After dealing with Mathias’s group and leaving their splayed bodies to be sent back to the entrance Kotori delved back into the tunnel that was made for them by Lala.

They walked for a while, and Kotori could tell they were going deeper in fact, it seemed like they were near the platinum dragon

[So, they are this close already?] Kotori thought.

It wasn’t a surprise; Lala had told her that moving tunnels was a hassle. The tunnel was continuously lengthening in front of them and Kotori could see it visibly growing in front of her. When she used [Gourmet] to scan the tunnel she saw a steady amount of mana pouring through the walls to push through the ground, the amount of mana was a dizzying amount and Kotori could see why Lala wanted to be rid of the queen’s candidates.

The dungeon mana ecosystem was delicate and if it was anything like Nero’s dungeons then the mana expenditure was probably quite intense.

The tunnel eventually opened up into a large clearing and Kotori could see two large groups facing off against each other.

Lala had told her that she would try and put the groups closer together so Kotori didn’t have to move as much but Kotori didn’t expect Lala to simply put them right next to each other.

The groups were split between the small group of elite adventurers which included Zacariah, Hectaire, and Delia and the much large group of weaker adventurers which contained Ryla and that old man that Kotori had saw with her earlier. The old man seemed to wear, quite ornate gold armor that gave Kotori the impression he was not to be trifled with. Even so, Kotori had trouble seeing Ryla’s group beating the group in front of them.

“Should we do something?” Amelie asked Kotori with an unsure expression.

Kotori and her party were a little ways away and were blocked by a few boulders so they hadn’t been noticed yet,

Kotori thought for a moment,

[It’s probably no good to get in between them and it would be especially annoying if they combined forced against us.] There was no reason to intervene at the moment, and it would be ideal if the two groups could wear each other out

“Mhmm, let’s just see how this ends up.” Kotori told Amelie.

Amelie nodded and the party took a few steps back to hide and observe the commotion in front of them.

“Back off, Zacariah let us pass!” Ryla shouted out, her voice echoing in the chamber

“Hmmph! Know your place, you should let the eldest take the throne” Zacariah responded.

“I don’t wish to fight for no reason, let us finish this trial peacefully and let mother decide,” Ryla said

Zacariah smiled in response

[So she’s not a warmonger] Kotori thought raising her eyebrow, Ryla was surprisingly tempered, though it made sense considering the fact her group probably couldn’t beat Zacariah

[Honestly, I don’t know why her group is so weak in the first place] Ryla was an ambitious woman, Kotori was sure she probably could’ve found plenty of strong adventurers from outside the country to help her.

“You know Ryla, the observers are no longer here. Whatever happens in these tunnels won’t ever be found out” Zacariah said

Ryla seemed to narrow her eyes in response to Zacariah’s statement.

“Don’t tell me you plan on fighting us” She said her voice low.

Zachariah shrugged his shoulder.

“Maybe not, but it would be a ‘shame’ if you suddenly disappeared in this dungeon.” He said.

Ryla adopting a fighting pose and the adventurers with her also adopted a fighting pose in response to Zacariah’s response.

“You overestimate yourself,” Ryla said.

“Oh really? Those second-rate people you have with you are weaklings, I’m honestly disappointed in you Ryla I expected more”

Ryla gave an annoyed looked

“Fine, do as you wish”

Kotori could feel mana emitting from Ryla and suddenly shoot out of her towards all the adventurers around her.

Kotori wondered what sort of Ryla mana was doing. To her knowledge, she didn’t think Ryla had any sort of eye-popping abilities.

It wasn’t until she saw the nature of the mana that Kotori realized what Ryla was casting.

[Hey, isn’t that sort of mana strangely familiar, wait… isn’t that the same mana I use!]

Kotori saw mana from Ryla bleeding into the adventurers near here.

They were being mana buffed. In the exact same way that Kotori would do so.

Kitsura

Bit late sorry bout that.