Two weeks passed and the group surrounding Mika departed for their quest.

The group had spent their time preparing for the quest by training their bodies and studying the dungeon based on reports.

It took them an additional three days to arrive at their destination.

"This is the Unnatural Dungeon...?" Mika muttered after he left the carriage.

The dungeon was near the border of North Grat, which was also noticeable by the drop in the temperature and the change in the landscape. Instead of hot and dry air and sandy ground, it started to get colder and the sandy ground turned into a white desert due to the snow.

"Ugh... I forgot that the dungeon was located here..." Sara complained silently as she hugged herself.

She was used to other temperatures, thus she was shivering all over her body.

"You fool... Didn’t I tell you to put on other clothes?" Tija, who wore a hooded coat with lining, retorted.

"..."

Asak, who also wore thick clothes, still remained grumpy.

He and the other two girls were the white class’ assistants for the quest. Although it was originally planned for only Asak and Sara to help them out, Tija somehow caught wind of the quest and insisted on tagging along.

"Is everyone ready?" Ophelia wanted to check for the last time.

The students of the white class, who were prepared for the weather change and therefore wore the right clothes, nodded firmly.

The dungeon was in the midst of a vast desert, which was covered in half sand and half snow. There were no signs of any monsters or animals in the vicinity and it would take one day to arrive at the nearest town.

"Alright, let’s go then." Ophelia declared determinedly.

Thus, the group entered the dungeon, which looked like a human-sized boulder from the outside.

"Belian. Lily. Can you two illuminate the way?" Ophelia asked.

After entering the entrance, they noticed that there was no source of light and based on its outer appearance, the group thought that there must be stairs to descend.

"Yes!" Lily replied.

A small spark began to appear in their hands.

"!"

However, before they could completely light up a flame, the whole area got engulfed in a bright light, forcing everyone to instinctively close their eyes.

"What’s going on?!"

"I can’t see!"

"Ugh!"

"Everyone! Stay close tog-"

And the moment the light dispersed, there were no traces of the group left.

They disappeared from there.

"What was that light...?" Mika muttered slightly in pain.

He found himself lying on the ground and slowly lifted his upper body.

"Hm?"

Mika frowned upon the sight of the place, where he was now.

The sun was shining and the sky was cloudless and blue. Small birds were chirping happily. There was a small river nearby, parting the green grassland, where Mika was, from the thick forest on the other side. And despite the weather outside the dungeon, the fresh breeze and temperature there, made one believe that it was a beautiful spring day.

Furthermore, animals but also monsters were strolling around, ignoring the presence of Mika.

"Hrngh..."

"?"

Mika shifted his gaze down, where he finally noticed other people.

Ophelia and Rachel woke up.

"Did we get split up from the rest...?" Mika muttered pensively as he broke into a cold sweat.

According to the studying everyone did before departing, they would usually find stairs, leading them to the Sea Floor. There was nothing that stated that they would get engulfed in a strange light and get separated as a group. In addition, they should not be warped into random floors.

And unfortunately, he had to be alone with Ophelia and Rachel with whom he was still on awkward terms.

While those three found themselves in the Forest Floor, the third floor of the dungeon, another group tried to understand the situation.

One floor above them was the Ice Floor.

Being surrounded by nothing but ice, Lily and Lisa were trembling from the temperature, which was even lower than outside.

"S-s-so you’re s-saying that the l-light separated us a-and warped us somewhere e-else...?" Lily stuttered as snot came out of her reddened nose due to the cold.

"I-I can’t think o-of another theory..." Lisa replied.

Then, they heard a shrill roar coming from afar.

"..."

Nervously, they gazed in that direction before they decided to head there, avoiding the ice spikes and icicles, which were poking from the ground and the sides.

Meanwhile, Harik and Asak were on the first floor, the Sea floor.

"..."

"..."

Fortunately, a small isle provided the two with footing, however, the two could only see water wherever they looked.

They only heard the sounds of waves and birds.

"Why with him of all people...?" Asak clicked his tongue, turning his face away from Harik, who was still trying to understand the situation.

However, his attention quickly shifted to the sky as it gradually turned darker from afar.

On the fourth floor, the Fire Floor, Tija and Sylvia already came to terms with their predicament.

"If only it wasn’t so hot..." Tija sighed as she took off her thick clothes.

Contrary to the Ice Floor, the place they were at was on fire. Still, there was a path, which was not on flames yet.

"Aren’t you hot in that robe...?" Tija asked Sylvia, who was walking ahead.

"I’m fine..." she replied softly.

And last but not least, there was the duo of Belian and Sara, who were on the fifth floor, the Hell Floor.

Compared to the other groups, those two were not even granted the chance to think about their situations as they were thrown into the middle of a monster horde.

Realizing that they were in danger, the two immediately pulled out their relics and fought back against the monsters.

Among those monsters, who were either middle or high-ranked, were a lot of types, neglecting their usual habitats like brown bears, apes and even flying fishes, who could survive outside of water.

However, what struck them as most bizarre was that there were even skeleton soldiers, who had the structure of humans.

"How interesting..." a person muttered slightly impressed.

That person, who sounded like a young girl, was sitting on a throne in a dark place. Multiple large marbles floated in the air, depicting what was happening on each floor.

"They look like they can actually entertain me compared to the last batch..." she said, sounding as if she was smirking.

Then, her gaze wandered from the marble, showing Belian and Sara, to the marble with Mika on it. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"..."

Her eyes narrowed.

She turned to the sixth marble, where it was mostly too dark to recognize anything.

Only floating bandages and the silhouette of a strange creature were faintly seen.

"Maybe I have to send them to that thing..." she pondered sternly.

Shortly after that, she burst into a menacing-sounding laughter.

"Let’s see how you will survive in my castle...!"

The person was Dugea, the creator of that dungeon and an A-rank demon.

With a high-ranking demon, the dungeon quest could prove to be more difficult than Mika and the others initially expected.

Not only was a semi-transcendental being waiting for some of them on the lowest floor but on each floor was also waiting a floor boss, who were comparable to C or B-rank demons. To top it off, an A-rank demon did not make the overall situation better for them.

"I cannot wait to see, how you will deal with that thing below..." she muttered anticipatingly as she stared at Mika.

As the creator and master of the dungeon, Dugea possessed the ability to look at a person’s personal information.

And speaking of Mika.

"W-why are you two walking so far away from me...?" he asked Ophelia and Rachel with a wry smile.

But the two did not respond as they stubbornly walked ahead of him.

After shortly reviewing their current circumstances, the three decided to enter the forest because the floor boss was most likely there based on the reports.

Only after defeating the floor boss, one could enter another floor.

"..."

However, the two in front of Mika had other worries.

’How should I face him?!’

’What can I talk about?!’

In the past two weeks, the two did not manage to hold a normal conversation with him like back then. Instead, they became conscious of what happened before.

Rachel confessed her love to him.

Ophelia did somewhat the same but in addition to that, she kissed him.

There was also the shortened lifespan of his, which boosted their urges to spend more time with him and yet, they were unable to until now.

Instead of being cool-headed and fierce mages, they turned into young maidens.

"..."

But Mika obviously noticed that and blushed slightly, which they luckily could not see with their eyes to the front.

It was a dangerous situation and they were about to face formidable foes with one being able to kill all of them.

If one would know about their situation, they would only shake their head in disappointment.