"So, these are the Old Lenthor Ruins?" -said Ashuran. The party is standing in front of the old ruins, admiring it's antique look. The Ruins were unkept, seen by the vines and greenery that creeped out of the cracks of the eroded stone walls, eating into it. Any signs of old carvings on the walls were gone, unrecognizable when comparing to the pictures in history books. What kind of things these ruins hold in them, Sam did not know.

"Well, let's go over the Job details, and how we will go about conquering the dungeon, alright?" -Ashuran said. Sam noticed that he started looking at her. She was confused why until she remembered she carried the Job papers.

"Oh, right!" She pulls out the papers and clears her throat, and starts reading. "Recently, Magic Beasts have been seen coming out of the Ruins and going near the village. This Job requires you to go into the Old Lenthor Ruins, and find out the number of Magic Beasts inside. If you are capable, subjugate them, If you are not, retreat and report to the Guild." -she stops reading.

"Alright, so with that being said, this is how we are going to go into the dungeon." -Ashuran said, and then paused for a moment, before he continued.

"I will be in the middle, and I will be acting as the Vanguard. Sam, Aruha and Nie will be in the back, Aruha as the backup support, with Nie as our main healer. Sam, you carry on any things we find, understood."

"Yes i do-" "Sounds good-" said Sam and Aruha. However, Nie had a different response.

"Is it a good idea to have Sam follow us into the dungeon?" -Nie responded, getting everyone's attention. "Wouldn't it be better for her to wait here, so that if we encounter something more dangerous, she can go back to the village safely?"

The rest of the party went quiet, not knowing how to respond. They knew that the dangers existed, but never quite acknowledged it, thinking "We went through worse!" However, now they were joined by a 13 year old, who is still very much a kid. Sam knew this, but was sad, because she wanted to prove herself. The one to break the silence was Ashuran.

"Well, you have a point, but I can't just leave somebody behind," -He said. "What if something sneaks out of the Ruins, while we are inside? I can't risk that happening, so I would rather have her here close to us."

"Alright, that's a good enough explanation to me." -Nie responded.

"With that being said," -Ashuran continued. "Goyu, you will be in the front, looking for traps, sound good to you?".

"...Sounds good to me." -Goyu responded as quietly as usual.

"Alright, with this, lets head on into the Ruins!"

"Yeah!" -the whole party said, except for Goyu, who just nodded a single "Nn." As they went inside however, a horned creature was watching, behind a tree. It uttered a dry and coarse laugh, and it started to follow them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite the outside looking unkept and antique, the inside of the Ruins was unexpectedly, well designed. No cracks to be seen, the floor was spotless, truly a weird dungeon this was.

"Geez, for supposed ruins, this place is better kept than most inns we've been at." -Aruha sighed.

"Hey now, this is only the first floor, so there aren't many monsters, but as soon as we go down, we gotta keep our heads up, got it?" Ashuran replied.

The Old Lenthor Ruins is a dungeon well known for it's size, as there are 10 floors, each being harder than the one before. Currently the party was in the 1st floor. The Magic Beasts that appear here are quite weak, ranging from minor Imps to Skeletons, both being F class, only getting to D class in numbers. The traps only appear on the 3rd floor, so Goyu hangs back for a little while they get to the 3rd floor. Sam stays behind and picks up any useful items they find. However, her main goal is watching how the party fights, because if she wants to be a great adventurer, she has to see how great adventurers fight.

Aruha and Goyu are the ranged attackers. Aruha mainly uses miniature flame and wind spells to preserve mana, but the speed and elegance of her casting is amazing to the young cat, as they blast away the imps and skeletons. Goyu on the other hand is silent, and by the time you hear him fire an arrow, it's already met it's target. What interested Sam the most were Goyu's ears. They occasionally move around, as if scouting for sounds. This reminded Sam how he reacted first when she got attacked by the boar, and vows to always be careful, like Goyu.

Ashuran kept the attention of the enemies on him at all times, but what most surprised Sam was his swordsmanship. Unlike many adventurers with a sword, Ashuran did not just 'hack and slash', but he used every part of his sword wisely. When the enemy had good protection from horizontal slashes, he would thrust the sword in between the points not protected. If the enemy had good armor, but no helmet, he would do an overhead slash, hitting the unprotected head. Not to mention how he always waited for the enemy to move first, and then react.

Nie supported the squad from afar, whenever they needed healing, she would come in and heal, whenever they needed purification,  she would purify their status, whenever they needed anything, she would come in and help. Sam respected Nie the most, because of just how reliable she is.

