Took a bit more time than I had hoped, but first dungeon starts this chapter. Still quite a bit of time before the Academy, but we're past the purely introductory stuff hopefully. Still foundational arcs to establish Adventurer Leon and Bartfolt family, small arcs involving Adventuring, but that's largely the point of this story and will hopefully pay off.

Hope you all enjoy.

"I'm really not sure about this," my mother said yet again as the Armors had been loaded and everyone gathered to get onto the ship.

"We don't have a choice, Luce," Uncle Luca said in response, sighing as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need to do this."

"But so many first thing? Shouldn't either Nicks or Leon stay behind this time?" she pushed. Her hands were tightly clasped on the shoulders of Colin and Finley, who were on either side of her.

"I wouldn't exactly argue on staying back," I started, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "But-"

"It's our responsibility," Nicks quickly finished for us, elbowing me with a look that made clear that it was for both of us.

"They're right," another voice broke in. He rightfully fit right in with mother and uncle Luca. My other uncle, Landon. He had the same amber eyes the three of them possessed, and mother passed down to myself and my sisters, although he was taller and fitter than Uncle Luca and his hair was also even redder than mother's auburn. Patting Nicks and I on both shoulders, he continued while facing mother, "We all have to play our parts now. No one wished for this to happen, but these two need to be prepared with Balcus gone. Best to have both learning and growing, early."

"Still just can't believe this is safe."

"I already headed into the dungeon in the capital, mother," Nicks quickly pitched, a stiff smile on his face. He also threw an arm around me to say, "As for this one, Leon's the type to find a way to squirm out of any hard situation."

"What are you saying about me?" I grumbled, although sucked it up to add. "We'll be fine though, mom."

She still looked far from convinced, but no one was going to properly convince her and so she instead nodded and turned to uncle Landon to say, "Promise me you'll keep them safe, Lan."

"You have my word, Luce," he replied back easily. As the more martially inclined of my two uncles, he was unofficially heading the group heading out to act as adventurers.

"If you're protecting them, why can't I come along?" Another voice now pitched in.

"We already went over this, Lukas," uncle said in a long-suffering tone as he turned to face his own teenage son.

"But I'm only a year younger than Leon!"

"A year can mean quite a bit," uncle retorted, before roughly messing with Lukas' hair even as the teenager struggled against the childish act. "It might be possible, even probable, that you and Finley will have a role in future operations. Support roles. That will be after we conduct several expeditions though. Make sure we're used to combat."

"That's unfair though," Lukas immediately retorted though.

"Yeah, why would I want to go?" Finley asked at the same time with the opposing sentiment to our cousin. She even looked at me there and added coldly, "Make a lot of money, foolish brother."

Irritating little!

Thinking that, I put a smile on and told her cheerfully, "I'll work hard to get us to a point when you can join us, Finley. Colin, you should take a proper good several years to grow up properly, but I'm sure you'll be great in a support role, irritating sister."

"Ew."

Lukas didn't like being left out, and demanded, "What about me?"

"If you want to fight that much, I'll be fine staying back and allowing you to fight all the monsters," I said irreverently, using my pinky to clean out my ear.

It earned me a smack on the back of the head from Nicks, and even a cuff from Uncle Landon.

"You just wait till the time is right," Uncle Landon asserted. He then pat his son's shoulder as he told him, "Your time will come, Lukas. Earlier than I would wish. Just be obedient here, keep training, and be good for your Luca. Understand?"

My impetuous cousin was far from happy, but he still reluctantly nodded.

"Sirs and madams, all the Armors have been loaded up. The captain is ready to set off," another of the family knights announced from the side.

With that, the conversations that had been repeated for the past several days dwindled to silence. Nothing said here hadn't been said before. All that was left was a few hugs and goodbyes.

"You okay over here, Leon? Don't want to join in with Nicks in learning to navigate a bit from the captain?"

I looked over from where I was leaning against the rail of the airship, looking at my uncle and saying simply, "I have absolutely no such interest."

"I guess I should have expected that of you, Leon," Uncle Landon said with a chuckle.

I just rolled my eyes.

Better than actually learning navigation. In this weird world where all landmass consisted of floating islands over an unending ocean, navigation was hard. Travel was in three different dimensions. Everything was consistent enough that they were able to create a rough coordinate system for maps to operate off of, but with enough difficulties like island drift, air currents, and weird cloud behavior to still make it a hassle. I could probably travel to a specific coordinate. Doing it efficiently? Choosing the best routes and saving time or energy? No, and I was fine with that.

