I think i did badly again. Sorry. I'm also sorry if it seemed like a weirdly written chapter. Sorry again. Also, if the whole chapter seems weird, I can tell you that I feel the same way. Sorry, once again.

Well, my break is ending soon, and sadly, i used most of the time reading other stories and crying over how bad I am at this.

Still, I thank everyone that supported the series. I have no intentions to stop just yet, and I hope everyone can keep on reading this without cringing.

I dont think that is possible though.

Sorry.

It was 11 years ago.

A group of adventurers had been sent to retrieve a magical artifact, but the mission had failed horribly. I had been shocked to see the explosions from Ostmont. It was crazily huge, yet, the only damage we suffered was from the shockwave. The explosion was directed fully upwards, and the town was not harmed.

After that day, there was a house that was suddenly abandoned, the home of the terrorist that destroyed the magical artifact. Nobody dared to enter the house, as it was the home of someone that is known as the Devil. Being an idiot, when I was 5, I decided to break into it and explore.

The house, had gathered dust from the 5 years, and it was mostly empty, but in one of the rooms, there was this holy bible on the writing desk.

I was trained to fight with various weapons, but, I always wanted this, allies that will never betray, and will do anything I want them to do. It is so much different from the crappy people I know.

I read it, over and over and over, and a few years just went by like that with me making extra notes. When I was 9, I wanted to register at the engineer’s guild, and I told my guardians about it.

My guardians refused.

It was some kind of crap that sounded like, “Don’t screw your future thinking of something useless like that!”

They are the kinds of people that doesn’t trust artifacts, or machines, as said from my bible, and they stopped me. They forbade me from joining the guild, and from using any of these ‘artifacts’.

After 4 years of theory, I was forced to stop the moment I wanted to begin.

Then, I heard about AAA.

I ran. I ran from the wretched place. I ran from the people who tried to stop my dreams.

I barely took more than 5 briberies, but finally, I was able to do whatever I wanted using the free workshops in the academy.

They tried to find me, but thanks to AAA, they failed even before they started, and since then, I had started my conquest on building the greatest, most loyal machine.

I am finding someone as well. But I never realized that the person was this close.

“There are no Combat lessons for this week and the next.” Atler announced during homeroom, and everyone perked up. “Instead, ‘Since you all are 3rd years now, you all are allowed to go into, and clear, dungeons. That’s why, instead of lessons, you will all form groups of 3 to 6, and clear as many floors of the dungeons as we specify.’ Or so it is said in this note. Oh, there is more.”

“’First, group up, after that, we will assign you dungeons based on your team’s capabilities. This is only for Combat students, other students can join them, but it is not compulsory. Discuss it among the other two classes, and find the combat teachers of your years to submit your teams.’” Atler continued before leaving the room, too lazy to even dismiss us, and the students started chattering.

“So. Us 3?” I lazily asked. Even if I wanted a few girls to join in, none of them were up to our level. A true pity. Clint nodded, and started heading towards the staff room, but someone stopped him.

“Excuse me… May I join your team?” The noble, Rex Thunderclaw, bowed while saying.

Wait, that’s Rex? I heard that he changed a lot, but… this is insane! Not that I had actually spoken to him the past 2 years…

Clint looked at me for confirmation, but I shrugged. I didn’t really care if he tagged along or not.

“Why?” He finally asked, and Rex nodded, “I don’t want to drag others to dungeons too strong for them because of me, not to mention, the dungeon will probably be too easy for me as well. That’s why I think it’s better for me to find a group that is around our level of power… I’m sorry if I seem to be intruding.” He bowed again, and Clint sighed.

“Its fine, I suppose… your name is…? Erm… Sorry…”

“Rex.” Rex reminded him with a light smile. “Well, I suppose my name is hard to remember?”

“Nope, it’s just that he sucks in these matters.” I cut in, causing Clint to glare at me.

“Ok… Rex…” Clint muttered to himself and nodded. “I think I’ll go register for us now.” Before you forget, good idea.

Ashley, who had opened up to me (finally), stepped out from behind me, and bowed to Rex, “My name is Ashley, nice to meet you.”

“Rex. Thank you for allowing me to join up.”

“Ah! No problems.”

But there was something nagging at me all this time, “But how did you change so fast? I still remember that you were an asshole previously?” Ashley glared at me for being so blunt, but it was too much of a change to not act like that, you know?

Rex nodded, and said in a regretful tone, “Indeed I was… but… I soon realized that here, nobility is worth nothing. Even surnames isn’t something that anyone cares, with more than half the students not having any, it isn’t as if I will be treated better when I throw my name out, you know.” He laughed, before looking away with a smile, scratching his cheek “I suppose I got lonely, in a way. I’m really lucky that people here are mostly forgiving.”

Oho? I wonder who’s the lucky girl?

