The guards stationed here were a bit surprised to see Ren Isana and his large group arrive. When Ren stepped forward, the guards immediately stopped them. "Please show your ID cards."
This place wasn't open to the public yet. The only way to get in was to pass an ID check and verify that their information was in the system.
Hearing this, Ren Isana pulled out his ID card. The guard took it and swiped it on a nearby machine. The next moment, an indicator light flashed green.
The guard returned the ID card to Ren Isana and motioned for him to enter. They then proceeded to check the rest of the group's IDs one by one. Without exception, everyone passed without a hitch.
Once it was confirmed there were no issues, the group headed inside. Ais and the others had been teleported here previously, but they had been sent away before they even had a chance to look around.
"Is there no one here right now?" Lefiya asked Ren Isana, unable to hold back her curiosity as she looked at their surroundings.
Aside from the guards outside, there wasn't a single soul in sight. Were the Dungeons of this other world really this quiet?
"No one. It's not open to the public yet. I don't know the exact details, but there might be a few people inside the Dungeon," Ren Isana said, glancing around. The construction here was already finished. Some shops had even completed their renovations and seemed to just be waiting for opening day.
Lefiya blinked at his words. *Not open to the public yet...* A sudden thought struck her. "Does that mean no one has killed the Floor Bosses yet?"
This was fantastic news! If the Floor Bosses inside were untouched, they could just go and wipe them out. After all, to them, that meant a massive amount of Excelia for leveling up.
Ais's heart skipped a beat as well. She turned her gaze to Ren Isana and slowly said, "Let's go kill the Floor Bosses. I want to see if I can solo the Floor Boss on the 27th floor!"
She had already lost interest in the 17th-floor Floor Boss. Soloing it would be a breeze. Right now, she was interested in the two-headed dragon on the 27th floor.
"You won't be able to solo it. The Dungeon here is completely undeveloped, and it's even a bit different from the one on your side," Ren Isana said, shaking his head. The Dungeon on Earth seemed to differ slightly from the one in Orario.
Since their Dungeon was still in a pristine state, could you believe that some of the lower floors still had thick fog? Well, theirs did.
Ren Isana and the others had no idea what the deeper floors looked like. They didn't even have a map. Ren had compared it to the map of the DanMachi Dungeon, and while some areas were similar, there were still distinct differences.
Ais paused at his words. A completely different Dungeon? If that was the case, maybe she really couldn't beat it. Thinking this over, she suggested, "Then let's go take a look. We'll check out the 17th-floor Floor Boss first."
She decided to take it one step at a time. If the 27th floor was out of reach, the 17th floor would do. It was better to pace herself and understand the layout of the floor first.
"Yeah, let's go. Head inside first. You guys can go on ahead; Megumi Kato and I will bring up the rear with Bell Cranel and Haruhime Sanjouno." Ren Isana didn't argue further. He motioned for the main group to enter, planning to take it slow with the two newbies.
Everyone nodded and headed straight for the passageway without another word. Once they were gone, Ren Isana turned his attention to Bell and Haruhime.
"Bell, Haruhime, you two will handle any monsters we encounter from here on out," Ren instructed directly. He figured he'd let them get used to combat on the first few floors.
Bell and Haruhime nodded nervously. Bell's eyes, however, were brimming with anticipation. He was finally going to adventure in the Dungeon he had always dreamed of.
Without hesitation, Bell drew his weapon and stepped into the passageway. Haruhime quickly followed suit. The rest of the group had already vanished from sight, rushing down to the lower floors the moment they entered the first floor.
Once Bell and Haruhime were inside the Dungeon, Ren Isana turned to Megumi Kato. "Let's go. We should head in too."
With that, Ren took the lead, and Megumi followed closely behind. The two of them trailed after Bell and Haruhime at a leisurely pace.
Entering the Dungeon for the first time, Bell was on high alert, constantly scanning his surroundings as if terrified a monster would jump out and ambush him at any second.
"Don't be so tense. When monsters spawn, you'll notice them right away. They won't just suddenly attack you because there's a few seconds of delay when they spawn," Ren Isana explained the Dungeon's mechanics as they walked.
Bell let out a sigh of relief. It seemed he was just being overly paranoid. With that in mind, he relaxed a bit.
Ren's words were soon proven true as the Dungeon began to spawn monsters. Seeing this, Bell immediately tensed up again and dropped into a combat stance.
"What are you standing around for? Kill them before they fully emerge! Don't tell me you're planning to have a fair duel with them?" Ren Isana sighed inwardly at the two silly newbies.
Jolted by Ren's reminder, Bell snapped out of his daze and sprang into action. He cast [Lightness Technique] on himself and charged straight at two of the emerging monsters.
Seeing Bell take one side, Haruhime decisively raised her Kagura Suzu. A Magic Circle rapidly formed, and a moment later, a [Magic Bullet] fired, blasting toward the other side.
