It had already been around 2 weeks since Gilbert had joined them and trained with them everyday. Quickly, everyone was above the level 25 barrier with just 2 weeks of training. This kind of development had shocked everyone on the team except for their leader Lux.
Alice and Gilbert were level 27 while Killian and Crystal were already level 31. With just a few more months of training, they could easily reach around level 40 at this rate. While, Lux was the one with the lowest level among them with his level being just 24.
He was the one with the slowest growth rate among them all. But even then, he could beat all of them without even breaking a sweat. The reason for that was just the difference in knowledge and experience between them.
Lux had already learned a lot of spells of all affinities and due to his affinity being space, he could even use the major spells of other affinities while others could only use the basic ones. So, he just needed to focus on his mana capacity and cultivation while the others needed to focus on all those things.
Dan hadn't come to school during all those days and also due to the reason that no teachers in the academy told anything about that matter, Lux could only wait until he himself arrived if he wanted to talk with him. But, regarding the cultivation and growth, Dan would already be a lot behind everyone, so he needed to contact Dan somehow fast or it would be too late.
"As everyone is already over level 25 so, we should go to the dungeon that I talked about some time earlier." Lux tells everyone of his Star Will group when they were having their daily group discussion after school hours was over.
Talking about the group during the daytime was impossible as Alice and Gilbert were always surrounded by other students and also, many people had approached Crystal due to her change and as she was near Alice nowadays. They had already become good friends.
"So we are finally going to improve some of our battle techniques. I can't wait to see how strong I have grown after all those cultivation and training." Killian shouts with excitement hearing about the topic of Dungeon.
During their night training, Lux had also greatly improved their mana control and also taught them a lot of strong spells that could help them in each and every situation.
"Don't get too excited. I doubt you will shout around like that after you see one of the beasts in the dungeon." Lux says while laughing.
"Ok then when are we going to the dungeon and are you sure that we will be able to face the beasts there ?" Gilbert asks knowing that beasts are not so weak as Killian thought they were.
"Yes we should be able to clear most of the beasts around the outer areas of the dungeons but, regarding the inner area even I don't know about it." Lux says, showing an unclear expression about this topic.
In truth, he didn't really know about the inner regions of the dungeon. Different dungeons are set in different levels according to their terrain and the monsters inside of it. The monsters are divided into many different races. Demons, Warbeasts, Soulmen, Goblins, Skeletons and a lot of different races of monsters could be found in the dungeon.
The demon race is regarded to be the most superior race. The dungeons were divided just like a Mage's ranks. As demons were very intelligent, strong and also spoke human language, these dungeons were legend ranked. But, even the legend rank Mages could not enter the inner regions to fight the elites and special elites present there.
"As for the time when we will raid these dungeons, I think we should go for raiding tomorrow. Everyone gathers at the Dark Energy Lake early during around 5 am in the morning. Today we won't have our regular training session but, don't forget to do some light cultivation before you sleep. We will explore and hunt some monsters present in that dungeon day tomorrow." Lux says after thinking for a while.
Everyone in the group agrees with Lux's decision and they eagerly wait for tomorrow to arrive. The excitement also helps everyone to further concentrate on their cultivation. Lux had also already started skipping most of his school days for cultivating by himself. This helps him in growing a little faster.
After what feels like an eternity of waiting, tomorrow finally arrives. Although everyone feels too excited for their raid the next day, they sleep soundly and reach the Dark Energy Lake just in the specified time.
Lux then informs everyone about most of the things about the dungeon that they are raiding and how to deal with the monsters. He also specifies some methods on how to know the affinity of the monsters in the dungeon.
The dungeon that their group was raiding was called the 'Hell's Gate'. Even though Lux had gained information about this dungeon, he had personally never got inside to raid it. So, he only had a vague information on what to expect inside the dungeon. But, as they needed to improve their battle techniques quickly, they could not stand around worrying about the things that they would have to face.
Naturally, even Lux would not fight a battle which he will certainly lose. In his previous life, the Sword of hell flames 'Escanor' was retrieved from that specific dungeon. It was a soul weapon capable of huge amounts of destruction. He had initially intended to give it to Gilbert as he expected it to improve Gilbert's power by ten folds.
Following Lux, they go out of the southwards out of the town and finally reach a big massive forest. They enter the forest and go deep into it for almost half an hour. After travelling inside the forest for half an hour, they finally reach a huge waterfall. After reaching there, Lux stops moving forward and watches the smooth waterfall.
