After claiming the loot, the five of them continued further in.
Raive was just guessing where the exit was based on the trend of the path the entire time within the dungeon. As such, they just went straight forward, like usual.
Thankfully, they found the exit without much trouble.
They didn’t encounter extra monsters there either, so they didn’t need to waste more energy.
After jumping out of the exit and through the flash of light, they found themselves already standing in the lawn just before Hershey’s home gate.
Looking around, it was mostly the same.
The dark skies, the house nearby, and the quiet neighborhood.
The only difference was definitely the dungeon gate. After all, it was now gone completely.
"So a dungeon disappears after clearing it?" Raive muttered lightly. "I was hoping we could spam reentry to get more loot, but... I guess that’s asking for too much."
Of course, everyone agreed with his sentiment.
If they could grow stronger without much difficulty, then why not take that path? As such, the dungeon’s disappearance really made them feel deflated.
"Alright."
After everyone regained their bearings, Raive then began to talk.
"After we’ve cleared a green one, we can now say that we’re ready for higher difficulty dungeons. Don’t you all agree?"
They’ve cleared the trial space.
And now, they’ve cleared the green dungeon, which should be of the same difficulty as the trial space, with such ease. With these backing them up, they felt confident tackling harder dungeons. And with harder dungeons, they also get more rewards.
"I don’t have a problem with that."
"Me too."
"I’ll go along with whatever brother decides!"
"Let’s speed through other dungeons just like this!"
Shymine, Therese, Hershey, and Khamish spoke, respectively. All of them in favor of trying a harder dungeon. A unanimous decision.
"Perfect."
Raive smiled before turning around, facing the road.
"Then, let’s go and find ourselves a new dungeon to challenge!"
However, searching on foot would take too much time. They couldn’t split up either, since that would increase the risk of their members getting attacked while isolated.
With the world as it is, there’s no telling when or where a slasher, mugger, or whatever hoodlum would appear.
As such, Raive decided on a bit of a risky plan.
To speed up their search, he asked for Therese’s help. As he explained his plan, she first looked aghast, as if listening to the dumbest but most creative way to commit suicide, but after some convincing, she finally relented.
"Remember, don’t move too much, okay?" She warned as she began.
With a few hand signs, she summoned six ethereal, blue, regular-sized swords. They floated around her like moons orbiting a planet, waiting for further command.
After using a few more hand signals, she carefully moved the swords across the lawn and carefully "lifted" Raive off the ground.
One sword on each of his armpits, one on the back of each knee, one acting like a counterweight for his legs, pushing them down, and one to support his back.
Six swords created an imaginary "throne" that lifted him into the air.
"W-Woah..."
Of course, it’s not like Raive was fearless. Neither was he feeling cocky, since he could just reload from a checkpoint even if he did die. The reason he volunteered for such a dangerous task was...
Efficiency.
Among all of them, he had the highest stats.
And thanks to that, his senses were stronger than the others too. That included his vision.
After rising about 50 meters, the limit that Therese could afford, Raive started looking around. Left, right, up and down, he tried to find a dungeon nearby.
One that’s green or higher.
"Oh?"
Fortunately, there’s one close to them. An orange dungeon about 300 meters to their east. Apart from that, there’s a red one about half a kilometer away, and two yellow ones roughly a kilometer away.
"That should be enough dungeons for us today."
He whispered to himself before looking down and giving a hand signal.
As pre-arranged, Therese brought him down slowly.
"Ugh...!"
At least, that was the plan.
However, Therese wasn’t used to sustaining her skill for such a long stretch yet.
Halfway down, she lost focus for a moment, causing the throne to suddenly drop.
The sound of wind rushing past him suddenly got louder. Raive felt his stomach rise to his chest as he began to freefall. As if not wanting to let go of his final lifeline, he gripped the swords under his armpits tightly as he bit his lip, eyes opened wide in fear and shock.
"BROTHER!"
Even those watching from the ground felt anxious about his situation.
If he fell from that height, then at worst, he could die. Or maybe break a few limbs and internal organs at best.
Raive was facing forward, as if refusing to believe reality, but his eyes were staring straight down. He could see that the ground was approaching faster than was comfortable, making his face turn blue.
"HAAP!"
And then, just before the last five meters, Therese managed to regain control and gently slow the drop.
The descent slowed down, with the downward momentum shifting to a forward one. Therese skillfully let the momentum slowly die down without causing a sudden stop that might hurt Raive.
After 20 more seconds, he finally slowed down enough to land.
The blue swords disappeared, letting him drop to the ground, eyes still open wide, staring at the dark clouds above.
"I’m... still alive." He whispered.
He was never a fan of thrill rides before.
And with this new experience, he swore he never would.
If he were to choose between doing that again or dying once more, he wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter.
"URP!"
When his nerves finally calmed down, he quickly lurched over and crawled to the nearest bush before emptying his entire stomach.
Only Hershey walked to his side, gently patting his back.
A few minutes later, Raive was finally back on his feet. His face was still pale from vomiting literally everything he ate, but that’s all.
"I’ve found us a few dungeons to explore." He said. "However, before we go, we should prepare for all scenarios."
The trial space had magma slowly rising from below the floor.
The first green dungeon they entered was too dark to navigate without a light source.
As such, it wasn’t hard to guess that other dungeons would have some sort of gimmick too. Maybe a space that rains endlessly, the middle of a wild forest, a desert, or maybe even deep underwater.
"Thus," he declared. "First, we should visit the department store."
They have someone with infinite storage.
If they want to make full use of it, then they could only visit a place where literally "everything" could be procured.
It’s time for some shopping!