Dungeon exploration (1)

After a while, I felt a ripple in the air.

It's time,' I called my staff and turned towards the source.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

As if the fabric of reality was coming apart, a shattered pattern opened up on the field, and we all watched cautiously as it grew larger.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *ROARRR*

Soon enough, the pressure finally released and a distorted space materialised in the middle as goblins and hobgoblins poured out.

Some of the students were instantly sent into a state of panic, but others were quick to stop the monsters' advance.

"HAH!" "AGH" "AH FUCKER!" "Healer please!"

A huge battle soon erupted as the monsters tried to break out of the student's encirclement, mages firing from safety while the frontline tried to keep the formation intact.

But some of the monsters slipped through the front lines and charged the mages.

"Aahh!" A student screamed as she saw one of the goblins charging towards her, she tried to cast a spell in time but it was too late as the goblin jumped.

She closed her eyes, tightened her staff and waited for the impact, but felt a wind rush past her.

"Front line, do your job!" Ava shouted after dealing with the loose goblin.

"We're trying here, calm your tits!"

"Say that again motherfucker!" Ava rushed towards the remaining loose goblin

As for my situation, I watched quietly and assisted once or twice, with my 'low' mana pool I could only limit my mana expenditure.

After several minutes of endless waves, it finally stopped giving us time to breathe.

A few students had already been eliminated by the waves, and some had to group up with other classmates to increase their survivability.

Luckily, no one approached me, as the fact of my 'low' mana pool was enough to scare anyone away; I would be a walking distraction at best, and a hindrance to my teammates at worst.

Looking at the portal, I made my move and walked towards it. The closer I got, the more I felt the air and mana being distorted, and when I finally stood beside it, I reached out to touch the portal.

A flash filled my eyes and as soon as it came it quickly faded as I realised I had been teleported from the meadow into a cave.

Seeing no monsters or humans in sight, I silently summoned the Tome of Akashic and searched the [Archive] for a scan spell.

[Scout] As I chanted the spell, a flood of information entered my brain, giving me a 3D map of the cave. Though not detailed, many scattered figures walked through the elongated caverns, presumably my classmates.

The goblins were grouped in certain parts of the caves, probably their homes, some were wandering around the caves, but the numbers were not comparable to those living in groups.

Looking further down, a huge room with a giant goblin was visible.

"I guess I'll just walk around," I said to myself, finally moving from my starting position.

--

"Liam Donovan, invited Ethan Smith for an unknown reason, probably out of kindness to the weak, but surprisingly the latter declined the invitation" A room full of screens, each showing a student exploring the goblin's lair.

"Perhaps out of embarrassment at admitting he is weak and trying to prove his strength," a small chuckle of amusement came out after Thomas had written it down.

He turned to the screen, which showed Liam's figure paired with Ava and Amelia, each of them skilfully covering the other's back, Liam killing most of the goblins, Amelia taking care of the loose ones at range, and Ava keeping a watchful eye out for hidden dangers, helping the other from time to time.

With this kind of skill at such a young age, they are sure to become big characters in the future and a bigger part of the must-kill list.

When he switched the screen to Ethan, all I could see was him standing there without a clue, perhaps paralysed with fear, confirming that Liam had only invited him to team up out of pity and nothing more.

~~

"Growl!" Looking at the goblin about to strike, I calmly stepped aside before delivering a blow to its neck.

Scanning the area and confirming it was the last one, I wiped the sweat from my face.

"Well done girls," I said, looking at Ava wiping the blood off her blades and Amelia retrieving her arrows.

"Haha, it was you who did most of the killing," Ava replied, sheathing her daggers, but Amelia didn't reply, looking at her face she seemed to have something on her mind.

"Something on your mind Amelia?" I asked.

"It's... nothing," she hesitated a little before answering, looking at her reaction I thought it was a private matter and of course didn't push any further.

"Come on, there's no need to hide anything, just spit it out, Amelia" But of course that couldn't be said of the hard-skinned Ava.

"Don't push her, Ava, it could be a delicate matter," I intervened before Amelia became even more uncomfortable.

"It's nothing serious like that, it's just something that's been on my mind," Amelia clarified.

"Oh? Is there a boy on your mind or something?" Ava grinned, looking for some juicy romance.

"Of course not! I'm not some horny teenager who only thinks about romance," Amelia folded her hand in obvious irritation.

"Oh, then what is it?" Ava continued to nag her as we continued to explore the dungeon.

"Do you remember when Liam invited Ethan to the party?"

"What about that?"

"I'm just wondering why?"

"Oh! It's because... Ava froze in the middle and quickly shut her mouth, "After the incident on the train we both agreed not to reveal his power, it seems he has a reason to hide it.

His refusal of our invitation seems to indicate that he does not wish to reveal it, either to Amelia or to anyone in general.

Although I never thought the Status Reader could be fooled, there are still many secrets in the world we haven't discovered, and his ability is one of many.

"Let's not dwell on it, I just wanted to invite him out of the compassion of my heart," I said to quickly end the mystery that was on Amelia's mind.

She did not seem convinced by my answer, but accepted it for now.

"Growl," we heard several growls and quickly focused our attention on them, drawing our weapons.

"Finally, the endless caves were getting boring," Ava stretched her limbs and said with a smile.