171-180

"Send him a message. Tell him that we are currently trapped in the dungeon and that many students are locked out of the inner part of it. Tell him to bring them back, all except the ones trapped in my barrier. They can go to hell…."

"Wait, what is hell?" Telive asked after cutting me off. He had a very confused expression on his face.

"It's the place bad people go when they die. Anyway, tell him to find the person who told him about this dungeon and hold them all at the academy. When we clear the dungeon and return, I want answers on why the hell they would send young boys and girls into a massive goblin den when they did not know the characteristics of the monster themselves. Also, tell them what you saw with your own eyes." I then leaned over and added: "Also, report the other instructors about their crime of not defending students. I will tell him you were the only one to help."

Telive looked at me with a shocked expression before nodding his head. Although he was forced to come out, I can't not hold him accountable for what the other instructors did. I watched as he pulled out a sheet of paper that looked like a talisman and spoke into it. After that, it floated up into the air and disappeared. Seeing how everything was set, I decided it was time to set things in motion. "Instructor Telive, I want you and the other instructors to stay here and protect the girls and injured boys. I will set up a barrier for you to stay in, but just in case something breaks it down, it will be up to you to protect them. The barrier that is used for blocking people from leaving also blocks others from entering. There is also a reflection spell on it for those who try to forcefully open it. Not to mention some parts I can not understand…."-.

I had taken a good look at the inscriptions of the barrier with my appraisal skill, and there were many things I could not read due to not being this world's language or an ancient script that I have yet to learn. I can probably get a lingual type skill, but I do not have many skill points, and if it is not enough to decipher the runes, then I would have wasted them. Plus, I can use this time to level up some as well. I am sure I can keep my team safe.

"Wait, who gave you the right to tell us what to do!?" One of the male teachers yelled out at me. He seemed quite angry at me.

"You found it no issue when I went and took care of the orc! But you want to make a fuss now!? How about I toss your incompetent butt down the hole over there, and you can see for yourself just what is down there! This test is long over. The third test will be voided as many people have died for no reason. And you…" I narrowed my eyes. "You let those poor girls experience something they should never have ever had the ability to experience. Don't think that you can get away with it just because you are an instructor and were told not to do anything."

As I said all this, I flipped my hand, causing a blue round blob to suddenly appear in my hand. These teachers were not even close to being able to deal with my Mr. Blobs! Or his mighty friends! "Mr. Blobs, I want you to keep an eye on the girls over there. If any of these teachers get any funny ideas….. Eat them!"

"Spluurgie!" Mr. Bobs' bouncy cute body bounced up and down as he answered me back. At least, I think he was answering me back.

"What is this!? A slime!?" The female instructor cried out. I just ignored her and waved my hand. 𝓲𝓃𝐧𝓇𝗲𝒂d. 𝑐𝐨ｍ

What appeared before them all was a field of blue. They were all lined up in an orderly fashion as I began pacing back and forth with my hands behind my back. "Listen up! Listen to your leader. If he says not to eat someone, do not eat them. If he says to eat someone, eat them! Your job this time is to protect the girls and injured boys leaning against the wall over there. If any green guys like the ones on the battlefield you are standing on appear, attack without restraint! Do I make myself self clear, soldiers!?"

"Spluurgie!!!!!!!!!" A mighty roar of slimes filled the room, causing me to smile. "Alright, clean up the battlefield up of any green guys. Let the instructors clean up the humans and demi humans! Get to work!"

"Spluurgie!!!!!!!!!" Another roar filled the room. I turned to see everyone's eyes, besides those in the know, so wide that their eyeballs might fall out. "Ahem…." I walked over and patted Telive on the shoulder. "I leave it to you. My guys will be on double watch."

"Huh? Ah… yeah…. Umm… Faith…." Telive called out to me in a questioning tone.

"Yes?"

"Is it just me, or do I see a sea of slimes? And they are working in a militaristic fashion…." I turned and looked at my cute little babies to see the leader slimes who were in charge of their own slime units giving out orders. Everything was being done in a neat and tidy fashion. It was one hundred percent Faith approved!

"Hmmm? Isn't it normal for slimes to work in orderly fashions?" I asked while tilting my head to the side. I mean it was normal for me….

"Not at all!" Telive yelled out.

"Instructor Telive, it is best not to underestimate the idea of normal when it comes to Faith. She is after all a girl who basically repelled the Norian invasion on her own…." Adel came over to speak up on my behalf but I think I might be getting made fun of here.

"But this is beyond normal! Since when were slimes so smart! Look, they are even marching in groups patrolling the room!" Telive yelled out.

"What the hell is this!?" The instructor who questioned me before suddenly yelled out. I turned to see him near the girls that were currently passed out. In front of him were Mr. Blobs and three other slimes, all guarding the girls. What was he trying to do when so many were around? Was he taking advantage of the situation when no one was looking?

"More like I should be asking you what are you doing!?" I yelled out as I appeared in front of him.

"You! I was just checking on the kids to make sure they were okay!" The instructor yelled.

"What can you do for them? You can only use some basic spells and are mostly a sword user. Let me warn you now, just a single one of my slimes can easily kill you. Do not look down on my friends." I said coldly. I had just used appraisal on him, and he was rather weak to even be an instructor. I raised my hand and tapped the air. A magic circle formed as I spoke softly: "Stop…. Duration, two years….."-.

This was my own little version of Adel's spell. I noticed in the runic equation that you could actually add a time on to the spell. And well…. Now it can be used for a set amount of time instead of a short duration. Kind of like in coding when making a timer. You want to use the current time and match it to a number that you can set. A lot of times, this will have a default value, but if you wish to set the length to be longer, you only need to change the variable. In this case, I added the variable to replace the default value. But now, with him frozen there, he was in the way.

"Mr. Blobs have some of your soldiers move him to a corner someplace." I ordered before turning around. Once again, I was being stared at with dumbfounded expressions. "What?"

