'So that's what it's called?' I thought, looking at the dungeon's stone marker that was 10 meters away from the entrance.
[Gnarled Root Dungeon]
The entrance resembled a cave that was clumsily carved in rough basalt; with green vines all over the entrance in the shape of an arch. It looked abandoned, with vegetation all around it.
"As you can see," Hicks started speaking as we all stood behind him. I could feel Shin staring daggers at me.
'I suppose he isn't too happy about me leading. He glared at me ever since Hicks told us our roles…'
"This D-Rank dungeon looks more like a cave on the verge of collapse. Such are lower-rank dungeons. At the end of such a dungeon, there's a reward befitting its rank."
"Uhm, sir, how dungeons are ranked?" Mika asked.
"Hmh. Scout parties with competent mages gauge the mana coming from it. It's an estimate. It's a reliable method for lower ranks. It gets more complicated the higher a rank a gate is. But that's not important for now," Hicks replied.
"Now, if there's no more questions—"
"Yeah," Shin raised his hand, interrupting.
We all turned to Shin.
"Sato's wea... Uhm," He shook his head.
'As if we didn't know what you were gonna say…'
"He's B rank, sir. And not a battle type. Why're we following him, Sir?"
"He is your Sage," Hicks said without missing a beat, "Even the mightiest warriors can be brought down by traps. A reliable Sage is handy in dungeons."
"But," Shin continued, "I'm a Thief. And a higher level. I can also detect traps."
"Perhaps," Hicks replied, "But a Sage has greater spatial awareness, and is better equipped to lead overall to keep you safe. I hear Sato's Spiked Vine Trap works on enemies that have a higher level, too. Is there a problem with him leading?"
"N-... Jesus. No, fuck..." He murmured under his breath.
'I knew he was frustrated... A nerd like me was leading him, after all.'
"Just asking... Christ." He muttered as he looked away, giving me another glare.
'He's angrier now.'
Hicks looked at Shin a beat too long with a narrow gaze before sighing deeply.
Sir Hicks stood at the entrance, his shadow long against the grass.
"I will be right here," he said, his voice a steady anchor. "Trust your roles. Trust your Sage."
I took a breath, clutching my spellbook so hard my knuckles turned white. I stepped forward, my boots crunching hard cobblestone and dirt beneath our feet.
'I'll finally… Do a dungeon run.'
Soon, sunlight vanished. And we were swallowed by the Dungeon's darkness. I used a torch I'd lit moments before entering. The rest following behind me.
Roughly 30 meters into the cave... Nothing out of the ordinary.
And then we took a turn. The sunlight from the cave's entrance vanishing entirely. We were completely cut off from Sir Hicks.
'My trap detection isn't seeing anyth—'
A hand slammed into my shoulder, spinning me around. Clutching tightly on my palm as I held the torch.
"O-ouch..! What are—"
"Who do you think you are, Sato? Seriously." A scoff.
"You actually believe this whole fantasy bullshit? You think because some old guy in some fantasy cosplay armor gave you a title, you're suddenly the boss?" Shin hissed.
He looked behind us, then turned his gaze on me.
His glare earlier is incomparable to this one.
"C-cosplay..? S-sir Hicks is a knight! And he told us to—"
He tightened his grip, I winced.
My fingers felt as if they were being crushed.
"Man, Kazuya was right about you," Shin continued, laughing under his breath. "You got real high off your own farts the moment we got isekaid like in your wet dreams." He snatched the torch out of my hands, nearly dislocating my shoulders.
"Ahhk!"
He turned to Mika and Takeshi, who were standing a few feet back, looking uncomfortable.
"And you two! Were you really gonna follow this guy? The guy who got folded daily by Kazuya? The guy who couldn't even look us in the eye a few months ago?"
Mika shifted her weight, her eyes darting between Shin and me. She bit her lip,
"W-what? O-of course not..." she stuttered, her voice high. "It's just, like... Sir Hicks told us... and we need to survive, so I'm just—"
"'Sir Hicks' doesn't know shit about us," Shin interjected as he mocked Hicks' name, stepping into my personal space.
"This is just some fantasy nonsense. I ain't following the weakest guy in the group just because some 'isekai knight guy' said so. It's a D-Rank dungeon. We all killed monsters stronger than this whole bullshit!"
