—We can hear you loud and clear.
Hearing Joana's voice, Dean nodded calmly.
"Very well. I will open the portal briefly. Please get ready."
—Noted.
"Good luck girls."
—Thank you.
Click—!
Muting the coms, Dean's head turned to meet my gaze.
"Let's hope we get lucky with this dungeon."
The subtle quivering in his voice showed just how nervous he was.
"From the options, Frost/Trundra, Desert, and Grassland, is there anything the girls are bad at?"
"No. It's not that that I'm worried about. I'm more worried about the random selection percentage. Thirty-five percent is quite high. A lot more than I'm comfortable with. Plus, it's not entirely the Biome that I'm worried about. I'm more worried about the monster that will spawn..."
"I'm sure the girls will be fine."
So long as we don't get a Red or Black-ranked boss, we should be fine.
However, if there was one thing that was certain it was that the difficulty of the boss would be higher in the 'random' dungeons. They were the reason why people tended to avoid them.
"From the energy levels of the dungeon, it shouldn't come to those. However, you never know. I just hope it isn't the case because given the girl's equipment... they just aren't ready to face that kind of monster."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Unable to hide his nervousness, Dean's fingers drummed over the desk.
"I know the likelihood of that is slim, but... I just hope everything flows smoothly. I've already given the girls a rundown of the environments beforehand. So long as it's one of those, we should be fine... Even if a new monster species shows up."
There was a long database of all the monsters that had appeared within the dungeons, but there were times when a new monster that had never been seen before would appear.
This was generally why people took careful consideration when choosing a biome. Every little advantage was important, and this was especially true when considering that not all boss monsters were equal.
Anything higher than Orange was considered almost impossible. At the very least, for our team. Given our equipment, the best the girls could defeat was an Orange-ranked beast.
Red was simply something only highly sponsored super teams could afford to challenge. Those types of monsters weren't something that you could beat with just skills.
You needed to have the appropriate equipment and the right management in your ears. One that could fully utilize the team's strengths and weaknesses to perfection.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask something..."
Seeing that there was still some time left, I decided to ask Dean for some advice.
"Do you have any tips on how I can get closer to the girls?"
"Closer to the girls?"
Dean looked at me strangely. Perhaps, even warily.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to hit on them. I'm just asking because I saw that their relationship with you was rather good, so I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to be like you?"
"Oh, so it's like that."
Nodding, Dean thought for a moment before saying, "A joke? ...Maybe?"
"A joke?"
"Yeah, from what I know, the girls seem to always laugh at my jokes. Perhaps you can start there. In fact, I've got a list of jokes that you can use. If you want, I can send them to you later."
"I would appreciate that."
So the girls liked jokes? Hmm... I guess that could work. I had several at the top of my head, but never really got the chance to use them. Perhaps I could even use those...?
"Girls, I will be opening the dungeon shortly. Check with me."
Dean suddenly started to call out each member.
"Joana."
—Check.
"Mia."
—Check.
"Olivia."
—Check.
"Sarah."
—Check.
"Lyla."
—Here.
Dean's mouth twitched slightly.
"Lyla, how many times have I told you that you're supposed to say 'check' whenever I'm doing this?"
—Oh, Ummm… Check.
"Good."
With a visible sigh, Dean carefully stared at the screen where the girls were standing and pressed one of the buttons beside him.
"Okay, I will be opening the dungeon now. If anything happens don't forget to use the return stones. Your safety is our priority."
Krr— Crrr—!
With a gradual rumble, the massive metallic doors began to separate, revealing an ominous sight. As the doors opened, a rush of wind swept through the room, causing the girls' hair to flutter behind their heads.
Simultaneously, a mesmerizing swirl of ethereal blue began to unfurl, gradually revealing itself from behind the metallic doors.
So that's a dungeon?
Seeing it here and on TV felt like a completely different thing.
'Wait, I'm still technically watching it through a monitor.'
As the dungeon fully unveiled itself, displaying its body at its fullest, Dean leaned forward, adjusting his position, and lightly pressed the side of his coms.
"Girls, you may go in. I wish you the best of luck."
The girls didn't say anything and rushed toward the dungeon ahead. Unknowingly, my fist clenched tightly as I stared at them enter the dungeon. Immediately, the screen turned black and silence fell in the watch room.
It would take a couple of seconds for the imagery inside of the dungeon to load, and in the meantime, my mouth felt extremely dry.
I felt nervous. Extremely so.
Thinking about what could happen, and that all of it was due to my decision, my heart almost leaped out of my chest.
I... just hoped that my vision wasn't merely a fluke.
"It's... It's... a Forest Biome."
Helplessness appeared on Dean's face as it paled considerably. Staring at the monitor with him, and the large forest the girls were in, and my heart dropped.
The worst had happened.
The girls spawned in a random Biome. This meant that there was a higher chance of them meeting a higher-ranked boss.
The girls seemed to have noticed this as well as their expressions changed a little.
