A bit later than I wished, but my internet just fell for most of the day so a lot of things ended up getting pushed back...
Anyway, I hope you can enjoy this chapter!
(PS I hate this chapter, not because it's wrong, but because I wrote 1K words while editing and the moment I hit save, the page refreshed, making me lose all progress)
So please, I don't want to hear shit, my mood is rock bottom right now
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/The next day…/
'Inside the Dungeon, Silver could be seen leading a group of 6 people, all girls of course, true to his reputation as a playboy.'
'He stopped after walking for a while, and seeing they were now alone, he said:'
"Alright everyone, welcome to the first floor… Keep your eyes open and your guard up." He said towards the people behind him
'The group consisted of three 3 human girls, one elf, and two beast humans, one of which was Nicc.'
'One of the three Human girls was an older girl with blond hair, looking like an experienced adventurer thanks to her confident posture and the long sword hanging in her waist.'
'She also wore medium armor, looking like a knight.'
'She was stuck on her Level for 3 years, and this was the reason why she left her previous Familia, she had enough of being ridiculed by her old party members and decided to try her luck with this Familia.'
'A decision she hasn't regretted so far.'
'The Elf was also Level 1 and about the same age as the other girl, she was 21 years old, had long red hair, and held a lance in her hands.'
'She joined the Hestia Familia after leaving her previous one due to internal conflicts.'
'The other two Human girls were an archer and a mage with a cute long hat.'
'And lastly, the beast girl had a large shield in her hand.'
'Like this, there were 2 offensive warriors, the 2 Level 1s, and more experienced adventurers. One tank, and two backline adventurers, one mage and one archer.'
'And lastly, Nicc who was currently working as a supporter.'
"Leave it to us, Captain, we'll teach them in no time." Said the Elf with a smile
"I know, but I couldn't help but come…"
I'm doing this not only for the Familia but for a certain worried Goddess.
I knew they'll do just fine in the Dungeon, but oh well...
Besides… I'll have them experience the true horrors of the Dungeon.
"I'll be following you all from far away, but do not expect me to intervene, your objective is to go to the 4th floor and come back within 2 hours." He said as his body slowly vanished
"2-2 hours?!" Exclaimed the blond Human girl
It would've been easy with my previous party but…
'She took a deep breath and looked at the Elf, the two nodded and immediately started giving orders to the nervous girls behind them, trying to get them to calm down and get into formation, one they trained several times back in the Manor.'
'The only one who wasn't nervous was Nicc, and that was something Silver didn't like to see because Nicc wasn't confident due to trusting her allies, but she was confident because Silver was nearby.'
'Her past experience of being led around by him was now affecting her performance in the Dungeon, and Silver would make sure to fix that…'
…
/1 hour and a bit more later.../
'In the following hours, the group successfully defeated the monsters on their path.'
'Goblins, Kobolds, and Dungeon lizards. These were the monsters of the Upper floors.'
'They even met with a few other groups, but no problem arose from their encounters.'
'Silver felt it was a shame, fighting between adventurers was common, and Silver wanted them to experience it at least once... And if that were to happen, at least had it happen under his supervision...'
'So he could beat the crap out of anyone that dared mess with them.'
'And as they slowly approached their objective, Silver prepared his next plan…'
…
/Somewhere on the 9th floor…/
The cries of monsters echoed all around, and some of the nearby adventurers shuddered, opting to stay away from this section of the Dungeon for the rest of the day instead of finding out what was happening...
"6… 7… 9 should be enough." He said with a smile as he used telekinesis to bind another Goblin by the neck
"Kiii..." Said one of the Goblins in a weak tone
"Yeah, blame it onto yourself, perhaps you should've been born as a War shadow..."
"An adventurer only grows in adversity…" He mumbled to himself as he flew towards the pathway to the pathway leading to the upper floors with several goblins being dragged behind him
"Here comes the airplane..." Silver said as he fed multiple Magic stones to each Goblin with an evil smile
…
"If you stopped, this means we arrived?" Asked the red-haired Elf
"Yup, that cave over there is the entrance to the 5th floor. We have about 40 minutes left, if we turn back now we should be able to return in time." Replied Nicc as she took out a map from her backpack
'She may be bad at fighting, but she was damn good at supporting...'
