"Great master Jurgen, sir Edward, please... I'm requesting for your assistance on behalf of Ryner."

Upon hearing this words come out of the kneeling man's mouth, Jurgen and Edward just looked at each other with confusion.

After looking at them, Grey was as confused as his grandpa and dad. 'Sounds like a problem.' he thought.

Soon after, Reynold also appeared walking outside, heading towards the door, curiously looking at the two person blocking the doorway and one of them is even kneeling in front of the oldman. 'What the fuck is going on?' He was clueless of what's happening since he was wandering outside the town just a moment ago.

On the other hand, Jurgen repeated his question once again, "What exactly happened inside the tunnel?", He straightforwardly asked. Although he already figured out what happened, he hoped that Bernard's answer will be far from the one he was expecting.

Tears started pouring from the young man's eyes as he stated the whole story. Mira also helped him describe the situation as Jurgen and everyone listened carefully with serious look on their faces.

*******

****

"So, are you telling me that they we're attacked by unknown creatures?" Jurgen asked, narrowing his eyes as he was uncomfortably sitting on the doorway.

Bernard nodded his response and said, "I didn't saw the monsters though. It was pitch dark inside the tunnel and they were steps away from us. The only thing that I've heard are blades clashing and was followed by heavy footsteps that came deep down the tunnel–"

Before the young fellow could even finish explaining, Jurgen suddenly stood up and said, "That's enough, I wanted to ask more questions, but the fact that you were sent here means that those monsters are something they can't handle alone." He quickly stepped outside and headed to the craft house.

This caused Reynold to follow him and said, "You're going?", looking at the old man with a pitiful smile.

Jurgen looked at him with his piercing gaze and said, "Yeah... seems like it." He then grabbed a lightweight sword with its scabbard and tied it around his waist. "What about you?" He asked before grabbing a wooden torch that has a piece of cloth wrapped around its head.

"I've heard what's going on. As a craftsman, I'm also affected by the sudden dungeon discovery." Reynold stated before entering inside his own forge and grabbing a slightly larger sword suited for his body build. "Obviously, I'm going to do anything to help, you worried-looking pathetic old man." He sneered before turning his head outside and saw Edward standing outside. "Heh, you're also coming... right?" He asked him.

"I atleast want to do what I can." Edward replied, looking at Jurgen and then gazing back at Grey.

Grey was also surprised to see his dad eagerly wanting to go into battle. This was the first time he saw that expression of his.

"Let me come with you father." Edward humbly requested, before letting out a sigh.

"It's rare to see you going back into battle after such a long time." A gentle voice of a woman suddenly spoke from behind Grey, causing everyone to turn their heads in that direction. The person speaking was Emily, who's seemingly happy to see his husband all worked up.

"Ohh, it's you." Edward whispered, scratching his head with an awkward smile. For a moment, he felt like his wife would disagree with the idea. But after seeing her expression, the more he wanted to go into battle.

"Mister Reynold, we must hurry." Bernard interrupted. His face is marked with anxiousness.

"You can go." Emily stated.

This surprised everyone even Grey. For his overly anxious mom to say that, there's must be a reason. He was curious and wanted to ask but the next thing she said even surprised everyone, specially Jurgen.

"Also, don't forget to bring this young man with you." She said, referring to Grey. "He may not look like it but his feet has been itching to go with you." That's what she said and smiled.

This caused Grey to really turn his head and asked, "Are you sure mom? You don't have a fever or something?"

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Emily just nodded in response and said, "As long as you're with your dad, uncle and grandpa, then, there's nothing I should be worried about." She let out a long sigh before saying, "Also, I know that you're the only person in a better state of mind than these three.."

Emily's words gave hints to Grey. She was aware about Grey's past and therefore knew that Grey was the most reliable man among everyone, especially because Grey has no emotional connection with anyone from the guild and will definitely be in his right mind. "He may not look like it, but you're dad is the former Guildmaster of wild beast guild for ten years." She also added.

That statement explains why the members of the guild really respects Edward. Now everything makes sense for Grey. His eyes darted back to meet his dad's eyes and nodded as a sign of agreement. "Okay, I have nothing to do anyway." He stated before sighing.

"They're planning to bring that child in a dungeon? What a crazy family." Mira whispered to Bernard while hopelessly watching the family waste the time that they should spend on rescuing the rest of the party members.

