———Orrel———

  <1: 31 pm>

  “It’s pretty rare for you to come here without Useph… Is that a weird thing to mention?” Jass said while scratching his head.

  “Not at all. I’m someone who likes to stack the odds in his favor, so having a reliable friend like him is simply natural.” I wouldn’t say my chance of survival here is low. I can gauge my capability in retion to this dungeon well enough, but it is better to have insurance, one could say. “Obviously, since you’re here, my chance is still good. Though from the looks of it you intend on doing this solo.”

  “Nah. It’s fine. I just don’t feel like bothering anyone else to come along. You know I rarely start a conversation.” He said while shaking his head. Of course, he is quite the recluse. Probably the only reason I am less of one than him is because Useph loves to drag me around, so I’m more used to taking initiatives, willingly or otherwise. “So I guess… Hm?”

  There seems to be some sort of commotion. Was it from the first floor? Seems like a pretty rge group are talking amongst each other. I guess this is roughly the time adventurers start to pop in, especially since it’s the weekends.

  “Do you think we should go check it out? Sounds like there are multiple people in a group.” I asked, wondering what was going on up there.

  “Either way is fine with me, but I also don’t want to deal with people compining we steal the loot if I can help it.” He replied. I guess that’s a yes, and in that case, let’s move.

  I nodded and both of us went upstairs to greet the group of adventurers… Some familiar faces, and some less so. I’m surprised to see her hang out with so many people.

  “Hey, I did say there will be a few people joining. Don’t compin now. Or are you the type to compin about everything?” Emmie said to the irritated girl with a condescending voice, and alongside those besides her all of them are faces I have seen roaming around the school.

  “C-Come on now, why are you looking at me like that?” The guy with some simir characteristics to the girl asked. Seems like they’re reted, or at least very familiar with each other.

  “Hm? Oh, you two. Good timing.” Emmie said, being the first to take notice of us. Meanwhile I can see Jass oddly showing an awkward expression once his eyes met that of the irritated girl. “Want to join us? We’re looking to go as far as we could, maybe pass the twenty floor benchmark.”

  “I guess…” Jass said, not sounding too committed. I have already reached that point, but doing it again is fine by me.

  “Sure.” With a new team it will give me a new perspective on things as well. They always said we were ‘too strong and talented’ or something of that nature. While I can tell that their sentiment was not unfounded, seeing it first-hand will be more educational.

  “Good. These people probably need to be patched up at some point.” Emmie said while taking a gnce at Jass, one of our dedicated healers alongside Seni, who isn’t here.

  “Heh. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Right guys?” The guy who was on the defensive earlier said, showing off his bravado.

  “Huh? Yeah, sure.” The blonde girl with an axe replied. I believe her name is Lynda. I have seen her around quite a bit, be it here or when talking about people using the combat facilities.

  “Yeah! Maybe I can finally see past floor seven!” A guy with brown hair and red and blue tank top said. Is he serious about that? Meanwhile a cat guy with red hair simply nodded along.

  “Alright everyone, let’s get moving. We don’t want to keep our new party members waiting.” Emmie said and led us down to the second and then third floor, ignoring how we already cleared the first two floors.

  The bck-haired girl looked somewhat troubled. Understandable, considering the potentially lethal result of the trap.

  “Now how does she do it again? I believe it was like this… [Earth Path]” Emmie muttered to herself before forming a stone ptform that covered enough ground for us to walk to the other side of the floor without needing to worry about the trap doors. I thought we could just jump over to the other side, but there are others who might not be capable of the same feat.

  It’s not a very wide ptform, probably to use the least amount of energy possible that could be reserved for fighting strong foes instead.

  “Let’s go. Make sure to not slip and fall.” She ominously said as she took the lead, leading to us walking in line to the stair to the fourth floor with a bunch of those horned gremlins.

  None of us actually trip and we make our way to the fourth floor safe and sound. Now we just have to deal with these monsters. We have enough people to clear these out in less than a minute. Actually, Emmie should be able to do so herself, but she probably will-

  “These things aren’t really worth my time, how about the rest of you do it?” Just as I thought. She’s letting the weaker members do the boring job for her. As someone more concerned with fighting strong opponents she doesn’t see much value in fighting a horde of weaklings, especially those she already dealt with more than enough times.

  “Well if you insist…” The bck-haired girl said, gripping her spear tightly. The others that aren’t my cssmates also ready themselves. Looks like we’re just gonna let them have fun here. It’s a low stakes battle with no gimmicks involved, so they’ll be fine.

  “So what is the story here?” I walked over to ask Emmie who was watching the battle.

  “Oh. Simply put, that girl seems to have a chip on her shoulder and wants to prove herself by going deep into the dungeon, so I invited her into the group that pns on doing a dungeon run today. Turns out, one of them is her brother who she has some misgivings with. Things were awkward before you two turned up.” She expined. It’s a bit weird that she even knows there’s something going on with that girl, let alone inviting her to a group, one that she probably doesn’t need the help of. It’s a bit odd, but perhaps she’s trying something new this time around. I can’t really be too sure with her, she’s a bit hard to read.

  “Is there… nothing else going on?” I asked, just in case she was pying coy and is hiding something.

  “Not really. I’m not the one with all the details anyway, it’s up to those guys.” She said, pushing aside all responsibilities. I suppose she isn't really obligated to tell us anything, and the more important issue is making sure everyone comes out alive. The deeper into the dungeon the more the dangers, that much is common sense.

  “Are they going to be fine?” Jass walked over and asked. Right now they fought off the monsters with ease, but that isn’t what he meant, is it?

