I stood next to Adrian, who was walking far ahead. After verifying our identities, the soldiers let the five of us enter the library building.

As we climbed up to the roof of the library building, we saw the ominous gate floating before our eyes.

The feeling was different from seeing it from afar, but still, it wasn’t scary.

“Now then, we will enter the dungeon.”

After completing all preparations, Benjamin said.

We inserted ourselves into the gate that was swirling and rippling black.

At first, it felt like forcefully entering thick jelly, but once we pushed halfway in, the gate sucked us in completely.

Just before we entered the gate, the sunset was falling over the university buildings, but the situation inside the gate was completely different.

Bright blue midday sunlight poured down over a vast plain.

A gentle breeze brushing through our hair and the scent of grass.

After Teacher Gina entered last, the gate writhed and disappeared again.

“This is the dungeon…?”

Teacher Gina muttered in a dazed voice.

No matter how you looked at it, it just seemed like an ordinary plain.

I thought it would be a more eerie and ominous place.

But I had no intention of being complacent just because the appearance looked peaceful.

“If we defeat the boss monster that appears in the dungeon, we should be able to exit again. Our goal is also to defeat the boss monster.”

“But… there are no monsters?”

Teacher Gina said.

The plain literally had only grass and wildflowers. The five of us advanced forward while maintaining our positions.

After walking for a while through the bright blue field, the path became slightly bumpy, and large boulders scattered throughout the field caught our eye.

“Can we take a short break?”

Teacher Gina, the only C-rank awakened among us, asked.

It was understandable for her to be tired, as we had been walking across this vast plain for nearly two hours. Still, no monsters were in sight.

Whether it was due to the effect of my title or the basic physical training I had done so far, I was still fine.

“I think it would be okay to sit on that rock over there.”

She said, looking at a boulder sitting alone on the plain.

The four of us silently looked at the boulder.

Just as Teacher Gina was approaching the boulder, Adrian abruptly grabbed her arm.

“No, teacher.”

“Oh, why? Is there something strange?”

The teacher said, fanning herself with a flushed face. It was due to walking for a long time in a place with no trees to shelter from the sun.

Although her legs were aching and sweat was pouring down from walking continuously, she didn’t go near the boulder due to Adrian’s restraint.

As she was narrowing her eyes and looking at the boulder, sensing something strange,

Flinch,

“…?”

The boulder behind Teacher Gina moved ever so slightly.

Did I see something wrong?

As I was furrowing my brow and staring at the boulder, Benjamin beside me reacted first.

He stomped his foot hard once, and a blue status window appeared in front of him.

[system: Active skill activated.] [‘Power Increase (A)’ is executed. Greatly increases the attack power, defense, and vision of guild members.]

Benjamin’s A-rank supporter skill was activated. A yellow effect flew towards us five people like smoke and enveloped us.

It was his support skill.

At the same time, the boulder behind Teacher Gina stood up abruptly.

It wasn’t an ordinary boulder, but a Stone Golem that had been crouching on the ground.

“Kyaak!”

At the signal of Teacher Gina’s scream, the Stone Golems hiding nearby revealed themselves.

It seemed to be the type that usually crouches like a boulder, but changes to its true form when people approach.

“D-rank Stone Golems. Let’s deal with them.”

Benjamin pulled out the magic pistol he had hidden in his chest. However, Adrian and I were faster.

As Adrian stomped his foot on the ground once, an ice magic activated, and ice rapidly formed from beneath his feet towards the Stone Golems.

Kieeeek―.

The ice magic that approached like lightning, freezing the ground, wrapped around the Stone Golems’ feet, immobilizing them, and then froze their entire bodies like statues.

While Benjamin took the healer, Teacher Gina, to the rear, I fired magic bullets at the heads of the frozen Stone Golems.

The fired bullets flew and lodged precisely in the center of the golems’ foreheads.

Bang, bang, bang!

The three golems, with even their snouts frozen, shattered into pieces from my bullets while still frozen.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Soon, the ground rumbled and shook slightly, and then, as if hearing the death throes of their comrades, golems from other places gathered and rolled towards us en masse.

Before the golems rolling at full speed while raising dust could threaten us, Adrian’s status freeze skill froze them again.

“You bastard!”

Victor, with an angry face, punched the heads of the frozen golems. Due to his fists hardened by his firm defense skill, the golems shattered like ice again.

Bang!

“Guys, guys, are you alright?”

“We’re fine. How about you, Gina?”

Benjamin skillfully soothed the teacher while checking her condition. She was startled by the monsters she had never seen before, but she wasn’t injured.

Meanwhile, the three of us examined the place where the golems had shattered.

Among the crumbled golems, gray stone fragments, ice, and magic stones rolled out.

We had destroyed a total of seven golems. Seven small magic stones also came out.

“Hmm, shall we collect them for now? We never know when they might be useful.”

I called out an empty bag from my inventory, then picked up the magic stones one by one and put them in.

