-Chapter 43- Widows Crypt

"Brother! Wake up!" My sister's voice pounded through my head as she screamed at the top of her lungs directly next to my ear.

"What? What's going on?" My eyes still half-closed, I looked around frantically to see where the emergency was.

"Sheesh! You suck at waking up, Brother." Ellie had probably woken up not too long ago, judging by the state of her hair.

"Is that the newest style for the girls at ladies' school?" I poked at the wild tangle on her head.

"Stop it! Your hair looks weird too." Hopping out of bed, my sister reminded me to wash up as she left.

"Aye aye!" I gave my sister an exaggerated salute, making her giggle before she headed downstairs.

After washing up, I made sure I had a few basic necessities on me. These included my seal bracelet; my dimension ring with the djinn sword and phoenix feather stored inside, along with the other ring, which would signal my mother if I was in trouble.

From the looks of it Saya had already woken up before me and had finished washing up for the day.

We both packed up our bags before we went out in front of the manor where the carriage that will take us to the dungeon was parked.

"Bye, come back soon!" my sister yells as Saya and I are putting our bags into the carriage.

I say my goodbyes to my family before I leave and the carriage begins our journey to the beast glades.

The carriage brings us to the nearest teleportation gate to teleport us to the camp closest to the Widows Crypt dungeon. The carriage drops us off outside the Widows Crypt dungeon where our class is.

Stepping out of the carriage, I spotted Curtis waving at me, his smile wide and genuine. "How was your trip back home? Did you get to spend some time with your family?" Claire patted me on the back when I reached the group of students waiting outside of the dungeon.

"Good, you made it!" Professor Glory gave me a smile too as she began her headcount. Looking around, in addition to Curtis and Claire, I saw Clive, Lucas, and a few other students that I hadn't gotten to know yet.

"Now that you both are here we can begin forming teams." Professor Glory says excitedly.

Saya interrupts while raising her hand. "I am actually just gonna sit this out, Is that fine?"

The professor is shocked for a moment before responding, "Yeah, that's completely fine. Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, I'll just sit out here and wait for you all." Saya responds.

"Ok, that's fine." Professor Glory says, "As for teams…"

"Due to one student sitting out, for now, I'm going to split you up into three teams of five." Professor Glory pulled out a small piece of paper from the shawl she was wearing. "I've already decided on how teams will be split so take a step forward as I call you. Curtis, Claire, Dorothy, Owen, and Marge, you will make up the first team."

Our professor motioned for them to pick up their shawls and step to the side. She then called the next five students, which left me with a sinking feeling. "Finally, that leaves us with Arthur, Lucas, Clive, Tessia, and Roland," she said as she pointed at the remaining shawls. I had to be with Lucas again?

Was she doing this on purpose? No, she had no idea that I'd been an adventurer before. There were only sixteen students in the class, so the chance was always there that we'd been teamed together randomly, but Professor Glory was also the one who had stopped my scuffle with Lucas, so she knew we didn't get along.

I debated on whether or not I should ask to change with someone, but ultimately decided to stay.

"Now, split up into your groups and get to know each other. You have seen what everyone in your group can do in class, but discuss your strengths and weaknesses. Communication and trust are vital in team-fighting. You'll also have to decide on a leader before we go inside." She took a seat on the rock and our group came together and sat in a circle.

Everyone looked at each other, not wanting to speak at first. Finally Roland spoke up. "As most of you already know, I'm Roland Alderman and I am a water-attribute augmenter. My hobbies are relaxing, shopping, going on dates with pretty girls and-"

(SIMP)

"No one asked for your hobbies," Clive interrupted with an irritated tone.

"Well, someone's a little grumpy. Anywho, my strength is in mid-range fighting, using a water whip skill that has been passed down through my family for, well, a long time. My weakness is close-range combat. Next!" he finished, tossing the imaginary baton to me, on his left.