As they were going through the Ruins, they found chests, with items inside. Chests are a common occurence in every dungeon. In natural dungeons It's thought to be that people store items in chests in dungeons, so that they can't be found, while man-made dungeons have chests, simply to replicate that feeling you get in a real dungeon. Since it's the first floor however, the chests don't yield too many good results. The party had found a couple of potions of minor heal, an Iron sword, and large robes and gloves. "What kind of creature would need clothes this large?" Ashuran said, dumbfounded by the sight. Sam managed to put them in her backpack.

After a long while, they finally found the stairs that would lead them to the 2nd floor of the Ruins. And so they continued on. While going through the second floor, Nie got closer to Sam.

"Hey Sam?" -Nie called out.

"Yeah?" -Sam responded.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier in front of the Ruins." -Nie said.

"O-oh that? It's fine, I understand what you meant." -Sam replied. Although she was hurt at first, she understands Nie's worries, so she changed her mind.

"It's just...something's not right here, don't you feel it too?" -Nie said. It was uncommon for her to be this scared or worried.

"I guess that means we should be more careful, right?" -Sam suggested, trying to calm Nie down.

"Yeah!" Nie said, with a smile back on her face.

As they went through the Ruins, the difficulty had raised a bit, but was still manageable. Every floor there was a new Magic Beast they would have to fight. On the 2nd floor there were Slimes, C ranked Magic Beasts, who had acidic bodies, but a weak magic stone core inside their body. They would fight by throwing out their liquid, and by multiplying. Goyu and Ashuran weren't good at fighting this, so Aruha mainly assisted by using Fire Magic to evaporate weaker slimes, and give Ashuran and Goyu the chance to attack. Otherwise the second floor was a bit bland.

On the 3rd floor Death Bats appeared. They were crimson red, big bat-like creatures that flew right at their opponent, latching onto them and sucking their necks. They also had a long, sharp tail, with which they slash at foes, easily capable of chipping through Iron plated armor. However, their movement was predictable, so their class remained at C. Goyu shot at them from afar, striking them down before they could even attack.

Since it was the third floor, the traps had finally appeared. They were standard traps, but to an unsuspecting adventurer, they would prove to be lethal. While they walked Goyu crawled slowly, inspecting the floor with his knife. Everytime he encountered a trap, he would say "...Got one" and continue. So far the traps were as seen: a pit fall into spikes trap, an arrow trap, and an enemy trap, which would let loose enemies from another room for any adventurers too fight.

There was one thing that felt wrong to Sam. As they were walking through the pathway, she was feeling chills running down her spine. However, everytime she looked back, there was nothing behind her. She had also noticed several cracks in the wall and holes that were unlike the 1st and 2nd floor. When they finally got to the stairs that led to the 4th floor, she felt that chill again. This time, however, she addressed this to the party.

"Hey, guys?" -she said nervously, "I think we're being followed."

The first one to react was Aruha "What do you mean we're being followed? Goyu would have reacted if he heard something." -she said

"I don't know, I just get this terrible chill." -explained Sam. Aruha wanted to say something, but Ashuran stopped her.

"Let's check if what she is saying is true or not, can't be too careful. Besides, it's not like Goyu can hear everything" -he said.

"Fine, this shouldn't take long anyways." -Aruha sighed.

The party then went into battle position, readying their weapons, and waited for something to appear from the pathway. They waited, and waited, but nothing appeared.

"Oh, forget this!" -Aruha said in annoyance, and started chanting a spell, much stronger than the ones she used before. "Most wondrous flame yond destroys impurity, he'd mine own calleth, and f'rm a wond'rous sph're"

As she was chanting, a ball of flames started appearing at the tip of her wand. "Doth as i sayeth, and striketh mine own foe down, fie those folk into oblivion, Fireball!"

After she finished chanting, the large fireball went into the pathway. It was a large comet of strong red flames, surely strong enough to kill most enemies. After entering the pathway, the fireball exploded, causing a shockwave. Fortunately, the walls weren't damaged, as the fireball only left behind a giant wall of fire.

"Well, that should stop whatever was following us, let's continue." -Aruha said, and turned to the stairs. The others surprised at what she did stared at the wall of flames for a bit, before also turning to the stairs. However, Sam still felt that chill crawling down that spine, and she looked back, to see a silhouete through the fire wall.