However, her attack missed its mark, veering slightly off course. Haruhime was still too nervous, causing her aim to falter. Even so, the newly spawned monsters were caught in the blast radius.
The [Magic Bullet] exploded, sending the two emerging monsters flying. Realizing she had missed, Haruhime quickly adjusted her aim and fired again. This time, the [Magic Bullet] landed a direct hit, instantly obliterating the weak Goblins.
Bell also secured his first kills. Dashing forward, he used his short blades to effortlessly dispatch the emerging monsters.
A bright smile spread across Bell's face as he looked at the monsters he had defeated with his own hands. Only a single Magic Stone dropped on the ground, and its quality was rather poor, but Bell still hurried over to pick it up.
It was the loot from his very first kill, so naturally, he wanted to treasure it. Haruhime wasn't as lucky; her first kills didn't drop any Magic Stones.
Haruhime didn't mind, though. She was far more concerned about her accidental magic misfire.
"Good job. Keep moving," Ren Isana's voice rang out. After offering some encouragement, he urged them onward.
Ren wasn't too harsh on them for their first battle. As long as they killed the monsters, wasn't that enough?
He didn't care about the minor details. There were mistakes, sure, but the process was sound. As long as they improved moving forward, it was fine.
Hearing Ren's words, the two nodded and continued advancing. The group made their way toward the second floor. The monster spawn rate was actually quite decent.
As they progressed, more and more monsters spawned. Bell and Haruhime grew increasingly proficient with each battle. By now, there wasn't a single monster on this floor that posed a threat to them.
Ren Isana had them collect all the dropped Magic Stones. If there was one issue, it was that Haruhime strictly preferred fighting with magic and had zero inclination to rush in for close-quarters combat.
Ren didn't scold her for it. After all, Haruhime genuinely didn't know how to fight in melee; all her talents lay in magic. He merely reminded her to keep an eye on her Magic Power reserves. Since both of them were still weak, their Magic Power pools were quite shallow.
Just as Ren and the others leisurely stepped onto the second floor, the mark on his hand suddenly lit up. Sora's voice echoed from it. "Class Rep, we're already on the fourth floor. Where are you guys?"
"Just about to enter the second floor," Ren replied. "You guys keep pushing deeper. We'll regroup this afternoon."
Sora quickly agreed, assuring him it was no problem and that they would slow their pace to wait for Ren's group.
Ending the call, Ren Isana led Bell and Haruhime onto the second floor, where they slowly continued their training. Bell's progress was visible to the naked eye.
In just a few hours, he had completely adapted to combat. In fact, he seemed to get more excited the more he fought—there was definitely a bit of berserker DNA in him.
Ren Isana and Megumi Kato would occasionally offer pointers, teaching them how to handle specific monsters. Before they knew it, the group had reached the sixth floor.
Upon stepping onto this floor, Ren suddenly noticed that the fog was much thinner than when they had first visited. Megumi sniffed the air and couldn't help but point out, "It looks like someone blasted a hole over there, and the fog is draining out?"
Following Megumi's observation, Ren activated his [Perception Magic] and indeed noticed a hole blasted into the Dungeon wall in the distance, which had been hastily plugged with a boulder.
*Is that to stop the Dungeon from regenerating?* A hint of surprise flashed in Ren's eyes. *Did Ais and the others do that? Is that how it works in DanMachi too? The fog only disappears after the floors are developed.*
"It was probably Ais and her group," Megumi said, glancing at the direction the fog was flowing. She had a pretty good guess as to who the culprits were.
"Let's go. We need to speed up. They're probably already in the teens by now," Ren said, signaling for Bell and Haruhime to follow. There was no need for them to fight anymore; they just needed to keep up the pace.
Bell and Haruhime nodded hastily. Ren set off, his [Perception Magic] fully active as he led the group in a rapid advance through the Dungeon. Any monsters that spawned were casually obliterated by Ren with a flick of his wrist.
Trailing behind, Bell watched in awe as Ren effortlessly wiped out monsters with magic. *When will I be able to casually destroy enemies like Ren?*
They stopped intermittently to let Bell and Haruhime recover before pressing on. By now, the rest of the class had reached the 17th floor. Just as Ren's group descended to the 13th floor, they received another call.
"Are you guys coming down? We're at the entrance to the 17th floor," Asuna's voice rang out.
"We're on the 13th floor right now," Ren replied immediately.
Hanging up, Ren looked at Bell and Haruhime. "Time to speed up. You're about to see how Miss Ais fights a Floor Boss."
If nothing went wrong, Ais was planning to solo the Floor Boss, which meant they were in for a good show. Ren decisively picked up his pace.
