Foreword: Here we go.

Timestamp: 1 year, 4 months after the end of Volume 1.

Chapter 5
Inevitably, some things go wrong.

It never hurt to be prepared, and it never hurt to be careful. Those words lay at the core of how I carried myself inside of the Dungeon.

An overpowered sword and slightly-better-than-average skills wouldn't be enough to get me out of every situation the Dungeon threw me into. Assuming that wouldn't just be arrogant; it would be deadly.

You only took risks when absolutely necessary, when they were absolutely unavoidable. If you were careless–like I had told Hackard before, many times–if you let your guard down, you were asking to die at a level where things shouldn't have been a problem at all.

Things would go wrong at some point. That was unavoidable. No one could do everything perfectly, and inside of the Dungeon, every mistake was just another weakness that could be exploited.

What wouldn't go wrong was how well you were prepared to deal with the unexpected. If you wanted to continue diving deeper into the Dungeon, you needed to understand where you could improve, and shore up your own weaknesses so that you were best equipped to survive any situation the Dungeon threw at you, no matter how unimaginable.

It didn't matter whether it was skills, resources, or people. If you didn't constantly try to improve, then one day you'd find yourself faced with a monster that you couldn't beat, or a situation where there was nothing you could do.

And yet, somehow, I had forgotten that very same fact myself.

~~This is a Line Break~~

The 17th Floor. The final section of the first half of the Middle Floors, commonly known as the 'Cave Labyrinth', it was also the last floor before the safe point on the 18th. To the average Level 2 adventurer that had gone past Rivira, it wasn't much in terms of being a threat–and that went even moreso for us, a party of 5, all of whom were Level 2s.

The 17th, while dangerous, hadn't ever presented any problems to our progress as a party, especially once we had started diving into the 19th and 20th Floors. Clearing the Floor–that is to say, methodically going through and acquainting ourselves with the geography and spawn rates–had taken nothing more than a few days, and even when the occasional monster party emerged, they hadn't been anything more than a bump in the paychecks we cashed in at the Guild.

That didn't mean things weren't dangerous on this Floor, of course. As I scanned the mist, I caught a glimpse of movement in the distance, and I narrowed my eyes at the 3 shapes lumbering towards us through the dim light of the Dungeon's caves.

"3 Minotaurs up ahead," I called out, and Schwartz and Umbar shifted into ready positions, taking up a defensive stance at the front of our battle party. For their part, Yelena and Hackard fanned out to either side, readying themselves in case monsters started bursting out of the walls.

That didn't happen though, and I watched as Umbar braced his shield against a Minotaur's axe swing before retaliating, his hammer slamming into the monster's side. The Minotaur staggered backwards, clearly stunned, before Umbar whirled to the left, his hammer connecting in a backhand swipe to knock aside a punch thrown by the second Minotaur. The dwarf stepped forward, bashing the first Minotaur in the snout with his shield before ducking away from another punch and finishing the injured monster off with a blow to the side of its neck, which crumpled inwards with a loud CRACK as the hammer connected.

The second Minotaur lowered its head and burst forward into a charge with both horns, but Umbar only laughed as he literally took the blow head-on, forcing the Minotaur to skid to a stop as its horns slid off of the dwarf's shield. Before it could recover, the dwarf swiftly stepped in, hammer raised high before it smashed into the monster's knee with a CRUNCH, followed up by a vicious blow to the head as it fell down that caved the side of the skull in, showering fragments of bone and brain matter across the floor.

All of that happened in less than half a minute, and I was suddenly reminded of the fact that, for all his feats of ridiculous strength, Umbar was a tremendously skilled fighter in his own right as well. It wasn't that his technique made up for what he lacked; rather, his skills supplemented his raw power. There was a reason he was in our vanguard–because barring maybe Schwartz with his own shield, he was the only one out of any of us who could reasonably keep 3 Minotaurs occupied at once.

Next to the dwarf, Schwartz had killed his own Minotaur as well. While not as powerful as Umbar's hammer, Schwartz's spear could nonetheless do more than enough to take out monsters on its own. He wasn't Anya, but he didn't need to be, especially with how strong his defensive abilities were.

There was a howl on the far side of the room, and I turned around to watch as 4 more Minotaurs and a pack of Hellhounds swarmed into the room. Monster party–not especially large, but dangerous, especially if the Hellhounds were allowed to use their fire breath.

