This is a dream.

  The swordsman had officially joined the battle against the Great Hole.

  His first few days as part of the fort was one of hardship, one he had to share with his fellow recruits; day in and day out, his unit had been forced to fight near endless waves of monsters crawling out of the giant abyss with barely any time to rest in between.

  But thanks to Indra’s power, he was able to push back the monsters more than any of his fellow soldiers ever could on their own, giving the fort more breathing room to rest up for the next wave.

  His efforts granted him many boons from his higher-ups; from better food to new equipment, they provided him with the best they got in stock.

  Along with it, was the awe and envy from his fellow soldiers, especially the more senior officers; so much so that there had been attempts to sabotage him in any shape of form.

  That came to a head when one such attempt had backfired on everyone and nearly caused the downfall of the fort, and would have been a start of another Dark Age if the swordsman hadn’t put a stop to it all in time.

  With Indra in hand, he destroyed the monsters at lightning-fast speeds and with thunderous feats of strength; and with his fellow soldiers, they pushed the monsters back and secured the fort once more.

  This act of heroism and bravery would earn him the respect and honor of all the senior officers, and the awe of his fellow soldiers; and eventually led to him being assigned as one of the castle’s leading generals.

  In those years to come, this battle against the monsters would be memorialized as the Battle of Shreme Castle, and became a vital part of the swordsman’s legend.

  “Emma! Follow my lead!”

  “Got it!”

  “Strike, and break through; Electro!!”

  Swerving around the bst of fire, I made a mad dash towards the pack of Hellhounds that unleashed at me.

  The monsters tried to flee, but I leaped over them and cut off their escape route before they could get too far, putting them between me and Emma in a pincer attack.

  One of them prepared to unleash a bst of fire at me, but I pierced my electrically charged hand through its body before it could, killing it and turning its body a cloud of dark ash along with its magic stone.

  A gnce was enough for me to see Emma doing somewhat the same, the rookie dodging bsts of fire while the glowing aura of her skill emitting off her, as she bisected a Hellhound’s head from its body with a swift strike from her swords.

  Working as one, we made short work of them in no time at all; leaving all but a bunch of monster corpses in our wake, along with a few magic stones and a couple of fangs.

  “Alright, Kaede. You guys are up.”

  “Coming!!”

  The three girls quickly ran up to us with the rest of the party and got to work extracting the magic stones from the monster corpses.

  It had been a couple of weeks since our arrangement with Kaede and her friends; our party now had been diving deep into the Middle Floors on a daily basis, with an additional member joining us on occasions.

  On this dive, only Kyumaru was the one joining us.

  “You’ve gotten better with those swords, Emma.” The renard noted.

  Compared to the somewhat clumsy swings she would make months prior, her attacks were now more compact and concise, allowing her swords to slice through instead of cleaving into.

  “Thanks! I’ve been working really hard.” She nodded with a tired smile as the aura faded away.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked her, “Need some rest?”

  “Ah, I’m okay… just feeling a bit winded…” She assured me, “Using this skill really tires me out…”

  Ever since we figured out how Emma’s skill worked, she had been taking a more active role in our party down in the Middle Floors, especially with how powerful the skill was; though Minotaurs and Dungeon Worms were still too strong for her.

  When we expined what happened then to Hecate, the goddess concluded that Emma’s skill, Rein Amur, allowed her to take a portion of another Familia member’s status and add it to her own.

  What happened back when she blocked the Dungeon Worm was that she took part of Tris’s endurance and added it to her own, allowing her to hold it off for as long as she had.

  That would expin away the whole Rhapsody in the skill description.

  Using said skill did come with a cost of draining her stamina greatly each time she used it depending who she used it on; when she took from my status, she nearly passed out from sheer exhaustion mere moments after.

  That was not the only thing that skill did either; it also added some of the borrowed status into her own Falna, permanently increasing her stats each time she used it.

  If she used her skill well enough, Emma could beat my record for the fastest time used to Level Up in no time at all.

  “Right, shall we take a quick break before–”

  “Look out!!”

  “Yikes!!”

  “Woah!!”

  A quick warning from Kaede behind us allowed us to dodge several stone hatchets that suddenly came flying towards us, while parrying away those that we weren’t able to.

  Gncing back at our supporters, they too were targeted by the hatchets, with Tris taking the role of tanking the attack.

  “Over there! Behind those rocks!”

  “Almiraj, a dozen of them…!”

  Sure enough, there were a bunch of those red-eyed white furred rabbit monsters peeking out from behind some stactites; one of them had taken a chance to throw a stone hatchet at me, which I easily parried away.

  “Emma, you go—”

  “Leave them to me!!”

  “Ah, Tetra!!”

