- Roman and Gira finish their breakfast.

- Roman informs, "I am going to go outside. I have had enough of this stuffy castle."

Gira suggests, "Why don't you look for Callie and Reed? Callie mentioned that she needed to collect more arrows, so they are probably getting our supplies ready. I am going to the library real quick."

- Roman agrees, "Alrighty then. Have fun."

- Gira enters the library and searches thoroughly for Ria. She is absent.

- The sketch Gira drew remains on the tables they were sitting at earlier in soggy condition. Gira scowls.

- Another librarian is busy moping and wiping the mess left on the table.

- "Hey, Gira. How are you? Sorry about your sketches. Must have been alot of work."

- Gira replies, "I’m fine, thanks. I am looking for Ria. Do you know where she went?"

The librarian answers, "I don’t know. She stormed out after an argument with the headmistress. I would try checking her room."

- Gira leaves the library. She traverses through the castle to Ria’s room.

- She calls, "Are you here, Ria?"

- The door slowly creaks open with Ria standing on the other side.

- "Come inside."

- Ria sits at the edge of her bed.

- Her arms are raised to the front of her head with her fingers interlocking. Ria’s neck leans down in dejection.

- "There is something I want to talk about."

 

- Gira replies, "Don’t feel so down, my love. I have an idea of what might have happened. Can you honestly say that you didn’t see the tragedy coming? There are certain notable and inevitable parallels when it comes to this sort of thing."

The humidity in the room is like a veil brushing against Gira’s skin. There is a single bed in the room with covers that touch the floor in a state of neglect. A few towels are scattered around to cover some of Ria's possessions. There is a breeze coming from an open window that is not strong enough to ventilate the humidity out of the room.

Ria vents, "I cannot spend the rest of my life waiting for Syl to glance my way. She never does. I cannot bear to compete any longer. I am always the last resort. I cannot spend another day of my life biding my time. It is suffocating to live hoping that someday, somehow, my chance might come. I cannot forge another fragile bond. I’ve broken and lost plenty of bonds to date. I cannot prioritize the well-being of the academy any longer. I no longer wish the best for anyone. I cannot live like this anymore. I cannot be bound to the academy for the rest of my life. I have lived a life with a duration nobody should have to endure. I hate it."

Ria takes a few deep breaths in rapid succession. She does not cry or sob. She spends a moment collecting herself before she moves her hands to un-obstruct her view.

- Gira begins to understand the implications.

- "Where will you go? What about us?"

- Ria has a feeling that Gira will refuse, but Ria feels a necessity to offer anyway.

"Allium, I’m going to the city of Allium. I want you to leave with me. We could be happy living together. Anywhere except here."

- Gira is hesitant to reply.

 

Ria questions her hesitation, "Can you honestly say you are comfortable here? Even after living in the academy for over several decades?"

"I cannot consider leaving the academy right now. I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Not yet. I am sorry."

- Ria closes her eyes, beginning to accept her fate.

- "I know you are."

Gira offers, "Maybe my squadron can escort you to the city of Allium. We have to travel to the nearby town of Fort Terra anyway. I am sure nobody will refuse the trip."

Ria considers, "I don't want to burden anyone too much. I’ll travel with your squadron to the town of Fort Terra and set off on my own from there."

- Gira asks, "Are you sure about all of this? I don't mean to dissuade you."

- Gira bites her lip, bleeding as a result.

She mumbles, "Actually, that’s a lie. I am going to miss you. I want you to stay. I am kind of worried about our relationship, and I am worried about you."

Gira does not wish to inhibit Ria’s happiness nor her own. Unfortunately for Gira, she faces a choice resulting in branching paths.

- Ria assures her, "You forget that I am from the first generation of Grimoire Girls."

- Ria begins gathering her belongings including an arming sword and a fur-lined jacket.

- She decides, "I promise that I will return to the academy every so often. You better visit me too."

Gira questions, "What does it matter that you were a member of the first generation? There are newer generations just as experienced as you, and they chose to stick to their squadrons."

- Ria summarizes, "All I am trying to say is that you don’t need to worry about me. I will be fine."

 

Gira understands every spoken word, yet Ria's words feel so bizarre and undecipherable. Gira feels as though she is trying to have a conversation with someone speaking in a different language.

Gira shares her doubt, "I don't know about that. I’m not so sure that you are stronger than any other archmage here."

Ria finishes gathering her belongings. She leads the way out of her room stopping only to check behind her to check if Gira is following.

Ria rambles, "My grimoire is fairly up to date, and I have plenty of combat experience built up among my time here. I have spent plenty of time as a librarian and scholar. I am as knowledgeable as I need to be. There is nothing the world can throw at me that I cannot work around; although, I may need to call in favors from the people I have met."