The Minotaurs let out angry bellows before getting down on all fours, readying themselves to charge, but before they could, I watched as Umbar slammed his hammer down into the head of one, Yelena drove her knives into another, Schwartz shield-bashed a third, and Hackard cleaved a fourth's skull into 2.

For my part, I had already made my way to the Hellhounds. I lunged at the lead monster, skewering it through its open mouth before lifting up and sharply whipping my arm to the side. The monster's corpse followed the laws of physics, sliding off of my blade and soaring through the air connect with another Hellhound. The monster stumbled, which was enough of an opening for me to drive my sword through the side of its head.

A third Hellhound lunged at me, but I sidestepped its attack before pulling my sword out and bringing it down. The monster dodged away, but not in time, and its half-decapitated corpse dropped to the floor not long afterwards.

As I cut down the remaining Hellhounds, however, my ears caught the sounds of crack-crack-cracks echoing out from the hallway, and as I looked, dog-shaped outlines materialized in the darkness of the hallway further down, coming to a stop with their open mouths flashing red-hot. There's even more?!

My eyes widened as I grabbed one corner of my cloak and flung it up before me, diving to the side as I did so. There was a flash of light and a shockwave as the ground in front of me exploded, kicking up a wave of rubble and searing heat as I was blown backwards.

"That's… !" The smoke was thick, but I could see Yelena's mouth open in shock as she saw what I saw: a pack of Hellhounds, mouths already prepped for another volley as they sat in the middle of the hallway. "Come on! That's not even fair!"

We couldn't deal with them. None of us had any ranged weapons, aside from the Magic Sword in Yelena's pack that we had for emergencies. Hellhounds had a degree of magic resistance that made any battle of attrition with those impossible, since they would crumble once the magic stored within them was depleted.

If we tried rushing them, it was highly likely we'd just get burnt to a crisp in the middle of the hallway, or caught by the other monsters still in the room.

Therefore, all we could do was kill the monster in the room before trying to bait the Hellhounds into engaging at melee range. They wouldn't use their fireballs without any visible target, so as long as we could stay out of sight–

cra-CRACK! The sound of shattering stone forced me to turn around. As I watched, around us, the room's walls crumbled, a monster party coming to life around us. There were easily two dozen monsters in this horde alone, which was a mix of Minotaurs, Ligerfangs, Hellhounds, and Bad Bats.

"No way… no way, no way!" Hackard's indignant yell was drowned out by the cacophony of other sounds, and I was forced to revise my thoughts as I cut down the closest Hellhound with a quick slash. It was now a dangerous situation. One careless move could result in someone getting heavily injured or dying. I readied myself, preparing to engage the horde of monsters–

Only to suddenly catch a glimpse of pinkish scales, flitting through the gaps behind the monster party. I felt my stomach drop. That can't be…

There was a fierce roar. A long tail whipped through the air as the Wyvern that had just spawned took to the air, wings flapping as it opened a mouth that was starting to glow.

There was only one realistic option that didn't end in all of us getting killed in that room right then and there. "Run!"

As we packed into the one of the other hallways that connected to the room, sprinting as hard as we possible could, there was an explosion behind us that hit hard enough to make us stumble, a wave of searing heat sweeping over our bodies. I risked a quick glance backwards.

There were a few monsters that lay dead on the ground, scorched to a crisp in the doorway by the Wyvern's breath attack, but it wasn't long before more monsters surged through and into the hallway, trampling over the corpses as they rushed us all at once.

"Yelena!"
"On it!"

At my call, the chienthrope turned around, swinging her weapon to unleash a fireball that rocketed down the corridor even as we continued to run. There was a second of searing heat as the projectile shot past my side before it detonated behind me with a blast, kicking up a shockwave that slammed against my back.

We had pooled our savings together to get the best Magic Sword that money could feasibly buy. It had cost 500,000 Valis between the 5 of us, but right now, it was paying its dividends; another quick look behind me revealed that a few more monsters had been killed and many more injured, allowing us to extend the gap between us.

Outrunning a monster party was tiring, but it wasn't complicated. All you had to do was to run away until only a few of the original monsters chasing you were left–and then flip around and kill them. Aside from a few noteworthy exceptions, monsters always moved slower than people did, and therefore by running away you could literally de-aggro quite a few of the monsters that were chasing you, if not all of them once you had put enough distance between them.

If you could outrun them.

In front of us, there was a series of howls. I clenched my sword tighter as about 30 meters ahead, 6 Hellhounds materialized from the darkness, their mouths opening as they got ready to attack. That's… !

