We've been walking for around a minute in and all light from the outside had all but faded away. Only the lights from our lanterns remained. As we dallied in entering the pseudo-dungeon and were practically the last team to do so, we didn't come across anyone during our descent.
Reina was taking point, Vera in the middle, and I held the rear. Vera was in charge of mapping our movements. To get enough light to see what she was mapping, she cast a simple methodical magic that basically created a lamp that lit up the surroundings with a soft glow.
As we had the whole afternoon to reach the checkpoint and return to the surface, there really was no need to rush. If I had to guess the criteria for scoring, it most likely had something to do with the time we took.
Sure, conventional wisdom dictated that the faster, the better, but that wasn't necessarily true in the dungeon. Dungeons, especially real ones, are filled with danger. You could easily get lost in the labyrinthine structures of some parts of the dungeon.
The only reason you would ever rush inside a dungeon was if there was extenuating circumstances like a rescue mission.
It made much more sense for us to emulate a real dungeon dive and take it slow, making sure we had our path mapped out.
Only after a few minutes of walking did we finally see a separate source of light. We picked up our pace as we approached the light.
We exited the corridor to see a large cavern lit up by glowing manaliths up in the roof like stalactites. Three different entrances, each leading to a different passage in the chamber, lined the cavern's walls.
There were a few dead rabbit monsters called úrabbit near the entrances. The same kind of monsters we had to kill during General Combat classes the past few days.
Úrabbits were the result of simple rabbits mutated by mana into monsters. Not to be confused with márabbits which were the result of simple rabbits mutated by mana into manabeasts. They were nearly one and the same.
The main difference was a úrabbit's hostility. The easiest way to spot the difference between a úrabbit and a márabbit was through their eyes. All úrabbits without exception all had pitch black eyeballs.
Hostility was the main distinction between a monster and a manabeast. A monster was inherently hostile to all other creatures that were not monsters themselves. If a pair of rabbit siblings was both mutated by mana, one into a úrabbit and the other into a márabbit; the úrabbit would immediately try to kill its former sibling.
"Which path should we take?" Reina stopped in her tracks.
While it was tempting to just follow the left-hand rule or right-hand rule, it wasn't foolproof.
"What did Berthard say again about the monsters and checkpoints?"
"We should be able to face the monsters that appear on our way to the checkpoint." With no one else but the three of us present, Vera spoke up.
"I'm going out on a limb here, but a dungeon goes up in difficulty the deeper you go. It's also safe to assume that the checkpoint leads to a deeper point of the dungeon and isn't located somewhere in a hidden room. It should make sense to choose the passage with the most number of úrabbit corpses."
Reina thought for a bit before she nodded in agreement.
We proceeded into the left entrance, while keeping wary of monsters. We already had confirmation that there were monsters here. There was an off-chance of a monster or two slipping out from previous battles and laying in ambush for the next intruder.
A rustle.
I swung my staff at the rear, hitting a úrabbit mid-leap. It crashed into the wall, its head splattered. Through the past weeks of constant mana circulation twenty-four seven, nearly every action I did was, in some way, enhanced by mana.
I stood guard for a second more, waiting for other attackers. It seemed safe, so I took out a butcher's knife and tore open the úrabbit's torso. I dug out the low-quality mana stone and pocketed it into a pouch.
"We might be on the right track." Reina commented as we passed by even more corpses as we steadily move forward, swatting away every úrabbit that jumped to attack.
We came across another fork in the road, this time with about the same number of corpses.
"Reina, take guard." I walked over to the front to inspect the passages. With our initial criteria for pathfinding useless, we had to look for other clues.
I checked for tracks, but both paths were both well-trodden. Clearly previous teams also weren't sure which path to take. Of course, it remained a possibility that both paths led to the same place, but it wasn't really wise to gamble on that smidgen of chance.
The deeper you go in a dungeon, the more mana there is in the atmosphere. We can't use that as our basis right now since we're not that sensitive to mana, and, even if we were, the minute difference between the two would probably be only felt by someone on the level of Professor Ilmarë.
I squinted my eyes as I held out the lantern into the different paths.
"There's a slight slope on the right path."
They both nodded. This was as good of a clue as any.
We pressed forward as we resumed our previous formation.
As we got deeper and deeper into the dungeon, more and more manaliths started lighting up the passages and we navigated our way through more and more forks. I guess this was a sign that we might be tasked to mine some manaliths in the future.
A large cavern was right ahead of us, its light seeping into the passage. Sounds of battle could be heard from up ahead. All three of us shared a look and we rushed out.
A five-man team was in the middle of combat with a group of goblins, goblin corpses littered all around. They were barely holding their ground and were already starting to get pushed back.
Reina and I charged right in. Every punch she made burst through a goblin's head or torso. While I could have done the same with my staff, I didn't really want to carry around a bloody and dirty stick. I focused more on relieving the pressure they were receiving from the goblins by swatting them away.
I felt a surging heat flew by from behind me as Vera cast a fireball towards a group of goblins hanging back. It wasn't long before all the goblins were dealt with after a little help from the team we saved.
"Thanks for the help!" They all breathed out a sigh of relief and slumped down onto the ground with the danger now gone.
"What happened here?"
I had to ask. It was incredibly out of place for the dungeon difficulty to just suddenly spike from a group of úrabbits to large group of goblins. Sure, goblins seemed appropriately difficult, but not in such high numbers.
"Someone started a chain. We got caught up in it and couldn't leave."
We turned silent. With how well spread dungeon stories were, everyone and every child knew about a chain. It was an act that was pretty much taboo all over the Northern World. Here, where dungeons and their divers were the lifeblood of countries, nothing was more shameful.
"Did you get their team name? Or remember their faces?" Reina spoke up, resolute. Her already serious tone, carrying a hardened edge.
Their team leader looked down; he was sitting on the ground with bent knees, his arms extended backwards to support his weight. "No."
"Give me any and every information you can remember about them, no matter how small. I'll see to it that consequences will be carried out."
"It was a 4-man team, all guys."
"They were rushing out from that passage there and they were quickly followed by a large group." Their rearguard pointed to a specific entrance on the other side of the chamber.
"We were already fighting against a few goblins so when they brought in the chain, we couldn't escape like they did. They ran directly past us too!" Their other vanguard quickly added on.
That meant they intentionally passed the chain. It might've been fine had they stayed to help fight the goblins, but leaving them alone to the chain of their own making made it extremely malicious. Their original intent would be completely disregarded. There was no excuses to be made or could be made in their behalf.
Reina looked to me and Vera, her normally reserved eyes fixed in a glare. We nodded, getting her unspoken message. I took a step forward.
"Can you find your way back?"
Their support — usually tasked with mapping — shyly answered. "I'm not sure."
I took Vera's map and handed it to her. "Here, make a copy of this."
"We'll speak to the dean about this. Don't worry. For now, just make your way back to the surface and tell the instructors what happened here. We'll make sure to corroborate your claims as well."
"What should we do about the checkpoint?"
"Better to be alive than dead."
They nodded.