"Alright, let's hunt down some scorpions!" - Brak

So said Brak Tejat, the leader of the adventurer party, the "Cheerful Hunters". His four members, plus me, responded in each in our ways.

By the way, scorpions refer to a type of monster that quickly immigrated to the region after the disastrous drought, and they are our current hunting targets. Their shells make for a damn well armor when processed. 

Brak had obtained permission to travel out here to "investigate the cause of the drought". Everyone knew that it was just an excuse, but the Adventurers' Union had a good opinion about these guys, so they must have looked through their fingers so that this F-rank party was allowed to hunt the Danger Rank E and above scorpions.

The party's more impressive than one would expect. It consists of, Brak himself, a talented Sword Magus that specializes in Wind magic. He's also the sole E-rank adventurer on their team.

Then there's Grubble Alshat, a hobgoblin, who is a specialized Looter. 

After that, we have Lester Belel, a Scholar elf with a great reputation.

Not to forget the Forest Orc, Terd Gakyrid, who is a master with the halberd and the team's living fortress as a Sentinel.

Finally, there is Siris Larawag, a human Priest... or priestess, as the females are called. She's the one with the lowest class level in the group, as Terd, the wall of the team, seldom takes damage due to his high defensive abilities.

Then, there's little old me...

"Mira! Get the big one!" - Brak

That's me. Mira Aureola. 

I jumped on the carriage-sized scorpion's back before it could react, then I stabbed it in the brains with my sword. The scorpion, a Giant Sandwalker, tried to throw me off, but too late. After a few seconds of the wild ride, the scorp fell dead on the ground.

Meanwhile, Brak had taken care of the dog-sized Sandwalkers with his Aerial Blade spells. Terd's halberd had smashed several... of them...

"Hey! What are you doing!? We can't sell these broken shells to the Union, or any other places!" - Mira

"...... sorry." - Terd

You better be! Because one-fifth of the profits are supposed to be mine!

"Now I get why you hired Mira." - Siris

"What? You thought I asked her just 'cause she's a beauty?" - Brak

"Yup." - Grubble

"It would not be the first time." - Lester

"...Mhm." - Terd

"Aw, come on!! You see how perfect she's at hunting down those scorpions." - Brak

"Yeah, but leader's leader after all." - Lester

"What he said. But when did 'light-blue-haired, golden-eyed Light Sprite' become leader's fetish?" - Siris

"It never did!!" - Brak

Yeah, yeah, but my eyes are light-blue... and these guys have gone into their little world after that. Not that Brak's wrong about me being better in hunting down scorpions.

The strategies in fighting scorpions are to either crush the monster, destroy the scorpion with magic from afar, or strike the gaps in the exoskeleton. No need to say that the last choice is the best one when the goal is to obtain the exoskeleton of the scorpions.

"Now that you mention it, I've never seen anyone use the sword so skillfully. It shows that leader's skills are just something he bought with Skill Points." - Grubble

"Alright, Grubble, you wanna have a free vacation that much, then get blown away already!" - Brak

"GYAAAAAHH!!" - Grubble

... eh? Wait, why suddenly the wind spell!? Did the excessive teasing go to his head?

"No worries. This is their usual routine." - Lector

"No, no, no. Nobody blows people away with wind spells as a comedy gag!" - Mira

"Grubble has [Wind Resistance], so those two are making it a routine to train those skills." - Siris

No, I don't think [Wind Resistance] will help you from crashing down in the ground after getting blown into the sky!

*DUNK!*

Better go and help him...

"Where did he land?" - Mira

"Ehm... that's... where?" - Siris

"Oof... Siris. Some healing over here?" - Grubble

That's his voice, but it came from... nowhere? We walked towards where Grubble's voice came from, for then passing through some kind of thin film. After going through the film, we had entered a dark blue cave... with Grubble holding his head in agony. 

"Just your luck Grubble." - Lester

"Don't be sarcastic..." - Grubble

"No, I'm serious. I think we just found a clue to the drought." - Lester

---

After healing Grubble, we looked into the place that we had discovered. One thing was that the place was concealed with a barrier that made it close to impossible for us to find the entrance again.

Lester, the smart one, theorized that the reason could be because the Dungeon is so closely located to the Genesis Peak, a "mountain" that is a part of the Genesis God from times of old... according to the legends.

"Wait, you mean this Dungeon, the Water-Knot of... Glavras? You mean it's the cause of the drought in this region?" - Brak

"I cannot say for sure, but a Dungeon in the middle of a dried-up, dead land, filled to the brim with water? And that Quest we obtained from entering the place?" - Lester

"Point taken." - Brak

Yeah, what else could it be? Even so, some parts look fishy to me about this Quest.

"Are Chain Quests supposed to be partly completed?" - Mira

The contents of the Quest is to place some devices provided by the Quest giver, but five out of ten are already placed?

"I think this must be a free-participation Quest. You enter the Quest, do something about the content, and your whole team gets rewards!" - Brak

Oh, those. I participated in something like that, but I think "carnival games" is a better way to call those instead of "Quests".

