The Guardian

Chapter 30: First Test

Professor Miller watched as his students entered the dungeon.

The group was well equipped, and their expressions were serious.

Their caution, seriousness, and professionalism showed.

“I will begin,” Professor Santulli declared.

Waving her hand, she created dozens of illusionary projections that revealed Aurora’s group, who were cautiously watching the surroundings.

She had only used her magical energy to activate an artifact that could project the dungeon situation without the group detecting it.

This way, they could intervene if a complicated situation occurred and see every part of the dungeon.

Professor Santulli was an S-Rank space mage; she could move the teachers next to the students instantly without needing to prepare a spell-like the A-Rank and lower mages.

“Oh, you’ve divided the roles nicely,” Professor Morgan commented, and the next moment, she couldn’t help but smile as she saw what the students were doing.

Aurora was the vanguard, Nicole the rearguard, and both of them as front-rank fighters ensured protection.

Clémentine and Alice were in the center, both not needing protection, and while their skills were varied, the former was going to be the main attacking force, and the latter was going to take a supporting role.

Finally, Leslie had taken the scout job and had now projected a 3D map of the entire dungeon.

“The dungeon is quite complicated because of its corridors, that make it look like a maze. We’ll have to watch our front and backs,” Leslie communicated, revealing the corridors in the projection.

Since the dungeon was created with magical energy and kept expanding, it had its own rules spatially, making the interior a more spacious place than how it looked from the outside.

The group looked at the different corridors that went up and down, then interconnected in different places, allowing enemies to move everywhere freely.

This projection was a scan that was done by those in the mercenary guild that Alice could get through her connections.

Professor Miller nodded when he saw that.

Seeking as much information as possible to ensure safety on an expedition was the main thing.

“I think we will take plan A and go all the way to crush our enemy,” said Leslie, who had taken the position of scout.

The entire group quickly agreed, and they started moving.

The cave was slightly large and dark, so the group carried their own items to provide light.

Magical artifacts released small spheres that illuminated the surroundings without disturbing the group as much.

“I’ve detected movement ahead... The first enemies are coming.” Leslie reported quickly.

Aurora stretched her body and waited for the enemy.

This was the first enemy, and the teachers noticed that the students were slightly nervous about the situation.

There were movements from the darkness, and then about ten spiders came out.

These spiders were not small; they were the size of a Labrador retriever, about forty centimeters tall without counting the size given by their legs.

They were ‘Polybetes pythagoricus’ spiders, also known colloquially as ‘bush spiders,’ only these were even scarier because of their size.

Their legs were thick, and their abdomen was quite wide, but the worst were their eight eyes that glowed in the dark, making them scary creatures.

This species of spider was the most common and was aggressive by nature.

As soon as they saw the group, they attacked without hesitation.

Aurora was the one who moved, reinforced her body with magical energy, and charged towards the spiders.

As the spiders reached their knees, she did not use her hands but skillfully used her feet and...

“...”

She hit them all as if she was kicking a soccer ball.

For these spiders, no technique was needed, but just enough force to send them flying into the walls.

The spiders hit the walls, and their bodies were severely injured because of the force of impact.

These creatures were Rank C, but they were weaker than average and were classified in that rank because of the number of their species. Still, when the kick of a Rank B fighter who reinforced her body with magical energy hit them, these spiders had no way to defend themselves.

Because of the aggressiveness, the death of their companions did not frighten the spiders but became more aggressive.

They climbed up the ceiling and launched themselves at Aurora’s head, only to end up receiving a punch capable of sending them flying.

In just a minute, Aurora was done with the job, and although she was smeared with the spiders’ guts in some cases, she just activated an artifact that cleaned her right up.

“How was it?” asked Nicole, who had been watching the battle.

“Disgusting, but weaker than I had expected,” Aurora replied with a smile, and when she returned to her position, she added. “I recommend you control your strength if you don’t want your fist to go through parts of their delicate bodies.”

Nicole nodded seriously.

The group continued on, and the teachers continued to watch.

The group had walked down the main corridor; although that path led to the final base where the boss was, it was also the one where they would encounter the most enemies and these enemies were not long in coming.

