“Let me explain!
Right now, Amagi-san and I are participating in a class-wide dungeon exploration exercise.
Our class has a total of nine parties. Once we all entered the dungeon, we started a real-time attack (RTA) competition to see who could reach the boss room first.
The dungeon in our academy only has five levels and is classified as a D-rank dungeon, but it occasionally spawns strong bosses, making it a variable dungeon. On top of that, the types of minor monsters change depending on the timing of entry… Normally, that wouldn’t happen, right? But that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Apparently, this is due to the influence of the Archdemon that Amagi-san and I defeated last week. It summoned a large number of lesser demons, and they’re still hanging around on the fifth level. Because of that, the minor monsters have been pushed around.
I’m saying this as if it doesn’t concern me because that’s what we learned from the investigation conducted by the teachers and the student council.
However, the national investigation still classifies it as a D-rank. The amount of magical energy within the dungeon hasn’t increased, and the boss is still within the bounds documented in past records. I heard that the principal tried to protest to the chief investigator, but they dismissed it with things like, ‘The quality of your academy’s students has just dropped,’ and ‘Don’t make excuses for not being able to conquer it.’
Nevertheless, it’s a fact that the number of monsters has increased too much, so they decided to thin out the non-boss monsters on the fifth level, with the help of the academy students.
I think it’s good that the teachers are trying to use this as an opportunity to train us students. From the first years onward, each grade is going in during their exploration exercise time, progressing as far as they can while defeating monsters with their party.
But we’re students aiming to be explorers. There’s no way we’d just turn back once we reached our limit. Naturally, we’re aiming to reach the boss room on the fifth level, and then it became a question of who could get there the fastest.
It was Kise who suggested it, but it seems everyone’s motivated to get stronger, so the class representative didn’t even need to gather opinions.
And as a result of the challenge, we somehow ended up with an Amagi-san encirclement… What are they doing?
Thinking about that while smashing through monsters isn’t great either, but here we are. Before I realized it, Amagi-san was going full throttle, and I’m trying to keep up with her so I don’t get left behind. Even so, we can’t shake off our classmates. Well, we’re in an academy that trains explorers, so naturally everyone’s pretty capable. Though, it’s annoying being surrounded.
It seems Amagi-san is trying to hold back on her magic output, but if push comes to shove, she should just go all out.
Still, her back is adorable… Her hair is tied in a ponytail today, and it’s so charming the way it sways.
We’re almost at the third level.
Eriina Sayamura
“Level four. There really are a lot of monsters.”
“Yeah, maybe this isn’t the time for an RTA…”
“Should we team up with the class rep and her team?”
Right now, it’s just us and the class rep’s party on this floor.
The others are lagging behind. I think Sakura and Tōma -kun’s party started late because Sakura couldn’t go all out in a simultaneous start.
Well, if Sakura were leading the way, she’d probably clear out all the monsters, leaving nothing for the other students to do. Besides, I’m not strong enough to fight alongside Sakura right now, so I decided to go ahead.
If we manage to reach the boss room on the fifth level, great. If not, we can leave it to Sakura and Tōma -kun.
Still, I don’t plan on giving up easily. We’re academy students, after all. It’d be unthinkable to slack off during a dungeon exploration exercise that affects our grades.
But there really are a lot of monsters. Hound wolves, goblin soldiers, and orcs that usually appear on the fifth level are all over.
Sakura would probably tear through these monsters like they’re paper. In fact, it seems these are the monsters that ran from the lesser demons she defeated, which makes me feel a bit envious of her overwhelming strength.
But I don’t have time to be feeling down about it. All I can do is keep moving forward.
“We need to make progress before Amagi-san catches up.”
“Should we consider teaming up? Is that okay?”
The two in my party—Toru Nakamura and Risa Murakami—aren’t particularly fond of Sakura, so their reaction is understandable. Now that I think about it, Toru confessed to Sakura right after we enrolled and got rejected. And Risa has feelings for Toru…
“I’m okay with it!”
This chubby guy is Koichi Kimura. He’s a bit intense and overly friendly, but he’s a decent tank. His nickname is ‘Meat Shield’… I didn’t come up with it, okay? It’s not bullying or anything—he doesn’t mind, and it’s stuck. Sometimes he even shouts, “Meat Shield, reporting for duty!” happily.
Wasn’t he originally a mage?
“Team up? Yeah, it’s getting tough here on the fourth level.”
When Toru called the class rep, they easily agreed to team up. He put her on speaker so we could discuss party arrangements. If it didn’t look like it’d work, we could just call it off. In the end, we, with our more forward-focused members, took the front, while the class rep’s team, which specializes in defense and support, stayed in the rear.
If a strong monster appears, the class rep and I will move to the front, but since we haven’t practiced coordinating yet, this is the best we can do.
“Still, it’s strange that there’s no change in the dungeon’s magical energy.”
“Yeah, right? With so many monsters around.”
I nodded in agreement at the class rep’s murmur.
Normally, an increase in monsters also increases the ambient magical energy, since monsters emit magic.
While this magic does dissipate over time, new monsters keep appearing, so the magical energy in a dungeon usually stays within a certain range.
Investigators measure this magic to estimate monster strength and determine the dungeon’s rank.
“Wait, isn’t that a goblin sword? That shouldn’t appear in a D-rank dungeon.”
“Sorry, I’m hanging up. Let’s meet up! We’ll deal with the monsters here!”
“““Yeah!”””
“Got it! We’ll catch up soon!”
Since we had paused to talk, monsters started gathering around us. And every one of them was something that normally wouldn’t show up in the academy dungeon.
Goblin Swordsmen, Orc Mages, Thunder Kobolds, Dark Wolves—all monsters usually seen in a C-rank dungeon.
And then…
“Damn! It’s huge!”
“No way, this is bad!”
“Hang in there, everyone! I’ll take the front!”
“I’m coming, too!”
“Eriina! Koichi-kun! Go for it! I’ll support you!”
The four of us got into formation to make it through this situation.
