…”

  Despite her bravado, it was clear that her attack barely did anything to deter the monster, as it immediately recovered from her surprise attack and charged at her with its mouth wide open in order to devour her in one go.

  And it would have done so, if Tris hadn’t knocked it away with a swing of her mace; a strike that was charged by her skill which resulted in the second impact that nded moments ter, which sent the worm reeling back in pain.

  “Sorry.” She apologized, “That st attack took me by surprise.”

  “How are you doing?” Tetra asked her.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve jumped back when the attack nded.”

  “What about Dae?”

  “Dae is currently busy fighting with a Minotaur; we’re on our own.”

  “That’s troubling; but it is still just a Dungeon Worm, so my magic should be able to deal with it.”

  “Y-You’re not considering fighting that thing, are you!?” Emma cried, ‘That’s crazy!”

  “If we don’t, we will all die.” Tris told her, giving her an assuring smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t let it reach any of you.”

  “GRROOOOHHHH!!”

  As they were talking, the Dungeon Worm lunged itself at the two Adventurers with the intent to smash the vanguard with its entire body weight.

  Tris immediately ran forward and blocked the monster’s attack with her shield.

  “Release!”

  As she did so, she pressed her shield into the monster’s body and activated her skill, striking the monster with the force of its own attack; which sent it reeling back in pain.

  “Will a minute do?” She asked Tetra.

  “I’ll try my best!” The amazoness replied with vigor.

  “Got it!”

  As Tetra began to chant, Tris ran forward towards the Dungeon Worm, just as the monster lunged at her in the same momentum as before.

  This time, instead of taking the hit, she let the strike skid off her shield, allowing her to followed it up with smashing her mace into the Dungeon Worm’s exposed body, causing it to scream in pain in response.

  Enraged, the monster turned its full attention to her as it opened its mouth and charged at Tris, only to get blocked by Tris who then proceeded to release her skill into it, sending it reeling back in pain once more.

  Again and again, the worm monster attempted to either devour Tris or smashed her into a pulp; and again and again, she kept managing to counter it with either her mace or her skill.

  “She’s…she’s actually fighting it…!” Coco noted, “Even though it is so big and scary…”

  “It’s honestly incredible…!” Kaede stated in awe.

  “She really is amazing…!” Emma nodded in agreement.

  Emma had fought alongside Tris ever since she joined the Familia, but this was the first time she saw her fight to such an extent, and with such vigor as well.

  Tris had always held the defensive position in the party, so seeing her fighting that worm on her own like she was doing now was amazing.

  Tetra as well; when everyone else was frozen in fear, she was the only one that fought back, despite the sheer difference in size.

  ‘So these are… Adventurers…’

  “GRRAAOOOHH!!”

  “What the–Shit! Tetra!!”

  No doubt sensing that its fight with Tris wasn’t proceeding as it desired, the Dungeon Worm decided to turn its attention to a more desirable prey.

  In this case, the currently defenceless Tetra.

  Due to already gathering a lot of Mind to cast her spell, the amazoness couldn’t afford to move from her position or it could cause a Ignis Fatuus, a misfiring of magic energy in the form of an explosion.

  And with how powerful her magic was, the resulting explosion would be catastrophic to both her, and the Supporters behind her.

  ‘She can’t afford to evade her attack or stop her cast…! But at this rate, she’ll get devoured…!’

  “RRAAAHH!!”

  As such, with a loud cry, Emma forced herself to move and got in front of Tetra; her body braced behind the tower shield as the giant worm smmed into it, the force behind it threatening to send her flying.

  “What are you doing!?” Momiji cried out, “Get out of there! You’ll get killed!!”

  ‘Maybe… But even so…!’

  Her mind returned to the image of Tetra knocking away the worm monster, and of Tris’s assuring words to her; those same words that had been said to her countless times over the years by her beloved sister.

  “Even so…! I am an Adventurer! And a member of the Hecate Familia!!”

  As if on que, a pink aura started emitting off her; and the rookie Adventurer started to feel her strength increasing with it as she started being able to hold her ground against the giant monster.

  At the same time, the same pink aura was surrounding Tris; only she felt herself getting weaker instead.

  “W-What is this…?”

  “Hrrggkk…!”

  Despite the increase in strength, Emma was still only a fledgling Adventurer; and as such, it became increasingly clear that she was still not strong enough to hold it back for long.

  However, she managed to hold it back for long enough.

  “Ignitis Lumine!!”

  With her chant completed, Tetra unleashed her magic into the Dungeon Worm; balls of fmes bombarded the Dungeon Worm in a series of loud explosions as shrieks of pain escaped its mouth.

  When the smoke and dust settled, all that was left of said monster was just a rge bcken worm corpse.

  “Hah…hah…”

  Emma dropped to her knees, the pink aura fading away and leaving her gasping and wheezing from exhaustion.

  ‘What… what just happened…? What was that pink light…?’

  “Is everyone alright!?” Drake cried out as he, Dae and Lisa ran up to the party, “Any injuries?”

