Chapter 5: Spelunking
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As they entered the cave, the metal bars instantly rose up. The only way out of this was by clearing the dungeon. Which was part of the reason dungeons in this world were so dangerous. Many adventurers before have set out to clear a dungeon only to never return. However this also added to the mystery and popularity of it. If you were to clear a dungeon that was above your own rank which many adventurers who were above your rank failed to clear would only naturally make you famous, as well as guarantee a higher adventurer rank.

The girls knew this. 48 A rank adventurers and a lot of hopeful B ranks had entered this dungeon to never return. If the group was to clear this, A rank was guaranteed for all of them even though Pyria was a mid B rank.

After a few days they were moving at a dangerously fast pace and had already cleared 10 levels. Pyria was very knowledgeable on all the materials surrounding each floor of the dungeon as well as the drops from each monster. Within a dungeon a monster doesn't just die when defeated like on the surface and leave behind a huge carcass but evaporates and has a chance to give a drop. Most drops were useless and the group left behind due to limited carrying capacity and way more floors but there were a few things Pyria said were important.

Most of what were dropped were broken weapons which could be fused by a blacksmith to create a strong weapon but these were common drops as the monsters here were weak. Not useful for any adventurers that are B rank and above.

As Kami only required an hour of rest each day, he told them to let protect him for an hour whilst he rested and that when he woke up he would protect everyone else. This way everyone could get all the sleep they need without taking shifts which would make them all tired eventually, excluding Kami.

It took a whole month of continuous fighting and sleeping but they had gone down 30 levels. They were confronted with the same few mobs this didn't change. They were still fighting goblins, orcs, skeletons, zombies and ghouls. But there strength had increased. All monsters can get stronger by doing what they were designed to do, kill. Kami assumed that this is where the adventurers who entered the dungeon began to drop off, most likely the B ranks. Although everyone had noticed the strength increase, it still mattered little as none of them could hit anyone in the party successfully. And even if they could, Kami could block all the attacks with his hand and Tama could cancel the attacks by hitting the attack. As Pyria and Liliana were in the back they only had to worry about whatever slipped past Kami and Tama, which were none and anything that tried to loop around from behind which were few and weak.

Even though Kami knew it was his wish, he was still shocked that the bread and water kept regenerating, but he made sure none knew of this. Whenever he wished for something that defied physics itself Kami thought about how crafty he really was with Asura.

Another month passed and in the inventory of everyone were a lot of ingredients which could be used for health and strength boost potions as well as purple shards that Pyria insisted were each worth 2 gold coins a piece. Kami held onto his share of the shards but planned on giving them away to everyone else. He had enough money as it is and was constantly thinking of a way to have less. Kami wanted to have 10% of his current wealth which would be 100 platinum coins, that amount would be equivalent to the wealth of a noble amongst nobles. The amount of platinum coins he had rivalled a small country. But Kami was thinking about starting a country at some point so he thought it might be useful just to store the majority of the coins somewhere safe until he was ready. That way his pockets were lighter and he could move faster.

Another month passed and they had hit level 50, they were rather disappointed that in the first month they cleared 30 and now they only cleared 20. But they were well aware of the fact that this was because the monster were getting stronger. There were also a few new additional monsters within the dungeon that Kami had never encountered before. A giant king which was just a buffed giant. If a normal giant became a giant king, it alone would crush an entire large town. Even if there were goblins, orcs and an orc lord already on there way to take out that same town, they would be crushed almost immediately and the giant king would do what they could not. For a normal person this was a truly terrifying creature. It would be an A rank quest and would probably pay very well, depends on how scared the villagers would be of being killed after they saw one though. After all the money came from their own pockets.

And if that wasn't bad enough. They end up being found in small groups the lower down you go.

A 2 weeks had passed since the groups initial run in with a giant king, on level 70 they were staring at 10. There used to be other monsters with the giant kings but every now and the giants clashed and other monsters got caught in the middle and were practically killed instantaneously indirectly.

All kinds of rare drops from dead monsters were lying on the ground scattered throughout a few levels that had giant kings in them. But this level was special.

There was almost a sea of drops everywhere indicating that there was an army of monsters once in here that covered every inch of the room. It was no wonder the giants ended up killing them all, they probably couldn't move and frequently tripped over other monsters. Kami laughed when he pictured giants tripping and falling over goblins and accidentally killing a couple.  Since monsters get stronger each time they kill and killing wasn't limited to just humans, Kami thought these giants were stronger than whatever was a few floors down. 

Kami was correct, in terms of strength within the dungeon, these giants on level 70 were equal in strength to whatever was lurking on level 90. No adventurers have ever gotten further than this floor. Kami planned on changing that.

