Ten Stalkers

"The point is, we need to get them to the seventh floor or beyond as soon as possible," Rafe said.

"They don't seem like the type to hesitate to attack others near us, the aura alone feels different," Rafe muttered.

"This sucks, this must be the work of that noble child you're embarrassing," Hayato said.

"I don't care what anyone does, if they want to hurt us, then death is all they'll get," Rafe said without hesitation.

The two continued their journey into the dungeon. The size of the first floor of the dungeon alone felt huge with many branching paths, many miners were mining materials in various corners of the dungeon cave under the supervision of the soldiers in their respective groups. Rafe and Hayato crossed paths with the mining party several times as they reached the second floor.

"It looks like it's getting late outside, they seem to be heading home," Hayato said as he looked at the miners.

"The situation here is very different from the dungeon I explored in the past," Rafe muttered as he looked around.

"Of course it's different," Hayato said as he took a book out of his pocket.

"What's this?" asked Rafe.

"This is the archive of the Ruttera Dungeon, the adventurers who explored this dungeon mapped it and gave many explanations about the monsters inside," Hayato replied.

"Huh? Is there a shortcut here too?" asked Rafe enthusiastically.

"I'm looking for it," Hayato said as he opened each sheet in his hand.

"Well, there is a shortcut to get to the fifth floor, but it's pretty dangerous because there doesn't seem to be any mining activity there yet. There might still be monsters there," Hayato said.

"No problem, we just have to kill them," Rafe said excitedly.

Hayato put down his book again and went ahead, the situation on the second floor was much darker than before because the oil lamps the miners had brought with them had been extinguished.

"Hey, can you use your fire magic to light the way? I can't because it's blocked by your plot armor," Hayato asked.

"Isn't it too dark yet?" said Rafe.

"I'm not an assassin like you, I'm just a swordsman. My eyesight is not as good as yours," Hayato grumbled.

"Yeah, I see," Rafe said as he created a fireball in his hand to light up the road they were traveling on.

"It looks like the Stalkers haven't attacked yet, is that because we're still in the mining area?" Hayato wondered.

Rafe and Hayato started down a rather narrow dirt path, it was the shortcut to the fifth floor that Hayato was referring to.

"Are they still following us?" asked Hayato after the two of them had walked down the corridor for a while.

"Yes. They're keeping their distance on purpose," Rafe replied.

"Then just finish them off here, the area is so narrow that they won't be able to escape," Hayato suggested.

"We should wait for them to attack first, I could be wrong," Rafe said.

"That's right," Hayato muttered as he resumed his steps.

In the distance, the exit of the corridor leading to the fifth floor of the dungeon could be seen. Suddenly, Rafe stopped his steps, leaving Hayato confused.

"What's wrong?" asked Hayato.

"No, it's just that there's an adventurer on the fifth floor," Rafe replied while continuing his steps.

"Alone?" asked Hayato in surprise.

"Yeah, that's why I was a little surprised," Rafe replied.

"Tch. How come even NPCs like him have good sensory abilities? This world isn't fair, shouldn't main characters like me be the first to realize it?" thought Hayato.

The two of them came out in one of the mining areas on the fifth floor, there seemed to be many scattered mining scars, but Hayato did not see anyone there. Rafe went first and was followed by Hayato.

Shortly after, Rafe turned around and threw the fireball in his hand backwards, a loud bang was heard as Rafe's fireball hit two poison arrows that shot towards them. Rafe's fireballs scattered in different directions after exploding, Hayato could see the shadows of their stalkers in the light of the exploding fireballs.

"It's moving," Hayato muttered as he jumped away from Rafe so as not to be affected by his plot armor, drawing his sword as well.

"What a surprise, we wanted to get this over with two poison arrows," said a burly man in the distance.

"I didn't think he would notice the poisoned arrow attack," said the woman with the crossbow.

In the distance, there were nine adventurers, fully armored and armed. They wore triangular platinum emblems indicating that they were all A-rank adventurers.

"Nine people? Looks like one more person is an assassin," Hayato muttered with a suspicious look.

