Actually, before you read the chapter, I'll let you know that if you've read the author's note, I posted on December 12th, but haven't read the chapter I posted on December 15th. Then I heavily suggest you go and read it, (Chapter 21) or else you'll miss some developments.

Now, truly onto the chapter!

Thail stood before the floor entrance portal, anxiety and excitement running through the group of fifty gathered behind him. For many, this would be their first assessment and an opportunity to gain wealth, equipment, and most importantly, experience in genuinely unknown territory. For those who'd already completed assessments before, they only prayed to live through the assessment and get back to normality. Dungeon Assessments are commonly made up of new and conceited adventurers partnered with older, more experienced adventurers who've done assessments before.

"Alright! Everyone, stick together and watch each other's backs inside the Dungeon. We've no idea what to expect, and we'll be hampered by the low Mana, so keep it in your mind to use as little Mana as possible. I don't want anyone to think this will be easy; there's a high chance many will die during the assessment. It could be you, or your friends and teammates, keep your head calm and collected. If you do panic, I won't risk the lives of anyone, and I'll leave you for dead." Thail's voice filled the tunnel and reminded the group of newbies that this likely wouldn't be as easy as they believed.

Thail led the way through the portal, the familiar sensation of weightlessness permeating him as he was transported to the Dungeon's first floor. However, unlike when he entered other Dungeons, Thail didn't enter smoothly; instead, he fell from the elevated floor entrance into the murky green water below and was quickly followed by the adventurers following behind him. As more of them came through, a pile of adventurers started forming below the portal. Thail himself was being crushed, drowned, and hammered down into the muddy swamp floor by the adventurers being unwittingly piled on top of him. Fortunately, the constant flow of adventurers falling out of the entrance didn't last long, as the last of the group of fifty walked through the portal and got dumped unceremoniously onto the adventurers below.

The adventurers quickly began untangling and getting off of their fellows beneath them, some already bordering on being drowned to death. Thail didn't suffer heavily from his lengthy submersion due to his high health and increased endurance as a Stalwart Guardian. He had to cough up the water he'd ingested due to the sudden nature of his dive into the water, but otherwise, he was completely unharmed.

"Everyone alright?!" Curnniliert's voice rung out and was answered by a multitude panicked shouts for help. "Everyone! Calm down and give immediate aid to anyone still stuck, and don't hesitate to use health potions on those in critical condition." Thail's calm and heavy voice silenced the shouts with simple orders. Everyone began helping those who were unconscious, raising them out of the water and using healing potions on the ones who had inhaled too much water or passed out due to lack of air. Those who were barely conscious were forced to cough up all the water they'd breathed in, and stood to the side as they regained and stabilized their breathing.

"Have any died?" Thail's voice solemnly called out to Curn who answered with a somber sigh, "Two so far have drowned, and there may be more." Thail shook his head at the disastrous beginning of the assessment, dearly hoping it wouldn't get worse further into the Dungeon.

It took less than five minutes for everyone to regain their composures, but the air surrounding the group had grown grave towards their task. "Thail, the final death count's three, leaving us with forty-seven of the fifty who'd entered." Thail sighed sombrely as he called out to the group, "Alright everyone, we'll be starting the assessment, and it likely won't be easy if this start's not enough of a sign. We'll move together in a diamond formation and note anything we find, like the Dungeon's entrance being in the air, instead of on the ground."

The Core had watched along with Cie who'd inflated in joy at the sight of the sapients stumbling out of the portal, and at the few that drowned to death. However, unlike Cie, the Core's attention had been directed onto one of the men who wore bizarre ornaments all over his full plate armor, and grew curious enough to appraise him.

Aruba God of Light Warning! Appraisal Blocked!

The Core felt like it was going to crack in frustration as this "Aruba" blocked it for the third time. And questions about who this 'Aruba' was filled the Core's thoughts, which didn't go unnoticed by Cie.

"Master, do you want me to tell you about Aruba?" The Core immediately boomed out a reply to Cie, "YES!" Cie flinched slightly from the intensity of the Core's words, but recovered swiftly nonetheless, and filled the Core in on some details about Aruba.

