We ended up returning from the Dungeon after descending to the third floor.
There were a few more skirmishes with some monsters but nothing much happened in all of them so we got back safely with no major injuries.
When we teleported out of the Dungeon though…
“Ahhh!! My arm!!”
“Help me!!”
“It hurts!!”
“Rats… Rats everywhere… Scary… So scary…”
“Walls… So scary… So dark…”
Many students were gathered around the triage station groaning in pain or hugging themselves looking quite traumatised.
Err… Was it really that bad? Aren’t the rats all really weak?
And according to Tika, those rats were supposed to be the strongest in this Dungeon right? So what were the other weaker monsters?
In fact… Now that I think about it… I’ve seen nothing but rats in the Dungeon this entire time, where did all the other monsters go?
“Is this normal?” I asked no one in particular.
“Umm… Definitely not…” Tika informed me. “In fact, it felt a bit weird that there were only rats while we were in there too… At first I thought maybe the Dungeon had changed since the last time I came here…”
I turned to her, “You remembered what monsters there were?! Didn’t you say you didn’t?”
“Ah… Not exactly… It’s just strange to only see one type of monster throughout the entire Dungeon… And we’ve encountered nothing but those Dungeon Rats…” She explained.
Our group went to the counter where we had received our Dungeon Record and registration to report on our progress, as was required by all parties returning from the Dungeon.
The guild staff at the counter seemed to go into a panic mode when she saw us, “Are you ok?! How many wounded does your group have?”
Tika was obviously quite surprised as it took her a moment to respond, “Ah… We’re fine. We aren’t hurt.”
“Quickly! Head towards the triage station! We have… Eh? Wait, what? You aren’t… Aren’t hurt? None of you are?”
I raised my hand slightly, “Umm… I guess Henri here got bit in the ankle? I healed it a little but there’s still a small bruise I think?”
She blinked a few times at me, “A… Small bruise? That’s all?”
“Ummm… Yes? We stopped the moment we reached the third floor so we did not face a lot of strong enemies.”
“Wait! You reached the third floor?! And all of you managed to beat all the Dungeon Rats?!”
I feel like we’re probably missing out on some things here…
I leaned forward slightly and whispered, “Just to check… The Dungeon Rats you are talking about are the weakened Dungeon Rats right?”
She nodded, “That’s one of them, but did you not come across any other types?”
We looked at one another before shaking our heads.
“In the cases of those weakened Dungeon Rats, did you encounter hordes of them in the dozens?” The Guild staff asked.
Tika shook her head, “Not at all… The most that we’ve encountered was a group of six but we dealt with them relatively easily…”
The Guild staff was once again confused by our words, “This doesn’t make any sense… Wait… Oh! Your team is the one with all the Special class students! That would explain how you fought through the Dungeon despite the anomalies!”
“Ha? What anomalies are you talking about?” Odeta asked.
She gestured to the students who were left at the triage station, “There’s been an abnormal amount of Dungeon Rats even within the first level. They weren’t even able to get past the first level because of all the monsters they’ve encountered. If they ran into the Weakened Dungeon Rats, there would at least be two dozens swarming them. Not only that, there were also Feral Dungeon Rats and even Dungeon Rat Matrons prowling around as well.”
Huh?
Wait a minute…
Weren’t those found in E rank Dungeons? And the Matron was even a boss monster for it? Or was that Dungeon also an F rank?
One thing I know for sure is that the Dungeon Rat Matron was a boss monster and not a normal Dungeon mob, so hearing instances of them wandering around on the very first floor is definitely abnormal.
At least… I think so?
Unless the principal was trying to kill us?
Ok, that’s pretty much very unlikely considering the fact that Mother would definitely be upset to hear about this… Then again… She might not since I could very much clear these monsters out myself so I wasn’t in any danger either…
Ahhhh!! I don’t know!!
Thankfully, I did not need to think that much since Tika asked the questions I was wondering without any prompting.
“Why is this happening? This is supposed to be an F rank Dungeon right? Why are there such monsters on the first floor?”
