Currently, Hajime and party were gathered around the square just in front of the Orcus Dungeon entrance.

Hajime thought it would be a dark gloomy entrance like Dungeons in a video game, but the entrance looked like the entrance to a museum. Heck it even had a reception desk in the front hall, which was operated by a smiling woman in uniform that was checking people who came and left. Apparently, this was the how people checked in using Status Plates. Referencing the names on the list, they could record who perished in the dungeon and restrict access accordingly. With the war nearing, they did n't need people throwing their lives away yet.

In the square near the entrance, there were many stalls there lined up with shops competing against each other for magical stones and ancient treasures. It was like a festival. It seemed to be a popular area to earn a good income like "Wonders of the World" had said. The higher floors of the Dungeon were popular training grounds for young adventurers and mercenaries. Though while some took it seriously, others just fooled around with their lives and dived head first into the deepest part of the dungeon they could find. They tended not to come back. There also seemed to be a lot of criminal activity in the back alleys of the Dungeon town. The country, with help from the adventurer guild, have establish operations and facilities to limit the crimes, though due to the pending war, many of them have been called away as infantry.

While the class was looking around like some bumpkins, they followed in a duck-like mount behind Meld.

* * *

The inside of the Dungeon was totally different to the bustling of the outside. There was not much ambient light, but magic crystals in the walls illuminate the passages just enough to see (coincidentally, these are the only magic stones that you’re not allowed to take out of the dungeon). The passage was only about 5 m high and wide, so it was easy to provide cover as one only needed to guard the front and back, but this also meant that it was harder for large groups to assist the ones in front.

The party organized into rank and progressed forward. For a while, nothing of interest happened till they advanced into a grand antechamber. The room was dome shaped and the ceiling looked to be around 7-8 m high. Gray fluffy balls gushed out from the cervices of the walls.

“Okay, Kouki and group step forward. Anyone else fall back! We will take shifts for the front-line. Get ready! These monsters are called Ratmen. They aren’t very strong or dangerous, but they‘re quick and easy to lose track of. Take it steadily and don’t get over confident.”

Just like he said, the Ratmen jumped from wall to wall as easily as an Olympic gymnast, moving in confusing and unpredictable patterns. Their scarlet eyes shined eerily between the gray hair that covered their heads and they had a muscular upper body that distracted from their mouse-like features. Their chest and abdomen, which had an 8 pack, Was the only part of their body not covered by hair. It was like they were showing off their abs.

The front-line was comprised of Kouki and his party. When Shizuku, who was at the front, saw the enemy her face stiffen up, but Kouki, Shizuku, and Ryutaro intercepted the charging Ratmen. Meanwhile, the two girls next to Kaori started to chant. The girls were Nakamura Eri the battlemage, and Taniguchi Suzu the electromancer. Sparks of fire and lighting soared across the battlefield as the mages continued to chant and cast new spells.

Kouki attacked so quickly with his white bastard sword that it was hard to see. He made short work of a few enemies at a time and moved to intercept the ones that were closest to the spell casters like he’d been taught. His sword was one of the artifacts that the Kingdom gave to him, the “Caliburn” or the sword of light. Any enemies caught in the light that the sword produces weaken and strengthen its wielder. Though it was deemed holy, Hajime thought it’s abilities sounded more vampiric than anything else, but he kept that to himself.

Ryutaro’s class was a “Heracles” which allows him to create shock-waves of mana in anything he touches, so he was given an unbreakable artifact armor to protect him on the front lines. Ryutaro took an imposing stance behind Kouki and made sure none of the enemies that get past him can get to the mages in the rear. Though he acted more like a heavy armored tank that drew other side’s attention.

Shizuku, who was like the Samurai girl she secretly dreamed of-

*Secretly punches Hajime*

“Ow!”

-her “Swordswoman” class and natural wind affinity allowing her to cut enemies quickly and from a distance. Combined with her sword that amplifies spell power, many of the enemies were dead before they could react. Though she tended to copy Japanese battojutsu stances for effect rather than practicality. Still, the knights were dazzled by it.

While the other students were fascinated by Kouki’s party’s battle, a chant resounded.

“””Swirling Dark Flames, Incinerate My Enemies, Return them to the Earth as Ashes, “Spiral Flame”.”””

Three people simultaneously casted it, and three spiraling flames engulfed the Ratmen and burned them to ashes.

When all the Ratmen were wiped out, many students didn’t get a turn. It seemed the enemies on the first level were too weak to even scratch Kouki’s even without the rest of the classes help.

“Yeah, Good Job! You shouldn't lower your guard like that though, it only gets tougher from here.”