"Heh, navigation wasn't something I ever really had a talent for either," uncle claimed with a chuckle, leaning on the rail beside me. "It's why choosing a captain and airship is always something good to be careful on. Nicks chose well."

I could only nod. I'd left it to my older brother in favor of focusing on other things…and savoring my free time, since I'd be having less of it. To find an airship going where we were planning and were willing to take us back was no small feat.

Good for him.

It was nice having a reliable big brother.

The Armors might have helped though. Even if we were only taking four, that was more than most merchant airships had. Most sky pirates wouldn't expect even that resistance, and could easily decide to seek easier targets. A moderate level of protection for the hassle of transporting just a dozen people. A good deal, I'd say.

"You excited for the trip?" Uncle began again.

"Not the word I'd use," I replied. "You?"

"Not quite what I had planned, but life often goes like that."

"So, you were thinking about joining the Green Wings?" I asked, deciding to mention the rumors.

"I…was considering it," Landon admitted. "Wouldn't be my first time serving as a knight. With Lukas at his age, he could handle it again. Nothing is stopping me anymore."

I stayed silent. I knew enough to fill in the gaps. The second son of a knight, military life awaited had awaited Uncle Landon. He'd gone gladly, and survived unlike many. Survived long enough to fall in love with a peasant girl, and marry her. Have a son. The wife died in childbirth, leaving him to raise Lukas. He'd since largely served as my father's unofficial commander when it came to training the local knights.

Honestly, Uncle Landon and Lukas both reminded me more of 'main characters' than my own family.

"The Green Wings will still be there though, and this is a worthy task," Uncle continued clapping my shoulder. "None of us expected Balcus to leave us, and I'm needed here now. Helping, teaching you and Nicks. Once things settle down, I'll reconsider."

"Well, thank you, uncle," I started, sending him a grin. "I'll be relying on you a lot. Preferably to do all the hard work for me."

"Figured you'd say something like that, Leon," he replied back with a chuckle, just shaking his head. He also sent me the look of an older relative as he continued, "You say that, but I could have sworn I got the impression that you might have been tempted to join them as well."

"Eh, I might have considered it. I am a third son of a baron," I admitted, deciding not to deny it. "They seemed a good place as any to join…preferably if they have a job for me as a cook. Something away from the front lines."

"The son of a baron as a cook," he just joked. "That'd be something to see. I'd recommend you get better at cooking if that's your goal."

"You mean a son of a baron as a bad cook isn't enough of a novelty in itself?"

"I'm really going to have to work you hard once we reach the dungeon, aren't I?"

"Eh, why?"

"I think we all know why, Leon."

The Tabor Viscounty was our destination this time, and we reached it after four days.

This was obviously as they had a dungeon, which was a huge deal. It had allowed the Tabor household to become nobles early in the kingdom's history, and helped them develop. The Kingdom took thirty percent of an adventurer's findings, with two thirds of that going to the noble who owned the territory of the dungeon if there was such an owner. Lost or unclaimed dungeons going entirely to the kingdom. The Viscount household literally only had to sit back, and resources would flow in from the adventurers using their dungeon. Might as well be a rich mine that requires less equipment, personnel demands, and would arguably never run dry.

It ensured the Viscounty was on an entirely different level to our own Barony. Not necessarily due to the size of the island, but in sheer development. Our island was largely rural, while the Tabor Viscounty was far more industry based. Enough demon stones, magic stones, ores, and other resources of the dungeon allowing local industries to grow from consuming them or being traded for other raw materials. In face of that, its comparatively limited size was actually a benefit. Less difficulties in traveling over the territory, and not large enough to qualify them for a promotion to Count.

That was an immense benefit.

They might be an honor, but one didn't want to be in the generation of or immediately following a promotion. Promotions turned prosperous baronets to destitute barons. Strong barons to weak viscounts. Stable viscounts to unstable counts. Successful counts lived in an entirely different world from either barons in terms of territory, wealth, and military forces, but most nobles never reached that far. Something stopped the vast majority, most often not in as ideal a position as a rich Viscounty without risk of being promoted.