"Boss is so cool!"Leo suddenly yelled out.

"Yes, Boss is the coolest!" Steven joined in. This was followed by many head nods.

But I did not understand one thing. "Why are all of you suddenly calling me boss?"

"You took out that huge orc and are in command of a massive slime army! If you are not a boss, then we do not know who could be considered one." Brad replied, and once more, everyone nodded in agreement.

"I-I see…." I replied. I could feel my cheeks heating up. I don't know why but when people my own age look up to me like this, it makes me feel kind of embarrassed.

"Ah! Boss is blushing!"

"Yeah, a blushing Boss is very cute."

"Boss, do you have a boyfriend?"

Now my face was getting hotter and hotter. Before I could tell them to stop, I heard an angry shout: "Who asked if she has a boyfriend? Step out right now!"

I suddenly felt a headache coming on. I walked over and raised my hand, and chopped down on a certain golden haired girl. "Adel, bad!"

"Faith. Don't treat me like a pet! One of these bastards asked if you had a boyfriend!" Adel cried out with an aggrieved expression as she rubbed the top of her head.

"What does it matter? Whether I do or I don't, it doesn't matter. You can't just go yelling at people!" I scolded, causing Adel to lower her head. She looked so pitiful, but I had to stay strong and hold my ground. Adel really needs to calm down.

"Fine…" Adel relented but still glared at everyone once more before walking over to Sophie to probably complain about me. I can't do much about it. Adel only listens to me right now, so if I did not stop her, no one would be able to.

Now that things were a bit calmer, I cleared my throat. "Ahem! I will say this now. In order to leave this place, we will probably need to clear the dungeon. It will be very dangerous, and I do not know how many will be able to survive. I will do my best to protect everyone, but I am not a god. But, I myself do not wish to be stuck in the dungeon. So I will be diving deeper into the dungeon whether it is dangerous or not. But I will not force anyone to come with me. If you wish to stay, I will put you under the protection of a barrier. I will not be angry. This is a choice for you to make. But I will also not sit around and wait for you to make a decision either. We have people here who need major healing that minor heals can not deal with. We can only prolong their life, but they are in great pain. i𝑛𝗻rℯ𝒂𝒅． 𝓬o𝘮

"So I will ask once. Who is staying and who is going. If you want to stay, stand behind me. Otherwise, go to where the others are." I could easily heal all of them with a high heal, but I refuse. This was also why I did not do more to help the girls either. They were all people who looked at me with scorn and probably would have plotted against me sooner or later. I may sound like some uncaring person, but I do not care. They should be glad that I went as far as to save them in the first place.

"Boss…. You have to be joking, right?" Steven stepped forward as he spoke. "We all already decided to follow you from the start. We are not going to run away now. Since you need us, we will follow you into the unknown. If we lose our lives, that is because we were not good enough."

"Yeah, Boss, you should listen to Steven. We will fight with you. Even if I can not offer much, I can still cast fireballs with all I have!" Hailey, the weakest of the group, said as she walked to stand behind me. This was followed by everyone else. Just knowing people are willing to follow behind me on their own free will, makes me happy.

A dark craggy tunnel was what laid in wait for us as we passed through the only exit we could pass through except for the hole in the wall. We were currently in a tight formation as this was a bad area to be in for goblins. Amanda held her nose as she complained: "It stinks…."

"It's also very humid…." Leo cried out. 𝘪𝑛𝒏r𝘦𝚊𝐝. 𝒄o𝐦

"How do you think Sophie and I feel? We have much keener senses than you guys." I complained as I wrinkled my nose. The stench was really too much. Even poor Sophie's eyes were watering up due to the stink.

"But Boss, you don't look like you are affected at all." Steven said as he walked up to my side. For someone who comes across as a kid who would be a smart-aleck and cause trouble, he has been very reliable and very nice. While I should still keep my guard up, I do not mind dropping it for those who are willing to dive headlong into the abyss, even though it could mean we will all die. Plus, he was quite handsome as well. So a bit of eye candy is not bad once and a while. While I am surrounded by beautiful girls, I have no guys at my side, so this was not actually all that bad.-.

"I have no choice but to keep pushing forward. From what I know, the way down to the bottom floor where the boss is will take a long time. And we will always need to be on guard. I don't have time to really complain much. I want everyone here to leave this place alive and untainted." I explained. But I guess my words hit everyone hard because they all went quiet. But that was only a thought that lasted a second.

"Boss! You care so much about us!" Steven cried out and hugged me, causing me to stop moving and push the idiot off. But I couldn't help but smile. I mean to have so many people who were willing to be friends with me, I really feel blessed.

"Stop being clingy! It's hot!" I said as I pushed him away. But as I did, I heard something not too far away.

"Ah, no fun…." I placed my finger on Steven's mouth, stopping him from talking.

"Shhh!" I said as I scanned the area. I then turned to everyone and whispered: "Get ready for combat."

Everyone quickly got serious. Even Adel reigned in her anger that was about to explode when Steven hugged me. I could tell because she had that look in her eye. "Grace lighting."

"On it!" Grace replied as she waved her hand and quickly wrote six magic circles: "Lighting!"

Six balls of light spread out in all directions lighting up the area we were in. I had been trying to use my detection magic this entire time, but I could not seem to detect any of the monsters in this dungeon no matter how hard I tried. I had to rely on my own natural instincts. While it was less efficient, I could still smell the goblins coming toward us and knew the direction they were coming in.

"Caster's get ready! Incoming from our front. And the left side!" I yelled out.

"Boss, there's only rock on the left side!" Bard yelled back.

"Look at the dark areas on the left! They should be some kind of side passages. Keep your eyes peeled! Begin forming a half moon circle and move towards the right side wall! Melee in the front, Casters behind!" I yelled back. My plan was simply to make sure everyone had the most amount of coverage and to consolidate our area, and keep our blind spots minimal. By moving towards the side back wall where there were no hiding spots, we could easily keep our backs from being attacked.