I clamped down on the urge to complain in favor of assessing the situation. A volley from 6 Hellhounds in the hallway was a death sentence if it connected directly. Turning around was pointless, since that negated the whole point of running.

That meant that there was only one real option left.

"Umbar, Schwartz!" Both of them snapped their heads towards me. "Take the first volley head-on and push through!" They had shields; combined with the Salamander Wool, rushing down the Hellhounds was our best bet. It was a desperate solution, but there wasn't anything better here. "Yelena! Keep delaying the ones behind us!" The chienthrope girl nodded, unleashing a flurry of swings with the Magic Sword that sent a fusillade of fireballs soaring down the hallway.

The Hellhounds fired, and both Umbar and Schwartz moved to intercept, red cloaks draped over their shields as they plowed into and then through the barrage, the fireballs detonating point-blank in their faces before scattering flames that fizzled out as soon as they hit the cloth.

There was a second where the Hellhounds attempted to charge up a second volley, but we made it there first. Umbar's hammer flattened two of them against the wall in a single swing while Schwartz's spear jabbed outwards, skewering two in quick succession before Hackard and I killed one each with a single blow from our respective swords, Yelena continuing to cover for our rear.

"Any injuries?" As we continued to run, leaving the corpses of the Hellhounds behind us, I took a look at both of them.

" "No." " Despite both Umbar and Schwartz's replies, the dwarf had a grimace on his face as he held up his arm, and I looked down to see the bottom half of his shield missing. The leather had partially melted away, and the wood was charred black, parts of it crumbling off as black soot as we continued running. "Cloak couldn't fully cover everything."

That… wasn't good. But at least he hadn't been injured–

I cut myself off as there was a pitter-patter, followed by a crack-crack-CRACK and a deep rumbling that shook the ground around us. A pitfall? –No, this is the 17th Floor! That means it's a–

Throwing my gaze up, I caught a glimpse of the ceiling directly above us as it crumbled into pieces. "Rockslide!"

As Umbar and Schwartz put their shields up towards the air, I reached a hand out to grab Yelena by the straps of her backpack before putting every bit of strength left into my legs, throwing both myself and her underneath the cover provided. Hackard was already there, and we watched as both of our frontline tanks weathered the falling rocks with their greatshields.

After awhile, the rocks subsided, and we emerged from underneath the shields. The rockslide had buried a good number of the monsters chasing us in the rubble; here and there I could make out the crushed corpse of a Hellhound or a Ligerfang, or a stray Minotaur hoof that was sticking out from the rocks.

But in the distance, I watched as the Wyvern snaked down the wide hallway, accompanied by even more monsters in front of it. The rockslide hadn't nearly been enough to buy us some time for a reprieve. It was time to go.

I turned around, and my blood went cold.

There wasn't a hallway in front of us anymore. Instead, there was a pile of rubble, rocks and boulders piled on top of one another, blocking off the rest of the hallway. What had once been a path had unquestionably turned into a dead end.

In front of us, a wall we'd never be able to break past in time. Behind us, a monster party that almost certainly meant death.

I wasn't sure what kind of expression I was making, but I could see everyone else's faces go pale as the monsters closed in behind us. I allowed myself to close my eyes for a brief second before I started talking.

"We have to fight." It wasn't a question, and if the grim expressions on everyone else were any indication, they knew that too. "Potions, now! They're almost here!"

"Shit… shit!" Hackard hissed as she reached for a Potion, hands shaking, before uncorking it and slamming it down her throat like it was a shot. Next to her, Umbar did the same, downing 2 Potions at once while Schwartz and Yelena each chugged their own. I simply emptied mine over my head, letting the familiar warmth soak into my body as I felt a bit of my exhaustion disappear.

Then the monsters were swarming us, and I couldn't focus on anything else.

A Ligerfang lunged at me, and I cut it out of the air, my sword cutting through the air in a silvery arc that took out its throat before I spun, dodging away from another monster's claw attack and kicking a Hellhound in the face right before its fireball attack went off. A Minotaur swiped at me, but I stepped past its attack before retaliating, skewering through the monster's throat before I yanked my sword out of its corpse to block another Minotaur's axe.

There's just–

I cut the Minotaur across the chest, the monster dissolving into ash on the spot, but that left me open to a Ligerfang's claws, which raked across my chest and harmlessly slid off of my armor before I grabbed the back of its neck with my spare hand and brought it down on top of my knee, hard. The monster let out a gurgled choking noise before falling to the floor, its neck distinctly crumpled, and I turned to immediately find two Hellhounds lunging at me.