"Arthur Bladeheart. I'm a wind- and earth-attribute conjurer. I'm adept at all ranges but prefer mid-range," I stated, looking directly at Lucas, who was across from me.

"Clive Graves. Wind-attribute augmenter specializing in long-distance fighting with a bow. I don't really have a weakness,"

(Overconfident? lol)

"Lucas Wykes. I am a conjurer with a single specialization in fire. As for strengths and weaknesses, just assume you'll be getting in my way during battle." Rolling his eyes, he just leaned back, keeping his legs crossed.

I sensed the hostility in the air and noticed Tess looking a little uncomfortable.

"Tessia Crestless. I am a conjurer with a dual specialization in plant and wind. My strong suits are middle to long-range fighting." She let her voice trail off and our group became silent.

We all knew what the next topic would be. Lucas was the first one to speak. "I elect myself to be the leader."

"Oh? By what standards do you see yourself as the leader of this group?" Clive tilted their head, giving him an irritated look.

"Strength, of course," Lucas shot back, looking at him angrily. "Let's be real, I can beat any of you in a fight. Isn't it natural for the strongest one to be the leader?"

"I vote for Tessia! She's the only girl, so we can name our team the Queen and Her Knights!" Roland had a sparkle in his eyes as his mind wandered off into his own little fantasy land.

(Dude seriously, stop it)

"I guess I can agree with that, anyone but hot-head over here." Clive states adding another vote to Tessia being our leader.

It looked as if Tessia didn't have any objections to this. Rather happily accepting the votes to become our leader.

"I don't really care who the leader is," I say, just handing the job over to them.

"Welp that's two to one, looks like operation Queen and her Knights is a go!" Roland happily announces.

After we finish introducing ourselves and establish our team leader we form a battle plan for while we are in the dungeon while the other teams finish choosing their leaders.

Lucas scoffed at our plan, "Don't bother including me, I won't need help. After all, I was an A-class adventurer before I came here."

Everyone chose to ignore him though continuing on without planning.

Eventually everyone had chosen their leaders and we could get a move on with our field trip.

"Any questions? No? Okay, then it's settled. We will enter the dungeon now." Professor Glory announces to the class.

I can see Saya walk over and sit down and watch as we all grouped up and left.

We took off, taking long strides through the thick forest, the trees blocking out most of the sunlight.

"All right, is everyone ready? Then let's head in. Brace yourselves, once we get inside, it's going to be chilly," Professor Glory announced before stepping through the entrance, which appeared to be a narrow stairway leading into darkness.

In a single-file line, we all began making our way down the stairs. The temperature dropped noticeably with every step we took.

"W-W-What the hell? I d-d-didn't think it-it'd be this c-c-cold!" Roland managed to say through chattering teeth.

"Augment yourself, you idiot," I heard Clive say from behind. It was too dark to see anything more than the vague outline of each person.

I wasn't sure why but the cold wasn't affecting me even though I wasn't augmenting myself. Was it because I was assimilating to the djinn mana? Maybe it could have effects on my body besides making me able to handle the djinn items like the sword.

A gust of piercingly cold air blew through the opening at the end of the tunnel, forcing me to shield myself with the shawl. My eyes adjusted to the change in lighting and I was able to see the first floor of the Widow's Crypt.

Although I'd been in dungeons before, it was still exciting. The cavern stretched out for hundreds of yards, making me wonder how it even supported itself. The stone that made up the large cavern sparkled with a dim blue light. Icicles glinted on the ceiling and a thin layer of ice covered the floor. Looking closely, I could see a nearly transparent layer of moss that covered the cavern walls and ceiling, enveloping this floor in a serene light.

"That's odd. Usually we'd see a fair amount of snarlers already. Why don't I-" Professor Glory stops speaking as she notices hideous noises echoing all around us.

There were sneakers peeking out behind the numerous boulders and from the small caverns dotting the wall of the cave with their glowing beady red eyes.