Arriving at the prosperous harbor of the floating island, everyone in my group got off. Some preparation was done, my registering as an adventurer being a big one. I was the youngest person in the group, so everyone else had registered while in the Academy since that was a necessity while there. It was a simple process though. The Adventurer's Guild was actually a government establishment, and quite streamlined. Holfort respected adventurers immensely, so becoming one was encouraged. After that was resupplying.

Then we were off, walking the several miles out of the city to where the dungeon.

"Okay, we're here," Uncle Landon announced when we arrived in sight of a cave opening at the base of a large crag. Well, cave was the wrong word in your view. It more liked the gate of a fantasy dwarf kingdom. Some other adventurers were going in as well. "Best we decide our groups and strategy before getting closer. Most adventurers aren't stupid enough to risk themselves by making enemies of fellow adventurers, but there's always fools in the world."

"Two or three groups?"

"Two, for today," Landon quickly answered that question. "The captain said he'd likely take a week to unload his cargo, and fill it up again. We're going to use every day of it. Today will be our warmup. I'll take Leon and Nicks alongside…Tom and Fin. We'll be a bit more cautious. The other seven of you can go a bit harder. Just remember to go easy today. No lower than the tenth floor."

"Now, some other things to keep in mind. This dungeon is a large-scale one. Over twenty floors. They're rare, but also the best when it comes to facing large number of monsters. That's our goal here today. This is a training trip. So long as we break even in terms of money gained, I'll consider this a success if I know everyone can handle themselves."

There was some other talk. Equipment was spread around. Not just weapons or armor, but utility tools. Picks, backpacks, rope, basic medic kits, etc.

We were then going in. The larger group consisting solely of knights headed straight down the 'main' passageway of the cave, but Landon led us on a side route. The atmosphere immediately became creepier as we moved away from the area that had plenty enough torches to light it, now traversing dark tunnels that we knew were filled with monsters.

Uncle Landon was on it though, handing out torches to Tom, Fin, and me while saying, "Light them up. Focus your magic on lowering fuel consumption."

That made it better, although the dungeon was still creepy looking. Clicking and other sounds now echoing enough that it didn't feel like just a cave. Webs also started appearing.

"Here they are," Uncle Landon warned, spotting a figure moving on a nearby web. The darkness and web hiding it, although it would soon show itself.

I shot it.

They looked at me, but I just reloaded my bolt-action rifle as I asked, "What?"

Was I supposed to just stay still to allow the monster to reveal itself? No thank you. No dramatic reveal for me.

Landon just chuckled, and Nicks shot me a look.

Unfortunately, not everything could be quite that simple. Eliminating the monsters before even having to look at them. Still didn't make it too hard.

"These things can actually take a shot," I muttered as one of the thirty cm tall scorpions took a bullet straight into one of its eyes, and only screeched while still moving forward as black blood and juice spilled from the wound.

"I got it," Nicks called, jumping in with his spear to drive the point through the scorpion's head.

I just moved on to the other two skittering closer. A bullet took one through the eyes again, and this time actually finished it. My shot at the other was off though, it tilting enough that the shot hit its shell and only cracked it before deflecting. I then had to use my rifle to hit the tip of the barrle into it, using that to create distance as it tried to shoot its pincer at me.

"Irritating little," I grumbled as it pressed against me with surprising strength, only the gun saving me from an uncomfortable large stinger digging into my thigh. As it tried again though, I used the moment when it was extended to rotate to the side. I then used the barrel tip to get under it from the side, and I just flipped it over. I then made some distance as it scrabbled back to its feet, and a bullet shot into its eyes when it turned back towards me. That did it.

Nicks had also finished another one in the same time.

"Good job, Leon," he said, turning towards me. "You sure you don't want a spear though?"

"I prefer my guns, thank you very much," I told him. "Maybe a bayonet though."

"You both did well," Landon said.

"We did," I said back, sending him a glare. "And you were such a good help, uncle. Exactly what we needed; you watching us kill them."

"This time is mainly for you two," he said easily right back. "You aren't used to dungeons, Leon, and I wanted to get a sense for what Nicks learned."

"I got a different part time job rather than delving into the dungeons like some of the more desperate male students at the Academy did," Nicks explained.

"You're both doing fine. Just best we use this day to mainly temper you two," Landon explained, although he did start scanning the dungeon walls as he added, "We can't only focus on monsters though. Missing them can cost your life in a dungeon, but not catching other things can doom you as an adventurer as well. We need to keep watch for any magic stones or ores, alongside picking up all the demon stones. Whenever we find some, some of us will need to guard against any monsters while the rest dig them out."

