———Kenni———

  <1: 07 pm>

  “So. Are you all prepared? Like, completely prepared.” I said even though Emmie clearly has the scythe on her. No one really dared to call her out on it since it’s so visually intimidating.

  “Naturally.” Emmie replied. Meanwhile this person is wearing a bck cloak that is more akin to some sort of solid darkness. It doesn’t look like it is leather or fabric.

  “Well then. It is time for us to depart. Your life will be guaranteed, but that is all I can promise.” The angel said, raising one arm in the air.

  *Zoom*

  And in a brief fsh we are transported to the dungeon entrance. Still look rather mundane and hidden away. The other three are obviously caught off-guard. Teleportation of this level is not something they have experienced before.

  “W-Where the hell are we now!?” Useph is the one who is starting to freak out a little bit, while Emmie recovered almost instantly.

  “A teleport to nowhere. Kinda terrifying when it’s a person doing it.” Qyunda said, naturally sounding a bit on edge. Indeed, this is a terrifying ability in the hands of… just about anyone. Imagine a kidnapper or any kind of criminal having this ability. Trying to track them would be virtually impossible without equally advanced techniques. “Kenni. Who in the world are you getting involved with?”

  “Who cares. Aren’t you here for something more exciting? This person here will help with that.” I said, and this person finally removed their cloak, revealing a woman with long blue hair with two noticeable tufts of hair that looks like wings on her head.

  “I will be your tour guide to the hidden dungeon. Pleased to make your acquaintances.” The angel said. I still don’t really know her name… “Hmm… Emmie Penne, Qyunda Evandole, and Useph Melis. No need to formally introduce yourself, I already know a lot about you three.”

  “Sure doesn’t help your case, you shady guy, or gal.” I said, waiting for her to actually lead us down there.

  “Well ain’t that disturbing.” Qyunda remarked. This person definitely doesn’t give off the best of vibes. A shady figure with some sort of darkness-reted magic and teleportation? You’d think she’s a supervilin or something.

  “This is all kinds of weird already…” Useph said, still not completely acclimating to the situation just yet based on his tone.

  “Hm. Aside from you and Emmie, I’d be surprised if they survive the first floor.” She gave a quick assessment. That sounds about right. Obviously these two aren’t weak, more so Qyunda than Useph. I think we can manage the first floor just fine, though I don’t think they quite realize how much they need to work for it. This is something on another level.

  “Fascinating.” Emmie muttered. With her current level… Actually, what is her current level? It’s been a while since I assessed it and she knows how to suppress it in non-combat scenarios. Wiina could gauge it better even when everyone is suppressed, meanwhile I couldn’t do such an advanced reading. At the very least she shouldn’t be weaker than Karra was st time we were here. “Are there any rules imposed on us then?”

  “Aside from the fact that all monster materials will be collected by me as compensation, not really. All of you can go ham.” She dismissively said. “I guess I am feeling generous today. You guys don’t have a dedicated healer on you this time around, so I’ll be doing that and making sure no one dies. Come on now. Let’s go inside the dungeon and not waste any time. No doubt you are all curious what a dungeon like this has to offer.”

  She led the way and we all silently followed close behind.

  “When did you find someone with this sort of information and power?” Useph asked me.

  “Oh, it was just happenstance.” I said, not feeling like recounting it. The expnation is a bit of a drag and we’re not here for that.

  “We have more important matters. Let’s not waste our time now.” Emmie said, probably quite excited for something challenging.

  Finally we reach the first floor, which just looks like a giant open cave. Very spacious and full of not so pleasant faces… If you can even call them that.

  “What the hell are those things?” Useph immediately asked, holding up his sword and shield.

  Bulkly humanoid monsters with a body that has the texture akin to dried up wood, a deep dark color that makes it hard to discern its features, and a giant spherical head that is also a giant mouth. At first gnce it looks like it doesn’t even have an eye to see. They are shambling around like zombies more than anything. It just makes it very crystal clear that these are monsters we should be wary of.

  More importantly. There are a lot of them. Roughly over a hundred in total within this spacious floor. Thankfully they are rather disorganized and move around randomly as long as they don't detect our presence. It gives us some time to assess how we should approach this.

  “Don’t let their behavior fool you. They might look slow and decrepit, but they are aggressive the moment they notice non-monsters. Make sure to py your cards right.” The angel warned us. I already know this, but these three don’t.

  “Very well then. I’ll give us a head start.” Emmie said as her body is enveloped in mana. She’s going for a big attack already!?

  *Swing* *BOOM*

  ““KRREEEK!!!”” A hellish sound echoed through the area as many of these creatures were swallowed up by the bst of her attack. A swing of her scythe and the energy that was unched from it caught them by surprise, eliminating a group of them in a fsh but also alerted the rest towards our location.

  They opened their mouths and revealed a singur glowing blue eye inside. That is how you know they are now operating in a different mode so to speak, turning up the aggression and ready to swarm us with their superior numbers!

