---An Hour Later, Floor Nine---
The dungeon dive started out great. In under an hour, our party had cleared eight floors and was on its way to the ninth. I felt confident we would meet my timeline with ease, but that confidence vanished the moment we stepped onto this floor.
“Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!” Yunyun clung to my back, waving her staff as she bathed every nook and cranny around us in cleansing flames. “Why won’t they just leave us alone?!”
“Can we please turn around and go home? I’m done being an adventurer!” Olivia shook like a leaf as she clung to Solaris’ back.
The second we had stepped out of the stairwell, a giant spider assailed us from above. I crushed it with the Force before it could get close, but its harrowing visage was enough to send Olivia and Yunyun into an absolute panic. They attempted to bolt back up the stairs, but Roxanne and I cut off their retreat. We hoisted Olivia onto Solaris' back, and I pulled Yunyun onto my back so we could keep moving at a rapid pace.
“Miss Lucoa, how is our team doing so far?” Roxanne asked, keeping perfect pace beside Solaris and me.
Lucoa nodded, sweat pouring from her brow. “You cleared eight floors in less than an hour. This may only be a Rank 4 dungeon, but few parties can claim such a feat. Overall, the four of you are easily one of the guild’s stronger parties.”
Roxanne’s ears perked up, her tail wagging a mile a minute at the praise. As we rounded another bend, she turned her head back toward me. “So, what is the boss of this dungeon?”
“It's a Goblin Knight and a contingent of Goblin Warriors.”
Two ranks above a regular goblin, Goblin Warriors stood around four feet tall and possessed the strength of an adult man. They were intelligent enough to coordinate basic combat formations, preferred clubs and maces, and rarely wore armor.
The Goblin Knight was the next step up the evolutionary ladder. On par with Ogres in terms of raw strength, they were skilled combatants who could give seasoned knights a difficult time. They sported armor and weapons looted from their slain foes, making them a nightmare to bring down.
“How much further until we reach the next floor?” Olivia clung to Solaris like her life depended on it.
“We are almost there. Maybe four or five hundred feet away at most,” Roxanne said.
Yunyun did an awkward, happy dance from her perch on my back while continuing to bombard every shadow in her path. “Hurray! It’s almost over!”
Around the next corner, the stone archway of the exit came into view. Yunyun scrambled off my back and made a hasty dash for it. Before she could get far, I caught her by the shoulder. She stopped and looked back, unsure why I was restraining her, but she kept her mouth shut. Whatever the reason, she trusted my judgment.
I glanced over at Roxanne, curious to see if her keen senses had picked up the hidden threat ahead. She noticed my gaze and tilted her head in confusion.
“Is something wrong?”
“Do you sense anything strange around us?”
Roxanne realized I had detected a threat and began sniffing the air. When her nose picked up nothing, she closed her eyes to focus her ears on the surrounding echoes.
“I’m sorry, Leon. I can’t sense anything beyond the stairwell to the next floor. Insects don’t release scents like other creatures, so I am not very good at tracking them.”
“That is fair. In situations where you can’t rely on your ears and nose, use your other senses to compensate. If you focus on the wall ahead of us, just above the archway, you might notice the dungeon wall pattern is slightly out of alignment.”
Truth be told, I had only noticed the camouflaged spider thanks to the Force. I was taking advantage of our current run to refine my sensitivity, attempting to make my connection less taxing on my body. While the power already came naturally, I knew that against a true Jedi Master or Sith Lord, I would be overwhelmed instantly.
Yunyun focused her attention on the stone archway, catching sight of the insect almost immediately. She went pale, her staff trembling in her hands. “I… I was almost turned into bug food…”
“No, you wouldn’t have. I would have ripped it apart before it got close to you.”
I raised my hand toward the creature. “Gravity Press.”
A large orb of absolute darkness materialized just before the spider. Before the creature could react, I willed the sphere forward, crushing the monster and the stone beneath it into a massive crater. With the path clear, we hurried into the stairwell, ducking into a small nook to collect ourselves.
Once we hit the safety of the stairs, magic exhaustion hit Yunyun like a physical blow. “I’ve never been happier to find a set of stairs in my entire life… Give me a few minutes, and I will—”
Her voice trailed off. Her knees buckled as she collapsed forward. I caught her before she hit the stone floor, pulling her back to prop her against the cavern wall. She faded in and out of consciousness, her eyes glassy as I fished a mana potion from her hip pouch. I popped the cork and forced the fluid down her throat. Within seconds, a healthy color returned to her face.
Yunyun pulled a second mana potion from her pouch and gulped it down. “I’m sorry… I should start working on improving my mana efficiency again. I’ve been neglecting my training to focus on learning more spells to help the party.”
“There is no need to apologize, Yunyun,” I said. “While I appreciate your dedication to the team, don’t run yourself ragged for our sake. Our journey to the top is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time, grow at your own pace, and rest whenever you need to.”
“I understand… thank you.”
Yunyun’s face flushed a deep crimson. Before anyone could notice—or so she hoped—she buried her face in her arms to hide her expression.
“You are such a lady killer, Leon. Hehe!” Lucoa wiped the sweat from her face and neck with the back of her hand. “With kind words like that and a handsome face, you must be swimming in marriage proposals at the Academy. Have you picked anyone yet?”
I took a seat beside Yunyun and retrieved my canteen from my inventory, taking a long sip. “I’m glad you think so, but I haven't received a single confession or love note. That said, the receptionist at the high-class inn I was staying at asked me out. We haven’t settled on a time yet, but I’m thinking somewhere around next week.”