"Then, the question is what to do next? Are we going to explore this place, or are we heading home?" - Lester

"An unknown territory like this is too risky, Skill Points, or not. I say no," said Brak, voting for going home.

"Unknown means that nobody else has touched the place, so there's gotta be treasures hidden here and there!" said Grubble, voting for exploration.

"We have no experience with caves..." said Terd, breaking his character of the silent type to vote against exploring the place.

"If we let this chance slip, we may never end this wretched drought!" was Siris's meaning. Ever the patriot.

Lester, the guy who opened this debate, is staying impartial, so I guess it's up to me. I hate it when stuff gets thrown at me like that. It feels like being back in Solomar...

"... We should keep ongoing. I don't expect that we can clear this Dungeon on our own, but we should gather more information about the place before leaving. Looking at the Quest, it seems that someone else is also trying to do something about it, but we have no guarantee that they are still alive right now. Even so, planting those 'devices' may be a step in dispelling the barrier around this place." - Mira

"That's true... So, are we for going in then?" - Brak

"YEAH!" - Siris & Grubble

"I see no merit in not going in." - Lester

"... Fine." - Terd

---

And with that, we entered the Dungeon. Tons of tunnels and wall-like boulders made up the floor, and the lighting was horrible, forcing me and Siris to make lights.

"A little more to the left... wait, that's too much. More to the right..." - Lester

Following Lester's instructions, the guys were setting up one of the tracking devices we had received, while Siris and I held the lights going. 

"The boys are always taking so long time. How about some small talk? Like, why the bandit-disguise?" - Siris

"I used it outside to prevent getting my skin burned, but in here, it's to prevent drips from above." - Mira

"Is that such a big-IIIK!!" - Siris

Told you. Just be happy that it was only a water drop, and not something worse. Something like that happened to a friend of mine. The smell lasted for weeks.

"All finished here... hey! This thing's telling me that seven of these things are up and running!" - Brak

Everyone looked at their Quest Menu and saw that he was right. Someone, or something, must have placed another device somewhere else.

"You think there's someone else from Velantas here?" - Grubble

"If they are, then they're the type that doesn't tell the authorities that they travel out here, so... probably bandits or monsters." - Brak

That's not good. We still decided to keep on placing the devices, so we quickly went to the next Power Spot, led by Lester's [Mana Reader] skill.

"You think we should shut off the lights?" - Grubble

"None of us except for you have [Night Vision], so that's no good." - Brak

... I'm actually with Grubble on this one. The unidentified helper (?) notwithstanding, monsters in dark areas like these should have natural ways of seeing in the dark. Man-made lights could attract such creatures... but till now, we've seen nothing. As if the Dungeon's deserted.

"This way... here it is. Grubble, get me another tracking device over there if you do not mind. Leader, you help him. Miss Mira and Siris, give us some lights. Terd, watch out for any potential monster attacks." - Lester

"You got it, real-leader." - Grubble

"I'M THE LEADER HERE! I make the shots! Grubble, you go and place the gizmo over where Lester's pointing to. I'll help you. Ladies, get those lights over here. Terd, stand guard." - Brak

Yeah, this party's sure got a solid hierarchy.

I helped to light the place where the Power Spot should be, while Grubble looked for a good place to plant the tracking device. Now, what should I take for those Skill Points?

"SHHAAAA?!" - Snake

What the-!? I turned around and fired one of the light balls towards the sound... snakes!? Tons of them! I increased the power of the remaining light balls and saw that there were snakes all around us.

They tricked us! The reason why we never encountered any monsters was that these guys scared them off! 

"Terd, Mira, to the front! Siris, get ready to use those support spells at a moment's notice. Lester, you're on watchman duty. Notify us if something gets too close for comfort. And Grubble, get that thing planted already!" - Brak

Aye, aye, sir. I joined up with Terd at the frontline while receiving a support spell from Siris. I don't have time to check what its effects are, because the snakes are already attacking with magic! I jumped out of the spells' lines of fire, but Terd simply tanked the blows. Then he returned the favor with his halberd, smashing the three closest snakes to mush. Wow.

Brak then followed up with the Aerial Slash spell, unique for Sword Magus. I'm not losing here either, as I ran around cutting the necks of any snake within range. I used the Sword Art Chain Cutter, which increases in strength each time it's used in a row, creating an ever-growing rush of slash attacks.

I took note of the guys' and snakes' attacks in order not to get hit by either. Other adventurers on my rank couldn't probably do this, but after all that hell-training I had to do to earn my sword skills, this is nothing. This is easier than stealing candy from a baby.

*KA-BOOOOOMMM!!*

Wh-what the heck was that!? Grubble!? Did he just throw one of the loudest explosives in existence? In this echo-creating cave!?

"Are you a complete idiot!?" - Mira & Brak

"But... it was on sale." - Grubble

Good that "leader" thinks the same as me. But who cares if something's on sale? If it's useless, don't buy it in the first place! Trust me, I'm speaking from experience.