  Dashing out from behind Tris, the young Amazoness made her way towards the monsters; a few of them reacted to her movements by throwing their stone hatchets at her.

  While not as easily as me and Emma had made it seem, Tetra blocked and knocked away several of them with her staff; though she wasn’t able to get them all as one lodged itself in one of her legs, causing her to fall to her knees.

  “Grgk!”

  “Tetra!!”

  The Amazoness struggled to get back up, leaving her open for the Almiraj to leap out from behind their cover and swarmed her with stone weapons ready to bludgeon into her without mercy.

  And it would have been the case, if Kyumaru hadn’t stepped in and killed them all with several quick strikes with his sword.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Y-Yeah… thank you, Kyumaru…”

  As the renard sheathed his sword, we quickly caught up to them; Coco already taking out a potion to use on the injured amazoness as Momiji pulled out the stone hatchet from her leg.

  “What were you thinking!?” I shouted at her, “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

  “I-I’m sorry…”

  “What’s gotten into you, Tetra?” Emma asked her worriedly, “You rarely broken out of formation like that.”

  “I mean… it’s just some Almiraj…” The amazoness mumbled, “I just thought I could take them…”

  “Tetra, you know how bad it is to underestimate any Monsters.” I pointed out; Drake pretty much beat that into me since I became an Adventurer, “That’s especially true for you; you’re not a frontline fighter, you know.”

  “…I know that… but… I…”

  Her voice turned softer with each word, to the point that I couldn’t understand any of her mumbles.

  “…Just use your magic next time; you’re not Jeanne.”

  “…I understand.”

  “Wow, Dae reprimanding someone for stepping out of formation?” Tris noted in surprise, “Never thought I would see the day.”

  “Eh? Was Dae that bad before?” Emma asked.

  “Well, not to the point that we needed to save her, but she was pretty reckless when she first started out; and everytime, Drake would tear into her without any mercy.”

  “That does sound like what Drake would do…”

  I couldn’t deny that; back then, I mostly went through the motions by instinct alone, so whenever a monster showed up, my body moved to engage with it without thinking even if there were other people with me. Thankfully, I had gotten rid of that habit.

  But Tetra was a different story; she had been an Adventurer longer than me, so she should know how irresponsible it was to break formation without any warning.

  And that was not all had been acting quite odd these past few weeks; charging at monsters without any warning, using her magic even against monsters that me and Emma could take out easily. It had mostly been on the Upper Floors, but now she had done it down in the Middle Floors as well.

  What could have caused her to suddenly act so recklessly?

  “Hah… that’s that taken care of…”

  A sigh escaped Jeanne’s lips as she put down her pen, massaging her shoulders after spending hours working on the paperwork on her desk; most of them having to do with the Familia’s finances and logistics.

  While usually a monthly chore of Garos’s, the elf decided to take care of it for this month instead due to the contents this time.

  “All that’s left is…”

  Her eyes looked down at the paper she had put aside, a list of expenses required for an expedition down into the Lower Floors that Garos had recently drafted up earlier in the morning.

  ‘Everything is within our budget, and the amount we might bring back would cover up the costs… however…’

  It had been a few months since the Familia had lost one of their rookies to the Irregur Troll, an incident she wasn’t going to let repeat itself to any of them.

  Since then, she had them hold off on going any further than the deepest parts of the Forest Labyrinth for their monthly expeditions; members of said expeditions only included the Familia’s High-Css Adventurers with the exclusion of their uprising rookie of the current generation and their youngest member.

  Her original reasoning was that they both needed time to properly mourn over the death of Leos and that seeing a Troll might trigger traumatic memories of that time and induce a panic attack.

  But after Dae reached Level 2, the reason became that she wasn’t completely used to the increase in physical abilities from a Level-Up and would need time to properly adjust her movements to the sudden boost.

  And when Emma joined the Familia, it became that the newcomer needed time to adjust to life as an Adventurer and they needed to help guide her.

  Now that it had been several months since then and Emma had found a way to use her extremely powerful Skill, Jeanne had no excuse not to include the Dae and Tetra into the expedition group.

  And that brought up the idea to finally attempt a descent into the Lower Floors.

  Considering the strengths of their current High-Css members, they were more than ready to descend that far; especially considering how strong Dae had become as of te.

  ‘Dae is now strong enough to take down minotaurs… and Tetra has gotten better with her magic casting…’

  Personally, Jeanne didn’t want to bring the Tetra on this expedition; the maternal side of her was against bringing such a young child into unfamiliar territories, especially one of her age.

  However, the Adventurer side of her was well aware of the necessary role Tetra brought to the expedition and not bringing her would be a huge detriment to the expedition party.

  And if anything, Garos had written down formations that would make full use of Tetra while minimizing danger to the young amazoness, which finally convinced her to agree to it.