–too many of them!

A Hellhound's jaws closed around my thigh, pain flaring as its teeth sunk into my leg, but before it could start shaking its head to aggravate the wound, I pulled out my knife with my left hand and stabbed it through the side of its head. It went limp, and I swung my sword, dispatching the other Hellhound with a well-timed swing that took off half of its head as it dashed in.

The Hellhound's body fell to the ground, replaced by a Minotaur that swung an axe aimed at my left shoulder. I can't deflect this with a knife! I got my sword up just in time to block, deflecting the attack off to the side before retaliating with a knife to the center of its chest, but as the Minotaur crumbled to dust, my eyes caught a glimpse of the Hellhound right behind it, sparks flying out from its open mouth. That's–

An explosion blossomed at point-blank range in the center of my chest, intense heat buffeting my body as I was thrown backwards through the air and across the ground.

My body burned. It felt like Anya had just kicked me in the gut. My limbs felt like they were still vibrating, even though the impact had already passed.

But there wasn't any time to stay on the ground. I forced myself to my feet, just in time to stop a Ligerfang's tackle and rip its throat out with a knife swing as it stalled. Another Minotaur swiped at my head and I ducked under the blow, kicking away an approaching Hellhound before my sword flashed outwards, decapitating the Minotaur with a horizontal strike.

But no matter how many monsters I killed, they just kept coming. I backstepped, narrowly dodging a Ligerfang swipe that would've connected with my head before slashing the monster across the chest and turning it to ash instantly. A Hellhound's bite attack was met with a shoulder bash that caused it to slam against my armor, where it let out a whimper before my knife stabbed through its eye and into its skull.

Parry. Counter. The world narrowed down. It was just me, my sword, and the monsters around me. Counter. Dodge, counter, sidestep. Parry, counter, dodge, sidestep, counter, punch, swing, kick, dodge!

Every attack was meant to kill, and more often than not, they did, but for every hit I got the monsters landed one of their own. A Ligerfang swipe tore a chunk out of my left arm when I couldn't intercept it in time before I stabbed it through the throat. A Minotaur's fist slammed into my side, forcing a pained cough out of me before I grit my teeth and dispatched it with a slash that connected with its Magic Stone. Every now and then, a Bad Bat's attack would throw me off as its sonic shriek connected, causing me to stumble before I readjusted to block another attack or kill another monster.

I didn't know if anyone else was still alive. There was no way to tell–not with so many things happening at once, not while there were still so many monsters around me. Schwartz, Umbar, Yelena, Hackard… any of them could've been overwhelmed by now.

Focus! My eyes widened as I dropped to the ground, narrowly dodging a Minotaur's swing that split the rock where the axe met it. Jumping up from the ground almost immediately after, I stabbed it in the chest, and it went down. You don't have time to think about such things!

As I cut down yet another monster, however, my eyes widened as I caught sight of a growing red glow from across the room.

The Wyvern. It hadn't been killed yet, no doubt because the rest of us were still fighting the monsters around us, and as I watched, it prepared to launch a fireball that would probably end up incinerating everything else in the hallway if it was allowed to go off.

I clenched my teeth as I spun away from a Ligerfang's attack before breaking into a sprint at the Wyvern. But I was too far away. I wouldn't make it in time.

The Wyvern's mouth flashed, fire emerging from its mouth–

"haaaaaa-HAH!" There was a roar, and I watched as a half-destroyed shield slammed into the dragon's open mouth. The Wyvern let out a choked gurgle as Umbar wedged his shield into the dragon's open mouth, forcefully ramming it down the monster's throat.

There was a brief second of silence as the glow within the Wyvern intensified–before it exploded. The monster's spasmed violently as the fireball went off in its throat, flames erupting from around the shield before the flash of red-hot heat made me look away to avoid getting blinded.

But Umbar wasn't done. As I watched, the dwarf hefted the hammer he was still holding in his left hand before raising it high and slamming it down hard into the Wyvern's eye. There was a wet psh as the organ burst under the impact and a violent CRUNCH as its skull gave way before the Wyvern let out one more screech and went limp, falling to the ground.

"Hah… that could've been bad… huh…?" There was a clang as Umbar's hammer hit the floor, followed by a thump as his body followed. He didn't get back up.