'Everyone nodded at her words, turning around to leave when…'
"PREPARE TO FIGHT!" Exclaimed the blond-haired girl as she took her sword from her waist
"What?..." Asked the wizard of the group
"Hiva! Focus and start chanting! Sarina, draw your arrows!" Exclaimed the blonde girl
'It was too sudden and they didn't have time to prepare, before they realized it, a group of 7 Goblins rushed into the cavern they were currently in.'
'The red-haired Elf and the blond swordswoman blocked a few of them, but the last one rushed past them and into the rear.'
"DAMMIT! FOCUS!" Cried the swordswoman towards her companions
'She immediately understood that these aren't your ordinary Goblins! They are as fast as the ones on the lower floors!'
'No... They were faster!'
/CLANG!/
'She tried to look back to see how everyone was doing, but her attention was forced back to the 3 monsters in front of her.'
'It seemed as if time had stopped at that point. The Goblin was rushing with a large knife in its hands, ready to swing it down on the beast girl.'
'Without a command, she didn't know what to, but her instincts made her raise her shield…'
/CLANG!/
'Metal clashed against metal, forcing the beast girl back and tumbling into the ground due to the force of the impact…'
'But her job was done!'
/Fwoosh!/
"KII!" Exclaimed the Goblin as an arrow punctured its leg
"I missed!" Said Sarina as looked at the goblin in confusion
I was aiming at its head!
"Just don't stay there and pull another arrow!" Said Nicc in a loud tone as she took out a knife from her waist
"Hiva! Stop thinking and start chanting!"
'And as the two girls recovered from their confusion, she rushed forward to rescue the fallen girl.'
"Get away from her!"
/Splat!/
'Nicc swung her knife, slashing at the Goblin's arm, making it roll backward in pain.'
…
/At the same time, somewhere nearby.../
/Chomp.../
"Hum…"
'All of this was seen by Silver who was invisible, watching everything unfold as he ate popcorn in the dark.'
I knew it, 9 was a bit too much, and 7 was just the perfect amount. If I had sent more perhaps...
'He shook his head, raising his left hand and closing it.'
/Crack!/
'The two unconscious goblins near him had their skulls cave-in, killing them instantly.'
"To create a dangerous situation where they are pressured so they can improve..."
It doesn't matter if it's artificial, as long as they don't know that, as long as they know they're fucked... It's the perfect fuel for growth.
The two warriors are fighting for their lives and for their companions, so they are putting everything they have on the line to defeat those Goblins as fast as they can...
While the 4 girls in the back are struggling to adapt to such an unpredictable situation, but thankfully Nicc is already half used to dealing with monsters in the Dungeon thanks to some of our adventures…
And somehow, they're doing better than I expected...
Perhaps I should have her participate in every expedition during this week…
"Goblins aren't really that big of a deal, even if it's a stronger version of one."
Clumsy, weak, and fearful by nature...
But of course, a Dungeon monster is a Dungeon monster, they are naturally as strong as Human adults.
And even though I fed each 10 magic stones, it isn't enough to make them enhanced species at all...
Their strength can be seen when one of the Goblins knocked the girl to the ground with a single strike, but their skin isn't thick enough to block a sharp blade, nor are they skillful enough to avoid it.
So unless you are a moron or unskilled it's pretty hard to actually get hurt by one…
Of course, there are always the unlucky ones that meet with a group of Goblins when they're alone or exhausted after a serious fight... Nothing can be done for those poor souls...
Luck is also a type of Skill or so they say.
'From there on, the result was clear, Nicc helped the beast girl get up, and the two, together with the archer, defeated it.'
'The wizard finally managed to complete her spell, and suddenly, a stone spike was created from the Dungeon walls and pierced the head of one of the goblins before hitting another goblin's chest, pinning it to the ground.'
'The spell looked strong, but it was the best the poor girl could do, she poured in everything she had and collapsed on the ground due to Mind Zero.'
'But that was enough for the other two fighting on the frontlines since within 3 minutes, all of the remaining Goblins were killed!'
"Good."
'Silver nodded when they finished killing them, grabbing a small notebook and writing:'
'Group 1 successfully neutralized the Goblins within 5 minutes at the cost of their wizard.'
