Once we finished lunch, we continued with our dungeon crawl that went beyond what the exam required us to pass. Agnes at one point asked Rala if she and Flinto had ever gone to the dungeon very far.

“I cleared it with a small party in the past and I got a gift as a reward for my achievement,” she explained. “Not counting Flinto, there were four of us hunters, three F’s and one E Rank when we started out. The F’s were still young and inexperienced, not much older than you two, but not even they would go this far down on their first try like you did. The monsters from this point on would be more difficult, dealing with them in larger numbers than before, and don’t even get me started in the mid-boss, let alone the main boss. We had to make so many trips before finally clearing it in just over a year, and we were all D Rank by then.”

“But you all didn’t have masters to teach you how to fight like Agnes’ and mine did, right?” I asked. “To clear a dungeon like this in a year without guidance, relying only on each other and what you can learn through trial and error, I think that’s very admirable. You should take pride in the experience you gained from that to become who you are today, something that Agnes and I were lucky not to go through with the families we were born into.”

““…””

“Uh, was it something I said?”

“Indeed, but do not worry,” Flinto answered. “Rala’s just so happy that she’s having problems trying to process it all. Not even her few ex-boyfriends had ever said anything so charming before.”

“D-Don’t just blurt out my love life in public!”

In response to Rala’s outburst, we heard a couple snarls and growls from a distance.

“Soar? I am picking up seven monsters coming this way with my search magic,” Agnes reported with aggravation.

“… They seem to be aware of our presence. Now, just what could have caught their attention?” Zalena asked with annoyed sarcasm.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! That one’s on me!”

Rala tried to help us, but Agnes and I subjugated the monsters on our own, albeit messier than we usually did with how much more oomph we had to put into our attacks and magic. At the end of it all, Rala gave each of us a spare vial of mana potion as apology and said she’d report her slipup to Grayson when we return. Zalena cut in and said she’d make sure of that, too. Agnes downed her mana potion while I saved mine in the Dark Space for emergencies.

After picking up the item drops the monsters left, we continued down the dungeon as we had, avoiding them when we could and fight them when we had to. There were more evolved forms of monsters we ran into from the start than we did the last couple of floors. Some were distinguishably stronger than others, there were even elemutations—monsters evolved in a different branch than most that can perform elemental attacks and even magic to an extent—that we had to subjugate at all costs as they can be very lethal, more so if they eat a fairy in that form. Though elemutations pose a bigger threat, they’re more likely to drop e-stones in bigger sizes than regular monsters. I stored most of the dropped e-stones in my Dark Space while I let Agnes take all the fire ones. She could use all the extra power she could get by letting her fairy, Flicker, taking them inside her.

“Well, slipups aside, we made it,” I said as we all stood in front a large archway that looked at least 10 feet tall, leading to a long line of stairs going down. We were at the end of the 14th floor, which was more like a grand hall stretching straight towards the archway that lead us to the 15th. It was straight-forward with no place for monsters to hide and ambush us. Maybe it was more like a rest spot you would see in RPGs where you could gather yourself before a big, climactic boss battle that lies ahead. There was only a mid-boss waiting for us, but the atmosphere the floor gave off would get most people tense.

As Zalena mentioned earlier, there was a smaller entrance off to one side that lead to a small room with a large magic circle inscribed on the floor. That was the way for us to get back to the surface instantaneously with a bit of magic while standing on that circle, but that wasn’t the only thing there.

“Where does that other way lead?” Agnes asked as she pointed the opposite direction from the transportation circle. The entrance was similar as it had no door, but pitch-black darkness only filled the path.

“That is one of the handful of paths leading to Daran Cass Labyrinth. You could say it is the ‘mother’ of all the world’s dungeons branch from,” Zalena answers. “Some experienced hunters like myself would use these paths to get to some destinations in the country quicker than by carriage on the surface, even crossing overseas from below if they are daring enough. There are even services and quests from the guild where those hunters escort travelers and some merchants to get to their destinations. You would need to be at least a C Rank to take on those jobs.”

“What’s the labyrinth like?” I asked.

“If I had to describe it in one word, it would be … surreal. If you are not careful, you would get lost and wind up dead with no one ever finding you. It is as if the caverns in that labyrinth are alive and would gobble you up, leaving no trace of your being behind.”

I felt a tight grip on my arm and I looked to see Agnes trembling and clinging on it for dear life as she warily stares at the darkness. Flicker had her whole body clinging to her Chaperone’s neck the same way.

Speaking of fairies, my own were also shivering in my pockets.

Marble answered for everyone through telepathy.

