The Guardian

Chapter 29: The most normal

When someone talked about spiders, what was the first thing that came to mind?

That shiver when they move across the skin, the venom of their bite, and their ability to climb everywhere that makes them appear in unexpected places.

For Aurora’s group to face these enemies... It was something to be feared.

“I think I’m having second thoughts,” Nicole joked with a chuckle.

They were the first to start, but they had their time to prepare, like any dungeon expedition.

Professor Miller never intervened, never gave her recommendations or guidance.

That was because he sought from them the ability to adapt professionally to a dungeon subjugation.

Studying their enemies, preventing their difficulties, and preparing for any situation was part of the dungeon clearing group.

The problem came when their enemies were not aesthetically pleasing.

“...” Aurora didn’t respond to Nicole’s joke.

They were both fighters and literally had to get their hands dirty when fighting.

Facing spiders was not pleasant, but for fighters, most of their confrontations were not pleasant.

Ending up dirty with the blood and gore of the enemy was, to Aurora’s lament, a common occurrence.

“The Academy reserved the dungeon for us, so we have to give it our best,” Clémentine said with a serious tone.

The entire group nodded in agreement.

The ‘Spider’s Lair’ was a Rank B dungeon in the State of Mexico, but since the United States united its North and Central American neighbors, the regulations were not as accessible.

Their unification was because of South America also being united under one of the strongest people in the world, an SSS Rank, creating in the process ‘The United States of South America’ or also known as the South American Empire.

That was a few years ago, but the change was quite radical.

The South American Empire grew under the absolute control of an emperor, a major power, which caused some tensions to be created between the two nations.

Because of these tensions, the state controlled dungeons of all kinds, only allowing access to guilds loyal to their country.

Mexico, as part of ‘The United States of North America’, also followed these regulations.

Now the group was in Mexico, along with Professor Miller, ready to begin their performance.

“Well, we just have to defeat the spiders. I don’t think there will be any problems,” commented Leslie while preparing her weapons.

She was wearing a high-tech combat armor very different from Aurora’s combat suit.

The main thing about the combat armor was that it was all created from high-tech materials with high strength, and could generate shields while her helmet had an AI capable of assisting her when aiming.

A very futuristic style armor that, for some, had resemblance to the armor of an old sci-fi game whose protagonist was called ‘Shepherd’.

The state-of-the-art design from the multinational Taranis, which Leslie’s father owned.

“You look good,” Clémentine commented with a smile.

“It’s a pity you guys don’t want to use one... My father said he could lend you some equipment until we finish the test,” Leslie said with a half-smile that lamented her refusal.

“We’re different styles,” Aurora replied, and shaking her head, she added. “It will be hard to adapt to new armor.”

As combat armor was worth several million dollars, their defense was guaranteed, but in the end, they were different styles.

Leslie was a mechanic with the talent of weapons mastery, she could wield modern weapons as if it were an extension of her arm.

She could even reinforce and control them with precision.

This armor was perfect for her style of shooting from afar and having powerful protection, but for fighters like Aurora and Nicole, it was a nuisance.

Both needed to move fast, so they always wore light clothes, this time Aurora was the same.

She only wore leather armor on top of her academy uniform that already had some magical effects on them.

Nicole was the same.

Items with magical effects were expensive because of their materials, but in terms of crafting their value was not that high, that was because, among the players, several of them brought crafting knowledge from Terra nova.

Some could create powerful weapons if they had the right materials and let alone low to medium quality items like these, the crafters were a great multitude and there was no shortage.

Adding to the Dimensional Market, then the items were not as expensive as those technological objects.

“Yes, we’re better off that way,” Clémentine stated as Alice nodded.

Both wore normal clothes, but Clémentine wore several rings, earrings, or bracelets that she had never worn before.

They were all protective artifacts.

As for Alice, she was wearing her chips... Regarding her clothes, everything was ‘normal.

“I’ll go outside,” Aurora said, and the entire group nodded.

Aurora walked out of the tent and looked around.

In the group were Professor Miller, Professor Morgan from the technology branch that Aurora had met at the test, and Professor Santulli from the theology class.

There were also several tents where upper-year students were hanging out, all for a subjugation.

Even though Professor Miller had said it was going to be dangerous, that was still a test and no teacher wanted to have a dead student on their record because of their negligence.

“The sleepy student. Is your group ready?” Professor Santulli asked as she approached.

Aurora’s lips quivered, but she restrained herself and nodded.

She had earned that nickname because she fell asleep a few times in theology class, but in her defense, she was tired with her daily training and the nightly training she did with her master.

Her master had not stopped her training with her principal weapon, while telling her that his acquaintance would soon arrive.

