by Virlyce
“See? No problem,” the first knight said as he leaned over and picked up the mug that his partner had thrown away. He brought it to a barrel and twisted a spout, refilling the mug with a frothy drink. “Here, have another.”
“Thanks,” the second knight said as he grabbed the drink and sat back down. The dragon was right overhead, circling around and around as if deciding on where it wanted to land. It chose the spot right in front of the two knights, creating a massive blast of wind as it touched down, nearly blowing the two knights out of their chairs. “Phew. That was realistic as all heck.”
“That’s the first time someone hasn’t screamed,” Vur said and frowned. “Do I have to do it again?”
“Is this another one of Grimmy’s rules?” Alora asked.
“Of course,” Vur said, rolling his eyes up to look at the polymorphed dragon. For some reason, Alora hadn’t turned back into a dragon despite Vur polymorphing himself into one. Maybe it was the result of his training. “Dragons must make grand, intimidating entrances when meeting people for the first time.”
The door to the cabin flew open as a half-naked man wearing trousers dashed outside. He took one look at the dragon and let out a shriek as the region around his crotch darkened, the color running down the legs of his pants.
“Like that,” Vur said, nodding at the man.
“W-w-w-what’s going on!?” the half-naked man shouted as he fell backwards onto his butt, pointing at Vur with a trembling hand. “D-dragon!”
“No, no,” one of the knights said. “Boss, that’s just a figment of our imaginations. It’s the alcohol making us see things. Why would there be a dragon?”
“It spoke! It freaking spoke!”
“Alcohol can make people hear things too,” the other knight said. “It’s rare, but I heard if you’re really close to your companions, you’ll all see the same hallucinations when you drink.”
“Alcohol doesn’t cause hallucinations!”
The two armored knights exchanged glances with each other. One of them pointed at Vur. “Then what’s that if it’s not a hallucination?”
“This is why you should hold yourself back when you drink, Vur,” Tafel said as she hopped off of Vur’s head. “You’ll become stupid if you drink too much and too often.” She walked up to the two sitting knights and nodded. “We’re adventurers sent by Grand Duchess Apollonia to clear the dungeon.”
“W-w-w-what does Grand Duchess Apollonia have to do with us?” the first knight asked. “We’re knights of the Scathir household.”
Alora whispered to Vur, “Tafel’s a better dragon than you. Look, she said one sentence to that man, who didn’t even flinch in your presence, and he’s trembling already.”
“Alright, that was clearly suspicious,” Tafel said, her expression darkening. “You’re hiding something from Apollonia even though you work under her, aren’t you?”
“We’re knights of the Scathir household. W-who’s Apoll—”
An earth-shattering roar shook the ground, causing everyone—including Tafel—to fall over. Vur snapped his jaws shut with a slamming sound as he stomped up to the three men and stopped once his head was above Tafel, his chin almost resting on her head. He glared at the knights, but none of them were in any condition to respond. His eyes rolled up to look at Alora. “Did you say something?”
Alora clicked her tongue. “How petty.”
Alice rubbed her bleeding ears. “I think you broke my eardrums.”
“Mine too,” Mr. Skelly said. He dug into a gap on the side of his head with his finger. A moment later, he pulled his finger back, revealing nothing. “Just kidding! Worms ate those when I died.”
Alice smacked his skull off.
Tafel glared up at Vur as she climbed to her feet, but she didn’t say anything. She walked up to the three fallen knights and placed her hands on her hips. “Well, are you three going to cooperate with us or are you going to become this dragon’s next meal?”
Vur made a face as he wrinkled his nose. “I don’t eat humans, so you better cooperate.”
“We’ll cooperate!”
“Alright, Vur,” Tafel said. “Now that we have their cooperation, what’s the first thing you want to find out about the dungeon?”
“Is there anything tasty inside?” Vur asked, resting his chin on his two front paws. He blinked at the two guards with large eyes like a puppy staring at a ball.