"Guys! Look!" -Sam called out to the others, pointing to the wall of flames.

As they turned around, all of them were shocked to see a silhouete getting closer.

"No way, there's no way anything could get through that wall!" -Aruha said, getting more and more nervous as the thing approached. Two more silhouetes appeared aswell .

"I wish my worries weren't going to come true, but this is too much." -Nie said. The thing had finally gone through the wall of flames, as if it were air, revealing itself. Alongside it came the other two, who were of the same race

"No way... Little Devils!" -Ashuran said, shocked.

Little Devils were the evolved form of the Imps the party had fought before. They were thin and tall creatures, deep crimson red skin, and their defining horns that give them the moniker 'Devil'. They are notorious for being incredibly dangerous to any party. Their skill with a weapon was far better than their previous counterpart, now being able to outmatch an Amateur swordsman. Their skin was as durable as fine, padded gamberson, while also being resistant to fire, making them hard to kill.

Their most troublesome attribute, however, was their immense speed. They were as fast as a horse, and could outrun any of their prey. While fighting, they move in spontaneous movements and overwhelm their enemy. They always move in groups of three or five. All of this together, makes them a Class A level threat, only Gold ranked adventurers and above can deal with them. The first Little Devil is carrying a rusty axe, the second a sword, and the third a dagger. They all are standing oddly still, as if they were waiting for the party to move.

"Alright, listen up, we need to kill these three Devils, then we will return to the surface. If there are more of these in the other levels, then we need to report this to the Guild!" -Ashuran yelled out. Immediately after Goyu shot 3 arrows at the same timea at the Little Devils. The Devils dodge the arrows effortlessly and start their attack. Ashuran takes on the Little Devils by himself.

The battle between the party and the Devils looked to be a stalemate. Despite Ashuran being a better fighter, the Little Devils were just too quick to hit. No matter what move he did, a horizontal slash, a thrust, they would dodge it. He decided that he had to be defensive and not take any risks, so all he could do was try and defend against them, while the party tried to hit them. Nie also supported Ashuran with strength enhancing blessings.

"He'd mine own prayeth'r oh goddess of spirit and giveth thy followeth'r the strength to ov'rcome agony and setteth sooth to any yond block their path!" -she chanted, and Ashuran's body glowed a great aura, his body enhanced.

Goyu continued to fire arrows, trying to overwhelm the Little Devils. However, they always seemed to be able to dodge. In fact, they seemed to be moving in a synchronized motion. Each of them attacked in order, with the axe Devil using his axe to try and bash Ashuran, while the sword Devil deflected the arrows, while the dagger Devil used quick motions to catch Ashuran off guard. Fortunately, with both the natural capabilities of the Tiger Beast-kin and the strength blessing, he can endure.

Meanwhile, Aruha was standing still, not chanting anything. Or so it seemed to Sam, because she was actually chanting, quietly, trying to gather enough mana and power in her spell to get the devils off guard. Unfortunately, the overwhelming attack of the Devils had finally took a toll on Ashuran, as the dagger Devil managed to stab him in the right shoulder, causing him to drop his sword.

"Ack!" -Ashuran yelped. However, he used this opportunity to grab the Devil with his other arm, holding him tightly. This gave Aruha the chance to attack.

"Wind Cutter!" -She yelled, causing multiple blades of air to form, heading straight for the Little Devils. Ashuran threw the Little Devil he held right into the wind cutters, causing the Devil to get torn appart. The axe Devil and the sword Devil had managed to dodge the blades, but it didn't mean that they would get away scot free.

"...Got you." -Goyu said, as he fired two arrows straight into the axe Devil's chest and neck, causing him to fall down, convulsing in pain before ultimately dying.

The sword Devil was all alone, and Ashuran's wound had already closed due to Nie's healing blessing, and he held onto his sword. Seeing that he is outnumbered, the Little Devil had charged straight at Ashuran and jumped, holding his sword in an overhead motion.

"Too predictable." -Ashuran said, knowing how this was going to end. However, the Devil had surprised him, and as soon as he slashed his sword at Ashuran's, he used it as a stepping stone, only to then jump on the one person who didn't fight. Sam.

"No! Somebody stop him!" -Ashuran yelled, but it was too late

"Kya!" -Sam yelped, as the Devil had pounced on her. He roared in victory as he was about to bite into Sam's neck,

"Aghk!" -the Devil yelped, as he was stabbed in the neck by Sam's Iron dagger. She was so surprised by this, that she immediately crawled away, only being able to look at the Devil with fear. The Devil gagged and coughed up his blood, and fell down, finally dying. After noticing this ordeal, Sam started crying when she realized that she had killed a creature. She never realized what killing a creature would actually feel like.

