"Is this elevator really heading underground? Wow... This is no joke."
"Can you please be a bit more quiet...! We're about to enter the dungeon, you know?"
"Ah, the dungeon? It's not as big a deal as you think~ It's just like a hunting ground filled with monsters. It's nothing, really."
With Jinwoo excited about entering the dungeon and Seoa clearly nervous, I looked at the [1] and [2] buttons.
"Was this the order?"
I converted the basement 1st floor to below and the 1st floor to above, inputting the command.
[↑↑↑↓↓↓↑↓↑↓↑↑↑↓]
At the same time, the elevator started moving with a creak.
"It's moving! The elevator is going down!"
Seoa, who had thought the basement 1st floor was the last level of the academy, gripped the handle tightly as the elevator continued to descend.
Seeing Jinwoo chuckling at her, I opened the cube and checked its contents.
Originally, to check the contents of the cube, I would have had to take them out one by one, but thanks to the [Smart Lens], I could see them like an inventory.
"This should be fine."
The elevator, which seemed to be descending forever, finally stopped, and a strange announcement echoed inside.
[This is the basement @#!% floor.]
The door slowly opened, revealing a dark space.
"Wow, it really looks creepy."
Jinwoo, looking around, shivered at the sight.
Unlike the room that at least looked like it could be used by people, this was a massive space reminiscent of a cave.
Whether it was moved by magic, the red flames flickering on the candlesticks made the surroundings barely visible, but they didn't hinder me.
[Would you like to switch to night mode?]
[Y / N]
It wasn't for nothing that it was called a [Smart Lens]; the moment I pressed Y, the surroundings brightened as if it were a sunny day.
"Seoa, can you use the Light spell?"
"Huh? Ah, yes! It's a basic spell, so I can."
"Jinwoo, you──"
"Ah, I'm fine. I have good night vision and skills that make everything clear."
Hearing this, I recalled what Jinwoo had said at the end of our last sparring session.
'I'm an assassin, you moron.'
He must have received special training from the Vifalt family.
Since he said he could see well, there was no need to give him a lantern.
"Anyway, this dungeon we're in now is their legacy. The dungeon has 10 floors, and this place where we stand is the 1st floor, the Bug House (蟲屋)."
"Bug, Bug House? The name sounds unsettling..."
────……!
At the same time, a sound came from far away.
The unpleasant sound, like sharp thorns scraping against stone, made the children's eyes move to the other side of the cave.
"They're coming. The guardians of the 1st floor."
"Huh? The guardians of the 1st floor── Hieeek?!"
In the distance, a black mass was slowly approaching.
Each one was as large as a child, giant bugs.
Seoa, who had never seen such large bugs before, took a step back in fear.
"What kind of bugs are so big!!"
Jinwoo, noticing Seoa's trembling and teary-eyed state, quickly drew his dagger and grinned.
"Hey, don't be so scared. There's a boss. Boss, can you sweep them away with a machine gun?"
"I can."
"......Huh?"
"But you and Seoa should handle them."
"Us?"
"Boss?"
Surely they hadn't forgotten?
"I didn't tell you? This is your training."
So.
"Try to survive. I'll just command from the back."
I wasn't after these miscellaneous creatures.
"Seoa, first, use your magic to scatter the mana flowing towards us in the dungeon. If they detect mana with their antennae, they won't be able to approach us."
"Ah, yes!"
Seoa, hearing my order, quickly put on her gloves and stretched out her hand towards the bugs.
Given her spatial magic, scattering the dungeon's mana should be easy for her.
As proof, the bugs that had been approaching us started moving strangely and began tangling with each other.
"Jinwoo, charge."
"Huh? R, really charge there?"
"Charge."
"Man... I'm not even in the front line..."
"Charge."
"I'm going! Go!"
Jinwoo, dagger in hand, started charging towards the bugs.
"Seoa, you focus on defending Jinwoo from anything that can hit him effectively. They've already targeted Jinwoo, so unless you draw a lot of aggro, they won't come after you."
"Yes!"
"Ugh! They're closer, so they're even more disgusting! Don't come near me, you brat!"
