Chapter 15

(A/N: I pretty much use quests and missions interchangeably, but missions are just tasks that are just up in the guild that anyone can take and clear. Examples would be like collecting items or killing a certain monster)

With introductions done, we packed up and headed into the dungeon. The sun was just beginning to set as we walked down to the ground floor of Babel and headed into the entrance of the dungeon. Apparently, we were heading in at night since it would mean less competition when mining and fighting monsters. As our party entered the first floor, each of us escorts split up. Acreon, the elf from the Freya familia, went to the back to watch our rear while Emma, the demi-human, walked to the front of the group. That left us to stand with the two blacksmiths.

The man, Logan, who seemed to be in his mid to early 20s, was looking around nervously and holding his mace tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. Hoghath, the dwarf, looked much more comfortable, his battle ax resting on one shoulder as we marched along. I held my spear loosely in one hand but kept it ready just in case any monsters spawned on top of us. As we walked, I decided to ask the two blacksmiths a few questions.

"Is this your first time in the dungeon?" I asked the two, surprising them slightly.

I noticed that both Emma and Aceron moved closer to the group to hear the discussion as the two responded, "Not for me," Hoghath responded in a calm and collected voice, "I've been in a few times, but never as a true combatant. The goddess says I'll need some real combat experience if I want to level up, though,"

I looked over to Logan, who responded in a considerably more nervous tone than Hoghath, "It's my first time," he admitted.

"Nothing to be worried about for either of you," I said cheerfully, trying to lift the mood of Logan in particular, "When the time comes to get some combat experience, we can start as slow as you guys like,"

That got a tense smile from Logan and a chuckle from Hoghath, but the voice of Emma cut into the conversation, "Speaking of experience, how much do you have, Galahad? I've never seen you around before,"

Before I could respond, we ran into a pack of 5 Kobolds, so I made my way to the front with Emma, "Actions speak louder than words. Let me take care of them,"

She nodded, taking a step back and lowering her twin knives slightly. I dashed forward right as the Kobolds spotted us. This was my first real combat with a spear, and I immediately saw its advantages. I was still well out of reach of the monsters when I thrust my spear forward and blasted apart the head of the first monster. I then swung my spear to the side and ripped out the throat of a second monster. As they rushed in closer, I brought my spear in and rapidly spun it, creating a flashing wall that caused the Kobolds to stop. I quickly stopped the spinning of my spear and blasted forward with a quick volley of stabs, targeting throats, groins, and stomachs. After only a few moments, I pulled back and watched as the monsters collapsed to the floor dead.

I heard a low whistle from behind me as Emma walked forward, "Not too bad," she said, interest clearly flashing in her eyes.

The elf even gave me a compliment, "Pretty good," he said with a small smile, catching me off guard.

The surprise must have shown on my face because he laughed gently, "Most people are surprised when I turn out to be friendlier than they imagine. My race certainly isn't good at putting their best foot forward," he concluded.

I nodded and noticed that despite his words about friendly attitudes, he still stood a good distance away from the others, probably so that there would be no way for them to touch him. It was none of business, however, so I turned and fell back into line beside Logan and Hoghath. I noticed that the tension had eased quite a bit from Logan while Hoghath even seemed to stand a bit straighter and more comfortably. It was then that the dwarf asked me a question.

"Can I see your spear for a moment?" he asked, giving my weapon a once over.

I shrugged and handed him my weapon for him to inspect, after inspecting it for a minute, he handed it back to me, "I thought I recognized our familia's craftsmanship," he said with a smile.

"How old is it?" Logan chimed in, leaning over to take a look as well.

"I just got it the other day, this is its maiden voyage in the dungeon," I said, twirling the spear through the air.

We continued to chat with Emma and Acreon, chiming in every now and again. Once we descended the steps to the seventh floor, the two blacksmiths pulled out picks from their backpacks, swapping out their weapons. We encountered a few Killer Ants and Frog Shooters, but Emma took care of them with very little difficulty. I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to have cut cleanly through the ants' carapace, which should have been extremely difficult for a mere level one. I gave a subtle look over to Acreon, who met my eyes and nodded slightly, indicating that he had seen the same as me.

I didn't think anything would happen, but it was just odd that a peak level one or a level two would join a mission like this. It made me a bit suspicious of her, but maybe she was just someone abnormal like myself. Once the mining began, our mission more or less became a protect the objective mission from a video game. We basically just killed the monsters as they approached while the two mined. During lulls, when no monsters approached, the three of us adventurers would chat with one another. I quickly found that Acreon wasn't some twisted Freya simp on the outside, at least, and it was actually enjoyable to talk with him.

I noticed that while he and Emma didn't avoid each other, they mostly talked to me instead of directly addressing one another too often. I actually found myself enjoying the conversations since they were pretty much the only other people I had talked to other than Fortuna and the clerks at the guild. It also gave me a better view of what common adventurers think of the dungeon and what they talk about. Once Logan and Hoghath were done mining, they recommended that we should all go eat and get a drink somewhere to celebrate the mission before we would all go and meet up again in the morning for the rewards.

"Don't forget about actually fighting some monsters," I said, poking Hoghath jovially, which caused him to grumble dramatically.

However, as we were packing up, I stopped as I felt a small group of monsters enter the zone of my Magic Sense, which in and of itself wasn't strange, but there seemed to be too many monsters. At least a half dozen Killer Ants accompanied by multiple Frog Shooters and Purple Moths. A small horde of needle rabbits served as the vanguard of the group, rushing toward our location. I watched as, after a few seconds, Emma perked up, followed by Acreon a moment later.

"We need to go now," Emma said in a concerned voice as she looked toward the entrance that the monsters would soon be flooding through.

Logan and Hoghath looked a bit confused, but they didn't ask questions and quickly strapped on their packs and began to run. I stayed behind for a moment as the monsters began to appear in the doorway. I conjured a quick bolt of electricity and blasted the roof of the doorway, causing it to collapse on top of some of the monsters. Then, I ran to catch up to the group as we ran up the floors. I stayed in the back with Acreon as we ran.

"Someone gathered those monsters to attack up," he said, saying what I was thinking.

"Yeah, but who would want to kill two random members of the Hephaestus familia?" I asked as we rounded a corner and rushed up to the sixth floor.

"I don't know, but we need to keep our eyes open," He said right as a crossbow bolt streaked toward his head.

I had noticed the attack beforehand, so I had plenty of time to bring up my spear and block the attack before it could plunge deep into his head, but I made it look as if it was a last-second save. I watched as Acreon looked at the bolt on the floor with wide eyes before giving me a grateful nod and readying his sword.

"I owe you one," he said seriously as he faced out attacks.

'Yes, you do,' I thought as I turned to face our attackers as well.