Pyria was given all the potions that everyone had collected and gave one strength boost potion to everyone to help them. All the giant kings held clubs the size of a 2 metre tall man which looked more like a stick in the hands of all the 5 metre giants on this level. Every giant was just a bit shorter than a giraffe which shows how tall and dangerous they were.

"Tama you lead and try and lure about half of them to you, I will handle the rest" Kami told Tama who responded nodding whilst swiftly aggravating a giant and moving away from Kami "And Liliana, focus your support on Tama, there should be no other monster in the room other than what is straight ahead so you don't have to protect Pyria from any attacks from behind"

Though Kami said this suggestively, to Liliana, he had already asked Asura if there was anything other than the 10 giant kings before him. She said no.

Liliana took Kami's advice and focused on helping Tama with support from her archery. The giant kings were slow and struggled to work together as a team. The only reason they were all on the same side was because they all shared the common goal of taking out Kami's adventurer team. Though the giants movement speed was not fast by any means, their attacks were. Each strike sent the ground flying into the air making the ground very uneven.

Whilst dodging one of the giants club strikes Kami stepped backwards and tripped over which resulted in him landing on his back in one of the craters formed from one of the giant kings attacks. One of the giants attempted to hit Kami with their club, flustered, Kami quickly gave a punch with all of his strength onto the giants club. This sent shocks from the club into the giant which made the club rebound off Kami's hand a bit. Even though Kami had overpowered the giant in strength, he could tell there was minimal difference between a single one of these giant kings and Kami himself.

Then Kami properly realised the predicament he was in. If he was fighting 5 giant kings who each individually almost matched his own strength. Saying he was absolutely screwed was a huge understatement. Whilst was still in the crater the giant king swung his club again, however this time he used both hands. The other giants were now looking into the crater and were preparing to do the same. Kami realised that the giant kings had some sort of intelligence if they watched what had happened between the first giant king and adapted. Specifically the giant king who actually attacked him and decided to swing with both hands.

Kami could counter one giant king using his full strength on his club, but not an extra 4. The giant's club came down into the crater rapidly, kami spread his legs and the club landed in between them making. Kami felt the shock waves caused by the attack throughout his entire body and fell down slightly as the crater he was in got larger. Kami had no time to think about a plan to deal with these or recover as the other giants were about to swing into the crater simultaneously. He quickly jumped up and out of the crater. The giants attack made four more craters surrounding the one he was just in that resembled a poppy.

"It would probably be a good time to pull out Asura about now" Kami lightly muttered whilst jumping back. "But how much of a difference can she actually make?"

Kami slowly pulled Asura out from his waist with one hand. He slowly moved her downwards until the tip of her blade was pointing towards the ground. The tip touched the ground and the floor received a slight crack. Kami heard the sound of the floor cracking and looked down shocked, he put no effort into his actions.

"Seems there is a lot more to this sword than I thought I knew" Kami chuckled

"These guys are powerful Kami, marvel at the sight of me going all out" Tama chuckled

Kami was too focused on his own opponents that he forgot about Tama, if he was struggling with his 5 then he thought Tama should be nearly dead.

He was half right.

Though Tama was no longer dodging the giants attacks and was getting thrown into walls she was fine. The whole of Tama's body after she made the proclamation of going all out began to glow crimson red. Kami watched as a giant attempted to attack her but the club was greeted with a glowing red fist that not only repelled the club like how Kami had previously done, but also lit it on fire. 

Kami was rather shocked by the spectacle and intended on continuing to watch but he had no time as he was already in combat. He was so shocked by Tama that he almost totally forgot about his own enemies. However, now more confident with Asura in his hands, he prepared for his comeback.

They all attacked him simultaneously but Kami planned on matching this with Asura. However, when Asura touched each of the clubs, they were cut in half and the wind from Kami's strike was sharp and removed all of their heads in one clean swoop. Kami accidentally defeated his enemies with one strike. Kami thought of this as being one of those instances of a mission being failed successfully, he planned on negating the clubs but killed his opponents instead.

Kami went back to Tama's fight. It was over and though he saw a minimal amount of it, the ground was scorched where the giants once were. He assumed correctly that they got cooked by Tama, and sympathised on how unfortunate it would be to leave this world by being cooked alive.

When Tama began to glow red, Liliana stopped giving support. She knew that she no longer had to.

