At this point, Olivia wasn't as scared to enter a dungeon. She was still nervous; that much was true, but the fear that should have been present wasn't.

This would be the fifth dungeon she entered. The fourth, if the fake exams dungeon wasn't counted. Even without that, though, she was confident. Not in herself, though. Her confidence was instead placed into both Davi and Ragna.

Even before becoming an Arcane Knight, Davi would enter dungeons and fight the bosses all on his own. He was powerful, just as he was. Then there was Ragna leading this team. The king had declared that this was a weak dungeon, which meant it wasn't going to be a high-grade one.

For once, Olivia felt a sense of ease. She wasn't going to head into a dungeon and feel cocky, but honestly, how could they lose?

"It's just up ahead," Crowe called back to the three of them. The man had led them out of the village and through the woods, where a winding path took them deep into the forest.

"Do you have any information on this dungeon?" Davi questioned as he gazed around the forest.

"Sorry, but no." Crowe shook his head. "I found the dungeon a bit ago, but haven't entered it, and nothing's come out so far. I was out collecting ingredients when I happened to stumble across it. It was connected to a tree. From what little I saw of it, the dungeon looks like it might be a nature-based one? At least, I poked my head through its doorway and saw another forest."

"Just looking through the doorway isn't a good way to tell," Ragna spoke up. "Dungeons are the merging of space and can have multiple rooms. So the entrance might be that of a lava-based monster's dwelling, but the rest of it could be an ice cave or an entire ocean biome. Who knows what we're going to face?"

Crowe nodded hesitantly, then spoke up. "It'll have a vault, though, right?"

Ragna's eyes darted over to the man. "Yes. The dungeons were originally built as vaults. The other layers in front of the vaults are all protective traps designed to guard the elves' items. This dungeon should be no different. It'll also have a vault."

"Interesting," Crowe muttered.

"I'm looking forward to finding the vault," Davi mainly hummed to himself. "I need to refill my own vault. Ever since my battle with Grey, I've lost most of my bag of tricks."

"I want to find some cool enchanted weapons!" Olivia said with stars in her eyes. "Wouldn't it be great to get something?"

"That could be cool, but at least from what I recall, I never found any enchanted gear in a dungeon." Davi tilted his head to the side as he tried to think back. "Maybe I just had bad luck?"

Ragna let out a snort. "The dungeon we're going to likely won't have any enchanted gear as well. Low-grade ones rarely have that gear. The reasoning for this is actually simple. The mana that enchanted gear gives off attracts powerful monsters, and so they claim those dungeons and make them their own so they can be around the powerful mana. When someone finds a dungeon, the king's Core judges the mana in the air and decides the rank of the dungeon based on the mana that comes out of the dungeon, which is determined by the lowest-ranked monster in the dungeon, since they're the closest, and their mana is the one that spills out. They usually inflate the grades to prepare better. So if it's a C-grade dungeon, they'll treat it as if it's an A-grade just in case. Of course, the system isn't perfect, and mistakes are sometimes made. Low-grade monsters can enter a dungeon with powerful enchanted items and claim it before a high-rank monster does, or a high-rank monster can get stuck with a dungeon that has only weak monsters, causing the mana scaling to become wonky. This is why, no matter what, you should take dungeon delving seriously."

Olivia gave a mini salute and nodded her head. "Don't worry. I don't plan to slack off or let my guard down!"

"I just want to fight a cool monster," Davi said simply, and he balled his hand into a fist. "I'd like to test myself out on it and see if I've gotten any stronger or improved at all."

"Well, you're in luck." Crowe glanced back at the three Knights who followed him. "We're here."

"That's the dungeon?" Olivia asked, a little surprised.

Crowe's lips curved slightly into a smile. "I told you it was in a tree."

In the center of the woods, a large oak tree stood. It seemed to be full of life, with a great many leaves upon it. What was strange, though, was that the bark of the tree was coated in dozens of flowers and vines, and the branches had twisting apples, bananas, berries, and any other sort of fruit hanging off them. The ground was bumpy and covered in thick roots, and all the surrounding trees were dead and aged, their wood so brittle and faded that they looked like they had become ash.

Davi reached out with his hand and touched one of the ashy trees. He pulled his hand away as the tree crumbled and shattered, turning into dust. He looked back at the strange tree, and he felt his scar pulse.

This oak tree was far bigger than a normal one should have been. In fact, it was even thicker than Ragna was wide, and from the base of the tree all the way up to the first lowest branch, a jagged crack formed, which led into the tree, showing new land beyond it. This was, of course, the gate.