“Well, getting lost is not as much of a problem now after many hunters mapped out the caverns and made plaques showing which goes to where,” Zalena continued. That eased up Agnes’ nerves and loosened her death grip on my arm. “But the labyrinth is so large, no one has ever been able to ‘clear’ it like one may would with dungeons, and so nobody knows what lies at the very end of it, and we have not gone deep enough to get some idea how close we are to the final destination. When you get to where others have not trod, you may wind up disappearing before realizing you got lost at all.”

Aaaaand Agnes’ grip tightened around my arm once more.

“C-Cut it out, Zalena, you’re scaring the kids,” Rala said, though her buckling legs, folded leopard ears and straightened tail didn’t really mark her as unafraid, either.

“Oh, lighten up, I am just having a bit of fun here, but does it not get a hunter’s blood pumping for an adventure to the unknown? What do you think, fairyboy?”

“I admit it sounds interesting, but I don’t have any plans of clearing something like that. I’d probably only go deep enough to accomplish whatever quest I have that needs to get done.”

“Hmm … well, suit yourself.” Zalena shrugged, but the way she smiled said she wasn’t dropping the topic so easily. “Anyway, that is that, and this is this, so what do you say? Think you two love fairies can take on the mid boss down these steps?”

“… Gah!” It took Agnes a moment to realize she was still clinging to my arm before jumping back flustered. “U-Um, sorry about that, Soar …”

“It’s cool, but are you all right taking on the mid-boss with me?”

Agnes had some difficulty getting the words out, so she slapped her cheeks and took a deep breath. “I will go with you … to the very end,” she answered slowly while looking into my eyes.

I met that gaze head-on with both my hands on her shoulders, massaging them a bit while applying some mana to loosen some knots. With my Magic Hands gift, I could relieve these physical conditions with better ease and allow her mana channels to flow fluently. My parents, Lilia, and Ms. Renne can attest to how effective my treatment is. “All right. Don’t push yourself and don’t worry. You got this.” I then turned her around and focused my treatment more on the upper back.

“The three of us will be off to the side and not get involved unless we need to. Right, Zalena?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, I know a way for us to hide from them, so you need not worry,” Zalena answered after Rala. I noticed her eyes widened slightly as she watched me massage Agnes’ shoulders.

Could she even see my magic like that, too? Well, it’s not a very grand cheat-like gift like my Great Sage so it should be fine if I tell her when she asks, right?

After I loosened up Agnes’ joints, I took the mana potion Rala gave me from my Dark Space. Truthfully, I felt like I still had plenty to spare, but I needed to show my mana pool wasn’t bigger than expected of an eleven-year-old.

We did a few other minor preparations before going down the stairs. They led to a large entrance to a room as big as the archway we came in with stone double doors wide open. Inside, there was a large black wolf-like monster. Even when it only sat at attention, it was almost twice as tall as Dad. That was an alphahound waiting for its next prey. I was sure we weren’t its first one because there was a mess of blood and abandoned equipment on the floor.

We made out that much just looking in from the outside of the room. Agnes covered her mouth to stop vomiting from the grotesque sight, but the look of fear was very present on her face. I didn’t blame her, though. Monsters usually respawn around the same level in dungeons after some time, but the mid-boss and dungeon boss would always respawn in the same floors at the same level. Like other monsters, though, mid-bosses and dungeon bosses can get stronger from consuming fairies and people, and they’d keep getting stronger until someone defeats them and they respawn again at their default level and strength. If they get too strong, the barrier that keeps us attacking from outside of each other’s rooms wouldn’t be enough for them to break out free and escape the dungeon on their own. That is the worst-case scenario for everyone, person, fairy, and monster alike, and that’s when the nearest guild needs to issue an emergency subjugation quest for any hunter capable of taking them down.

In our case with the alphahound, there were signs of about two, maybe three unlucky hunters who met their demise. If it caught their fairy Companions, then it just raised the challenge’s difficulty by some notches.

Zalena and Rala explained to us all the dangers I just described and the workings of the barrier separating us between rooms. They acted like the sensors with automatic doors for stores back on Earth, but these worked oppositely. Once we step inside, the stone doors will shut behind us, and that and the other one that leads further down the dungeon won’t open until our battle with the mid-boss was over, whether it be in our victory or death.

It would be safer for Zalena to go in, take it out, come back, and we wait for the alphahound to respawn at its default strength. Capable as Zalena was, it would take time for the mid-boss to respawn again. We may still be okay on that, but I was one who wanted to make the most of what I had, if I could. If we could defeat it, even though it was stronger than what we initially thought, we would surely earn extra points in the exam. Zalena said she could take it out with or without our help, but she had a feeling we may still pull it off on our own, and she’d jump in to deal the finishing blow should things go south. I imagined she thought we would ‘barely’ pull it off from how she and her Companions had observed our progress up to that point.