With a barrier blocking all those outside of it, we could easily attack at will without taking any damage. While I could do the same if we all stood together, I did not dare to do it in a dungeon with such monsters that I couldn't even see their levels. While only the boss monster was the only one I had come across so far, I did not want to risk any sudden surprises.

"Steven, Blake, up front!" I yelled out. Steven and Blake quickly took their positions with swords in hand. As soon as we were in position, I put up a barrier around us. Not more than a few seconds later, a bunch of short green men came out of the darkness beyond the lighting spell that Grace cast. Some wore tattered rags around their waists, while others had nothing at all.

In total, there were about twenty of them, which made me frown. Goblins always hunted in some kind of pack in novels as well but never this many at a time. I guess I should not complain because my novel loving self from my past life had knowledge that was very useful in situations like this.

"Get ready! Opening a hole to let some in! Take this time to practice! Melee, kill the goblins on the inside! Ranged aim for the goblins on the outside of the barrier!" This was something else that I decided on, that we would take time to practice against the weaker monsters as much as we could to gain the experience needed for fighting goblins or any kind of monster. Everyone here besides a few has no real combat experience. This was the perfect time for that.

"Boss, leave it to us!" Steven yelled out with a big smile on his face. I do not know why but he was very excited about fighting these things.

"Grahhh! Grahh!" One of the goblins banged on the barrier. I sneered and opened the barrier up just as it was about to use its shoulder to bash into it, making it stumble and fall over on its face. But it was quickly followed by five other goblins.

I gripped my sword and yelled out: "Attack!"

Steven ran forward and cried out a battle cry as he attacked the goblin that fell. Blue blood splattered through the air as his sword cut through the goblin's neck. Grace, Amanda, Hailey, and Tom all began their volley on the outside of the barrier while everyone else, Adel included, began fighting the ones I let in. Well, everyone except me. Everyone was so gung-ho that I didn't even get a chance to move after I gave out orders.

I could only keep opening the barrier to let more goblins in, but there was something bothering me. I originally only counted twenty goblins, but between those killed inside and those killed outside, the number did not seem to go down. I wanted to go inspect what was going on since detection was not working, but I dared not leave.

I stood there watching Adel casually standing there with a sword in her hand, casting stop on any goblin that pounced at her. Sei and Sophie were at her side, protecting her from any extras that might sneak up on them. Steven and the boys were rampaging around on the battlefield while Sally…. "Hmm, where is Sally?"

"I am here, Young Miss. My job is to protect you, Young Miss." Sally replied from behind me, causing me to almost jump out of my skin. I turned around to see her there with her back straight, her hammer resting on the ground as she held the handle with the other.-.

Ah! I almost forgot that Sally was my personal guard. I was still not used to that. Well, I guess it was okay since Sally did not seem like someone who needed combat experience in the first place. From what I have seen, the rabbit was an amazing fighter as it was.

"Alright, but please! Please tell me if you are going to stand behind me!" I really did not know how she does it, but she is like a ghost who could appear anywhere at will silently.

"As you wish, Young Miss." Sally replied while bowing her head. I really wished she would loosen up some. But I guess after years of working for that stupid cat, she would not be able to change her habits easily.

The battle kept going and going, and I could tell some of them were getting tired. Hailey was already sitting on the ground, her mana must be almost depleted while the others were slowing down their movements. Seeing this, I decided it was my time to move. "Everyone fall back and rest! I will handle the rest."

"Thanks, Boss!" Steven yelled out. His hair was soaked in sweat, which was to be expected after he ran around like a crazy man.

But I had to thank the goblins for doing a wonderful job of coming here and giving everyone some practice time. To be honest, I was very impressed with how well everyone was fighting. While some got a few wounds here and there, it was nothing we could not easily heal.

I walked over to the barrier and stood at the very edge, causing the goblins to frantically slam against the barrier with their bodies. I could see the crazed frenzy in their eyes. It was as if they were starving, but these guys only had one thing in mind, which could be easily seen if you looked below their waist.

I reached up with my hand and placed it against the barrier. My eyes began to glow with magic circles as I softly spoke: "Flame Pillar!"

A medium area of effect spell. It caused many pillars of fire to shoot up from the ground and burn everything that they touched to ash. One of which shot up right in front of me on the other side of the barrier. Once it died down and I saw that the goblins had dispersed, my eyes glowed once more: "Flame wall!" two rows of flames stretched out before me, blocking the left and right sides of a small opening in front of me. I then stepped outside the barrier.

"Boss!" "Faith!" 𝒾𝓃𝓷𝘳e𝗮𝒅. 𝐜૦𝒎

"Are you crazy? Come back here!" I heard Adel yell out. But before she could run out and give chase, I set up another barrier around the original, blocking anyone from exiting. I just couldn't shake the idea that something was seriously wrong with this place.

With my mana shield up, I walked forward into the darkness, looking for any signs of something that might be causing these goblins to appear. I felt that maybe since the dungeon core could create monsters that made, there was something else that might create them as well. But even as I killed globins that jumped at me left and right, I found myself not making any progress. Because they just kept coming at me in masses. I would have jumped in the air to escape them, but the rocky ceiling was too low.

"Ahhh! So annoying! Where the hell is that Gobslayer man when I need him!" I shouted in annoyance. Gobslayer man was a light novel series I read back on Earth when I was reading a lot of fantasy novels. It was about an old man who went around slaying goblins. This was where I learned mostly all my knowledge about goblins.

My eyes lit up once more as I stomped my foot, causing the entire area in front of me to suddenly turn into a field of ice: "Ice Field!"