My hand immediately shot into the air as I announced, "I volunteer for the digging."

"Haha, that's a funny joke, Leon."

…ugh.

The hours soon passed though. The situation didn't get much worse, although it didn't necessarily get easier either. The monsters were still scattered enough that they weren't an issue, although Uncle did have to start assisting Nicks and I once we got down to the third and fourth floor.

The scorpions were the same, preferable handled from a distance with a gun. The spiders too, although occasionally they skittered close that I used a simple wooden club to squish them. More annoying were the bat monsters. They weren't vampire bats or anything, so they didn't bite, but they did let out irritating screeches that were distracting as all hell. They were also hard as hell to hit.

Nothing that I couldn't handle once I figured out a strategy for them, making it rather rote.

Nicks even sent me an odd look at some points, Uncle Landon just patting my shoulder.

Funnily enough, it was leaving that ended up being harder. Unlike the image of every 'floor' of the dungeon having a nice staircase up and down, it wasn't always so convenient. They were like that sometimes, but they were also occasionally simply vertical shafts. Or plain holes in the ground. Going down was simple enough, but getting back up was where the ropes and other climbing equipment became absolutely necessary.

We returned before the other group, but I was glad for the rest. Even several hours in the dungeon had proven tiring, both physically and mentally. Once the other group returned, we all went and exchanged our finds.

It didn't come to much. Not in the upper floors we'd been exploring. Apparently the magic power that created monsters and all the valuable bits in a dungeon was most concentrated deeper. The demon stones we'd collected were small, and they were already less valuable than magic stones as they needed to be purified to be usable.

I actually lost money, since I needed to replace all the bullets I'd used.

I didn't care though. Guns were the way to go. I wanted to have to use melee weapons against literally monsters as little as necessary.

My decision was further proven right when Uncle Landon declared the next day, "Okay, this is our first serious day of delving into the dungeon. We'll be spending the night in the dungeon this time, allowing us to hit the deeper levels."

Heh?

The levels past the fifth soon proved entirely different beasts than the ones before.

The webs became far more common, and not always filled. No, there were now just enough spider monsters that they could full entire tunnels with them, and they started to gather in small sections to properly ambush you in groups. Their webs also proved very flammable, so an accidentally placed torch could light up an entire passageway. The spiders weren't alone either. The stupid bats getting even more annoying, screeching from the other end of hallways to make one's sense of hearing useless, and scorpions now generally attacking when we were trying to carefully work our way through the webbed passageways without getting jumped on by spiders.

Between the greater numbers and superior coordination, it was a different sort of challenge.

"Shit," Nicks cussed as one of the shin-tall spiders launched itself at him from the incomplete web on the ceiling. He managed to block it and smack it away with his spear, but wasn't able to finish it before it darted off. He was also too focused on stabbing at the approaching scorpions. "I missed it."

"I got it," I called out, having been forced to switch out my rifle for a simple club that was well-suited for squishing the spiders. Let Nicks deal with the scorpions, his spear giving him the needed reach to avoid their stingers. I wasn't thrilled with being one spider duty, but at least I could focus on it. Enhancing my body for speed as opposed to power, I could whack away with my club. Precision unneeded. My other hand held the torch up high to provide light, until I swung it suddenly. The torch caught one of the bats that came too close, smacking it into a nearby wall. I then stomped on the irritating thing, snarling, "Got you."

"More coming from the other passage," Fin called out, holding a different passage with Uncle and Tom. A third, web covered passage had been quiet, but the fight had clearly drawn any monsters there to join in.

"I'll slow them down," I called, before throwing my torch. The flame caught the web, and the flame spread with remarkable quickness. Lighting up the entire passageway. Spiders dropped from the burning webs, and those monsters scurrying on the ground chittering at the heat. It wasn't enough to kill the monsters, but it slowed them down. Providing me enough time to finish off the last few spiders of this passageway, and then take a knee and draw my rifle again. I then started shooting the scorpions in the wave of monsters coming now, adding with -a totally fair level of- panic, "Going to need help here!"

