Woah, I wrote this chapter way faster than I expected to. Haha?? I'm just overflowing with creative juices. Anyway, here you go. I think that we can get this arc done today!

“Cool.”

The party had arrived at the entrance to the Passageway, and upon seeing it, Tear said that.

The entrance was a cave that had an opening like a gaping mouth with blue teeth.

The ‘teeth’ were large chunks of crystals that reflected the lapis lazuli embedded in the walls. And the way that the light hit the cave caused all the jewels to shimmer brilliantly.

“It is very cool,” Heather agreed with her trademark laugh.

Luke took off the thin-wired glasses he wore and placed them into his bag. “Don’t want them breaking,” he explained.

“Let’s go!” Erebus said, without any lack of excitement. Without any care for danger, the trio entered the dungeon.

“W-wait!” Heather and co. ran after the ambitious newbies. Didn’t they know to check for traps? Even if it was your first time in a dungeon this was common knowledge.

Erebus just laughed. “Hurry up!” he told the others. Erebus didn’t actually care if they were left behind, but he felt that would be rude since they were the reason he was allowed to enter this dungeon.

Mur was appalled by their carelessness. How could they just storm into a dungeon! It wasn’t an uncommon thing for Questers who had already entered, to set up traps at the beginning of the cave to ward off others who could ruin their share of the wealth.

Since they couldn’t let the newbies get hurt, they, too, had to ignore all caution and catch up to them.

The trio was moving fast even though they were walking.

Normally, in this situation, Heather would yell at them to wait. But they didn’t know if that could draw the attention to the monsters lurking within the confines of this dungeon.

Erebus sighed and stopped walking, allowing the other party to catch up with them.

“You guys. Walk. Really. Fast,” Ern panted. The elven race was not known for their stamina. Their natural endurance level was even lower than the humans. And since most elves ended up becoming mages due to their strong magical affinity, they rarely trained their body.

Tear made a disgusted face at Ern’s weakness. “You should train your body more if that amount tires you out.”

“Uu~” Ern made a pitiful noise. What had she done to gain Tear’s scorn?

“We apologize,” Vyne said (he wasn’t at all sorry). “We couldn’t contain our excitement to explore this dungeon.”

“That’s fine and all but you can’t just run ahead. Dungeons are dangerous places, y’know?” Heather reprimanded them in a motherly tone.

“Yes...” Erebus scratched his head. Of course, he didn’t think it was a dangerous place.

“Good.” Heather nodded, glad that he understood.

“Then, let’s start!” Luke proclaimed. “Ignoring the fact that we’re already in here!”

Six pairs of hands clapped at this. Things like ‘yay’ and ‘woo’ were said also.

Now that they had corralled the newbies, the pros were able to proceed cautiously.

Even though this much has been explored already, it was dangerous to naively believe that everything would be okay. As mentioned before, a lot of meddlesome Questers set up traps in dungeons. And, a lot of monsters found these places to be great to live inside of.

Currently, the party of seven was headed down a flight of marble stairs illuminated by torches of blue flame. The sound of water dripping could be heard in the distance and the water was reflected on the stone walls. The air smelled faintly of salty water.

“So we’re inside of the ocean, huh,” Heather murmured. They had been in here for about an hour. They hadn’t encountered any monsters except for a few non-hostiles who could care less about the party being there. She didn’t question at all on how this dungeon worked.

You just don’t ask these types of things. It was the mindset of the people of this world. If a bear had wings and webbed feet, you don’t wonder at all how that kind of thing was created.

On a bright note, Erebus was thoroughly entertained. Even though nothing exciting had really happened, the prospect of exploring levels that no one had ever been to made the greed deep within him rise up. He was a dragon, after all. The entire race would flock at the opportunity to explore unfound riches.

The party finally reached the end of the seemingly endless staircase.

“Be on your toes down here,” Mur said. The lighting, unlike upstairs, was few and far between in the form of the blue fire torches. Everything was barely illuminated to where they could make out the forms of the others.

Erebus and Vyne, of course, could see in the darkness. The others, including Tear, couldn’t. But, that being said, Tear and Ern could make out the area slightly better than the humans.