  ‘Speaking of which, Tetra has been acting weird tely…’

  Ever since they discovered how to activate Emma’s Skill, the young amazoness had been acting somewhat out-of-sorts.

  Her cheery demeanor had somewhat soured to a somewhat gloomy expression and she didn’t seem to be at a loss of appetite as well; hardly touching her food even when it was her favorite dishes.

  ‘Something is definitely bothering her… but what could it be…?’

  *KNOCK**KNOCK*

  Her musings were cut short by the sound of soft knocks on her door; it was already te into the night, so most of the Familia should be resting by now.

  “Who is it?”

  “…It’s Tetra. May I come in?”

  The voice of Tetra surprised Jeanne as she opened the door and let the young amazoness into her office.

  “Is something the matter?” Jeanne asked.

  “I want to ask you something.” Tetra stated.

  “What is it?”

  “Do you know how to do concurrent chanting?”

  Concurrent chanting was an advanced technique in which a mage would move about while casting their spell instead of staying in pce, and was likened to holding a bomb while running through fire with how easy it was to cause an ignis fatuss doing it.

  Jeanne had never been able to successfully pull it off herself, though it was not without a ck of trying; which was why it was a surprise that Tetra had asked about it.

  “Well, I do know the technique, but may I know why you want to know?”

  “…I…I don’t want to hold everyone back anymore…”

  “…Hold everyone back?”

  That caught the elf off-guard, ‘Was this what’s worrying her all this time?’

  “Dae, Tris, Emma, everyone had been getting stronger; but me?” The amazoness sighed, “Besides not needing Mind Potions as much as before, I hadn’t been improving… I’m not getting any better and still need people to protect me.”

  “Tetra…”

  Jeanne finally understood; Dae and Emma were newcomers that had improved quite quickly, with the former reaching Level 2 in record time. Even Tris had gained a Skill.

  But Tetra hadn’t gained anything, no new spells or Skills; it no doubt made it looked like she was stagnating in her growth in comparison.

  “That’s why if I learn concurrent chanting, they have no need to keep protecting me. So please, Jeanne! Please teach me!”

  “Um…”

  Seeing the amazoness begging her so desperately like that, Jeanne couldn’t have the heart to reject her; and even if she wasn’t able to do the technique herself, the elf knew how the theory behind it worked.

  She should be able to teach the amazoness that at least.

  The problem was the monthly expedition; she and Garos had agreed that it would take pce about a week from today, as it was smack in the middle of the Goliath’s spawning period.

  That was hardly enough time for her to teach the amazoness.

  “Please, Jeanne! I beg of you!!” Tetra cried, her bottom lip wobbling and eyes wide and teary, the perfect puppy dog eyes expression that pulled on the elf’s maternal instinct.

  “Gugugu… Hah, since you are so insistent…” Jeanne let out a sigh.

  “R-Really!? Hurray!! Thank you, Jeanne!!”

  “But I can’t promise you that you’ll be able to do it.” The elf added, “It is an advanced technique, after all.”

  “I understand! I’ll do my best to learn it!!” The young amazoness decred gleefully.

  Seeing Tetra bouncing about the room like the excited child that she was, it made the elf remember the time her own child pressured her into teaching her how to use a spear, and with the same tactics as well.

  ‘I wonder if that little rascal is doing okay…?'

  When morning came the following day, after informing the rest of the Familia about the upcoming expedition, Jeanne brought Tetra into one of the many rooms in the Upper Floors of the Dungeon.

  Considering the destructiveness of the amazoness’s magic, it was the only pce they could use as her training ground.

  “Alright…” Jeanne pondered for a moment, “If I remembered it right, the theory behind concurrent chanting is to gather your Mind while moving your body on an instinctual level.”

  “So, I just let my body move on its own when I chant?” Tetra asked, “That sounds pretty easy to do.”

  “Trust me, it’s not.”

  If it was that simple, a lot more mages in Orario would have been capable of it instead of a select few elites; unfortunately, Jeanne was not one of them.

  “With that being said, the easiest way to get a hang of it is through practical means.” Jeanne spun her spear about so that the blunt end was facing forward, “I want you to avoid my attacks while chanting your spell.”

  “…that’s it?” Tetra asked.

  “Yes, that’s all it is to the technique.”

  While a bit overly simplistic, this method was indeed the best way to learn concurrent chanting in the short time they had; and the original purpose of the technique had always been to allow mages to evade and maneuver out of the attacks.

  “Alright, you ready?”

  “Y-Yes, ma’am!”

  “Good. Then start chanting.”

  “Okay! The bright–Gah!?!?”

  Just a few words into her chant, Tetra had the air punched out of her by Jeanne’s spear jabbing into her stomach before she could react; thankfully, she hadn’t gathered much Mind to cause an ignis fatuss so her magic circle just faded away.

