[Great Orcus Labyrinth20th floor]

"All right! Let's see who is present!" Captain Meld boomed, looking upon the few teams of his pupils who had made it to their destination faster than he did.

"First, Kouki Amanogawa, Ryutaro Sakagami, and Eri Nakamura! Nicely done, champs!"

"Yeah!" Ryutaro roared, clanging his gauntlet together in victory.

Eri winced as the magic item radiated a small shock wave. Kouki smiled at his best friend, celebrating while ensuring Eri was fine.

"Second, Tatsuo Satoru, Mikasachi Kaito, and…Evanna!"

Satoru made whooping noises, celebrating similarly to Ryutaro, while Evanna(a.k.a Princess Liliana) looked over Kaito, who had tapped his manna dry from the expedition.

The princess handed Kaito a bottle of manna potion. Kaito took it after hesitation and drained the bottle to the last drop.

Both Captain Meld and his crew eyed "Evanna" carefully.

They had a reasonably good guess on who this random Adventurer may be, but they decided not to pressure her and find out; if the Queen were to find out that her precious daughter was allowed on the expedition, they'd be lucky to keep their jobs.

Instead, the Captain continued to list off the gang, "Third, Daisuke Hiyama, Yoshiki Saitou, Reichi Kondou, and Shinji Nakano."

His voice was undoubtedly less hyped than when he called the last two groups, but the Petty Four didn't care too much.

They were busy lamenting that, apart from the two OP characters in the class—Kouki and Satoru, their group was better than anyone else.

"Don't get too excited. Most of the other groups were in three, while you're four. It is expected for your group to have better results." Jose said, trying to breathe in some humility into these mischief makers.

"An expectation we lived up to, am I right?" Hiyama laughed, met by three of his peers agreeing half-heartedly.

Jose noticed that, out of the four, Hiyama was strangely in better shape than his peers.

Meld clucked his tongue in disapproval before turning to the rest of the group. "As I've said the previous day, there is a prize for those who came here early."

"What is it, money?" Hiyama shouted, interrupting the Captain mid-speech.

"We'll find out if you keep your mouth shut," Kaito muttered.

Hiyama's grin quickly morphed into a scowl as he focused on Kaito. "What'd you say?"

He made to grab Kaito by the collar, but someone blocked his arm before he could reach.

"You're all supposed to be a hero in this world," Liliana said quietly, "Please behave like one."

But that only poured fuel on Hiyama's rage.

"Who do you think you are?" He thrust the hand holding his arm away and opted to shove Liliana to the ground, only to get intercepted by Kaito, who had pulled out a trump card from his deck.

"What, you will challenge me to a poker game?" Hiyama sneered, reaching to grab his sword as well.

"Enough!" Meld demanded in a stern voice. "Might I remind you, all four of you only went off the hook because the Church wanted to preserve as many heroes as possible; if you continue to prove yourselves unworthy, we'll be forced to cut you guys off."

Hiyama slowly backed off, still seething as the rest of his teammates pulled him back.

As short-tempered as he was, he wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to have more power under his belt. Nor would he want to become an outcast like that scum—Nagumo Hajime.

Hiyama smirked as he glanced back to the entrance to the 20th floor. The brat couldn't make it here faster than him, even with Kaori and Shizuku at his disposal.

The thought of Kaori being in a relationship with that loser instead of someone like him made him more stressed. She was supposed to be his girl.

Meanwhile, Captain Meld explained the prize.

"All of you have proven your skills are better than a team of professionals. Granted, we didn't try our best, but that doesn't speak any less of you.

So all of you get an honorary registration as an adventurer group! All you have to do is pick a proper name for your team, and it is done!"

"What, that's it?" Hiyama complained, but none of the others shared his exasperation.

Not even his so-called friends, as they started excitedly discussing what cool name they should give to themselves.

After some minutes, the three groups presented their names to Captain Meld.

"Hero Party…a bit simple, eh?" Meld said, glancing at Kouki.

"Well, they say simple is best," Kouki answered with a shrug. Even though the idea was from Ryutaro, he was content with it.

Meld chuckled, "You got that right. Besides, it is a huge statement to call yourselves a hero to the general public. Approved!"

Next was Kaito, who presented the parchment proudly.

"MnM?" Meld read. He tilted his head in confusion and looked up at the magician for an explanation.

"It's an acronym for 'Magic and Muscle.'" Kaito answered.

Satrou frowned, "I thought it was 'Magic and Music.'"

