Caring Sides

"We're taking the safest route, a decision made after all the wizards inspect the path ahead. I'll take the collective decision." Jamile stood, tapping Sara's shoulder. "Give a second look with everyone else. We need to be sure of everything to not risk everyone's lives."

Sara nodded as she went with the old wizard and gathered every other caster to check the new path. It didn't take them long to determine that with how much demon magic was flowing from there, it had to be a trap room filled with demons at the end of the stairs. It looked to be made to mimic a layer's stairs. A vicious-looking trap.

"See, Sara. That's a trap. If we went down there, we'd be attacked by demons from everywhere and get annihilated." The old wizard tapped her shoulder and walked back to tell Jamile of their discovery.

"I understand. I seem to still have much to learn." Sara sighed with a sad face.

"Don't worry about it. I'm older than you and experienced more dungeons, I can tell if a room is a trap or not just by the magic in the air." The old wizard looked back at her.

Hearing the wizard's decision, Jamile decided to keep searching the first layer for another staircase. Just as everyone expected, they soon found another staircase leading downward that had much less demonic magic, just the increase expected from the first layer to the second. "This is the right path." The old wizard pointed.

As the adventurers walked down, they reached the second layer and looked around. Grey stones were everywhere with stalagmite and stalactite filling the whole place. It looked like a normal cave with water dripping from the walls.

Just seconds after they started moving into the second layer, several stone tentacles burst from the wall and caught several adventurers, wrapping around them like snakes.

"Tentacle demons! Wizards, find them!" Jamile screamed as he looked everywhere.

"Found it! By flames and ash, I see a guide through the darkness. To see heat, I command the strings of magic!" Sara growled, glaring with two glowing red eyes at the wall and seeing a red shade on it. Using magic, she can see things by temperature; [Heat Vision] was the spell's name.

She jumped forward at the wall, and tentacles burst around her in a panic. She touched the wall with her hand, "Earthen power from beneath, crack stone and send a blast!" [Stone Hammer]

The wall cracked and green blood started seeping out. A tentacle demon always buries its true body in hard stones and uses its tentacles to hunt. The tentacles secret digestive acid that burns clothes and flesh for the monster to consume through the pores in the tentacles, the demon then can also reproduce by laying its eggs in any living being from the tip of the tentacles. The worms then grow and eat the host, burrow into the wall, and mature into a new demon in days.

The old wizard approached Sara. "Good work, girl. That was a nice and quick decision. Even if I saw it, my old bones won't allow me to move that fast." He smiled.

She blushed as he patted her head. "Good Job, Sara." Jamile approached them, "We fighters can force out weapons to pierce stone, but that would damage them enough to become unusable. Tentacles demons are a good counter to weapon-based adventurers, but it could be taken nicely by a wizard with earth magic."

"I did read the demon book before we came here." Sara replied.

Liam and Alice carried the boxes and ran through the first layer with the B-rankers as they carried the supplies. "Don't slow down, C-rankers. The other B-rankers and Jamile are fighting in the second layer, we must hurry." One of the B-rankers said as he jumped forward and sliced several imps.

"If you're going to talk, help us carry the boxes." Liam growled at him.

Jack stared at Liam, "Jamile said I'm the leader of the supplies team, you're listening to me."

"Fine, but at least carry some potions." Liam sighed.

Alice suddenly stopped, staring at one of the walls with a worried face. "Why did you stop?" Everyone halted and Jack growled at her. "We don't have time to waste."

"Nothing, I felt a surge of mana so I thought it might've been another spiked demon." She stopped staring and kept running with them. "Don't ever stop like that again even if you felt something, it could be a trap."

"Sorry." Alice said even though her mind went elsewhere. The stairs to the second layer are still there and the demonic magic coming in means no demons were killed. The other went through the wrong hole.

"Alice, Jack is right. Demons manipulate senses, don't let them distract you." Liam looked at her with a smile. He too had already noticed that the others went through the wrong way, but to him that seemed natural, he's expecting them to die and empower the last boss.

"I'll keep that in mind." Alice gasped. No, Liam, you don't understand. This dungeon is split into two paths, we used to call them path A and path B. The demonic shrine dungeon starts with a single first layer, and then it splits off into the two paths as if it were two dungeons.

Path A has an absurd amount of demons with each layer becoming more insane, it's where the majority of the dungeon's demons hide, and that's why they come out of the ceiling and walls. Bath B on the other hand has normal scaling of demons until the boss's room, it's the safest way to reach the boss's room. But that's the trap, if you faced the boss without clearing the demons of path A, all of them would be there with him, leading to a battle where you could possibly face thousands of man-eating demons at once. Clearing them beforehand as they are split into layers is the right way to deal with this dungeon.

The front liners seem to have gone through path B as it seemed safer, no, they must've sensed the demons in path A and thought it was a trap room.

I must save them; I have to be the one to kill the boss. Alice glanced at Liam, how he would feel if he knew I was a hero, no, all this time Liam had been teaching me how to fight with a sword thinking I was helpless. He'd feel betrayed if he realized I was far stronger than him. I shouldn't let him see me fight.

Liam looked forward, thinking the same thing as Alice. They went the way I wanted them, and now all of them are destined to die. It isn't my problem; I'm only doing my job here, nothing more. Even if I tried to tell them it's the wrong path; they won't listen to a mere C-ranker.

He glanced at Alice. But I can't let her die nor see me fight. I tried to conceal my identity in the past and infiltrate a kingdom, but when the inn owner I was staying in saw my true form, she instantly took her own life thinking I was to do something to her. She was so gentle and caring that I had started to rethink burning the city I was staying in for her sake, but what a shame. I don't want that to repeat in this life, Alice is a good cook, she takes care of me very well, and I can't help but admit that I enjoy her company.

I won't let any harm reach her. Knowing my identity would terrify her, seeing me fight would crush her morale and hope, but worse of everything, if she saw me eat, she'd be scarred for life. I need her out of this place before I fight the boss.