I suppose, to nobles, this place is like another world. There is a very good reason why nobles doesn’t come to AAA, but… to send Rex to such a place, I’m somewhat impressed at the head of the Thunderclaws. That’s a huge bet you are making.

That’s when Clint returned, holding a sheet of paper. Ashley was the first to notice his troubled face. “Clint, what’s wrong?”

He read through the paper again, indicated by his eyes moving through the sheet of paper, and he sighed. “This is really really bad.”

“What is? Dude, tell us already.” I snorted, and he sighed again. He does sigh a lot, doesn’t he? Ashley says that he looks much better when he is troubled and angry, than when happy though. “We are tasked to clear 5 floors of a S dungeon called ‘Bluesteel depths’.”

Bluesteel… Bluesteel… Oh! “The manasteel mine?” I asked, and looked at him with a questioning look, “It isn’t even that dangerous?” It’s actually good, the manasteel chunk I had was running out. If I could get a single ore…

“No. I didn’t mean the mine is the problem, it’s just that…the dungeon is located near Ostmont.”

I have no clue why Clint doesn’t want to go to Ostmont… but not even looking at him, I myself doesn’t want to go there. My face and hair are quite recognizable, if they see me…

He thought for a bit, before finally deciding, “I’m going to consult Eiden, maybe he could change the dungeon we are going to clear, hmm…. Are you guys fine if we clear it now? No one here has important classes these few days, right?”

Rex pointed out, “All classes wouldn’t be important since we’ll be expected to be missing for a week, Clint. We need to get a pass to go out anyways.”

“Oh, ok. Then, please prepare your items, I’m going to find Eiden now. Nobody, please get my stuff as well.”

I noticed how he always calls the principal by his name, while he calls all other teachers with Ms., or Mr. and so… Is he related to the principal?

“Ok Clint, leave it to us!” Ashley said with a smile, and as I have no arguments with that, I simply nodded along with both of them. Clint quickly left, and Ashley went towards the female’s dorm.

“Rex, could you come with me? I have a lot of stuff of my own, as well as Clint’s.”

“What kind of stuff?” Rex asked as we went to our dorm. We entered our room, and I started rummaging through the items, “The basics, my knives and swords and stuff, extra batteries, basic adventuring tools from Clint… here. And his emergency package, here.” I quickly gathered our stuff, handing half of them to Rex, and we stored them in our magical pouch. Rex went to his room as well, getting a mechanical staff… that’s a unique idea…. It doesn’t contain manasteel, but it can conduct lighting, Rex’s main element, decently well, or perhaps exceptionally. I could see a lighting crystal, so I guess it can turn mana into lightning? Or does it generate extra lighting for him to use?

After that, we met up with Ashley near the gate. Clint isn’t here yet, so we waited while looking at other students going to their destination. How nice, they need to clear 2 floors of a D ranked dungeon??? What kind of a joke is that?

Clint came back in a few minutes, he looked distressed as he ran over, and with the person following him, I could understand why.

The person is wearing a cloak. He had 2 quivers with him, one on his back, and one hanging from his belt like a sheath, and there was a long bow hanging on his back along with the quiver. In addition to that, he also had a sword in a sheath hanging on his left. He was smiling, while he ran over, and his short but smooth green hair swayed in the wind.

It was the principal himself.

Clint had tired face when he reached us, “We are still going to Ostmont. Worse, now we have the principal with us.” I’m not sure how that is worse, though.

“I was so glad that he gave me a reason to flee from hell. He’s my savior.” The principal said with his eyes shining, “Anyways, I’ll come with you guys since I’m free. Is that fine?”

All of us were troubled… but… I guess if I am going to get caught… he can help me? Not bad, Clint, definitely not bad.

Since all of us are fine with it, the principal joined our group, and we warped to Ostmont as soon as the portal to it opened.

As usual, it was a beautiful place, with the huge castle being the most prominent structure, and the huge church beside the castle, just slightly less grand.

And as usual, the people here all had strained faces. Even those that are smiling are hiding another, darker face behind them.

I hate this place.

“Come on, let’s go quickly.” Clint urged all of us, and we followed him out of the town. We went through the south gate, which was the closest, before the principal reminded us that the mine is at the north. Instead of reentering the city, though, Clint led us around it.

I’m glad for it, but I’m surprised that neither Rex nor Ashley asked anything of it and obediently followed us. Both of them were giving weird looks at Clint though. After a long walk… we reached the pit. The site where the star ranked adventurer, known as Dusk, and his wife, Shiina, a S ranked adventurer, blown up a magical artifact, killing nearly a thousand adventurers.

Did I ever mention that the whole thing sounded fishy even many years ago? There definitely is a reason behind that explosion, but with both of them in hiding, and the trash covering up everything else, the truth will keep on being hidden. Well, it was a long time ago, so nothing is going to be questioned by the masses anyways.