"Brak! We need to start thinking about a tactical retreat!" - Lester

"No time for that! Just get ready to run with our tails between our legs!" - Brak

"Both of them work, but which way should we run to?" - Siris

"That way!" - Brak & Lester

So they say... while pointing in the opposite direction. Guys...

"This way." - Terd

Oh! The real hero knows the way!

"It's this way!" - Grubble & Siris

And the orc was just guessing wildly. I'm taking the path with the most votes, meaning the last one. Hasta la vista, scale-breath! Haha... ha?

"SHAAAA!" - Gigantic snake

Okay, I did not see that boss snake coming.

---

*CRASH!*

That was close! After introducing itself, or something remotely related to that, the snake lunged itself towards Siris and Grubble. The two managed to escape thanks to Siris blinding the snake with the light balls and Grubble throwing a tear gas bomb on its face.

"Change of plans: Take that big guy down!" - Brak

"Oh, we're in some dire need for a giant that wants some new leather boots after this." - Grubble.

While making jokes, Grubble threw his explosives towards the snake's head. It looked like the tear gas did quite the number on the big guy, as it was incapable of escaping the explosions.

Brak followed up with several long-range wind spells, aiming towards the open mouth of the snake. The snake's long tongue was mauled by the slash-like winds, taking away yet another of its five senses.

"Tail strike, coming up!" - Lester

Just as Lester had predicted, the big snake's tail came towards us, showing no concern for the Dungeon structures, nor the smaller snakes, as it tried to crush us while still blinded.

We need to take cover... what's that stupid orc doing!? He's not planning on taking that blow head-on, right?

"Protection!"- Siris

A white membrane-coated Terd along with Siris' shout. A defensive buff? That's not gonna be-

"HNNGH!" - Terd

It was enough!? I think I'm starting to get why these guys are considered better in a fight than their rank tells. 

"The snake's trying something!" - Lester

A strengthening skill? Not on my watch!

As Terd kept the snake's tail in check for the moment, I ran back to him, my sword readied above my head and struck down on the snake's tail with the Sword Art: Grand Fall.

The heavy blow, which allowed me to divide a boulder in half once when I was younger, parted the snake with one-fourth of its tail. And don't try to tell me that wasn't impressive. This thing's tail is bigger than I'm tall!

The snake writhed in pain over losing part of its tail. Still, I can't see us defeating this thing. And now that we've irritated it so much, I don't think we can expect it would not follow us if we started to flee now. Time to up my ga-

*DUNK!*

My... game? A huge stalactite fell from above, piercing the snake's body. Is that... black smoke on top of it?

The big snake is just as surprised as us and in way more agony. Even so, it's still alive and kicking... as much as a snake can kick. And I mean it. It's trashing around with the parts of its body that are not cut-off or pinned down.

Guess it's time for some drastic measures.

"Terd. Could you throw me at that guy's head as hard as you can?" - Mira

"... Gladly." - Terd

I jumped on Terd's massive, throwing-ready hand, and in the next second, I was sent flying towards the big snake's head.

Before it noticed me, I used the Sword Art, Dragon Fang! A rush-type Sword Art, in addition to the force generated from being thrown by an orc that could stop even a gigantic snake's tail swipe, and then we add a [Mana Burst (Light)] as a special service, you big, overgrown leather wallet!

My sword penetrated the scales underneath the snake's jaw, and the force of the triple-boosted attack struck the snake's head like a flying slash. I could feel my blow penetrating throughout the snake's skull, piercing its brain on the way.

I got it! I got it!! Kids, don't try this at home-whoa, whoa, whoaaaaa!!

*CRASH!*

Ouch... not to self... never stay underneath a giant snake's jaw when it's collapsing... my ribs...

---

"Good thing you have such a splendid 'chest armor', or else you would have been unhealable from that last blow." - Siris

Save your jokes for comedy night... ouch. It hurts when I try to make a witty comment. Siris wasn't saving anything with her healing, even using several potions to assist her healing spells. But I still feel like I was overrun by a herd of Bloodrush Bulls... urgh.

"Are you finished with the first aid so we can get outta here before the snakes find their courage to avenge their boss, and the desire to become the next boss?" - Grubble

"Shove a sock in that piehole, anyone. Healing takes time-" - Siris

"No, I'm fine... ouch. Fine enough, anyway. We've wasted enough time." - Mira

"... Terd. You take care of her. The rest of us will take care of any intruders." - Brak

Thanks. The orc-taxi beats walking any day.

"... Did anyone do something?" - Lester

"It must be the guy that fixed up all the other devices. Not that we're in any shape to join the guy. Let's go home." - Brak

... Wonder who, or what, that completed the Quest. Maybe it was the same person, or creature, that dropped the stalactite? 

Naw. There's no way something like that could happen. This event's going into the books as a "mystery", I guess. Wonder if I'll ever get to know...

---

"Lord Black Baron. We have managed to locate the Dungeon owned by Glavras." 

"Perfect! I'm not gonna let some slippery snake-in-the-grass get me to work for free without tasting the consequences. To the Dungeon!"

"Right away, sir. Also, I think he has never been in any grass-"

"Just set course for the snake hole already."