"Oh, Azrael, look. The scholar has arrived," said Aaron with a sarcastic grin. He patted the shoulder of Azrael, who was observing the Dungeon portal with his hand on his chin. Azrael turned to look at me and smiled, catching Aaron's mood.
"Shut up, Aaron," I retorted sarcastically to Aaron, then yawned and stretched. Last night's mana control practice had left me very sleepy.
In front of me now was a blue, swirling Dungeon portal. Not only was it swirling, but it was absorbing the surrounding mana particles into itself. Well, that's how dungeons can remain open — they absorb surrounding mana to sustain themselves. If they absorb too much mana, the monsters inside can come out.
My eyes scanned the surroundings. This dungeon was located beside Defier City, which made the location very quiet, and it seemed Sierra and Emily hadn't arrived yet, since I hadn't seen them so far.
"Oh, right, Aaron, Azrael — there's something I want to talk about." They both turned to me simultaneously after hearing me. "Allow me to be a close-range fighter this time."
Azrael raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"
"But you can't—" Aaron started, but I already knew what he meant. So before he could finish speaking, I drew the sword from its scabbard and immediately channeled mana into it until it glowed. My mana was now more stable after last night's practice.
"I can. And as for how to use a sword? I've trained," I said. The first part was true, the second was a lie. "I'll use this sword only to fight the small fry. If we face the boss, I'll switch back to my magic." Yeah, I brought my staff as backup.
"Alright, it's up to you," said Azrael with a smirk.
"Just don't pass out again," Aaron added.
"I won't," I replied, sheathing the sword again.
After a few minutes, I heard footsteps behind me. Turning, I saw Sierra wearing a blue wizard robe. Her face looked very bright today, perhaps because she had braided her hair, revealing her entire face and ears clearly. In her hand, she held her small staff, and beside her… Emily wore a purple robe, her expression still the same — very serious and a bit intimidating. Somehow, seeing her face reminded me of that slap again. I'm still a little scared of her!
I became curious: what made her such a person? It couldn't be innate, right? Everyone's personality is shaped by their environment, including my past self… Hmm, if Emily could smile brightly like Sierra, she would look pretty. Well, even with her serious face, she's already beautiful — that's her charm…
"You look sleepy? Did you stay up late?" Sierra said when she was in front of me. Her tone wasn't like when she checked on me in the previous Dungeon; this time it was more like a close friend, which actually made me awkward because I'm sure there's something deeper behind this.
"Y-yes, I stayed up last night to finish my college assignment," I answered awkwardly.
"Alright, is everyone ready? We need to finish this quickly," Azrael broke the silence.
Hearing that, we all nodded. Then Azrael took the first step into the Dungeon and disappeared inside. And we followed behind him…
…
After entering, my sense of smell was greeted by the scent of damp soil mixed with the dusty smell of the stone cave walls. Well, the structure inside the Dungeon was as usual, similar to other dungeons — a large cave. Almost all dungeons are like this, except for Unique Dungeons.
Upon closer inspection, this Dungeon wasn't as big as the one where I fought the Serpent Centipede before, and the lighting was very minimal because the crystals inside were very small and only stuck to the ceilings along with hardened mineral deposits — or stalactites, that's roughly what they're called.
Sigh!
It seems my party can't rely on crystals for money from this Dungeon… So now the income source from this Dungeon is taking the mana cores of the monsters here.
'I'm curious, what monster am I fighting?' I kept observing my surroundings with my sword in hand. Sierra asked me why I was carrying a sword, and I explained that I wanted to switch roles and practice using a sword.
Aaron in front of me shot me a mocking glance as if belittling me. I just smiled back — that's Aaron's nature; he just likes to joke. In Adrian's memories, they've been friends since childhood, but in middle school they separated because Aaron had to move cities with his family. But we were still in the same middle school because the distance wasn't too far, before finally parting ways because he chose the Magic Academy, and I continued my education through high school until now. That's why he calls me 'Scholar'.
Step! Step! Step!