"Worry about the future of the academy instead of me. I heard from Syl that a monster attacked yesterday. Supposedly, the monster appeared from thin air. I don’t know. We got into an argument before we could discuss the monster in detail, but I can say at a glance that I have never heard of a monster capable of such a feat before. The possibility of monsters learning how to appear and vanish into thin air frightens me."

Gira states, "I believe that the academy will probably be okay. The new generations of girls are getting stronger and stronger."

Ria counters, "The fact of the matter is that nobody understands the entirety of dungeons and monsters anymore. We understand enough to suit our needs, but the name of the game of life has changed."

Ria shudders, "What if the tragedy does not stop with the dungeons and monsters? If the mana flowing throughout the world becomes corrupted our entire race will face extinction. Maybe we are all already doomed and living on borrowed time if monsters can teleport."

 

- Ria stops talking as painful memories begin to resurface.

- "I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ve felt enough sorrow for today."

- Ria and Gira walk in silence as they exit the academy.

- There is a cold breeze blowing that sways garden flowers and grass.

Reed is walking along the garden giving a little girl a piggyback ride. There is a trail of children following her and waiting for their turn to play.

- Callie sits beside a circle of children. One of them explains to Callie how flowers grow.

- Callie feigns surprise and wonder, "Ooh really? So how much water does a flower need?"

- The child confidently answers, "A hundred."

- Roman sits at a distance snoozing lightly beside a teacher taking a break.

- Gira calls, "Roman, It’s time to go."

- Roman mutters a complaint but she follows anyway.

- Callie leaves the circle of junior botanists. She waves to them.

- "See you later, alligator plants. That’s a real plant. Cool huh?"

- Reed kneels to let the girl on her back drop down.

- "Off you go. Maybe your teacher can carry the rest of you."

- The exhausted teacher stares daggers at Reed when the children all start flocking towards her.

- "Reed, why?"

- Reed snickers. "Sorry, miss Glyph! I have to go prepare for my journey."

- "Hi, Ria! Are you heading out with us? That would be pretty cool."

Ria nods. She greets the squadron, "Roman Trist Cisim, Callie… I am going to travel with your squadron temporarily."

- Roman is indifferent.

- Callie is ecstatic.

 

- "Ooh, we get to deliver letters with a generation one archmage. Lucky!"

- Callie asks, "Where are you traveling to?"

- Ria answers, "Mount Ixora and then to the city of Allium."

Callie opens her bag taking out a map, "We have never traveled to Mount Ixora before. I hope the mountain is in the range of our map."

The map that Callie looks at is detailed but ends abruptly towards the west side of the continent they live in. The snippet appears to be a copy of a larger map.

Callie's map depicts the position of Marigold on the far east side of the terrain. There is a shoreline east and south of Marigold with no other worthwhile destinations unless somebody was interested in visiting ruined cities. There is a massive mountain range to the north of Marigold that runs horizontally for about sixty percent of the map. The Vinderian Impasse mountain range borders the top of the map. This mountain range is the source of rivers running past the city of Marigold. There is an expansive forest starting a few miles southwest of Marigold that ends with a smaller independent mountain range bordering on the far left side of the map where the map ends.

Ria’s finger points and circles around the depiction of a few mountains northeast of the heart of the forest. From another standpoint Mount Ixora is located northwest of Marigold near the end of the Vinderian Impasse mountain range.

"Mount Ixora is somewhere around here. We should have no problem spotting Guiding Angels flying around a village there."

- Callie folds the map to fit into her pocket, and she retrieves a neatly sealed box from her bag.

- She notes, "Alrighty then. We will fly to Mount Ixora first and then to Fort Terra."

- Callie offers the slim box to Gira.

 

- "We grabbed your supplies for you, Gira. Though we will have to return to collect another box for Ria."

- Ria politely refuses, "I already have my supplies ready to go."

There is a thin pillar of ice in the garden raised higher than any of the children can reach. The pillar contains a few steel weapons with their dangerous ends frozen in the ice. A bow and quiver of arrows sit on a flat surface at the top of the pillar.

- Callie takes the bow and quiver of arrows.

Roman makes the ice surrounding the weapons melt until they are free through her magic control over ice and liquid.

Roman passes around the party’s respective weapons. Gira receives a single-handed steel arming sword, Reed receives a two-handed steel greataxe, and Roman grabs a light warhammer with a blunt and pointed end perfect for smashing through ice.

Roman bashes at the pillar of ice’s base making most of the pillar fall in one long piece. She bashes the fallen piece of ice with the pointed end getting her warhammer caught in the ice.

- She states, "The children already watered the grass today."

Roman tugs the pillar of ice out of the garden, past an open gate, and stops at a set of descending stairs. Reed and Callie assist by carrying some smaller left over shards.

Roman drops the pillar of ice from the top of the stairs. She hears the sound of a thud from wherever the ice lands.