Ragna studied the dungeon's entrance, getting a sense of the mana. "Not sure on the exact number of floors, but I can say that it's more than two." The man stepped forward, and he peered inside. "We'll take this slow. This feeling isn't anything intense, but sometimes the boss can be stronger than expected, so it's best to remain on your guard. For this mission, I'll get involved if you two need my help, but I want you both to try to handle it on your own as best you can. Davi, you'll fulfill the role of Attacker. Olivia, you'll be both Face and Support. I'll take up the mantle of Defender and tank any blows that might seriously harm you two."

"What should I do?" Crowe casually asked.

Ragna looked back at the man. "You go back to your village. We'll have this cleared up in-"

"No."

"What?"

Crowe's look darkened, and he balled his hands into a fist. "Do you think I'm stupid? I know how you Knights work. You guys don't even need to charge a village because you make more than enough funds through the monster cores and the items you find in a dungeon's vault. Even low-rank dungeons that don't have enchanted gear are bound to be filled with Bells or other trinkets from the old days. Just think of all the ingredients I could get." Crowe's eyes lit up, and he let out a laugh. "There's bound to be something useful, and I'm not about to let some greedy fucks like you steal it all!"

Ragna gave the man a stern look. "Dungeons are dangerous even for Knights. You can't just follow us in and expect to be fine. The mana within is dangerous. It could turn you into a mutant or even just kill you. Don't risk your life for random treasure that might have already been claimed long ago."

Crowe's rage doubled, and the man's face became red. "You don't even know what the Knights did to our village! How much we had to charge just to get some of you out here! And that was after we lost people! We didn't even get an ounce of that treasure!"

"I-I was there the day the village was attacked," Olivia spoke up, and Crowe glared at her. "I was saved by Evelyn. She used her magic to fix your village."

Crowe scoffed. "Did you see her fix the entire village?"

"I-I saw her wave her staff, and she put out all the fires and healed all the people that were around her… Then she took me out of the village and back to my home."

Crowe let out a stiff laugh. "That explains it. Sure, she put out the fires, but so what! The buildings weren't repaired! And sure, she healed some of us, but what about the people who weren't near her at the time? She didn't even bother to kill the dungeon boss! She left as soon as she killed the monsters in our village! It was another group of Knights who killed that dungeon's boss, and they didn't even bother to stop by our village! They took everything that they could from the dungeon, all the cores and loot, and then they left us to pick up the pieces! How is that fair!"

Olivia flinched at his glare. What he said couldn't be true, right? Evelyn was a hero. An amazing one who saved her, saved the village, and put everything back together? That's what she assumed, though. Had she actually seen Evelyn fix everything up and heal everyone? No. She hadn't.

But Evelyn was a hero, right? The woman was an Arcane Knight.

The same Knights who hadn't shown up to her village when it was in trouble either. That had been Davi. The same Knights who also hadn't stopped the snake or Garon. That had been Davi.

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The Knights were the good guys? Weren't they?

That's why she wanted to be one.

Crowe finally turned away from her, and he stared back at Ragna. "I'm entering that dungeon. You can't stop me. So move or else-"

Ragna dodged at the last second. From behind him, a wave of twisting vines and thorns jutted out of the opening in the tree. The hand flew past Ragna, and before anyone else could react, it wrapped tightly around Crowe.

The blonde man let out a panicked scream as he was suddenly yanked into the tree's gateway and was pulled into the dungeon by the hand.

"Shit!" Ragna cursed and took off after the hand. "Come on!"

Olivia and Davi were quick to follow. The two of them chased after Ragna, and once they stepped through the tree's opening, they found themselves stumbling out into a field. This one was open, lacking any other tree, save for the large one they stumbled out of.

The first floor of the dungeon looked like a large meadow. The grass was unnaturally green, and the sky was a brighter blue than it should have been. There wasn't any cloud, nor a sun, but it was still the middle of the day, with light somehow being visible. The field stretched on and on, and the only thing for miles was a massive lake that was hundreds of meters away from them.

From the lake, a limb jutted out. It was as wide as a human body, and it was made out of grass, roots, and vines, all shaped together. The arm was also freakishly long, able to stretch out for over a mile.

The hand at the end of the arm gripped around Crowe's body, the alchemist still screaming for help as the arm was reeled back in and pulled into the water, dragging Crowe under. The ground then began to shake, and from the surface of the water, more things started to come out.

