Something about this dungeon feels off.

Even though we're only on the first floor, the frequency and number of monsters appearing is too high.

However, considering how the four of us managed to defeat the Orc horde before, it's safe to say this group is quite skilled.

But the atmosphere changed when the Orc Lord appeared. An Orc Lord is a bit too much for E to F rank adventurers.

Ryuu: "Shall I lend a hand?"

Meg: "I don't need—"

Gavin interrupted Meg's voice. Ryuu couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn.

Still, Gavin managed to defeat the first Orc Lord, albeit with some difficulty. You could call him quite capable.

But in the next instant, ten more Orc Lords emerged, accompanied by dozens of Orc soldiers.

Gavin and the others were speechless, stunned.

Judging that this was the limit, Ryuu stepped forward. In the next moment, the heads of all the Orcs and Orc Lords in front of the party were severed.

Sally: "What?"

Meg: "What just—?"

Ryuu had slowly moved his sword to be easily seen by everyone, but even so, everyone except Reinard couldn't see it well.

They were able to deduce that it was Ryuu who did it, as they could at least see Ryuu standing in front of them with his sword.

Furthermore, more monsters were about to attack, but Ryuu deployed a dimensional barrier around the party, holding them back.

Ryuu: "This is the limit. Plus, something feels off. We're retreating!"

Gavin: "Shut up, don't boss us around! I can still go!"

Ryuu: "The other members are at their limit, you know? If you want to go alone, go ahead."

Hearing this, Gavin looked at his companions.

Thanks to Ryuu's barrier, Meg and Naomi were able to catch their breath. They knelt down, took out magic potions from their backpacks, and drank them.

Sally also took out a potion and drank it. She offered Gavin one as well.

Reinard: "We should retreat. This dungeon seems a bit too much for beginners."

Gavin: "Damn… What's with you? Were you hiding your strength?"

Ryuu: "I wasn't hiding anything, really. It's just that the party members are so good, I haven't had the chance to show off."

Naomi: "If, if Ryuu was here, we could go further, right?"

Reinard: "This is just training. It doesn't make sense if Ryuu takes care of all the monsters you can't defeat while taking you further."

The group began their retreat.

Reinard led the way, Ryuu brought up the rear, and they retraced their steps.

The maze wasn't particularly complex, so they didn't get lost. However, there were even more monsters coming at them on the way back.

It was like the entire dungeon was a monster house.

Reinard defeated all the monsters blocking their path as they progressed.

Ryuu thought, "Since this is training, he should pretend to miss a few monsters and let Gavin and the others handle them." But it seemed like Reinard had no such consideration.

Technically, instructors shouldn't intervene. However, this was an abnormal situation, so it was unavoidable. It was just training, not a dungeon evaluation where passing or failing mattered.

Reinard looked oddly delighted as he rampaged, but Ryuu decided to pretend it wasn't true.

A large number of monsters were chasing them from behind, but Ryuu had set up a dimensional barrier in the back, so they couldn't be attacked. As they approached the dungeon exit, the monsters scattered and disappeared.

Truthfully, Ryuu could have used teleportation to bring everyone out of the dungeon. Or, he could have exited the dungeon without engaging in battle at all, while keeping the barrier deployed. Alternatively, he could have simply wiped out all the monsters in the dungeon.

However, Ryuu knew that Reinard was enjoying his first dungeon in a while. Also, for the sake of experiencing the whole retreat process, they decided to walk out normally, considering this was training.

.

.

.

.

.

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

The group continued towards the dungeon exit.

But the bad feeling they had before entering the dungeon came true. Gavin messed up.

Right when they finally saw the dungeon exit, Gavin spotted a door in the wall of the passageway. This door wasn't there when they entered, so it must only appear when you exit.

Since they were close to the exit and Reinard kept defeating all the monsters, leaving them with nothing to do, Gavin opened the door without hesitation before anyone could stop him.

But,

the floor immediately after the entrance was a trapdoor.

Gavin fell with a foolish scream.

Sally and the others peered into the room. It was a small room with a treasure chest at the back.

If you weren't careful and rushed into the room for the treasure chest, you'd fall into the trapdoor. It wasn't a trap you'd easily fall for if you acted cautiously, but Gavin took the bait perfectly.

Ryuu instantly used his Divine Eye to check where Gavin fell.

It seemed like there was another room below the small room, and Gavin had fallen into it.

However, there were countless monsters in that room.

Ryuu couldn't just abandon Gavin, so he immediately used teleportation to move himself to the room below.

Inside the room Gavin fell into.

Countless monsters surrounded Gavin, a massive swarm of Ogres.

Even a single Ogre is a B-rank monster in terms of danger level. But there were countless here.

It was a cruel trap, unleashing a horde of Ogres right at the dungeon exit, as if they wanted to slaughter all the adventurers and make sure none could escape.

But something felt off.

The Ogres were clustered against the walls, creating a large open space in the center of the room. And in that central space, two Ogres were brawling.

Like an underground fight club.

What the hell is this?

… …

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

Next Time:

Gavin and Ryuu fall into the swarm of Ogres.

Gavin is no match for the Ogres.

Ryuu fights the Ogres. What happens to Gavin?

Stay tuned!