From the vantage point, the city of Marigold is visible. Amid the city's ruins, there are a few remodeled buildings from which smoke rises in puffs of dark clouds. The buildings are made largely from bricks varying in color. A few of the buildings are decorated with paintings on the walls depicting extinct races such as pixies, fairies, and gorgons. Some depict animals such as cats, cows, and sloths. The nearby buildings are quaint in their own right but they pale in comparison to the castle.

 

Fields of crops, trees, and gardens of flowers are neatly grouped together by plant species in sections. Overgrown vegetation outside of the city’s walls creates a sharp contrast to the neat gardens. Some of the crops grow typical grain such as wheat. Some of the trees grow bizarre fruit.

One of the trees is growing a transparent green fruit roughly spherical in shape. The otherworldly fruit is named dungeon fruit after a dungeon core due to the similarities in their appearance. The green fruit has coarse sugar contained inside marble-sized spheres.

- As the party walks, Roman takes a detour to pick one of the fruits.

The fruit is about the size of an orange. The fruit has a thick and rubbery outer layer that takes time to chew. The outer layer tastes moderately sour and lightly herbal. The inner layer of the fruit is mushy in texture. The inner layer has a strong herbal taste with a slightly sour aftertaste. The coarse sugar spheres contained inside the fruit share the same rubbery capsule. The coarse sugar varies from sphere to sphere in texture but not much in flavor. Roman does not eat many of the sugar spheres.

By the time that Roman finishes eating her fruit, the party arrives at a stable with wyverns wandering around.

The wyverns are imposing in size, but they act as docile as livestock for the time being. The wyverns are covered in green scales. They have white horns, large teeth, and careless yellow eyes. The majority of the wyverns have scars. Plenty of them are missing their horns or tails.

Some of the wyverns follow the party waiting outside as they enter the stable. They are well aware that the occasion of a squadron venturing into the farm calls for a flight.

- Ria calls out, "Is anybody here? We are about to set off with two wyverns."

 

A voice shouts from within the stables so that they can hear her from a distance, "Ehh? I haven’t prepared any saddles yet! Your squadron is too early!"

A girl with cinnamon-brown hair and bright brown eyes walks out from one of the stalls carrying a bloody bucket containing scraps of mystery meat.

The girl complains, "Nope, nope, nope. Two girls times two dragons equals four travelers. You are a party of five. Nope, Nope, Nope. I will not allow it. You can take three wyverns or leave someone behind."

- Roman seems uneasy.

"I don't want to deal with more wyvern than I have to. They are very troublesome. Three of us can squeeze together on one of the large wyverns."

Quill mocks, "More like you can fall off a large wyvern. The wyverns are accustomed to carrying only two riders at a time. Their movements aren’t going to account for three riders. Besides, having the weight of three people tugging on their reins must feel suffocating. You aren’t abusing my babies like that. So unless one of you wants to return to grimoire form, you are taking three wyverns. Don’t even try to trick me, I know that nobody likes the empty feeling of returning to grimoire form."

- Quill places the bucket of raw mystery meat on the floor.

- She opens the stable doors.

The tone of her voice changes into something cutesy as she asks, "Which one of my babies wants to go flying today?"

- The wyverns start thrashing about and bumping into one another.

- Quill roughly pats the three wyverns closest to her on their shoulders.

- "One, two, three. That’s all I need. The rest of you heathens go back!"

 

The three lucky tailless wyverns enter the stable waiting patiently for Quill to strap a saddle and a harness onto them.

"Sorry that the saddles are a teensy–tiny bit chewed up. One of the bad heathens has been munching on them. Eww gross, eww gross."

- One of the wyverns eyes a saddle intently until Quill notices. The wyvern turns away.

- Quill smacks the guilty wyvern’s horn.

- "I know what you did, Chisel. You are lucky the saddles weren't too damaged''.

Quill reminds the party, "The wyverns understand cutesy tones as a form of endearment, stern shouts as commands, and lackluster voices tend to confuse them. They understand simple directions and words like bad, good, hunt, hide, and fly. If you need to, you can smack them in non-sensitive places like the horns or tough scales to get their attention as well as punish them. Do not worry about hurting them. They smack each other several times harder when they want to communicate to the other wyverns to respect their boundaries. They sometimes leave scars. Kind of like how a pack of lions behave if you have ever read about extinct animals. Just avoid smacking the wyverns too often, or they will understandably get annoyed and turn feisty."

- "One more thing! When you feed them, make sure to make their food unrecognizable."

"This one’s name is Chisel, the one with a medium-sized body is called Chalk, and the one with the smallest-sized body is called Charcoal. If you need to address them all at once, they all respond to the word heathen."

-Roman reassures, "We know, Quill. We know."