There were dozens of them, each crawling out on all fours. They had a humanoid shape, with hands and feet, but instead of flesh, they had dark green, slimy, and wet scales. Their heads looked like those of a giant catfish, with bulging eyes, and they carried rusty swords or tridents. One in particular was extremely large, as tall as Ragna, and had developed impressive muscles. That one gripped a massive anchor—the kind a large ship would use.

"Merfolk." Ragna gritted his teeth. "Alright, change of plans since that idiot let himself get captured. I'm going ahead, and I'm going to get him. You two try to follow behind, but take it more slowly. The primary focus is getting that man out of here before he becomes a mutant."

"Don't worry about us." Davi nodded and calmly activated his mana. "We'll deal with these small fries and catch up. Row Shadow Armor." The armor formed around him, covering him head to toe, and the strange fish people all screeched and began to charge.

"Stay safe," Ragna ordered, then he vanished, using Mana Step to zip past the Merfolk. He dived into the water and was out of sight, leaving just Davi and Olivia to face the horde.

"Row Shadow Vault." Davi drew his claymore. "Ready?"

Olivia watched as the horde began to get closer. Her own mana surged on, and she steeled her nerves. "Give them to me." From Davi's vault, two plastic bottles flew out. Each was a little over two liters, and they were dark, making it impossible to see what was inside of them. Olivia caught them and clipped one onto her belt and then tucked the second one under her arm. "I guess this is it."

"We got this." Davi gave her a nod, and then he charged into the horde.

The Merfolk all let out roars, and the ones with swords and tridents met Davi first. They slashed and stabbed at him, and the Knight didn't even bother to dodge, letting his armor take the blows. The impact danced through him and flowed into his sword. With a single slash, he split eight of the monsters in two, kept moving forward, and carved his way toward his destination.

Suddenly, Davi was forced to step to the side as a massive anchor rammed into the ground, exploding it and kicking up a wave of rock and dirt.

The biggest Merfolk let out an unholy scream. It was over twenty feet away and held onto a gigantic chain, which was wrapped around the base of the anchor. With a tug, it dragged its weapon back to it, ripping the field up, and then it began to spin the weapon in a circle, getting faster and faster, before it let go and launched the anchor toward Davi for a second.

Davi moved out of the way again, the metal object barely missing him. It vaporized the other Merfolk who hadn't been as fast as him, sending their gore everywhere. He winced slightly as he saw the damage, the ground having another crater.

One hit and he'd likely be dead, armor or not.

Of course, that meant he just had to not get hit. Davi adjusted his grip on his claymore, and he charged toward the massive Merfolk, which pulled the anchor back and got ready to swing it again.

Over with Olivia, she also found herself being surrounded by the Merfolk, but she was calm and twisted the lid off the bottle she had. One of the Merfolk jumped at her, but she pointed the bottle at it. "Row Blood Bolt."

There was a flash of red, and then from the opening of the bottle, a tiny red beam blasted out. It was a lot thinner than her usual bolt was, but it packed the same punch it always did, slicing the Merfolk in two.

"Row Blood Slash." Olivia twisted the bottle and sliced it through the air as if it were a blade. Another thin wave of blood was spat out, cutting through the heads of all the Merkfolk who stood around her. Olivia smiled and dropped the empty bottle. "Looks like it worked."

The remaining Merfolk all stared at her in shock and fear. Eventually, though, they snapped out of it and began to run at her again, while she grabbed her second bottle.

The idea of the bottles had been one she had ever since her 'fight' with the king. She could only cast three spells and could then cast three more if she used Polymorph, but that was still her limit. That was where these bottles came in.

Her blood held mana within it, way more than a normal mage's did. Eventually, the mana within her blood would fade, and she wouldn't be able to control it anymore, but what if there was a way to preserve the blood?

The bottles were airtight and had been crafted by Clause. They weren't special in any way, with no enchantment, but they could seal themselves up once she filled them with blood, and by placing that blood into Davi's Vault, the cool air there would freeze and preserve them for far longer than would normally be allowed. This would keep the mana within them, and thus, she now had the ability to use blood that was hers, but it was from outside of her body!

Of course, she needed to fill each bottle and give them to Davi in order to actually use them, and currently, she only had two bottles, as that was the amount she had been able to fill before now.

In short, she was stockpiling her blood for later. During her downtime at the base, she filled the two bottles up, had them tucked away in Davi's vault, and then, because she had Quick Regeneration, she recovered from her blood loss.

Each bottle was able to be used twice before it ran out, and since there were two of them, that meant she now had four extra spells she could cast. In short, the total number of spells she could now use in one day was ten. Three from herself, three from Polymorph, and now four from her two bottles.