So far, my party has been walking, and we haven't found anything. In fact, this place is getting darker and darker because the crystals on the ceiling are becoming fewer. But that doesn't worry me, because Azrael is leading this journey with his sword ready in hand.
Unlike Aaron, who is an assassin who plays fast and hides, Azrael is more like a direct fighter, but his speed can surpass Aaron's because he's Rank B, while Aaron is C+. Actually, I don't know Azrael very well; he's two years older than me, and he's also from the Magic Academy like Aaron. I met him through Aaron two months ago. But he's nice; if he weren't, he wouldn't have accepted me as a party member, because I'm not even from the Magic Academy, but from a university that will produce a civilian.
The further we walked, the darker this cave became, until eventually our vision could no longer see what was ahead.
We all stopped after Azrael stopped walking forward. Meanwhile, Aaron walked to the side and channeled fire magic into his dagger, giving him a little light. He checked the cave walls, which turned out to have climbing roots.
"Adrian, use your magic to light up the front," Azrael said calmly.
I stepped forward, then raised my hand.
'Small fire! Small fire!' I kept repeating the mantra in my heart so I wouldn't release large-scale magic again!
Swosh!
A fire the size of my palm finally ignited. I grinned successfully, then combined my fireball with wind magic to move it slowly forward, illuminating the dark cave.
I walked at the front because I was controlling my fire. Squinting my eyes, I saw tentacles starting to writle around.
Then suddenly, the tentacles crawled all over the cave walls from bottom to top.
"Fall back!" My instinct told me to retreat, but after taking just one step back, a root tentacle shot quickly toward my head.
Slash! Slash!
Azrael immediately sliced the root tentacle into several pieces so quickly it was almost invisible to my eyes. Then from behind, Aaron immediately took position — protecting Azrael's unguarded side.
They slashed at the roots while retreating together.
Meanwhile, Emily pelted the roots by forming sharp spikes with her structural magic. Not only those roots, she also tried to attack the center without being ordered, which seemed like she also knew that was the source of the roots.
Sierra raised her staff to help—!
"Stop!" I grabbed her staff. "You could be drawn in!"
'That was close!' If Sierra attacked the roots with her root magic, it would be very dangerous, because I think I know this monster. It's the Rank C Dungeon Boss Veiled Tangleroot, which uses roots to attack — a natural counter to root magic users because it can take ownership of that magic if they come into contact.
This is dangerous!
Crack!
This monster is very cunning; it attacks with large roots to make us focus on them, but quietly, smaller roots crawl all over the cave to trap us.
If it succeeds in getting past Sierra, who's at the back, it will close its roots and pull everything in simultaneously!
"Azrael! Aaron!" I released the small roots on my legs, grabbed the magic staff at my waist, and immediately ran, then surfed on the ground. I was in a shooting position toward the darkness, where I was sure the monster stood, because I faintly saw two small red eyes standing far in the center. "Give me space in the middle!"
Hearing that, they immediately sped up their slashing movements while moving sideways to give me space in the middle.
Realizing the middle space wasn't fully open yet, Emily continuously attacked the surrounding roots with her purple structural magic spike shots. Then the purple structural spikes attached to the roots elongated into spears — pinning those roots to the walls and ground.
The space opened wide thanks to Emily.
"Do it," Emily said flatly.
Without wasting any more time, suddenly, a fireball had formed before I consciously focused mana. Ignoring that, I added mana to my fireball until its size was just right, in my opinion, to kill the monster!
Swoosh!
The fireball shot forward, and I was knocked back a little.
Boom!
The fireball hit a solid wall in the darkness.
'I knew it was there!'
Then the roots that had crawled all over the cave immediately returned to their owner. The transition was so fast, almost like a high-speed car movement.
"Look!" Sierra shouted, making all of us who were still shocked turn simultaneously toward what she pointed at.
In the darkness, it was very clear — something orange-red was running away but with chaotic steps, crashing into walls…
That's the monster; it's burning from my fire!
