The sun was setting when we arrived at our destination. There were four rangers waiting outside of a door and they looked at us.
There were things known as Dungeons in this world. They appear almost anywhere in the form of a door. Once a person opens the door, they would be sent to a separate dimension where monsters of different kinds exist. The dungeon would remain in that place until someone would destroy the Dungeon Core.
The good thing about Dungeons was that they had treasure in it. They would have precious metals that were worth a lot and sometimes had rare materials that were used in many things.
Monsters of different types roam around inside a Dungeon. From what I read, the Moryo Dungeon appeared last week. There were many adventurers who challenged the Dungeon but only one of them returned. The adventurer said that powerful monsters were lurking inside the dungeon hence they had to raise the rank of the Dungeon into SS.
The rangers looked at us.
"What do you need?" one of them asked.
"We are adventurers from Westa. We've come to challenge this dungeon", Oga said and showed him the permit from the Adventurer's Guild.
The rangers looked at us.
"The Dungeon is pretty dangerous. But since the Adventurer's Guild allowed you to take the SS-ranked, then we will let you attempt it", he said.
"Can you keep watch of our horses?" Yuzu asked.
"Very well. How many days do you think will it take for you three to clear the Dungeon?"
"If we're not back in three days, consider us dead", Oga said.
We walked towards the door and I could feel my heart beating fast. If this was SS-ranked, there should be dangerous monsters in this place.
Don't worry. You've become stronger. Just learn when to use Synchronicity because you can only use it once every six hours, Anya's voice said.
Oga opened the door and light shone on us. When it died down, we found ourselves inside a large hallway. The walls and floor were made with bricks and when I looked up, there was a high ceiling.
"Let's go", Oga said and we began walking.
Our formation was that we would be walking in a single line with Oga in the front, me in the middle, and Yuzu in the back. I knew that I was the weakest among the three of us so I had to be in the middle but I still felt bad. Wasn't the reason I became stronger was so that no one would protect me?
We entered the first room and three ogres were looking at us. They had large wooden clubs and were around 3 meters tall. Normally, ogres don't work in groups. They had high regenerative abilities that the only way to kill them was severing their heads from their bodies. Ogres were around C-ranked in terms of danger level. But that was only for when they were alone. If they were in groups, they could be B-ranked.
"So... We take one each?" Oga cracked his knuckles.
"Sure. Wanna race to see who'll kill faster?" Yuzu unsheathed his sword.
I unsheathed my sword and the three of us charged at the ogres.
The ogre I picked swung down its club. I knew about the strength of the ogre so I did my best in dodging it. Ogres only had their strength and regenerative abilities. They weren't smart and didn't have other dangerous tricks. All I had to do was be wary of its attacks.
I willed my shadow to turn into a spike and it lunged at the ogre. However, the ogre sacrificed its arm to protect its neck. Tch. I take it back. It was slightly smarter than the average ogre.
Steam came out from its wound and it regenerated its severed hand. An idea formed in my mind. I've been practicing parallel processing lately so I was pretty sure I could pull this off.
I charged at the ogre and it swung its weapon at me. My shadow turned into a giant hand and caught the club. The strike was so strong that cracks appeared on my shadow but fortunately, it was able to handle the strike. I made the shadow hand wrap around the club and the ogres' hands while I charged and cut off its legs.
The ogre fell to the ground and I immediately proceeded to sever its head from its neck. That should do it.
"I've seen you fight in the Idol Fan Tournament but you're much more impressive in person", Yuzu said.
"He's got help in his mana manipulation", Oga told him.
They were sitting on the floor with the dead ogres behind them.
"Who was faster?" I asked.
"I won. Just one punch to the ogre's head and it was sent flying. Yuzu had a bit of trouble since he underestimated the ogre's intelligence", Oga said.
"I didn't expect it to willingly sacrifice its arm to protect its head. But I managed to cut off its head in the next strike", Yuzu replied.
We continued walking around the dungeon and defeated the monsters there. There were minotaurs, basilisks, hydras, manticores, and other strong creatures.
After defeating a group of saber tigers, we took a small rest.
"Oooh. Oga, Mikage! Look here!" Yuzu called us.
When we went to his spot, there were large white crystals growing on the ground.
"Are those Nokuniums?" Oga asked.
"Most likely. As expected of an SS-ranked Dungeon. We could be rich from this!" Yuzu said.
Nokunium? I didn't know what it was but Oga's eyes were sparkling.
In case you didn't know, one small piece of Nokunium costs around this much, Anya told me the value of Nokunium and my jaws dropped.
"S-S-Shall we take it?" I asked nervously. If we had that amount of Nokunium, I could stop working and still have a month's worth of salary.
"Of course! Everything here is free for all", Yuzu took the Nokunium and placed it on his pouch.
Oga and Yuzu had a rare bag that could hold many things without getting heavy. I heard it used a special type of magic known as Dimension Magic which caused the items inside the bag to be placed in a separate dimension.
Now that I think about it, what was the difference between Stored Magic and Enchantment? Could I also try to learn how to enchant things? Maybe I should take a look at the books in the Westa Library.
When Oga and Yuzu finished gathering the Nokunium, we continued on walking around the dungeon. We fought a few more monsters but it wasn't that dangerous. However, we saw the corpses of the previous adventurers who tried to challenge this dungeon. Maybe the only reason why I wasn't having any problem was that Oga and Yuzu were absurdly strong. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be able to survive in a dungeon like this.
"We're here", Oga said.
I looked ahead and saw a giant door. However, I could feel an eerie aura coming out from behind it.
"The boss room is just ahead. If we can defeat the guardian and destroy the Dungeon Core, we can go home without any problems", Yuzu said.
"Mikage... I want you to watch your back. The monsters we fought are around B-ranked to A-ranked and I saw how you were able to hold your own. If this dungeon is like a regular dungeon, I wouldn't be surprised if the guardian is SS-ranked. Just don't overestimate yourself."
"Got it. I'll be careful."
Oga opened the door and light shone on us once more. It was time to face the guardian of this dungeon.
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A/N: I'll be taking another two week break after the next chapter. I'll end the arc in the next chapter and then hope you guys won't forget about this in the next two weeks.
