After Leaving the A-Rank Party, I Aim for the Deep Part of the Labyrinth With My Former Students

A while after descending to the fourth floor, we were fortunate enough to find a mining point—and we were now engaged in an intense battle.
“This is a good one. Looks like we’ll get plenty of magical iron ore here.”

While casting Slow to hinder the target’s movements, I kept a safe distance from the rampaging “mining point.”
Marina dashed past me, sword in hand.
Her blade was coated in a sinister, dark magical energy, radiating an almost tangible aura of sharpness.

“Take this!”
With a compact yet forceful strike, Marina’s sword cleaved through the mining point’s head, severing it cleanly.
The “mining point” was, in fact, a Rock Lizard, a creature that roamed the mines consuming stone.

The Magic Swordsman class, Marina’s specialty, is a rare one—said to appear in only one in ten thousand people.
As demonstrated, the hallmark ability of a Magic Swordsman is Magic Sword Infusion, which coats weapons in malevolent magic to greatly enhance their offensive power.
It’s said that a skilled Magic Swordsman could slice through mithril armor as if it were butter.

“Huff… huff…”
However, the drawback is the massive consumption of both stamina and mana.
“You okay?”

“Yeah! But I think ten seconds is my limit for now…”
“You’ll get used to it as you refine your control.”
I flicked my fingers and cast Mana Refresh on Marina to aid her recovery.

“Alright, I’ll handle the mining. The three of you take a break.”
“Okay!”
I swung my pickaxe into the now-motionless Rock Lizard’s back, dislodging crystallized magical iron ore that had already formed into semi-ingots.

The Rock Lizard sustains itself by eating stone, but it doesn’t digest metal.
As a result, the metal impurities crystallize and grow from its back, making it a fascinating creature.
The metallic sound of mining echoed through the tunnels as I diligently chipped away at the ore. Occasionally, I came across regular iron or copper, which I collected as well—they’d find use somewhere.
“That should do it.”

“Sorry for not helping…”
“Don’t worry about it. By the way, how much do we need to deliver?”
The Rock Lizard was a large one, so I managed to harvest a decent amount. But I doubted it would be enough.

“The request is for one standard dozen ingots… So we’re still a bit short.”
“In that case, we’ll need at least one more. Let’s head down another floor. Rock Lizards are territorial, so it’s unlikely there’ll be another one nearby.”
Given their habitat patterns, the sixth floor would probably have more. Based on my instincts, this fourth floor only had the one we just dealt with—it was quite large, after all.

“That sounds reasonable. Marina, Rain, is that okay with you?”
“Sure thing!”
“Got it.”

Marina stood up energetically.
“You good to go, Marina?”
“Yep! Mana Refresh is amazing—I don’t feel tired at all!”

“If you’re recovering that well, it’s likely a mana efficiency issue. We’ll work on training your mana control later when we have time.”
“Really? Thanks, Yuke!”
Her bright, cheerful smile was like a ray of sunshine, lifting the party’s spirits effortlessly.

“Alright, let’s move on.”
We headed toward the stairs, taking another short break at the stairway area before cautiously exploring the fifth floor for another Rock Lizard.
“Doesn’t seem like there’s one here…”

“Yeah, maybe someone else got to it first.”
The fact that this request existed indicated a shortage of supply.
It wouldn’t be surprising if other adventurers had been hired to tackle similar requests.

Since Rock Lizards are dungeon-born monsters, they’d reappear after a while, but we wanted to complete the task in a single day.
And I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
“Let’s search a bit more.”

“Yeah, there might still be one somewhere.”
While Silk and Rain consulted the map, identifying unexplored areas, Marina kept watch to secure our surroundings.
They were shaping up to be a well-coordinated party.

With this level of teamwork, I had an idea.
“I have a suggestion… Why don’t we try defeating the floor boss and heading to the sixth floor?”
All three of them turned to me, visibly surprised.

“Now that I’m part of the team, your coordination looks solid enough to me. I think we can do it.”
“But relying on you to get through would be…”
“What are you talking about? I’m a party member now. Feel free to lean on me.”

Silk looked taken aback, as if she hadn’t fully let go of seeing me as her “teacher.”
“Besides, I need to prove myself as the new member, right?”
“Prove yourself?”

“Yeah. I’ll go all out against the floor boss to show you what I can do.”
The three of them chuckled at my words.
“Yuke-san, you’ve already impressed us plenty.”

“Really? There’s still a lot more I can do.”
Regardless, I wanted them to see my full potential.
“In that case, let’s go with your suggestion. I’m curious to see you at full strength, Yuke-san.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure to show you what a ‘veteran’s edge’ looks like.”
Grinning confidently, I led the three of them toward the deepest part of the fifth floor.