  “W-We’re fine!” Coco told him.

  “What about you, Emma?”

  “Ye-Yeah…” Emma nodded sluggishly, “Just really… really tired…”

  “That’s a relief…” He let out a sigh, before delivering a chop to her head, “What were you thinking just now!? You could have been killed!!”

  “I-I know! B-But… if I didn’t do anything, Tetra would have…”

  “Even so, that was an incredibly stupid move!!”

  “Now, now; the important thing is that everyone is alive and well.” Lisa assured him.

  “That’s true…” Drake let out an annoyed groan, “I have already one suicidal idiot to deal with; I don’t need another one…”

  “Y-You are amazing, Emma!” Coco cheered as she walked up to her, “You managed to hold back that monster on your own!!”

  “Indeed; truly awe inspiring.” Momiji agreed.

  “Damn right, it is!”

  Kaede loudly cpped Emma’s back, a gestured that seemed to do more harm than good with how Emma bent over in pain from it, causing the hume bunny to grimace in worry.

  “O-Oh, oops… sorry, did I hit too hard…?” She asked.

  “N-No, it’s okay…!” Emma assured her, “It’s just my body is sore from over exerting myself…”

  “Then you better rest up; can’t have you colpsing on the way back.” Lisa told her before turned to the remaining Supporters, “Alright girls, now that the monsters are dealt with, it’s time to for you all to get to work!”

  “Ah! R-Right! We’re on it!” Momiji nodded.

  “A-Are we really going to have to carve that giant worm open?” Coco asked worriedly.

  “You can just imagine cutting a giant snake open.” Kaede suggested.

  “T-That’s just as bad as the giant goblin one!!”

  As the three girls went off to start carving up the dead monsters, Dae walked up to Tris and asked her, “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing fine.” She told the half-elf, “How about you? Did you managed to defeat the Minotaur?”

  “Yeah, I did.” Dae blinked for a moment, as if the realization of her deed finally kicked in, “T-That’s right! I defeated a Minotaur; on my own!!”

  “Isn’t it already heavily injured, though?”

  “Still a Minotaur!”

  Emma looked on with amusement as she saw the half-elf cheerfully jumped about, just as Lisa sat down next to her and offered her a waterskin.

  “Drink up now; take small sips at a time.”

  “Thank you.” She accepted it and followed her instructions carefully.

  “You did good today, Emma.” The pallum told her with a smile, “It was thanks to your actions that the party is alive right now.”

  “Drake doesn’t seem to think so…”

  “Yeah, don’t try to take his words too badly; he’s just a worrywart, is all.”

  “I guess so…”

  “…So, how does it feel?”

  Emma looked at Lisa with eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Huh?”

  “Surviving against that monster.” The pallum eborated, “It must be quite the scary experience.”

  “Y-Yeah… It is really scary.”

  The Dungeon hated Adventurers and would do all that it could to kill every Adventurer that set foot in its dark depths; that was what the Guild employee had said to Emma in her orientation.

  Even then, even if she was aware of that fact, Emma had never really thought that was the case.

  After the disastrous encounter just now, it was now clear to her why the Guild gave every Adventurer such a warning; and why the Adventurers of Orario were known to be strong.

  They had to be, in order to survive the treacherous depths of the Dungeon and all the dangers it threw their way.

  “The Dungeon really hates us Adventurers, huh…?” Emma pointed out.

  “Indeed, it does…” Lisa nodded, “But enough gloomy stuff; let’s talk about your skill.”

  “My skill?”

  “That pink aura; it has to be due to your skill, right?” The pallum pointed out, “Seeing that you managed to activate it means that you found the trigger for it, right?”

  “I-I guess so…”

  Emma had a feeling that it might be; after all, that skill was the only thing the Falna had provided her with.

  “Do you remember what the trigger was?”

  “Um… I remember wanting to protect Tetra from the worm monster, and…”

  “Shouting that you are a member of the Hecate Familia?”

  That remark caused Emma’s face to flush beet red, “Y-Yeah… it was in a spur of the moment…”

  “I see… Well, gd to hear that from you.” Lisa giggled, “Still, maybe that is the key? Lady Hecate theorized that your skill might be stitching something from us to you; maybe thinking of the Familia is the trigger?”

  “E-Eh? I-Is that really it? Something that embarrassing?”

  “We can probably test more after we get back. And speaking of which…”

  “We’re done!” Kaede announced as the Supporters returned with bags filled with magic stones.

  “Good work.” Lisa told them.

  “Right, I believe we all had enough excitement for the day.” Drake stated, “We’re heading back to the surface.”

  ““Yes, sir!””

  As such, the little expedition came to a satisfying end; with many more soon to come.

  …To be continued…

  And done! Holy shit, this chapter took a long while to write.

  Sorry for taking so long; this chapter just got away from me, with no idea how I was to proceed with it.

  And Genshin’s new updates had been somewhat of a time sink for the past couple of weeks.

  Still, this chapter really took it out of me, so expect the next chapter not to be anytime soon.

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!