"UMBAR!" Hackard's scream echoed through the hallway, and I turned to see her cut down 3 monsters at once before running towards the fallen dwarf. A Minotaur positioned itself in front of her, but–"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"–she cut through both the axe and the Minotaur's neck in a single blow, kicking the monster's corpse to the side as she made her way towards Umbar.

No more monsters intercepted her, and it was with a start that I realized that there were no more monsters left to intercept. Every single monster's corpse was strewn across the floor. Not a single one was still standing. We had killed them all.

I was covered in wounds. Every single part of my body had at least 4 or 5 injuries, most of which were still bleeding. The ones that weren't bleeding radiated painful heat, patches of burns criss-crossing my body. The Salamander Wool cloak had been torn to pieces, most of my armor was either heavily damaged or completely destroyed, and I was still struggling to catch my breath. Even the act of reaching for a Potion was difficult. I poured one High Potion on myself, and then–when that wasn't nearly enough–poured 3 more before the pain subsided enough for me to stagger over to everyone else.

Schwartz and Yelena were there as well. Nobody had died. Somehow, all of us had made it out alive. But–

"Umbar is... " Hackard's voice had an uncharacteristic tone of panic to it. "He's breathing, but his arm, it's… !" I looked down as the limb.

The metal armor hadn't melted, thankfully, but that was little comfort when I looked at the still-sizzling, blackened mass of flesh, with bits of dark red that could only be the exposed muscles. The shield itself was gone; the leather strap that attached it to Umbar's arm had turned into charcoal, which only crumbled away as we got him flat onto the floor.

Umbar himself was still breathing, although he was unconscious. Out of all of us, he easily had the highest Endurance stat; he'd once bragged of it reaching the S rank, far above what any of us were able to achieve. For him to be unconscious wasn't anything good.

"There isn't anything we can do here. We need to get him to a hospital." That was my assessment.

"Shouldn't we–wait, or something? Go to Rivira and ask for help?" Hackard looked at me, but I shook my head. There really wasn't anything to be done. This wasn't the kind of injury that High Potions could fix. Maybe an Elixir could, but none of us had those. "Dammit…. dammit!"

"We don't have time to wait or choose, Maris-chan." Yelena had a grim expression on her face as she scanned the surroundings. "Monsters might be here any second. We have to go."

"... I know." Hackard shook her head before getting to her feet. "I'll take point." That made sense. Hackard wasn't nearly as good as tanking, but she was just as good as fighting as Umbar was, so she'd be a good substitute.

In that case, carrying Umbar was left to either me or Yelena. I got ready to abandon my backpack in favor of hoisting the dwarf onto my back, but to my surprise, Schwartz held out his hand. "Wait, Hikitani-san. I don't carry the Magic Stones or the Rivira receipts. I'll carry him."

"... Alright. Then I'll take point." It wasn't long before we had readjusted our belongings and with Schwartz's backpack left on the ground and the corpses of monsters scattered everywhere, we began to hurriedly make our way back towards the surface.

~~This is a Line Break~~

We were in the Middle Floors again today. It wasn't the 17th–we had agreed that after what had happened 2 weeks ago that we'd do our best to take it easy, at least for awhile–but the 15th wasn't anything less dangerous. Minotaurs and Ligerfangs spawned here as well.

With every step I took, I focused and refocused my attention on our surroundings. That monster party last time had been too close. Barring that first, disastrous encounter with Lyon, that had been the closest I had ever come to dying in this world.

It had been both an stat-raising experience and a harsh reminder, all in one. I had gotten stronger, but that wasn't any reason to be complacent. Level 2 adventurers weren't as common as Level 1s, but there was a reason Level 3s were even rarer. The deeper you went, the more dangerous the Dungeon was.

It was only because we were experienced Level 2s that we hadn't all gotten killed that day. If we had made even one wrong decision, if I had made even one bad call, it was highly likely that I wouldn't be here, thinking back to what happened.

It was easy to blame things on bad luck, but there wasn't anything we could've done. A monster party, a rockslide, and that final fight in the hallway… none of that had been foreseeable or avoidable. It was pointless to dwell on it. We had made the best available decisions under the worst possible circumstances.

And yet–

CRACK

"Damnit!" I watched as Umbar stumbled backwards with a curse, the Minotaur barreling past him before it slid to a halt and turned around. That moment of distraction was all I needed to get to the monster, cutting it down from behind with a single slash.

As the monster fell, Umbar shook his head as he set his hammer on the ground before moving to readjust his shield, which was strapped to the prosthetic that had replaced his right arm from the elbow down. The metal limb was supposed to be just as durable as he was, but it didn't have nearly the same amount of precision that his real arm did.

