Chapter 22: Dungeon Exploration

The instant they walked inside, they felt a change in the air pressure.

"So this is what being in a dungeon feels like. I thought it was a tower. How come we're going down? Won't we flood?" John asked.

"From what I've heard, all dungeons are underground. So maybe the tower on the dungeon only exists for aesthetics or appearance?" Serena replied.

"So that means, they're trying to make the dungeons easier to identify," Ariel replied.

'So that they can scare any countries planning on raiding... By building towers on them, they'll emphasise their value and worth.' John thought.

They all nodded after reaching their conclusions while they continued to walk deeper and deeper.

Originally they were going downstairs, but now they've reached the first floor. 

'There should be other adventurers fighting so, let's detect them.' John decided.

"Deprehendre.".

John cast his favourite scouting spell as he continued to walk through the first floor.

"What!?" John said.

"What's wrong!?" Serena and Ariel asked.

"Try casting magic at these walls. No, wait I'll do it." John said.

"Glacies".

John cast glacies at these old mossy strong walls that surrounded them, and on impact, it evaporated. The same would happen to any other element. Ariel and Serena then gave a look showing that they realised what he talking about.

"I was right. These walls have some sort of anti-magic imbued to them. They're slightly broken right now, but they're hard. Not to mention my deprehendre was cancelled out by it." John stated.

"What's your deprehendre?" Serena asked.

"I'd like to know too..." Ariel added.

"Ah, that's right. I never showed you guys it, did I? Basically deprehendre allows me to detect how many and where the enemies are within a distance of whatever I like." John said.

"What!? At the use of a word?!" Serena asked.

"Every spell I use is like that," John said.

"C-Can you teach me how to use it?" Serena asked.

"Can you teach me too?" Ariel asked.

At this point, John couldn't deny Serena's offer. 

'Well, she seems trustworthy enough to learn a scouting spell. It's not as difficult as concept elemental magic.' John concluded.

"Yes... yes... I'll teach you both. But for now, we're in the middle of a dungeon. Put your guards up. I felt the presence of around 10 monsters in the room in front of us." John answered.

They walked forward with their guards up and as John thought that, they saw 10 kobolds.

The kobolds noticed them and began to let out annoying screams as they rushed at them.

Ariel was prepared to cast, while Serena was already casting. When John signalled them to stop.

"No need to waste your magic here. We're going to try to reach the 3rd floor today, so leave this to me." John said.

"Ventus" John muttered.

The instant he said the word. The heads of the 3 Kobolds who were charging at him were directly sliced in half. The moment they died, their bodies evaporated and as soon as it did, Magic stones were left there on the ground.

The 7 which were right behind them stopped in their tracks.

"So those are magic stones." Ariel muttered.

"Yes, mages can also use them as mana reservoirs to cast spells. In other words, with these, we don't need to be worried about running out of magic power." Said Serena as she looked at John.

'Okay, okay, I didn't know about that. And to be honest, I wanted to show off a little too.' John thought.

"Hm... True, we'll keep some to sell and some to use for our spells." John said.

"What about them?" Ariel asked as she pointed at the 7 kobolds, who stuck to a close formation as they approached them.

"Ah, that. Do you guys mind if I handle it? I already started." John asked.

The two nodded.

"Alright, I've always wanted to try this. Soo... Ignis, Glacies." John said louder than normal.

Above his left shoulder was a Blue Flame the size of a baseball, and on his right shoulder, there was a glacies the size of a 2 Litre water bottle. This glacies was bigger than normal.

"D-Double casting!?" Said Serena with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ah. It's just like that time." Ariel said.

She was probably talking about when John used 'Silentium' and 'Furtim'.

"Nice observation, just like that time," John replied.

"What time?" Serena Asked.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later." John Said.

John continued facing the group of monsters as they were nearly right in front of him and aimed his Flame and Ice Spike at them.

"A blue flame!?" Serena said.

"But John! That Flame-".

Before Ariel could finish, John propelled that flame towards that horde of monsters. Before propelling it, he had increased its size to the size of 4 Basketballs so that it would engulf the entire group.

The monsters who had enough intelligence to work together were unable to get away in time. On impact, the fire engulfed their entire group. Soon their screams of pain ended and their bodies evaporated.

"But now the fire-".

"Don't worry, look," John said as he pointed at the flames which were disappearing.

"What?" Ariel said.

"The dungeons' anti-magic floor and walls are reacting with the flame, which is causing it to disappear," John said.

"Then why did you create that Ice spike above your shoulder?" Serena asked.

"Well, in case it failed. I would use this to evaporate the fire after I increased the size of this spike." John replied.

"You're pretty smart aren't you John..." Said Serena.

"I studied hard," John replied.

"After we leave the dungeon, I want you to explain," She said.

"I'll explain, but you won't be able to tell anyone. I'm only doing this because I trust you." John replied.

"T-Trust..." She repeated with a smile on her face.

'What's that reaction supposed to mean?' John wondered.

"Okay, let's move on." They walked up to the magic stones and picked them all up. They also placed it in the magic toolbox.

"Tell me when you guys get hungry. I put enough food to last 3 days in the toolbox. It should be getting full soon though." John said.

The two nodded.

---------------------------------------------

It had been around an hour since they entered the dungeons. So far, they've been killing monsters as they advanced deeper and deeper. There were a few traps like treasure chests and different rooms, but John was still able to use deprehendre to detect traps. It just can't detect things over the walls.

