Dungeon Class (2)
"It's dark... and filthy."
Elia scanned their surroundings with a look of utter disgust.
It was definitely dark and filthy. The place looked like you'd get tetanus just from a scratch.
Dirt had seeped into the cracks between the floor tiles, and unidentifiable sludge clung stickily to the walls.
"This is just the entrance to the dungeon. If you want to turn back, now's your last chance. You really gonna follow us?"
"Doesn't matter to me."
Elia Adventus nodded.
As if to prove her usefulness, she pulled a few potions from her coat pocket.
"I can lend you some potions if you need 'em."
"Fine... Not sure if they'll be any use, but let's go."
A magic circle unfurled from Professor Rapel's hand, summoning a larger, cleaner orb of white light than Elia's into the air.
With the bright illumination, the dungeon's interior came into sharper focus.
"If memory serves, the first floor doesn't have much. At worst..."
Sizzle—
"...something like these small fry."
Screee—!
Thud—!
A Giant Rat emerged from a corner of the dungeon, its red eyes glowing as it charged, but Professor Rapel flicked it away with magic like it was nothing.
They cleared the first floor in no time. Professor Rapel seemed to remember the path well enough that it didn't take long to reach the stairs to the second floor.
But from the second floor on, even Professor Rapel looked serious.
"Things could get really dangerous from here."
"So, is dungeon crawling all there is to this 'special lesson'? When do I get the new magic?"
"Patience. You know what you get from clearing a dungeon? Loot."
"Ooh..."
She tapped my rusty sword as she spoke.
It was something I'd found in the Lotus family's underground armory.
"Might be your chance to upgrade that piece of junk. Who knows? You could even snag a top-tier magic staff like mine."
If that actually happened, it'd be special enough on its own.
Professor Rapel added that she'd teach me new spells as situations arose.
That was plenty. Right now, diversifying my magic was the priority.
"Oh, and since we're on the topic— we might get lost from here on, so here's a tip. Learn this magic circle."
Keening—
She conjured one right in front of me.
I focused every ounce of concentration on observing it.
"Kael. What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? Watching."
"You're not writing it down?"
"Write it down? This?"
About thirty seconds of intense study, and the runes coalesced into a single intent in my mind.
—Illuminate the world.
Unknown words slipped from my lips in a murmur.
"Star-tongue incantation. A genius, as expected. You've already grasped the principle."
As the chant ended, a white magic circle bloomed before my eyes. Then it summoned a bright light source, just like Elia's.
"Kael. Did you seriously just memorize that whole thing?"
"Nah. I just figured out how it works."
In intuitive terms, it compressed mana into a single intense point, enclosed it in a spherical barrier like an incandescent bulb. Temperature at least 3,000 degrees—anything lower and the light turned orange.
Infuse intent into the spell, fine-tune the mana structure to manifest it.
Now I could probably cast it without chanting.
"Only downside is it guzzles mana constantly. Kinda unpleasant."
"You'll get used to controlling it. Good—you've learned a new spell. Onward."
Contrary to Professor Rapel's warning, the second floor was a breeze. Sure, stronger magic beasts appeared here and there instead of just Giant Rats.
And the stench was worse than the first floor. They say smell adapts quickest, but this? No way in hell.
"Skeletons dead ahead."
"Your turn."
Slash—!
"Too gross. Let's hurry up and go. Wait, why'd we even come to a dungeon for this 'special class'?"
"Don't be like that. I told you—dungeons always bring unexpected fortune."
About twenty minutes later, we cleared the second floor. Traps started popping up almost immediately on the third.
"Careful. Trap."
"Whoa... That was close..."
Pressure plates launching arrows, iron grates slamming down.
Some even spewed weird gas when you made noise.
And surprisingly...
"Trap up ahead."
"How the hell do you know?"
"Woman's intuition."
"Huh. Incredible... You look like the type who'd just sip tea daintily, but you've got skills."