- Quill lingers around the party to make sure that they all mount the wyverns properly.

The seating arrangements of no particular significance pair Roman with Reed, Gira with Callie, and Ria is alone. Roman and Gira are at the front seat commanding their respective wyvern.

- Quill curiously asks, "Where are you traveling to?"

- Roman answers, "The town of Fort Terra."

- Quill smiles in delight.

- "Great, great. Can you deliver a letter for me?"

- Quill reaches for a letter left on a shelf stocked with tools.

She states, "Here is a list of herbs I need for my babies. Any apothecary or shaman in the city of Fort Terra should carry them."

- Quill hands the letter to Roman and then she removes two mana cores from her grimoire.

- "These should be enough to pay for the herbs."

- Roman sees no reason to refuse the request. She accepts the letter and mana cores.

- She deduces, "You aren’t making us ride on sick wyverns are you?"

- Quill appears offended.

- "I would never abuse my babies like that! My babies only work when they are happy and healthy!"

- Roman raises her hand in self-defense.

- "Oh geez, I was just making sure you have our best interest in mind."

- Roman tugs on her wyvern’s reins. She sternly commands, "Let’s fly away heathens!"

The wyverns walk outside of the stable. They take off into the air with powerful flaps of their wings. The wyverns rapidly rise to about fifty feet above as they stretch their wings. They idly hover in place until they are given directions. Once given directions, the wyverns immediately take off in a burst of speed. The wyverns rush through the air flaunting their physical prowess to one another.

They are determined to fly as fast as possible with little regard for much else. Every so often, one of the wyverns overtakes the lead revamping their friendly competition.

The scenery beneath them blurs together into a trail of green color freckled with specks of brown trees. The path that the wyverns travel is clear of all obstacles. Not even bugs bother the wyverns, for they are already extinct.

A current of wind coming from the nearby mountain range retaliates by blowing against the wyverns. The wyverns resist the opposing wind. The fierce gale is as reinvigorating to a wyvern as leaping into a fresh lake during a sweltering hot day.

One of the ecstatic wyverns roars out of joy. The wyvern's cry echoes throughout the valley like a greeting to the goddess Gaia.

- Unfortunately, there is no goddess in the valley to return the greeting.

- Instead of a warm welcome, a lightning bolt is hurled somewhere from the thickets in the route ahead.

- The wyvern does not bother with the poorly aimed lightning bolt and continues flying at the same pace.

A second and more accurate lightning bolt appears. The lightning bolt merely inconveniences the wyvern by forcing the wyvern to temporarily fly at a faster pace to avoid the attack.

The wyvern feels the Grimoire Girls shifting their weight. The wyvern knows they are squirming around out of fear. To the wyvern, the overreactions that the Grimoire Girls pay to every minor problem they face is laughable.

Gira tightens her grip on the wyvern’s reign at the sight of a lightning bolt. She looks down to try to pinpoint wherever the attack came from.

Callie is startled the most by the attack. Until this point, she felt safe thanks to the presence of the wyverns. Now, Callie's scopophobia—the fear of being watched—sparks ablaze.

- Callie leans against the side of the wyvern trying to find their assailant.

- Callie warns, "Gira be careful there is a Fallen Angel somewhere!"

 

- Callie leans against the other side of the wyvern expecting another attack.

- She nervously scratches the back of her neck.

- "Careful, Gira! Careful!"

Callie remains alert for the duration of twenty minutes. She squirms every so often out of fear. The wyvern readjusts its pace to account for Callie's movement. Eventually, the wyvern gets annoyed by Callie’s fidgeting.

The wyvern roars letting out a cry that causes the other two wyverns to slow down. The trio of wyvern descends at a clearing.

- Roman shouts to make herself audible, "What happened Gira?!"

Gira shouts back, "I didn’t ask them to stop! They must be hunting, or maybe they are tired! Let's try feeding them!"

The wyverns hear Gira shout the keyword 'hunting' and suspect that the Grimoire Girls are hungry. The wyverns stop descending. They hover at the same altitude cautiously while searching for viable prey.

Gira shouts, " I don't think they want to eat our body doubles; otherwise, they would have landed already! Let's hunt a flesh-type monster for them!"

The wyvern’s suspicions are confirmed, the Grimoire Girls must be starving if they are commanding for the beginning of a hunt twice in a row.

- The party searches around.

They land near something that looks like a craggy hill. The hill appears artificially placed in the forest as if someone found a suitable landscape and then shoved the hill into place. The hill has an entrance with a roughly shaped slope that gradually descends downward. The stones that line the cave walls shine bright enough to provide sufficient lighting to see inside—these are all clear signs of a naturally forming dungeon.

 

The wyverns remain at a great distance from the entrance. They utterly refuse to approach the dungeon regardless of the amount of coaxing or commands attempted.

- The party of five dismount the wyverns.