Every goblin in a large area around me turned into a gobsicle. I then sent out a bunch of light balls to figure out what was going on. And that was when I spotted it. A blackish purple portal swirled around at the entrance to the next room. And what was coming out of it was goblin after goblin. I really do not see how this was fair unless we set off some kind of trap that we do not know about, but whatever the reason, it was a bit over the top. If anything, this could be considered hard mode. Or some kind of time trial where you kill a million goblins. But now I at least know what is going on but the only issue is that there are so many goblins, I can't get a clear read on the portal itself to use appraisal since it is so dark. "I guess I can only get closer…. So annoying…."

To not have any annoyances attacking me left and right, I created an elongated barrier that stretched out in front of me and also rotated as well. So this way, any goblins attacking it would be thrown away instead of just bashing on it and somehow breaking it. I walked straight down the path I made and got up close to the portal. "Appraisal!"

[Dark Portal]

[A portal that will summon Monsters of a given type.] 𝚒𝓷𝚗𝚛𝚎𝙖𝐝. 𝒄૦𝓂

[Monster Type: Goblins]

[Spawn Rate: 10 goblins per second]-.

"What kind of crap is this!? Why would it spawn so many so fast!?" I sighed as my eyes lit up. "Since you want to spawn more goblins and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop you from doing so, then I can only create a barrier around you, and then you can spawn as many as you want."

I set up a ten layer barrier around the portal along with it all being connected to my mana. The main thing about this barrier is that they all rotate in different directions. While the outside barriers are just a precaution, the first two barriers have a certain purpose. With the high speed rotation, the goblins squashed against it will begin spinning at a high speed grinding up against other goblins, effectively creating a goblin blender. While this might sound disgusting, and it is very disgusting, I do believe this will also give me a fair bit of experience points as well. At least, I hope anyway.

But now, with the portal taken care of, I can do something about this mass of goblins. "Absolute Zero! Fire Pillar!"

I dual casted two different spells. First, I instantly froze all the goblins around me and then used fire pillar to make them combust.

<strong>*Boom!* </strong>

Well… I guess such a move is not the best inside a dungeon…. Luckily it was just a steam explosion and only sent out a shock wave, but I am not sure how that would affect someone not covered in a barrier.

But now, with the goblins taken care of, everything is set. I made my way back to the place where everyone was waiting for me and stepped through the barrier only to be slapped in the face. I held my cheek and stared at Adel with a shocked expression. I mean, I was shocked, Adel actually hit me! "You…. You! Idiot Faith! Why did you run off on your own!? Why!? Why do you always try to do things by yourself!? Just because you are powerful!? You didn't even explain anything. You just ran off!"

Adel gripped my armor as tears rolled down her cheeks. I see…. I must have worried them all. As I looked up, I could see that worry as clear as day. Although I wished she didn't slap me, now her hand is all red. I took her hand in mine and cast a healing spell to restore it back to new before hugging her. "Sorry."

"Just explain yourself better next time!" Adel cried out.

"Young Miss, please at least take me with you next time. As your bodyguard, it would not be good if you keep leaving me behind." Ugh, even Sally was reprimanding me.

I let Adel go and bowed my head to everyone there. A true full bow as I said: "I am sorry for worrying you all."

"Boss, you can rely on us more. We do not mind even if we have to push ourselves past our limits. In fact, we want to push past our limits so we can grow stronger." Steven stepped forward and said.

"Alright… But this dungeon won't be easy, and as you know, it is especially dangerous for girls. So we need to be extra careful. The thing that was causing so many goblins to appear is already taken care of. And all the extra goblins are also dead. If we had continued as we were, we would have been stuck here forever. But still, I am sorry." I bowed once more.

We all took a long rest. I took out some food and made a campfire. Blankets and pillows were all passed out. Annie really had a thing about pushing so many things on me for just in case situations. And I should really give her a raise. She is like the secret guardian angel who always seems to know what will happen in the future.

I laid down with Adel and Sophie snuggling up next to me. Something we were pretty much used to doing. We were doing shifts on keeping watch. Sally and Sei took the first shift, so I took this time to catch some sleep myself.

—

"Faith! We need back up!" A voice screamed out. I turned to see Steven shouting from the side, but this was an older version of Steven I did not know. Once again, I was seeing an image of a battlefield. I do not know why I keep seeing such dreams. But they always seem so realistic.

"Faith!" Steven screamed once more.

"Okay!" I yelled out. Unlike before, I did not dare sit idly. I did not want to see my friends dying in front of me. But what I couldn't understand was why were we fighting? Why were we stuck on this battlefield?

I went to fly up into the air to get a better grasp on the battlefield but was quickly pulled down. "Are you crazy!? Flying is death! The monsters they summoned rule the skies. We can't even get an aerial advantage. You should know this! You were the one who almost died trying to take them out!"

I stared at Steven in shock. They summoned monsters? What kind of monsters? I looked up at the smoke covered sky and couldn't see anything. The dense clouds overhead blocked my view.

I sighed and began marching on. The enemies were both humans and demi humans. But for some reason, I feel there is something off about them. They all had a strange purple pattern on their bodies. I am not sure what was wrong with them, but they were indeed very powerful. I had cast a fireball at one casually while they were fighting someone else, and it smashed into them, but they did not even react.

"Faith! What are you doing!? This is not time to be clowning around. We need a large area of effect spell off in the distance or we will be overrun!"

I frowned and quickly used detection magic to see where the enemy was. But what I saw was horrific. A battle field that stretched thousands of miles. A massive army was marching right towards us. I took a deep breath and tried to remind myself that this was a dream. As I let it out and opened my eyes, hundreds of millions of magic circles formed in the air. "Armageddon…."

This was a spell I had thought up a while ago. With my mana being infinity, I had no reason why I couldn't pull off such a spell but to think I was actually able to pull it off. With a wave of my other hand, I created a massive barrier around the impact point. To protect our own people and also to contain the damage to the surroundings. Although I do hope I never have to do something like this in real life.