Turning my head, I looked at Dean.
"...What do we do now?"
'Damn it, isn't this supposed to be a treasure trove?'
I silently cursed to myself.
Despite knowing that the worst-case scenario had happened, I found myself not losing my mind. I was a little flustered at first, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good, I calmed myself down and calmly analyzed the situation.
'Alright, even though the biome the girl has entered is the jungle, it shouldn't pose too much of a problem for them. What we should really worry about is what type of monster will spawn.'
Because this was a 'random' dungeon, the likelihood of encountering a Red or even Black-ranked monster was higher. Even so, the percentage of that happening was still low.
There was hope that they wouldn't appear. Plus, not everything was over.
If my vision turned out to be real, then this 'worst-case' scenario may turn out to be a 'best-case' scenario.
I just hoped it was the case.
***
The air there felt heavy and cool, tinged with the earthy scent of decaying leaves and damp moss.
Towering trees stood closely together, their gnarled trunks intertwining together with the leaves gently rustling in the air.
"There's something up ahead."
Upon hearing Sarah's words, Joana swiftly raised her hand, signaling for everyone to halt. Instantly, a sense of caution enveloped the group as they fixated their gaze ahead, their expressions filled with wariness.
But as they looked ahead, they were confused by what they saw. Or lack thereof.
"What is it, I don't see anything?"
"Me too."
"You don't see it?"
With a quizzical tilt of her head, Sarah extended her arm, directing her finger toward the distant trees. As everyone turned their attention to the indicated direction, their brows locked in wonder as they saw nothing.
"Are you sure you're seeing something? How come I don't see anything?"
"Eyes."
With just a single word uttered by Sarah, the forest around them sprang to life in an instant. The dense foliage trembled as hundreds of luminous red eyes materialized, surrounding them in an eerie display. Almost immediately, everyone grew tense.
"Ah... I think I see them now."
"No, shit."
"Olivia, whatch your words. We have an eight-year-old with us."
"Oops."
"Lyla quick!"
"Un!"
Waving her staff, almost immediately after the eyes showed up, a gigantic wall of ice appeared before all the girls.
Thunk—!
The wall shook almost immediately after, and the silhouettes of the monsters that had attacked them showed up.
"Careful! They're ape-type monsters. Huddle together. Don't stray far."
There was a certain calmness in Joana's words that transmitted through the group, and following her words, everyone immediately gathered around her.
"Liv, I need you to hold the apes back."
"It's Olivia."
Frowning, Olivia stepped forward. Extending her hand forward, a large shield appeared in her hand.
Crash—!
Almost immediately after the shield appeared, the barrier around them shattered and over a dozen monkeys rushed them from all sides.
Calmly staring at the approaching monkeys, Olivia's mouth parted open.
"Scent of Bloom."
A nice scent immediately drifted from out of Olivia's shield, and the monkeys all turned their attention toward her. The sight of over a dozen angry mutant monkeys would leave anyone shuddering, but as if she wasn't interested at all, Olivia didn't even spare them a glance as she looked at Joana.
Her expression was rather lax as if she wanted to say, 'This is child's play.'
"So, what do we do n—ughkhb!"
"This bitch…"
Staring at Olivia whose expression changed under the barrage of attacks, Joana calmly extended both her hands as two daggers appeared on each one.
Then, without taking a single break, she dashed forward to help Olivia. Following her from behind were Sarah and Mia, who used a sword and spear respectively.
Lyla on the other hand waved her staff and froze several monkeys at a time.
"Frost."
Thump! Thump!
The battle was a short one. In a matter of minutes, the girls were able to get rid of all the monkeys that assaulted them. Looking around, there were about over a hundred of them. All scattered on the floor.
"Haaa… haaa…"
"I'm… haaa… tired."
Despite the speed at which they managed to get rid of them, the girls were all visibly tired. Some... more precisely Mia, slumped down on the ground, dropping her spear beside her.
Recovering her breath, she raised her head a little.
"Liv, don't think for a second I didn't see that."
Squinting, Olivia looked at her before turning her head away and retrieving her shield. She was clearly embarrassed.
"Hehehe."
Covering her mouth, Mia laughed. But she quickly stopped after being glared at by Olivia. Pouting, she flicked her head away from her and turned her body to face the opposite direction.
"Heeee. That was tougher than I imagined. Thank god we—"
Criiek!
Her smile froze at the subtle crinkling sound coming from beside her. It was quite subtle as if intentionally trying to lower its volume, but it still managed to reach her ears. Turning her head, Mia's eyes opened widely.
"You… when did you have the chance to sneak that over here!?"
Her words immediately attracted everyone's attention, and when they turned, they were left speechless by Sarah who looked at them with both sides of her cheeks full. With both hands behind her back, she innocently looked at everyone with a blank expression.
"Whmat?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Their com rang shortly after that.
—Good job girls, rest for now and get ready to continue.