- Reed tries to rush the party along.

- "Come on, come on. Let’s hunt something really quick."

- Gira draws her arming sword from the sheathe. She feels a rush of energy.

- "Stay focused, Reed, and we’ll finish this quickly."

- The party cautiously descends into the dungeon.

The cave is cold but sheltered from the wind. A sparse amount of mana reflects in the form of light off the stones encrusting the walls. The mana present in the dungeon thickens the further that the party descends.

Instead of the girls benefiting from the mana present in the dungeon, the dungeon drains minimal amounts of mana from the party over time. The stolen mana adds to the dungeon’s inactive reserves of mana.

There are no bugs, rats, or small-sized pests, for they are all extinct. Nothing is present on the first floor of the dungeon.

The party’s first encounter occurs on the second floor where there is an amalgamation of numerous creatures. The monster is made up of three rings hovering together in the air. The rings are not physically connected but the rings are made up of several rectangular-shaped creatures conjoined together. Every individual segment has coarse gray skin and one or two eyes the size of an apple or larger. The rectangular monsters have thick pulsing veins on the same side that they have their eyes. The inner ring is lined with rows of teeth identical to human teeth.

The large-eyed monsters circle around a hovering corpse belonging to some other dungeon monster. They spin around taking turns chewing on their prey. One of the rings moves outside of their formation to let the next one waiting in line approach the corpse.

The monsters see the party of girls before they detect the creature. The monsters' eyes are sharper and larger than the eyes the Grimoire Girls have.

- The hovering corpse the monsters are eating falls down to the floor.

- The monsters return to their previous layered formation. They levitate toward the girls as a combined unit.

Callie feels a dull chill run up her spine. A chill that runs to the very top of her upper back and gets caught just below her neck. A chill that practically forces her to shiver to get rid of the nasty feeling. Her body feels as icky and sickly as the monster looks.

The monsters do not have ears, so Callie does not bother to whisper, "My least favorite enemy. Some Seraphim, yay. Always staring at me with those beady and judgmental eyes. They are as nasty as ringworm."

- Reed seems practically full to the brim with adrenaline.

- She urges, "Then hurry up and blind it already! You are their perfect counter."

- Callie leads, "Wait here. Reed and I will take care of them."

- Callie draws her bow preparing an arrow.

- "Prepare your lightning, Reed. After I blind the Seraphim, I’ll launch a lightning element arrow too."

- Callie moves within her bow range of the Seraphim.

Callie creates tension on her bow by pulling her arrow as far back against the bow's string as she can. Callie temporarily pauses to envelope her arrow in orange and pink mana. Callie releases her arrow allowing the tension to take over.

- She chants, "Morning Glorrrryyy!"

- The arrow streaks across the room in a blinding pink light.

The Seraphim that were watching the arrow blindly create strong gravitational pushes that knock the arrow off course into a nearby wall.

 

The Seraphim slowly revolve around in a circle trying to trade the task of defending themselves to the other Seraphim segments.

Before the Seraphim can completely turn around, the arrow’s pink mana shifts into a flash of orange mimicking some of the colors of a sunset. The orange flash of light blinds the Seraphim for a second time leaving the entire amalgamation vulnerable.

Reed closes and covers her eyes until the bright and piercing light slips through her hands. Despite her best defenses, some light burns into her retinas anyway.

- The seraphim are blinded again and cause more wild gravitational pushes.

- Reed uses the fading orange color as a cue to open her eyes and attack.

Reed runs closer to the Seraphim to deal with her magic’s shorter range. She creates an orb of lightning in each hand. She extends one arm at a time firing off a lightning bolt spell.

- She chants, "Angel’s Amber Kiss!"

The Seraphim's gravity ability wildly fires and clashes against the lightning bolt. The lightning bolt's trajectory is slightly distorted, but the lightning bolt slips past the Seraphim's defenses.

The lightning bolt strikes one of the Seraphim rings and electrocutes each of the individual segments. The entire ring drops dead in one fell swoop.

- Reed launches the next lightning bolt that kills the second ring.

- Individual seraphim segments on the third ring start to blink rapidly trying to regain eyesight.

- Callie fires off a lightning element arrow.

- "Stop staring at me!"

- The arrow electrocutes the entirety of the third ring ending the battle.

- Callie and Reed's hands are lightly damaged by the backlash of their lightning spells.

- Callie sighs in relief.

- "Let's cut the Seraphim apart."

Callie retrieves her arrows. The arrow that killed the Seraphim is covered in nasty purple bodily fluids but is reusable.

- Gira and Ria slice apart the Seraphim segments with their swords.

- The party ascends from the dungeon carrying segments of the Seraphim stacked on one another.

- Callie approaches one of the wyverns placing the Seraphim segments on the grass beside them.