"Every time I see it, it still amazes me…." I heard Steven say as he killed another enemy.

"I have done this before?" I asked in confusion.

"Huh? Are you losing your memory? If not for your Armageddon spell, we would have long lost this war. The enemy is just too powerful. Those damn bastards actually created something like that and then began summoning monsters. It's all the fault of those damn dungeons too!" Steven yelled in anger.

"Faith!" I heard another cry from behind me. Adel rushed over to me. She was much older looking and was even more beautiful. Her body really filled out in the right places. She wore metal plated leather armor like myself and had a sword at her side. "Faith, we need you on the west side. Sally just sent out an SOS."

"Alright, let's go! Steven, I leave things to you here!" I yelled out as I rushed off with Adel. As I was leaving, I heard Steven yell back at me: "You got it, Boss!"-.

I was happy to see Adel alive in this dream. But I did wonder how Sophie was. "Adel, how's Sophie doing?" I asked, but even after waiting for a while, Adel still did not answer me. "Adel?"

"Faith…. Let's not talk about that…. We can't have you having another episode." Adel finally replied, but her reply confused me even more.

"Huh? Episode?" I asked. I really did not understand what she meant.

"Your dragonic bloodline….."Adel said before pausing for a moment before continuing: "We need to hurry."

I kinda had an idea of why she did not want to talk about it. After my last dream, I can only think of one thing. But why was this dream and my last seemingly connected? Was my dreamscape inside my mind playing a continuation of my previous dream? But starting at a later time?

I had a lot of questions, but I could only think of one that could be answered right away. "Adel, this may sound strange, but when did this war start?"

"When did it start?" Adel looked at me strangely. But still opened her mouth to answer me. "I think it's been seventy years…."

I stared at Adel, who still looked in her twenties, and couldn't help but smile. I wonder if I was the one who figured out a way to extend everyone's life. Well, I guess it doesn't matter, whoever did it, I owe them my sincerest thanks.

As I continued to run, My eyes began to slowly darken. The next thing I knew, I felt someone shaking me. "Faith, wake up! It's our turn to keep watch."

I slowly opened my sleepy eyes to see the young version of Adel in front of me. I smiled softly and slowly nodded my head. At least this time, no one in my dream died. But….. Sophie…. I looked over at the fluffy tailed girl to see her standing there with a sword in her hand, looking out into the darkness. If things ever come to be like they are in my dreams, I will have to remember to protect Sophie. I will need to work on some better defensive inscriptions, plus a mana shield inscription.

"Faith, are you okay?" Adel asked. I turned to see her worried expression.

I nodded and smiled at her. "Mmm… Just a strange dream is all. How was the first watch anything?"

"Everything was fine, nothing to report." Adel answered. I nodded and sat down with my sword next to me. I looked into the darkness and did not see a single goblin, so I guess everything was fine. I guess I drew all the goblins to me when I left to check where the goblins were coming from.

But I do wonder if I leveled up at all… I mean, I did create a big goblin blender. With this thought in mind, I opened my menu to check my stats.

[Humanoid Form]

[Name]: Faith Cyrilia

[Age] 12

[Level] 55

[Race] Dragonic

[HP] 20100/20100 𝒊𝐧𝒏𝘳𝙚α𝙙. 𝘤𝗼𝐦

[MP] ∞

[Attack Power] 19700

[Magic Power] 19700

[Status Points] 555

[Strength] 1970

[Vitality] 2010

[Intelligence] 1970

[Mind] ∞

[Agility] 1970

[Skill Points] 14

[Skills]

[Appraisal (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Command (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Tactics (LVL 10(MAX))] [Business Tycoon (LVL 10(MAX))] [Acting (LVL 1(MAX))]

Nine levels!? I am shocked. I already leveled nine times off those stupid goblins. I am actually quite happy! My stats could once more begin rising using the mana trickle. I even had quite a bit of status points to use as well. I am really not sure what I want to level up. I guess I will wait until I really need them and then boost all my stats as high as I can. I might need them to kill the last boss of this place, if we can kill it, that is. The stats all read question marks which really worried me. I just hope it was a level thing.

If I were to really need to add points, it would probably be in strength and agility. This, of course all depends on how many levels I will get as we descend lower into the dungeon. But if I have more I will up my intelligence as well to make my magic much more potent.

As we continued to dive deeper into the dungeon, we came up to another large room on the third floor, where we stopped just at the entrance to look inside. So far, we have had to do this at every large room to check to see what was waiting for us. Each floor seemed to have such a room. The second floor had a room filled with armored goblins. It took a bit to clear, but we were able to manage it easily. Each floor so far also had a portal spawning monsters as well. And it seemed the portal and the goblins for that floor were based on the goblins you fought in the large room on the previous floor. Luckily this just meant more goblin blenders for me to use to gain free experience.

"Grace, do your thing," I said in a low voice. Grace nodded and sent out a cluster of light balls to fill the room. What I saw inside made me frown. There were large green goblins inside, about twice as tall as me, with large muscles. "Appraisal!"

[Elite Hobgoblin]

[Level 32]

[Health: 2000./2000]

[Mana: 300/300]

[Elite Hobgoblin]

[Level 37]-.

[Health: 2300./2300]

[Mana: 400/400]

[Elite Hobgoblin Champion]

[Level 54]

[Health: 4500./4500]

[Mana: 800/800]

Seeing the levels and names, I couldn't help but frown. There were like twenty of these hobgoblins inside. Seventeen of them were regular elite hobgoblins, while three were elite hobgoblin champions. I motioned with my hand for everyone to back up. We retreated back to a smaller open area in the tunnel and took a small break after I put up a barrier. Hailey was the first to speak: "What the hell were those things!?"