"Just give me a moment," Nicks called out as he worked to finish off the final scorpion. He then darted over, stabbing at the approaching monsters. "Why are there more of them this direction?!"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you got them mad," he yelled back. "Stop throwing your torch like that. It pisses them off."

We were saved though as Fin and Tom finished their side enough to also join us. Uncle stayed back though. Seemingly just watching.

Seemingly.

"Clear the way," he called out though, and all of us did so instinctively. A magic circle had forced in front of him, and a cone of fire shot out. A proper magic attack. Not the sort of thing likely to kill more powerful monsters, but a nice area-of-effect one for mobs. The bugs before us all fried and burned.

Afterwards, I was left staring at my blackened torch though.

"You need to stop throwing them, Leon," Nicks told me, clearly amused at the loss.

"I actually have to agree," Uncle said as he came on my other side. "If you intend to set things on fire, best we teach you a fire spell. A nice, simple mid-class fire spell."

"Please do," I quickly told him, torch forgotten. Another method of killing an enemy at a distance? Hell yes.

He gave an awkward smile as he replied, "It's not so simple, but you've got a good handle on the low-class magic. You might be able to pull it off with several weeks."

"Ugh, that sounds hard."

That just earned another chuckle, before he called out, "We arranged to meet the other group on the twelfth floor. That means two more floors to descend."

Crap.

"Why are we sleeping in the dungeon, Uncle? This is totally creepy. No way I can sleep like this," I complained once we'd settled down, the group back up to a dozen. A firepit had been constructed, and bedrolls laid out.

Would have been a nice image of camping out, if we weren't in a dungeon where we'd spent the day killing spiders and scorpions.

"It's part of getting deeper into a dungeon like this. It takes time to travel down here," Nicks immediately criticized me. Although he clearly looked stressed and tired too.

"He's right," Uncle said though. "Most dungeons are smaller than this one, but not all. Some dungeons are quite spread out, even if with less monsters. Some have released monsters into their surroundings for centuries. Some islands are entirely filled with monsters. Exploration can be a significant task, and one where leaving is not always possible. In dungeons like this one, the deeper levels are also the most valuable. Less people reach down here, since it generally requires groups and camping out. Single adventurers typically top out on the tenth floor here. It's harvested less often."

"Still doubt I'll get much, if any sleep tonight," I murmured grumpily, not minding being the complainer of the group. I did everything I needed to during fights. I earned this.

"You probably won't, but that's also why we won't be going more than a few floors deeper tomorrow," Uncle explained easier. "Just the experience of sleeping in a dungeon is important. The first time is always the worse, and something most people your age won't experience. Some nobles get escorts to gain some experience with dungeons even before joining the Academy, but only the first few floors. They get a glimpse of the lifestyle, without actually delving into it. You're going to have to experience the latter. You'll have an advantage."

"Not sure when that will ever apply, but I'm just complaining here. Ignore me all you want."

"Already doing it," Nicks said, looking instead over what we'd harvested so far.

"I didn't actually mean it," I said, glaring at him.

"Yet, I'm still going to ignore you," Nicks claimed. "Uncle, they never got into it at the Academy, but why do dungeons provide stuff like this? Refined ore, magic stones, even the monsters. Why do they all appear in dungeons?"

I just groaned and fell back in my bedroll at that. Deciding to try and sleep, before my guard shift, over listening to that. Even if I really did not feel able to sleep, it was better than listening to that explanation.

The main version of that Otome game hadn't bothered to explain such things, and I hadn't really cared. It was just typical fantasy dungeon mechanics. The other version had explained more thoroughly as you were able to spend more times exploring a wider range of dungeons. It hadn't ever exactly been laid out simply, but drip fed to you.

Dungeons were basically any sight that gathered ambient magic to a far higher degree than is normal. Sometimes they were natural sites where magic concentrated, but most times they were ancient sites that had some form of attraction drawing magic to them. Even some modern sites would become dungeons if left alone long enough. Magical defenses or methods of construction, if not maintained, would degrade and malfunction. Considering this world apparently had a number of cycles of civilizations rising and falling, such ancient sites could come from multiple sources.

Such concentrations of magic could create a wide variety of effects. Magic stones were created when arguably 'neutral' magic gathered in quantities to solidify. Impure magic -whatever that meant- created demon stones, which formed monsters around them. Magic could also form to spawn materials. Some were more common, iron as one example, but others were possible. Gold was rare, some fantasy-esque metals could form with particularly high-quality magic created metals, and there were also dungeons that seemingly spawned 'bad air' that could suffocate adventurers.

