On the avenue packed so tightly with all kinds of races that it was nearly impossible to move, Ize and Raul weaved their way through the crowd.
Morning was the time when most adventurers prepared to begin their day’s adventure.
If one had to describe it, this was basically rush hour.
With the Dungeon as their workplace, countless adventurers were currently heading there to clock in for work.
Dwarves, gnomes, beastmen, Pallums, elves… Some people looked just like ordinary citizens, while others were armed from head to toe with dangerous equipment.
Supporters carrying huge backpacks as they moved through the streets and alleys were also especially conspicuous.
The Guild Headquarters, which operated and managed the Dungeon, was a place Ize had now come to once again.
In the morning, there were still quite a lot of adventurers gathered in front of the Guild lobby counters.
Almost every service window had a Guild employee seated behind it.
After turning his gaze around and searching for a moment, Ize spotted a familiar figure.
After saying something to Raul, he went to stand in line before one of the service windows.
Before long, Ize arrived in front of the counter.
“Next, please.
How may I help you?”
Holding a small booklet in one hand and quickly recording her work, Eina Tulle spoke almost reflexively with a professional smile on her face.
“Please help me register as an adventurer, Miss Eina.”
Hearing this, Eina froze slightly.
Then, she met Ize’s gaze.
“Mr.
Ize!
You’ve successfully joined the Loki Familia, then.
Congratulations~”
Seeing Ize again and looking at his current state, Eina could tell that he had clearly succeeded in joining a familia.
Perhaps because she had personally helped bring this about, Eina felt somewhat happy about it.
“It was also thanks to your help, Miss Eina, that things went so smoothly.”
“You don’t have to put it that way.
After all, I was paid for it~”
Was this what people called doing a job after receiving payment?
The two exchanged a few words, and very soon, they began going through the procedures for him to officially become an adventurer.
“Speaking of which, Mr.
Ize, do you need a Dungeon exploration adviser?”
During the process, Eina suddenly asked.
There were not a few cases of adventurers dying in the Dungeon because they had failed to properly gather information beforehand.
Because of this, the Guild had long ago established a rule of assigning an adventurer adviser to newly registered adventurers.
However, this also depended on the circumstances.
In Ize’s case, since he had the backing of a powerful familia, it did not matter much even if he did not need an adviser.
She asked the question simply as a matter of routine.
In the end, whether or not an adventurer needed an adviser was up to the adventurer themselves.
“An exploration adviser?”
Then, he reacted and replied with a smile.
“I think I’ll pass.”
“Mm.”
Seeing this, Eina did not say anything more.
She simply nodded gently and continued helping Ize complete the procedures.
A few minutes later, Ize smoothly registered with the Guild and became a rookie adventurer.
After politely saying goodbye to Eina, he took an adventurer handbook and found Raul, who had been waiting off to the side.
“Sorry to keep you waiting~”
Raul shook his head.
“It was only a little while.
No big deal.
Your adventurer registration is done?”
“Mm.
I guess I’m now a freshly debuted rookie adventurer~”
“Rookie?”
“It means newcomer.
It’s a word from my hometown, don’t worry about it.”
“Oh~”
After registering as an adventurer, Ize and Raul headed straight toward the entrance of the Dungeon.
At the end of the long street, in the central area of the city, a skyscraper-like facility rose straight toward the clear morning sky.
The Dungeon lay beneath it.
…
The location was the first floor of the Dungeon.
The pale blue walls and ceiling filled his entire field of vision.
This natural maze, where no sky could be seen, stretched endlessly in all directions.
Branching paths, crossroads, and gently sloping roads formed an underground space with uneven passageways at regular intervals.
As he walked here, Ize had already removed the silver-gray spear from its sheath and was carrying it in his hand in a reverse grip, entering a state of battle readiness.
Raul, meanwhile, walked calmly beside him.
His blade had not been drawn, and both of his hands were gripping the straps of the backpack behind him.
As they walked, he explained a series of important points to Ize.
Things like the types of monsters that appeared on the upper floors, their weaknesses, the routes between floors, and so on.
Within the narrow field of vision of the maze, the ceiling overhead emitted faint phosphorescent light, almost as if lighting fixtures had been installed there, softly illuminating the surroundings.
The atmosphere around them was extremely gloomy.
It was the kind of deathly silence unique to a place where no living creatures were active.
Or rather, where there were none for the time being.
Ize did not have to wait for long.
The wall in front of him suddenly cracked open with a sharp sound.
Dark red energy surged out from within and materialized into physical form.
Like a chick breaking through an eggshell, monsters crawled out from the wall of the maze…
“Gawu!”
“Gyaa!”
“Ggh!”
Three short, ugly, red-eyed little creatures with dark green skin and long pointed ears roared as if celebrating their own birth.
For reasons unknown, the goblins that had just been born were already carrying wooden weapons in their hands.
They were solid wooden clubs almost the size of their own heads.
If one struck a person, it would probably only take a single blow to severely injure the body.
The next moment, the goblins noticed that there were two humans beside them.
Their crimson eyes glowed with savage light, and they brandished the wooden clubs in their hands as they bared their teeth and pounced toward Ize and Raul.
Seeing this, Raul could not help turning his head slightly to observe Ize’s condition.
He was not sure whether Ize had any experience fighting monsters.
He was in the middle of deciding whether he needed to remind him.
However, he quickly dismissed that thought, because Ize showed not the slightest trace of panic in the face of the three approaching monsters.
Instead, he was remarkably calm.
Thud, thud, thud.
The chaotic footsteps, as if they were simply kicking wildly at the ground, rapidly drew closer.
Holding the spear in his right hand, Ize exerted force with his left foot and dashed forward, meeting the three monsters head-on.
In an instant, he spun the spear into a flourish.
As the spear tip flashed with a cold gleam, it had already arrived before the goblin at the very front.
—Thrust!
In the time it took to meet face-to-face, the silver-gray spear tip directly sank into the vital point of the monster’s throat.
It was killed on the spot, without even being given the chance to let out a groan!
When the other two goblins saw their companion killed so cleanly, their charging steps could not help pausing for a brief moment.
Taking advantage of that instant, Ize quickly withdrew the spearhead.
Like a spring stretched to its limit and then suddenly released, his movements were extremely fast.
He twisted his waist and redirected the spear, using the butt of the weapon to send one goblin flying.
Then, turning his wrist and spinning his body—
A horizontal sweep!
The spear drew an arc through the air and easily tore open the body of the other goblin.
A sound like cloth being ripped apart rang out, and that goblin was directly split in two.
Along with two bursts of black smoke, two small fragments glowing with a bluish-purple light fell to the ground.
Ize did not rush to pick up those fragments.
Instead, he continued forward and finished off the goblin that had been sent flying.
In less than half a minute, the three goblins had gone from making their entrance to becoming three piles of black ash on the ground.
Only then did Ize begin picking up the magic stone fragments they had dropped.