"Hobgoblins, elite ones at that, and they are strong. I replied." Over the past few days, I have been slowly letting them in on some of my own personal abilities. Such as Appraisal. I did this because the more battles we fought together, the more I realized that it would not be easy to hide certain things. So I have to give a reason as to why I knew what I knew. So I explained that Appraisal allowed me to see certain things about monsters.

"What!? Can we beat them?" Rick asked. He had a worried expression on his face.

"We should be fine. Remember fighting from inside a barrier is our best means of clearing this dungeon without getting hurt. We can let one in at a time. We will work in one group to take it out." I explained slowly. While I was sure, I could probably fight them fine by myself with my current level being above all above theirs…

[Humanoid Form]

[Name]: Faith Cyrilia

[Age] 12

[Level] 70 𝗶𝙣𝗻𝚛eα𝑑. 𝒸𝗼𝑚

[Race] Dragonic

[HP] 27200/27200

[MP] ∞

[Attack Power] 26800

[Magic Power] 26800

[Status Points] 630

[Strength] 2680

[Vitality] 2720

[Intelligence] 2680

[Mind] ∞

[Agility] 2680

[Skill Points] 29

[Skills]

[Appraisal (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Command (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Tactics (LVL 10(MAX))] [Business Tycoon (LVL 10(MAX))] [Acting (LVL 1(MAX))]

I still wished to allow my team to gain the experience they need to fight such monsters later on in life. This was a perfect training ground for them, and they could train within the safety of the barrier.

"Boss, if you were to fight them alone, you could do it?" Steven asked. I could tell he was worried about fighting such a large monster as well.

I smiled and nodded my head. "In a single hit." It was true. I could easily take one of their heads off if I truly had to in a single blow. But I was not going to.

"Then we should be able to do it too if we team up. Boss, let us fight them on our own, don't step in." Amanda said with a look of determination.

"Okay, then Sally and I will sit this one out. I will only worry about shielding those who look to be in trouble. Just remember to fight safely and fight smart. Do not rush in or get anxious. If you feel you can't win, retreat right away." I feel like a broken record as I keep saying the same things, but I truly meant it, and I was trying to drill this into their heads. The only time one should fight recklessly is if you have something you are trying to protect or are trying to save someone. Only then is such a thing allowed. While I know this might not be a good train of thought, but I would rather fight with everything I have to save those I care about than to let them die or come to serious harm.

"Don't worry Boss. We won't do anything that will cause you to have to worry about us." Steven replied with a smile. There were six boys in my team, and each one was normal. With all the men I have met in this world besides my father and brother, I had been wondering if they were all messed in the head. Well, not all but those that are much closer to my age range. Like Lance and the idiot hero. Well, I guess the Lance is getting better. But now, after speaking with Steven and the rest, I realize I was just unlucky with the men I have met up until now. Just knowing this world was not all full of weirdos made me breathe a sigh of relief.

"Alright, let's rest an hour, then we can all go in and try to fight those hobgoblins. But let me warn you, the next floor after this will probably only have hobgoblins on it, which will make it much harder to move forward. So until then, we will work hard and keep refining our skills until everything is as easy as spending money in the market." After I finished speaking, I noticed Steven giving me a strange look. "What!?"

"Boss, you really are a girl. You relate everything to shopping." Steven replied with a look of astonishment.

I couldn't help but stare blankly at him for a moment before yelling out: "What is that supposed to mean!?" And throwing a few rocks at him. I mean, I am a girl! Was he thinking of me as a boy this entire time!?

And for some reason, Adel is patting me on the back, giving me a pitied look! Humph, everyone is bullying me!

"Steven, hold it off for a few more minutes!" Sophie yelled out as she blocked another attack from the hobgoblin in front of her.

"On it!" Steven yelled back. He was currently holding off the extra hobgoblin that had entered the barrier.

"Ranged focus fire!" Sophie yelled out once more. I had to admit Sophie seems to change once she is in battle. Each one of her orders is on point. She is a natural leader. It's just that it is a huge contradiction compared to when she is not in a fight. Since she is so quiet and barely talks to anyone.-.

"Young Miss Sophie is truly amazing," Sally said with a sigh.

"You can just call her Sophie, you know. I know you will not call me by my name but at least call Sophie by hers. We are all family now with the same surname." These past few days, I have been trying to get Sally to call me by my name, but she refuses. The best I can get is Young Miss.

"Then I will call her Sophie," Sally replied, causing me to purse my lips. I mean, come on! I want to be called by my name as well!

I sighed as I said: "Well, it is true. Sophie is a fast learner. She is a natural at everything she does. But this is not just something she gains overnight. She actually puts a lot of work into training. It's because of her dedication that everyone else has been training during rest periods. Our team is really becoming a strong force."

"That it is. Each one of them is improving by the day. Even Hailey, whose magic is weak, has grown a lot. Her sixe spell casts have now grown to almost thirty in a short time, and her fireballs have strengthened quite a bit. She can even cast two at a time now thanks to Young Miss's guidance." Sally seems to have been watching everyone closely. I guess this is an occupational disease for those who are guards. Always watching those around you and analyzing them. Not that this was a bad thing.

"They all have improved a lot. I can say that before, Steven couldn't fight one of these hobgoblins on his own, but now he is able to fight one to a standstill. They have all grown so much." Mainly because they are gaining levels in this dungeon, I noticed. I went against my normal morals and used Appraisal on Steven when I saw his quick improvements. And when I first checked him, he was level 22, but now he was level 30. That was a huge gain. I also checked Hailey, and she went from level 10 to level 20. This was all within one floor. I am not sure how this works, but it was a good thing.

"Let's hope we can clear the dungeon and finally leave this place. My nose may not be as sensitive as yours or Sophie's, but I still have a higher sense of smell than humans. And each floor, the smell gets worse and burns." I looked over at Sally, whose nose was wrinkled, and reached up and scratched her rabbit ears. "Don't worry. We will leave this place even if I have to use my final trump card to finish off the boss monster of this place."