Even chests were in fact just modern magic tools. Placed there, they sort of sucked in the ambient magic near them. They were of limited effectiveness, one couldn't force a dungeon to only create a specific resource, but they could draw in the existing stuff. A chest that contained all the iron or gold that would form in the nearby surroundings, removing the need to mine or gather it. Some highly experimental and expensive chests could even seemingly enchant equipment placed into it with the ambient magic. Those were super rare though, and mostly placed by people able to acquire them for specific reasons. People who wouldn't be happy if someone took what was within, and might make an issue of it.

Whether Uncle Landon knew all that was debatable, it seemingly wasn't common knowledge outside of higher academic circles based on the game, but that wasn't my concern.

I just needed to focus on sleeping.

It actually surprised me how easily I was able to sleep, even if my guard shift limited my time. Nicks clearly didn't do as well. Too busy trying to distract himself.

The glare he sent me with tired eyes the next morning made me feel extra refreshed.

"They're coming," one of the knights called as three of them sprinted back to the main group.

The rest of us were ready, guns raised. We let loose as soon as the monsters came close. Bolt action guns were far from the machine guns I wished we had, but half a dozen guns still made quite an impact on the approaching monsters. The weak magic spells Uncle and two of the knights sent into their midst only increased it.

The three that had led them here then turned back, melee weapons raised. They jumped against any of the monsters that got close enough, the rest of us shifting fire to those further away. It was an effective formation, which we'd practiced several times today already. The monsters didn't have much of a chance.

"Good job, everyone," Uncle called out when the ambush was over. "Looks like we've got this all down. We keep this up, and we'll be able easily able to manage to last as long as I had hoped."

"I like this," I declared at that.

I was being genuine as well. While the numbers of the monsters had increased, they still acted mostly the same. Our groups had also joined together, so we had more numbers too. The tactics had also changed. Split into three groups, a vanguard tended to go forth and gather attention before leading them back into an ambush.

I'd even not been made to be part of the vanguard! I'd feared that wouldn't be the case, but Uncle had seemingly decided it was best for Nicks and I to be in the central group at this point over the vanguard or rearguard. Great decision, Uncle!

Numbers! Tactics! Guns! Me not in the front lines!

I liked all of that.

"Remember central group to keep an eye for ores or other resources."

I did so that job happily, occasionally spotting a hand size ore sticking out of the wall. Even an occasional magic stone only a bit smaller. Our packs were filling nicely. Wouldn't even be able to carry more after a bit more time.

Doing this as the next several battles passed by, I noticed something though.

"I think there should be something here," I muttered, wandering in a certain area.

"What do you mean? What are you searching for, Leon?" Nicks called, everyone just watching me move.

"I'm thinking something," I replied back, moving a hand to a wall. "We've been wandering this area. I feel like a space should be here. The passageways we've been walking through. Most of them tend to pass rather closely. All the surrounding ones here sort of form a square around here though."

"It's a cave. Of course, it isn't going to excavate every possible spot," one of the knights suggested.

"But it's not a cave," I quickly corrected, pointing to a spot I'd dug a magic stone from. The rock-like substance had been chipped away enough to show a more metallic, flat structure underneath. "I've found walls like that several times when I dig down. This was an underground building of some sort, and these walls just sort of formed to cover it."

"I think I saw several spots like that on upper floors as well," Nicks admitted, now taking a look with more interest.

"Maybe it's just the dungeon's nature or the monsters, but I'm thinking the structure of the dungeon sort of grows to cover the underlying structure." I continued. "And if this dungeon's structure was primarily created similar to an underground building, there just wouldn't be nothing in this space with passages in every direction."

"You're thinking that there's a room there, that the rock grew to cover it," Uncle asked, taking my words seriously.

"I think so."

"Let's check it out then. An isolated spot means a lot of time for resources to gather," Uncle claimed.

With that, the group started circling the spot I'd identified in my mental map of the dungeon. Taking picks to each wall, seeing how thick each side was. My belief was vilified when we found one side was much thinner.

"Seems I'm right," I declared with a satisfied grin when I spotted flat metal only barely covered by the rock surface. "Let's dig it out."

I was unfortunately drawn in, but at least it went quick. It was more knocking off a rock shell than anything. A rock shell that fell to reveal a metal doorway.