A Minotaur charge shouldn't have been a problem. I had seen the dwarf take one of those head-on 2 weeks ago, the day that the incident had happened.

But Umbar had lost his arm. Shoving it into a Wyvern's mouth to intercept a breath attack at point-blank range without any Salamander Wool covering it was–even with a shield–not the kind of thing you could just shrug off. The doctor that had been on-duty had, with Umbar's agreement, amputated it immediately to prevent any further medical complications.

"Sorry, lad." Umbar shook his head ruefully as he finished readjusting his shield. "Made an embarrassment of myself, eh?"

In response, I shook my head. "You don't have to apologize. You said it yourself–something like this is going to take a while to adjust to."

"That I did, that I did. But…" The dwarf trailed off with a pensive expression on his face, leaving the sentence unfinished. It was clear that there was something on his mind. It was a recent development, but the dwarf's contemplative mood was something I had been seeing more and more of lately.

It didn't mean anything good, most likely.

~~This is a Line Break~~

The sinking feeling in my stomach was confirmed when, at the end of the day, the dwarf called out to the rest of us.

"Wait. I've something to say." There was a moment of silence as we took in the dwarf's expression, which lacked the boisterous smile it usually did. "I'm quittin'."

Both Schwartz and Yelena had mild looks of surprise on their faces as they absorbed Umbar's words. Hackard's expression was one of complete shock. "That's–"

"Let me explain." The dwarf held up a hand to stop Hackard's cry of protest. "Old man Sobek offered me the chance to start being a teacher in the familia instead. It'd be my job to train up the new kids rising up through the familia. Teach 'em enough so that they don't get themselves killed inside the Dunegon. I've decided to take him up on that."

It made sense. At Level 2, Umbar was already an upper-class adventurer. He was already one of Orario's elite, and there wasn't any need for him to risk life or limb anymore, especially not if his skillset was in demand elsewhere.

"But… you can't." Hackard's face contorted, half-confused and half-something else I couldn't recognize. "That doesn't make sense! You can still fight, so why're you–"

"Look at me, lass." The dwarf's quiet response to Hackard's shouting only made each word from his mouth feel heavier. "I'm walking dead weight, as it is. Can't even take too many hits before the pain from this–" He gestured towards his prosthetic and the shield clumsily strapped to it. "–gets to me. What good is an adventurer that can't fight? Better for me to just quit and–"

"Don't say that, Umbar-san." Yelena was the one who cut in this time. There was an unusually serious expression on her face as Schwartz nodded uncertainly behind her. "You've been with me and Maris-chan since the start. If it weren't for you, we probably would've died at least 10 times over by now. Please… don't say that."

"She's right! And besides, it takes awhile to get used to! You said that yourself, didn't you?" In an unintentional echo of my own conversation with the dwarf earlier today, Hackard's reply had the dwarf chuckling as he glanced at me, no doubt thinking the same thing. "All you need to do is get your skills accustomed to your new limb and you'll be good to go!" I blinked as the other half of Hackard's tone registered.

It was desperation.

The dwarf only shook his head. "Skills." There was a tired sigh. "Don't got none of those no longer, least not for this. Skills don't matter if you don't have the flesh to apply 'em. And even if I did learn and adapt, I'd never catch up to you. The way things're standin', all I'm doing now is dragging you down."

In the face of Umbar's words, none of us could offer a rebuttal. The fact that Umbar had struggled so badly against just one Minotaur was a sign of how far he had been set back in comparison to the rest of us. If he continued with us as he was now, deeper into the 20th-and-lower Floors that we had already reached and planned to continue diving in, I had no doubt that someone would end up dead.

From the reluctant but resigned look on Umbar's face, he knew that too.

"Hikigaya…" Hackard's voice made me realize that everyone else was staring at me now. "Don't you have something to say? Can't you convince him, or something?"

In response to that, I looked at Umbar in the eyes. "You're sure." It wasn't a question.

He met my gaze unflinchingly with a nod. "Aye." He knew that, too.

I closed my eyes and nodded. "Then I won't say anything else." Hackard's expression as she looked from the dwarf to me was one of betrayal, but I shook my head. "He's made his choice, Hackard."

"But… but…" Hackard's expression seemed to crumple as she whirled towards the dwarf. "But… but you…" Her next words were a whisper. "You said we'd reach the top together. You said so." There was an unspoken weight to her words, laden with the silent accusation of a broken promise.

