“Alright, it’s time, let’s get prepped,” Squire Fren instructed. “I don’t want to waste another second. The sooner we succeed, the better.”
The other four Martial Squires nodded, exiting her room as they headed for their own to change into their Martial attires and adorn the necessary utilities and instruments. 𝗏xt.𝗇t
She sighed as she began preparing herself. As a hunter-class Martial Artist, she was accustomed to carrying a lot of gear, equipment, and utilities along with her. She had a large set of tools that she could freely select to bring with her if she deemed them to be necessary.
Soon enough, the entirety of Party Saberstrike was ready. They quickly left the Adventurer exclusive hotel situated in the outer ring of the Adventurer Ring town before quickly heading inwards
“It never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I look at it and feel it,” One of her party members Seli said.
“Indeed,” Another, Darbun, replied. “A dungeon spanning sixty kilometers from end to end is something I hadn’t had the opportunity of laying my eyes on prior to coming to the Shionel Confederation, and thanks to it I have had the pleasure of entering it.”
The pressure mounting on them grew increasingly high as they entered the inner ring and crossed the final barrier.
“Focus,” Squire Fren sternly ordered. “Anything can happen once we enter the dungeon.”
“Yes, leader,” They replied to her as they grew increasingly wary.
The sensory jamming of the Shionel Dungeon unnerved every Martial Squires that entered it, for it was a circumstance that they were highly unaccustomed to. The sense that they had honed their entire career as Martial Artists had now been taken away from them, and they had been left to fight in the dark, literally, without it.
That was why despite their power and experience in the Squire Realm and with hunting beasts and monsters, none of them were comfortable or particularly confident, despite their determination. As things currently stood, a hoard of one thousand Squire-level monsters could be rushing toward them at the moment, and none of them would have any idea about it ahead of time.
The first floor was a bit of a safe space at the moment due to how extensively it had been cleared and occupied by human forces. The space was city-sized, and Martial Squires had already occupied a small portion of it, offering services to adventurers who were currently in the dungeon.
This way, these adventurers who were currently in the dungeon had no need to exit the entire dungeon and return back to the outer ring of the Adventurer Ring if they needed to purchase any goods or services.
Of course, they moved right past the first floor and headed down to the second floor, they had just entered and had no reason to take a break on the first floor.
They took their time, they could afford to run at top speed when their senses of what they were running into were extremely hampered.
STEP
Squire Fren paused the moment they arrived at the second floor.
“Take your stances, we might need to fight the second we walk in,” She told them with a tense tone.
The five of them readied themselves physically and mentally before jumping into the second floor with metaphorical guns blazing.
Yet they were greeted by a sight that they had not expected.
“W-What is this?!” Squire Fren’s eyes widened in shock as she beheld a puddle of blood that reached her ankles!
Blood, gore, and cleaved rabbit corpses as far as they could see greeted them.
“Hundreds… No thousands!” Squire Fren surveyed her surroundings. “Did a large S-rank party make it their mission to destroy the bloodfury rabbits on the second floor?”
“I almost feel sorry for the rabbits, they may be hideous monsters, but even that was not enough to prevent them from getting slaughtered,” Squire Seli remarked. “A large number of Martial Squires must have beaten us to the punch.”
“No…” Squire Darbun murmured.
“Hm? Squire Fren turned towards him. “What do you mean by that?”
“This was not done by multiple Martial Squires…!” Squire Darbun exclaimed. “I can tell based on the uniform similarities in the cuts that decapitated all these rabbits, this was all done by a single Martial Squire!”
“What?” Squire Fren’s eyes widened.
Squire Darbun was a swordmaster Martial Artist who specialized in hunting beasts, he narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the wounds inflicted on the bloodfury rabbit corpses.
“The force with which all these rabbits were killed is identical!” The man exclaimed. “These were all killed by a single Martial Squire!”
The remaining members of Party Saberstrike were shocked and speechless.
“All of these… by one Martial Squire?”
“Clearly, it’s a veteran S-rank adventurer,” Janeson, the fourth member of the party, stated. “Anything less is absolutely impossible.”
“No, even for a grade-ten Martial Squire…” Squire Fren’s voice trailed off as she considered the scene at her feet. She turned forward before rapidly heading off ahead.
“Wait for us!” They followed her hurriedly.
“There’s more!” She murmured emphatically. “A single Martial Squire eradicated all these hundreds, no, thousands of bloodfury rabbits all by themself?”
She was strong herself. Strong enough to take on many Martial Squires and come out victorious. She was known for having defeated ten Martial Squires, albeit low-grade, in a fight back in her home nation after all. She was very confident that with the party that she had formed with her trusted comrades, they would be able to handle the bloodfury rabbits of the second floor. Their Martial Art and Martial Paths had great synergy, they had great synergy with each other as well as great trust. The bloodfury rabbits were decisively insufficient to take them out as long as they were careful and engaged in their strategic tactics.
However, would she be able to clearly annihilate so many all by herself, just running into a seemingly endless swarm of bloodfury rabbits?
“…” She picked up her pace she surged forward at a tremendous speed, leaving behind giant sonic booms in her wake.
(‘Bloodfury corpses everywhere…’) Her eyes widened. (‘Could it be that this floor is already…?’)