Mika gaze wandered, her eyes squinting.
"If you really give a fuck about what "Sir Hicks" says, then we'll clear this dungeon, and then we'll tell the old man we followed Sato, our "Sage". That make you feel better?"
"I... It's... It's just... I... Uhm..." Mika murmured, her voice smaller now. More like a whisper.
Shin stepped forward, intentionally slamming his shoulder into mine. I wasn't braced for it. I stumbled, my boot catching on a jagged rock, and I hit the damp floor of the cave with a dull thud.
"Takeshi, Mika. You're both A-Rank. I'm a B-ranked Thief. We got this. We don't need some "detective" when we're in some weak-ass dungeon." Shin called out, not even looking back.
"C'mon, let's go fuck up some monsters and get this over with."
I sat there on the cold dirt.
'This is just like home,' I thought.
The damp smell of the cave replaced the smell of floor wax, but the feeling was the same. The crushing weight of a social hierarchy that I could never climb. I thought I'd grown. I thought the magic, the levels, the Sage class meant something.
But I was still just the nerd kid who didn't have the guts to fight back.
Mika looked at me for a fleeting second. Blinking as her eyes contorted.
"Y-yeah... you're right, I think..." she whispered as she followed Shin.
"T-to survive... S-sir Hicks told us..." I managed to mutter from the ground, my voice cracking.
Shin stopped and looked back, his eyes dark.
"Man, just shut the fuck up. You're just a nerd who got lucky with some powers. Don't get on your high horse, or I'm gonna beat you the fuck up myself. You'll get us all killed if you really lead us."
He spat on the ground near my hand and walked deeper into the darkness.
'... If I had the power to kill him,' I thought, "Would I do it? I bet… It'd feel great right about now.'
'Captain Nickelson. What he taught me… Is that killing is just… Something I have to get used to, right?'
I bit my inner lip so hard, it bled.
'But I can't. Because I'd get ganged up on. Shin maybe fast, but if I trap him with my vine spell, I could—'
"You gon' cry or something?" Takeshi asked. His voice wasn't as loud as Shin's.
Takeshi was the last one. He stood between the light of the entrance and the shadows where Shin had vanished. He looked at me, his face unreadable. Then, he let out a short, sharp breath.
"This ain't some anime shit, Sato. You know that."
'I know.'
"He's right. You can't stand up to anyone. You can't lead anyone if you're like this. What'd you expect?"
'I KNOW...!' I thought, gathering rocks and dirt in my palms as I clenched them.
A few moments passed.
"Whatever. Just stay here or some shit."
'I know. I know I'm not... Some bastard. Even when thinking about killing, it all feels like the theatrics of a kid throwing temper-tantrums. And to lead, I need to be a bastard who doesn't do theatrics. If I just used my Vine Trap on that fucker Shin when he said that…! If I just…!'
But, for some reason, in that moment, a completely different image was in my head.
"S..." I managed to say, stopping Takeshi in his tracks as he looked away.
"Sir Hicks... Isn't like that...!" I managed to whisper.
"What did you just say?!" Takeshi shouted.
"S-... Sir Hicks, for that example… isn't a bastard like—" I murmured.
"I asked, FUCK YOU JUST SAID?!" He shouted, louder, as he cut me off.
I froze.
"... thought so. Fucking nerd." Takeshi spat.
He turned and disappeared into the gloom.
I stared at the spot where he'd been.
'I really thought... that me and you... could be friends.' A laugh bubbled up in my chest.
'Wow. I'm... I'm so stupid.'
--- LATER ---
They were running.
Making a contest on who could get more kills.
All I could do was follow from behind. And since I have no stamina, I was far behind, stepping over the corpses of the Goblins they were killing.
Goblins. Not the cute, green ones from cartoons, but wiry, grey-skinned things with eyes like rotting lemons.
At least Mika heeded Hicks' advice about conserving her mana and not using her skill main. Only Takeshi and Shin were actively competing.
My Trap Detection hummed faintly in the palm of my hand.
I could see the glowing red outlines of pressure plates and tripwires in the dark coupled with the mechanism they'd activate. Whether a boulder or an arrow; a link of red mana connecting the two in my vision.