Meld warned us not to let up, but he smiled at the prowess the students showed. However, the tension from their first fight still permeated the group , many of them were still temped to just charge into battle for a chance at being the hero. Yet when the student’s faces broke out into smiles, Meld just shrugged his shoulders at their reactions.

“Although this is a training exercise, don’t forget to keep in mind about Magic Stones. Since magic is obviously overkill.”

At Meld’s words the people the in the mages group started to blush.

There were no particular problems from there, and many of their battles seemed like repeats of the first. Everything was going well in the lower levels. Eventually, they arrived at the 20th floor, which would normally be the mark of a first-class adventurer. Getting to the 40th level is considered Elite and a good reason to be hired to the king's royal guard. . The highest level explored in the Orcus Dungeon was the 65th floor, an achievement made by other summoned heroes over 100 years ago. For what the kingdom thought of heroes, at least this much was expected. A way of thinking that disturbed Hajime.

Traps, however, were the scariest feature of a Dungeon, far ahead of the actual monsters that lives there. In some instances, the traps weren’t just lethal, but could completely change the arrangement and hazards of a dungeon floor. That’s were meld’s and Hajime’s groups come in.

Melds group would split up and scout ahead with at least one earth-oriented magic user. The Knight’s would use an artifact called a fair scope that alerted them to danger whenever they came near a trap that had been previously recorded by other adventurers. Due to the popularity of the dungeon more than 80% of traps on the lower floors have already been mapped. The detecting range is unfortunately somewhat narrow, and due to some traps being able create new traps and hazards when set off, an earth magic user is needed to sense these before they accidentally set it off. When new traps are found, the knight will mark it down on the map to repot later, this way new fair-scopes are constantly updated.

Therefore, they were able to quickly breeze through the floors mainly because of how easily the Knights guided them. Meld especially drilled the saying “if you don’t know the place, check for the traps”, until they were sick of hearing it.

“All right, you guys. From this point on, not only will there be other types of demons but they will work together to attack us. Don’t get careless now! After we clear the 20th level, it will be it for today! Get fired up!”

Meld’s voice carried over the group, his message resounding with everyone. Up to this point, Hajime had not done anything in particular. Once, he practiced on a monster that the knights had weakened. He created a pitfall for the monster to fall into, and stabbed it with a sword. Until now, he had only defeated a couple of monsters while no one has looking.

His magical power raised by 2 points with just that though, so it seemed actual combat was more useful than just common sense building.

(Still, I’m not sure why, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling myself)

Again, a weakened monster was thrown to Hajime by a Knight and Hajime killed it without a second thought. When it approached, Hajime transmuted the ground and with it restrained, Hajime swung his sword to strike down the monster.

(Well, it seems like my precision with transmutation has gone up. The ambient magic in the ground might be assisting my abilities more than I thought.)

He could sense the magic in the solid objects around him, even one’s that weren’t connected to the ground, and as they went deeper the feeling increased. Hajime had not noticed, but there were some knights that were impressed with him. They thought Hajime would fight using his sword as his magic wasn’t high, but he seemed to easily be able to sense when he was near traps or a group of monsters and would quickly avoid them or restrain them before they posed a problem. Unknown to him and the rest, the knights jobs weren’t just to escort them through the Dungeon, but also to measure each individuals aptitude in changing situations.

Hajime had thought about transmuting his weapon, but decided against it as messing up meant losing his only means of attack. He thought that if he could manipulate minerals, why can’t he manipulate the ground? He’d read about earth mages bringing special minerals with them to create traps, so he thought why not do it with the ground under his feet. With the dungeon itself aiding his ability, it seemed like good practice until he could do it on the surface.

They stopped for a short rest. He looked forward and met eyes with Kaori. She looked towards Hajime and smiled at him. Kaori seemed to be keeping an eye on him after last night’s declaration to “protect” him. Hajime just smiled back and gave her a thumbs up. Shizuku who had been observing what was going on with a wry smile on her face, she asked in a small voice.

“Kaori, why are you two constantly staring at each other? It’s like a romantic comedy in our very own Dungeon.”

Kaori blushed while angrily refuting everything Shizuku said.

“Mou, Shizuku-chan. Don’t say strange things. I was just wondering if Nagumo-kun was alright. That’s it!”

Shizuku knew it wasn’t like that, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to say anything that might upset her more. Though she couldn’t hide the laughter in her eyes and Kaori, seeing that, sulked until she make Shizuku apologize.

Hajime just laughed as he glanced at their show, but suddenly he felt a strange pressure. An unpleasant pressure like water being compressed into a tight space. Hajime wasn’t sure what it was, but it would continue to build until it “beat” flowed through the walls around them.

