We set off after a few minutes of preparation.

We were joined by one more person by the time we were all ready, another Archer by the name of Iret. That put the number of backliners up to three people.

With Only one of us, I saw being an actual threat towards anything below the third floor. Both Kirl and Iret had common bows, and their arrows were even worse.

The cheapest variety you could get in the nearby stores. I couldn't fault them for using every coin they had, but they could have bought one iron-tipped arrow for every three stones they had. They went for quantity, which spoke volumes about their abilities and confidence.

That trend continued for the rest of the group. Apart from the Silver Bees, All their equipment was top-notch. I imagined they were apprentices to some powerful delver, who could afford to outfit them like that.

With this group, we wouldn't have any issues anyway.

We lined up in front of the dungeon, waiting our turn. Groups who were entering the first ten floors were only allowed in every ten minutes to avoid overcrowding.

So it was only after nearly an hour of waiting that we approached the second-floor entrance. Yiren, who hadn't stopped talking since we first met, he had been continuously asking me why a mage like myself had joined a low-level team. Happily switched targets to explain all he knew about all the murals in the hallways.

He grew up hearing all the stories from his delver father, who was killed on the seventeenth floor. All he had of him was a sword. A sad story that was quickly overshadowed by his inane prattle about every other thing in the capital and the dungeon.

I was almost glad for it. Other than his chatting, the rest of the group was happy staying in consummate silence, obviously having no interest in getting to know each other.

Only when we reached the stairs that his chatter had been broken, with Leader deciding to talk to us with her speech.

"I have already laid out the set up for the squad. Scout will roam ahead and draw the patrols towards our group. We will begin slowly and work our way down. That way, we should have some idea of each other's ability by the time we reach the fifth floor. Everyone ready?"

We set off on my first dive into the dungeon with a team. I was excited to see which would be easier.

It was quickly revealed that at the start, it would definitely be a lot harder. Scout brought the first patrol straight towards us. Apart from Leader and Striker, the entire formation fell apart. Both Kirl and Iret sent out shots that came closer to our group members than the Satyrs. The frontliners decided to break apart, each looking for their own moment of glory. There was no cohesion whatsoever beyond that, making the simple fight far more complicated than it had to be.

It was only Yerin who kept some semblance of competence as he stayed in formation. His father's teachings affecting him a little.

It was clear the group needed a lot of work before we would take on the chief. With its ability, we would be taken down in seconds.

Leader continued to berate the entire squad with a few exceptions until we met with our second patrol. Scout led them back towards us once again. This time thanks to Leaders' shout, they managed to hold the line.

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This fight went a little different. The archers managed to hit their quarries this time around, neither shot doing any damage apart from slowing them down a little. The frontlines were quite a bit more effective this time around. They managed to stay in formation, taking down the Rabbids very quickly. Like that, we managed to continue until the second floors boss, the squad slowly gaining in efficiency. Now would be the first real test where there might actually be some danger.

The squad of Rabbids would still be easily taken down. The Elite, on the other hand, might cause issues to the weaker members of the team. If any of them put one foot wrong, it might actually be deadly for them. The group proceeded carefully into the campfire.

It seemed I shouldn't have worried about the weaker members. Striker decided it was her mission to take out the Elite. Within a few seconds, the boss was down, the rest of the Rabbids followed soon after. The group was relishing the fact they had taken down the first real enemy of the group.

Of course, that was a false sense of confidence. The silver bees had decided to take down the boss before any less experienced crew got involved.

It would have been a better idea to get the whole group bloodied against the Elites. We wouldn't be able to rely on their prowess throughout the entire dungeon. With a group of our size, we were bound to encounter multiple patrols nearly on top of each other. It would become a much worse situation if things were to go wrong on the deeper floors. I wouldn't want to see needless deaths.

It was clear all the Silver bees were confident in their abilities. The Scout was non stop on bringing enemies towards the group. Now that Elites were being thrown into the mix, it was a lot more difficult for the group. The archers had all but accepted their uselessness and were only throwing out random shots whenever they could.

That was how we continued through the third floor. It seemed I had been overthinking the first boss fight up above. There were many chances to be bloodied on this floor against the enemies. The Bees were clearly far more experienced than I was, prioritizing speed while still not taking away the newer members' experience.

The split of loot was also promised to be evenly done at the end of the fifth floor. All in all, they were a very professional group. I could see why that group was able to make deeper than the twenty-fifth floor in the future. They would be an excellent contact to have.

It never hurt to know a competent up-and-coming team. Of course, they never reached the truly low levels. They retired after finding that bounty for the kingdom. I believe they traveled to some far off city, where I had never heard of them again.

It wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to position myself to the point that they would be happy to bring me along on the day of the discovery.

Of course, there was little need for me to take action until the fourth floor. Until then, I was happy enough being a tag along. I hadn't had to cast a single spell yet. So I was just practicing my control skills, working on changing the shape of the mage hand. Increasing its size came relatively quickly. Anything else became quite a bit more complicated. Trying to change the fundamental form of the spell nearly blinded me with the headache I received.

It seemed I needed to work on my shaping skills. I had never bothered too much with that in the past. I barely had enough mana to use the basic cantrips anyway. Other than working to make them weaker and more efficient, I had no experience altering the spells in any way.

I would look for some spell books that worked on magic shaping for higher-tier mages and see what such things would mention the process. It was a rare skill that anyone below Grand Mage considered all but useless. There wasn't too much of a need to change anything about the lower spells. Most variations had already been discovered and perfected. As such, there became no need to learn how to alter things on the fly. It would only distract from your practice of the spells.

We finally came to the Elites camp, where a similar attack took place. All three of the Silver Bees took out Elites almost immediately, leaving the other two to be dealt with by the group. They dealt with the camp practically as quickly as I had. Leading us down to the fourth floor, it would be time to face the brutes.

I wasn't confident about the groups as a whole ability to deal with the Brutes. Of course, the Bees wouldn't have an issue their gear more than strong enough to rip through the skin of the Brutes.

Almost as soon as we arrived, Scout was already leading a Brute straight towards us. The weaker members all took a few steps back in seeing the giant beast come straight towards them. The battle had begun.