A few moments after the entrance to the dungeon had opened, Vylan took a moment to inspect his equipment and armor, ensuring everything was in perfect condition. He then proceeded to check his weapons, his sword and the dagger on his waist.

Satisfied with his preparations, he turned his attention to Alfith and Alfen. "You girls ready?"

He felt a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks as he admired their beautiful appearances.

Alfith nodded with a stern expression while Alfen looked at Vylan from head to toe, nodded in approval and said, "You look incredibly charming, my dear Vylan. With your by our side, we'll have to fend off admirers like swatting away flies."

She leaned closer to him, pressing her breasts onto his chest and asked sweetly, "I trust you hold a special place for me in your heart, don't you?"

Her voice was soft and seductive as she said those words.

Vylan blushed and stammered, "Y-Yes. Both of you have special places in my heart. You're both precious to me."

When Alfith heard him, she blushed slightly and spoke in a soft, hesitant voice, "I-I also hold you dear in my heart."

Alfen giggled and teased her, "What was dat? Could you repeat it?"

"I-I-I-I-"

Alfith panicked seeing Alfen tease her and flicked her forehead with her finger.

"Ow!"

Alfen rubbed her forehead with a pout and sulked, "You're no fun."

"E-Enough f-foolin' around! W-We must hurry!, Alfith urged and hurriedly walked away to hide the intense blush on her face from Vylan.

Alfen massaged the red spot on her forehead and grinned wickedly at the sight of her sister running away like a scared cat.

Vylan chuckled seeing the twins' interactions and followed Alfith with Alfen walking next to him, clinging onto his arm.

The trio reached the dungeon entrance and entered it. When they arrived at the corridor, they were unsettled by the dark and eerie surroundings. The corridor was filled with dust and cobwebs, the floor was dirty and the walls were cracked and broken.

"Woah!", Vylan exclaimed and said, "Dis is too dark! We can't even see what's in front of us clearly."

He was right. The corridor was shrouded in darkness and there was not even a hint of light. Even the torches present were only dimly lit.

"Dis is indeed troubling. But, thankfully, we brought the artifacts, right?", Alfith said.

She pulled out an artifact from her bag and channeled her mana into it. The artifact lit up and it illuminated their surroundings. Vylan and Alfen did the same and they walked out of the corridor ignoring the chatter and commotion in it caused by other students.

"Let's explore da dungeon!", Alfen cheered and jumped up in joy.

They headed down the path ahead. The dungeon was huge and there were many twists and turns, corridors and rooms. But, they decided to enter room 01.
They were cautious when entering it but, the room was empty and there were no signs of any beasts.

"Could dis be a trap?", Alfith asked while gripping her spear tightly.

"Relax. We're just being overly careful. Let's move on to da next room", Vylan said.

They searched the room for any traps but they found none. So, they exited the room and moved to the next one. It was room 02 which was also, surprisingly empty. Then, the same thing happened in room 03.

"Dis is getting suspicious. Are these empty rooms really a part of da dungeon?", Alfith said.

"They should be. But, we should continue checking them out", Vylan suggested.

They did just that. The next room was 04. But, like the previous three, it was empty.

"Hmm... dis is strange. Dere's nothing here", Alfith said with a perplexed look.

"Well, we should keep moving forward and hope for da best", Vylan said.

"Yes, but...," Alfen stared at the door which led to room 56 and said, "We should enter room 56."

"Why?", Vylan asked.

"Because if we enter room 05 and it's empty like de rest before dem, then we would wasting our time," Alfith said.

"Exactly", Alfen said with a grin.

Alfith said, "Dis is exactly where many adventurers make deir fatal mistake, lowering deir guard when dey encounter seemingly weaker beasts. If we continue finding empty rooms dhen whether we like it or not, we would lower our guard and eventually, it will cost us our lives. We can't let dat happen."

"Also, while we are exploring empty rooms, we wouldn't be able to collect beast cores through which we can get in de top three in de competition. And, Emma and her group might have already collected hundreds of beast cores by then. I don't want her to win.", Alfen said.

"Hmm...", Vylan thought for a moment and said, "You make a good point. Let's go then."

The trio entered room 56 and saw a group of kobolds dozing off in the middle of the room.