  *Dash* *Swing* *Ssh* *Evade*

  Emmie quickly took no time at all and rushed in anyway, swinging her scythe and starting mowing them down. Many of them died in a single hit, but some still clung on and tried to counter. In terms of raw strength and speed she still shines ahead, but unless she pulls out another big move she will eventually get swarmed and ripped apart.

  *Fp* *Whirl* *Boom*

  I fly up and start bsting the incoming monsters with my wind magic, which doesn’t do much damage but helps stall the reinforcements.

  “Hey! You two! Get in there already!” I shouted at the two figures still bewildered by the sight, but that nudge was enough to get them moving and start fighting as well, running in to help assist Emmie and keeping some of them occupied.

  *Swing* *Csh*

  “What the hell!?” Useph compined out loud as he is struggling to even repel more than a few of these monsters. Looks like they are about to realize that these things are not your average monsters. Their physical abilities exceed that of even some boss monsters in our local dungeon. They have long since surpassed the power of the bosses in earlier floors, but these things are on a simir level while also being much more plentiful.

  “[Dark Cw]!” I shouted out as I channeled my power into my right hand, causing the mana around it to form into a cw of darkness overpping my hand like a glove or gauntlet.

  *Swing* *BOOM*

  I swung it and let out the concentrated energy, shooting it down into the crowd of monsters looking to overwhelm the three and take out roughly a dozen in the process.

  *Ssh* *Slice*

  Emmie managed to keep up with the pace of the fight rather well, not shaking in her posture or seeming panicked in her expression. It looks like at this level she seems to still be doing fine.

  *Dim* *Swing* *Slice*

  A wide arch sliced through many monsters coming towards her, cutting them all in half with a concentrated attack that was channeled into her scythe, releasing a wave of sharp pressure that cut through them.

  Those two really need to step up their games. Show some fancy attacks or something. This isn’t exactly the time to be modest, you know?

  “[Earth Spikes]!” Qyunda shouted as she raised her two swords towards the incoming wave.

  *Stab* *Pierce* *Graze*

  A rge amount of spikes protrudes out and successfully kills many of the incoming monsters, but some manage to avoid it, or get lucky and only grazed by it, but it does slow them down enough to give her a small room to breathe.

  “[Explosion]!” Useph yelled out as he pointed his sword in another direction.

  *Boom*

  A decent-sized explosion that took down a few monsters and slowed down others due to damage to their limbs.

  *Shine* *BLAST*

  Next Emmie releases a massive wave of energy that completely engulf the area in light.

  “Give us a warning will you!?” I compined, wincing from the sudden bright fsh of light.

  *Ssh* *Slice* *Chop*

  She doesn’t seem to care about that. After I can actually see things again she pushes through the crowd of monsters and keeps swinging. How much stamina and mana have she used up by this point?

  *Fp* *Dim* *Swing* *Ssh*

  I descend down closer to the ground and form a sword made of dark substance. Swinging it around and ssh through the remaining monsters alongside her. We’re getting close to routing all of them by this time. With this it shouldn’t be too long until we cleared the first floor.

  *Ssh* *Slice*

  “Are we close to done yet!?” Qyunda shouted out, already sounding rather exhausted.

  “Just a bit more and we’ll be done with these guys!” I shouted back as I kept chasing down the rest of them. I think we’re down to less than twenty at this point.

  *Shine* *Shackle* *Swing* *Throw* *Crash*

  I threw out a chain made of light, throwing it and one of these creatures and swinging it around like a today, smashing into other monsters or making it crash into walls, using it like a trashy mid-range weapon. Soon enough the monster chained up turned into paste and no longer worked as a blunt object.

  *Ssh* *Slice*

  Emmie went through the st of them while the other two finished up with the ones they were occupied with. Alrighty then, that’s the first part done.

  “How are you all feeling?” The angel asked as I nded on the ground and the others.

  “Absolutely… terrible.” Useph replied, clearly out of breath.

  “Well, I’m feeling better than you are. Quite terrific, one might say.” I jokingly said back. Of course this fight took a bit out of me as well. Last time with fewer firepower it took a lot more out of me so the chance of conquering the second floor without help becomes outright impossible. Now that I saved up some more stamina I might have a chance… If this angel helped us out with the next part like st time.

  “Very well then.” She said before looking up. There it is. “I suggest you all move.”

  “Huh?” Qyunda seemed perplexed at the sudden demand and also looked up. “Shit!”

  She grabbed Useph who was sitting down and ran along with us to quickly get out of the way.

  *CRASH*

  A giant version of those monsters nded where we were, this one is much bigger with a giant red eye inside its mouth instead of a blue one. Roughly ten times stronger than the normal one.

  Perhaps we could take it on as a team, but at that point we’d be so spent that we can’t even muster enough energy to go to the second floor.

  *Beam* *Sptter*

  She simply pointed her finger at it and a small beam of light pierce through its head, which simultaneously combust into pieces. It’s the same trick that she used st time. One hell of a terrifying ability.

  “Alright then children, take a small break and we’ll go to the second floor.” She casually said as she lowered her hand. Just one hell of a statement, isn’t it.