Chaotic Lunch

"That freaking monster woman. She must have been abused in her childhood." Casper cursed as he stuffed some food inside his mouth, clearly not in a great mood. "Why did she let us pass in the beginning when she was planning on forcing everyone to fight later, anyway?"

"Casper. it's not good to talk about Captain Alice like that." Noah retorted.

"I also agree! Captain Alice just wishes the best for us." Joy added from the other side of the table.

"She is not a monster. I actually think she is quite beautiful." Draco said and everyone turned towards him.

"Being beautiful doesn't mean you can't be a monster," Casper answered with a raised eyebrow but then frowned. "Besides, you are not the one to talk. You freaking monster."

"Me?" Draco pointed at himself, pretending to be greatly insulted by his remark. "If I am a monster, then what would she be considered as?" Draco finished, his finger pointing at Sophia, who was quietly eating her food.

"Hmmm..." Casper put his hand against his chin, stroking it a few times. "Technically, she is also a monster. In a literal sense of this word."

Everyone turned towards Sophia, expecting her to say something, but she stayed quiet. Instead, after a few moments of silence, she raised her head and stared at Draco. "Draco, let's go back to the training room. I want a rematch."

"And here I thought you got some sense beaten into you." Casper sighed.

Draco chuckled at Casper's comment but got silent when he saw Sophia staring daggers at him. He raised his hands upwards in defeat. "Sorry, Sophia, I need you to be in good health for the dungeon dive."

"You fucker, I am the one who should be saying this!" Sophia suddenly exploded and tried to jump over the table, but Noah caught her by the waist. He held her in the air, while she wiggled her hands and legs, cursing at Draco.

"Damn, I think I will have to resign," Casper mumbled under his breath.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Joy pleaded, turning to Draco. "Draco, please don't agitate her. She is a good person, but her personality is a bit messed up."

"The hell did you say, you yellow prick!" Sophia didn't stop her farce and continued trying to break free, as she continued shouting. "I will kill all of you, bastards!"

"Yellow prick?" Joy murmured to herself, a few veins surfacing on her forehead. "At least I am taller than you!"

As everyone continued bickering with each other, with Casper adding some comments from the side and Noah trying to subdue her sister, Draco smiled to himself. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed this chaos.

It made him feel...accepted?

With a corner of his eyes, Draco glanced at the temporary quest and then at Joy and Sophia. If he wanted to complete the quest, he should start making some moves on both of them. After some consideration, Draco decided to start with Joy, for she was clearly much more amiable and easygoing.

Hence, after they finished eating and left to rest, Draco followed Joy from behind and put his hand on her shoulder. She was a bit startled, but when she looked back and saw Draco, she smiled. "Hey, Joy. Don't take anything that Sophia said to heart."

Joy blushed a bit. "Thanks, Draco."

"In fact," Draco moved his head a bit down, putting his mouth against her left ear. "I think you are really beautiful." Then, Draco let go of her and walked away, not even looking back at the startled golden-haired woman.

It was essential to show some special attention to Joy and slowly make their relationship closer. Being forceful or too fast was always a bad option, for Draco had been slapped numerous times for such actions.

-

For the next few days, Draco and his team continued making significant progress at combining and fusing their skill. Similarly, Draco also continued training with mana and now became much more efficient with its usage. He could even coat his daggers with mana, which, by Alice's words, was much more difficult than doing so with his body.

Draco and others continued to spar against Alice, and they finally built an appropriate battle formation. Casper and Alice stood in the middle, since they both were utility users, while Noah and Sophia were in the rear. Draco, of course, was placed at the forefront of the formation, together with his buddy Minotaur.

During this period of time, Draco also learned more about his skill. The most crucial thing that he understood was the fact that he didn't need any mana at all to summon Minotaur, which earned him stupefied gazes from the entire team. Even Casper started saying that life was simply unfair.

However, if Minotaur died, Draco wouldn't be able to summon him again for at least a few hours, because almost all of his mana would get depleted. The fact that Minotaur was basically immortal also caused quite a commotion. Captain Alice told him that it may be the strongest S rank skill she has ever heard of.

Well, yeah... since it wasn't S rank in the first place, but Draco decided to just stay quiet.

Finally, after an arduous week, Alice called all of them to gather. Draco arrived last. When he entered the room, Draco expected to feel some kind of tension in the room, but it was actually much more carefree than expected.

"Since the dungeon break is destined to happen tomorrow, we decided to send you today. Once you enter, the dungeon can't break." Alice said, then scanned everyone from head to toe. "Most people would say something motivating right now, but I don't do anything like that. You are all strong enough to challenge this dungeon. In fact, even though this team was accidentally made up, it is balanced and competent."

"Casper is going to lead this operation, so listen to his instruction," Alice added, basically staring at Sophia, who nodded like a dog caught doing something bad. "Before all of you go though, I have some presents that may help you."

Firstly, she took out a dark jacket from underneath the table and gave it to Casper. "This has been made from a devil's skin and is extremely tough. Even a mana-infused blade won't easily damage it."

Then, Alice threw a pair of gloves at Sophia. "These ones were also made to be extremely durable."

Gesturing for Joy to come forward, Alice stood up and put a necklace around her neck. "This will save your life from an unavoidable threat at least once."

Turning to Noah, Alice gave him a long sleeve green T-shirt. "This has been made from an elastic material, so it won't rip apart every time you use your powers."

"As for you." Alice finally walked up to Draco, taking out two daggers from her belt. "These have been forged by a blacksmith from the Central City, and they are almost indestructible, so treasure them well."

Everyone nodded their heads in appreciation, while Draco inspected his new weapons. Their design was minimalistic, as they both were raven. However, what made them different was their natural feeling of sharpness. Channeling mana into them, Draco understood that it was much easier to do so with these blades.

It was great.

After waiting for them to finish appreciating their respective gifts, Alice took out another item. "This is the teleportation scroll that will take you near the dungeon at a moment's notice. It's completely harmless, so just relax."

As everyone nodded, Alice opened the scroll and threw it toward the ground beneath them. Draco didn't even actually feel anything, but when he opened his eyes again, he was already in a completely different place.

Greenery surrounded him from everywhere, and rays of sunlight danced upon his forehead. The refreshing smell of grass entered his nostrils, beckoning him to fall down and enjoy its embrace. However, in the distance, a huge rip in the world was producing thundering noise.

'So, this is a dungeon.' Draco thought to himself. It was almost like a black hole that desired to suck in the entire world, and he was about to enter it. Casper, who had always acted nonchalant, finally turned serious. He glanced at everyone and then gestured forward, nearing the gate.

Numerous soldiers were stationed around the proximity, awaiting their arrival. All of them were clearly delighted to see awakeners, for nobody wanted to fight against a freshly broken dungeon.

Casper talked with a soldier in charge, and they were promptly let through to enter the gate. With no hesitation, Casper walked inside. Others followed, their bodies submerging into the unknown.

Taking a deep breath, Draco followed closely from behind.

-

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