"Sam, are you ok?" -Nie and Aruha said at the same time. The party had come trying to comfort her.

"Sam...I'm so sorry, I should have protected you." -Ashuran appologized, while prostrating himself. Sam looked at him, and noticed how everyone was acting for her sake, so she stopped crying.

"I-it's ok, thank you for worrying about me, Miss Nie and Miss Aruha, and please stand up, Mister Ashuran, you couldn't have known that would happen." -Sam said, trying to raise everyone's spirits.

The party took a moment to calm down, and ready themselves once more. Once everyone was of able mind, Ashuran had once more taken the role of leader. "Alright, now that we took care of this problem, let's head back to the Guild. This has become too troublesome for us to handle lightly."

Everyone nodded. Three Little Devils were troublesome, so they didn't wish to find out what a larger group would do to them.

They started walking to the pathway, only to be devastated at what they would find. One, two, three - nine Little Devils were creeping along the floor and walls. All of them had weapons of different sizes, but their worst weapon was their bloodthirst. They reeked of death, sending shivers to everyone in the party.

"Fall back to the stairs!" -Ashuran shouted, and as soon as he did, they all ran away. But the Little Devils did not follow them, as there were two easy prey right in front of them. A Tiger, and a Mouse.

"Miss Nie, Mister Ashuran-" Sam tried to call out to them, but was swiftly picked up by Goyu.

"I'm sorry kid, but somebody has to hold them back, don't worry, we've been through worse!" -Ashuran shouted, trying to comfort the young cat. Sam looked at Nie, who was smiling back at her, with a motherly look. Goyu, Aruha, and Sam who was being carried, went down the stairs to the 4th floor.

Ashuran and Nie readied themselves, staring down the nine Little Devils who waited for them.

"Hey, Nie?" -asked Ashuran.

"Yeah?"

"It's been an honor to fight alongside you." -Ashuran said, smiling proudly.

"Likewise, you big softy." -replied Nie, with the same proud smile. The two had then clashed with the Little Devils.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The three remainding members of the party had swiftly went down the stairs and made their way through the 4th floor. They didn't stop running, not until reaching a fair distance away from the Little Devils. Goyu put Sam down on the ground, while Aruha was walking around in circles, cursing up a storm.

"Damn, Damn it, Damn it all! This wasn't supposed to happen! This was supposed to be an easy Job!"

"Calm down." -Goyu said to her. Aruha however was not in the mood to stop.

"How do you think I am supposed to calm down after what just happened? For the first time we have been adventuring, we get ambushed by nine Little Devils, and instead of fighting back like we always do, that big, dumb, stupid tiger tells us to run away, while not only he, but Nie aswell, stay behind and fight them off. How do you think I can calm down, after leaving two of my friends to die?" -she said, with tears starting to run down her face.

"That's enough" -Goyu replies.

"What do you mean that's enough-" Aruha was about to say, but she noticed Sam, crying.

"Miss Aruha," she sobbed. Her throat felt swollen and she stuttered as she tried to speak the words in her head. "I'm sorry."

Seeing this, Aruha rushed over to her. "No, no, no, It's not your fault Sam, I'm sorry for worrying you." -she said,hugging her and letting the young cat's head rest on her chest. She continued to comfort her, the young cat crying less and less. Goyu waited for Sam to calm down, and as she did, he approached the both of them.

"...We'll take a short break to gather our breaths. Then we will go further down the dungeon in the 5th floor, and we'll wait for the Little Devils to scatter." -he said calmly.

"A-alright." -Aruha said.

The trio sat down on the cold stone floor. Aruha was chanting a spell, seemingly in case a Magic Beast snuck up on them. Goyu was checking his arrow supply, "...Only 10 left" he said. After gathering their breaths, they headed off farther into the 4th floor. It was strangely quiet, too quiet. There were no Magic Beasts too be found, the feeling of a trap was awakened again to them. Soon, they would know too well why this was the case.

A pack of seven Little Devils was waiting for them on the pathway around the corner. As soon as the trio had noticed, Aruha unleashed her spell.