At first, Jinwoo dodged around, focusing on evasion, but after realizing Seoa was supporting him, he started hunting the bugs more aggressively.
"Ugh, it feels good. This is my first team play, but it's not as bad as I thought. You said you hate bugs, but you're doing better than I expected?"
"I'm barely holding back the nausea. Ah! The aggro is shifting towards me!!"
After a while, the bugs seemed to realize they couldn't handle us and started retreating.
Jinwoo, noticing the decreasing number of bugs attacking him, looked at me after stabbing the last one in the jaw.
"Boss, should we chase them?"
"No, that's enough. The ones you just dealt with were scouts, so the main force will be coming soon."
"Really? They were pretty weak."
Jinwoo, pulling his dagger out of the bug's jaw and shaking off the green bodily fluid, approached me.
"Ugh... The smell. But Boss, isn't it easier to just sweep them away with magic?"
"That would be easier. But if we used large-scale attacks, the ceiling might collapse."
Jinwoo, hearing this, looked up at the ceiling. The low ceiling, about 3 meters high, made him nod.
"Hmm... Indeed."
By the way, the reason I know this is because I tried using magic in the game and died.
Damn 'Dungeon Maker' guy.
Designing it so that the ceiling would collapse if you used area-of-effect attacks on a swarm...
I even went to find him to get revenge.
"Let's keep moving. The inside is wider, so you can use magic. Seoa, can you read the mana flow around us while we move?"
"Yes, that's a piece of cake."
We started walking towards the inner part of the 1st floor of the dungeon.
Of course, since I was also experiencing the dungeon in reality, I didn't relax and moved cautiously.
"Boss, you said there are 10 floors here. How far do you plan to go today?"
Jinwoo, who had been shaking his shirt to cool off from the intense activity, asked.
"Today, we'll just explore. If it gets dangerous, we'll run away, so don't worry."
"Really? If it's just like those guys, the 1st floor doesn't seem like much."
Jinwoo was right; if we only faced those kinds of bugs, the dungeon's difficulty would be quite low.
But...
"We don't know what the boss is like yet, so it's best to be careful. The boss... is in a different league from other monsters."
That's how it was in the game too.
This dungeon was designed to absorb the mana used in the academy to function, and given the ever-changing situation in the CS, the bosses always had varying strengths.
In other words, the dungeon grows depending on the amount of mana used in the academy.
It's possible that the national agency took them because they could create such a dungeon.
"Wait."
Seoa, who had been sensing the surrounding mana, closed her eyes and placed her hand on the wall.
"I detected vibrations at the coordinates ahead. Roughly... Huh?"
Suddenly opening her eyes, Seoa looked bewildered.
"We... might be in trouble? There are at least hundreds of them."
"Such madness── Boss, what do we do? Should we run?"
"......No, everyone, stand by. Come behind me."
"Boss?"
Passing the flustered children, I stood at the front and took out [Al Capone's Tommy] from the cube, aiming it forward.
"I wanted to try something out."
Just as we encountered dozens of scout bugs, an alert appeared in my mind.
[「Bloodline Ability: Callione」 is active.]
The explosive surge of mana clearly recognized each bug as an individual enemy.
In other words, if all the bugs rushing towards us are enemies, my ability will also surge explosively.
"Let me handle this time."
Moreover, since the main force was definitely coming, I decided to handle it this time.
As long as the academy exists, the dungeon will repair itself and produce more monsters.
However, as they say, there's no such thing as an easy task.
"Hi, hiik?! W, what is that?!!"
"Boss? Should we run?"
In the distance, a giant centipede was crawling towards us, mixed in with countless bugs.
If this were reality, I would have panicked and run away upon seeing the centipede, but thanks to the [Trait: Hitman], I could maintain my composure.
"Everyone, calm down."
The centipede, with fangs that were surely beyond imagination in size, and its dark blue armor that might even resist [Al Capone's Tommy].
If it were any other time.
The moment the countless bugs came into view, an explosive energy enveloped my body, emitting a red aura.
[「Bloodline Ability: Callione」 is active.]
A torrent of power I had never felt before. I channeled this energy into [Al Capone's Tommy] and pulled the trigger.