"Oh... so, da beasts have started to appear now. Took dem long enough", Alfith said with a scoff.

"Be careful," Vylan warned.

"It's not like we can't beat dem", Alfith said with a smirk.

They nodded and charged towards the group of kobolds without a shred of fear. The kobolds were taken by surprise and they woke up. However, they weren't fast enough to react in time.

* SCHICKK *

"Arrgghh!"

One kobold had his head chopped off by Vylan's sword. He noticed one other kobold coming at him with it's short sword.

* BAMM *

Vylan slammed his shoulder onto the kobold and knocked it off it's feet. He quickly raised his sword above his head and swung it down, slicing the kobold's head into two.

* SPLURT *

* THUD *

Blood splattered all over his armor and the floor beneath the beast. The kobold's lifeless body slumped to the ground with its head split into two.

Meanwhile, Alfith and Alfen took down a couple of kobolds each.

"Hmph! What a joke. Dey were no match for us", Alfith scoffed.

"We barely did anything," Alfen said.

"Yeah, we should've at least used a bit of magic", Vylan said.

"Let's move on to da next room then", Alfith suggested.

They were took out the cores from the kobolds and were about to move on when suddenly, the floor beneath them shook and a platform emerged in the middle of the room. When they approached it, they were pleasantly surprised to find coins and potions lying on the platform.

"Oooh! Look, guys! We hit da jackpot!", Alfen squealed and ran to pick up the loot.

"Don't get too excited yet. We should check if it's really treasure first", Alfith said.

Alfen and Vylan approached the platform and checked the coins and potions for any curses or traps.

"It seems safe", Vylan said.

"Good", Alfith sighed and relaxed.

The trio was delighted. They collected the coins and potions. There were about 100 copper coins and 3 potions.

"This seems like the dungeon's way of rewarding us after killing the beasts in the room. Maybe it will do the same in every room we clear", Vylan guessed.

"Yeah, it might. We should hurry up and explore as much as possible before da time's up", Alfith said.

"Okay, let's go then. We're going to room 57 this time", Vylan said and the trio moved on.

When they entered room 57, they saw a group of ogres shouting loudly in the middle of the room.

"Dis will be a bit more tricky. Dey are more powerful than da kobolds we faced previously", Alfith said.

"Then, how should we take them down?", Vylan asked.

"Let's just charge in and try our best to avoid deir attacks. Also, let's stick together. We're not splitting up", Alfith said and rushed towards the group of ogres.

Vylan nodded, closed his eyes and revolved the mana around his heart and brain continuously, causing his transformation to begin.

His skin turned red and hardened to that of a rock, his muscles bulged and grew larger and his height increased by a few inches. His hair transformed into flames and when he opened his eyes, they spit fire.

* CRACKLE *

A fiery aura appeared around him and his sword glowed a crimson red. His transformation was complete. He had turned into a fire elemental being.

He roared, "ROOOOAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!"

He exhaled a cloud of smoke and charged toward the ogres.

* THUMP *

* THUMP *

His stony feet pounded against the floor and he jumped in the air and brought his sword down at one of the ogres who used one of it's shields to block the attack.

* BOOM *

Vylan's sword clashed with the ogre's shield. The force generated from the clash was immense and caused a shockwave which blew the nearby ogres away. The ogre's shield was damaged from the clash. Vylan took advantage of this and swung his sword again.

* CLANG *

His attack was blocked again but this time, the ogre was sent flying into a wall.

* CRASH *

* THUD *

It fell to the ground and didn't get up. The ogres were terrified by Vylan's sudden burst of power and strength. However, they still continued to attack him. Vylan was attacked by a couple of ogres with their hammers.

* BAM *

* BAM *

* THUMP *

Vylan used his stony arm to block the attacks. He attacked one of them and slashed it's chest open.

* SCHICKK *

The ogre cried out in agony.

* SPLURT *

* THUD *

Blood gushed out of the ogre's wounds and it fell to the ground. Vylan turned to attack another ogre but, he was hit from behind by an ogre and flew towards a wall.

* CRASH *

Vylan didn't feel any pain from the attack and got up from the debris. He saw the ogres running towards him and activated his skill.

