“Was it like this… here?”

After crossing another waterfall from the dwarven village and walking for a while through a cave. When Borok-san, who climbed up with his foot on the ledge on the wall, pushed the rock on the ceiling with a thrust, the rock moved sideways and a road leading up appeared.

“The way is here.” (Borok)

Borok-san said that and disappeared into the hole in the ceiling.

Everyone climbed up after him.

If I had used my [Magi Location], I would have noticed this, but the last time I came to this cave, I didn’t come in this direction, and if I had found this place last time and taken a detour, that would have been a terrible thing.

“You’ve been digging a hidden passageway in a place like that! You’ve got too much time on your hands.”

“Mind your own business!” (Borok)

The hole, illuminated by the magical light of the light source, was surprisingly wide and led upward in the form of a spiral staircase.

“Then why did you want to dig this thing?”

“I just wanted to see what was above the waterfall. It was only by chance that I found the path to the Golden Dragon’s nest.” (Borok)

We all went up the stairs.

The stairs were a bit difficult to walk on, perhaps because they had not been touched by human hands, or because there were spider webs and the ground was covered in moss.

After walking up the stairs for a while, we finally reached a dead end.

“Okay!” (Borok)

Borok-san, the leader of the group, pushed a rock on the ceiling to the side, and a faint light came from the ceiling.

Was that moonlight?

“We’ll take a break when we get out of here. It is not safe to move at night from here.” (Borok)

Following Borok-san, everyone went outside. I followed him up the stairs, and there was a spectacular view.

In front of us was a forest and a huge mountain. The moonlight made me feel a sense of dread. Looking back, I saw two moons. And the steep cliffs continued below. This must be the top of the waterfall, as Borock-san said.

“I feel like we’ve come to some grand place.”

With that thought, I went to sleep that night.

The next morning, I woke up and had a light breakfast.

Looking around, I saw a dry river and waterfall illuminated by the morning sun. Originally, there should have been a huge amount of water roaring in here, but now the water has stopped. It is a strange sight no matter how many times I see it. Is there a dam upstream?

After breakfast, we set out immediately.

Apparently, we were going to cross the forest along the river and head north, toward the mountains.

“Uncle Borok, what kind of monsters are in this forest?” (Gordo)

“The basic types are Fungus and insects, but if you go deeper into the forest, you will find dragons and undead.” (Borok)

“Hey, undead-types? Aren’t those quite troublesome?” (Gordo)

“An A-ranker man shouldn’t be so whiny about something like that.” (Borok)

“Hey man.” (Gordo)

Mushrooms were found in the cave below, and insects were found near the village at the foot of the mountain. Perhaps those Fungus and El Caterpillars have fallen from here. And considering that this is an area called “Golden Dragon’s Nest”, it is understandable that dragons will appear. I’m not sure about the undead.

As I walked through the woods thinking about that, Borok-san suddenly stopped moving at a certain place.

“We’re inside a dungeon. Be on your guard.” (Borok)

Entering a dungeon? What does that mean? As I continued on my way, I felt a strange sensation of being immersed in lukewarm water, and I realized that the atmosphere around me had changed.

Puzzled by this strange sensation, I looked at my surroundings, but did not feel that anything had changed.

“Kyu?” (Shion)

Shion, who had been sleeping in my hood, woke up and was sitting on my shoulder, checking his surroundings.

It seems that Shion also felt the strange feeling.

As I stroke him, I pondered about it.

But I am not sure. I have been in two dungeons before, but I have never felt such a strange feeling. I felt something fundamentally different from the dungeons I had been in before.

I asked Lucille, who was walking next to me, what it was.

“Lucille, is this a dungeon?”

“It is called a dungeon among adventurers.” (Lucille)

“Among adventurers?”

When she hears me, Lucille thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

“It is said that when a strong monster stays in the same place for a long period of time, the magic emanating from that monster fills the area and creates an area of high magic power. Such places are considered dungeons by adventurers because monsters tend to gather there and are strengthened by the magical power.” (Lucille)

Lucille cut off her speech there and glanced at me before continuing.

“However, there are many academic opinions that these magic dungeons are different from other dungeons.” (Lucille)

“By other dungeons, you mean those underground dungeons. Like a cave or something.”

“Yes, and rift-type dungeons.” (Lucille)

“Rift-type dungeons?”

I had never heard of this word before and involuntarily looked at Lucille.

“A dungeon that is formed when an empty space is suddenly ripped open.” (Lucille)

“That’s scary… I didn’t know there are so many types of dungeons.”

“The only dungeons I’ve read about are Labyrinthine Dungeons, Rift Dungeons, and Magic Dungeons.”