"How do we open this?" Uncle asked, getting close and trying to figure it out. "Oh, wait. It looks like a small explosive was used to destroy the lock a long time ago."

"Darn it, so this isn't an undiscovered section of the dungeon," one of the knights exclaimed in dissatisfaction.

"Still clearly hasn't been used in years, at the least," Uncle said, opening the door. He then immediately closed it, silent for a moment. Then, "…There is a very big spider in there, and I think it heard us."

"…Crap," I muttered.

It wasn't like we could leave at this point though, and so a quick plan was hashed out.

"Wait till the fire dies down, then rush in. Stay in pairs, surround it," Uncle ordered as he stayed right at the door.

"We got this."

Nodding at the encouragement, Uncle created a magic circle. He then opened the door, and unleashed the spell. A cone of fire shooting out, catching the webs thoroughly covering the room on fire. He dived out of the way right after though, and it was lucky the rest of us were against the wall to either side. It meant the shot of web the spider had seemingly shot went right through the door to hit the opposite wall; the webbing having been caught on fire but not disintegrated yet. The entire room now on fire, we waited as the giant spider made a great deal of noise.

Maybe the fire would kill it?

The loud thumping that started coming out showed that was a foolish hope, and uncle looked in to look before declaring, "Dammit, it's rolling to put out the fire with its body. Its webs are surviving as well. Get in there!"

At that, everyone headed in two at a side.

I followed, Nicks at my side. This spider's webs were obviously more fire resistant, most surviving even in the spots the spider didn't dampen with its body. The room still had small fires in certain areas that were slowly dying, and I felt tears fill my eyes from all the contained smoke.

I wasn't allowed time to focus on that though -dammit-, and instead fired a bullet into the spider that was as tall as I was. A spurt of green blood flowed out from the hole, but it did little else. The spider had endured the room being lit up with only some minor black marks covering it, so a few bullets only got it moving. It started throwing its bulk around at shocking speed, and there was little to do but dodge if it came at you. Everyone using magic to enhance their speeds to get out of the way.

Seeing it go after two of the knights, I followed. Nicks was right behind me. One of the knights had managed to dart to the side, while the other had to try jumping over it. It allowed him to not be crushed against the wall, but he didn't clear it enough to not land right on top of it. Nicks used his spear to drive the blade into the side of the spider, while I jumped up. Hatchet out, I landed on top of it while driving the hatchet into it. The spider immediately started moving from the attack and two bodies now on top of it, and only the hatchet provided me a point to hang on from. The knight wasn't so lucky, and was sent down from its bulbous abdomen closer to its head and fangs. I reached out a hand that he grabbed onto, and a pulse of magic enhanced my strength enough to pull him away before the spider's fangs latched onto his leg. I tossed him off with a grunt, but even that took long enough to allow the spider to move again.

And here I was, still the dupe on top of it.

Surging forward, it reached the wall. It then started up the wall. In an instant, I found myself dangling as it went vertical. It then reached the ceiling, and now I was outright hanging from it. My hatchet fell out of its hide to send me falling. It was dropping afterwards even before I hit the ground, spinning in midair smoothly and planning to crush me underneath it.

A force smashed into me, slamming me to the side. I was sent rolling briefly, before coming to a stop enough to see my uncle having been the one that got me out of the way. The spider had landed on nothing, and its brief stop to its movement allowed a new wave of attacks to hit it.

It didn't give a shit though, and darted forth while clicking its fangs and mandibles. Its target obviously me and uncle, both on the ground. He managed to roll a slight bit out of the way, and it focused in on me.

…why?!

I could only spin around in time to slam the bottom of my foot against its head before it clamped its fangs on me. Its momentum was great enough that I was sent sliding across the ground till my head and shoulders hit the wall. Scrambling with my hands to get myself up, I managed to slide up the wall instead of being crushed against it when the thing just pressed forward. Practically standing on its head now, I dropped before it could just climb up the wall like before. Getting above its fangs and landing with my legs around its head, I hung on as it started to thrash its head around to bite at me. Hatchet dropped, I grasped at my sheathed sword. Drawing it, I stabbed it right down in the neck connecting its head and abdomen.