Elia's instincts proved a huge help.
We were thrown off at first by the traps, but thanks to her, we cleared the third floor without issue.
Finally, we reached the fourth and last floor.
"Easier than I thought. Not many beasts blocking the way."
"We're lucky. Ever hear of the total luck theorem? Good fortune piling up means bad luck hits all at once later."
"Why say that now? Jinxing us."
"Isn't it fun? I think it's amusing."
And right on cue...
"Hold up. Something ahead."
"I sense it too."
A presence prickled from the darkness.
At the end of the unlit passage, something huge crept slowly toward us.
The light magic finally revealed it. Screech—
"..."
"Eek...!"
"Fuck! What the hell!"
I couldn't believe my eyes. No— I cursed the rotten author who built this world.
Why the fuck was something this grotesque in a romance fantasy full of pretty, cute shit?
"A cockroach?"
Skreeee—
A Giant Cockroach. Massive.
"Kael! Do something! Hurry!"
"No, you damn pint-sized professor! You dragged us here! This was your idea!"
Stone Golem?
Not scary at all.
Skeleton?
Not scary either.
Ooze-ball King Slime?
Annoying, sure, but not terrifying.
But this? Cosmic horror. Eldritch fucking terror.
"Doesn't seem like it wants to attack us?"
"Elia, don't push it. Run. We can't beat that thing."
"Run! Now!"
To buy time for our escape, I hurled my sword at the massive cockroach.
But in my panic, it missed, clanged off the wall, and bounced back.
Elia sighed deeply and picked it up.
Crunch—
"Eeeek...!"
"Hah... huff."
"It's dead."
Elia said it deadpan, showing me the impaled cockroach.
Whoever said cockroaches were tough?
She pulled the sword free, and roach guts dripped from the blade.
"Urp..."
"Pipsqueak. You puke near me, and I'll kill you for real."
"No respect for your professor..."
"Elia...?"
She handed me the sword indifferently.
I froze, unable to take it.
"Uh... Elia? Why don't you keep the sword?"
"You were fine with slime goo. What gives?"
A faint smile tugged at Elia's lips.
I knew that look. She'd felt it too. Omnipotence.
Problem was, the trigger was that.
"That's different. Whatever. It's nothing."
Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my head and took the sword from her.
Gave it a quick shake and sheathed it.
"Haa... Gonna lose my mind. Hey, you crazy loli crone. No warning about strong enemies like that?"
"Cough... hack... I didn't know either. And what did you just—"
"Your imagination. Forget it."
I sighed heavily, averting my eyes from the cockroach corpse as much as possible.
To finish the dungeon, we'd have to push on regardless.
"Let's move."
"I-I'm ready too. But how about you take point this time?"
"Ladies first."
"Talk big for someone who's been hiding behind me till now. My turn's over—yours."
She wasn't budging unless I led. No choice. Couldn't put Elia up front either...
"Your fiancée's got some real guts, by the way. How's she so calm?"
"She's seen worse."
"Worse?"
"Duke's household. Especially in shaky noble families, you see a lot of disgusting shit if you stick around long enough."
Her words carried a sharp edge.
Yeah. Elia Adventus was that kind of character—one who'd witnessed every ugly side of ducal life.
In some ways, she might be tougher than me.
She'd accepted being sold off to a mangnani like Kael without complaint.
We steadily conquered the rest of the fourth floor after that.
"Looks like no more of those horrors. This is the end of the fourth floor—the boss room."
With the fourth cleared, we finally reached the last room.
The boss room. Every dungeon had its master, the boss monster.
Bosses stayed dead for a while after defeat, but after a few years, infighting among the lesser beasts could resurrect one by chance.
Not that it mattered...
"Beat the boss, and we'll score tons of loot!"
That was the boss room's appeal.
Definite rewards for downing the boss.
Pretty much why we'd come to the dungeon in the first place.