"How troublesome, maybe I should just break these walls with magic reinforcement?" John said as he punched it and left a crack on it.

"W-what!? Don't do that John!" Said Serena.

"John, you might end up getting us trapped inside." Said Ariel.

"It was a joke. Come on, do I look like the kind of guy that enjoys breaking stuff?" John asked.

The two looked like they were deep in thought before nodding.

Recalling the events that have happened so far, for some reason, John couldn't deny them.

"Crap... I actually do..." John muttered.

He then turned to face the direction they were originally heading.

"Let's go..."

The two nodded and continued following John.

So far, they've fought using a pretty simple formation. John attacks the front, Ariel and Serena support from behind.

Ariel has been using Ventus while using the magic stone's mana as a reservoir, while Serena has been using both the magic stones and her Wand. As John had thought, wands contain magic stones in them which can be recharged using magic stones or the mage's mana.

'So that's why she didn't feel tired after using so many spells in our fight.' John thought.

They didn't really need to use any formation, since they can just hit any monster, which they see with a magical bombardment. However, that would be boring.

As John was lost in thought, they had finally arrived. A huge door which gave the vibes of the final boss's room.

"Guys, I think this is the 1st-floor boss's room. We'll continue using the same formation we've used so far. If it gets too dangerous for me to fight it close. We'll bombard it with spells from midrange." John explained.

John didn't expect to find the boss's room this fast, it's been only an hour. 

So far, the dungeon has been a maze with weak monsters. They would walk in a straight line, then they would hit a wall and would then be forced to choose between left or right, with empty old rooms around them which were most likely traps.

'But now we're finally here. I wonder how strong the boss is. I can't wait! I've been getting tired of killing Kobolds, even if it's only been an hour.' John thought.

"Is everyone ready?" John asked.

"Yes!" Said the two girls as they nodded.

"Alright, then let's go," John said as he pushed open the door.

Inside was a room identical to a king's chamber. At the end of the room stood a throne and on it, there was the boss. Behind the boss and the throne was a door which would probably take them down to the second floor.

The boss was an armed bigger version of the kobold; it wore a Worn out iron armour and had a knife looking sword on its waist. It got up after seeing them enter.

"What is that?" John asked.

"That's a Kobold King. Unlike regular small kobolds. This is a special one which can control kobolds and strengthen them." Serena explained.

"Ah, so he is the boss. He looks stronger than the Goblin King, but in the end, he's just the boss of the first floor. It's quite funny how he's sitting on a throne." John said.

Realizing that John was mocking it, the Kobold King let out a piercing roar.

"I'll leave him to you two," John said as he sat down on the floor behind him.

"What are you talking about!?" Said, Serena as she started to cast.

"John, we should be training our teamwork even if it is weak," Ariel said.

"You're right, but in the end, he'll just be taken out in one hit by my glacies or Ignis. We won't be practising. Besides Ariel, you and Serena can easily take it out yourselves. This won't serve as practice just as a waste of energy." John explained.

The Kobold King who appeared to understand his insults fell in deep rage as he started to rush at them as if it could understand John's insults.

"Fine..." Said Serena.

"Understood!" Said, Ariel.

After it arrived on their side, the Kobold King, who was aggroed at John, swung his giant sword at him.

"Fast. Definitely faster than the goblin king. But not fast enough." John said as he jumped back to dodge it.

'Not bad. I might've underestimated it. They can still handle it, though.' John thought.

"Ariel, Serena. Now!" He shouted.

The two who had finished preparing their spell used it.

"Ventus!" Said, Ariel.

"Fireball!" Said, Serena.

Serena had already started casting before Ariel, so her spell was ready by the same time as her. During the moment, John gave the signal, they both launched their spells at the Kobold King.

It was super effective. It's the right hand who held the sword was sliced off, while the left side of its body was completely burnt. Its left hand was probably unusable.

"Wow... Ariel, you should be able to easily take out the goblin king alone and Serena, you're already super strong. How strong are we compared to an A-Rank adventurer?" John asked.

"An A-Rank Swordsman adventurer could take out this Kobold King easily in one hit." She said.

"Hm... I see... So, in other words, this monster isn't that strong. But it's stronger than the Goblin King, so why was surprised in the guild after we took out the goblin king, Ariel?" John asked.

"It was probably because we were orphans, most people don't expect Orphans to take out any kind of monster, but we were able to take out a C-Rank goblin king." She said.

"Hm... That makes sense. Don't forget to finish him off." John said as he pointed at the motionless, nearly dead Kobold King.

"Ventus!" Said Ariel as she nodded.

"Fireball!" Said Serena As she finished casting.

'Rest in peace. You were the same Rank as a goblin king. It must've sucked to be looked down upon, and I'm sure I annoyed you, I'm sorry.'

John thought as the Giant Red Fireball and the Wind blade finished it off.

After dying, a Red Magic Stone which was bigger than the purple ones from the weak monsters was formed and the dead body of the kobold King was absorbed into the dungeon.

After the body got absorbed, the door which stood behind the throne opened up.

"Well then, you guys want to continue and go to the second floor? Or head back?" John asked as he picked up the slightly big red magic stone and put it inside of his Magic toolbox.

"We'd like to continue!" Said the two after nodding at each other.

"Alright then, Let's continue our dungeon exploration!" John declared.