“There’s a wave coming,” Leslie communicated with a solemn expression as she readied her assault rifle with silencer; looking at the group, she stated. “There are over forty of them. Creatures with large amounts of magical energy are detected.”

The professors, watching that projection, nodded in satisfaction.

“As expected of a high-tech combat armor, it has many sensors,” murmured Professor Morgan, looking at the upcoming battle interested.

From ahead, vibrations approached, and spiders began to appear.

Besides the ‘bush spiders’ that appeared to be foot soldiers, another type of spider was also present.

Long thin-legged spiders with slender bodies, thanks to their long legs, their size was large enough to reach up to their waists and some more adult ones up to their chests.

Then, on the ceiling, were smaller spiders with thick legs and a small body; the whole body was covered with blackish hair that, if they remained still, camouflaged themselves in the dark.

“The long-legged ones are spitting spiders and the hairy spiders are climbing spiders. They are classified as Rank B,” Clémentine communicated, and opening her arms, she declared. “I’ll take care of the defense.”

With those words, a ripple expanded, covering the group with a psionic barrier.

“I’m going first!” shouted Leslie, and pointing her assault rifle, she began firing at the spitting spiders.

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang* *Bang*

Her shots started, the small wave approaching, advancing at high speed.

The spider spiders contorted their abdomen and fired a ball of sticky spider web, but it missed the target and ended up hitting Clémentine’s psionic barrier.

This barrier could allow fire from the inside but protected from the outside.

Aurora took care of those spiders that got close enough, and when the climbing spiders tried to fall on her head with great agility, black arms caught her and slammed her against the wall.

The heights of the corridors were a few pairs of meters, so it was hard for Aurora to stop those spiders.

“Grrahh...”

Dodging the spider web balls thrown at her, the group held them back.

“Shit... They’re coming from behind!” Leslie communicated and turned around to support Nicole.

From the back, another group of spiders approached, led by a black spider with green lines and an abdomen that gave an ominous feeling.

Nicole, who faced the first ‘bush spiders’ using Aurora’s style, as soon as she noticed the black spider approaching, she with great speed backed away.

The spider moved swiftly to hunt her down, but Nicole was equal to it and could enter the barrier.

The poisonous spider hit the psionic barrier, and then Leslie approached with a shotgun and let off several consecutive shots.

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang* *Bang*

The first buckshot shattered the spider defense, and the other shots shredded their bodies.

“How many thousands of dollars did she spend on those bullets?” Professor Morgan asked in disbelief as she watched from outside.

That poisonous spider was a B-Rank spider, which had great speed and lethal venom, but it had a body commensurate with its rank... That’s why Professor Morgan was shocked.

The weapons in Leslie’s hands became weapons of fear, thanks to the technology and her talent that could strengthen it.

The first wave quickly ended, and the corpses were left on the ground.

Although Aurora and Nicole were fighters who could not take on many enemies, Leslie, Clémentine, and Alice had skills capable of taking on many enemies.

The group complemented each other very well.

“There’s no one alive,” Leslie reported. After scanning the place with her helmet, she looked at the corpses and asked. “What do we do with all this?”

Some corpses were being swallowed by the dungeon floor due to the dungeon being maintained using the bodies of the creatures that were born in it, along with the magical energy it could gather, but quite a few corpses were left outside.

They would be swallowed up in time, but for the time being, they could check them out and use whatever was useful.

Some organs could serve as alchemical elements.

As, for example, with the organ of poisonous spiders, one could create antidotes for some poisons, and the magical cores of creatures had a great variety of uses, but also a great value.

Most creatures, monsters, and beasts generated their own magical cores... These cores represented their life, their heart, and the means by which they absorbed magical energy and allowed it to continue to increase their strength.

Scientifically, the humans who could use magical or psionic energy had also ‘evolved’ in a certain way, just like the magical beasts. Still, they showed no biological difference from humans before the ‘Great Cataclysm.’

“Leave them. The recovery group will come when we clean everything up,” Alice said dismissively.

“Oh, apparently you already know about that,” Professor Santulli commented, and with a smile, she muttered. “As expected from a mercenary.”