"Amazingly and beautifully" began Tama "I Tama the great have taken these giant kings life. It was forfeit the second they attempted to batter me"

"What was that you just did" Kami questioned her

"The great Tama is capable of using aura. With it I become a basic country disaster, though I myself am very distant from the word basic"

"Country huh, does that mean you also got drafted for the military then Tama"

"Naturally, I have been in the military for a few years now. They call me Major Tama, I have a whole battalion to control"

"Hmm interesting, how does aura work exactly"

"Umm... you... it" Tama tried to utter frying her brain

"Let me take over" began Liliana "Tama isn't too good at explaining stuff like this

"Yes I am, I was just put on the spot slightly" Tama rebuttled

"The great Tama put on the spot" Pyria chuckled

"Pyria stop mocking Tama" Liliana sighed "Anyway, aura is spiritual energy. Everyone has a certain amount of spiritual energy within them, aura users draw on this power within them and force the aura to take shape around their body and it works like a suit of armour and a blade at the same time"

"How?" Kami said slightly confused

"An the aura around a person is usually of a specific nature, in Tama's case, hers is fire. When she spreads aura around her body it shields her from attacks and it also puts whatever nature the aura uses onto the attacker. If you were to attack Tama with your fists, she could defend herself from your attack completely and burn your fist slightly if her aura could negate your attack"

"What happens if her aura can't negate my attack?"

"Kami, you look down upon me I can take your blow with ease" Tama confidently voiced "However if for some extremely odd and impossible reason I couldn't I would take damage but I would only feel whatever broke through my defence not the entire attack"

"But regardless attacking anyone who can use aura when you yourself cannot use it is not smart because even if you get through their defence, they only take the damage of whatever got through like Tama said and you would still feel the element of the aura on wherever you attacked" Liliana finished

"How many people in the military have you faced that use Aura Tama?" Kami asked

"Well, basically all of them, in the ruminate countries of course. It is a neccessity to not only defend yourself from other aura users but from mages as well. Aura is the only thing that can counter a mage"

"So since I am going to be joining the military soon, I am going to have to learn how to use aura"

"Yep, but there is a school for that in the capital city of Brunay The capital city is Masseth and I completely forgot the name of the school but you learn about Aura and stuff"

Liliana was about to tell Kami on the name of the school but saw no need to. He was going to find out for himself anyway.

"But there is a problem" Kami remembered

"What is it" Liliana asked

"I can only leave the city of Jura for quests and by the time we clear this dungeon I will be taken to the military"

"Tama said aura was a neccessity remember, when they realise you can't use aura you will be taken over to Masseth to receive free tutoring anyway" Liliana started "You could say not knowing aura yet is a blessing as you don't need to go straight into war yet. And your plenty strong, though fighting anyone with spiritual power when you yourself have none is extremely stupid and will result in heavy damage being done to yourself, you could probably beat anyone who can use aura up to about a captain in the army I would say. However I wouldn't recommend it, but lets save this talk for after we clear our problem" she said whilst pointed around the floor of the dungeon they were still in.

Kami agreed and they decided to rest on the floor they were on where they had just taken on the giants. Whilst they were resting they were so focused on analysing the battles Kami and Tama had to notice the loot that had dropped from the giants.

"Even though they are probably the strongest Giant kings in the dungeon and stronger than the monsters that we will fight a few floors down, the possible loot they drop is still the same as a normal Giant King" Kami mentioned disappointed.

"It's not all bad, since you two took out these monsters pretty easily, we already know that the only possible challenge left would be whatever is at the bottom of this dungeon" Pyria pointed out.

This raised the morale of the entire group and got them excited remembering the fame they would receive after clearing the dungeon. In their eyes the dungeon was pretty much cleared as after Tama and Kami got serious, the duo were unstoppable. After they had all slept and eaten. They headed down to the next floor. Kami viewed using Asura as a last resort when he wouldn't win without using her and prepared to fight the monsters with this in mind.

The 71st floor was special. Although all the over floors were made specifically for the monsters within it and resembled a huge room. This one was different. Although there was a huge amount of space in the room like in all the others, it was limited by an old stone bridge about 5 metres in width. Kami and company saw no monsters either. It looked.. empty. Eerily empty. 

They were prepared for anything.

"Be ready, there definitely should be something on this level. Lets cross the bridge but carefully" Kami firmly declared with his fists raised.

They slowly began to cross the bridge. As the reached the middle they heard growling that shook the whole room. However they were prepared.

The other side of the bridge was wrapped in darkness and none of them could see what was waiting for them. Out from the darkness emerged a single monster. A beastman. With the legs, hands and head of a werewolf and the rest was that of a human. 

He howled loudly and got on all fours and charged into the group.

"No one hold back this is an S rank monster" shouted Liliana drawing her bow.

But it was too late. When Liliana had finished saying this only she had time to prepare. The beast was already about to confront Tama. With nowhere to run the monster quickly picked her up and threw her behind him sending her flying to the other side of the room. Kami attempted to unsheathe Asura but the beastman put his hand on top of Kami's hand which stopped him from pulling her out. Kami was then picked up with both hands by the monster and swiftly thrown down and off the bridge moving at speeds faster than a skydiver. He had been separated. His hands stretched out to the stone bridge where his comrades were as if he could reach them again.

Kami had been thrown into the deep depths of the dungeon sinking within its darkness

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