At the start of the new week, I went to the Dungeon with Odeta and Katsuki all geared up and ready to go.
The Dungeon area had already been transformed to a temporary Guild branch with additional counters set up to cater to the increase in number of Dungeoneers hanging around the area.
The triage area had also been expanded into a fully functional field hospital and several healers were put on standby there.
As for us, we had put aside an entire week to explore this Dungeon just so that we could get the maximum reward that we could from completing this Dungeon from start to finish.
We've already informed everyone of our plans so even if there was an emergency, we would still be fine~
One reason why I really wanted to clear this Dungeon was the fact that they had a Dungeon Record that we could fall back on as insurance.
Since this was something unique to this Dungeon due to that ritual they did, this was the safest opportunity for me to clear a Dungeon and get its rewards and get promoted at the same time~
Who knows, maybe I'll even get an enchanted weapon from this~
"Alright! Are we all ready to go and explore the Dungeon?" I asked, feeling quite excited.
Odeta thumped her chest, "Wahaha! Of course I'm ready! I didn't get the chance to fight the last time so I'm definitely going to enjoy myself for this!"
Katsuki wasn't as thrilled, "Mistress… I still think that we should have brought everyone along for this."
"Ehhh… But that would not only give my identity away, it would take out the thrill of it, wouldn't it?" I pointed out.
"The first problem could be easily solved with disguises… Though it would be true for the second one."
"Yeah! That's why let's do it ourselves! If anything happens, I can still use my summons!"
I've still been summoning several of them everyday to store them in my shadow so I have a pretty big group of them right now. I don't really know the exact number but the there's actually fewer than the number I had before because of the fight with that stupid lich.
It might take me a few more days to recover the number I lost but I still have enough to at least fight off some strong opponent to buy us time to run away.
We joined the line of Dungeoneers that were queuing up to enter the Dungeon, each of them receiving a Dungeon Record with the purpose of letting the Guild keep track of how far the Dungeon has been cleared of the abnormal monsters and also as an emergency beacon.
When it was our turn to receive it, I found out that the staff behind the counter serving us was the same one as the one we met with Tika.
"Oh? Aren't you the students from that day? And you… Brought your maid as well?"
"Yep! We're Dungeoneers! We accepted the quest to clear the monsters here too!"
"Does that mean that you are already registered with the Guild and also at least an E rank Dungeoneer?"
I showed off my Guild card proudly, "That's right~ We're hoping that after we clear this we would be able to increase our rank too!"
"I see… Seems like those students that were grouped up with you that day were really fortunate to have you in their party. Anyway, here is your Dungeon Record, please be careful while you are in there."
Waving thanks to her, I led my party towards the towering doors to enter the Dungeon.
We appeared in an empty corridor of the Dungeon and since I've recorded the route in my [Screened] boon, I went ahead to lead my party on the path towards the stairs that would lead us to the second floor of the Dungeon.
On the way, we came across a few parties that were engaged with monsters but they didn't look like they were in trouble so we ignored them.
They must be here to farm some easy money from the monsters on the first few floors.
Ironically, quite a number of the people in these parties look quite young as well, which should have pissed that noble from yesterday off if he knew about this.
I wonder if he was still in this Dungeon? It would be quite a shame if he had already been killed by a monster somewhere in here.
We managed to reach the stairs without encountering any monsters since this place was filled with Dungeoneers that were busy cutting down monsters left and right.
The second floor was the same as well and we also managed to walk through it without encountering a single monster.
We did go past a few more parties engaged with Rat Matrons and it happened enough times to confirm that it was not that rare of an encounter.
Once we reached the third floor however, we had no more route to follow so we would need to explore it slowly… Was what I thought at first.
"Mistress. If you wish to head directly to the stairs, I am able to guide us there," Katsuki offered.
I turned to her in shock, "Ehhh?! Don't tell me you've already explored through all one hundred floors of this Dungeon and had it completely mapped out?!"
She shook her head, "I did not, Mistress. I can track the scent of the people on this floor and since most of them are taking the same path where there is an absence of monster scents, that path should lead towards the stairs to the next floor."
Oh wow, I didn't know Katsuki could do that.
I mean, I know she could track things through her sense of smell but not like this!
In that case, let's leave it to her!
"There is just one problem, Mistress. If we take the shortest route, we would find a good dozen of those Dungeon Rats, should I find an alternative path?"
I wanted to tell her that we should until I noticed the look of longing on Odeta's face, the Amrap clearly hoping that we would have a fight soon enough.
"Umm… There's no need, we can just deal with them on the way there."
"Understood, Mistress. Please follow me."
She took the front of the formation as though she was simply guiding us through a tour of some tourist attraction and not some dangerous Dungeon, which I suppose wasn't really that dangerous anyway considering our power level.
Sure enough, we encountered a group of those Dungeon Rats on our way towards the stairs.
They have not spotted us yet so I took the chance to count them and realised there were thirteen Dungeon Rats in total.
What's more, these aren't the weakened ones but the normal Dungeon Rats, not that it made much difference anyway.
I turned to Odeta who was practically hopping up and down in excitement at the sight of the monsters. I knew she liked to challenge strong opponents to fights but why is she also excited to fight against a bunch of Dungeon Rats?
I remember not long ago, she was definitely disappointed that there were only weak monsters in the Dungeon.
"Sister Aster! Could I fight them myself?" She asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Eh? Why alone?"
"Because I heard from Katsuki about how you fought against an entire horde of undead by yourself! That was so awesome! I want to be able to do that as well!"
"But… I didn't do that alone though? In fact, I left it all to my summons?"
"That just means sister Aster is capable of doing it!"
But… Dungeon Rats? Oh whatever, it's not like I wanted to fight them in the first place.
I shrugged, "Well, knock yourself out I guess?"
Odeta blinked at me, "E… Eh? Sister Aster will only let me do it after I knock myself unconscious?"
Ah… I forgot some of our sayings don't work here…
"Ummm… I mean you can go ahead and no need to hold back."
"Ohhh! I got it!"
She leapt towards the monsters, the Rats only realising she was there after she had slammed her fists down on the ground in between them, creating a shockwave that disoriented them.
Odeta then spun in a circle, smashing four of them using her arms and sending them flying towards the wall where they splattered into meat paste.
The remaining nine rats recovered enough to start leaping at her in an attempt to gnaw at her throat.
Odeta responded by flailing her arms around in an attempt to defend herself from the onslaught. Those she managed to hit were killed instantly while a few Rats managed to latch their jaws on her exposed skin.
I was worried for her but it seems like they were not strong enough to bite through her skin so she wasn't really hurt by the Rats.
Unfortunately, to get them off of her, she needed to crush their heads before pulling them off so it looked pretty disgusting.
Their Mana Crystals might not be worth that much but I'd still like to get them though…
As though reading my mind, Katsuki pulled out a pair of gloves from who knows where and nodded at the Rats, "You can leave the collection of the Mana Crystals to me, Mistress."
Oh~ How reliable! I'll leave it to you, Katsuki! I'll just… Well… Odeta's all covered in Rat guts so I think she'd appreciate having a quick rinse with my Hydromancy magic later…
At least things are going smoothly so far.