While the major force was in charge of assassinating the creatures, the cleanup group was to take everything that could be turned into money.

In every expedition, there was always a professional cleaning group in charge of dealing with the different materials without losing quality.

Of course, among the group, there were adventurers who had the experience of taking care of such matters, but when they reached B Rank, it was normal to let others take care of those tasks.

The group continued to move forward and encountered along the way webs of spider webs that covered their entire path.

Clémentine, using her telekinesis powers, pushed them aside and stuck them against the wall.

On the way, they encountered a few spiders and small raiding parties, but there was no other wave.

“There’s a boss.”

“There’s a boss.”

Professor Miller’s voice next to Aurora’s echoed at the same time, and the professors looked at the young woman through the screen.

“There is a boss capable of commanding spiders and if we follow the records from before, then it is... A Mother Spider,” Aurora revealed to the group, and with a serious tone, she communicated. “This spider does not have a high attack strength nor a great defense. It relies on its young for subsistence and defense. That’s why it is classified as a B-ranked creature among the most dangerous.”

Professor Miller nodded in satisfaction.

The Spider Mother had many descendants and a degree of intelligence sufficient to command other spiders.

Only some very particular spiders refused to serve, but they could note that in this dungeon, there were no spiders that fell into the latter case.

“If we continue this way, we will meet with significant resistance in the last corridor,” Aurora added in a serious tone.

The danger of this spider was its ability to command and attack in a massive wave.

If an A-Rank was careless, it could end up dead because all the spiders would cover it.

One spider could cause a minor wound, but dozens or hundreds... And of different types with different qualities, they were a genuine threat to the group.

“I guess we’ll have to go all out,” Clémentine communicated with a smile.

The entire group nodded confidently.

Leslie was the first to get ready; she checked her status through the AI in her helmet and then checked her weapon.

When she nodded, the group moved forward.

As they went deeper to reach the boss room, the cave increased in size and grew larger.

The height increased along with the width.

While it was not large enough to miss the ceiling, the ceiling was over seven to ten meters away.

The group’s expression became increasingly severe, as they were already quite close to the final base and had yet to receive any attack.

From the size of the corridors, it was clear that their small group could be surrounded with no problems.

The teachers watching from outside also sensed the atmosphere.

“Professor Santulli, be prepared,” Professor Miller warned, and Professor Santulli nodded with a serious expression.

As the group was about to reach the final room, the floor vibrated.

They sent the spheres of lights forward and backward, leaving no blind spot to be covered by darkness.

Then they saw it.

Dozens of spiders of all kinds walked the floor, walls, and ceiling.

That wave turned into hundreds, and then the same noises also were heard behind them, and another group of hundreds of spiders approached.

Seeing hundreds of spiders the size of adult dogs approach the group made their expressions difficult, but they did their job.

Leslie popped up a grenade launcher from her space ring and began firing it forward; when it was done, she began throwing other grenades backwards.

Then, while the teachers were thinking about the imprudence of throwing grenades into a cave, they exploded and released electric waves that became stronger as they met with the other grenades.

That electric wave was so strong that it not only paralyzed hundreds of spiders but also burned them.

Such a savage attack stopped the spiders on both sides.

They left Aurora and Alice with the front job, while Leslie and Clémentine supported Nicole in the back.

The combat began when Aurora moved.

She reinforced her body with magical energy, allowing her to move at great speed.

With her boots that created platforms in the air and with her high agility, she could turn the dungeon into a three-dimensional combat area.

She jumped to the ceiling and grabbed some climbing spiders, then with substantial force, threw her towards the group, and when she fell, she stepped on the other spiders.

Then she jumped again, using the spiders as supports, sometimes throwing kicks and other times throwing punches at those that jumped on her.

She used the ceiling, the floor, and the walls to move without stopping for a second.

The spider spiders got into position and launched their sticky shot.

Aurora only deflected one climbing spider into the shot and dodged, but the spiders began to increase their attack, and she was slowly surrounded.

It was at that moment that more than a few dozen arms extended from Alice’s back and, like battering rams, struck the spiders, bringing them down from the ceiling and walls.