'As expected, the newbies are the weak link as the 2 experienced adventures are more than capable enough at holding their own...'
…
/A few minutes later.../
'After defeating the goblins, the girls went to the entrance of the 5th floor and rested.'
'Monsters rarely move from one floor to another unless in an extreme situation, nor do monsters appear on those stairs, so it's a pretty safe place to rest for short periods of time.'
'Due to the Dungeon's characteristics, it will always prioritize fixing itself as to spawning monsters, so as long as a team digs a hole or breaks the environment, they'll be safe from being ambushed by monsters for at least 99% of the time during the time the Dungeon fixes that area.'
'Of course, this is only applicable to the Upper floors, the percentage changes depending where you are in the Dungeon...'
"Th-That was tense…" Said Nicc as she looked around
Where is that guy when you need him? I am sure he is watching us!
Why didn't he make a move though?... I know he wouldn't intervene but wasn't this a bit much?
"This is why you need to keep your guard up no matter where you are." Said the blond girl as she cleaned her sword
'As a frontline, she had to make sure her gear was ready to go at all times, so even now, she used part of her stamina on cleaning her sword to make sure its edge didn't dull.'
"Yes, those Goblins were pretty strong, stronger than the ones we meet on the 8th and 9th floors…" Replied the red-haired Elf
"How did they appear here on the 4th floor?" Asked Sarina with a frown
"Perhaps we are looking at it the wrong way, what if a group forgot to clean up after defeating a large crowd and these Goblins are the result of that? You know that monsters get stronger from eating magic stones right?" Asked Nicc to the girls
"If that's the case, I want to meet up with the bastards that caused this!" Said the red-haired Elf with a frown
/Step step step…/
'But it seemed that fate had more plans for these girls…'
"Don't tell me…" Said the blonde girl as she looked behind her
"!!"
'At the bottom of the stairs, a red creature could be seen slowly moving upwards…'
"DAMMIT! KILLER ANTS! EVERYONE MOVE! GRAB HIVA AND STAY BACK!" Exclaimed the Elf as she took her lance from the ground
One is simple enough to deal with…
"Oh no…"
'One killer ant turned to 2 and 2 turned into 8…'
'In the blink of an eye, a big group of killer ants appeared…'
"RUN!" She said as she turned around and grabbed Hiva
…
/At the foot of the stairs.../
"... Rule number 1 in the Dungeon, things can and will always get worse, so move your ass before it's too late." Said Silver as he released yet another Killer ant onto the tunnel, watching the girls flee from them
/CHA! CHA! CHA!/
'The released Killer ant snapped its pincers as it looked at Silver before dashing forward and bitting his hand!'
"..."
'But nothing happened'
'Unfortunately for the Killer ant, Silver was beyond tough... Its weak pincers couldn't even mark his hand...'
'He simply grabbed the ant and threw it up the stairs without any remorse.'
"This should be enough for now..."
"How will you deal with this now?" He mumbled to himself as he vanished once more
…
/Sometime later.../
'They ran with everything they had, but the Killer ants were relentless...'
"Over here! If we take this path, we can arrive at the path to the 3rd floor within a minute!" Said Nicc as she glanced at the map, trying to figure out the quickest way to lose the Ants from their trail
/THUD!/
"Ah!"
'But of course, things wouldn't be so simple. During their run, one of them suddenly fell due to not paying enough attention, it was the archer girl…'
'As she fell, she remembered Silver words in the training camp, why they ran so much, why they trained so much… Wasn't it for now?!'
"Dammit!"
'She quickly got up and despite the pain in her ankle and the fear in her heart, she continued to run behind the others… Grasping dear to her life.'
"Hold on Sarina! We're almost there!" Said Nicc as she continued to run
The problem is when we arrive there! What do we do?!
In the first place, why are there killer ants here?! And where is that guy when you need him?
Wasn't he supposed to protect us in this circumstance… Don't tell me this isn't a desperate situation?
'But his words passed through her head once more, he wouldn't intervene, and doing so meant that…'
'She would've died if he wasn't here… And she didn't want that!'
'She didn't want to fail at her very first time being an actual adventurer!'
