Fwoosh—.Bell’s fireball lit up the dark cave brightly.To save the mana in our flashlights, our party used Bell’s flame instead of actual flashlights to illuminate the cave interior.There was also the advantage that Bell’s fireball illuminated the entire space, whereas flashlights only shone within a fixed angle.“Wow, I can’t believe a place like this exists under the lake.”Chloe kept firing the camera shutter over and over, marveling nonstop at the sight of the massive cave.“Stop taking pictures and let’s go.”We had plenty of time until the weekend, but even so, it was better to hurry.Compared to the Spooky Dungeon we cleared before, the Aether Dungeon was considerably dangerous.Just the fact that five “Dungeon Keepers” appeared in dungeons of Intermediate level and above showed how high the difficulty here would be.“Yes, last one—let’s take one all together. Okay~ everyone, gather up nicely.”Chloe gathered us up and took a commemorative photo.Expressionless Ciel, Beatrice with a bothered look, Yulina caught mid-motion trying to cover her face so she wouldn’t appear in an article. Bell scratching her cheek with a goofy grin, and Melga standing on tiptoes to match everyone’s height.A wonderful commemorative photo was taken.After taking the photo at the cave entrance, we continued deeper inside.“Watch your step. It’ll hurt if you get pierced.”Since there wasn’t anything resembling a proper path inside, and countless sharp stalagmites were sticking up everywhere, we moved carefully.After some time passed—after we had walked deep into the cave—we soon reached a wall.“Whoa.”A massive wall stretched out endlessly, like the end of the world.The entrance to the Aether Dungeon was here as well.Large pillars standing to each side, with a triangular roof.It looked like the entrance to a classic temple.As we got closer to the entrance, I noticed that the firmly shut doors had the Five Elements carved into them in relief.It meant we had to inject mana corresponding to each of the Five Element attributes to open the door and enter the dungeon interior.I nodded at the sight.'In a way, it’s even considerate.'You could only defeat the Dungeon Keepers using attributes that matched the Five-Element affinity. If you couldn’t even meet that condition, then you were basically told not to enter the dungeon at all.Melga and Chloe looked at the large temple doors with sparkling eyes.“This… bears the touch of our ancestors from long, long ago.”“Right, it looks like ruins of the ancient dwarves that existed in the Golden Age.”Click—.While Chloe photographed the dungeon entrance, I asked Beatrice to open it.“Beatrice. Just inject the mana of the Five Elements evenly in the directions that match each elemental symbol carved on the entrance. It shouldn’t be hard for you. I’m counting on you.”“Yes, well.”“And be careful. The moment the dungeon opens, traps will activate. It’s better to dodge them with your body than rely on barriers.”While Beatrice pretended to half-listen, then stepped toward the tightly shut door and began drawing up her mana, I warned the others.“The inside of the dungeon is filled with mechanical devices left by the ancient dwarves. Don’t think you can explore lightly like now. Everyone, brace yourselves.”“Okay!”Only Bell answered enthusiastically. The others just nodded vaguely.“And absolutely do not touch any levers or buttons inside the dungeon. A giant boulder might roll down or the floor might disappear and you could fall. Or ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) a spiked iron door could suddenly slam shut and trap you inside.”“…….”At my sharp warning, Bell’s face gradually stiffened.“And you must not run ahead on your own. There are many traps in the floor and walls as well. If you don’t want to die a ridiculous death, obey my orders unconditionally.”I reassured the pale Bell and the rest of the party.“But don’t worry too much. We have Chloe, who’s well-versed in archaeology, and Melga, a specialist in mechanical devices. As long as you don’t act on your own, it won’t be too dangerous.”Besides, I knew all of the dungeon’s gimmicks. As long as no one acted on their own, there wouldn’t be any danger.As we were going over these various precautions and making final preparations for the exploration, we suddenly heard the sound of the door opening from behind.Rumble—.The enormous door slid open to both sides with a vibration, spilling dust as it moved.Once the door opened fully, Beatrice turned back and said:“It’s open.”I warned her.“Move!”Flash—.The moment I spoke, something glowing flew out from inside the dungeon.It was an arrow made of alloy.Beatrice seemed to have sensed at least this much coming; without a change in expression, she casually waved her hand.Whoosh—.A thick magic barrier appeared instantly and protected Beatrice.A barrier of this thickness could easily block a knight’s spear throw or even a magical energy blast.However—Psssk—.The dwarven alloy arrow pierced straight through Beatrice’s magic barrier.