The only dungeons I have entered so far are the Beginner’s Dungeon and the Elem Dungeon, but those would be labyrinth-type dungeons. And there are this magic-type dungeon. Hmmm, they are called dungeons in the same way, but I still think they are different. I don’t know, I’ve never seen a rift-type dungeon.

But a rift-type dungeon? I’d like to see one.

“Do you know where a Rift Dungeon exists?”

“In the City of Aluppo, ruled by the Duke of Almeil.” (Lucille)

“Duke Almeil, do you mean the one close to Arnorn?”

“Yes, I do.” (Lucille)

I see. It seems that there is a Rift Dungeon in a place unexpectedly close. I’d like to go there, but is it a good thing to move so freely when I belong to a clan?

But I will keep this in mind as a goal for the future.

“Monsters.” (Borok)

Borok-san said in a quiet voice.

I turned my head in the direction he was looking, but could not see anything. I looked again and saw a green praying mantis about 100 meters away in the forest. But the praying mantis was about two meters tall.

It was a little too big! But how did Borok-san find it from here? The huge praying mantis was not moving, and its green body was hard to see among the surrounding grass and leaves.

Is it intuition from his long experience? Or does he have some skill? Or is it magic? Like Mimi-san, for some reason, many people have a skill to sense the location of enemies. Well, Mimi-san didn’t seem to notice the presence of the enemy this time. Perhaps there is some clue to be found in that.

“Is that Killer Mantis? It’s C rank. I can kill it… but.” (Gordo)

Gordo looked at us and then at Dalita.

“Young lady, do you want to kill that? You’ve been itching to fight since yesterday, haven’t you?” (Gordo)

“I want you to stop goading the young lady.” (Trisun)

Trisun-san put a stop to Gordo-san’s words.

“ I’m sure that if you follow up with her, she’ll have no problem with that. Let her do it.” (Gordo)

“That’s true but…” (Trisun)

“I don’t care what you’re planning, but please do it quickly. They’ve noticed us.”

The first time I looked ahead, I saw Killer Mantis approaching me with his arms outstretched wide and menacing.

Hey… Look, I’m scared! Or rather, it feels kind of gross… Certainly anything is fine, so maybe please do something quickly.

“Oh, don’t you understand me quite well? I’ve been itching for a fight.” (Dalita)

Dalita-san said this as she pulled her sword from her waist and slowly approached the Killer Mantis.

The sword that Dalita-san lowers is enveloped in a bright red aura.

“I hope you’ll consider the position as my escort.” (Dalita)

Trisun-san, who seemed to give up, also pulled out his sword.

“Kisha!” (Killer Mantis)

“Ha!” (Dalita)

And so the battle began.

Dalita-san dodged Killer Mantis’s scythe and attacked with her sword.

The sword was knocked away as if it had been hit with a bamboo stick, and a single scratch appeared on the Killer Mantis’ scythe.

“The shell of a Killer Mantis is hard. Aim at joints.” (Trisun)

“I know!” (Dalita)

As the exchange of scythes and swords unfolds, Killer Mantis’ scythe strikes Dalita-san.

Dalita-san avoided the blow by crouching low and thrusting her sword into Killer Mantis’s belly.

“Gega!?” (Killer Mantis)

Green liquid spurted out from Killer Mantis’ belly, and the tree behind Dalita-san was cut open and knocked over on its side.

The sheer force of Killer Mantis’ attack caused me to break out in cold sweat. I had never had the opportunity to watch a battle of strong people before, but I realized that as one’s level rises, the battle takes on a dimension that would be unthinkable on Earth.

“So, what is Dalita-san’s rank?”

“I think they said she was B-ranked the other day.” (Cyrus)

Cyrus-san replied.

I see, so this is a B-rank battle. I believe that the standard strength for adventurer rank B is to be able to defeat a B-rank monster in a party and a C-rank monster in a solo fight. If that is the case, then I guess this is about the right level of opponent.

I thought back and realized that my adventurer rank was F. “F” is the lowest rank.

“Now, why am I included here?”

Even though strength cannot be measured by adventurer rank, I still felt out of place.

I was originally ranked D, but I still feel out of place. But even so, I still feel low compared to the other people here.

The battle continued even while I was thinking about it.

Dalita-san catches Killer Mantis’ scythe with the gauntlet of her left hand, swinging her sword, avoiding attacks from the opposite side, and stabbing with her sword.

“Stop!” (Mimi)

The moment Dalita-san swung her sword, I heard Mimi-san’s voice next to me.

“[Shadow Bind]” (Mimi)

At that moment, Mimi’s shadow stretched out and tangled with Killer Mantis’ shadow, causing Killer Mantis to jerk and stop moving for a moment.

And then, Killer Mantis’ head flies through the air. The body collapses.

Shadow Bind? Was that magic? From the looks of it, something in the dark attribute? Could this be the secret of Mimi’s ability?