"Wind Cutter!" -she shouted, throwing out several blades of air at the Little Devils. Immediately, they ran down the pathway, trying to lose the Little Devils again. However, as they ran, they encountered more groups of Little Devils, ranging from two to five. The last group they found were three Little Devils. This group was dealt in the same manner by Aruha, with her Wind Cutter, and running away. However, in this group, one Little Devil carried a bow. As that Little Devil dodged the blades of air, he shot an arrow, hitting Aruha.

"Aghk!" -Aruha choked, stumbling on the ground.

"Miss Aruha!"

"Goyu, run away with Sam! I'll hold them here as long as I can!" -Aruha shouted, stuttering due to the pain. Goyu nodded and ran off while carrying Sam.

"W-wait, we can't just leave her-" Sam said, before being interrupted by Aruha.

"I'll be fine Sam! You just make sure you survive!" -she said, the eagle smiling proudly, to comfort the young cat.

Sam heard those last words, and held onto them. They would serve as a reminder of Aruha to her.

Goyu had carried Sam all the way to the stairs leading to the 5th floor, and further down the same floor. He carried her for a long time, seemingly without needing to rest. However, this rush, would prove to be fatal, as he did not focus on the traps, stepping on a pressure plate. 

"W-what's wrong?" -Sam noticed that something was off.

"...It seems that I stepped onto a trap," Goyu paused, then continued, "It will most likely go off when i step off it."

"No, we can't let that happen!" -Sam yelled, "Let me go through my backpack, maybe I can find something to replace-"

"There is nothing you can do for me, Sam" -Goyu said, interrupting Sam. She looked at him, teary eyed and in disbelief, before he continued, "There is only one thing you can do."

"W-what is that?" -she said sobbing.

"Run. Never look back. Continue to survive. Could you be a good girl and do that for me?" -Goyu said, his words becoming more and more calming and clear.

"Y-yeah. I promise I will." -Sam said, continuing to sob.

"Good. Don't cry. You're better than that." Goyu said, patting her head. "Now go. Run!"

Sam did as he said and ran, not looking back at all. She could hear the sounds of the Little Devils getting closer, but she never looked back. Even as the sounds suddenly got higher pitched, and then going completely quiet, she never looked back. She just continued to run.

After running so much, she had to stop, catch her breath. She felt like her lungs were about to explode. "I'm sorry, Goyu, I can't run this much." She started to get teary eyed again, but slapped herself, as she promised Goyu she wouldn't do that. When she gathered her breath, she saw something peculiar.

A big, metal door, unlike anything she saw before. It had a strange looking thing next to it, which reminded her of a small window, but it had inscription written on it. It read "TOUCH HERE" and it had a symbol similair to a paw on it. Before she could have time to think, she could hear the sounds of a Little Devil getting closer. So she did as the inscription said, and put her paw on the small screen. It did nothing however, so she tried touching it again. And again.

"Come on, come on, work, please!" -she whispered frantically. The sound was getting closer and closer, until finally, a Little Devil appeared.

In a last ditch effort, Sam gathered up all her strength, and slammed her hand on the symbold. "Work with me!" -she yelled out. This time, the door was lighting up, opening up, with Sam falling into it. The Little Devil tried to enter as well, but the door closed shut, glowing red.

Sam thanking the gods for giving her a safe room, looked around the surrounding of the room she found herself in. It was a room she had never seen before, only slightly reminding her of a room her friend has. There were loads of bookshelves surrounding the right wall, a table with a couple of papers and tools on it. The strangest thing however, was at the center of the room. A chamber of sorts, with wires surrounding it. Probably to give it power Sam thought. There was another small window on top of a stand, with the same inscription and symbol on it. Sam was so surprised of her surroundings, that she completely forgot the situation she was in, until the sounds of banging on the door could be heard. She was not sure how long that door would last, so she immediately headed off to the chamber.

She stared at the symbol, and though long and hard, before slamming her hand once more, "Please! Help me!"

At first, nothing happened. While Sam was confused however, her hand glowed brightly, so did the wires connected to the chamber. The chamber opened up, Sam stepping back, surprised at the sight.

Out of the chamber came out a being she had never seen before. It was massive, it's head almost hitting the ceiling. It was covered in rusty, plate armor, with what wasn't covered showing off gears that continously moved. At the center of it's torso glowed a blue light. It's arms and legs were covered in gears and other mechanical parts, and were certainly strong. It's head was square-like and it's face had a bright red glow, resembling an eye. 

What Sam had found, was one of the many technological marvels kingdoms around the world considered a great tool and weapon. This was, an Automaton.