"That's the boss, don't let it escape!" I said spontaneously. They looked at me in surprise with questioning faces, probably because I could tell it was the boss?
"If that's the boss, we have to defeat it quickly," Azrael channeled mana into his sword, then his feet began to glow with mana, ready to chase.
Aaron also did what Azrael did.
They shot off, leaving me with Sierra and Emily.
"Hey!" I shouted but it wasn't heard; they were getting farther away.
Damn.
Emily stepped past me to the front. "Quick, follow them," she said flatly.
Sierra and I nodded, then we ran, and I lit fire magic to illuminate the path ahead. I wanted to run faster, but I couldn't leave Sierra alone behind; she's only a healer and the most vulnerable here, even though she's Rank C. As for Emily, I don't need to worry about her; honestly, she's very strong and can take care of herself.
Seeing light ahead, we quickened our steps…
After arriving there, my eyes immediately squinted to adapt to the suddenly very bright place.
My vision returned. I was amazed for a moment; this place was very spacious and had crystals lined up on its sides that could be taken.
'I'll get a lot of money…'
Crack! Crack!
I just realized, on the other side of this place, hidden by pillars, Aaron and Azrael were fighting the monster's roots. They seemed to be having trouble getting close because the roots were very numerous and kept closing the distance between them, until finally Emily came to help them.
From my current position, I could see the full form of the monster standing on a mound of stone with a slight depression to hide its body, but that only applied to them.
I saw it clearly — the physique of Veiled Tangleroot, this dungeon's boss, was very similar to my imagination all this time; it had a relatively short body, maybe up to my chest. Its hair, split in two, was formed by a thick combination of leaves and roots that could extend to attack. And because of its hair, its entire inner body wasn't visible, only looking like darkness with two eyes.
Most of its body was made of roots, which is why fire magic is its natural counter — that's why it ran away earlier.
'I'll attack it from here.' I aimed my staff at it, then suddenly—
Small monsters knee-high to me, with physiques like various kinds of trees, began to swarm me. Their sharp teeth ready to bite.
Then suddenly, a root entangled them, slammed them several times, and threw them hard against the crystals until their bodies cracked.
That was Sierra's root magic.
She ran behind me, and we stood back-to-back.
"Just focus on attacking the boss; I'll protect you," Sierra said seriously.
"I trust you," I said, completely entrusting the monsters to Sierra. I'm sure she can handle it; I'll focus on attacking that monster.
I aimed my staff back at the dungeon boss standing upright. The distance was indeed far, and for me, who's still learning magic, it's very difficult to hit it.
But I have a way to hit it from this distance — by sensing the monster's mana. I just need to make myself resonate with natural mana, and at that moment, I'll feel the mana coming from the monster, because it has the most mana here.
Closing my eyes.
Silence.
I shut off all my senses to feel only one thing — the mana around me.
Feeling the large mana wave in the darkness, I moved my staff toward that large mana wave. Then without waiting any longer, I immediately imagined fire coming out of my staff and combined it with wind arrow magic.
Here it goes.
Swoosh!
Opening my eyes, I saw my fire arrow shoot quickly toward the monster until it finally pierced its body easily. It looked shocked, its body burning, then it writhed in pain while attacking randomly in a frenzy, which actually made it very vulnerable to attack.
The monster jumped down from its place and was chased by Aaron, Azrael, and Emily. Knowing the monster was in a weakened condition, it seemed I didn't need to worry about them…
"Thank you, Sierra." Putting down my staff, I then drew my sword from its scabbard. "Leave the small monsters to me."
I approached the small monsters still lurking around and slashed them one by one with my sword, which I had infused with mana, even though my movements were still very stiff. These small monsters were very easy to kill.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The small monsters were now reduced, while the rest were being handled by Sierra. I pulled out the mana core, or what could be called the heart, from one of the dead monsters.
Suddenly, large roots ambushed me repeatedly, so strong that they pierced the ground.
"Watch out!"
I ran toward Sierra, grabbed her, and we rolled together, avoiding the large roots!
The dungeon boss wasn't defeated yet.