“No! That’s not it!” Tafel said before the two guards could respond. “It’s the danger level! You have to figure out how dangerous the dungeon is before you enter! There are some dungeons that won’t let you out until you fully clear them. Many adventurers have lost their lives that way.”
“But these guys are still alive, right?” Vur asked. “Doesn’t that just prove how easy it’ll be to conquer the dungeon?”
“…We’re being called weak,” one of the knights said.
The other knight nodded. “Compared to a dragon, he’s not wrong. I wonder how strong she is though.” The knight’s gaze flitted onto Tafel. “She’s scolding a dragon.”
“Vur’s got a point, you know?” Alice asked. “I doubt there’s any dungeon that can force Vur to fall into dire straits.”
“That’s not true,” Tafel said, placing her hands on her hips. “Vur’s home is a white-ranked dungeon. He would definitely lose if he entered and had to fight his parents along with Grimmy, Prika, Leila, and Nova.”
“But those people made it out alive.” Alice gestured towards the knights. “Isn’t Vur’s point valid?”
Tafel snorted. “That doesn’t mean we can waltz right in without care. Before adventure, equipment, and money, the most valuable thing an adventurer has is her life. Safety first; an adventurer is always prepared.” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the guards. “This dungeon should’ve had some kind of lights near the entrance that indicated the quality of mana inside. What happened to that?”
The three men exchanged glances. “Do you remember anything about that?”
“No. What about you?”
“Could she be talking about the glowing crystals?”
“Yes,” Tafel said. “Glowing crystals are a good indicator. What happened to them and what color were they?”
“Well, we sold ‘em off a long time ago,” the half-naked man said. “As for their color…. A faint yellow? White? If you go to the jeweler, I’m sure you’ll find some of ‘em.”
“They’ll lose their glow if taken away from the dungeon for too long,” Tafel said, shaking her head. “A faint yellow or white. Either the highest-difficulty dungeon or the lowest difficulty.”
“Wow, your initial investigation was so fruitful, wow,” Alice said.
“I wasn’t done yet,” Tafel said, narrowing her eyes at her diminutive companion. “You’re supposed to be a guild master! Why are you so lax when it comes to safety?”
Alice puffed her chest out as she crossed her arms. “With strength comes arrogance, and I’m quite confident in you and Vur.”
“You know you’re the party’s tank, right?” Tafel asked, her expression darkening. “If there’s any danger, you’ll be exposed to it first.”
Alice’s face stiffened. “Hey,” she said towards the knights. “What kind of monsters are inside of the dungeon?”
The half-naked man hesitated. “That’s … a bit hard to answer,” he said. “We’re not sure what they are. The first room has a red man. The second room has a red woman. And the third room has two red children. All of them seem to be made of blood. They don’t speak or make any sounds. They’re very aggressive and will attack you on sight. After you kill them, they’ll respawn in three days or so.”
“Red people made of blood,” Alice said. “I’ve never tanked blood before. Sounds like Mary’s null-magic would be pretty useful here.”
“Well, she’s not here,” Tafel said and snorted. “Are the red people strong?”
“It takes a group of six of us to defeat one,” the half-naked man said,
rubbing his chin. “And we need a squad of twelve to defeat the room with the two children. The man is a close-ranged fighter who sticks to physical attacks. The woman hangs back and casts spells. The two children are a combination of both. As for the rest of the dungeon…, the scout I sent to the fourth room came back almost dead and told us there was a group of four red people, so we stopped exploring further.”
“You stopped?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. “Doesn’t Apollonia want you to clear the dungeon?”
“Well, she pays us based on a salary, not on a quota. To clear out that room, we’d need twenty-four people, but the rooms aren’t large enough for that many knights to maneuver in. We can’t do it,” the half-naked man said, scratching the back of his head as a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. “As long as we ship her the crystals that drop from the first three rooms, we can pretend we’re exploring the dungeon.”
“Hmm.” Tafel stared at the man with lukewarm eyes. “I see.” She turned around and faced her party. “What do you guys think?”