That’s when I saw something sparkling purple.

‘What’s this?’

Fine purple powder was noticeable around the scattered stone dust.

I gathered some with my finger and smelled it, but it was odorless. It just emitted a faint light like the Milky Way.

‘Is it some kind of… gem?’

I shook off the purple powder stuck to the magic stones, put it in the bag, and then stored the magic stones back in my inventory.

Just then, Benjamin approached.

“It seems they were Stone Golems. I know they usually appear as minions of a leader, in the leader’s habitat. Since we’ve encountered minion golems, we should find the boss monster if we go a little further. Although the rank is D, we should be careful since we don’t know exactly what kind of monster it is.”

“Yes, I understand.”

After that, we continued walking in the direction the golems had come from.

During that time, over a dozen more Stone Golems appeared, and we dealt with them by having Adrian freeze them solid and then attacking their heads to shatter them.

Benjamin supported us while simultaneously recording all the situations in the dungeon verbally.

Whenever our stamina seemed to decrease slightly, Teacher Gina immediately used her skill to boost our morale.

And every time we defeated a golem, magic stones came out, and strange things increased.

“…Is this amethyst?”

Initially, when we defeated the golems, magic stones with sparkling purple powder came out, but now small gems the size of a pinky nail were mixed in.

And they’re getting bigger.

From pinky nail to thumb nail size. And gradually even larger.

‘This seems a bit fishy.’

For now, I collected them along with the magic stones and put them in the bag. If they were something like amethysts, they could be sold for money.

As we continued to fight through the Stone Golems, we saw a dark-colored cave in the distance.

“I guess the boss monster is inside there, right?”

As I glanced inside the pitch-black cave and spoke, Benjamin nodded. We reorganized our formation again and slowly entered the cave.

The cave was not much different from the limestone caves outside the dungeon.

There were stalactites and stalagmites growing in the damp place, and except for the fact that the entrance widened as we went deeper, there was nothing impressive.

Water dripped from the cave ceiling.

As we stepped on the uneven ground, avoiding the water drops, I almost slipped on the wet stone floor.

“Oh, oops.”

“Be careful, Juno.”

“Watch where you’re stepping, squirrel.”

In an instant, two people approached and grabbed both of my wrists, pulling me up onto a flat rock.

“We need to get out of here after defeating all the monsters properly, but what if you roll and get hurt in the cave? Would that look good for you?”

Victor said.

“Thanks. Caring about my face too.”

“There might be reporters spread out when we get out after defeating the boss monster. It’s the first gate conquest by the Connecticut student team. You could end up in news photos with wounds from rolling around.”

…So he’s saying don’t get hurt to avoid embarrassment?

I stared at Victor for a moment and then shrugged. I didn’t want to appear on the front page of the newspaper with injuries on my face either.

As we continued walking deeper into the cave, we eventually came to a wide-open space like a field.

The space was dimly lit with a purple glow, so visibility was good.

“By the way, the boss is taking longer to appear than I expected.”

Adrian said, looking around.

There wasn’t a single living creature in the cave, let alone minions. It was quiet, with only the occasional sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling. I tried to sense any air currents, but there was nothing unusual.

That’s when something caught my eye.

Purple gems on the pitch-black rock wall.

Small purple raw gems the size of fingernails were attached to the black wall, emitting a mysterious light.

What stood out even more was a large gem the size of a fist attached to one side of the wall.

‘Only this one is different in size.’

It was a gem larger than an average woman’s fist.

“Oh my, what are all those? Such pretty gems.”

Teacher Gina, who was behind me, approached and said.

She let out a small exclamation at the gems glowing a clear purple even in the darkness, then approached the wall. Then, as if something suddenly occurred to her, she pulled the backpack she was carrying to the front.

“Come to think of it, I think I saw something about precautions to take when gems appear in dungeon data. Shall I look it up? I think there were several possibilities depending on the color. I brought all the information with me. It’ll be useful.”

Teacher Gina asked with an eager face while rummaging through her bag.

“Well, since the boss hasn’t appeared yet, I think we should carefully look around…”

Just as Benjamin was about to dissuade her.

Kugugugugu―.

With a huge sound that seemed to shake heaven and earth, the cave trembled greatly.

Stone dust fell from the cave ceiling as well. It was enough to worry if the cave might collapse under normal circumstances.

“…Something feels off?”

I quickly pushed Teacher Gina back while looking at the wall with the large amethyst embedded in it with a hardened face.

And without delay, I aimed my revolver loaded with magic bullets at the wall.

The wall with the amethyst embedded was vibrating greatly. The reason the cave was shaking as if it had received a big impact was all because of that wall.

Eventually, one side of the cave wall moved.

It was a huge golem the same color as the rock wall.

[SYSTEM: ‘Boss’ has appeared.] [The master of the ‘Amethyst Cave’, ‘Amethyst Golem (D)’ has appeared.]