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Davion warped to the western desert region with two second-year seniors.
"Here it is! First-year. There should be a dungeon entrance around here. You can meet the club seniors if you go there."
Emma nudged Freddie in the side.
"Freddie, can't you do something about that way of speaking? You sound really weird."
Freddie leaned in and whispered in Emma's ear.
"R-Really? It's my first time with a junior... What should I do then?"
"I don't know either. Just be natural, be natural."
"Hmm, got it."
Meanwhile, Davion stretched out his hand and pointed in one direction.
"It's that way."
"Oh, where? How did you know, first-year?"
Emma shook her head at Freddie's increasingly strange way of speaking.
"I just feel it."
"Really?"
It wasn't just feeling it.
When he read the flow of mana with his fingertips, he felt an alien space somewhere.
That must be the dungeon entrance.
"Let's go, seniors."
Freddie and Emma, who didn't have a clear idea of which way to go, decided to follow Davion.
After walking for a while, a distorted dungeon entrance appeared.
"Wow, first-year. You're amazing! How did you find it?"
"Freddie. Please stop calling him 'first-year'? It's embarrassing."
"Then what am I supposed to call a first-year if not a first-year?"
"He has a name, you know. Davion Naone."
Freddie leaned in again and whispered in Emma's ear.
"Is it okay to call him that familiarly? A junior we just met today? Won't that undermine the authority of a senior?"
"Ugh. What are you talking about? What do the club seniors call you?"
"Well, Freddie... Ah! I see."
Freddie straightened up and said loudly again.
"Amazing, Davion. Thanks to you, we found the entrance. Let's go in quickly."
"Your speech! Please!"
Fortunately, Freddie had brought a dungeon map.
Davion and his party quickly headed towards the center of the dungeon.
Since the seniors had already swept through, they hardly encountered any monsters.
When they were almost at the center of the dungeon, they saw the club members standing in front of a large iron gate.
A female student with long blue hair stood at the center of the group.
Ariel Frontia.
A talent who competes for the top spot in the swordsmanship department at Elton Academy.
The president of the dungeon exploration club.
Ariel, who was the first to sense Davion's party, turned around and shouted.
"Who are you guys?"
Freddie, who had lost his righteous and confident demeanor from earlier, replied, shrinking back.
"W-We came to help. Senior."
"What? Do you know where this is? New club members coming without any fear! Weren't you told to guard the festival tent?"
"W-Well... that's..."
Davion stepped forward.
"I told them to come."
Ariel looked at Davion.
Her gaze went towards the emblem on Davion's chest.
"Who are you? A gray bear? A first-year?"
Inside Davion's school uniform emblem was a gray bear, symbolizing the first year.
On the other hand, inside Ariel's emblem was a phoenix, symbolizing the sixth year.
"Hello, senior. I'm Davion Naone, a first-year."
"Why did you come here? A first-year?"
"I thought I could help."
"Help? Do you think this is some kind of playground like other clubs? Hey! Freddie! Didn't you explain to him what our club is like?"
"Well... I was going to explain, but he already seemed to know."
Davion stared at Ariel.
Ariel Frontia.
The person who will have seven club members die during this exploration and drop out of Elton Academy to take responsibility for it.
He heard later that this incident wasn't Ariel's fault.
Davion, who had been looking at Ariel for a moment, turned his gaze to the other seniors.
'Let's see, the villain...'
Found him.
Another sixth-year with a phoenix drawn on his emblem.
He's in a higher grade, but he's a transfer student who only joined the dungeon exploration club last year after being in another club.
He joined this club because he admired the president, Ariel.
His name is Knox Yucal.
'It's always guys like that who cause trouble.'
Meanwhile, Ariel finished talking with Freddie.
"It can't be helped. You've already come this far. We'll deal with the mistake when we get back, but the three of you stick close to the seniors and follow us. I'll say it again, this isn't a playground."
"Thank you! Senior!"
Freddie, who quickly regained his spirits, put on the expression of a hero about to save the world again.
Although his emotional fluctuations were less severe than Freddie's, Emma's expression next to him was already that of a hero as well.
Ariel drew everyone's attention again.
"I'll say it one more time. This is a D-rank dungeon. According to the information we received from the Royal Dungeon Investigation Team, the dungeon core amplification is completely imminent."
The royal family shares the dungeon investigation results with Elton Academy.
And this dungeon exploration club is the first to receive that information.
The dungeon they are in now is the same.
This is the dungeon where the investigation results arrived from the royal family just yesterday.
"According to the royal investigation results, the estimated time for core amplification is within a few days. That means the dungeon amplification could happen within a few days, or it could happen right now."
"That's why we came right away, senior."
"That's right. No need to say much more, right? We don't know what kind of D-rank dungeon final boss will be inside this gate, but just do what you've always done. The lower grades stay in the back no matter what. Only pour out support attacks when safety is secured. The upper grades will take care of the front."