"What do you have to do with Music?"

"Didn't I say I owed a guitar shop back on earth?"

"And that matters because…?"

"Dude! That guitar shop is a manifestation of my dream!"

Meld chuckled as the two boys bickered back and forth and silently accepted the team name. Despite the polarizing natures of the two, he felt they'll make a great team.

He also took the moment to glance at "Evanna," who quickly shied away from his glance.

The action reinforced his suspicions, which made him groan. After returning to the castle, he'd have to have a long talk with the princess's bodyguards.

Finally, the Petty Four submitted their suggestion.

"…Diaboloz?"

"Just accept it, Captain," Hiyama grumbled.

Meld didn't bother making things rougher with these troublemakers.

No matter how he thought of them, they were still his students. As a teacher, he didn't want to discriminate against any of his pupils.

"All right," Meld clapped his hands together, "Now that's done, we'll have to set up camp for the rest of the students."

"You mean we have to work even more?" Hiyama groaned.

Meld wrinkled his nose, "If you don't want to participate, that's fine. But you'll need experience setting up camp as much as on combat."

Hiyama mimicked a nagging mouth with his hand and flopped on the ground.

The rest of the Petty Four glanced at each other unsurely before edging closer to the rest of the gang.

'Bunch of pansies,' Hiyama snorted as he watched his friends join in helping on setting camp.

He glanced up at the ceiling, reflecting on how uneventful the last floor of the dungeon was. There wasn't a single monster that tried to attack them on the way down.

Then, suddenly, from the stone walls, a giant yellow eye opened.

Hiyama screamed in terror and fumbled for his sword.

Captain Meld and Kouki were the first to react as, from the walls, pairs of glowing yellow eyes opened up with sounds of growling and fists pummeling their broad chests.

"Rockmounts! Watch out for the boulders!" Captain Meld's voice resounded throughout the cavern as the students and soldiers got ready to engage the enemy.

A massive chunk of rocks was catapulted into the air, raining down on the team.

Some Rockmounts leaped to the ground level and swiped their strong arms at the nearest intruders.

One managed to graze Eri on the side. She screamed in pain and surprise as she stumbled backward and fell on the floor.

"Hey! Over here, you big gorilla!" Kouki shouted, leaping to her rescue.

He used the flat side of his buster sword as a shield to bear the hefty punch, then slashed its body. The Rockmount wailed as its flesh was torn apart and flopped back.

"Are you okay?" Kouki helped Eri up.

"Oh, Kouki, you saved my life!" Eri hugged Kouki tightly.

"Hey, It's not the time to be idle in love!" Ryutaro said, smashing his fist straight into Rockmount's punch in a destructive fist-bump, which he came out victorious.

The said monster howled as its fist was broken into bits, only to be silenced when Satoru kicked its jaw shut.

"How are you holding up, magic man?" He called to his partner, who answered by sending a card reinforced with mana flying over his head.

Kaito was back-to-back with Liliana, repelling off the Rockmounts and intercepting the crashing rocks before they could hurt anyone.

Every time Kaito thrust his arm out, a handful of cards flew and embedded themselves in the fleshes of the monsters.

"[Strikes of Glory!]"

With a single swipe, several white tendrils of bright mana blossomed from the blade. They flew across the room and blasted the flying boulders into dust.

"Diaboloz! Take care of Hiyama!" Meld roared.

He took out two Rockmounts with a single swipe, then bashed another on the head with a shield.

Saitou, Kondou, and Nakano exchanged glances with each other mid-battle.

Hiyama was several feet away, flailing his sword in a blind panic. The motion was ferocious enough to repel the Rockmounts, but the fear factor won't last long.

"Come help me, you prick!" Hiyama screeched. However, none of the three moved to risk their lives to save him.

Jose ducked under the swinging arm of a Rockmount and kicked it away, letting it get crushed under a stray boulder. "Hiyama left all the work to you three all the way down, didn't he?"

Kondou sniffed his nose, "Yeah. I know we're not any better than him, but…." He dropped his sentence mid-way to stab his spear through a Rockmount's shoulder. "We finally got to see what kind of person he is."

Saito took the opening made by Kondou to aim a few feet away from him.

"[Wind Sphere]!"

Kaito jumped as a Rockmount above him was blasted sideways by a clod ball of wind. Saito awkwardly waved at him, but Kaito didn't return the greeting.