Shin was "scouting" by simply sprinting forward and yelling out where the trap plates or tripwires were.
Soon enough, we reached an odd crossway.
Above Shin, I saw a huge red mark in the shape of a large and wide pole that was linked unusually farther away.
'What...? Why would the activation mechanism not be near us...? Ah...!'
That's when I realized.
'Who says a trap can't be activated deliberately... By someone else?'
"Shin! Wait!! There's something weird—" I started, but my voice was drowned out by the sound of his boots.
"Shut up, Sato!" Mika hissed from the middle of the pack. "You're gonna attract monsters!"
"Let him attract 'em. I can fuck em up anyway!" Shin spat.
They reached a narrow choke point where the stone walls were slick with black moss. Shin laughed, drawing his daggers. "See? Nothing. This place is a joke—"
"JUMP OUT OF THE WAY!!!" I yelled, just as it happened. They all turned to me.
Snap.
The wire of red mana in my vision that was connected to that huge outline in the ceiling. It was activated.
"Eh?" He let out, looking up, a moment too late.
From the ceiling, a heavy, iron-shod log swung down with terrifying velocity. It wasn't a "game" trap. It didn't do "damage points." It was a massive piece of timber designed to crush bone.
It hit Shin squarely in the chest. There was a sickening crunch—the sound of a ribcage collapsing—and he was thrown backward into the darkness. He didn't even scream. He just hit the wall and slumped into a heap.
"Ah...?" Mika stuttered, slowly looking to where the torch and Shin flew. He neck bent upwards while he was lying on his belly. His face stuck on an uncanny smile.
'H-... He's... Dead... Ah...' I thought. Frozen.
'Am I…'
'Happy?'
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mika shrieked, snapping me out of it.
The trap... And her screams were just the dinner bells.
And as soon as the torch went out, from the shadows of the crevices, they emerged. Lots, and lots of goblins, gathered in a dense group unlike anything we've seen in this dungeon. They moved with a horrific, twitchy speed.
"Kill them! Takeshi, kill them!" Mika screamed, fumbling with her bow.
"S-STAR SHOT!!" She yelled. Glowing mana on her bow as she shot in the darkness.
She fired a Starshot, but her hands were shaking so violently the mana-coated arrow sailed three feet above the nearest goblin's head, slamming into the ceiling and showering them with stone dust.
"BLOOD REAP—" Takeshi yelled, ready to use his skill. But...
[Warning: Not enough mana!]
"W-WHAT..!? How the fuck I spent it all already!?"
His eyes widened. I could see it.
He realized that he used it too much during his contest with Shin.
"FUCK, NO SKILLS THEN, FUCK IT! I'm AN A-RANKED DARK KNIGHT!!"
Takeshi swung his claymore, but the space was too tight. The blade clanged against the stone wall, sending sparks flying but leaving him wide open. A goblin lunged, its rusted dagger catching Takeshi in the thigh.
"FUUCK...!! FUCKER STABBED ME..!! I can't—I can't see them!" Takeshi roared, panicking as he backed into Mika.
'Move, Sato.'
"Spiked Vine Trap!" I shouted, slamming my hand against the ground.
Thorny, thick green vines erupted from the floor, not around my teammates, but in a semi-circle in front of them. The goblins shrieking in mid-air were caught, the thorns digging into their grey flesh.
'That will continuously drain my mana… But I have 4 potions. Enough to hold them all for a few minutes.' I thought, taking one to drink.
"Left! Takeshi, three of them on your left!" I yelled. Now that they're not running, and with me being farther away, I could see the whole battlefield clearly enough in the dark,
"Mika, don't use Starshot again! They're too close! Just use a mana flare! Give us light!"
Mika, sobbing and hyperventilating, managed to spark a basic mana light.
"M-.. Yes...!" She let out.
Luckily, she was conserving her mana earlier, so she still has some left after using Starshot.
For a second, the cave was illuminated. Shin was lying ten feet away, his neck bent at an angle that wasn't human.
Takeshi gulped as he looked at Shin's mangled corpse. Nearly forgetting he was just stabbed.