  “Oh, shit…!” The elf quickly got out of her stance when she saw the amazonness dropped to her knees in agony, “You okay, Tetra!?”

  “I’m… I’m okay.” She muttered out between painful coughs, “I, grgk, was not expecting that…”

  “Yeah, that’s my fault; sorry about that.”

  Tetra shook her head as she got back on her feet, “No, it’s fine; I was just caught off-guard. I’ll be ready for the next one.”

  “…alright then, shall we continue?”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  “Begin!”

  “The bright light that–Woah!”

  Tetra quickly tilted her body and avoid the first jab, but it caused her to lose concentration and her spell dissipate into the aether.

  “Damn it!”

  “Again!”

  “R-Right! The bright light–Gah!!”

  “Again!”

  “The-–Eep!”

  “Again!”

  “Yikes!!”

  Again and again, Jeanne jabbed her spear at Tetra from various angles and speeds; and again and again, Tetra kept either getting bonked by the blunt end or dodging it and failing her spell.

  “This… This is way harder than I thought…” Tetra panted out with bruises all over her exposed ebony skin.

  “There’s a reason that this is known as an advanced technique.” Jeanne told her.

  Channeling Mind into the spell already took immense concentration in of itself, thus why most mages stood in pce while doing so; moving about would easily break it.

  For someone as young and inexperienced as Tetra, the act was close to impossible to do so.

  “Still want to continue?”

  “Y-Yes! Keep them coming!!”

  “Alright then. Begin!”

  “The bright–Geh!!”

  The exercise carried on for the next several hours, with Tetra pretty much failing to fully cast her spell amidst the fury of spear jabs.

  However, as time went on, the length of the verse she was able to chant out was getting longer as she began properly avoiding the jabs.

  ‘She might be able to do it…!’

  “The ground will be scorched and reborn; Ignitis Lumine!!”

  Tetra finished her chant and aimed her staff at Jeanne, the elf quickly moved out of the way to avoid the incoming spell.

  “…”

  “…Huh?”

  But instead, nothing happened, leaving the two of them staring at the amazoness’s staff in confusion.

  “Ah, I concentrate so hard on chanting that I forget to channel the Mind…”

  “Tetra…”

  The elf face-palmed at another of Tetra’s failed attempts, one which she considered the most ridiculous among them so far.

  “L-Let’s try again! I’ll get it right this time!”

  “Gd to see that hadn’t discouraged you… alright, let’s continue!”

  “Hah…”

  “There, there.”

  Tetra let out a deep sigh while Jeanne patted her on the back as they made their way back home, the setting sun painting the streets in a deep orange hue.

  In the end, the young amazoness hadn’t been able to perform concurrent chanting even once, leaving her feeling pretty dejected.

  “Still, you are making good progress.” Jeanne assured her, “If you keep this up, you will have it down in no time.”

  “You think so?” Tetra asked.

  “Yeah.”

  It was clear to the elf that the amazoness was quickly getting better in gathering Mind while avoiding her attacks; and the speed of her chants was improving as well.

  If she kept it up, it was possible that she might be able to perform concurrent chanting by the end of the week.

  ‘She might be more gifted than we give her credit for…’

  “Then I’ll do my best!” Tetra cried out, “I’m definitely going to master that technique!!”

  “Alright, alright; no need to shout it out for everyone to hear.” Jeanne told her as she patted her on the head, causing the amazoness to let out a giggle in response.

  ‘To think that little girl had grown this much…’

  Jeanne could fatefully remember the day Tetra joined their Familia, and the shock they had when the orphan girl showed up on their doorsteps.

  She could remember how furious she was at her goddess for bringing someone as young as her into the Familia, or even thinking of bringing a literal child into the Dungeon.

  She didn’t care if Hecate prophesied that the girl would be a great asset in the future, she would not allow a kid to fight monsters.

  She didn’t care if Hecate prophesied that the girl would be a great asset in the future, she would not allow a kid to fight monsters.

  That changes when it was revealed that the amazoness was granted a spell when she gained a Falna, one that made her the backbone to almost all of their party formations then on.

  As the youngest member, she had been a subject of worry and concern for everyone, especially Jeanne and Lisa who took it upon themselves to care and protect her in any way possible.

  But as she grew older, it became increasingly clear that their concerns were for naught, especially when she became a Level 2 just three years after becoming an Adventurer.

  And now, her talents were making them known once more.

  ‘It is truly the next generation’s era now…’

  The thought echoed in her mind as they made their way back home under the evening sun.

  …To be continued…

  Man, this chapter took quite a while to write!

  So yeah, this mini arc is going to be centered around Tetra this time, hope you looked forward to it!!

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!