"I hope it's not too late to make amends…." Nakano muttered, remembering how he and his friends tried to lynch Kaito a few weeks ago.

With a swish of his wand, he sent a shot of flames directly at the face of a Rockmount.

"Nothing is ever late if you want to turn for the better. However—" Jose leaped over the three students and punctured a hole through the Rockmount that had its head on fire. "—that doesn't mean you should leave anyone to die."

The three Diaboloz shared glances again. Hiyama was slowly getting cornered.

"Saito, Nakano, I'm the only close-range fighter. Can you guys clear a path?" Kondou asked.

Saito and Nakano shared glances, then shrugged. "We'll try our best."

They put away their wands, brought out their staff, and chanted a spell in unison.

"[Gale Blockade]!"

"[Flame Fortress]!"

A set of walls made of fire was set ablaze, scaring the Rockmounts away and creating a pathway. At the same time, the ceiling was covered with a strong gust of wind that blew away falling rocks.

Kondou took a deep breath, clutched his spear, and ran into the fortress of fire and wind, with his two friends following behind to maintain the spell.

Kondou stabbed the remaining few Rockmounts at a quick pace. None of the attacks were fatal, but it was enough to scare away the Rockmounts from Hiyama.

"Hey, Hiyama! When we go back up, maybe we try not to be so horrible to everyone else, eh?" Kondou offered his hand to Hiyama.

Hiyama stared at the outstretched hand and grasped it. Kondou grinned and tugged to help him get back up to his feet.

But Hiyama suddenly yanked his hand out of Kondou's grasp and pushed him into Saito and Nakano. The two spells protecting them vanished as all three Diaboloz tumbled.

"Did you think I needed your help, you traitor?" Hiyama jeered with an evil grin, "All of you have outdone your uses!"

He skipped over a dead Rockmounts and disappeared into the battle's confusion.

"You crazy son of a—" Kondou tried to get up, or at least shout that Hiyama was crazy and everyone should be careful.

But as he scrambled over the ground, a giant shadow loomed over his head; a huge boulder was coming down to crush them.

The three boys screamed as their death approached.

"Duck!" Someone yelled.

Without thinking, the three Diaboloz ducked. And from the ground level, they saw the earth surging up like a hand covering them.

The boulder smashed into pieces against the earth, and the ground returned to normal.

"Are you guys good?" Hajime asked.

"N, Nagumo?" Kondou shouted in surprise.

Hajime offered a hand to help them up. Kondou, still quite dumbfounded, took it and stood up.

From his left and right, Shizuku and Kaori were helping Saito and Nakano up with much less enthusiasm than Hajime.

"We, uh, we're sorry for everything, man," Kondou stammered. "I know it's not enough to make up for everything, but…."

Hajime cut his apology by putting up his hand. "Let's save the awkward apologies for later. The Rockmounts live in a massive colony. We won't last long fighting like this. Kaori?"

Without any further instructions, Kaori held her staff high in the air.

"[Light Wall]!"

The staff emitted a warm light, which solidified into a hemisphere that acted as a sanctuary for the six people nearby.

Shizuku turned to Hajime, "You have a plan, right?"

Hajime nodded, scanning the wall. It was now saturated with Rockmounts, providing a full-on assault on the humans. But he was searching for a specific Rockmount out of all of them.

"There!" He shouted, pointing ahead.

Everyone looked up to where he was pointing, but all they could see was a wave of rocks and Rockmounts.

"What are we supposed to see again?" Nakano grumbled, only to get slapped by Shizuku on the arm.

"Of course! The silverback!" Kaori exclaimed, catching on to what Hajime must've had planned.

"The silver-what?"

"It's the leader of the Rockmounts," Hajime explained. "If we defeat the leader, the rest will run away."

"How do we know it won't go all ape-shit on us?" Saito asked.

"Rockmounts are more sensitive than they think. If their leader is gone, they'll take it as a sign of danger for the entire flock."

Kondou looked up at the cliff crowded with Rockmounts. "Even though, how do we reach where the leader is?"

"I can," Shizuku said, "But I'll need some support."

"And that's what everyone else would do." Hajime said, "Mages, keep the Rockmounts from approaching. Kondou, you and I'll protect them, and Kaori, you aid Shizuku in case something happens."

The [Light Wall] started to fade away. Shizuku sheathed her sword and stretched her legs, preparing for a full sprint.

"Now!" Hajime shouted exactly when the protective light vanished.