It still wasn't much, but at least she was finally figuring out a way to use her magic.

"Row Blood Shield!" Olivia held her bottle up, and it burst open in a thin red shield. It appeared in front of her just in time as several of the Merkfolk threw their tridents. Their weapons bounced off her barrier and dropped to the ground, totally useless. "Row Blood Scythe!" From the rest of the bottle, her blood surged out and took on the shape of her scythe. She swung out with it, stabbing directly into the head of one of the Merfolk.

With a laugh, Olivia began to actually have fun as she started to use her weapon and turned all the creatures around her into minced meat.

"Who knew fighting was a lot more fun when you can actually cast spells without having to feel lightheaded!"

For the first time in her life, she was the one dominating the fight, as the Merfolk were helplessly slaughtered by her weapon.

Over with Davi, he narrowly avoided the anchor for a third time. He was running toward the massive Merfolk, but it kept launching its attack at him over and over again, trying to hit him. The ground around them was becoming a torn-up mess, with slashes all across the field.

As Davi approached, he threw his sword as hard as he could, sending it directly at the Merfolk's head, but it was shockingly fast and dodged the strike. Then it met Davi head-on, catching the Knight off guard with its speed.

The Merfolk lengthened the chain, holding it with both arms, and used it to body slam Davi and send him crashing to the ground. It hoped to crush Davi with its weight, but Davi was faster and used a spell. "Row Shadow Vault." Davi sank into the ground, using the Merfolk's own shadow to get away, and from the shadow, more blades jutted up and impaled the scales of the monster.

It roared in pain and shot back up, three swords sticking out of its stomach, but it was still alive. It glared and looked around, and when it didn't spot Davi, it eyed the girl who was slaughtering its people, watching as her scythe twisted through the air and reduced its men into chunks.

The Merfolk's eyes narrowed, and it got ready to throw the anchor at her, but before it could, Davi came blasting out of the shadow and sliced his claymore out, severing the Merfolk's hand. The anchor dropped to the ground and disappeared into his vault, and the monster let out an even louder roar as blood gushed from its wound.

Davi rammed his claymore into its shoulder, but the beast flexed and stopped the attack, then used its remaining hand to punch Davi in the stomach. Davi was blasted back, his armor denting, and he lost his grip on his sword. Before he could summon another one, the Merfolk was on him again and punched out with its fist, connecting with his head.

Davi stumbled, but he absorbed the force, and he stood his ground, throwing an even more potent punch out that cracked the Merkfolk's ribs and shattered the scales along its chest. Blood gushed out of the Merfolk's mouth, and its eyes bulged even more, but it still wasn't done. It threw out another strike right as Davi used a spell.

"Row Shadow Vault."

The Merfolk put every ounce of its strength into its final strike, hitting Davi so hard the ground around the two of them erupted and exploded, a shockwave launching out, but that was also the Merfolk's doom, as Way of Self Iron channeled into Davi and he began to spin, now swinging around a gigantic anchor, which he smashed into the Merfolk's head so hard he exploded its skull and tore its upper body off of its lower half.

The dents in Davi's armor began to mend and heal, and he let out a heavy sigh. He allowed himself a moment to rest, and he slung the anchor over his shoulder. "I like this. Sturdy, heavy. It'll do well." Then he looked to Olivia, who finished slaying the last of her Merfolk. "How are you feeling?"

Olivia laughed and pointed her scythe at him. "That was so awesome! With my mana on, they were all way too slow and couldn't hit me, and I don't even feel slightly tired or anything, even though I've used four spells up! I can still cast three more spells and have Polymorph! Isn't that amazing!"

Davi gave her a nod, and then he began to walk toward the lake. Olivia's smile faded, and she followed him. The surface of the water was dark, so it wasn't possible to see how deep it went or what was done. Both of them knew that this was the next floor of the dungeon, and they'd need to cross into it if they wanted to catch up to Ragna.

"Damn." Olivia sighed.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to be useless again." She laughed. "My blood doesn't work in the water, and I can't cast spells there either."

Davi shrugged. "So, let's get rid of the water."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you." Davi stepped forward, and he casually dropped into the lake. He sank like a rock due to the fact that he was still holding onto the anchor, and right before his head went under, he used his spell. "Row Shadow Vault."

All the water began to swirl as Davi started to shove it all into his vault. In only a matter of seconds, the lake was empty.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Freaking show-off." Then she smiled. As far as first quests went, this one was going well so far.

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