Prologue I

Heavy rain pounded on the metallic structure that is the wall. It was the only defensive measure the continent had against beasts from deep dungeons, which were by now under total control of Alacryan forces. Soldiers stationed on the wall had to occasionally fend off enemies from another continent. Arthur Leywin was one of the many thousand soldiers stationed there. Formerly, he was a simple student trying to get stronger at Xyrus Academy.

Now that the war has broken out, he and many other students have volunteered to defend their continent from invaders. Words can't describe how much they went through for the past few months; it was not far from hell. Still, like in many wars, soldiers like them were always just a background to more important events that were transpiring in the higher echelon of this conflict. After all, he was only recently recruited into a squadron that dives into the dungeons.

Arthur was also assigned to a pretty powerful bunch of people, mostly made up of A-Class adventurers such as Reginald Bastion, Kriol Messer, Oliver Hemmbet, Samantha Tempest, and the leader of their squad, Brald Landon. They were all adventurers before the war and were also acquaintances. Meanwhile, a student of Xyrus just joined their group as if nothing happened... would've been a different story if it weren't for war.

...

It was another day of patrolling the outskirts of the wall. They wore raincoats that protected them from the large drops of rain and made them feel warmer in this cold weather. The squad dreamed of just taking a break in front of the fireplace and drinking some hot tea. Unfortunately, luxuries like these were unavailable. One look at the camp at which they stayed says everything...

A camp was built on still-wet mud, and even after attempting to dry it out by themselves, it would return to a similar state. The only thing that could heat them up during the night was either mana or sleeping bags. So was every day on the wall for them, and the fact that supplies were always cut short didn't make it better.

Kriol Messer, the tank in their squad, was, however, a pretty good cook, and he could make great sandwiches. Apparently, his dead wife had invented the recipe, which remained as something that warms the broken heart of the old guy. Not only him, as Kriol's sandwiches were a very favorite dish for each squad member. Arthur would've loved to have a bite of that sandwich, along with a mother's stew.

"What is it, Arthur? You seem to be in deep thought. Is there something that bothers you?" The leader of their squad, Brald, asked. They were obviously concerned about their teammate's state. Recently, he received a bothersome letter from his parents, who decided to form their party 'Twin Horns' and enter the service of the army. "You can always talk with us if there is anything that bothers you."

"Thanks, Brald. But it's really nothing; I'm just worried that my parents are joining the war. I mean, it's so sudden..." Arthur was worried. More worried about them than his own life. No child can imagine their life without their parents, and it made it harder for him to even think about it. Twin Horns were his friends, all of them like brothers and sisters, and they endanger themselves as well.

"Your parents are great, Arthur. You can't imagine how much I heard about Twin Horns back in the day, when I was still a rising adventurer. But understand... No parent wants to sit out anything that their children are participating in, especially in a war like this one. Am I not speaking the truth, Reginald?"

"That's right, I can't imagine myself letting my son or daughter fight by themselves while I'm sitting in a shelter. It's a sense of responsibility that every parent has. I'm sure they'd rather take your place and let you be protected in the comfort of your home than fight here." Reginald's agreement with Brald's words eased the auburn-haired boy a little bit.

Amanda and Oliver, who walked nearby, chimed in with their encouraging words as well, helping out the youngest of their party emotionally. Eventually, they switched to more cheerful topics rather than staying on the same one. Oliver wouldn't be Oliver if he hadn't asked about beautiful women, so he had to ask about the time when Arthur was going to the Academy together with the princesses of Elenoir and Sapin.

Tessia Eralith and Kathyln Glayder.

The orange-haired girl raised an eyebrow at Oliver's question. 'Isn't there anything else he could ask?' This question arose in everyone's mind, but Arthur didn't mind talking about his academy days. After all, it was the best time of his life studying there. Thanks to his uncle, who gave him the opportunity.

Personally, Arthur was only in the same class as Kathyln, and she was a cold person at first glance. A member of the disciplinary committee was adorned in dark clothes with gold ornaments that complimented her dark eyes and hair. Later on, he learned more about her and even had multiple conversations with her. She was the nicest girl in the academy. She was dense like a panda, and they got along pretty well...

Shamefully, they never had a chance to talk after that point, though. A thing happened in the academy... multiple of them, actually—and that's how Arthur's relationships with former classmates came to a halt. He hasn't seen them, and he couldn't be there to help them out either.

Arthur hasn't talked much with Tessia Eralith or others from the upper classes, but as student council president, she was very respected. Unlike him, most of his friends have taken good positions, be it in the disciplinary committee or student council. If he was maybe a little more exceptional, he'd be just like them... but nothing else screamed of uniqueness from an auburn-haired boy. Just like anybody else, Arthur considered this to be wrong. It just didn't feel right, as if somewhere else, in a different universe, he had a different role. Of course... if such ever existed.

...

*Spash* *Step*

The squadron of thirty people was in the dungeons near the wall, going through very thin pathways to find a dangerous mana beast that had been spotted recently by the recon squad. They were a few hundred meters below the surface of the earth, and surprisingly, the air was very warm, unlike on the surface. Brald was leading the march by himself while holding a torch in his left hand.