Shizuku stomped the ground, then rushed forward at inhuman speed. She was so fast that she was a blur to everyone else.

"Kaori, you have to keep an eye on her!" Hajime instructed.

"Right!" Kaori squinted hard. She had seen Shizuku leap into action more times than she could count during the expedition. If anyone could follow her movements, it was her.

"Ook-ook! Eeek-aak-eek!"

Rockmounts made a fuss as something approached their leader at blinding speed.

They tried to throw a boulder in its path, but the blurry figure dodged most of them quickly; a well-timed barrier repeatedly blocked the few boulders with the right trajectory.

The silverback shuddered. Its primal instincts could tell that they were explicitly after it, and it alone, so it quickly scanned the area.

The reason it became a leader wasn't that it was the strongest but because it had the best observation and crisis-detection skills.

It soon spotted the source of the protective barriers—those clusters of humans near the entrance.

"Eeak!" It pointed at them and screeched an order.

The Rockmounts all halted in unison and turned to attack Hajime's gang.

"Wait, when did he get here?" Kaito shouted. He quickly reached for a deck of cards—a total of 8 cards between his fingers.

"[Blaze]!" He shouted as he thrust them.

The cards burst into flames in the air and embedded themselves in various parts of the Rockmounts.

The ones caught in fire screeched and flailed around, unintentionally spreading more fire and chaos among their kin.

"Wait, where is Shizuku?" Kouki asked, slowly making his way to Hajime—and, much more importantly, Kaori. Ryutaro shrugged while Eri scowled under her breath.

Just as Kouki was about to demand at Hajime where his childhood friend was, someone touched the top of his head and leaped over him.

"Thanks for the help!" Satoru waved at Kouki as he parkoured over Rockmounts.

A boulder came rushing in his direction, but Satoru barely flinched.

Instead, he jumped and kicked it in mid-air, sending it to the cliff and smashing another boulder before it hit Shizuku.

Shizuku rushed under the raining pebbles with a snort—of course, he'd be able to track his movements. She jumped over the cliff in one fell swoop and landed at the top.

"Hello," she said to the silverback.

"EAEK!" It screeched at the two henchmen Rockmounts.

Shizuku drew her sword, expecting them to come at her with their fists, but they stayed and opened their mouths.

"Graaaaaaah!"

"Hngh!?" Shizuku winced as the shockwave of the voice hit her. It didn't leave any physical harm, but her muscles stiffened against her will.

The Rockmounts giggled and leaped around Shizuku, taking the time to drink in their victory as all she could do was glare at the pair of monkeys with frustration.

"Shizuku!" Kouki raised his sword high, and the holy sword began to glow.

"Soar into the heaven, O divine wings! [Celestial Fl"

"Stop it, you idiot!"

Before Kouki could fire off his attack, Captain Meld smacked the sword out of his hand with his weapon. The bright light that had surrounded the blade vanished as it clattered on the floor.

"Sir! I was trying to rescue Shizuku!" Kouki complained, but he quickly realized Meld was much more furious than he'd thought.

"If you'd have fired that attack, she would've been vaporized with the Rockmounts!" Captain Meld scolded.

"But, Shizuku—"

"She's fine. Look." Meld nudged forward with a sigh.

Kouki looked ahead and found that the two Rockmounts surrounding Shizuku were lying on the ground, unconscious. The silverback was also on the floor, trembling under Shizuku's blade as a sign of defeat.

"Leave," She said, "We'll be out of here soon enough."

The silverback nodded, then quickly retreated deeper into the labyrinth. The rest of the Rockmounts followed their leader and disappeared.

Koukit ran up to Shizuku as she slid down the cliff. "That was amazing, Shizuku! I knew you'd manage to figure a way out."

However, Shizuku shook her head, "I didn't do anything. He did."

Kouki's grin turned sour as he saw who she was referencing. Hajime was lowering a blowgun from his mouth. He was heaving for breath, but judging from how Shizuku smiled at him; it was apparent that he had saved her life.

As everyone came around Hajime to congratulate/ask him about what happened, Kouki felt an unfamiliar emotion surge inside his chest. A dark, sticky sensation that squeezed his heart in the most uncomfortable way possible that he couldn't help but make a low grunt.

"Kouki?" Eri called him softly. Kouki jumped and whirled around to find her beaming up at him.

"You were amazing, Kouki."

Kouki smacked his lips. "Thanks."

He was thankful for her to be the only one recognizing his actions, but it didn't cheer him up that much, either.