- "Time to eat. Go ahead heathen."

- Callie points at the Seraphim meat on the ground.

- Callie’s audacity starts to anger the wyvern.

To begin with, the wyverns couldn’t possibly care less about the majority of random Grimoire Girls. The two simply have an unspoken agreement shared between them: The wyverns transport the girls and the girls feed the wyverns clean unmutated meat.

In times of desperation, the wyverns sometimes force themselves to eat the abominations spewed out of dungeons, but there is no reason for this wyvern to eat the Seraphim right now.

The next problem bothering the wyvern is the wyvern feels like stretching its wings and flying across a great distance without getting lost or without their absence worrying their mothers. The problem is typically solved by transporting a squadron of Grimoire Girls; however, Callie’s relentless squirming makes flying miserable for this particular wyvern.

- The next train of thought this wyvern follows is about Callie’s condescending tone.

- "Come on heathen, aren’t you hungry?"

- Why the hell does this girl insist on mocking Quill’s motherly tone?

- The longer the wyvern thinks about Callie, the more livid the wyvern becomes.

The wyvern snaps and bites off Callie’s arm. The wyvern crunches on Callie’s bones while wondering if she will learn a lesson.

Callie turns pale as she looks at her mutilated arm. She looks at the wyvern and then back at her mutilated arm. Callie processes the unexpected attack and then looks at the wyvern again.

- Callie abruptly kicks the chin of the wyvern.

- The force of Callie’s kick causes the wyvern to bite its cheek.

The wyvern hisses at Callie when suddenly another wyvern bashes into the side of the angry wyvern. The intervening wyvern hisses something to the aggressive wyvern. The intervening wyvern takes off into the sky, and the other two reluctantly follow.

- Callie holds what's left of her arm.

- She cries out, "You asshole!"

Callie murmurs, "I hate wyverns, I hate wyverns, I hate wyverns, I hate wyverns, I hate wyverns. Those pieces of shit weren’t even hungry. I know that it bit me solely out of spite. Why the hell did they even stop in the first place?"

Roman blatantly lies with a clear grin on her face, "How I hate to see you in pain. How are you feeling? Do you want to enter your grimoire state?"

Callie answers, "I have no choice. I am feeling very dizzy. I am not going to be much help clearing out the dungeon this time. Sorry, gals."

Roman explains, "The rest of us are going to decide on what to do. I'll make a new body for you when we are sure our surroundings are safe. See you then, okay?"

Reed requests, "Can you take Callie to the dungeon first? Somewhere safe near the entrance that we already cleared out. It’s unnerving to see one of our corpses lying around. We are going to chat with Ria about what to do next."

- "Sure, I planned to do so."

 

- Roman and Callie enter the dungeon and walk out of sight from the entrance.

Callie is locked in a daze. She nearly collapses from her loss of blood. She bumps against a wall letting herself slide down to the ground.

Roman takes Callie’s bag walking away from Callie’s body to sever the connection between Callie’s grimoire and Callie’s temporary body.

- Once the connection fades away, Roman silently stares at Callie’s dead body double while getting lost in thought.

After a while, Roman opens Callie’s grimoire. She turns past some pages reading through the last thoughts Callie’s temporary body has.

"Why does Roman enjoy my pain? She smiles as I frown. I don’t understand. I try my hardest to relate to her. My efforts feel pointless. Some girls don't mind that kind of thing, whereas it bothers me. Am I willing to suffer to make her happy?"

- Roman notices, "So, she is already on the fence about this kind of thing? I wonder if—."

- Roman writes a line in ink, ‘Callie does not care about Roman’.

- Ria, Gira, and Reed decide on what to do outside of the dungeon.

Ria tries to rationalize, "The wyverns are just throwing a hissy fit. They know where we are, and when they are done they will return."

Gira complains, "That could take days or even weeks. We might be better off walking back to the academy for another set of wyverns. We aren’t hopelessly far from home. I’m sure their caretaker will understand."

Reed disagrees, "I’m pretty sure Quill will kill us if we do. She is unhinged. She calls them her ‘babies’. We should clear out the dungeon while we wait for the wyverns to return”.

“We might need to spend the night here, and hiding in the dungeon is a pretty safe bet. Plus, Callie’s new body can form overnight."

Ria assumes, "We don’t need to hide away in the dungeon. If anything, hiding in the dungeon is more dangerous than staying out in the open. We can just camp outside and take turns keeping watch."

- Reed states, "That’s wrong."

Reed explains, "Well, partially wrong anyways. You forget that we are a B-rank scouting team. We are two ranks in power below the average squad you would normally team up with. There are plenty of monsters that we just cannot handle. We shouldn’t take any chances out in the open without the wyverns."

Ria debates, "There will be more monsters crawling around in the dungeon. We would be cornered in the dungeon if something frightening were to appear."