"Fire Spear!"

Several fire spears materialized above him and with a wave of his hand, they charged at the oncoming ogres. The beasts tried to use their shields to block the spears but they were too many and some of them got pierced in the neck, chest and head.

* SPLAT *

* SPLURT *

* THUD *

A rain of blood rained down as the spears pierced the ogres. Vylan didn't stop and continued to shoot more spears effortlessly. The remaining ogres were frightened by the spears and turned around to run away.

Vylan smirked and shot a final fire spear.

* SWISH *

The spear struck the back of one of the ogres and the beast screamed out in pain. It collapsed to the ground and didn't move again.

* SCHICKK *

* SPLURT *

Alfith pierced the neck of one of the ogres with her spear. Seeing the life fizzle out of it, she pulled her spear back and swirled it around in her hand and slashed open the chest of another one.

* SLASH *

The ogre's guts and other parts fell out of its body and it fell on the ground. She then saw two ogres charging at her and activated her skill.

"Wind Bullet!"

She used her mana to turn the surrounding wind into small spheres and shot them toward the advancing ogres.

* BANG *

* SPLAT *

* BANG *

* SPLAT *

The spheres pierced the skull of the ogres, killing them instantly and their bodies stumbled and fell.

* THUD *

Alfith saw one more ogre trying to run away and threw her spear at it.

* WHOOSH *

The spear hit the beast's leg and pierced it's thigh. The beast screamed out in pain and fell to the ground.

Alfith ran toward it and finished it off.

* SLASH *

She slashed the ogre's throat with her dagger, cutting off its vocal cords and blood gushed out of its neck.

* SPLURT *

Alfen smiled at the sight of her axe severing three ogres' heads and their bodies falling to the ground.

* WHOOSH *

She used her Wind ability to guide the axe back to her and caught it. She saw another ogre coming at her and swung her axe.

* SLASH *

The axe slashed the ogre's throat and blood sprayed out. The ogre's hands immediately reached for its neck. It choked on its own blood and dropped to the ground.

* THUD *

After defeating the ogres, the trio watched patiently as the floor beneath them rumbled and a platform with gleaming gold coins and potions emerged

"Ooh! Dat's a lot!", Vylan exclaimed.

"Indeed. Dere must be at least a hundred copper coins and seven potions", Alfen said.

"Yes, and dere are also a few gems. Maybe we could exchange dem for gold later", Alfith said.

"Good idea. We should take dem wit us", Vylan said.

They gathered the coins, potions and the gems. Then, they extracted the cores from the ogres and continued onward to the next room.

* * *

In room 24,

* SLASH *

* BOOM *

* SPLURT *

"Use the sword to cut it down!"

"Hurry!"

"Y-Yes!"

Abel observed the fierce battle unfolding before him, his gaze focused on it. His subordinates were struggling against the large spider, desperately dodging its attacks while trying to keep their distance.

Despite such a scene unfold in front of him, he maintained a calm demeanor, watching everything unfold without moving an inch.

Abel's eyes narrowed and shouted, "If you don't want to die, then show me what you're made of. Don't disappoint me."

He watched as his subordinates did their best to survive.

* THUMP *

"Ah!"

One of his subordinates fell to the ground.

* WHOOSH *

Another one was knocked back by the spider.

"Ahhh!"

A scream filled with despair rang out.

"You are all so worthless...", Abel muttered and took out a map from his pocket and studied it. This map was a basic layout of the complete dungeon.

* SCHICKK *

* CRUNCH *

He looked up and saw one of his subordinates being beheaded by the spider's claw.

"Pathetic."

He shook his head and looked back at the map. He narrowed his eyes at room 29 and thought, 'This! This room is the one where I trap Ariel and her fucking friends. I'll fuck her then kill her and do the same to the rest of them. Hahaha!'

Abel grinned devilishly and laughed, "Hahahaha! Yes! It's perfect!"

"AHHH!"

"Help!"

"Please save us!"

Some of his subordinates begged him for help, however, Abel completely ignored their pleas and focused solely on his evil plans as he thought, 'I have to place traps in the rooms before they arrive. I hope one of them dies before I catch them. It would fun to see their faces.'