Kriol and Reginald, both seasoned veterans, were following after him, followed by Arthur and the rest of the squadron. The path was only shrinking as they ventured deeper. So no signs of mana-beasts, probably they already heard footsteps and are hiding deeper. The squad still couldn't identify if the mana-beasts were corrupted or not.

'The corrupted mana-beasts are reckless; unless they are following orders, they wouldn't be hiding like this. Most likely they aren't, or they are under someone's control.' Arthur was becoming suspicious of this behavior. If the second option comes true, they'll be in deep trouble. They are a small squadron, and going off against Alacryan's was a bad idea.

*Halt!*

Brald raised a hand, urging twenty nine people to halt their steps. They took a look around to see what the sudden reason for urgency was. They put their hands on the weapons, ready to strike when needed. Brald spoke up,

"There are multiple pathways; we have to decide what we are going to do." He spoke quietly, but it was enough for an echo to resound throughout the dungeon. An eerie silence came over them as nobody spoke or moved for a few seconds before Brald continued. "We will split up and just scout. Try not to engage in any kind of threat for now. Pathways are more narrow than before, so we wouldn't be able to travel together either way."

Everyone understood instantly, and although a bit reluctant, they still split into their own squads and moved accordingly. Arthur's squad took the first step on their path. Under the pressure of the walls, towering people like Reginald and Kriol had trouble moving comfortably; they took up most of the space while going through the tunnel.

"It seems to be only shrinking." Reginald commented that, as the biggest of the bunch, he felt the change in space first. His hair was already scratching against the top, and Kriol's armor was bumping against rocks. "We are most likely at a dead end."

"Not until we verify it."

Minutes passed quickly, and heavy breathing intensified. They eventually found themselves at a dead end; it seemed like they had to go back and check on other teams. Arthur's keen eyes, however, noticed that there was a space in a rocky wall where he could go through.

"Hm, that's rather bothersome. We still have to verify. So Arthur, you don't mind just checking, do you?" Oliver suggested Arthur take a look in that space to see if it was definitely a dead end. 'I was planning on doing that.' With this response, Arthur crouched and, like a cat, entered the space, crawling through rocks and displaying his flexibility.

His palm lit up in fire, providing him with enough vision to not get lost in this cramped space. So far, he was only going forward, subsequently telling his team what he was seeing. Only rocks and darkness. Arthur reached the point where the rocky formation on top of him was nowhere to be seen, so he was close to getting out.

"I'm close, guys; it seems not to be a dead end in truth." After receiving a positive response from Brald to continue, he did so and popped his head out of this crampy space. Soon he found himself on both legs, finally. 'What is this place...' Arthur wondered as the fire on his palm burned more fiercely to project light throughout this chamber.

"Arthur, what do you see?"

"I can't say anything, yet, guys! There's nothing in here but a lot of free space. It feels like I'm in some kind of bubble." As he kept yelling back to his teammates, his own echo kept hitting the walls of his ears. Making it rather annoying to make any kind of noise. "Reginald can try and break in here!"

Seconds later, Arthur heard a bang coming from a place he had come from. Reginald's brute force was undeniable; he was perhaps the strongest when it came to physical force. His war-hammer style also contributed to that. The ground was shaking, but the structure was strong enough to withstand crashing down on Arthur. Reginald, with his earth magic, could easily decimate the rock walls.

*Crash!* Arthur quickly moved away to avoid the flying rubble. Then the silhouettes of his teammates appeared after the thick dust disappeared. "This doesn't seem any different from the previous place, just a bit more space." Said Oliver.

"This bubble wouldn't appear here for no reason; look at the floor; it's so flat and almost pristine like. They must've barricaded this for some reason..." Brald was already jumping to some conclusions that others didn't share. "Try to find something else here, guys; there should be something else."

To him, it didn't make sense that a perfect spherical shape cave like this one would exist naturally; someone's hands must've been put to great work, and Brald just needed to know if Alacryan had left some evidence. The squad walked around for quite some time, trying to search for at least something else...

*Crack*

"Guys, wait!" Arthur screamed out, alerting everyone. Instantly, their movements ceased, and their heads instinctively turned to their auburn-haired teammate. Their eyes screamed questions, demanding some kind of answer from Arthur. This was an expedition; there was no place to not trust your teammate. "Don't make rash movements... Try to move slowly; the floor is not very stable. It can very well fall under our weight... especially towards the center, it's noticeably shallow."

"Reginald, Kriol, try not to stomp your foot." Arthur instructed the two big men and did something weird to others' eyes. He crouched again and placed his ears on the floor to hear what could be underneath. "Stream of water; there's most likely a river below this place."

"Alright everyone, let's carefully move away from this place and get back to the rest of the squadro-"

Brald couldn't finish his words as the floor under Reginald and Kriol cracked, and the two were the first to feel weight and stability loss. Arthur, Brald, Oliver, and Amanda were the next ones in line to also start falling in what appeared to be indeed a river.