"I'm the one who'll be left in the house. So I'll atleast prepare some healing potions before you get back. So take care of your lives." Emily stated while looking at her beloved son with a less worried expression than earlier.

On the meantime, Grey was dressing himself in a clothing made of anti-radiant material specifically for miners. He also picked a boots that are comfortable for his small feet and grabbed a lightweight short dagger from his uncle's drawers. 'This should be fine.' He thought before putting it back to its scabbard. He tied it around his right leg, just bellow his pant's right pocket.

"Is everyone ready?" Jurgen asked, looking back at Grey, Edward, Reynold, Mira, and Bernard.

They're all looked ready enough for a big battle. So the stubborn old man raised his mana amount to a higher point and used wind attribute magic to lift everyone up... excluding Grey.

"Woah!" Everyone gasped in surprise after their feet left the ground.

"Well, I can fly by myself." Grey sighed before also using wind magic to levitate and fly up in the air.

"Fill me in all the details as we headed towards the tunnel." Jurgen said, looking at Bernard and Mira, before dragging everyone at full speed in the air.

"Ahhh!" They all screamed with terrified look on their faces.

"As if we can talk like this." Bernard complained, gritting his teeth.

"Just hurry up and talk or I'll drop you." Jurgen spoke with a serious face as they flew horizontally in the air.

Meanwhile, Grey was barely able to catch up with his grandpa. He was flying at full speed so it was surprising to know that someone else is faster than him. 'Damn, considering those weights with him, he should be much slower. Just how much lift power can his wind magic does?' He wondered as he completely catch up with them and found them in a middle of a conversation.

"... after those blade clashing that we heard, we saw several moving flames going on our way. I thought those are just fireballs. However, after taking a closer looks, they're flying monsters that has flames all around them and they're the size of my entire hand... Mira was almost finished clearing our way out at that time...." Bernard was telling the whole story but Grey could hardly hear him because of the wind.

"...so, I hurriedly hid behind her and told her to use a spell that can wipe out those monsters..." Bernard paused for a moment and looked at Mira, signalling her to continue the story.

"I casted my 'Wind scythe' that instantly sliced them in one sweep. However, upon hitting them, they immediately exploded causing the tunnel to constantly heat up. We we're both caught in that explosion and if not because of Bernard's healing magic, we wouldn't be able to come out alive." Mira finished telling the details but something important is missing and Jurgen was eager to find out.

"If you came out after the encounter against those creatures. Then how the hell did Ryner informed you to ask for our assistance?" The old man asked wonderingly as they flew down the plane above the steep side of the Mt. Vermont in the middle of the night.

The mining area, this area is located slightly above the steep mountain and highly elevated from the Hotstone village that rests at the base of the mountain. It has a large flat area on top that used as a pathway for miners. This place has a large tunnel that goes through the mountain in a spiraling form to avoid the volcanic vent in its center.

"This is how we got Ryner's message." Bernard said before pointing his finger at the stone entrance of the tunnel, catching everyone's attention.

Jurgen was surprised to see the lettering engraved in the stones saying, "Ask for the old geezer's help when needed - Ryner."

"So this is how you managed to get the message? It's annoying to look at though." Jurgen looked at the message in the stone while stroking his beard. 'The fact that Ryner asked for my assistance is strange enough, but I guess I can't just ignore this.' He thought before raising his hand and waving it towards his front. "Let's head inside!" He commanded after lighting up the torch with the help of Grey's fire magic.

After hearing it, everyone stepped inside the entrance in the following order: Reynold, Edward, and Jurgen as front guards; Grey and Mira as the main damage dealers; and Bernard as the usual support.

Upon stepping inside, Grey felt the difference between this place from the outside. The air is thinner and it's difficult to inhale. It was also hotter inside so Grey quickly raised the amount of mana he was unconsciously releasing to cover his young body. Everyone also covered their body with mana to avoid getting burned by the heat.

Grey used his 'Wind pulse' to search around the area. After a few seconds, the pulses returned back at him and detected nothing from inside the tunnel. But he was able to sense the presence of someone from outside the tunnel and later ignored it to continue walking into the mining grounds.

'That's strange.' The young wizard thought.

For a tunnel with a dungeon inside, it seems like his wind magic couldn't reach inside. This resulted for Grey to wonder, 'Was it because of the heat that all the air particles inside are thinner?... Or perhaps there's something even more mysterious inside?'