We approached the dungeon's whereabouts; everyone was present.

Well, almost everyone... Crimson, Argenta, and one of the Golden Lucenti's members, Abby, were notably absent.

"Well, well. It would seem someone here has problems keeping their members in check!" Carolina quipped, her chest swollen with pride.

Leonard sighed, carefully adjusting his glasses with a slow and deliberate motion of his index finger. "What can I say... it is what it is?"

"Abby is currently recovering," the Prince justified. "But it's of no consequence. We are more than capable of handling this."

Carolina winked, and her lips curled into a wide grin. "I see, I see. Well, worry not! I present to you all: my contact!" She flourished her cane dramatically, pointing to a blonde girl standing off to the side. The girl barely acknowledged the group, giving only a curt and indifferent nod. "She shall destroy the barrier for us once and for all! And will also join us within the dungeon!"

A gasp escaped me before I could stop it. "You...!"

"Hm?" Some turned towards me in unison.

"Oh oh?" Carolina quipped once more, her grin widening as she noticed my reaction. "That's The Candle Maker for you! You recognize her, don't you?"

"You know her, Caligo?" Selena asked me with sparkling eyes full of curiosity.

"She won last year's Goldenovum tournament! She's one of the strongest fighters ever known!" I replied, almost unable to contain my excitement.

"Wuhahaha! Correct, correct!" Carolina exclaimed. "She's Dorothy Contra! And soon, she'll be joining my guild!!"

The fighter sighed. "Just show me the barrier," she calmly said, ignoring everyone's surprise. Carolina, still beaming, nodded, and pointed with her cane towards the dungeon's stairs, where a few guards stood watch.

The Prince approached them with loud steps. "Has something happened during our absence?"

The guards straightened, and respectfully greeted him. "Nothing of note, Your Highness, but some monsters managed to emerge in the past days. We swiftly handled them."

The Prince nodded. "Very well. You are dismissed; we'll take it from here."

With a respectful bow, the guards left the scene, and we all turned to the dungeon's entrance, the path now clear.

"Hold on," Melissa suddenly called, her brow furrowing as she stepped forward. "I... can't sense it anymore."

"What?" Leonard asked with wide eyes.

"The barrier... I can't sense it anymore..."

Murmurs rippled through the group, while my hand instinctively rose to cover my mouth. So, I was right... someone had put that barrier up. And now, with Abby and Argenta not present...

"Well... this makes it easier for us," the Prince murmured, shrugging as he folded his arms.

"Even so..." Leonard said quietly. "A barrier disappearing just like that..."

"This is definitely not the ordinary dungeon," the Prince added.

As everyone was engrossed in their own thoughts, between the murmurs, a faint sound... a distinct whimpering, followed by sobs, was audible.

"She's... crying?!" Selena asked, drawing my attention to the fighter.

The fighter was, indeed, crying...

"I wasted so much time... for nothing?" she murmured through tears.

"The drama!" Selena exclaimed, unable to contain herself.

I'd heard some of the most powerful adventurers and libromancers were... eccentric. But I never expected it to be this true!

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Carolina looked distraught, trying to comfort the weeping fighter.

Once the girl's spirit was lifted once again, the focus returned to the dungeon.

"What do we do, then?" Leonard asked.

"Let's make teams now," Melissa suggested, resting one hand on her hip. "Once we're ready, we'll enter it quickly. Given the circumstances, there may be monsters waiting for us just as we step on the other side."

The guild coordinators approved, and decided that the Guild Leaders would take the lead until the situation inside was properly assessed. Then, while some others took the wagons, we carefully and quickly made our way inside. Once past the dungeon's entrance, what greeted us was a long, wide space resembling a dark and faintly illuminated arena. The walls, lined with veins of crystal, emitting a dim, colored glow. And... monsters.

"Double Axent!" Leonard cast, driving the huge axe of light manifested above his main against the towering, rounded monster's neck.

The monster took the blow and was sent crashing to the side.

"They're tough!" Melissa exclaimed, getting her book ready, casting spells toward the incoming monsters.

Leonard faintly nodded. "I couldn't even behead it."

"Hold on, guys..." a member of the Golden Lucenti muttered, pointing his finger ahead. "Isn't that... a mid-boss?"

"What?!"

Everyone's eyes fell onto a monster ahead; it resembled a human clad in thin armor and with a scythe in place of his left arm.

"Interesting..." The Prince stepped forward, casting an enchantment spell on himself, his long and blue hair bouncing menacingly. "This dungeon shall prove intriguing."

While the Prince made his way, exchanging rapid blows with the mid-boss, an unexpected counter-attack forced him to retreat. The creature screeched. Then, raising its fist, it slammed it into the ground.

The arena trembled, cracks formed outward from the point of impact, snaking across the floor in every direction. It broke, and we were all plunged down the void, along with the monsters.

Screams echoed through.

"Vectors!" Melissa shouted through the chaos, drawing my attention to her; blue arrows of light appeared around her body, and everyone else, excluding the monsters. "Y-axis: Inversus!"

Gradually but quickly, our fall slowed, and instead of continuing downward, we were pulled backward... falling upward? And towards the monsters...

Melissa was about to crash against the mid-boss, and used the opportunity to hit its head with her wrench as she floated in reverse. The metallic clang that rang through the air was just as loud as it was comical; were that enemy a human, it would've died right away against such an impact. However, the mid-boss resisted, and tanked the hit like it was nothing. It grabbed Melissa by the ankle, and with a grunt, hurled her downward to the void below, defying the effects of her own spell.

"Melissa!" Mereoleona shouted.

"Lashfera!" Elizabeth intoned, summoning a ripple of water around her that quickly transformed into a massive dragon, catching all of us in its safe current, spiraling down to save Melissa as well just before she fell out of reach.