“We’re at a real disadvantage here,” Luke said very softly, seeing as their voices echoed. “If anything attacks us, we can barely see it.”

“I can make a mana torch,” Ern offered. It would be bright enough for them to see five steps ahead of themselves.

“That’ll work,” Luke answered. “It’ll give us more lighting than we have currently.”

Ern nodded and within a couple seconds a sphere burst out of her palms and floated ahead of them. The light it gave them was certainly helpful and they were able to proceed faster.

After another hour or so, a scuttling noise could be heard. Heather thrust her arm out in front of the party.

“Something’s ahead.”

Luke nodded and tightened his grip on his wand. “Battle stances,” he said softly.

Everyone but Erebus and his group assumed defensive stances.

“Get ready,” Mur said, he adopted a stance for throwing his spear. The scuttling noise grew even closer.

“What the...” Ern said as a group of over ten crab-like monsters appeared. Even though they resembled crabs, their bodies were shaped similar to a human’s. ‘What the’ was certainly right.

“Doesn’t matter. Kill ‘em!” Heather said.

Upon hearing that Mur threw his spear with such force, a small ‘boom’ could be heard. The spear barely cracked the shell of one of the crabs in the front. “Damn,” Mur said as he yanked the spear back. It was attached to his wrist by a metal chain that was enchanted by magic, allowing it to stretch to a length of about twenty meters.

Heather let out a small whistle. “Tough shells.”

“That’s an understatement,” Mur muttered.

Tear aimed her bow, she was at a disadvantage in this small space. Her specialty was being able to shoot off many arrows at once with intense power but within this enclosed area, she could only shoot off so many without hitting the others.

Vyne and Erebus were also at a similar disadvantage. Since they were acting as swordsmen, a small space wouldn’t allow them to swing their swords freely. And Erebus couldn’t use his magic with Heather and co. around.

Nonetheless, the trio still fought with amazing power. But they held back even more in the presence of Heather and co.

Ern began to fire off bolts of pure mana at the creates, even though their attack power individually wasn’t too powerful, she succeeded in created a weak spot to where Mur could aim his spear.

This time when Mur threw his spear, he added a slight spin to it, that way it would carve through the tough shells.

Heather, being the monster she was, fought with her fist. On her knuckles were plates made of one of the strongest metals this world had, and sticking out of the plates were spikes. She also had similar plates on her elbows, knees, and her shoes. The spikes were retractable so she was able to wear her gear basically all the time.

Currently, she had pinned down one of the crabs(?) and was repeatedly striking its face. With each punch, the head was burrowed deeper into the ground until blue blood splattered. She had crushed its skull like a beast.

Luke was casting magic similar to Ern’s only his had 10x more attack power. It took three bolts for him to break through the shell and kill a crab-human-thingy.

The battle was ended relatively quickly. Vyne, Erebus, Heather, and Mur all wiped the blood off of their weapons before the group proceeded. Leaving behind the mounds of disintegrated monsters.

“Heather is scary,” Ern said with a laugh as they walked away. Heather had torn apart one of the crabs as if she was monster and it was the human. She had pinned it down first by shoving her foot through its body, then continued to yank off its limbs. In essence, overkill for no reason.

“Haha! Am I really?” Heather ‘patted’ Ern on the back.

“You’re certainly strong,” Erebus said. He wasn’t lying, he thought she had power a normal human wouldn’t have. Her viciousness reminded him of a dragon on the council. He felt as if those two violent women would get along.

Actually, the thought of them pairing up gave him shivers.

They encountered another batch of the crabmen (we’ll call them that for now) and dispatched of them easily.

The party continued to move at a steady rate, only resting when they needed to.

Vyne, feeling as resting was unnecessary, had trademark frown on his face whenever they would do so. Tear, on the other hand, like the times of rest because she could cling to her master.

And Erebus simply did not care.

They were currently walking down a narrow bridge that was basically falling apart. Underneath the was a dark abyss to who know where it lead.

Erebus wanted to find out. So, with no regard for the lives of others and simply for the sake of him having fun, Erebus accidentally cut the ropes of the bridge.

It was an easy task for him because he was at the rear of the group, no one would see him do so.

“Oops,” he said with a laugh that only he could hear.