With the fall of the Chieftain, the town began to return to the way it was before the battle.

In front of our eyes, the watchtower remade itself. Like the explosions had never occurred, it was a surreal sight. I had seen far more incredible things in my past life, but seeing a dungeon at work was still a novelty.

With the watchtower back standing, the three chests rose out of the ground.

Two flanking the Chieftains Throne. While the largest with a shining silver lining sat directly in front of his giant chair.

Now we would get the rewards we earned. I was curious about what we could get from our first major boss battle. Judging from the rewards guide in adventurer's textbook,

I would only receive a few silver coins from the chests.

The vast majority went to the Silver bees due to the previous agreement. I had come more for the experience anyway.

Going forward, I would be able to come up with far more favorable terms as we descended further into the Dungeon.

I wasn't going to be left so short-handed after facing the boss on the eighth floor. Of course, that boss wouldn't be giving the best rewards in turn. But I could hope.

The loot was ordinary as expected. We were just another one of the many teams that would be beating the Satyr Chieftain. For many, it was their daily job to do so.

Never trying to reach for higher levels of the Dungeon and the strength it might bring. Someone who could contribute to a team that faced the Chieftain would definitely survive until the seventh floor without too many issues.

Yerin was the luckiest of the lot with the loot he received once again, mainly due to all of us having superior armor and weaponry all ready. He now boasted two daggers on his hips. As well as a shining new chest plate.

The delve had truly been worthwhile for the kid. At this rate, he would be able to surpass his father's record of the seventeenth floor given enough time.

Yet that brought up another suspicion I had. With his level of skill, his teacher must be talented as well. I couldn't see anyone who had thought Yerin those forms and movements falling to anything on the seventeenth floor. Without something going very wrong. Sure the danger continued to escalate. Exploding massively in difficulty past the fifteenth floor, yet he displayed skills reminiscent of someone who could reach much deeper than the seventeenth.

There was a secret hidden somewhere there, and I was not sure it was worth it to find out.

He had been quiet since the beginning of the run. So I would just leave it be for now.

For now, Yerin was far more of a threat than when we had begun the run.

Leader was even more satisfied with the team. I could tell that she would probably ask Yerin to join their team on a trial basis once the delve had finished.

Of course, she wouldn't do the same for me, no matter how close I might get or how strong they think they could become with me alongside them.

As long as I was a young, uneducated mage, they knew that I wouldn't be able to stay with them for long. I would be joining a mage academy soon.

So It would be useless to try to get me on their side now. It would be four years before they would be able to reap the rewards. While they were confident about their own potential. Someone who hadn't even used their elemental skills wouldn't be high on their list to try everything they could to bring me over. It made sense.

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If they proved half as strong as I knew they would become, they would have more than the average pick of mages long before I graduated.

"So what's the spilt going to be, O mighty Leader?"

I had to take the initiative with the split of the next few floors. The rewards wouldn't be worth all that much more than what we had earned thus far.

It was unlikely we would even earn another piece of major equipment. But it would look suspicious if I didn't at least try to fight for a bit more of the rewards than I strictly deserved.

"You will get twenty percent. That way, it is only fair to all members. The same will go for you, Yerin."

That wouldn't do at all. How would I, a great and fantastic mage, be able to survive with only twenty percent, my honor demanded higher.

Of course, that is what I wanted them to think.

"Only twenty percent, you must be out of your mind. My contribution to that battle was far more than twenty percent. Without me, some of you would have probably died. No, I will only continue with this group If I receive thirty."

I was allowed to be a little conceited. I was still a young mage. Thirty percent was more than fair. A typical mage would probably ask for fifty of an inexperienced team with no name or background.

All three of the Silver Bees scowled at me, their hands exploded by their sides, talking with each other in a language only they spoke. All the while, Yerin remained expressionless, only staring at me.

"Very well, Mage, you get that share from any of the other loot we receive from this point on, Yerin, your share will remain unchanged."

That did surprise me a little. It seemed they were all sure that they wanted Yerin to join them in the future. That bit of good faith would be able to get them far in the delving business.

As long as they gave it out to the right people. The number of dungeon bandits considerably rose past the fifteenth floor.

So they would still have to cultivate it with a healthy dose of caution. I could still see the shadow of what they would become even now.

"Now, let's face these turtle scum, it's going to be a real slog through the next few levels."

She wasn't lying. While the Satyrs were pretty powerful all-around monsters, the next few levels were simply going to be about overpowering defenses.

The bipedal turtle creatures had an incredible defense. That was to counteract their slow nature. Their strength certainly wasn't to sniff at either. With the team's offense output so far. I had no doubt that the common Turtleloids wouldn't be much of an issue for the group.

It would only be the more exotic variants that would be the real difficulty. The different types of monsters on the eighth floor would be the most difficult to get through for a group that relied on their martial power. Something that was of no use against the boss of the eighth floor.

I wouldn't be of much use either on these floors. The turtle's defense had far outstripped the damage I would be able to deal. That didn't stop the rest of the Silver bees from demolishing the first Turle we came across.

The next five floors were of an entirely different design to the past few levels. We were once again underground on the first few floors, but the cave system this time around was something to behold.

Large pockets were spread around the dungeon floor—each one with a lone turtle as guardian. We would only have to make our way through all the pockets. It was a simple layout compared to the Satyrs mine. The turtles preferred simplicity in their design.

The first pocket had only a simple Turtle asleep on the ground. The water that would make these few floors some of the most hated in the Dungeon was yet to make an appearance. The Dungeon went easy on the first few encounters.

That didn't stop the Silver Bees from killing the creature before it could stand properly. It had only lived for a few seconds before they had targeted the weak spots of the massive beast.

Its shoulders containing none of the great armor surrounding the rest of its body. It dropped a few silver coins for the trouble.

The Dungeon awarded us quite well for the first kill of the new section of the Dungeon.

Like that we were through the first pocket on this new stage of the Dungeon, the next few pockets continued similarly. It was only when the pools began to show up in the pockets that we began to slow down our pace.

The creatures could now appear in any of the pools that were in the cave pockets.

Their speed was a lot faster underwater than it had been above land. It wasn't an issue when there was only one small pool in the center of the cave.

From then, they became far more populous. It was when the caves were littered with the pools that we really faced our first problem. That would be the story in the last pocket on the sixth floor.