It still refused to fall though, and climbed the wall again. I allowed myself to fall again instead of going on a ride, ripping out my sword at the same time. I hit the ground hard, rolling forward to blunt some of my momentum, but also heard the spider squeal again. I rolled to my feet and made distance. This allowed me to see the spider fall. As it had focused on me, my uncle had been forced to see try and avoid being stepped on my its spear-like legs. He'd drawn an axe that allowed him to remove two of the legs though, and Nicks had gathered everyone to attack it once I had cleared. The several more bullets alongside several melee strikes that tore through its hide was enough to knock it off the wall as it climbed. It fell on its back.

It was over at that point. Nicks dived in to stab it again at the area where it was missing its legs, being joined by the knights. They stabbed into it at that vulnerable spot. They then pulled away though, and Landon was now ready with a magic circle. He then unleashed his fire spell right into that portion of its hide. The hide torn and shredded there; the fire finally seemed to do more than singe it.

The spider shrieked and forced its way to its feet as its innards were roasted, but was tottering. A thrown hatchet than hit it right in the eyes though. Everyone looked to see that I was the one that had thrown it, having found my dropped hatchet.

I was sick of this thing.

That was it, and the spider dropped. Only twitching as it tried to keep moving. Nicks moved, and a spear thrust into its eyes put a stop to that. It went still, and everyone relaxed as it started to dissolve into black smoke to leave behind a large demon stone.

"Is everyone alright?" Uncle immediately asked. "Leon? Nicks?"

"Shoulder is killing me, but I'm fine," I told him, feeling the pain now reverberating through my body from ending up the one most tossed around.

I was not built for this! Let someone else end up carried around and dropped from the ceiling. I wanted to be one of the people shooting at it with a gun from a safe distance.

"Where is everyone?" Nicks asked himself, everyone finally noticing that two of the knights were gone.

"We're down here," someone called though before panic could set in. Everyone looked around, although soon traced the sound to the floor. It looked covered, bit eventually everyone shifted position to be able to see them down below. Through the webbing that had acted as a floor, hiding that there was a large hole that even the spider could likely have traveled through without issue. The two knights were looking up at us, saying, "The web covered it all, and we rolled right over it when trying to dodge. The fire must have weakened it, and we fell through."

"Okay, we'll get you up here now," Uncle quickly said, some of the knights quickly bringing out the ropes while one cut at the web. That handled, uncle looked around at the room now that a giant spider wasn't occupying it. It was a decently large room, although anything inside had obviously long since degraded. It was just another room…besides, the number of magic stones and other resources sticking out of the wall. More than any previous room we had cleared. "This is a good find, even without the hole to the deer floors here."

"He's right," Nicks said, having come close enough to throw his arm around my shoulder. "Good job, Leon. We would have passed right over this place."

"Yes, this is better than using one of the more well-known routes into the deeper levels," uncle said, looking at the floor as the two knights got back up. "No guarantee how this route will go, but we've got a much better chance of finding some areas that haven't been harvested recently."

"We've got plenty here to fill the rest of our packs though," I quickly pointed out. "Honestly doubt we'll be able to take all of it."

"Yes, we're going to need to return back to the surface first. Take what we can here, have a good rest, and then return to try and go deeper from here," uncle claimed, nodding his head as he considered.

I wasn't thrilled to hear that.

This had been a rather sudden 'boss' fight. Terrifying. I certainly hadn't been expecting to end up being given a ride by a spider, and I probably had the adrenaline to thank for not internally freaking out over the number of times I was honestly rather close to gruesome injury or death.

That was, unfortunately, what I had been forced to accept though when we decided on this path.

Adventuring was not a job that came without risks. It wouldn't be as prestigious as it was if anyone could do it. My previous panic was for a legitimate reason.

If anything, it was ironic that I felt less bothered by all this now that we were here.

"At least there's some good loot here," I grumbled, deciding to get to digging out the ores and magic stones.

Uncle was clearly thinking the same thing as I was, as chuckled and sent me a smile as he added, "That does always help, after a risky fight. Let's hope it is as lucrative when we return."

"Just less giant spiders, hopefully," I declared.

Everyone answered back.

"Agreed."

That was the first half of our first dungeon. Finish it up next time. A bit hard to know the best amount of action vs progress, but I'll hopefully figure it out. I also feel that, oddly enough, MobuSeka fanfiction still lacks some real in-depth dungeon action. Might mean I have a bit before the Academy events, but that's partly why I'm writing this.