"Master, Aruba is widely considered by the sapients as the strongest and most influential God of them all. However, the sapients have twisted his values and ideals heavily for their own use, according to what the Nifilim have learned from Aruba himself and his host. The sapients have labeled each of the Gods either good, neutral, or evil. From what the Nifilim have learned these labels are erroneously wrong, as each God has their own beliefs on what their element means. Take the Gods of Darkness as an example; some believe darkness means secrecy or deception while others might consider it to mean being shy or reclusive. Their varying beliefs on their element makes it impossible to label all Gods of a specific element as evil, and makes it even more erroneous for sapients to attempt to twist their Gods' beliefs or alignments. Aruba himself believes his light means truth, but not just any truth, the truth of nature, of personality, of intentions, and lastly truth to oneself. While the humans and many more sapients have twisted Aruba's image. After Aruba self-destructed his own vessel, the humans and many more sapients twisted his image to match their own ideals by labeling him the guardian of man, the light of justice, and the protector of good. They then used this twisted image to wage wars against other sapients that they claimed acted against Aruba's will. Ironically, doing so went directly against Aruba's own beliefs towards the light, as they had lied to themselves, which he hates most of all. He even hates sapients who try to hide their love of killing, sexual pleasures, and general crimes, instead of being truthful about them. Nowadays Aruba rarely personally gives out blessings, and most are given out half-heartedly by Aruba's host to any who pray enough towards him."

The Core still felt irritated at not knowing why this 'Aruba' kept blocking his appraisals, but Cie could make a guess as to why, "Master, it seems you cannot appraise any who have obtained a blessing from a God." The Core shone in agreement that the blessing was likely the cause for the blocks, but it didn't discount the possibility of Aruba specifically being the one who was blocking its appraisals.

"Master, from what the Nifilim have learned, Aruba himself has gone into seclusion and stays within his divine realm nearly all the time. He has been so ever since he self-destructed his Divine Vessel in anger and displeasure towards the sapients who lie to themselves. The destruction of his vessel resulted in the loss of two entire armies of over seventy thousand men each, ending the long feud between humans and beast-kin. This eventually led to both groups twisting his image in their minds. The humans and beast-kin have spun the tale into one where Aruba wanted to stop the downfall of both races by ending their war, instead of the truth where he was simply enraged and displeased with them, and decided to punish them by destroying their armies and cutting off their way of interacting with him by the destruction of his divine vessel." The Core understood from Cie's words that Aruba likely wouldn't care for many sapients. Its attention broke off from Cie as the sapients had started to move away from the entrance portal and further into the swamp.

The group showed obvious difficulty at navigating through the darkness of the swamp. Their lack of rangers with the same capabilities as the one named Fyl made their progress excruciatingly slow. The Core watched as the sapients waded slowly through the swamp, wondering if they'll even survive the first floor...

Thail's wariness had reached its peak as they made their way through the dimly lit swamp. His worry further compounded by the seeming lack of a trial, which had appeared in all other Dungeons he'd been in so far.

His heightened alertness enabled him to spot a small yellow flash at the corner of his eye. The flash faded away as a small, dark red lump rocketed past Thail before he could react. The red blur barrelled into a man who didn't even have time to notice the threat and was sent crashing into those following behind him. Bright sparks arced across the water, and the whole group could feel an electric current running through their bodies, numbing their senses and making several of the closest ones seize up and collapse into the water.

Before any of the group could react, the dark red menace shot away from the man it had hit, back into the swamp's blanketing shadows. Curn promptly began shouting orders, and for the second in a day, the group had to use healing potions to aid those they could, while some had already died due to the electrocution.

After the hectic attempt from the group to save the ones affected by the electric current, Curn brought the news to Thail. "We've lost another four to whatever that had been... Thail, what should we do?" Thail felt like he'd aged two years from the brief period of time they'd been inside the Dungeon. He gave a solemn order, "Everyone! Gather up! We'll be leaving the Dungeon to rest and return with mages. We're in no position to continue as we are now." Many grumbled in dissatisfaction at Thail's decision to retreat, but heeded his order nonetheless.