'Gritting her teeth and cursing her luck, she slowed down and grabbed onto Sarina, helping her run faster…'
/CRACK!/
'She grabbed a dark flask and threw it behind her, spilling its contents all around.'
'It was an Oil container! It may not do much, but hopefully, it would slow down the ants...'
'It was her last one though...'
…
/A few more minutes later.../
"Dammit! They are still after us…" Said Sarina as she breathed heavily
"There is no point in running anymore, we are fighting them here!" Said the blond girl as she took a step forward
'She looked at her surroundings, they were currently at the stairs leading to the 3rd floor.'
'Somehow, even after running so much, they didn't meet a single adventurer, nor did the ants stop chasing after them.'
'So as the senior of their groups, she decided that instead of gambling and running up, it was wiser to use their remaining stamina to fight while they still had the environmental advantage.'
'The stairs were narrow, and it would block the ants from flanking them, it was their best shot at survival!'
"Everyone, get in formation! Nicc, you protect Hiva, Fiolla, you'll have to work with us and make sure no one passes!"
"I will offer support!" Said Sarina as she sat on the stairs and drew her bow
'They all drew their weapons, ready to face off against the monsters…'
…
/At the same time somewhere near their current location.../
"This is why having these Level 1 adventurers spread out amongst the groups was a good idea." Said Silver as he watched everything from afar
A newbie would never think of all of this, and if it wasn't for them, they would've probably lost one already.
Even if I lost some revenue by having them help newbies grow, I don't care since the last thing I need right now is money...
Well, I do need 'clean' money, but that can be done in many ways... But I definitely don't need the pitiful money from a group of Level 1 adventurers.
"I am a bit surprised they decided to fight back though, that was beyond what I had expected…"
"Let's see, there are about 7 killer ants, they should be able to handle this…"
The Killer ant's main problem is its resistance due to its exoskeleton.
It goes like this, the newbie adventurer goes for a strike->It proves to be ineffective->Gets confused for an instant->The Killer ant snaps its jaws at him, trapping the adventurer in place-> Another Killer ant comes-> Game over.
One single Killer ant isn't really that big of a deal if you have a team of 2 or more people, since as an Ant, they are pretty immobile, being pretty weak at moving sideways and backward.
But they can climb the walls and ceiling, and although that is pretty rare of them to do, from the 7th floor onwards, checking the ceiling becomes a crucial necessity for every adventurer.
And further down, checking the ground and walls also becomes a Habit as literally everything can attack you down there...
"Two experienced adventurers and 4 newbies..."
"One of which is unconscious and the other one is strong but has little to no combat experience, the other two are just extras with little experience."
The little experience they have is from what they learned during the 3 week's training, and from what they learned prior to joining the Familia, but most didn't really touch a weapon for long.
How are they going to perform?
…
/CLANG!/
/FUWSH!/
/CLACK!/
'The two frontline girls worked together and successfully blocked the first rush of the ants.'
'Thanks to the narrow cave, no more than two ants could enter at the same time, and even that was a bit much as they hit each other every once in a while.'
'Nicc fed a potion to Hiva, although she had yet to wake up, if things continued like this, she would eventually wake up and potentially help, even if only for a single Spell...'
'Sarina tried to snipe the ants on the back, but their tough shells proved hard to penetrate, she had to be very precise to hit their weak spots, and once again, that proved to be difficult when these creatures kept moving around.'
'But at least, she tried her best to impede the ants from climbing on the walls and flanking them, her heart was on her mouth due to fear, but she kept pulling her arrows...'
'Fiolla bonked the ants with her shield, aiming at breaking their legs in an attempt to help the others… But even that was difficult.'
'She couldn't properly act as a shield, because if one of the Ants were to grab her shield, she wouldn't be getting it back...'
'Yet, somehow, they were doing it!'
…
/FWUSH!/
/Poof! Cling…/
'And with a precise arrow to the neck of one of the ants, the final ant had been killed and their crisis had been averted... For now.'
'But before everyone could collapse on the ground, the blond girl said:'
"Let's not commit the same mistake and be ambushed again, let's leave while we can."
"I… I can't feel my hands anymore though…" Said Sarina as she looked at her red hands, they weren't bloody or hurt, they were red from irritation from pulling the string so many times without rest
"... 5 minutes, that is the maximum I can give everyone. After that, we leave!"