Reed acknowledges, "That is true, but most of the stronger monsters avoid returning into dungeons. We can clear the dungeon and spend the night relatively safe."

Ria inquires, "Why do you believe that only weak monsters return to dungeons?"

Reed reasons, "My squadron and I have noticed that mana cores of differing grades drain at different rates in dungeons. The higher tier cores tend to drain faster than the lesser tier cores. We believe the more mana something has, the stronger the mana-draining effect they experience in a dungeon. Under normal circumstances, no living creature benefits from the effect."

"If we look at the draining effect from another perspective, we can sacrifice some mana in exchange for a hiding spot that repels the strong. Even if we destroy the dungeon core so nothing else can appear overnight. The mana draining effects continue for a day or two."

- Ria seems intrigued by the obscure perspective.

 

"I have never considered taking advantage of a dungeon’s characteristics like that. It kind of makes sense that dungeons need a way to repel stronger monsters; otherwise, they would just eat everything that the dungeons work tirelessly to create. I have never considered anything like that."

- Ria runs her fingers through her hair far enough so that she can obsessively scratch her scalp.

"I should have brought something to write with! I am a fool! You need to talk to one of the librarians about your theory. They need to at least document the possibility!"

- A moment later, Roman exits the dungeon.

- Gira catches Roman up to speed.

- The party descends into the dungeon again, and they encounter a total of two monsters through five floors.

They approach the sixth floor where they encounter a tall, bulky, and fleshy monster dragging its own body around. The monster roughly appears to be thirteen feet tall and two feet thick from one side of the monster’s stomach to the monster’s back. The monster has two barely identifiable feet that drag excess flesh connected to the creature’s body.

The monster has an arm originating from the creature’s back. The arm is long enough to reach the floor without the monster having to bend down. The arm is busy carrying some of the monster’s excess flesh connected to the monster's foot. The monster has a second arm that appears merged to the creature’s side. The arm appears to be unusable.

The monster has a head dangling loosely from a thin neck like a paddle ball attached to a string near the monster’s shoulder.

The squadron observes the monster’s movements until they have a fair understanding of the creature’s behavioral tendencies.

Gira analyzes, "I’ve never seen this kind of mutation before. The head of the monster seems very odd. On another note, I feel very little mana coming from the flesh-type monster. This monster shouldn’t be able to use any kind of magic."

Ria shares her thoughts, "The monster is just a typical flesh-type monster, albeit this one is larger than the small fries we encountered earlier. I will leave the strategy to your party. You girls will understand each other's strengths and weaknesses more than I possibly could. You can count on me to finish off the beast."

Ria points out, "Though, there is one thing I can say for sure that your party should be aware of. The monster’s head is dangling too much to be a functional limb. There’s no way. That’s not something we should aim for. I really can’t tell if this monster has a brain or anything similar. I'm not sure that the monster can even see properly."

Gira decides, "Ria and I will wear down the monster. Forget about rushing to deal damage. We will never get past all those pounds of flesh. Ria, strike as you see fit and back away if the monster starts to predict your attacks. Reed, you are going to circle around the monster at a distance. Chop the monster’s leg from behind if you have the chance to do so. Roman, your warhammer is not the most effective type of weapon for flesh-type enemies. Stick with Reed, but do not be afraid to step away."

Gira suggests, "Let's save our abilities until we are certain we can kill the monster instantly or after the monster starts to get desperate. The longer the battle, the more tricks we are going to need to keep the monster guessing."

- Ria and Gira approach the monster.

- The monster stands in place doing nothing.

- Ria makes the first move by slashing at what she believes is the belly of the monster.

- Gira strikes next and continues the assault at the same place.

- The monster starts to bleed from its wounds.

- The monster gargles, "Grwguaah."

 

The sound of the gargle comes from the opposite side of the monster rather than the dangling head. The monster turns around spotting Reed and Roman first. They can see that the creature’s real head is hidden in a cavity by the monster’s unusable arm.

The monster starts to stumble toward Reed and Roman. The monster reaches out in an attempt to grab either one.

- They keep their distance and jog away from the monster.

They can see the head of the creature hiding away in a difficult place to target. The creature’s body structure was not as unimaginable as Gira initially assumed. The secret of the monster is that it relies on mimicry with a second head that likely discourages other monsters from attacking the monster from behind.

- Ria and Gira slash the back of the creature again adding more wounds.

- The monster turns around at a pace proportionally quick in terms of the monster’s size.

- The monster drags its hand against the ground and flails in an attempt to attack Ria and Gira.

- Ria follows the movement of the creature by running in the same direction that the monster turns.

- Gira runs a distance away as soon as the creature starts moving to allow herself enough time to avoid the attack.

Once the monster’s arm passes by, Gira closes the space between herself and the arm. Gira seizes her chance. She slashes downwards and cuts through the monster’s arm.

