The truth was, Bymark had been facing a shortage of adventurers for a while. It was because too many rookie adventurers who went into the Wairago dungeon never returned.

Iraira's son, Raal, had been trained by her since he was a child. He was a top-notch swordsman at a young age. And that day, he had been asked by the guild master to support a newbie party going into the dungeon for the first time. The guild master had been trying a new system to prevent more newbies from dying, having veterans accompany them.

Of course, they weren't supposed to go too deep. They were supposed to hunt monsters on the shallower floors and return.

But that day, for some reason, they encountered Catochrists, who were supposed to be in the deep floors, on a shallower level.

It was a sign of a stampede. At the time, they managed to prevent the stampede by hastily organizing all the adventurers and knights to cull the monsters, but that was only possible because a magic user who had been in Raal's party had managed to survive the encounter with the Catochrists and informed the guild.

She was the one Raal had protected. He had protected her, and she was able to escape.

But he had been hit by the Catochrists' breath and turned to stone.

When she heard that, anger and hatred briefly flooded Iraira's heart. Honestly, as a mother, she wished he were still alive. She didn't know if he had been in love with that girl, but as a mother, she had mixed feelings about her son dying for a woman...

But if she thought about it calmly, he had simply saved the lives of his comrades, his juniors. And by sacrificing himself to let them escape, he had prevented the stampede.

Iraira told herself "good job" and praised her son, offering condolences to the girl who had survived. But seeing Iraira's pained expression, the magic user left town soon after.

Iraira had been living a life of inertia ever since, but she gradually came to view conquering the dungeon as her final goal in life...to destroy the dungeon that had taken her son's life.

But the dungeon was strong. There was no way she could handle it alone. So she took part in Guildmaster Nerina's plan to raise adventurers who could conquer the dungeon.

At the same time, she had convinced the lord, through the guild master, to implement a permission system for entering the dungeon to prevent more rookie adventurers from losing their lives like her son.

...

She was slow.

The petrifying gas was eating away at her body.

Of course, she knew this would happen when she charged into the pack of Catochrists alone. That's why she had taken it upon herself to take out the Catochrists, forbidding the adventurers from going outside.

She would soon turn to stone and die. She hadn't been able to destroy the dungeon that had taken her son, but...she would finally be able to join him in the afterlife, and that was okay.

She really wished she could have conquered the dungeon with the adventurers she had trained...

Actually, the dungeon is usually a lot easier to conquer right after a stampede because the number of monsters inside is very low.

Of course, Iraira never intentionally caused the stampede. But it was no surprise that a stampede would happen eventually, given the situation in Wairago.

Guildmaster Nerina had been aware of Iraira's plan to exploit the situation after the stampede. (Though she couldn't admit it publicly. A stampede would cause significant damage to many parties. If she admitted that it was intentional, people would naturally assume she had deliberately caused it.)

They had told the lord that there was a chance of a stampede and had made preparations. But they had expected it to happen much later.

Some adventurers had been whispering behind her back that she was the reason for the stampede because of her lack of trainees. But that was wrong.

The adventurers had been complaining about the long shortage of manpower, and their resentment had been building up...but those who complain are often shortsighted and say whatever they want. And some people had been spreading rumors about her maliciously, trying to bring her down.

But the truth was that the situation had actually improved a lot since the training program began.

Even after the training program began, the requirements were high, so the number of adventurers didn't increase overnight. But compared to the days when most rookies lost their lives, the number of capable adventurers who had survived the training had gradually increased, and the efficiency of monster culling inside the dungeon had improved compared to before. The situation was definitely getting better.

But what they hadn't expected was that the stampede had happened much sooner than everyone, including the guild master, had predicted.

They had constantly monitored the situation in the dungeon and had even gone inside to kill monsters when there were signs of serious danger, along with Iraira. The dungeon was supposed to be stable...

But it was nature they were dealing with, you can't blame anyone for miscalculations.

The stampede happening much sooner than expected threw their plans off. Given the current skills of the adventurers in Bymark, it seemed unlikely that they could succeed in conquering the dungeon even after the stampede. The plan had been one step too late.

In the first place, even with thorough preparation, it's not easy to succeed in conquering a dungeon. They shouldn't push themselves this time. They should train diligently, then look for another chance, Iraira had told Nerina before leaving. She had said, "It's up to you now, I'll handle this," implying that she would take care of it.

She believed that those children, the adventurers she had trained, would eventually succeed, even if they couldn't do it this time. She had trained them rigorously, even if it meant being called the "Demon Instructor," even if she was criticized.

...

There was one Catochrists left. Defeating it would save the city.

(Come on, my body, just hold on a little longer!)

...And she collapsed, falling to her knees and then onto her back, unable to move anymore.

She had asked Nerina to give her beloved sword to someone who would attempt to conquer the dungeon after her death.

Iraira's beloved sword, "Ishikirimaru," was a famous sword forged by a master dwarf from a distant land, using legendary Galbone material (meteoric iron). It would be a weapon worthy of facing the Catochrists.

She closed her eyes peacefully.

Finally, she could see her son...

...But then, she heard a cry coming from the north, where the dungeon was located.

It was the cry of a Catochrists.

That was strange, she had killed all of them...were there any left?!

She tried to get up, but her body wouldn't obey.

She slowly turned her head towards the sound, and she saw a pack of Catochrists coming towards the city from the direction of the dungeon.

She tried to move her heavy body, using her sword as a cane to get to her feet, but she had no strength left to wield it.

The second wave of Catochrists was approaching...

But then, Nerina landed beside her.

Next Episode

Nerina fights to stop the Catochrists!

Stay tuned!