Sally's ears twitched as she nodded her head. She seemed to really like her ears scratched because her lips curled up into a small smile and her head leaned more towards me. Whether she noticed this or not, I do not know, but it was fine with me. Her hair and ears were soft and fuzzy.

"Although Sei does look bored," I said as I looked at the girl who was standing there yawning. She was standing next to Adel while Adel tried to gain more battle experience. It was just her magic seemed to be less effective against monsters of a higher level. Her stop would only last a few seconds before she would need to redraw another magic circle and cast it again.

"She needs something else besides just using stop. While it is useful, the usability of it is not all that practical if you are facing more than one enemy that is resistant to magic. I will have to work with her on creating a new spell that can do more than just three things." I really wanted to create a time spell that worked in a different way. I have no idea how to do it, but the fact that it could only be used on one target at a time was not very useful. Even if we could make a multiple target version that had a shorter duration would be better than nothing.

"It would be good if she could spread out a field that slowed time." I heard Sally's words, and my eyes lit up. It would be like a barrier, but it would affect everyone inside it with time magic. This could be used not just to slow but to stop as well. And since it is a kind of domain…. The hamster wheels in my brain were spinning. I quickly began drawing on the ground, trying to come up with a proper magic circle that even Adel could use that would not consume too much mana.

The problem with time magic, or as it is called by Adel cosmic magic, is that it is very ruled based. As if the magic was being restricted by some unknown force. It could only have one command and lasted for a certain duration. While the duration could be expanded, this also depended on the level of the person you are casting the spell on and their resistance to magic. Hence why I could easily cast it on the idiot instructor. But for Adel, who has lower stats than me, she was restricted to the rules and the duration when it came to higher level beings like the hobgoblins. If she were to be able to use it as a domain, it would allow her to keep the same rule but have it auto apply when it wore off because they were in her domain. This would have the same kind of effect as telling someone to be stop for a year or forever as long Adel kept the domain up.i𝒏𝑛r𝑒𝘢𝙙.＆nbsp;com

Seven floors later and 35 more levels, my group and I have finally made it to what seems to be the shaman goblin boss.

[Humanoid Form]

[Name]: Faith Cyrilia

[Age] 12 𝚒𝘯ｎ𝒓𝐞𝓪𝗱. ᴄ𝘰𝐦

[Level] 105

[Race] Dragonic

[HP] 37250/37250-.

[MP] ∞

[Attack Power] 36850

[Magic Power] 36850

[Status Points] 805

[Strength] 3685

[Vitality] 3725

[Intelligence] 3685

[Mind] ∞

[Agility] 3685

[Skill Points] 64

[Skills]

[Appraisal (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Command (LVL 10(MAX))] [Military Tactics (LVL 10(MAX))] [Business Tycoon (LVL 10(MAX))] [Acting (LVL 1(MAX))]

I have to admit that I never expected to level up so much. I mean, the goblin blenders were leveling me up so fast that my status points are almost at one thousand. Not that I am complaining but still I never expected to level so fast.

But my problem right now was the Goblin Shaman. Its level was kind of crazy high.

[Boss Goblin Shaman]

[Level: 125]

[Health: 1000000/1000000]

[Mana: 900000/900000]

These stats should be illegal, right? Right!? I mean, I only have 37250 health! And I am level 105. So this is just nuts. "Let's retreat for now."

We could not go into this without a proper plan. While we should be able to get by by using the barrier trick that we have been using this entire time. The fact that this is a boss and the level is like many times that of the first boss is bothering me. "Boss, is something wrong?"

I looked over at Steven, who had asked me the question just now, and sighed. "Major issue! That Goblin Shaman who is surrounded by all those hobgoblins is the second boss of this dungeon. But unlike the first boss, it is about a hundred times stronger, maybe even more. While we may be able to win if we keep doing what we are doing, I have a feeling that we might have to deal with some unexpected attacks. Things that may or may not be able to get through my barriers."

"That bad?" Steven frowned. He seemed to not like what I had just said. But what am I supposed to do? I was not going to lie to them.

"Faith, even with you fighting with us, there will be an issue?" Sophie asked as she sat down next to me.

"It's more that the issue is the fact that I might not be able to do much damage to a shaman if it can use a barrier as well. If the barrier is stronger than any spells I can cast within the dungeon, then it will be hard for me to do much of anything. I can only try to use the trick that Instructor Jasmine used against me and strike the same spot over and over and hope to break through the barrier. But this is only if it works." I tried to explain. A mage of such a high level is probably on par with the dean himself. Such power is not something one can easily defeat. Or at least I have never fought such a powerful foe.

Of course, I should probably start using appraisal on everyone I meet to get a better idea of the power ranges in this world. Although I do not like this since it goes against my morals of peeking, the information will come in handy. And since appraisal is not really a spell and a skill from my system, it should not be detected. At least Steven and the others have not been able to detect it even though I have been checking up on their progress. Although it has slowed some, they are still in the level seventies.

"What if we move our strongest fighters to the front line? You, Sally, and Sei?" Sophie asked. What Sophie suggested makes sense. But the problem is, is that all three are close ranged fighters, myself included. And one of us needs to protect Adel.

"Sophie…. You come to the front lines as you can phase in and out. Sei needs to protect Adel. We can not leave her alone." Sophie was the best choice. With Sally being highly skilled in many ways, Sophie's phase can allow for attacks to pass right through her and attack at the same time.

"Alright. I will do my best." Sophie's eyes were filled with determination. I just hope no one will get hurt.

