[Ding! The mana in the surroundings is becoming more chaotic!]
[Warning! The chaotic mana can cause dangerous magical phenomena to manifest!]
What Rio didn't know was that not only he but everyone had been teleported away randomly from their original place.
The micro-drones spread out and kept watch on everyone, though.
Raji was not at all surprised by this sudden turn of events. In her younger days, she had seen such a strange phenomenon many times already. Thus, she didn't bother meddling with it.
She thought this might serve as a great experience for the students later.
…
Outer area, Foggy hills.
Lia looked around her in shock. A few seconds ago, she was standing beside Riya and helping her protect against the chaotic mana, and now she stood here in the midst of nowhere.
Everywhere she looked, her vision was blocked by dense fog.
[Pick up that girl, Riya. She fainted due to the protection being undone for a few seconds!]
Hearing Kai's voice, Lia hurriedly bent down and picked up Riya, who was lying flat on the ground.
Kai put his protection on her again and helped her stabilize.
[Thankfully! She is still okay. If we were ten seconds late, it would have been difficult to save her!]
[But well, her sister could save her anytime for sure, though…]
Riya was healing Fade before being teleported. When the teleportation happened, Kai's protection got undone, and Riya faced the brunt of the chaotic mana head-on, causing her to faint immediately.
…
(Random Info dumps.)
All healers below S-rank are fickle and weak beings. But when they reach the standard 100 stat points by breaking through the racial limits during the S-rank ascension, it means that even the weakest S-rank healer has all stats at least at 100.
Reaching S-rank and breaking through your racial limits is not child's play; the current humanity has billions of people, yet there are still only around 40 S-rankers in the whole human race.
The S-rankers may seem weak in front of the SS-rankers who dominate the whole world, but S-rankers are also not to be underestimated.
While SS-rankers are capable of destroying the planet and traveling in space without any fear of radiation or anything, S-rankers are capable of carrying out destruction at the level of a natural disaster or even higher.
Shattering mountains and dividing the sea in one attack is the capability of an S-ranker.
…
After a few minutes of stabilizing the mana in her body, Riya opened her eyes slowly.
Lia put her down on the ground.
Riya stood and looked at the surroundings in confusion.
"W-where is Link?" (Riya)
Lia rolled her eyes at Riya's thought process.
'Girl, you just dodged death barely, and the first thing you ask is about where is your boyfriend!?' (Lia)
Lia shook her head and replied.
"We seem to have been teleported away due to a random magical phenomenon… perhaps it's one of the trapping methods of this dungeon…" (Lia)
"A magical phenomenon occurs when the mana in the area is chaotic and extremely violent… just like this fog…" (Lia)
"This fog looks similar to a normal fog formed off moisture, but no, this one is made of condensed mana…." (Lia)
Lia had a solemn look on her face as she said:
"Mana is considered a nourishing and gentle energy, and it is beneficial for the growth of awakeners, but as they say, too much of something is not always good…" (Lia)
"This dense mana is like literal poison for a living creature..." (Lia)
Lia glanced at the dense fog around them and thought:
'If not for the protection of Kai's spirit barrier, we both would have fainted and most likely would have gotten eliminated from this test…' (Lia)
'Moreover, if some ordinary A-ranker or below individual had raided this dungeon, they would most likely die too…' (Lia)
Lia shook her head and said:
"This dungeon is much more dangerous than a normal A-rank dungeon…. It's at least at the level of a pseudo-S rank dungeon…. Now we know why they didn't send regular A-rank raid parties here…." (Lia)
"It would be better to regroup with the other party members; that way we will have a better chance at conquering this dungeon…" (Lia)
'As long as Rio and Link are there, I don't think it's not possible to conquer this dungeon…' (Lia)
(Unknown to Lia herself, she had already started to see Rio and Link as capable and strong individuals who could break out of any dangerous situation.)
Hearing Lia's remarks, Riya rolled her eyes in confusion.
"I-is that so…" (Riya)
Everything Lia explained about the teleportation and magical phenomenon went directly out of Riya's mind, and she didn't understand a single thing from it.