"I can't, lass. Not like this." Umbar's expression was filled with regret as he stepped forward. "I'm sorry. I can't go where you're going." His arms reached out, gently taking hold of the blue-haired girl and drawing her into a hug. "You'll have to make it there on your own."

Hackard's arms flung themselves around the dwarf's body fiercely, and standing behind them, I caught a glimmer within her eyes as they held each other tightly for a moment. But finally, their grips on each other loosened.

"Then…" she sniffled as she pulled out of the hug, letting out a watery laugh as she did so. "Then you'll just have to stand there and watch me, old man!"

"I will." Umbar grinned, holding up his fist in a salute. "I'll be giving ye a cheer from the sidelines every step of the way!"

As I watched them exchange fistbumps and begin to make plans to celebrate Umbar's retirement, I found myself trailing behind the rest of them as they began walking in the direction of the Hibachitei.

Things would inevitably go wrong. A bad day in the Dungeon could mean death and dismemberment for anyone, no matter how ready they thought they were.

But that didn't mean that it had to always end in tragedies.

~~This is a Line Break~~

And yet.

There was a reason why, after the festivities with the party had concluded, after I had returned to the Hostess, I found myself in front of one of the employees' doors. Pausing before I knocked to check whether the person was inside or not, I was greeted by the sounds of paper flipping and cheerful humming, accompanied by a rhythmic thumping sound as if they were kicking the bed.

–Knowing what that catgirl was like, she probably was doing just that.

Raising my hand, I knocked against the door once. "Mya?!" The sounds all stopped as the room's inhabitant let out a noise of surprise before there was the sound of padded footsteps and the door creaked open.

Chloe Rollo blinked at me from where she was standing in the doorway, wearing a plain white undershirt and underwear. For some reason, I couldn't find it in myself to be surprised; her careless attire fit her lazy and capricious attitude. "... Hikiganya? What're you doing here this late, nya?"

But the reason I was here was because I knew that Rollo's attitude was backed up by very real strength. "Rollo. You know how to use throwing knives, right?"

"Ny-eah, of course." The catgirl tilted her head curiously. "Why're you asking, nya?"

Her question was one I already had an answer to.

–Things would inevitably go wrong. A bad day in the Dungeon could mean death and dismemberment for anyone, no matter how ready they thought they were.

That was why preparation was important. Knowing where you were lacking and making up for it was the only way you could hope to survive. And it was becoming clear to me that only using my sword wouldn't cut it anymore.

If I wanted to safely survive in the Dungeon–if I wanted to avoid a repeat of what had occurred with Umbar–then I needed to expand my skillset outwards beyond just killing monsters with my sword or my hands.

That was where Rollo came in.

"... I need a favor." The words didn't come out easily, but that wasn't because I was reluctant to voice them. It was just that I didn't know how to phrase them correctly.

Rollo had been an assassin, so it was possible that her skills and methods were a trade secret that no one had access to, but she hadn't been Black Cat for well over a year by now. But that made dealing with her even more awkward.

There wasn't much I could bring to the bargaining table that she would be interested in. Money wasn't an issue for her, and there was very little in the workplace that she seemed to actually have serious problems with. As a matter of fact, I was sure that working here was more enjoyable for her than it was actually punishing, no matter how much she complained about it.

Rollo's face had reverted to a serious expression, and I held back a wince. There was a tense silence before she put her hand to her forehead and sighed. "Who is it?"

"... What?" That response didn't even make sense.

In response, Rollo put her hands on her hips. Her tail whipped back and forth behind her as her expression turned into a frown. "You're a good person, Hikiganya. You wouldn't ask me about things like that without a reason. There's someone you need to kill, right? It's okay. You can just leave the dirty work to me–"

"That's not it at all." I quickly held up my hand to cut her off, and she blinked in surprise. "It's for the Dungeon. I just want you to teach me what you know, if you can."

"You're sure?" Her eyes were narrowed, but they relaxed as I nodded. "... Fine, nya. I believe you. What do you wanna learn about? I know you said throwing knives. Interested in poison, nya?" At my nod, she nodded as well. "Anything else?"

"Do you know how to use any other ranged weapons?" Rollo nodded.

"I can use a bow and arrow, nya. Crossbows too, if you want." I shook my head. I had considered it before, but it was far too late for me to learn and put it to use inside of the Dungeon. Better for me to pick up something that supplemented what I had, rather than starting with another weapon from scratch that would force me to constantly switch between the two. "Blowpipe?"