“……!”The moment Beatrice panicked at this completely unexpected situation—Clang—!The Aegis I had pre-cast intercepted and blocked in front of Beatrice.Beatrice stared wide-eyed at the alloy arrow that stopped right before her nose.Clatter—.The arrow, blocked by Aegis, soon fell helplessly and rolled across the floor.“Your Highness!”As Yulina rushed to Beatrice in a single step, Melga picked up the fallen arrow from the ground and examined it closely.A bizarre alloy arrow with its front twisted like a drill.Melga spoke in a surprised voice.“…This arrowhead is shaped specifically to pierce magic-crafted shields and barriers. It’ll be hard to explore comfortably relying only on defensive magic. Everyone must be careful.”I agreed.“Right. Even a mage like Beatrice can’t let her guard down here. Stay sharp, everyone.”“…….”Beatrice silently stared at the arrow in Melga’s hand.“Then let’s enter according to the formation we decided on beforehand.”***Step— step—.Multiple footsteps echoed down the dungeon corridor.Unlike the outer cave, which was naturally formed, the interior of the dungeon was built with neatly stacked grayish-white bricks.It looked like the corridor of a citadel or an underground labyrinth.But deadly traps were hidden everywhere within these endlessly repeating brick walls.We couldn’t let our guard down even for a moment.Stop—.I halted in place and gave a command.“Ciel, press the brick on the left wall—third row from the top. Everyone else, stand by behind her.”Thunk—.When Ciel stepped forward and pressed the brick, the floor ahead suddenly sank and the bricks fell down into the darkness below.Rrrrrumble—.The sound of the bricks hitting bottom came only after a long time, making it clear that one misstep meant we wouldn’t walk away alive.Melga let out a dry laugh, peering into the dark hole where a gust of air was rising.“Haha, that’s insanely deep. If you fall, they won’t even find your bones.”“That’s exactly why we have to advance carefully.”Fortunately, thanks to the incident that happened early in the dungeon, everyone listened well to my instructions, making things easier.Considering our party’s strongest force—Beatrice—had almost been taken out in one hit, it was only natural.Of course—“What kind of exploration is this! Let’s go back, Your Highness. This is too dangerous.”A few hours earlier, at the start of the dungeon.Right after the arrow flew out the moment we opened the door and endangered Beatrice, Yulina had thrown a fit saying it was too dangerous and insisted we go back immediately.But Beatrice, perhaps feeling stubborn, said she wanted to continue.“I’m sorry, Yulina. Turning back here is something my pride cannot allow.”I added a comment.“If you want to go, then go alone. I won’t stop you.”“…….”It was already deep night.Returning to Union would mean rising alone through the pitch-black lake and then passing through the terrifying black forest.Yulina couldn’t bring herself to say she would go alone.“I—I can’t leave Your Highness and go by myself.”“Mm, of course you can’t.”And now, back to the present.After I leapt over the hole, I pointed at the corner visible ahead.“There’s a trap past that corner. Ice-attribute magic works on it, so freeze the wall. While the wall is frozen, we’ll pass quickly.”“Yes, yes~ here we go.”With a resigned expression, Yulina shot ice magic that froze the trap mechanism in place.Crackle—.The moment her ice magic hit, a flamethrower popped out from inside the wall.But the entire wall was frozen, so the flamethrower got stuck mid-deployment and stopped.If someone walked by unprepared and got hit directly by the flames, it would’ve been extremely dangerous—but if we froze the mechanism ahead of time like this, we could handle it.Yulina scratched her head awkwardly as she looked at the frozen flamethrower.“It really was there.”“I told you, if you follow instructions, it’s safe. Move quickly before the ice melts.”With my in-game knowledge and the system map helping me locate traps, there was no danger as long as they followed my commands.And even if I happened to miss something, Chloe and Melga could each provide backup.After several hours of smooth exploration like this, we finally exited the long corridor and arrived at what looked like a small room.The space seemed roughly around ten pyeong.Chloe scanned the room and shouted with a bright face:“H-Hey, this is a safe room! No traps or guardians at all. We can rest here for the night.”I nodded as well.