Normally, the arms should have reduced Aurora’s mobility because of the space in the cave, but she moved nimbly through them and used them for support.

Protection and defense, the duo was unstoppable in an all-powerful attack.

No matter how strong the spiders were, the black arms were savage against the spiders, grabbing them by their limbs and tearing them apart or simply throwing them against the walls.

Not even the spider webs thrown by the spitting spiders could hold them back, and only the spiders themselves would stick on them, and the arms would slam her against the wall.

From the back, Nicole was protecting Leslie from the approaching spiders, and the latter was firing her assault rifle, throwing some grenades from time to time.

The spiders approached the group, and some managed to get through Aurora and Alice’s defense, but when they landed on the group, they hit the barrier.

The teachers’ eyes became full of surprise because of the unexpectedly high number of enemies that were hiding.

One type of poisonous spider released its venom, and then the ground shook as if ‘footsteps’ were approaching.

On both sides appeared two enormous spiders with wide, thick limbs.

Those spiders alone were about two meters long and looked like creatures of great strength.

“Armored spiders! Leslie and Nicole assemble!” Clementine shouted at the sight of the spiders.

Those creatures were Rank B and were some of the most difficult to deal with because of their high strength and endurance.

It didn’t matter if they were slow; they could withstand Leslie’s shots that used to be able to cut through other types of spiders with ease.

When Leslie and Nicole surrounded Clémentine looking with a serious expression at her enemies without knowing what was going on behind her back, the powerful psionic moved.

First, she touched her earring, and her barrier expanded with great force, causing the spiders attached to her to crash into the wall and ceiling, sending all the others flying.

Then the stones rose up in great numbers around the group, and Clémentine hurled them with precision towards her enemies.

These stones pierced some of the spiders and caused grave wounds to their bodies or took out their legs.

The blows were so vicious and with so much power that the number of enemies decreased instantly, but that was the beginning.

Nicole drew from her space ring ten sharp blades that had no handle, and Clémentine took control of them with her telekinesis, sending them flying at the group of enemies.

These blades had such an impeccable edge that as soon as they grazed the spiders, they were cut.

The armored spider could withstand the attack, but when the ten blades surrounded it and all attacked in unison with the unique control of a powerful psionic, the spider could only move for a few meters until the blades left its already shattered body.

With Clémentine’s support, Nicole, and Leslie moved and gain ground.

But for the teachers who were watching all this as third parties, the problem was not in the rear area, but in front.

There, the arms kept moving, but the creatures kept coming.

A few meters away was the mother spider’s room, and her young would not let them get there so easily, so they were bold and aggressive with their attacks.

The shadow from Alice’s back began to spread across the floor as she walked towards Aurora, who was stepping forward into the spider nest.

Alice’s arms came down from her back and extended from her shadow of the floor and walls, leaving a dark space around her as her shadow continued to spread.

Despite Aurora’s agility and skill-filled movements, she slowly was surrounded as the spiders decided to take her out as she approached her mother’s nest.

“As always?” Aurora asked as the arms covered her like a prison to protect her.

“As always.” Alice replied and, for the first time, held out her arms.

The arms increased an enormous amount to the point that the shadow spread through the air, making the view of the back area disappear.

The walls turned black, and the place seemed darker than ever as Alice watched from the middle of that scene.

The dark area was ominous and frightening, as it seemed to move and contort as if strange things wanted to come out from within.

But Aurora didn’t care and just re-strengthened her body with magical energy and put on her combat gloves quickly.

She clashed her fists so that the electric waves came out and then shot out towards the armored spider in the center.

She dodged the spiders while her arms still followed her, even though she was over twenty meters away from her partner.

Dodging the spider webs and those pesky spiders looking to catch her, she fell onto the armored spider’s back.

Without even looking at the spiders that literally had her surrounded, Aurora slammed her fist into the spider’s back.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The explosive sound was heard as Aurora’s blows landed on the spider and the electric wave spread throughout the creature’s body.

No matter how much the armored spider wanted to move, it was quite tricky because of the arms and the other spiders around it.