At that, I nodded. "Okay. Then in that case, prepare yourself, o humble disciple of mine, nya!" Rollo had an immensely satisfied smile on her face, puffing herself up as she nodded. "To start, how about you call me 'Great Master Chloe' from now on, nya?"

"No." I fixed her with a flat stare, but she didn't even seem surprised.

"Ah, well, it was worth a try, nya." She turned away, grabbing one of the pencils on the desk and a spare piece of paper before quickly scribbling down what looked like a list of items. "Alright. Then meet me here after closing, nya. I should have everything ready by then, nya."

"Thanks." She hadn't mentioned payment at all, so I brought it up instead. "I don't know if you have access to your accounts, but–" I was cut off as Rollo held up a hand of her own.

"Free of charge, nya! Don't got to worry 'bout a thing, nya!" She grinned at me mischievously. "We're friends, so I'd feel bad if I charged you for something I don't even use anymore, nya!" All of a sudden, I found it hard to speak past the sudden hoarseness that had appeared in my throat.

"... Thanks, Rollo."
"Of course, nya!"

With that, we bid each other goodnight, and I found myself moving towards another door in the building and gently knocking on it.

"Come in." Lyon's voice, slightly muffled by the door, responded. I opened the door and stepped in. "Hikigaya. What is it?"

"I have a favor to ask." She inclined her head, and I took that as a yes. "... Can you teach me how to fight with a sword?" Surprise flitted across her expression before it smoothed out.

"Isn't Anya your teacher already? I don't believe that I'm qualified for the position anymore than she already is." With anything else, Lyon might've had a point, but that wasn't it, and I let her know by shaking my head.

"Anya uses a spear. When it comes to using a sword, I'm willing to bet that you have more experience than she does." Lyon's mouth opened, and then closed as she processed my reply.

There was a moment of silence as she looked down at the floor, but when she looked up again, her eyes were firm. "I usually train in the courtyard before sunrise, where you normally are at that time." Her words made me startle. She woke up earlier than I did? "If you wish to join me at that time, I could try my best to assist you with whatever it is you need."

"... Thanks, Lyon." I briefly considered the idea of talking about payment with her, but rejected it. Lyon was more upstanding than Rollo was, and if even she had decided to do it for free, the elf probably felt the same way.

"There's no need for that." Lyon only shook her head with what I thought was a faint smile, confirming my suspicions that any talk of payment would be shot down instantly. "If that's all, then I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"See you then. Good night, Lyon."
"Good night, Hikigaya."

It wasn't like all of my problems had been solved. The Dungeon was still as dangerous as ever, and with Umbar gone, things would only get worse. Inevitably, something would go wrong–and only when that happened would I know if I had prepared enough or not. It was possible that someone else would end up losing a limb, or even losing their life.

But inexplicably, despite the possibilities that weighed down on my shoulders, I seemed to feel just a little bit lighter.

Afterword: If there is enough popular demand for it, I will consider a "Hikigaya learns from Chloe and spars with Ryuu" side story and add it as a separate thing when I have time to write it.

We're a little more than halfway through Volume 3.5. Unfortunately, November is at an end, so we'll be returning to biweekly updates for the time being, at least until winter break starts.

It's been a year since Volume 2 ended and I vowed to go back to consistent updates, and I'm glad that I've been able to commit to that, especially this month. I'm also happy that as the story has picked up, the readership has only increased more as well. Thanks so much for the support!

Oh yeah, we've also passed 200k words. Me and this dang wordcount I wrestle with every chapter… ah, well.

So here in this chapter, the backstory surrounding Umbar's departure from the party that was hinted at in Volume 2, Chapter 1 has finally appeared. I hope it was as gallant an exit for our dwarven vanguard as I intended it to be. I also hope I was able to properly convey the desperation of the situation that Hikigaya and his party got caught in. Leave a review and let me know what you thought!

You also kinda get to see a little more of the reason Hikigaya has his current skillset as it is today. He didn't just learn from Anya, and I think it would've been rather foolish of him if he did, considering the other 2 Level 4 adventurers that he's also friends with (even if he doesn't want to admit it).

Speaking of which, I haven't really had the chance to put Chloe and Hikigaya's relationship in the spotlight, so I took a bit of time to do so now! I hope that encounter between them made you guys feel nice and fuzzy and warm.

See you soon!
Oreo the Cookie