He got similar feelings ever since they entered the fifth floor and it only got stronger as they went deeper. When he tried to as meld about it, he just shrugged his shoulders and said it probably had to do with the mana flowing through the place.

(I wonder what it is…Is it really just mana?)

Hajime breathed out a deep sigh. He started to feel the bad feelings Kaori mentioned.

The party spread out and searched for monster across the 20th level. The innermost rooms of this floor had very complicated geographical features. The walls were protruding like stalactites in a cave and icicles formed around the room. The stairs to the 21st floor were just ahead of them, and if they reached that point, they'd be done with training for the day. The party relaxed slightly, but since the walls were covered in spikes they had to advance in a triple-file line..

After a bit, Kouki’s and Meld’s parties stopped. The classmates who were behind them got into their fighting stances.

“They’re camouflaged! Make sure to pay attention to your surroundings!”

Meld yelled over them. The walls suddenly rose and discolored a bit. The Invisible things in the room with them seemed to have heard meld as well and decided to drop the charade. Gorilla-like demons with light brown fur and over-sized limbs began appearing out of the shadows one by one until they were surrounded. The one that seemed to be the leader raised its chest and started to pound on it like a drum

“Rockmounts! Be careful of their arms, they can stretch wildly and are strong enough to tear apart armor!”

Meld’s voice echoed in the cave-like room and Kouki’s party went to engage them. Ryutaro was able to reflect the blow that came from a Rockmount. Kouki and Shizuku tried to surround the beast, but were blocked by the stalactites coming out of the walls.

Before they could even land a hit on the Rockmount it retreated back and took a deep breath on one of the stalactites above them.

“GuGaGaGaaaaa——!!””

The intense roar vibrated the whole room.

“Gu!?”

“Uwa!?”

“Kya!?”

Shock-waves of sound races through the air, bouncing around the walls and vibrating the all the stalactites in the room, Forcing every party to cover their ears in pain. Soon all of the monsters that weren’t on the front lines were adding their voices to the mix, amplifying the effect and taking turns when one group ran out of breath. This was Rockmount’s Special Magic “Pain’s chorus”, a magic that amplified sound waves to a painful degree until the prey was powerless and writhing on the ground.

Kouki’s vanguard took the roar almost point-blank, causing them to nearly drop their weapons as they tried to cover their ears. The Rockmounts on the otherhand took this opportunity to attack, lifting boulders and tossing them at Kaori’s rear guard. One rock flew towards Kaori, and the preoccupied vanguard was powerless to stop it.

Kaori and her partners readied their magic wands behind a magical barrier. However, the moment they were going to activate their magic, a group of Rockmounts that had flanked them and cracked open the barrier like an egg from behind.

Nearing Kaori’s group, they expanded their arms to the size of cars and before crashing down into them. The distracted magic casters fell into disorder and many started either blindly casting magic or running away in shear terror.

“Hey! What are you doing in a battle?!?”

In a hurry, Meld went to distract Rockmounts from the mages until enough could regroup to defend themselves. The girls that were once on the frontlines seemed to be doing that most work out of the group, the rest just following behind them.

There a person that got heated about the abuse of his friends though. Our very own mass of justice, Amanokawa Kouki.

“Bastard…Attacking from the back like a coward.. If you were a man you’d come and Fight me!”

Kouki seemed to have bit off more than he could chew though. The moment he said that the Rockmount leader landed in front of him, putting its right fist inches away from Kouki’s face just before expanding its entire arm to cartoonish proportions. Kouki flew back like a bullet fired from a gun and appear a second later, half-buried in the wall behind him.

As he was trying to dig his way out, The Rockmount leader jumped effortlessly into the air and expanded its arms like blimps, before bringing both its fists down on the powerless Kouki. It then began pounding him mercilessly while hooting with triumph.

“Soaring Flash!”

A grand burst of white light came from the blast crater that was once kouki, and sent the Gorilla demon flying through the air into the opposing wall. From the crumbling cave formed by the monsters blows, kouki emerged gasping and gripping the wall for support.

“Don’t think….. Don’t think you’re the only one with big guns hear…”

Kouki, with a crazed and angry look in his eyes, unsteadily gripped his sword, before bringing it up over his head.

“You… Bastard!”

At that his sword began charging with light and magical power.

“Guh ha ho!”

“Ah, this fool!”

“Myriad of Soaring Wings, Reach the Heavens, “Soaring Flash”

Ignoring voices of meld and the surrounding Rockmounts, Kouki brandished his sword over his head and swung down in one motion. His chant had made the sword emit an intense light drawn into a curve, and bisected the Rockmount without encountering any resistance. The blade of light continued on destroying the back wall and several layers of rock beneath it.