  “From my first impression, it feels like they’ll get stuck at the tenth or eleventh floor. Of course, with us around they can go further than that.” I gave my estimate. The power they dispyed at the moment isn’t the most impressive. “What do you two think?”

  “I couldn’t care less. If they fail then I will simply pick up where they left off.” I understand it is meant to be a rather apathetic and a bit imposing statement, but it also makes her sound a bit zy. I definitely should not say that out loud.

  “I’d be surprised if they have enough energy to go past floor ten.” Meanwhile Jass has a simir estimate to my own.

  “We shall see.” Emmie said with disinterest as she turned her attention to the group who finished killing off the monsters and started collecting them. “All of you can keep those and split them amongst yourselves. Don’t worry about us.”

  Naturally, as we took no part in this, we won’t take any of those rewards. I doubt we’ll keep this approach, the next floor has a strong boss monster, they might come out fine but will most likely be exhausted.

  Hmm… They seem to be bickering amongst themselves right now, mainly between the siblings. Wouldn’t they share the rewards anyway?

  ———Lynda———

  <1: 52 pm>

  *Bst* *Evade*

  Shit! That was way too close!

  “Haaah!” Uires ran towards the boss golem, looking to ram the spear right into its body.

  *Cnk*

  Unfortunately, the damage is only skin deep. I’m not sure if she got off to a bad running start or if she’s already spent, but it looks like I need to-

  *Slice*

  “Alright. I think that was enough from you guys.” Suddenly Jass stepped in and literally sliced the giant cube golem in half, finally ending the battle. Where the hell were you a few minutes ago?

  He then walked over to Histon and Trener, observing their heavily bruised hands and muttering something. Looks like he’s healing them.

  Kinda sucks that I didn’t get to do the finishing blow myself. I could’ve done it.

  *Shine*

  And now the rewards… Two health potions. That’s quite a rare find.

  “I don’t really need it, so split that amongst yourselves.” Jass said before walking off to his two friends. Yeah yeah, being a healer is real nice ain’t it.

  “Well. I guess one to the siblings and…” I said as I picked up the two bottles before taking a gnce at Trener and Rousi. Honestly, I have a few already, but I also feel like I did a lot in that fight. I only didn’t get that final blow because someone had to step in unnecessarily… Hmm… “You two do rock-paper-scissors for it.”

  “Hah?” Trener seems bewildered at the idea as I pced down a health potion while walking over to the siblings with the other. I silently handed it to Uires since she’s the more agitated one this time around, weirdly enough. Hopefully their dialogue is going well. I know I should say something as well, but I don’t think any of us should be involved with the family drama in the first pce, we’re only here as support characters.

  And the result between Trener and Rousi? Rousi got it.

  “If you’re all done, let’s keep moving.” Emmie said, taking the initiative and moving to the next floor first. It and the two floors after are just a bunch of monsters that shouldn’t pose too much trouble, and Emmie or one of the other two should be able to bypass the traps on the ninth floor, which leaves…

  ———Orrel———

  <2: 23 pm>

  *Swing* *Evade* *Crash*

  One swing of its club was enough to damage the ground we stood on, making it rather easy to trip on those cracks and holes that started to form, as well as rocks scattering from small to rge. The battleground is becoming harder to navigate just due to the boss’ rather mundane attack being so indiscriminate. It could easily trip on these hazards it created by its own hands.

  I can’t quite tell if this is a gimmick or simply a natural consequence of its simplistic and clumsy attacks. I think its actual gimmick is how big and tough it is even without using any sort of magical abilities. You need a lot more power in your attack to kill it in comparison to the boss of the fifth floor, the tter is overall more deadly but easier to destroy.

  *Chop* *Roar*

  “Hah!” Lynda taunted the boss monster the moment she managed to chop off one of its toes.

  *Swing* *Evade*She quickly gets out of the way once it tries to retaliate, leaving enough room for the others to get their attacks in.

  *Leap* *Punch*

  Trener jumped forward and punched it right in the chest before retreating, not doing much damage but did stagger it somewhat.

  *Ssh* *Slice*

  Rousi dashed in and hit its feet and legs with his sword, aiming to slow it down further. It seems to be going smoothly, now that the giant is greatly slowed down by the wounds on its lower body.

  *Stab* *Roar*

  Rousi ran in and stabbed through its right leg, making it cry out in pain, but…

  “Get it out, damn it!” Her weapon is stuck in its body. Then her brother came over and tried to help her pull the weapon out, but she looked visibly displeased by that act.

  **Trip**

  ““Aaah!”” They managed to pull the spear out, but at the same time due to the force of the pull as well as the rough terrain they tripped and clumsily fell to the ground.

  *Swing*

  “Get down you two!” Jass screamed out as he saw the giant club swinging down on the two of them, with the giant focusing on the two clearly vulnerable enemies.

  *Push* *Block*

  “Ugh!” He ran over and stood in front of the two first before anyone else could get near them, blocking the attack that would’ve hit the both of them with such a massive weapon, blocking it with his sword alone.

  *Leap* *Slice*Emmie took this opportunity to leaps towards the giant and cut its head clean off its body before it could even notice her presence.

  What was a grueling fight for the four of them turned into a fight that sted less than ten seconds once Jass and Emmie got involved.

  *Crash*

  The giant’s body fell to the ground, no longer functioning now that its most vital part is missing.

  “Phew…” Jass let out a sigh of relief as he pushed the club away and turned to look at the siblings, unharmed. “Doesn’t look like anyone is seriously injured. Maybe you all could use a bit of rest.”

  The four of them look rather bewildered by the sudden end to the fight, but I don’t think Emmie cares much for such a reaction. She would rather all of us move on and keep progressing.

  I could tell that there is an underlying reason for this group coming here, but unfortunately for them, they have to move at our pace.