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Melissa turned off her spell, and we all approached the ground below, which resembled a cave filled with more monsters, while more were raining down from above.

Elizabeth directed her dragon down. "Absorb," she then cast. quickly sucking out all the water from our clothes, leaving us dry.

"Iroshield!" Jerald followed, shielding us from the raining monsters, crashing down like rain against an umbrella.

"Well done, Elizabeth, Jerald," Leonard praised, turning his attention to the approaching monsters.

"Everyone, listen to me!" Melissa shouted, getting everyone's ears. "The Golden Lucenti shall proceed with plan F; we'll handle the mid-boss. Amalgamated Thorny Roses, take the monsters coming from the front. Abyss Reavers, deal with those falling from above. Minimum restriction. Is that clear?"

"Clear!" many shouted in unison.

Being a support, my role was pretty simple; I just had to stay back and pay attention in case someone needed healing rather than fight. Though, I did have a backpack filled with candles at the ready in case I had to... but for now, there was no need.

While I paid attention to my guild, I couldn't help but shift it towards the Golden Lucenti. The mid-boss had finally fallen to our level, and Melissa hit her metallic orb continuously with her wrench to get its attention.

Clang, clang, clang, clang.

Once the mid-boss regarded her, she pointed her wrench at it. "Vectors," she cast once more; blue arrows of light surrounding the creature. "X-axis: Acceleratio."

As the words left her lips, the mid-boss was launched at her at full speed. She nonchalantly took position; gripping her wrench like a baseball bat, she treated the mid-boss like a ball, and then, at the right moment... swung.

CLANG.

This time, the creature was not indifferent to the blow, and was sent tumbling against the stone wall at Melissa's back. The force of the impact was so powerful that rocks splintered, falling down, while more flew into the air. Yet, just as quickly, the mid-boss stood to its feet once again, screeching, far louder than earlier, with its helm burning red.

Just as to be expected, the Golden Lucenti were a formidable guild. Not that the other two guilds were any less impressive; everyone was holding their own, and I found myself with little to do, just watching as the others methodically tore through the waves of monsters. It took some time, but eventually, the mid-boss fell, and the remaining monsters were cleared out, leaving us all alone in the big cave, illuminated by the faint flicker of torchlight.

Everyone was fine, and everyone seemed at ease. Well, almost everyone.

"My spells are worthless!" Now, Selena was the one who was crying; big teardrops resembling bubbles dramatically rolled down her cheeks as she sat on the ground.

Indeed, her spells were unable to even leave a scratch to the monsters...

"Now, now. You're doing great!" Carolina chirped, waving her cane with a wink and a cheerful smile.

Selena sniffed, turning towards Elizabeth. "Elizabeth... am I really doing good?"

"Um..." She couldn't answer.

"Am I doing so bad that even you can't find the words?!" Selena wailed even more, pulling Elizabeth in her clutches, hugging her as she used her big hat to mop her tears and runny nose. Elizabeth simply sighed, resigned to the embrace.

Once the atmosphere returned to normal, we all decided to move on; the idea of returning to the top crossed the group, but everyone opted not to waste spells to do so. Thus, we pressed on.

A circular room, always resembling an arena, followed. It was suspiciously devoid of any monsters, illuminated by large crystals, and showing the way to three different paths.

"Oh, a checkpoint already?" Selena happily said.

Leonard stepped forward, stopping just before the three paths. "How should we proceed?" he asked right after, glancing at the others. "I don't think we need to rest yet."

"I think we should all proceed together," Melissa suggested. "If we hit a dead end, we can simply backtrack and try another route."

"I agree," the Prince replied. "No point in splitting up."

Receiving a positive nod from the others as well, with the plan settled, we all moved forward. Alas... the dungeon had other plans. Just as I was about to cross the threshold, the ground trembled, and from ahead, a torrent of water could be seen rapidly rushing toward us.

Jerald immediately cast a shield in response to block the oncoming rush, but before I could join the others behind the barrier, a heavy iron gate dropped down right in front of me, blocking completely the chance for me to move forward as I slammed my face into it, unable to get through.

"What?!"

No spells could smash through, and nothing we tried so much as scratched its surface.

"Can you hear me?!" Selena called from the other side.

"Yes," I replied, raising my voice. "Muffled, but we can hear you!"

"It seems the dungeon wants to divide us," the Prince murmured, crossing his arms thoughtfully.

"Are you people alright?" I shouted.

"Yes, we've managed!" Jerald replied.

"I think you're right, Prince..." Melissa considered, thinking aloud. "The gate closed, and the water appeared right after Elizabeth passed through, leaving our numbers uneven. So... we probably have to make two teams and hope everyone can split properly across the other two paths in order to avoid a disaster...?"

"It seems like the only option," Leonard commented from the other side. "We have supplies with us; we'll rendezvous somewhere further ahead."

Provisions were quickly divided between the other two coordinators as Melissa began organizing the remaining members.

"Caligo, you shall go with Carolina," she said, looking at me.

I nodded. "Alright."

"My, oh my! The Candle Maker in my team!" she quipped. "Heard that, honey?" she then shouted near the gate.

Leonard's voice came through dryly. "He won't join your guild, Carolina."

"Wuhahaha! Don't worry; I shall take good care of him. Will you guys be alright, though?"

"We'll be alright!" Selena exclaimed from the other side. "We have the strongest mage and my sweetheart with us!"

"Will they really be alright...?" Mereoleona murmured, scratching her cheek.

"I'll go with the remaining members of the Golden Lucenti," Melissa then said, resting her hand on her hip. "Assuming we're allowed, of course. Well, best of luck, everyone."

And so, everyone got split into three teams.