“We reached it properly. This place is safe. Since we left right after dinner, it should be around midnight now. We’ll stay the night here.”Unlike the Spooky Dungeon, this dungeon required several days, so we had prepared camping supplies in advance.Without saying much, Beatrice took out tents and sleeping bags from her subspace pouch and distributed them.'I want that.'I eyed the subspace pouch in her hand with envy.As expected of royalty, Beatrice used expensive equipment.That pouch was at least A-rank, a high-grade item with an internal carrying capacity over five tons.If you refined the opening correctly, you could even store magical armor in it.After setting up our sleeping spots, we gathered around a soft lamp and relaxed with a bit of tea time.No matter how safely we advanced, everyone must’ve been tense throughout the exploration.Ciel poured warm herbal tea from the thermos into each of our metal cups.The hot liquid loosened the stiffness from my tension-tired body and gave a warm sense of relief.While everyone quietly sipped their tea, I spoke words of encouragement.“Good work, everyone. Bell, who kept consuming mana to provide light; Ciel, Beatrice, and Yulina, who assisted with disabling traps; and Melga and Chloe, who took the lead in searching.”I made eye contact with each party member and encouraged them one by one.“Starting tomorrow, we’ll be entering the dungeon’s deeper layers in earnest. On top of today’s traps, dwarven mechanical guardians will attack us. Rest well tonight and recover your condition.”“Dwarven mechanical guardians, huh. I’m looking forward to it. Heh.”“Do we not need a night watch?”At Bell’s question, I nodded.“Right. This isn’t the deep layer where monsters or guardians appear. You can all sleep comfortably tonight.”After discussing tomorrow’s schedule and plans, we ended the day with Ciel’s closing words.“Everyone, sleep well.”***Inside the quiet safe room, lit only by a faint mana lamp.Melga snored loudly, and the others were asleep, breathing softly.Beatrice lay curled on her side inside her sleeping bag.It was a top-grade sleeping bag made from the fur of the Permia mountain goat, but perhaps because the floor was so hard, it was terribly uncomfortable.“…….”Unable to fall asleep, she tossed and turned, replaying today’s dungeon exploration in her mind.A truly smooth run.There had been many traps inside the dungeon, but nothing had managed to block the exploration party.Chloe’s ability as a journalism major from the Archaeology Department and Melga’s mechanical knowledge as a dwarf had both been helpful, of course. But the most effective one was Loen’s knowledge.She had no idea how Loen knew every single trap crafted by ancient dwarves.'No, considering his recent behavior, nothing about him makes sense anymore.'Perhaps today’s events were only natural.Beatrice even thought that her silly fantasy from the beginning of the semester might actually have been true.Like the contents of a person had been completely swapped out for someone else.But according to Freya, Loen had apparently been a pretty decent person when young, so maybe not exactly that.As Beatrice contemplated various things, she recalled the trap arrow that had flown at her when they entered the dungeon.A minor incident on the surface, but also something that nearly put her in the grave.'…I suppose he’s technically a lifesaver.'Of course, if not for Loen, she wouldn’t have come to such a dangerous dungeon in the first place, and it was natural for a party leader like Loen to protect a party member like herself.But even so, the fact remained that she had overcome danger thanks to him.It was also her own mistake for ignoring his advice and stubbornly trying to block the arrow with her magic barrier.Beatrice resolved that, if the chance ever arose, she would repay this favor she had received from him.***The next day.“Did you not sleep?”“Don’t mind it.”“I assume the ground was uncomfortable. Going from a soft bed to the hard floor is only natural.”“…….”“Make sure you keep your condition in check. We’ll need your strength to defeat the Dungeon Keeper.”With a hollow-eyed Beatrice, we resumed exploring the dungeon.Descending the stairs, we reached the deep layer.Unlike yesterday’s silence, monsters and dwarven mechanical guardians began appearing one by one.Kirik—.The first to appear was a spider-shaped mechanical guardian, about the size of a medium-sized dog.Eight sharply honed spiked legs, several pairs of grotesquely writhing eyes.And even the gear-like teeth around its mouth, moving like a shredder.It looked fragile and ridiculous at first glance, but it was a device containing the full technical prowess of ancient dwarves—never an easy opponent.Once I confirmed its appearance, I issued instructions to the team.“Everyone focus. We’ve encountered the enemy, so move according to the formation we established earlier.”

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