The club members, who were about to enter the boss room, became quite solemn.
"Alright. Let's go right away. As soon as we catch the final boss, we'll destroy the dungeon core. Then there will be a D-rank monster wave. I don't know if it will be 30 minutes or several hours. If we can just endure that time, we'll win. We'll save hundreds of civilians. We will."
Pride filled the members' faces.
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Alright. Let's go!"
Ariel forcefully pushed open the iron gate of the boss room.
Thud.
"Damn it!"
Ariel shouted.
The seniors who followed behind also each let out a curse.
In the center of the boss room, a giant was snoring while sleeping.
The thickness of one of its calves was as thick as a large tree.
Even though it was sitting on the ground with its butt, its height seemed to be over 5 meters.
The problem wasn't its height.
On its thick cylindrical body, four arms were stretched out to the east, west, south, and north.
All four hands were holding large clubs.
On top of its cylindrical body was a large head, and dozens of eyes were packed tightly around the head horizontally.
"Of all things, it had to be an Oculus! Damn it!"
The giant's name was Oculus.
It's a monster that doesn't have a blind spot because of the four arms that are stretched in all directions and the dozens of eyes that are densely packed around its head.
Whether it heard the sound of humans entering, the four ears attached to the four directions, east, west, south, and north, twitched simultaneously.
"Eek!"
Emma, who was next to Davion, screamed.
The dozens of eyes around Oculus's head opened simultaneously.
One eyeball was as big as Emma's head.
When they opened, they opened at the same time, and the dozens of eyes each blinked and rolled their eyes as they pleased.
Oculus, who had quickly looked around in all directions, slowly got up.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The four arms swung the clubs around.
Ariel shouted.
"It's a guy who can see in all directions and attack at the same time! There's no need to scatter. Everyone gather!"
Following Ariel's shout, the students gathered together.
"Provide cover!"
Ariel's figure shot out like a streak of light.
"Oh."
An exclamation came out of Davion's mouth without him realizing it.
This is the movement of a student who is competing for the top spot in the swordsmanship department at Elton Academy.
Several more swordsmen followed after her.
The mages who had quickly prepared magic also began to pour out support attacks.
'It's a very difficult monster to deal with, but it's not impossible to catch with this many people.'
There are three sixth-year students, two fifth-year students, and three fourth-year students.
Like that, there are eight upperclassmen who are the main force.
And there are four lowerclassmen, excluding Davion.
Two third-year students, two second-year students.
As it is a club with high risks, it is mainly made up of students who are quite confident in their skills.
It's not the best, but it's a decent dream team.
'There's also a healer.'
One mage senior is standing right in front of Davion, not launching any attacks and just standing there.
Since he's an upperclassman, he must be a healer who is incomparably stronger than Luna Puella.
'The party composition is pretty good.'
Two archers were constantly firing arrows, and three mages were also constantly casting spells.
In the front, three swordsmen are fighting well against Oculus.
Ariel and one more swordsman are in charge of dealing damage, and one swordsman with a large shield is shouting loudly and drawing Oculus's aggro.
'This team is pretty good.'
"S-Shouldn't we do something too? Freddie."
"Y-Yeah! We're also in the top ranks of the second years! Emma! Let's attack too!"
The second-year students Freddie and Emma also started launching magic attacks, although their skills were lacking compared to the other seniors.
'This club. I kind of like it?'
They were all students who were risking their lives to protect the lives of others even though they were busy with their studies.
He felt a different kind of determination than the other academy students he had seen so far.
But...
'That villain is starting to get noticeable.'
Knox Yucal, who had joined the club to look good to Ariel, was gradually starting to use more flashy magic.
'He's deliberately using flashy magic to stand out. He must be trying to engrave his existence in Ariel's mind.'
If he knocked Knox Yucal unconscious now, he could prevent the tragedy that would happen today in advance.
It may seem a bit overwhelming, but this party will eventually be able to defeat that Oculus.
But Davion didn't have any intention of stopping that villain.
'Should I wait a little longer?'
While Davion stood still and watched the seniors' battle.
Knox Yucal briefly stopped the magic attacks he had been constantly launching.
'I can't show my presence to Ariel like this. I can't do that among these immature juniors. I'm a sixth-year too!'
Knox thought, thinking he needed to prepare something big.
'Alright, that should be enough.'
He remembered a very flashy magic that he had only recently completed.
It was a magic that simultaneously manifested wind and fire element magic to summon a powerful fire pillar tornado.
Actually, the word "summon" wasn't accurate.
Since ignition started at the point where the wind traveled, the fire pillar tornado started to rise from a place other than the caster's palm.
Knox focused his mind and slowly manipulated his mana.
Whoosh.
A small gust of wind that no one would notice shot out from the back of Knox's hand.
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