“Wow. Been some time since I’ve been here.” The principal said, looking into the pit. “Students. Never fail a rank 8 spell when you are close to a magical artifact the size of a dragon, with a mana concentration of 9.”

That is surprisingly specific, I wanted to ask why he said that, but Rex was faster, “What do you mean? Were you here when the incident happened? Can you tell me exactly what happened?”

But the principal simply shook his head, “Not for me to say, Young Rex. Clint, lead your group already.”

“Right. Ok, let’s go down this crater. The guards will let us in when we show them our dungeon pass.” Clint said, showing us the official dungeon pass for the dungeon. “Any questions?”

“Nope.”

“None at all.”

“Uun.” (Shakes head)

“Ok, let’s go.”

We entered the mine easily. The guards gave us a curious look, but simply let us in when we showed them the pass. That’s was when I realized that I have no information of the mine, and I turned towards Eiden for help. He simply smiled at me though, so I hastily turned away.

“I would usually reprimand you guys for not gathering information, especially you, Clint. But I understand that some of you have problems with the town. Luckily, I’m here, so I can tell you the stuff you guys are going to face.

First, there are spiders. Huge, almost 1 metre by 1 metre large, with a height of 0.3 metres. It usually hides on the ceiling and the darkness, and charge out when you are in range. It is not poisonous, but it tends to give you another kind of illness, the mental kind. It appears at floors 1 to 3.

The second type of monster are ghouls. They would crawl up from the ground randomly, or again, charge forwards from the darkness. They might carry some diseases, and they are undead. You guys are thought on how to fight undeads?”

“They don’t flinch. They are extremely fast. It only dies if its brain or back is destroyed. It can be destroyed by light based heals as well.” I listed them out, and Eiden nodded.

“Indeed. Remember that. Finally, the first boss that appears is at the 5th floor. It is a zombie orc foreman, not exactly dangerous, I suppose. Not much to tell about him too. He can call for other zombie miners, but that is all. After that, it is all blank. Nobody ever cleared the 5th floor.”

“Why not?” Ashley asked, confused. Rex had the same look as well, but surprisingly, Nobody was sighing while shaking his head.

“These kinds of dungeons, by adventurers’ terms, is called low priority dungeons. There is inclination to clear them, because of how hard it is to get a pass. Of course, as students, you guys are exempted from that, so lucky you, right?”

Ashley and Rex nodded, but I knew the real reason. They didn’t want us, mom and dad and their group, to get more manasteel. That’s why the banned the dungeon unofficially.

“Clint. Start acting like a leader already.”

“Sorry. Nobody, start mapping. Ashley, can you make a ball of light?”

“Done.”

“Okay!”

“Now the formation is as such. Nobody, guard our backs using your knives. I will be at front, Ashley and Rex, behind me, left and right. Eiden, just stay in the middle.” With that done, we started heading down the dungeon.

The first wave of unlucky monsters were spiders. I sensed their presence up on the ceiling, thanks to Eiden telling me that already. Rex also detected them, and both of us fired an attack each. “[Chain lighting]!” “!”

Both our attacks killed most of them, and with Nobody’s 2 knives, the last survivor was shredded.

The next wave of spiders appeared soon after, also from the ceiling. Rex threw out a lightning bolt, and the enemies were fried even before they jumped out.

“There’s more!” Nobody shouted, and we stayed in our stance. I sensed them, and fired towards the darkness. The shot I fired expanded and contracted erratically, and exploded as it struck the spiders in the darkness.

Ashley threw up a barrier, but nothing even got to it.

With the enemies cleared, we continued on, silently cleared the dungeon. The ghouls started appearing, like Eiden said, in the 3rd floor. Ashley had screamed when a rotten hand suddenly burst out of the ground and grabbed her leg. That hand was shot multiple times, then cut by knives, then cremated with lightning. The remaining ghoul-without-a-hand that crawled up was put to the same treatment while Ashley buried herself in me.

She was smiling though.

I felt a chill as I saw the smile. What a devious person.

Many other ghouls appeared in the same pattern, but after a few waves, I could recognize the cracks on the ground that indicated that there were ghouls. Normally, I would sense a monster with their presence, but zombies give too little of it, and I couldn’t exactly detect them accurately.

After detecting them, I would fire a few explosive rounds on the ground, usually killing them. This drains a lot of mana from my weapon though, and the mana concentration in the mines isn’t that high, so occasionally Ashley would charge it up with her own mana.

We were at the 4th floor, and the boss battle is coming up next. That’s why we were in a side room, with me taking guard near the entrance to the room. Nobody, who had been fighting the least up to now, was using a drone to scout, while we rested. We were ready for the mini-boss fight. After the fight, we can go back. We can do it, we got 4 strong people, and the headmaster as well!

I was naïve. That definitely trigged a flag, didn’t it?

