Surviving the Dungeon with an EX-Rank Trait

Labyrinth 1st Floor.

In the darkness that spread out like a curtain before me, Veronica’s halo caught everyone’s attention.

Noticing how eye-catching she was, Veronica spoke in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

“If you all keep staring like that, I might get a bit shy, you know? Didn’t you expect this kind of thing when you came in?”

True, we were staring out of curiosity, but there was no other intention behind it.

“Ms. Veronica’s halo just gets prettier the more you look at it! Heh, it might be great for our side since it shows us where she is even without a light source?”

On the flip side, the fact that it could easily give away her position to enemies was a bit of a bummer.

Wait, but as a tank, attracting the enemies’ agro is important, so maybe it’s actually a plus?

Approaching Veronica without hesitation was the friendly Yeriell, who seemed a bit pleased herself.

This was separate from the penalty that emotions would fade.

“You can drop the ‘Ms.’ if you want.”

“Gasp. Finally! We’re becoming friends, right?”

Yeriell was very happy with the permission to drop formalities.

Is this really the same shy Yeriell who couldn’t even muster a proper angry response on the 3rd floor? My heart swelled with pride.

[Chaos is amazed at how much Yeriell has changed since the first time.]

‘Indeed. Well, it’s a good change, so I don’t have anything specific to say about it.’

After exchanging small talk, we tried to lighten the mood.

“Okay! Let’s stop the chit-chat and get in formation. For now, I’ll light the torch, so Lumia, hand over the map and compass here.”

“Sure. Leave it to me.”

We weren’t in a city anymore, but inside the Great Labyrinth.

This was the 1st Floor, where countless adventurers, except for the deep-level ones, were tangled up. We should start being cautious.

‘Ah, I remember that there are no deep-level adventurers on the 1st Floor.’

While I was diligently flipping through books in the library, I came across information that those adventurers who reached the later part of the higher floors had some sort of waypoint.

Since they inevitably encountered structures that allowed for record keeping of starting points, deep-level adventurers could start exploring from the very end of the high floors when entering through the portal.

For me, who holds the highest record on the 4th Floor, information on deep-level adventurers was both fascinating and quite far-fetched, so it stuck in my memory.

Whoosh!

While taking out a flint to light the torch, my mind was wandering.

“Alright. This is it.”

Lumia turned her head, carefully examining the map and surroundings.

“Aren, I think we fell somewhere around here based on the walls and compass.”

The position her slender finger indicated was quite ambiguous, about halfway from the central area to the portal at the north end.

“Well, we didn’t fall right in the center, so let’s look on the bright side.”

I shrugged my shoulders and got into formation.

At the front were the magician and explorer Lumia along with the tank Veronica.

In the center was me, the party leader, able to quickly engage or switch back depending on whether Yeriell was being targeted from the back due to my high agility.

Lastly, Yeriell, the priest, positioned herself at the rear.

Since everyone could demonstrate skills beyond their roles, this new 4-person party formation was deemed the best for the newly joined members.

“Let’s get moving. Since it’s the first day the portal has opened, everyone stay alert, and we should move as quickly as possible.”

With Lumia’s ears perked up and Veronica shining brightly with her halo at the lead, the party started moving north.

“Enemies ahead. A group of monsters is approaching. There are about six of them… Should I handle it?”

Something about Lumia, displaying confidence or certainty, stood out positively compared to before. I nodded.

“Great. Let’s give them a big surprise as a first battle celebration.”

Goblin and kobold monsters were slowly approaching from a distance.

They still hadn’t noticed us.

Darkness, crave and consume!

[Craving Darkness]

As Lumia finished her incantation, a heavy, dark, and gooey shadow, fundamentally different from the surrounding darkness, surged before the enemy group.

Chomp.

“Grrr?”

“Grraang!”

“Too late now.”

Crash!

Just as Lumia said, by the time they realized, a massive monster created from darkness had swallowed the enemies whole in one bite.

“Graaak!”

“Grrk.”

Their anguished screams and death throes.

In an instant, the monstrous group vanished without leaving a single trace.

Veronica, who watched the scene without blinking, finally spoke in the eerie silence.

“Really, it’s not something you’d see for someone stuck at levels 3 or 4, even though we matched skills in the city.”

“Right? Our Lumia has a lot of talent and skills.”

Umm!

Lumia, who received a compliment that was not exaggerated in the least, let out a cough, revealing her embarrassment.

The C-rank spellbook obtained after defeating Grielops had boosted Lumia’s magical power tremendously. She could effortlessly annihilate the monsters on the 1st Floor.

[Timmy casts ‘Rapid Fire.’]

Ping! Phew!

While advancing, we had nothing to fear even if another party attacked us with ranged shots from a side path.

“Hmph.”

Thud. Clang!

Arrows bounced off Veronica’s shield without any effect.

If it weren’t for Veronica, the tank, I would have been scrambling my mind for how to dodge seeing the deadly trajectory of the approaching arrows before they got here…

And shouting to activate my shield!

“Run!”

Leaving the monsters that failed to attack behind, we weren’t the type to just watch.

The black hand that grips the night.

‘Lightning.’

Boom!

By linking skills, I swiftly took down two of them and quickly sprinted out to behead the remaining ones.

[Chaos clicks his tongue at how their miserable gear made them unaware of the situation.]

Now on the 1st Floor, unless faced with a group of monsters or deep-level adventurers, nothing could stop our advance.

*

One day. Two days. Three days.

We carved through the monsters that got in our way, smashing through the 1st Floor without halting.