The only thing she understood was:
'Link is not here, sigh~' (Riya)
…
'Can you use mana detection, Kai? Which way should we go?' (Lia)
The cat sitting on Lia's shoulder shook her head at Lia's question.
[No way! the mana here is too chaotic unless it's an S-ranker or above, none can use mana detection in this place!…]
'Is that so…' (Lia)
'Sigh~ it seems we would have to go on a random path then-' (Lia)
Just when Lia was thinking about going towards a random path, Kai's voice sounded in her head.
[Hmm, I detect an A-ranker aura approaching us at a fast speed… this is strange… get ready to defend, kiddo!]
[It's someone malicious; you would have to fight a difficult fight…. Now that it's even closer, I can sense that it's a peak A-ranker!]
[Look at your left and put up the spirit barrier!]
At Kai's advice, Lia immediately unsheathed her sword 'Ambient Silver' and put the spirit barrier to protect herself from any incoming attacks.
Lia pushed Riya behind her to protect her from harm.
Riya had a confused face at Lia's sudden actions, but she didn't question her decisions.
Although not as much as Link, Riya still trusted Lia a lot. (Lia had saved Riya's life before during the final exam event. Ch-74)
[Here it comes!]
At Kai's warning, a sudden disturbance occurred in the fog ahead of Lia, and a person in tattered clothes walked out with a wide grin on his face.
The man had blue hair with a brownish tint in it. He looked to be in his late 30's and he had a strange-looking grimoire in his hand.
"Ohohoho! I thought it was a weak monster wandering around in the fog, but hoho, but I didn't expect to see two young beautiful fairies wandering around in this fog!" (???)
The man had a wide and cheeky grin on his face. He looked at Lia and Riya with wide eyes, and his grin widened even further.
Lia frowned and pointed her sword towards the man.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here? How did you get inside this dungeon without permission?" (Lia)
Lia was more bewildered at the fact that a mere A-ranker was able to enter this dungeon under the watch of an SS-ranker like Raji standing guard outside.
"My name is Damian, Damian FrostFlake; people call me the 'Ice Rain Damian'… (Damian)
Damian gave Lia a strange look and said in a confused tone:
"What do you mean…why I am here?... I am a fellow awakener who is raiding this dungeon… In fact, how did you get inside, while my party is still raiding this dungeon!?" (Damian)
(According to the Alliance laws, only one party can enter a dungeon at a time; this is to avoid conflict between the people and reduce the chances of infighting occurring between the awakeners. You would be charged with 3 years in jail if you did such a thing without proper permission from the alliance.)
Hearing the man questioning her, Lia's frown widened even further, she condensed the spirit magic on her sword, and she was ready to attack at the moment's notice.
"Stop lying, an SS-ranker is guarding the gate outside, and we were the ones who were sent to conquer this dungeon at the permission of an SS-ranker; you are clearly trespassing!" (Lia)
"Confess your sins immediately and tell the truth, or you are dead meat!" (Lia)
Lia's aura covered her whole body, and her hair and pupils turned silver. Two silver wings appeared behind her, and the chaotic mana in the surroundings was scattered away by her mere presence.
"W-what!? How can a B-ranker have such a strong aura!? What the! Who are you, girl!?" (Damian)
Damian hurriedly brought out an official document from his space ring.
"See this! This is the proof that I have permission to raid this dungeon! So stop making a fuss, little girl! I don't want to fight a kid!" (Damian)
Hearing Damian's remarks, Lia calmed down a little; she stretched her hand out and snatched the paper from Damian's hands.
A frown appeared on Lia's face after looking at the document.
'This is indeed a genuine dungeon raid ticket… w-what's going on here?' (Lia)
Seeing the document, only one thought came to her mind:
'Did perhaps Ms. Raji send someone over after us, or was this person here beforehand? But how could an SS-ranker like Ms. Raji make such a clumsy mistake of forgetting about the fact that this dungeon was already under raid… strange…' (Lia)
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! I have recently started a new novel. (Fake Professor, misunderstood as strong.) If you are a fan of action and dark novels, check it out and give it a quick look too.
Question of the day.
Don't you guys think that the SS-rankers are kind of lazy and careless?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Others (Tell me in the comments.)
Hidden Option:
4. The author is lazier than them!
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.