"Hehehe... I thought there was a mosquito behind me, but it turned out to be a poisoned arrow," Rafe said with a chuckle.

"Laugh to your heart's content as long as you can, because after this, you won't be able to laugh anymore," a man with a sword said.

"I hear he's an assassin, but he doesn't seem to want to hide," said the wand-carrying woman.

"Regardless, stay alert," replied the man with the shield as he stood at the front.

Now the figures of nine adventurers were clearly visible, following Rafe, an archer, a mage, a swordsman, two guards, two fighters, a beast tamer and a lancer. Meanwhile, the only adventurer still hiding was an assassin.

"Hehehe... I'm not a cowardly assassin like your friend," Rafe sneered.

"Does he even know that?" muttered the fighter near the archer and the wizard.

"A guardian and a fighter seem to be protecting the archer and the wizard, while another guardian is in the front. Classic party formation, just like in an online game," Hayato thought as he placed his large bag on the ground.

The fighter and the swordmaster in front immediately darted to different sides of Rafe, while the guardian darted straight at Rafe, behind the guardian there seemed to be a lancer ready with his spear. The beast tamer in the middle immediately used his magic to summon the monster he had tamed.

Meanwhile, the archer and the wizard seemed to be preparing long-range attack magic. Rafe just grinned as he saw his opponent's simultaneous movements, and both of Rafe's hands began to emit bright lightning bolts.

"Ice slash!" Hayato shouted from a distance as he slashed his sword at Rafe's back.

The ice particles in the air seemed to form a sword slash, and Rafe immediately jumped aside to meet the fighter. Meanwhile, the opposing guardian immediately used barrier magic to deflect Hayato's long-range slash.

"You're just being annoying!" the opposing swordsman shouted as he lunged at Hayato.

The sound of an explosion was heard as Hayato's slash hit the guardian's barrier skill, not long after the next explosion sound was heard as the fighter's blow aimed at Rafe hit the ground and scattered.

"Tch. I really can't use my magic," the hunter grumbled as he tried to attack Rafe.

Rafe's own figure was already floating in the air as he stomped his right hand in the air, and at that moment, a bolt of lightning was created that spread like tree roots toward the swordsman. The wizard used fire spear magic on Rafe, while the archer shot a wind arrow at Rafe.

Rafe stomped his left hand in the air until the flashes in his hand scattered like lightning arrows. The sound of successive explosions was heard as Rafe's lightning arrow magic hit the archer's and wizard's attacks simultaneously.

The next explosion sound came from the collision of the swordmaster's slash with Rafe's lightning magic, which traveled through the air. The swordmaster jumped back again, but this time Hayato seemed to have swung his sword several times into the air.

"This time, I won't waste my rations! Triple fire slash!" Hayato shouted as he slashed with his sword.

"Tch. Low level attack!" the swordmaster taunted as he deflected Hayato's attack with his sword.

The sound of successive explosions could be heard as Hayato's attack hit the ground. Meanwhile, Rafe had already planted his feet on the ground again, stomping his feet into the ground until chunks of earth were scattered into the air along with rocks.

Rafe threw the chunks of earth at the lancer who was throwing the spear, while Rafe's hand picked up ten pebbles. The fire spear that shot out managed to pierce through the scattered boulders.

Rafe easily dodged the fire spear thrown by Lancer, and the sound of an explosion was heard along with the surface of the ground scattering into the air as Lancer's spear hit the ground.

"Looks like our magic can't be used when he's around!" the fighter shouted warningly. Suddenly, his eight other friends retreated immediately to keep their distance from Rafe.

"My slashes are on par with his weak attacks, that doesn't make sense," the swordmaster said.

"It looks like he's much stronger than he looks, and his speed is also on par with an A-rank assassin," said the guardian standing in front.

"Hehehe... That's because your attacks are too crude, not because I'm too strong," Rafe taunted as he clenched his hands into fists, lightning strikes enveloping both of Rafe's hands again.

"I'll show you how to use magic maturely," Rafe said as he brought his left hand forward.

Continued...