‘Since we don’t know where we’ll fall on the 2nd Floor, let’s take a break here. Fortunately, there’s a resting spot too.’

Following Lumia, we reached a resting area near the portal.

While we each took a comfortable break, Yeriell spoke up.

“Heh. I’m sorry for not doing anything back there.”

Yeriell, with her braided hair, bit her lip.

“It’s important that there were no situations where a priest had to step up.”

“Exactly. Stop apologizing and just rest.”

Encouragement came from Veronica and Lumia.

Peep. Peep!

The El that had clung to Yeriell, feeling the safest since entering the Labyrinth, rubbed against her cheek and wagged its beak adorably.

“Hehe, don’t!”

I was relieved that everyone seemed to be getting along well.

In the warm atmosphere, as we pulled out food to ease our hunger, Yeriell suddenly raised her voice.

“Ah! By the way! Ugh, I’m such an idiot.”

Why’s she suddenly like this? It felt like she remembered something she had forgotten.

“Yeriell, is there a problem?”

“No, no! It’s not that, remember how I said before entering that I learned a new holy incantation? I think I could be of help too with it.”

Right. She definitely said that.

“Everyone, watch closely. Purify what is tainted.”

[Purification]

Whoosh!

As soon as Yeriell finished her incantation, her hand glowed with a warm, gentle light.

‘This is the spell the priest used during the inspection earlier. Concentrating divine power to filter out those with evil intent, right?’

“I can use it a bit differently as well. For example, like this!”

Yeriell reached her glowing hand towards Veronica.

In an instant, the bloodstains left on the edges of Veronica’s sword and shield vanished, turning clean in the blink of an eye.

“Thank you. I was planning to clean this with a cloth before sleeping, but you’ve saved me the effort.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really.”

Though she tried to downplay it, the gradually rising corners of her mouth indicated she was quite happy.

Afterward, when I joined in the praise as well, Yeriell finally burst into laughter.

‘Purifying dirty things certainly has immense applicability!’

Even if she appeared to be just playing around, I relaxed watching her cleanse everyone one after another.

Darkness is my servant. Move and obey!

[Black Puppet]

Before falling asleep, Lumia summoned her familiar.

Just as everyone was about to drift off, Veronica casually suggested an idea.

“While it does say in the recruitment announcement that familiars can substitute for alarm magic, wouldn’t it be better to have a guard, even if just for a while?”

Hmm. So far, we hadn’t had any problems since we were in the entry points of lower depths, and it was quite safe with multiple familiars. We could just sleep easily, but… let’s hear more for now.

“Right now, the resting area is synced with the familiars, so we have time to detect and prepare before other adventurers arrive.”

“But…?”

“However, if there were human hunters who possessed the ability to negate magic, or high-level raiders who could ambush us without being easily detected, we’d be doomed. Especially if we camp in areas without resting spots later on.”

Hmm. She has a point.

“Indeed… It would be better to get used to having a guard established beforehand. Speaking of which, I remember we used to all stay awake at first and take turns.”

Thanks to our familiars, we could easily detect the mercenary group led by Kariks, allowing us to sleep comfortably. After that, we likely stuck to the same routine after feeling relieved once.

Maybe it was because every time we faced trouble and incidents, my heart still held onto the desire to sleep peacefully.

“Haha! There are plenty of lessons to be learned. It’s reassuring to have a senior who has experience reaching mid-levels. Thanks to you, I’ve renewed things I had overlooked.”

Getting Veronica, a seasoned adventurer, as part of our team felt like pure luck.

“It might have been hard to speak up against the party leader. So, thanks for voicing your opinion.”

“Ah, no. Before a fixed party was formed… If I tried to point out obvious flaws, it was like challenging authority, and I’d get fierce glares from some party leaders. Aren, you’re a good leader.”

“Hmhm. Is that so? Then let’s agree that you and I are both good people.”

“Peep?”

Seeing Veronica glance away awkwardly while I coughed for no reason caused El to tilt its head.

It would be nice if she would feel comfortable talking too. I guess it can’t be helped since I’ve been using honorifics since childhood, making it stick to my lips.

And with that, we spent our last night on the 1st Floor of the Labyrinth.

*

We arrived at the 2nd Floor.

Right as we got there, a huge problem emerged, and what was that? We had fallen straight into the heart of the Bug Zone.

“Ugh… This is the Bug Zone, isn’t it?”

Of course, I, who detested bugs, felt sick about it.

Yeriell, who had already once experienced this horror, looked disgusted, and though she didn’t show it, even Veronica’s brows slightly furrowed.

At least Lumia was calm about it.

“Help meee!!!”

Adding to our misfortunes, there were screams for help from ahead.

‘Damn it. Why is this happening right after arriving on the 2nd Floor? Why, of all places, do we get the area with bugs?’

A swarm of what seemed to be dozens of beetles and giant grubs was chasing adventurers fleeing this way.

“Disgusting.”

Veronica, whose face had stiffened, slammed her shield with her fist.

[Veronica casts ‘Resonance of Circulation’.]

Thud!

[With one strike, ‘Echo of Provocation’ resonates.]

[Hostility sharply increases.]

[Damage received from provoked entities decreases.]

A heavy sound resonated from the shield infused with magic.

The hostility value, or agro, surged, causing the monsters that had been chasing the other party to redirect their attention toward Veronica.

Chirp. Chirp!

Fzzz!

Whoosh!

The chilling eyes of the swarm.

All the insect-like monsters lunged at her.

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