Alora tapped on Vur’s head from where she was seated. His eyes were struggling to stay open, and a snot bubble was rising out of one nostril. Mr. Skelly readjusted his skull, which he was spinning around and around on his spine like a top, and cleared his throat. “I think we’ll be fine,” Mr. Skelly said. “He said they needed six people to beat one monster. Well, Vur here has the strength of a hundred, maybe a thousand people. With that logic, he can clear the first four rooms by himself in his sleep.”
“That may be true, but I’m more worried about the boss of the dungeon,” Tafel said, shaking her head. “Clearly, the dungeon isn’t a yellow-ranked dungeon. It’s a white-ranked one just like Vur’s home. Something stronger than Vur might appear.”
“Then … you’re going to run away?” Mr. Skelly asked, his head tilting to the side. “You came all this way just to be scared off?”
“…I was giving the rest of you a chance to back out,” Tafel said as she bit her lower lip. “Let’s start!”
“Uh, don’t I get a say in this?” Alice asked. “I’m the one who’s going to be taking the most hits.”
“If you back out, Mr. Skelly’s next in line to tank for us,” Tafel said, her voice flat. “You’re not going to hide while your husband’s fighting on the frontlines, right?”
“He’s not my husband yet,” Alice said, stamping her foot. “Who’s going to hide? Let’s start!”
15
“This is it,” Alice said, taking in a deep breath as she stared up at a pair of white metal doors. The group had traveled down the mineshaft next to the cabin and arrived in a dimly lit lobby. According to the guards, crystals used to illuminate the room, but those had been harvested and sold. All that remained of the lobby’s previous splendor were a few pockmarks in the walls and ground, the only source of illumination coming from the sun above. “Are we ready?”
“Yep,” Tafel said, her hand on her staff. “Remember, we have to clear this in a week and a half to make it in time for Mary’s birthday party. If we manage to find something inside that looks like it’ll make a decent gift, we can have an extra day to explore.”
“I was under the impression you didn’t like Mary,” Mr. Skelly said as he adjusted his helmet.
“She sincerely invited me,” Tafel said. “I’m not going to not go just because I lost to her once. And she did give me some useful advice. Not only that, but I also feel a little bad for her. She was tortured as a child, you know?” Her gaze shifted onto Vur. He was fidgeting with his pants, his gaze locked onto the ground. “Is something wrong?”
Vur frowned. “I don’t want to wear pants.”
“…Feel free to open the door whenever you want,” Tafel said to Alice, her expression neutral.
Alice nodded. “I’m starting.” Her shield expanded to a tower shield, and she hid half her body behind it as she pressed against the center of the double doors with her free hand. They swung open without a sound, revealing a brilliant light that forced the party to shut their eyes from the sudden change. The room was a simple, carpet-less foyer with a man made of red liquid standing in the center. Behind the man, there was a set of stairs leading down.
The bloody man let out an unintelligible scream as it reached over and picked up a coatrack, thrusting it towards the party as if it were wielding a spear. Alice sucked in a deep breath as she angled her shield and charged forward to meet the attack, deflecting it to the side. She swung her shield out, blowing the coatrack away, exposing the red man’s chest to an attack. As if she had eyes on the back of her head, Alice leaned over, avoiding a fiery spear that brushed by her hair and embedded itself into the man’s sternum, causing bubbles to propagate outwards towards its limbs from the heat. The flaming spear condensed into a small ball before exploding, blowing apart the boiling man and splattering blood everywhere.
Alice scrambled to hide behind her shield, avoiding the blood flying towards her face. She turned her head and glared at Tafel. “An explosion, really? Wouldn’t you normally freeze a monster if it’s made of liquid like a slime?”
“I’m a phoenix, not an ice dragon,” Tafel said as the glowing rune on her head dimmed. “Burning things is much more effective. I mean, it worked, right?” The blood spatters didn’t seem to be moving. She wasn’t sure what held the bloody man together, but whatever it was had been destroyed in the explosion. “How was that fiery spear into explosion that I’ve practiced over twenty thousand times?”