"He's dead," I whispered, "He's dead. We have to go. NOW!"
I grabbed Takeshi's and Mika's arms—Takeshi was frozen, staring at Shin's body—and yanked him toward the entrance.
"Follow me, I marked the traps with my Trap Detection!"
'Why am I saving them?' I thought.
"A… Aight, man…!" Takeshi blurted.
'I should let them fucking die. Both of them don't deserve the potion I just waste—'
"T-thank you…!" I heard Mika's voice cut in.
And in that moment, my spiraling thoughts stopped.
"T-... Thank you..!!" She repeated.
I blinked.
'This is where they acknowledge me.'
Believing that…
… Was the worst mistake I've ever made in my life.
I led them through the dark, my eyes darting to the red glows of the traps I'd detected earlier. We sprinted, the sound of the goblins' chattering teeth fading behind us as we burst out into the blinding, beautiful sunlight of Aurelia.
We collapsed onto the grass, gasping for air.
I immediately whipped out my bag and tossed a potion and a bandage near Takeshi.
"H-here! Use that!" I thought as I then looked down, checking myself for injuries.
I could feel Takeshi staring at my back as I was fumbling with myself, then he was staring at the lesser health potion that was on the ground near him.
After another moment, he picked it up, and poured some on his thigh wound.
"FUUCK... IT burns..!" He called out as the bleeding stopped; ripping off his leggins and wrapping a bandage around his thigh.
"Aren't there some higher leveled potions in this world? S-shit...!" Takeshi let out.
'Y-yeah. He shakes it off. I'm not expecting a formal apology. But… I saved them. Someone like him, who's a genuinely better person when Kazuya's not around… He knows..!'
Mika was shaking, her hands covered in dirt and Takeshi's blood. She looked at the dungeon entrance, then at me, then at Takeshi. Her eyes were wide, darting, like a cornered animal.
"We... we have to tell him," Takeshi wheezed, clutching his bleeding leg. "Shin is..."
Mika suddenly stood up. She grabbed my collar, yanking me from the ground.
"W-what the. Mika?!"
Her face inches from mine. Her eyes widened and her face was sweaty.
'Will she thank me? Are we going to kiss?' I did half a smile. Genuinely believing that…
"B-be gentle, haha… I-... I mean…" I murmured while looking away.
And then…
"Listen to me," she hissed, her voice trembling. "Don't you say a word. Don't you dare tell Hicks what happened there. We'd just get... Punished for no reason..!"
I blinked.
"What..?"
"You HEARD me. I-It was YOUR fault anyway!"
'What?!'
"Mika, he died because—"
"He died because you're the Sage!" she snapped, her voice growling.
"I… I don't understand… What are you—"
"You were supposed to lead! You were supposed to see the traps..!!" She let out, tightening her grip.
'You… Thanked me…'
"But... You... Wouldn't lis..!" My mouth opened, but words won't come out.
"SHUT UP!! IT'S YOU! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LEAD AND YOU DIDN'T! IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR BEING A COWARD!!" She screamed.
She looked at Takeshi, her eyes pleading.
"Takeshi, tell him. We'll say it was a trap Sato couldn't detect. We'll say he missed it. Right? It was a 'Hidden Rank' trap o-or something! OR LIKE, He ran out of mana..! . Something no one could see."
"T-... Takeshi..!? Y… You… You can't be seriously..!" I stuttered.
My brain short-circuted.
'What is going on…!? Takeshi. I saved you!'
Takeshi looked at the ground. He looked at me and then Mika.
"I s… I saved… you…" I muttered under my breath. Barely audible.
Takeshi closed his eyes.
"Yeah," he whispered. "We'll say... we'll say it happened too fast for his Mana detection. It happened too fast."
"I… Saved you..!" My weak voice cracked.
"Sato," Takeshi let out. His voice... Colder than before.
"I SAVED… YOU…!!"
"Shut the fuck up." Takeshi said. Glaring at me.
'Yeah.'
"That… cabbage head isn't here anymore. You're at the bottom. And we're A-ranked."
'This world is just…'
"I'll kill you if you say anything." He said. My voice died down as I looked down, eyes wide.
Mika then let me go, and my body slumped to the ground.
'... So, so fucked.'