Lucoa blinked, completely startled. Intelligence, good looks, genuine kindness, and massive wealth—those four traits were everything a woman could ever want in a lifelong partner. Men like that were supposed to be snatched up the moment they stepped into the capital. That a guy with his background wasn't attracting potential partners made absolutely no sense to her.
Olivia chimed in, eager to clarify. “In the few days since the semester began, Leon has publicly berated the Crown Prince and his inner circle, chastised his entire class for following the Prince instead of using their own heads, and ran off a cruel noblewoman who was bullying me.”
“Ah, so the noblewomen at the Academy are cowards then. That makes sense.”
“Huh?!” Olivia stared at her, her jaw dropping. “After everything I just said, your response is that they are cowards?”
“Oh right, I forgot you weren’t a noble like Leon. Let me put it this way: Leon did all that with zero consequences. That means either the higher-ups secretly agree with his actions, or they are too afraid of him to raise a complaint. To any sane woman, that makes Leon a prime target.”
While I appreciated Lucoa’s sudden stream of compliments, now was neither the time nor the place for a lecture on high-society matchmaking. To get us back on track, I stood up and pivoted the conversation back to the matter at hand.
“Just to confirm, I believe Rank 4 dungeons have fifteen floors. Is that accurate?”
“Yes, that is correct,” Lucoa said, adjusting the strap of her ruined armor. “Rank 3 has twenty floors, Rank 2 has twenty-five, and Rank 1 has thirty. The total floor count is one of the key factors the guild uses to assign danger ranks.”
Horrified, Yunyun lifted her head, hoping this was some cruel joke. When she noticed our deadpan expressions, she slumped against the wall in sheer dismay.
Lucoa gave her a comforting smile. “There is no need to fret, Yunyun. The ninth floor is the only insectoid level in this dungeon. From here on out, we are trekking through an icy tundra.”
“Thank goodness! I don’t think I could have survived another…”
Yunyun’s voice trailed off. A split second later, she lunged across the narrow nook and grabbed Lucoa by the collar. The realization hit her like a lightning bolt: Lucoa knew about the bugs in advance and hadn't bothered to share it. To Yunyun, it was a grievous betrayal.
“First, you kept us in the dark about crucial guild information,” Yunyun said, her voice shaking with rage as she bunched the fabric in her fists. “Next, you forgot to tell us that people in the capital discriminate against our nonhuman friends. Now, you didn’t even have the decency to warn us about those… those horrible, skittering creatures! Do you enjoy tormenting us?!”
Lucoa just stared at her, caught completely off guard. Yunyun had never acted so unhinged before, but I couldn't entirely fault her for it. Had I known Olivia and Yunyun suffered from such severe entomophobia, I would have taken the time to review the dungeon composition thoroughly. Now that I knew, we would avoid insectoid dens entirely.
“I’ve apologized for my actions several times already,” Lucoa said, recovering from her initial shock as her eyes narrowed. “Remove your hands from me.”
“You keep saying that, but your actions—”
I stepped between them, prying Yunyun’s fingers away from Lucoa’s torn collar before things devolved into a full guild hall brawl.
“Drop it, Yunyun,” I said, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder. “It wasn't Lucoa's fault. It was our responsibility to request a detailed layout of the dungeon before we left the counter, and we failed to do so. From this point forward, we check for the monster types we will encounter before we step past the threshold.”
Yunyun bit her lower lip, staring at the floor.
“You have every right to be angry about what happened,” I continued. “And I’m sorry we dragged you through your worst nightmare. But we can't abandon this dive. We see this through to the end, or our promotion is dead in the water. Worse, it will just reinforce the rumor that our team has been cheating to clear our previous dungeons.”
Yunyun hung her head, the wind completely taken out of her sails. She knew I was right, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. Lucoa was an official observer. Assuming she would step in to offer unprompted tactical help was a rookie mistake.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lucoa.”
“Don’t start with that nonsense now, Yunyun,” Lucoa let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. “I’m just as upset as you are. While it may not look like it, I hate bugs just as much as you do. I kept my mouth shut at the entrance because I am forbidden from offering you any support during an active exam. If an auditor hears or sees me giving unprompted hints, your exam is thrown out and my career is over. The guild has exceptionally high standards. Anything less is unacceptable.”
Relieved they were patching things up, I glanced over at Olivia and Roxanne. Both looked ready to get moving again, albeit deeply unhappy that we were about to freeze our butts off. I was in complete agreement. I wasn't looking forward to the frostbite either.
Luxion repositioned himself near my shoulder, cloaked in his usual stealth field. <Master, shall I prepare some winter gear for your party? It will take about thirty minutes to produce the gear.>
“That would be great, but it will be hard to explain away,” I kept my low so only he could hear me. “After all, I came here doing zero research because I was overconfident. We will need to make the gear look like it's random dungeon loot. Can you arrange that?”
<Of course, it will be a simple matter. What do you plan to do in the meantime?>
“If the next levels are open tundra, I think I have an idea for quickly covering ground.”
Luxion did not pry further into my plans. He accepted my response and resumed his normal monitoring position.
“Solaris, do you mind carrying Olivia a little longer? I may have a solution to ferry us all across the icy plains.”
<Rawr!>
Solaris bobbed his confirmation. Kneeling next to her, Olivia hopped onto his back with a smile. With everyone ready to go, we descended the stairs into a blustery, frozen hellscape.
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