So all it could do was withstand the blows. Unfortunately, the electric waves were so powerful that they burned its abdomen until it finally exploded.

Guts stained Aurora’s fists, and when she was about to be surrounded by the spiders, black arms appeared, taking the attacks of the spitting spiders and pushing the other spiders away.

But when she looked to where Alice was, it was already impossible to go back.

The arms passed between dozens of corpses and spiders of all kinds, covering most of the view.

Moreover, the spiders were so many that they were climbing up the arms and climbing up them, covering their retreat.

“Get ready,” Professor Miller ordered as he saw that Aurora had been locked in.

But to Professor Miller’s surprise, Aurora moved further into the hallway near the spitting spiders.

“Now!” Aurora shouted, and the arms moved.

They overtook Aurora’s speed, coming together and creating a small, black platform.

She landed on that spot, and the next moment dozens of spiders attacked, covering Aurora and the black platform.

The teachers were completely shocked, not because of Aurora’s recklessness or that she ended up being surrounded by spiders without leaving her body in sight, but because next to Alice, where her shadow had spread, Aurora appeared in one leap from that deep darkness.

She had been moved from front to back, and Aurora didn’t look disturbed; she just activated her cleaning device and tapped Alice’s shoulder with a smile.

“Whenever you want,” Aurora stated, her voice calm as if moments before she hadn’t been in the center of the enemy surrounded by them.

Alice nodded indifferently and snapped her fingers.

From where Aurora was supposedly surrounded, dozens of black spikes shot out, piercing all the spiders and penetrating deep into the wall and ceiling of the dungeon.

Between the arms where the spiders were still moving, they vibrated for a moment, and then spikes shot out from their sides, penetrating everything around them.

The ten or so arms turned the entire area into a black spiked area where it was barely possible to see the other side because of the excessive number of spikes.

The shadow returned to Alice’s back as the arms retreated just as black as when they had come out, as if the viscera and blood of hundreds of spiders had not stained them.

Alice looking at the scene where the corpses fell to the ground, all damaged, just opened her bag of chips and ate with a bored expression.

When the shadow returned to Alice’s back, the group gathered again with tired expressions.

“There are only a few enemies left, but they are fleeing,” Leslie reported after her AI scan.

At those words, the group members fell exhausted to the ground in victory.

From outside, the teachers looked at each other.

“A true domain of darkness,” said Professor Santulli with an expression full of admiration and with a bit of pity, she commented. “It’s a pity that the Mercenary Guild has no information about her power. If it were so, we could help her a little to progress.”

“Alice isn’t very talkative and likes to keep everything private... It will be hard to get anything, even if we ask her,” Professor Miller commented, shaking his head gently.

They had been about to address Aurora when she was covered by the spiders, as they never expected her to be able to move through Alice’s shadows.

The Mercenaries Guild had classified Alice’s ability as the Dominion of Darkness, but there were no specific details about her abilities.

“Well, the Mercenaries Guild would never ask for too much information from someone like her,” Professor Santulli said, and when everyone looked at her, she gave a smile and stated. “That young lady has the strength of a Rank A, but she is without a doubt one of the strongest of that rank.”

The teachers nodded and watched as the students approached the end of the hallway.

There was one last bit of resistance, but they were weak, small spiders, which Leslie ended up shooting or Nicole stepping on.

When they reached the end of the corridor they could see a circular area with a ceiling over ten meters high.

The area was large, and in the center was a spider over three meters tall that was staring wildly, but that was all it could do because of its weak body.

The entire area around it was full of eggs, some larger than others.

“If they gave it another month, the dungeon could have overflowed,” Aurora commented with a serious expression.

The eggs numbered over thousands, and at minimum, the spiders were going to be D or C Rank creatures.

Their numbers were going to be large enough that the dungeon could no longer contain them, and they could escape.

While the local authorities could have stopped them in time, their numbers would undoubtedly generate quite a few civilian casualties.

“Okay, let’s get this over with. We need to clear everything out,” Clémentine stated, gently stroking her head with a sigh.

The entire group nodded in encouragement.

Their first test was over.

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