“Yes, yes, you’re amazing,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. “But as the party’s tank, I don’t like having to dodge and block my own party member’s attacks. Why can’t you be more like Vur? Look at how he’s contributing without inconveniencing everyone else.”
“What? What’s Vur doing?” Tafel asked, turning her head to face her husband. Four glowing balls of light were floating around him, radiating different colors that illuminated the backs of his party members.
“Sheryl said elementals can give everyone buffs if I stick mana inside of them like this,” Vur said, gesturing towards the four lights. “Sheryl gives stamina. Zilphy gives speed. Deedee gives defense. Mistle … I forget, but she does something. You didn’t notice?”
Tafel scratched her cheek. “I thought I was just in good condition today.”
“Vur, as an ocean elemental, I increase natural healing and mana regeneration,” Mistle said, speaking in a tone as if she were pouting.
“Whatever. I’m still better,” Zilphy said as she pushed aside the blue light floating near the brown one. “Stop getting so close to my husband. Can you stick this seductress back inside your body, Vur? Please?”
“She’s useful,” Vur said. “Why don’t you try to get along with her?”
“She’s a horrible roommate, that’s why,” Zilphy said, the green ball of light flashing twice.
“Shall we move on to the next room?” Alice asked. “It seems like the knights already looted everything of value in this place. That’ll probably be the case for the next rooms as well.”
“What about the coatrack?” Vur asked, pointing at the bloody man’s makeshift weapon that had fallen into a corner of the foyer.
“I’ll store it,” Tafel said as she walked over and stuffed the coatrack into a portal. “It feels like an ordinary coatrack though, nothing special about it.”
Alice snorted as she trudged through the bloody puddles that the previous fight had left behind. “Watch your step,” she said as she walked down the stairs, coming face to face with another door. “This one is supposed to use magic. I’m counting on you to counter whatever comes my way because blocking magic isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.”
“But you’re so good at it,” Mr. Skelly said with a smile.
“Aren’t I?” Alice asked, puffing her chest out. She chuckled to herself as she kicked the door to the next room, but instead of it swinging open, her leg bounced off.
“It’s a pull door, not a push,” Tafel said, staring at Alice wi
th a lukewarm expression.
“Shut it; I knew that,” Alice said with a flushed face. She pulled the door open and wrinkled her nose as the smell of mold assaulted her senses. The room was green, completely covered in moss and algae. There was a toilet and a bathtub off to the side of the room, and a red woman was lying in the tub. The bloody person’s head turned towards the open door, and it shrieked while pulling the moldy curtain to the side, blocking off the party’s view. The next moment, ten bloody spears pierced through the curtain, surging towards Alice, curving towards her from all directions.
A wall of ice appeared in front of the guild master, and the spears froze upon contact. Alice furrowed her brow, turning her head towards Tafel. “I thought you weren’t an ice dragon.”
Tafel shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I can’t freeze things.” She gestured with her hand, and the wall of ice charged forwards, slamming into the side of the tub. However, a bloody hand reached through one of the holes in the curtain and pressed against the ice, causing it to vanish in an instant.
“Was that teleportation or null-magic?” Alice asked, crouching further beneath her shield.
Tafel made a face. “Null-magic.”
“Got it,” Alice said as she charged towards the broken tub. “If those knights could beat it with physical attacks, I don’t believe I can’t do the same.”
Vur tilted his head as Alice ripped aside the curtain and clashed against the bloody person. “Can I beat it up too?”
“No, you just stay there and support us,” Tafel said. “It won’t be a challenge for you.”
“This is kind of boring, huh?” Alora asked from behind Vur. She patted his shoulder. “I’m going to take a nap in the sun outside. Wake me up when you’re done.”
Mr. Skelly turned to watch the polymorphed dragon leave. Then he lifted his visor and grinned at Vur, who was making a face. “Don’t feel bad,” Mr. Skelly said. “Everyone has a role in this party. Alice is the tank. Tafel is the damage dealer and luggage bearer. You’re the support. And I’m the scout; though, I don’t have anything to do until we clear the third room. Did you know that the support is the most important role in the party?”