The flowing of water from the cliff of a hill was very smooth and just watching this scene take place was peaceful. Everyone wondered why Lux had brought them to such a peaceful place while saying to take them into a dungeon. No matter whatever way anyone looked at it, there was not even a little sign of a dungeon nearby.
"Hey Lux where is the dungeon that you told us about ? As far as I can sense, there is no sign of a dungeon here." Crystal asks Lux, seeing him calmly watching the waterfall.
"Oh yes. This is the dungeon." Lux says as he goes towards the waterfall and jumps towards the collected water at the pit.
Everyone becomes shocked when they see that Lux simply disappears after jumping at the pit of collected water. Having no other choice, they also jump in the same place Lux had waiting for themselves to get soaked.
But to their surprise, the moment they jumped in the water, they didn't get soaked or felt the water surrounding them but landed on a completely different floor.
They look around to see that they have arrived at a completely different realm. The place was hot and they could see rocks surrounding them from everywhere. They were currently in a rock made tunnel and there was even lava flowing from the sides of these tunnels. The lava gave it a completely different kind of light and made the whole tunnel bright. This place looked like they were somewhere inside a volcano.
If not for that lava, they couldn't even see anything in this tightly packed hot space. Just looking at that lava, they could feel that this was no ordinary thing. They look forward to seeing that Lux was standing before them unsurprised in any kind of way.
Rather, they see the tips of his mouth turning upwards showing a little smile.
"This is Hell's Gate"
Seeing that Lux was already somewhat familiar to this place, they all turn towards Lux having tens of questions in their heads. As this was the first time, they had actually entered a dungeon, they were completely fascinated by the looks of this dungeon.
"How did we enter this place by jumping at the pit of the waterfall ? And I wasn't even soaked in water." Being the most curious, Crystal asks Lux.
Lux, expecting some question to arise, smiles and starts clearing her doubts.
"You may not have known this before but dungeons are situated at places like this. As for why you didn't get soaked in water, it's because the moment you touched the water you were teleported to a completely different realm. If you even want to know further, let's look from where it all started.
Long ago, the whole world was conquered by the black dragon of destruction. Various kinds of races were present everywhere in the world conquered by one being the Black dragon Olethros. .."
"Hey leave it with the long explanation." Crystal scolds Lux being annoyed by him bragging his knowledge.
Lux becomes a bit annoyed seeing Crystal stopping him in the middle of his explanation but, seeing that everyone was eager to go and battle some monsters, he kept quiet and started approaching through the path of the tunnel.
"Fine looking at your expressions, you all must be very excited but, be sure to hold back on it. If not, we may face some major consequences." Lux warned them while they continued further through the tunnel.
"Yes we sure will be careful" Alice says while smiling.
"Do you think you have to tell us that ?!!" Crystal shouts at Lux being even more annoyed.
"Hey!! Do you have to shout at me every time I say something." Lux scolds Crystal looking at her again dissing him. Lux sighs thinking of what he had ever done to make Crystal so annoyed.
After walking through the tunnel for a while, they reach a bigger space. It was a big field where lava was flowing through the walls and being collected on the sides. The temperature over here was even more hot than the tunnel path. This temperature had already made everyone sweat a lot. In the middle of the big field, there was a single big chest.
Everyone became curious thinking what was inside of it. Lux was the most eager to look into the chest. After all, the secondary reason for him coming here was to get the sword of hell flames "Escanor". They walk towards the chest but, suddenly the whole area starts trembling. Even the lava from the walls starts to change its course and some lava splash here and there.
"Boom!!" with a loud explosion, a wall at the corner of this big field suddenly bursts open.
As the wall bursts open in the opposite side of the area where Lux and his group were standing, they don't get hit by any of the rocks that were sent flying over from that burst.
Everyone looks curiously at what has happened. Suddenly, 4 large hounds the size of a big bear covered in flames jumped out from the place where the walls had burst.
Everyone except Lux trembles at the sight of seeing such a creature. They really hadn't expected that a monster would be so ferocious. Even in this scenario, Lux taunt them to bring some courage.
"Ehh ? Scared just after seeing that little dog. Haha!! " hearing Lux laugh at them, they all manage their composure and stand firmly.
"Who said we are scared we were just a little shocked to see it for the first time." Crystal suddenly answers Lux's taunting question with a huge amount of confidence.
"Yes that's right we can deal with them easily." Even Alice supports Crystal on this matter.
"Right be confident but not so much that you start being a little more than required." Lux advises them.
"Ok lets go" Gilbert shouts with excitement on his first ever fight with a monster.