Bell and Haruhime scrambled to keep up. The group rapidly descended from the 13th floor. By the time they regrouped with everyone on the 17th floor, Bell and Haruhime were completely exhausted.
Lacking the necessary strength, just keeping up with the group was a struggle. Bell felt a surge of urgency. He silently vowed to get stronger—otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to follow along.
"Let's go. We're heading in!" Ais declared upon seeing Ren arrive, turning and marching straight into the passageway leading to the 17th floor.
Ren didn't object. If she wanted to solo it, let her try. It would be a good opportunity to see how the Floor Bosses in this world measured up.
With that in mind, Ren and the others followed her in. Bell finally had a chance to catch his breath; they had barely managed to match Ren's speed just now.
The moment the group stepped onto the 17th floor, they heard a loud *crackling* sound. The environment here was identical to the DanMachi Dungeon—a massive, hazy gray space.
Ais drew her weapon, locked her eyes on the source of the noise, and charged forward. It was time for battle. The rest of the group stayed put, watching intently from the sidelines.
Before the Floor Boss had even fully spawned, Ais leaped high into the air and swung her sword. A vibrant green blade aura slashed outward, inflicting heavy damage on Goliath the moment it poked its head out.
*Roar!* The green slash cleanly severed the arm Goliath had just extended. This instantly enraged the monster, and its spawning speed surged dramatically.
In the blink of an eye, it tore its way out of the wall and launched an attack at Ais. Facing the incoming Goliath, Ais met it head-on with incredible agility, her entire body transforming into a streak of green light.
The next moment, gale-force winds howled as a flurry of green sword glints erupted across Goliath's body. Accompanied by the monster's furious roars, Ais unleashed countless slashes at a terrifying speed.
Taking advantage of the opening, Ais maneuvered behind Goliath, hovering in mid-air. Staring at its exposed neck, she expressionlessly unleashed her full power.
A green wind blade cleaved into Goliath's neck, cleanly decapitating it on the spot. The massive body slowly crashed to the ground before dissolving into ash and fading away.
"Boring, boring!" Sora complained, watching the Floor Boss get annihilated in a single encounter. There was zero entertainment value in a one-sided slaughter. What was the point?
"It really is boring. Ais is already Tier 6 now, so killing a Floor Boss like this is child's play. It's a pity; otherwise, you guys could have given it a try," Ren Isana said, looking at the spot where Goliath had vanished with a hint of regret.
It was a waste to let Ais handle it. He should have let Asuna and the others take it on to see if a small team of them could clear it.
"Let's go to the 27th floor! This time, we'll definitely be able to take down the 27th-floor Floor Boss easily!" Sora now had a rough idea of their group's overall strength.
Last time, they had managed to kill the two-headed dragon together. This time, it would only be easier. If possible, they wanted to try defeating the Floor Boss relying solely on their own strength, without any help from Ren or Ais.
Besides, the Floor Bosses in this world's Dungeon were practically identical to the ones in DanMachi. Even though it was an undeveloped Dungeon, the monsters were the same, and so were the Floor Bosses!
Hearing this, Ren nodded in agreement. If no one else was going to kill it, they might as well. It was a perfect opportunity for Bell and Haruhime to leech some Excelia anyway. With that thought, Ren made his decision.
After killing Goliath, Ais collected all the dropped loot and returned to the group. "Goliath was a bit weak. There was no pressure at all," she said, sounding deeply disappointed.
Ren rolled his eyes. "Is it possible that you're just too strong? After all, you're not Lv.5 anymore. You've already broken through to Lv.6."
Ais pursed her lips. That made sense. Now that she was Lv.6, the 17th-floor Goliath was nothing to her. Realizing this, she didn't say anything more.
The group chuckled and resumed their journey, heading toward the Safe Floor on the 18th floor. Passing through the tunnel, they entered the 18th floor. There was nothing else here—just an endless expanse of lush green plains and scattered forests.
The air in the undeveloped Dungeon was noticeably fresher. The group found a suitable spot to settle down and began preparing lunch. Since everyone had Spatial Backpacks, they had brought quite a lot of supplies today.
They even had all sorts of pre-cooked meals that were ready to eat the moment they were taken out. Everything was perfectly packaged. Since time stood still inside the Spatial Backpacks, there was an endless variety of modern conveniences they could pack.
Having plenty of empty space, everyone had naturally stuffed their bags full of food. Ren Isana was left speechless as he watched his classmates pull out their meals. Sora even whipped out a few durians to share with the group.
"Selling those Spatial Backpacks to you guys really wasn't a waste," Ren muttered, not knowing what else to say. These people were absolutely ridiculous. He had four spatial storage abilities himself, but compared to them, he felt like a complete amateur!
Hearing Ren's comment, Sora chuckled and offered him a freshly peeled segment of durian. "Want some, Class Rep? If you're not used to it, I'll give it to someone else."