- The monster writhes in pain.

- It cries out, "Uangh ugnhhh!"

Reed and Roman strike the monster while its back is turned. The damage that they can deal is insufficient to cripple the monster's excessively fleshy body.

- The monster starts to run away at a pace faster than the monster was moving before.

 

- The monster’s fake head chatters and swings around with each step the monster takes.

- The girls chase the monster, but they cannot seem to catch up.

- Roman creates a floating spear of ice that she hurls at the monster.

- She chants, "Hydrangea!"

- The spear impales the monster’s back.

Ria calls out, "Forget about chasing the monster! We will never catch up, and I doubt the monster will return for revenge. Let's just keep exploring the dungeon."

There are no objections to Ria's decision. The monster can simply stride about twice as far as the girls can with each step.

A short walk later, the squadron arrives at the end of the dungeon where the densest amount of mana is present.

There is a roughly sphere-shaped object with many asymmetrical points hovering in place. The sphere is transparent with a lighter green center. The sphere siphons the mana from the surroundings and filters the mana into something under the sphere's control.

- Roman calls out, "There is the dungeon core."

Roman bludgeons the dungeon core with her warhammer. The dungeon core resists a few blows but starts taking damage after a while. The dungeon core begins to shatter in patterns similar to a rock shattering in small chunks at a time. Next, Roman strikes the exposed internal layers until the dungeon core drops to the ground.

- She calls out, "Good job team. The dungeon has been cleared."

The squadron uses rock carving tools to chip away at the dungeon core into small-sized gems. They polish the gems into the shapes necessary to fit into their grimoires. They each collect a small pouch since they have the opportunity to do so.

 

Roman takes out Callie's grimoire instead of harvesting. Roman starts to run some of her blue and black colored mana through the grimoire activating the grimoire’s enchantments.

Veins made of pink mana shine through the entirety of the grimoire. The veins passively pulse making the grimoire throb.

Mana protectively encases some blood cells in the shape of a humanoid body's outline. The blood cells spasm gruesomely and violently. The cells seem as though they do not have a purpose. Several blood vessels and veins are created from virtually nothing to mix with the blood cells. Flesh and bones are formed next to mix with the rattling structure and form limbs.

- Roman feels a need to fill the silence.

- "There she is."

- Callie opens her eyes to see that Reed is watching over her.

- Callie checks her arms and hands. Her new body double’s skin is practically flawless and silky smooth.

- Callie dresses in a spare outfit identical to the white off-shoulder shirt she was wearing before.

- Callie asks, "Where is everybody? Are the wyverns back yet?"

- Reed answers, "No. The party is waiting around outside."

- The party is sitting by a fire. Callie joins them.

Callie grabs one of the Seraphim segments lying on the ground. She retrieves an ornate knife from her bag. She starts to cut out the Seraphim’s teeth, pitiful-sized mana core, and singular eye. Oddly, Callie throws out most of the parts she is taking the time to cut out.

- Roman seems concerned by her peculiar behavior.

Roman asks, "What are you doing? You already pocketed the mana core. I don’t think anybody needs any more Seraphim materials. The wyverns aren’t going to come back to eat the scraps either."

Callie does not feel as though she has the energy to reply. There is an awkward silence until Callie realizes everybody's attention has turned to her.

- "It's not nice to stare, stop. I don’t want to think about anything right now."

- Roman responds, "Sure thing, tell me what you are doing first."

Callie asks, "We are taught not to eat the dungeon monsters, but have you ever wondered what they taste like? The wyverns eat them all the time."

- The party responds, "No", "Never", "Not once in my life", and "Gross."

Callie carves the stick with her knife into a skewer to stab the stick through the Seraphim. The fire roasts the meat and spreads a foul scent as the meat cooks.

Callie takes a bite of the meat, disgusting. The meat has a tough exterior to chew and tires her jaw. The innards of the monster are softer but as equally repulsive as the exterior. The entire thing tastes as if Callie is eating a hard-shelled mushroom that has spent years rotting but somehow retaining a firm shape and then rotting again for an extra few days to make sure that the mushroom is undoubtedly rotten.

- Callie leaves the campfire to vomit into a bush.

She complains, "If I could put it into words I would say that I feel as though every bite I take severely shortens this body double's natural lifespan. Why do wyverns enjoy this garbage?"

- Callie spends the next hour without thinking much of anything.

She feels melancholic but she cannot even begin to understand why. She spends her time trapped in a daze where her mind feels unpleasantly fuzzy.

- Roman asks, "Are you feeling okay? You look glum."

- Callie reasons, "I guess I was still angry at the wyverns. Now I feel burnt out, and my head hurts."

- Callie decides to rest to try to rid herself of her melancholy and muddled feelings.