The Guild staff grimaced, “We do not know either… We’ve deployed the Mercenaries to enter the Dungeon and investigate the situation while also culling their numbers and rescuing any other students that may still be inside. We have also sent a message to the principal so she should be informed of the situation as well. Forgive me for asking again but you have truly reached the third floor without seeing any abnormal monsters?”
All of us nodded in response.
“And the Special class students were not just killing the monsters on their own without your knowledge?” The Guild staff looked pointedly at Tika.
Tika shook her head, “No, we fought as a team the entire time.”
“Were you?” I whispered to Odeta who had been the only one to not participate in any of our fights.
“Nope! I was focused on watching you the entire time, sister Aster!” She told me proudly.
Ugghh… Stahp Odeta… You’re making me feel embarrassed…
Right then, a group of teachers entered the hall with the principal herself leading them.
“What is going on here?!” The principal demanded, her face aghast when she saw the state the students were in within the triage area.
“Principal Dawn!” The Guild staff called out. “The Dungeon seems to have been compromised! Are you able to check its status as the Dungeon Master?”
The principal frowned before stretching her hand towards it and closing her eyes, concentrating.
A few seconds passed before she opened her eyes in shock, “This… How could this be?! This is impossible!!”
Her reaction made the Guild staff look at her with worry, “What happened? What did you see?”
“The Dungeon… It’s no longer F rank! It’s gone up to D rank!”
Eh? I thought the Dungeon Master was the one controlling the rank of the Dungeon? So if it went up in rank, shouldn’t it be because the principal made it so?
The principal seemed like she wanted to say something but stopped herself before turning to me. Her eyes then widened considerably before she suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me aside.
“Aster… I need to ask… Do you have a huge reserve of mana?” She asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.
“Eh? Ummm… I don’t know if it’s huge but… I guess it’s more than my peers?”
She then covered her face with both hands before letting out a groan, “Oh no… I never considered this…”
I looked at her in concern, “Ummm… Could the fact that the Dungeon is behaving strangely be related to me?”
Principal Dawn nodded, “It is… But it’s not your fault… The Dungeon had been designed to absorb a portion of the students’ mana each year and its difficulty would be changed according to the quality of students… This allows the Dungeon to serve as a challenge as the students get better or worse with each generation and to date… There has not been a case where a single student possesses enough mana to upset the balance of the entire cohort… Until now, I suppose…”
“E… Eh? The… All Dungeons can do that?”
“No… It took the collective efforts of several generations of mages to craft the ritual needed to do this and it’s regarded as a magical feat that is unlikely to be reproduced… This is bad…”
“Umm… Couldn’t you just, I dunno, change it back?”
“It’s not that simple… Even if I were to exclude your mana from being drawn, the monsters that have already been created would remain…”𝑜𝗏𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t
“Then do a hard reset or something?”
She sighed, “One unfortunate thing from the ritual is that I’m not exactly the real owner of the Dungeon anymore, I’m just an overseer of sorts so certain aspects of the Dungeon can’t be manipulated by me… The only way to change this Dungeon back is for people to go in and cull the monsters so the Dungeon can recreate them using the other students’ mana again…”
“But… My party did not see any monsters aside from the Weakened Rats though?”
The principal turned to look at my party who was looking back at us with concern, “If I had to guess… One of you must be leaking out so much killing intent that only weakest monster that is unable to sense it approached your party while the others got scared away…”
Ah… Odeta was certainly quite pissed at being left out… So I guess that was the reason…
She continued, “In any case, we’ll have to clear out the Dungeon so I’m ordering the Dungeon to be closed while we do that. You can return to your classes, Aster…”
I raised my hand to stop her, “Umm… How about making it an official quest to The Guild? Then I can join in as well to clear it?”
She raised an eyebrow at me, “You still wish to go despite the risks?”
“Yea, why not? I am an E rank Dungeoneer after all! If I clear this, I can go up a rank too!”
“Mnnn… I shall discuss it with The Guild. You may go back to your friends, Aster… And please don’t tell anyone else about this.”
Yayy! Getting to explore a Dungeon with minimal risk, potential rewards and a possible promotion? Sign me right up!