Agnes and I looked to each other briefly. We didn’t exchange words, and I didn’t talk to her through telepathy, but we were both on the same page on what we wanted to do. We confirmed our decision and made a few plans for safety measures (despite Rala’s nervousness throughout it all). When we were ready, Agnes and I stepped inside, phasing through the barrier first with our weapons in hand. The adults and familiar followed close behind with a Light Magic spell surrounding them to be visually invisible by those outside of it, courtesy of Zalena.

Despite the tension and seriousness of the situation, I was as much in amazement of such a spell existing as a kid was watching a magic show for the first time. That didn’t change even when the stone doors shut behind us.

At that moment, my obsession with magic overthrew the seriousness of the situation and I had a greater interest in Zalena’s Light Magic than the monster in the room. Keep in mind that there weren’t many people in Lunargrove specialized in Light Magic. You can’t blame me for getting caught up in something so new and unique.

“Whooa~, that is raaad~!” I exclaimed in excitement. I could have sworn there were stars in my eyes that distracted me from our opponent.

“Why are you so enthused by that in this situation?!” Agnes followed in panic.

Because of our noise, the alphahound noticed our presence and immediately went into battle formation with a snarling growl before launching itself in a sprint, heading straight toward me while my guard was down.

“SOAR!”

Agnes’ scream snapped me out of it before I noticed the alphahound quickly approaching me. It was so big I could’ve mistaken it for a speeding train to take me out instantly. Time seemed to have slowed down for me.

I panicked, directed my Conductor toward it, and chanted a spell aloud instead of in my mind, but it wasn’t the Wind Needle spell at the usual 5% power up to that point that I used.

“Air Cannon!” I yelled.

Unlike Wind Needle, which is like blowing darts through a tube, Air Cannon was as the name implied, blasting air compressed into a tightly condensed ball at your target. That ‘ball’ would normally blow the target away, knocking the wind out of them and pushing them a fair distance back depending on its power. Some could be enough to break their bones on impact.

In my Air Cannon though, instead of a regular ball of air, I trained it alongside my Wind Needle to shoot balls of sharply spinning air that’s like a hurricane’s, kind of similar to that one ninja’s r*s*ng*n in his manga. I practiced it enough to where I could should shoot it like that on instinct, but I only did it with 5% of power while aiming it up to the clear sky. I did it that way knowing how much destruction my Wind Needles caused when I only had three Companions and I got serious about it.

Now, imagine how that would be with my Conductor and five Companions to amp its effect at 50% of power … at point-blank range against the alphahound.

I was just that flustered to take it further than I needed to.

The r*s*ng*n-like ball of air in volleyball-size appeared at the tip of my Conductor for only an instant, right inside the alphahound’s open muzzle about to eat me. The ball launched and immediately tore through the monster’s body, ignoring its shell, rapidly cutting and phasing through its flesh with winds at high speeds. The ball was too fast to stop its assault towards me, and so as my spell tore through, almost splitting it in two, only the front half of its body passed by me at both sides. The rest from the chest down exploded into blood and guts with the blast that went well with its ‘boom.’

Directly behind the monster, a large splat of red appeared on the wall on top of a massive crater, there were signs of the spell’s spins and cuts etched into it. The Air Cannon’s explosion cut the alphahound’s roar, and the room fell into near-deaf silence after the monster’s remaining pieces fell behind me in plops and thuds. However big its magic stone was, I may have blasted into dust from the spell’s power. As far as I know, it mixed with the crater and blood.

Zalena, her fairies, Rala, and Flinto were out of the invisible veil as they stood there with jaws to the floor. Agnes dropped her weapon and collapsed her knees as she blankly stared in my direction.

Me, after taking a moment to realize the battle was well over, I fell to all fours on the floor, dropping my Conductor, and hung my head. It wasn’t out of exhaustion from mana depletion. Believe it or not, despite my power output, I still had lots of mana left. I was down realizing the gravity of the situation.

I fucked up … again.

It was moments after that thought the alphahound’s leftovers turned into experion and it all came to me. My Companions and I took them in our bodies without resistance, and traces of that monster and the fallen hunters disappeared. The equipment and an alphahound tooth remained. Perhaps since I defeated their killer, I set the fallen hunters and fairies free and they would finally rest in peace in the afterlife. It was hard to say why their bodily remains disappeared with the monster’s, but that’s what I wanted to believe what happened.

With the mess of blood clear and the room clean, I noticed something etched in the floor, lines and patterns cut into familiar characters and shapes.

That’s when I realized we were standing on a familiar summoning circle, and that was where me and Agnes met our next long-knowing friends in our lives.