“The drone is destroyed the moment it went down to the 5th floor.” Nobody suddenly announced, and all of us were speechless.

“What was the last thing you had seen?” Rex asked, and Nobody closed his eyes, “Blue. Green. White. That was all.”

I didn’t want to go down there anymore, but Eiden whistled. “That’s perfect. Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait! Are you sure?” I exclaimed, with the rest of us agreeing with my thoughts, but Eiden simply laughed. “Young Clint. I may be a sheltered principal, but I am still an SSS ranked adventurer!”

“Really?” Rex asked, surprised.

Eiden pulled out his bow for the first time. It was a long, at a length of 1.4 metres, and was unstrung. Holding the bow at the middle, he swung it in the air, and with a ‘kacha’ sound, it extended into a length of 2 metres. “Come on, let’s not waste time.” We followed him to the top of the slope. Eiden had already nocked an arrow, which has an arrowhead that is glowing brighter by the second, and half pulled it back, “Insignificant,” He whispered, “Throw a disposable knife there.”

Nobody fired one of his knives into the slope, it flew rapidly, and disappeared into the darkness, but suddenly, there were more flashes of lights.

Followed with cries of annoyance.

Eiden fired the arrow. “Come on!” He dashed down the slope, and after a moment of hesitation, I followed him, pulling out my sword.

The arrow bounced as it hit the ground, flying forwards, and before we even reached the bottom, there was a huge explosion and screams of pain.

When we reached the bottom of the slope, entering the 5th floor, we saw the dead zombie orc miner, chopped into pieces, and it had started to rot. It was utterly destroyed, and the spell that made it a zombie had been removed, causing it to officially die.

The people who did that to the zombie had a similar fate. With Eiden’s , most of them are in states worse than the zombie miner, and there were only a few left standing, and they were glaring at us. “Kill them!” One of them, a warrior with an axe and a shield, shouted while pointing at us.

“Stand back.” Eiden commanded, and fired a few arrows rapidly. The 3 remaining mages quickly created barriers, an earth barrier, and an ice barrier, but it took a single arrow to pierce through both of them, and killed a mage behind, his body, blood, guts, all splattering on his 2 friends beside him.

Ashley was holding my arms while looking away, while the female mage screamed. It was cut short though, as another arrow destroyed her, and the mage beside her, causing their body parts to splatter on the ground.

There were 2 archers, but Eiden shot an arrow towards them. They quickly dodged, but the arrow exploded while it was beside them. They died, their bodies scattering across the room.

The leader, a warrior, howled in rage while charging at Eiden, but even before he reached melee range, the ground exploded in a familiar diagonal explosion. The white explosion was dyed in red, and his blood rained on his final comrades.

The last 2 warriors tried to run, but an arrow pierced them each. Their lower half continued walking for a little, before falling onto the ground.

Within 10 seconds, Eiden had killed the whole army, leaving blood, guts, and the echoes of their screams.

Suddenly, the lunch we had just now flew up my stomach, and I forcefully held it in. Ashley grabbed my shoulder as a handhold, and she herself puked, while crying.

Rex himself was looking away, covering his mouth with his hand. Nobody, the only one that isn’t affected, simply looked at us with pity.

We ended up staying there for a few hours to calm down and rest. Every time Ashley opened her eyes, she could fearfully close them. I stayed with Ashley, while Nobody and Rex spoke to Eiden about something, but they soon returned to us, without telling us what they talked about. Eiden himself sat, outside our circle, looking towards the 4th floor.

It was when we were ready to go, when Ashley had calmed down, when something else came in again.

It was a huge group of people, almost a hundred of them, they charged down the slope, and stopped upon seeing the carnage. They scanned the room, and their eyes locked on Eiden, before their leader, an archer, pointed at Eiden while shouting, “You! Damn you! Eiden, Principal of AAA, and Clint, son of Dusk and Shiina, you two are under arrest! Surrender calmly and we will let the others go free!”

I felt Rex, Ashley and Nobody turning their gazes towards me, and I gritted my teeth. Ugh! Can’t they at least hide that fact? But before I could give any meaningful reply to them, Eiden stood up and laughed, and spoke, his tone slightly dark.

“Oh come on! Aren’t you underestimating me too much?” He had his bow ready, and the enemies readied their weapons.

“We have a group of 150 men, all S ranked adventurers! And we have another 2000 people outside! Even if you defeat us, you can’t escape here!”

Even though he said that with a forceful tone, it was replied with an extremely lax ‘tsk tsk’ sound from Eiden. “You really are underestimating us. I suppose all the SSS rank people had defected?”

“That doesn’t matter. Just give up!” The leader shouted while pulling an arrow.

Eiden scratched his hair, “Troublesome…. Oh well. I can entertain you all a bit.”

The leader fired an arrow, that impaled itself into Eiden’s body.

And he froze up, and fell to the ground.