Thinking about all that, Aurora sighed.

“Don’t be nervous,” Professor Santulli said in a calm voice as she looked around the dungeon.

The entrance of the dungeon was a very ordinary and normal cave, but inside were monsters that, if not cleared periodically, could come out and wreak havoc on the surroundings.

They were near the ‘Tutuaca Protected Natural Area’ in Chihuahua, Mexico, and there were villages or small towns in the surrounding area.

With the speed of the spiders, they could cause some casualties before the experts arrived.

“Let me tell you something,” Professor Santulli said, and looking around so no one would see her, she muttered. “This dungeon was booked about a month ago, and in all that month, it hasn’t been cleaned, so you’ll find quite a few spiders inside.”

This natural dungeon had to be cleaned periodically so that it would not overflow.

Usually, the cleaning was done once every week, as it was during that time that profits were made again, but a month... It made Aurora blink in surprise at the increased difficulty.

Quite a lot could happen in a month.....

“Professor Miller wanted to give you a surprise, since your group has an A-Rank, but well...” Added Professor Santulli without finishing her sentence and noticing Professor Miller approaching, she patted Aurora and as if nothing had happened and commented. “Tell Alice that I am grateful for the book she lent me.”

With those words spoken aloud, Professor Santulli left as if the conversation had been about that.

Aurora’s lips twitched.....

Was she revealing that secret to her out of her appreciation for Alice?

Aurora didn’t know, but she was grateful.

It was different going in thinking they would be facing a B-Rank dungeon that had been cleared a week ago than a B-Rank dungeon that hadn’t been cleared for a month.

The number of enemies inside was going to be very different.

“Are they ready yet?” asked Professor Miller seriously.

“I don’t think so. I’ll go check on them,” Aurora replied with a smile, as if nothing had happened.

With calm movements, she walked into the tent where her group was.

“Is everything ready? We are ready,” Clémentine stated, and as she was about to leave, Aurora signaled her to be quiet.

Aurora took her moment looking at Professor Miller and when she noticed that they had gone back to talking to the sophomores, she sighed.

“It looks like the inside of the dungeon hasn’t been cleaned for a month,” Aurora revealed and when she saw that the group was looking at her, surprised by that information, she clarified. “Professor Santulli told me secretly... She also thanked Alice for the book she lent her.”

Catching the hidden meaning behind Aurora’s comment, everyone looked at Alice and gave her a thumbs up.

Grateful that she was Professor Santulli’s favorite.

Alice just calmly ate her chips.

“So what do we do?” Nicole asked with a serious tone.

It was an increase in difficulty neither of them had expected.

“Easy... Clean it up,” Aurora announced with a shrug and as she met the group’s gaze, she gave a smile and stated. “We just need to go in better prepared.”

If more difficulty arose, they just needed to prepare themselves to be able to cope.

Leslie nodded, and after opening her holographic watch, she reported. “A month of no cleaning... Based on the dungeon’s history, there are likely to be quite a few B-Rank spiders and if we’re unlucky, then it’s possible a boss will show up.”

A dungeon classified as Rank B, only creatures of that rank appeared, and in some cases, bosses with a strength at the top of Rank B were born.

Like humans, the creatures differed in their strength, some being ranked in certain ranks for their advantage.

Poisonous spiders, climbing spiders, or spitting spiders were ranked in rank B for their major advantages.

Poison, silent ambushes, and spider webs with high resistance and catchy...

If one knew how to deal with them, then they would be no more of a problem than a normal C Rank.

The bosses were the problem, as they had strength, stamina, or strong abilities that made them the strongest creatures within a dungeon.

Leslie’s information was provided by Alice, who made use of her benefits as a Rank A mercenary to pull out all the information the Mercenary Guild had on this dungeon.

The group had prepared and was confident, even in this case, where some difficulty arose.

“We have to make use of all our reserve strength,” Aurora announced in a serious tone.

They had intended to enter the dungeon by making use of their physical abilities without relying so much on external objects, but now... They had changed their minds.

Nowhere did it say that heroes could not rely on external objects and that in this test it was forbidden.

In this group were present people who had enough monetary capacity to depend on those objects.

Only Leslie was enough to bring state-of-the-art weapons, and Erica was someone who could buy those weapons easily.

Aurora and Alice were veteran mercenaries who had worked for many years.

The most normal of the group was Nicole, but she was...

“Let’s smash those spiders,” Nicole declared with a tone full of excitement.

She had prepared very hard for this day and had worked hard to be on par with her group, who were either people of significant backgrounds or high individual strength.

She will swallow her nerves and fear to take down the dungeon.