Debris lightly fell from the damaged wall. Kouki exhaled and gave the girls a sparkling smile. He had defeated the monster that scared them. It’s alright now! About to give credit to his voice, he was approached by a disgruntled Meld who smacked him.

“Ow!?”

“You fool. I understand how you feel, but you shouldn’t use large scale magic in such a narrow corridor. If the room started collapsing, what were you going to do?”

At Meld’s rebuke, Kouki choked and began feverishly apologizing. The girls approached him and gave him a strained smile to try to comfort him.

At that moment, the collapsed wall caught Kaori’s attention.

“What is that? It’s sparkling.”

Everyone looked at the wall Kaori was mentioning. There blooming on the wall were minerals that radiated pale light like it was covered in indicolite. Its shifting blue light enchanted everyone in the room.

“Oh, that’s Grantz Crystal. A one this big in size is rare.”

When talking about Grantz Crystal, it was an ore that was like a jewel. The crystal did not have any special effects, but it’s cool and sparkling appearance is popular, but this one wasn’t normal. The strange light it radiated seemed to be doing more than just look pretty as Hajime noted.

“Lovely…”

Enchanted, Kaori’s cheeks blushed. Hajime and Shizuku were the only ones who noticed this. Looking around the both of them noticed a similar effect on both the male and female classmates

“Uhm that thing pretty suspicious.”

“Right…”

“No… just… a Grantz Crystal…”

Shisuku voiced her concern for the strange effect it was having on everyone, and Hajime just nodded as many of the knights started to blush, Staring dreamy-eyed at the sparkling gem. If this was a zombie apocalypse, they were already screwed.

Hajime was rudely woken from his cynical mindset when the mana-pressure in the room started building like in the other floors. Not to make things worse, but a sizable chunk of it was flowing through the supposed “Grantz Crystal” and it began glowing brighter than before.

“Um, guys, we should really leave…”

“Yeah, I’m with Hajime on this.”

“What are you talking about? We already beat the monsters, let’s hang out for a while…”

When Hajime and Shizuku said that, Meld started expressing a very out of character laid-back attitude. While everyone with a high earth affinity just looked around confused by the actions of their classmates, everyone else began moving towards the crystal.

“The hero needs an artifact that expresses his awesomeness!”

The one who announced that and abruptly moved toward it was Hiyama. He ran to the wall, pushing others out of the way as he reached towards the crystal. Hajime panicked at that.

“Daisuke stop, it’s a trap!”

Hiyama pretended not to hear and finally arrived in front of the crystal. Meld chased after Hiyama to stop him. At that moment, one of the knight finished his analysis with the Fair Scope. He paled at the result.

“Commander! It’s a trap!”

“Tsu!?”

However their warnings came too late. The moment Hiyama touched the Grantz Crystal, everyone was released from their trance only to watch in horror as magic started to spread around them. A trap made to forcible draw in any who can’t resist, and everyone else in the room with them.

In a blink of an eye, the magic circle spread throughout the tight corridor, and it gradually shined brighter. It was like a replication of the magic that summoned them.

“Withdraw! Get out of this room now!”

At Meld’s insistence, everyone started to clear the room in a hurry, but they weren’t fast enough. When the light filled the room, everyone was suddenly lifted into the air. The students felt the atmosphere suddenly change before slamming onto the ground with a thud.

Groaning with pain after falling on his back, Hajime looked at the surrounding. All his classmates were in the room with him, rubbing the various part of their body they managed to land on while Meld, the knights, and Kouki’s party quickly stood up and observed their surroundings. Seems like the earlier magic was some kind of Teleportation magic.

They were all transferred onto a huge stone bridge made of approximately 100m in length and a ceiling that looked to be about 20 m. There was no river passing by underneath the bridge, only empty space hidden beneath darkness like they were standing just above an abyss.

The width of the bridge was about 10m, but there were not even handrails. If you slipped there would be nothing to grab onto, falling head-first into the darkness below. The group was right in the middle of the bridge and on both sides of the bridge, they could see a passage that led to a stairway that ascended to the upper level.

When he confirmed it, Meld issued out orders with a grim expression.

“You guys, get up there immediately, go towards the stairs. Hurry!”

The students tried to run to the exit as quickly as possible, but a trap in a dungeon was not going to be so easy. Monsters emerged from the magic circles that appeared on both sides of the bridge. On one side was a huge monster like an armored fiery triceratops and the other had a large amount of skeleton like creatures.

Meld just stared at the huge demon and whispered…

“No way…a Behemoth.”