"Everyone gather up!" I yelled out. I wanted to go over a full fleshed out plan. And try to reduce any chances of injuries. As everyone crowded around in a circle and sat down, I stood up and stood in the middle. "The next fight will be unlike any of the others. This is a boss monster, and a powerful one at that. As the name implies, it is able to cast magic, so we will have a harder time trying to deal with them. We can also suspect that the next floors will also have many spell casters on them as well. The team who will be fighting the boss head on, will be myself, Sally, and Sophie. Sei will be on protection duty to make sure Adel is not overwhelmed. But she will also be fighting, helping you guys against the hobgoblins.

"Our main priority is to reduce the chances of gaining any injuries. Stay on your toes and use everything you have learned during this time. I do not want to see anyone get seriously injured or die during this fight. We still have many more floors and another boss to fight before we reach the final boss. Only by beating it will we actually be able to escape this dungeon.

"Steven, you will be the team leader for the right side. Adel, you will be the team leader for the left side, with Sei assisting you. Split up the teams evenly as best as possible and have one healer on each side. Any questions?" I looked around to see Grace raising her hand. "Grace?"

"I umm…. I lied before… I have the ability to use high heal. So…. If anyone gets seriously injured, I can handle it… I was not supposed to say anything but this is too important. I do not wish to see any of you get seriously injured and sit around doing nothing." Grace answered with a lowered head.

I smiled and nodded my head. "Good! If anyone gets a single scratch on them go see Grace she will patch you up!"

"Faith, are you trying to drain me of my mana!?" Grace yelled out at me while pouting. I chuckled and gave her a teasing smile before clapping my hands.

"Okay! Let's get going!" I said as I turned around and jumped over everyone and began walking towards the entrance to the boss's room. I could hear everyone scrambling behind me. Sophie and Sally were the fastest and quickly stood at my side. Adel and Sei were a little slower and stood a little ways back as they followed behind. Adel and I had a talk during these few weeks that we were stuck down here. She seemed very depressed about not being able to be of much help.

I took my time and began explaining to her the idea Sally had given me about creating a time spell that uses domains. After talking it through with her and explaining the idea out fully, she perked up a bit and began working on her own rendition. She said she wished to create it on her own and that she would come to me if she had any issues. I also told her to start casting other spells as well. She had the mana pool to really cast a lot of spells, so there was no reason to ignore the basics either.-.

It seemed she had been so single mindedly concentrating on her own special kind of magic she had been neglecting the other elements. Since then, her damage output has skyrocketed. And her mood has risen by a lot. But she also knows to be careful as well. She knows that if she gets overwhelmed and gets hurt or dies that we would be held responsible. Not only that, but this kingdom needs Adel. The people love her, and if she really were to get hurt under my care, not only would I but everyone in this team would end up being abandoned by the people and the kingdom.

While I do hate to think of things like this, it was a sad truth, which was why I always had Sei at Adel's side, even if Sei would be more useful elsewhere. Adel also knows this and even apologized to everyone for it. Luckily our team has grown close to the point that we are like brothers and sisters now. We can joke around and poke fun at each other without issue and also help ease each other's worries. No matter how I look at it, this team was lucky because we all got to meet each other. We were the ones who got stuck together and were now fighting on the front lines to gain freedom. But mostly, I did not wish to see Adel get hurt or anyone I cared about for that matter. Because I know that if she did get seriously hurt, I would probably lose my mind.

With everyone gathered at the boss room entrance, I decided to reiterate our plan. "We will be going in without a barrier and finding a secure location. Once we get a good spot, we will begin clearing out the hobgoblins. Once we clear them out, we will begin fighting the boss. I will put up a spell to try to keep the boss busy and hopefully force it to lose as much mana as possible while we work on the hobgoblins. Only when they are dead can we go all out on the boss! Is everything clear!?"

"Boss, you can count on us. We will roast those green bastards with no problems!" Steven shouted, causing everyone else to react and yell out. I nodded my head and turned towards the boss room.

"Then let's do this!" I shouted and stepped into the room. The walls lit up with blue flames as the hobgoblins that were standing there with their heads lowered suddenly all woke up. Thirty adds in total, plus a boss with a crap ton of health. This was not going to be an easy fight.

<strong>""""""""""""Graaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!""""""""""""""</strong>

As soon as we moved into the room, our entire group ran for the far wall away from the hobgoblins protecting the boss. But they still all instantly aggroed even though we were out of range. I guess not everything will go according to the novels I have read. With no other choice but to quickly move, I cast an ice wall to block their advance but as soon as I turned to tell everyone to run faster when I suddenly heard a loud explosion behind me.

"Faith, we need a barrier now!" Sophie yelled out. I quickly did as she said, casting a barrier around us. I watched as magic circle after magic circle appeared in the air all around my barrier, causing me to frown. "Spin! Twenty layers!" I added more and more barriers, all spinning in opposite directions as the entire room lit up with magic attacks. I never expected the Shaman Goblin to be so quick to react.

"Any idea how we can fight like this!?" Steven yelled out. With the current rate of magic circles appearing and how many there were, it was hard to even see what was going on outside the barrier, never mind being able to check the mana consumption of the goblin shaman. The hobgoblins also surrounded us but stayed just out of range of the barrier, far enough not to get caught up in the spell cast by the boss.

"The only way is to get the boss's attention." I really did not see any other option than this. "For now…. Let's do this…."

Thousands of magic circles suddenly appeared in the air above my barrier, each one spinning with blazing fire. "Gates of Faithylon!" Since the shaman wants to fight fire with fire, let's see how it deals with a piercing magic attack! I really couldn't see where I was attacking, so I could only attack in a wide range and hope to disrupt the boss's attack enough for us to move to a safer location where we were not surrounded.

"It's working!" I yelled out when I saw the attacks on my barrier weakening. "Ice wall! Everyone move now!" Using an ice wall to block the hobgoblins to the front and sides, I formed a barrier on the other side to create a tunnel towards the back wall. Only when we can get in a decent formation without needing to worry about being attacked from all sides will we be able to start our counterattack.i𝘯n𝚛𝑒α𝚍. C𝐨𝓶