Chapter 56: First Dungeon Test (2)

And it's nightfall now in the dungeon. The freshmen already cramped up most of the work, though they still had an uncertain expression on their faces. Perhaps it was something to do with being their first test in a dungeon, while the more certain reason should be that they had not come across any monsters in it yet.

Ileana still researched the signs they had found in the ways and found through searching. Peter was with her, helping in whatever way he could and so far, he helped more than she ever imagined. She guessed the nerd-looking face with the thick spectacle was not for a show. They had found some direct sign of chaos fiends here, though they were far from knowing what the main types of monsters they would have to fight. Though she came up with a good enough answer.

That frustrated her, and the laugher that entered her ears added up to it. She put her head up from the hollowbook she was scribing and found Elior was teaching something to Hasan, while Shin was making the food. They cracked out laughter now and then through the time.

Are they on a picnic or something? She thought. Other than the nervousness and anxiety, she only felt the frustration. Why were they having fun here? Was this sun a place? All the answers she got through the month of learning told her it's not.

Releasing a deep breath, she stood up and made her way towards the three while gesturing to the other two protectors to come closer. Peter followed her, picking up the stuff they left.

"Ahem!" she coughed consciously, catching everyone's attention.

"You two finished your research?" Elior asked. "Did you find something?"

She nodded and looked at her childhood friend. In the few days, she already picked up a few changes in him. He appeared to have grown a couple of years in barely a month. Well, he was not the only one who appeared mature for his age. She looked at Leroy from the corner of her eyes. He looked the most distant in the group and quite unapproachable, even though he was clearly the nicest person with his behaviour.

She looked away the very moment and glanced at everyone else. Shin seemed to be in a good mood, though she never saw him in a bad mood other than the time he whined about stupid things. He must really enjoy cooking. Lara appeared a little rigid with her duty. She sighed in relief that she was not the only one nervous.

"So, what did you find?" Elior asked her again.

"I assumed everyone noticed the holes in the earth before?" She started with an obvious question. "We have tested the soil that we collected from there and found out in about 63% of the sample, there is a certain level of toxicity in it."

"What does that prove?" Shin asked the obvious question.

"That means the monster we will be facing lives under our foot," she said, knowing Shin had no clue. "It could be some evolved rat, insects, or snakes. God, thinking about it makes my face twitch. I wish it would be nothing terrifying like snakes or . . ."

"Ground Moles," Elior and Leroy said at the same time. Elior stood up abruptly while Leroy brought out his sword the instance.

"They were below us," Hasan said, and prepared as well.

"Get ready, everyone," Elior said, giving Leroy a second look. "Moles may be low-level chaos fiends, but they are hell-a-hard to deal with."

Ileana pondered how the two were so sure. The description of a mole type monster came to her head, and she found it quite convincing. Moles are too good at creating holes and moving underground, and as El had told, dealing with them was hard. Not because they were powerful, but because they were too good at escaping.

"Ileana, don't stand there blankly," Elior shouted at her. "Get behind."

"Sorry," she said automatically and rushed behind the warriors. Peter was with her, similarly out of breath. Even though she knew their lives were guaranteed here, she could not help but feel anxious.

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Elior picked up the bow before her and pulled an arrow, and Hasan beside him did the same. Lara stood closer to her—filling her job as the protector, and Shin joined her, brandishing his sword. The stupid boy now had a stupid grin on his face. In between, he did not forget to collect back the meal, though.

Ileana wished she had this type of fool's courage of Shin. At least, then she would not fear it so much.

"Nobody leaves the formation," Leroy said. He was at the forefront of everyone with a focused gaze, watching the surroundings. He was not alone in that, Elior and Hasan were the same, and it appeared the trio could feel the monster coming.

Ileana tried to look for the incoming monster as well, but had failed to find a single sign of mana undulations, much less a monster. If it was not for Elior and Leroy, she would not even believe it. The other three with her were the same. Guess, the picnic is over now, she thought.

At the very moment, Elior pulled the string of his bow and released it, aiming at nothing, but then a big rat-like creature popped out of the earth. The arrow pierced the monster easily, and it died easily.

"They are moles alright," Elior muttered. "A lot of them are coming now, from every direction."

As Elior finished, something popped out from the earth for her. Ileana yelped in the suddenness. She saw it jump at her, but a sword sliced it before it could reach. She exchanges a short glance with Lara and nodded.

Calming her head with an extra bit of effort, she tried forming a fireball. The spell did form, but she had it harder than usual when she practised in the security of the institute.

Elior was killing the moles easily with the bow, while Hasan was in good condition as well. She always knew her friend was quite capable, but after admitting to the academy, he bloomed far better than anyone. And she had no idea how he could see so clearly in the dark. Even though mana sense helps, it was in no way a perfect substitution of sight. Or was his mana application high enough for it?

Ileana shook her head heavily and transferred her focus from the amazement of others' skill to her own. The fireball was already formed. She only needed a monster to throw at. Two or three came towards them at the same time this time.

She shot the fireball at one of them, but it did not turn into charcoal as she had thought. The mole flew a couple of metres away, squeaking horrendously. Its skin was burned, but it was far from dying. Strengthening the spell formula again, she released the fire into the mole again, but not like the way of a fireball. All the crimson, yellow flames released at the mole in a prolonged manner.

The cast lasted a couple of seconds, and this time it really turned into charcoal. This little trick to overwrite the elementary spell she had learned from Aanya, though it used more mana than it needed to kill a mole. At the same time, Lara had killed two of the moles with only a tenth of the mana.

She clasped her arm in frustration. Even though she knew the path of a mage is slow in the beginning, that did not leave her from the frustrations. Especially when she saw Shin, who did not listen to most of the lecture, doing better than her.

On the other side, Leroy was clearing one side by himself like Elior, though he was not as fast as Elior. He had a sword with him, while Elior shot at the moles even before they could pop out entirely from the ground.

She wondered since when El had such skill at Archery. As to her knowledge, he never trained in archery and as for combat, both only took the compulsory self-defence class in high school. Even then, Elior showed his exceptional skill at it, but that did not explain everything.

On one side had Lara who trained in the sword from her childhood, and Leroy, who was the grandson of one of the most powerful individuals on earth, yet her best friend showed more adaptability than them. It was not that she felt envy. She was truly happy for him, but that put him under a mysterious veil that she did not like.

Abruptly, she heard a cry and saw Shin fly off a couple of metres away.

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I'll get back to the usual schedule from tomorrow and will try to release the bonus chapter as soon as I can.

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