"Yes!" They replied in unison
'It seemed the leader of this squad had already been chosen…'
'From afar, Silver smiled, writing something else on his notebook.'
'This time, he didn't vanish completely, instead, the wall behind him started to twist, becoming a door...
…
'Despite everything that happened, no more monsters appeared, which was odd but they didn't complain…'
"We did it!" Exclaimed Fiolla as she climbed the stairs to the surface, making the other adventurers look at her with pity
'Just by looking at their condition, it was clear they had passed through a minor disaster, so most didn't say anything nor made fun of them as they understood what she was feeling...'
'Still, some adventurers looked at her with disgust for some reason...'
"Mn..."
'Under the gazes of the people around her, Fiolla felt extremely embarrassed as she shut up and dropped her head in shame.'
"Still… We failed the mission…" Said the wizard girl
"I want to hear what he has to say when we come back..." Nicc said with a sigh
'But the blond-haired girl intervened, saying:'
"The Captain said he wouldn't intervene, remember, after this week, there won't be a Captain anymore to help us, so we need to stay focused."
'Even she had already noticed that something was wrong. First, it were the stronger Goblins, and after that were the Killer ants, if they were close to where they live it would've been more believable, but they were on the 4th floor…'
'So she had already started to think this had something to do with him… And she was ready to ask him about it.'
…
'When they got up, they exchanged the magic stones for money, it was quite a considerable amount. 15K Vallis for 2 hours of work, quite a sum for Level 1 adventurers.'
(Remember that a party of 5 experienced Level 1 adventurers can make around 25K Valis a day)
'But seeing such money only brought them momentary respite and it was still not enough to make them feel much better.'
'None of them got excessively hurt apart from the two frontline warriors who were filled with cuts and bruises, but the mental impact was still big.'
'Such is the feeling of staring at death…'
…
'The girls made their way to the plaza near Babel, where they were welcomed by Silver who was standing next to a big water fountain with his arms opened.'
"Welcome ba… WOW! You almost kicked my nut…" Said Silver as he evaded Nicc's kick
"Yeah, I did!"
Even if I wanted to you would've evaded...
'Silver let out a sigh, he understood her position very well if someone promised something to him but did little to nothing later down the line, he would've been pretty pissed too.'
"... I told you all that I wouldn't interfere…" Said Silver as he looked at the girls
'And before Nicc could reply, Silver's hands shone in a gentle light, healing all of their injuries and fatigue.'
"Being an adventurer isn't easy, you will bleed if you don't pay attention..."
"All of this was a result of you all being out of coordination."
'He smiled and said:'
"But… It was a splendid job for a group of beginners…"
"Before we go, I have a question." Said the blond girl
'She looked serious, perhaps even a bit... Disappointed?'
"Yes?"
"Do you know why there were so many lower floor monsters..."
'But before she could continue, she was interrupted by the Elf.'
"I can reply to your question. That was something I asked of Captain." She said
""WHAT?!"" Everyone said in unison
'She looked down awkwardly and said:'
"... The best way for an adventurer to grow is by experiencing danger, so I asked him to simulate one such dangerous situation…"
"I didn't know how or what he would do, but I immediately realized it when the Goblins ambushed us." She said as she looked at Silver, who looked away with a thin smile
"At that time, all of our group's problems were made clear… Our weak coordination, and your lack of experience."
"The best way to improve is to first realize what the problems are, and this was what I wanted... Although... I never asked for it to be done like this..."
'Everyone looked at Silver who was now walking away with his back turned to them.'
"Come back here and answer for your sins!" Said Nicc as she ran after him
Dammit! I almost pissed myself back there and it was a fucking act!
'Unfortunately for her, every time she came closer to him, Silver would start running faster, and in no time, she got tired.'
'Smiling cheekily, Silver led them back to the Hearth Manor.'
'Of course, all ended well for Silver, but the poor Elf would suffer the consequences of her actions at the hands of her companions later on...'
'And like this, another day came, and Silver led another group into the Dungeon... Another day ended and another started...'
'And as such, a week passed in the blink of an eye.'
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Notes
I don't even want to write notes, I'm mentally tired after editing this twice...