Tartarus's Preparation

Afternoon the next day, Haruto made his way to the guild to apply for the Tartarus exploration permit.

As usual, he lined up on Rayne's desk. He could go to the other, more lonely lines but he already fond of having Rayne as the receptionist. Not to mention he could greet her and talked to her as old acquaintance too.

Because of that he didn't mind spending some more time lining up. Thankfully the capital was a lot more orderly than a remote place like Calad since in here the adventurers wouldn't spend much time idling with the staff. So Rayne could heave a relief sigh working in here.

It couldn't be helped because the capital's guild was far more crowded and the regulations here were far stricter. The securities were all an expert fighter or retired veteran adventurers (about Brown rank to Black rank) while the management staff could have a few of Silver and Gold rank adventurers.

The guild master here was rumored to be a platinum adventurer herself meaning she's only below the hidden, Secret rank adventurer.

But that was only a rumor so she maybe not as strong but could also actually stronger than the rumor said.

During the time Haruto was thinking about this it was nearly his turn so he waited for a few minutes and moved forward in front of Rayne.

"Yo, Rayne-san. Working hard as usual huh?"

Haruto greeted her with a cheerful and friendly smile. Rayne too responded with a soft smile seeing him acting like usual.

"Indeed, my shoulders are kind of stiff, perhaps you could give a massage or something?" She replied with a teasing tone.

"As long as you could find us a private place I don't actually mind." He teased her back earning a blush from Rayne by mentioning 'private place'.

"*Cough* A-Alright, enough about that if we idle too much the other staffs will scold us, so what's your business coming today? Is it for quest?"

She cleared her throat while feeling sheepish from his counterattack. But the next moment of what Haruto said dropped her bright mood.

"No, I want to apply permit to explore Tartarus."

".....Haruto-san are you serious? You're planning to go alone?"

For a second Rayne's mind blanked out from his request. She knew Haruto will go there sooner or later but at least she thought it would wait until he formed or joined a Clan.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to explore deeply 'just by myself' I just want to take a look."

Haruto gave her and assured smile yet Rayne could sense an odd emphasis on the "just by myself" word so she frowned, what is he trying to play here?

The young boy himself just tilted his head innocently as if not knowing what she's trying to ask.

Rayne gave a deep sigh to this boy. At least he's not a foolish person, if he decided to go he must have some kind of plan or preparation, she thought.

So she decided to accept his request (not like she could refuse too since it was her job) and apply the permission on his guild card after some kind of complex procedure taking about ten minutes.

Rayne reluctantly gave back his red guild card to him and Haruto checked a new section placed on the bottom side of his card.

- Tartarus Exploration Progress : Not yet explored.

"That section will list your progress of exploring Tartarus. There will be various rewards depending on how high you progressed. But do note that the progress won't update until you defeat some monsters there by yourself and stayed on the floor for a specific amount of time. It's so that the adventurers won't cheat by having other people to bring them to higher floor." Rayne explained.

Looks like the guild was being generous and strict towards the tower's exploration, Haruto thought.

"Your card already enchanted with the teleportation magic to go inside the tower. Just grab your card and wish strongly to explore the Tartarus and the card will transport you to the tower entrance.

Just remember that it will be ONLY you who'll get transported, other people even if they're clinging on you won't be able to follow you. There's also a three days cooldown after you went back from Tartarus with the same method of teleporting there, just change it to that you wish to return back."

"I see. Thanks for the explanation Rayne-san." Haruto smiled.

"...Just be careful and take care of yourself alright?" She said with hint of concern.

"Sure."

With that Haruto went back to the house to prepare himself and his companion for the exploration.

.....

The others already prepared themselves during the time Haruto arrived home.

Rikka wore a dark sleeveless mini dress with a white collar and a red tie. She also wore red gauntlets and black gloves along with the same color of black long socks and boots. The crimson katana Murasame was strapped on the red belt on her waist.

Haruto was stunned because her appearances were exactly like Akame from the series Akame ga Kill. Except her face and hair was obviously different. She also tied her dark brown hair to a short ponytail, more fitting for battle.

Apparently this garment was made by Elsie after Rikka drew the design based on her memory of her dream. She thought this attire made her feel a lot more comfortable.

Well, considering her dream from her previous life, Rikka was indeed the reincarnation of Akame though Haruto never known how she died and reincarnated into Rikka.

Fia just wore her usual green hunter attire with twin daggers on her waists. But she's now was wearing black gloves on both of her arms while her face was beaming with anticipation to finally test her new capability on real combat.

Kaori was still in her priest uniform though. She would only go apostle mode when the time needed, in order to not wasting energy.

Selianna wouldn't join today to stay with Asami since she's still resting so it'll be just Haruto and the other four girls.

As for Elsie, she was needed in order to 'sneak' inside Tartarus without using the standard procedure. They were aiming for a backdoor this time around.

With Haruto himself already prepared by wearing his fighting black and orange gi uniform, he proceeded to dematerialize Elsie, returning her into a spirit form and went inside his body.

He took out his red guild card and clenched it before closing his eyes and wished strongly in his heart to go explore the Tartarus.

Before long his body brightened up by a white light and he disappeared from that place in an instant.

.....

Haruto found himself inside a bright small room.

The room was in a circular shape surrounded by white pillars. The ceiling was lit up by a white LED-like light. From the transparent glass around the room Haruto could see the dark starry night-like sky of space and the continual moving of the tower's complex structure wall.

This room was Tartarus' lobby or main entrance.

He could see a stair covered by blue carpet leading to the center of a giant golden clock on the middle of the lobby.

At the center of the golden clock was a hole clad in darkness. It must be the entrance to the interior of the tower.

After checking out the lobby around him, Haruto rematerialized Elsie and asked her to stand by in this place to go retrieve the others.

This place was extremely far away from Selianna's house. If it's not for his connection to his summon it'll be very hard to pinpoint the energy radiation for Instant Transmission.

That's why Elsie must stay here as a point A for Haruto to come here while Kaori stayed on the house as a point B for him to grab his other companions.

.....

A few minutes later the group for today first exploration had gathered on the lobby. Elsie was brought along while being dematerialized for her safety. She couldn't go home on her own after all.

To be honest Haruto wanted to leave Kaori back on the house but this was his first time going inside so he wanted a self-assurance with her healing ability.

Today he just wanted to do a simple exploration while not delving too deep in order to experience how the inside of Tartarus was.

Seeing his other companions already finished looking the scenery around them, he nodded and gestured to begin moving.

They all nodded and made their way together to the center of the golden clock by climbing the stairs on the middle.

Observing it up close, the entrance to the interior could not be seen at all it was completely dark, he even thought it was similar to the other dungeons' entrances, a gate lead to a separate dimension place.

With enough tension, the group glanced at each other and ran together inside the black hole like entrance.

.....

- Tartarus Exploration Progress : Thebel 2F