"Did you felt it?" Jurgen asked while walking through the wide tunnel, carrying a burning torch.

"What?" Edward replied to his question, raising one eyebrow as he looked around the cave.

"The immense pressure coming from inside." Jurgen walked even more cautiously as they stumbled upon a seemingly burned area within the cave. It smells like ashes inside and the ground sounds crispy as they walked above it.

"What happened here?" Edward questioned Bernard while covering his nose from the awful smell of ashes.

Bernard pointed at the ground and said, "This is the part where we got attacked by those flying monsters." He keeps on looking around the dark corners while walking.

Jurgen quickly interrupted their conversation when he said, "And let me guess, this is the area where the ceiling has collapsed?" He raised his torch to lighten up the surrounding so that everyone could see what he was talking about and pointed at it with his finger. A few rubbles and boulders are still present on the scene.

"Y-Yeah, that's right." Bernard answered with a nod.

On the other hand, Grey was busy trying to pull off something. He was trying to enter his focused state without getting into lotus position and obviously, he failed. It annoys him even more after trying it multiple times as they walked through the tunnel dungeon. Moreover, the awful silence inside the tunnel has been bothering him for a while and giving him goosebumps. 'This is really creeping me out.'

Mira noticed the slight change with his expression and asked, "Are you alright Grey?", looking at him with her large eyes.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." He coldly replied, gazing at the ceiling with caution. "But thank you for your concern." He added before walking at a faster pace.

'This cocky child, acting all tough when I already know that he's cowering inside.' Mira smirked from her own thoughts.

"Stop!" Jurgen sharply whispered after raising his hand, causing them to halt upon hearing it.

Reynolds was about to ask him a question when the old man placed his finger on his own lips, indicating that they should keep quiet. Which they did, filling the air with sudden silence. He then cautiously looked above them, raising the torch that he was holding as his gaze wandered through the darkness.

After few seconds of staring, a small fire ignited up on the rocky ceiling. They thought it was just a fireball until they soon recognized it as a monster followed by Bernard screaming, "Those are monsters. Get away!"

Upon letting out the loud voice, the entire ceiling burned, revealing a swarm of monsters of the same kind hanging upside down. They looked more like a swarm of bats but possess flames on their wings and head. Their body are also made of molten rocks, making them harder to distinguish from the stones in the cave since they can turn on and off their flames at will.

"This is a problem." Jurgen whispered, shaking his head.

'Those are...'

"Bombats!"

Grey's thoughts were suspended when his dad finished the sentence, followed by a shout, "Reynold!", before grabbing Grey by his clothes and giving him a lift to move him a distance away.

"Here it goes." Reynold replied as he held the heavy sword in his hand, preparing to swing. "Incineration slash!" He let out a chant as an arc of flames escaped his massive sword and flew towards the rocky ceiling. The red-colored mark on his neck was glowing brightly, almost disabling the others to see him.

Upon impact, the ground slightly shook and a few stones detached from the ceiling. This was instantly followed by a sudden drop in temperature caused by the freezing of the ceiling that resulted confusion among everyone.

"Huh?"

They all pointed their eyes at Jurgen who's still raising his hand with a cold breath escaping his mouth along a white smoke.

"Be careful, they'll explode if you attack them carelessly." Jurgen whispered, looking up at the frozen creatures.

'That freezing spell was his doing after all.' Grey thought as he was standing several feet away from the sight. He was one of the few people who witnessed his ice magic during their sparring and still surprised him on how the old man can instantly freeze everything with just a little preparation.

Also, Grey was amazed on how fast he managed to deal with the situation. The old man managed to figure out that the monsters explodes upon death and its weakness against magic that could easily deal with flames. The young wizard couldn't help but smirk in excitement since this man is going to be his master soon.

'Well, I guess I'm only here to observe the adults do their job.' Grey pitifully talked to himself. 'Uncle Reynold was also awesome right there. He's a berserker that can release flames from his weapon.' These thoughts were interrupted when Jurgen suddenly brought up a question.

"Let me guess, more of this things are swarming the inside right?" Jurgen stated pointing at the frozen monsters.

Mira nodded in response as she noticed water dripping on her shoulder that comes from the ice on the ceiling. 'It's defrosting faster, probably because of the heat rising.'

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"So many of this things are still inside huh?" Jurgen pondered, stroking his beard. "Grey, you're the next one to attack since you're a close-range to mid-range wizard, Reynold and I should be taking the front guard." He said, pointing at his grandson before continuing to move forward. "We won't stop until we find them."

"Also, don't even think about not killing them just because they explodes upon their death. Those creatures can explode at will and might end our lives." The old man warned. He was confidently ordering everyone just like an experienced geezer should.

"Yes!" Grey just quickly answered without hesitation before they started walking forward again. 'Those monsters are just flying above, waiting to be hit by spells so that they can detonate or they can explode anytime. But something has been bothering me for a while, it feels like I missed a detail.' He wondered in his thoughts before snapping back to reality and violently shook his head. 'Forget it, I should focus on this one first.' He told himself.

They got further into the tunnel but they can't sense any presence from inside. Moreover, there were no signs of Ryner and the others anywhere. This caused them to assume that they were somewhere deeper into the tunnel and proceeded to walk cautiously towards inside.

As they moved forward, they started to see some pieces of metals popping out from the rocky cave walls. More of those things started to appear as they walked deeper into that mining tunnel.

"It seems like this is the place where the miners stopped mining." Reynold whispered, gazing around him, looking for something. 'But it's strange there's no ember crystals. That should be common here.' He thought as he failed to spot the item he was searching for.

They walked until they reached the part of the tunnel where the miners never set their foot before. An unexplored part of the tunnel and above it, another swarm of flaming creatures similar to the one before.

"Stop!" Jurgen quietly signalled them with his finger pointing upward, indicating Grey to fire a spell as he saw another swarm of bombats clinging above the ceiling.

Grey quickly placed his hand facing each other and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes to strongly visualize. He channeled mana in his right hand and ignited a flame on his palm. He repeated the process on his left but instead formed a wind vortex on his left palm. He let the two elements to combine and raised his hand to fire it towards the monsters clinging on the ceiling while chanting the spell's name, "Hellfire tempest!"

The scene immediately surprised everyone. In just one look, they knew that that spell will definitely be destructive.

"Lower your mana frequency!" Jurgen shouted at him while slightly backing off away from Grey.

The spiralling wind strengthened by the flames created a flaming tornado that spin's violently towards its target. The spell acted like a drill that caused the ceiling to almost collapsed because of the impact. After realizing that all the bombats were killed by that attack, Grey quickly cancelled the combined fire and wind spell and hastily looked at his grandfather.

"Gramps!" He shouted at his grandpa with hurry. "Freeze them!"

His words were quickly followed by Jurgen chanting, "Freeze and turn to ice, Ice magic: Frozen formation!" The spell instantly froze the monsters above in just a blink of an eye, suspending them inside.

Grey let out a sigh of relief. "That was close." He thought, looking at his grandpa with a wide grin.

Jurgen quickly noticed his mocking smile and said, "You cheeky brat, stop ordering me around." His finger was pointing at Grey while his face has an annoyed expression.

"You two should—"

Just before Edward could even finish talking, they all felt a sudden pressure coming from within the cave. It was like a presence of a monster that can make anyone cower in fear upon feeling it.

"...stop." He finished his words as he slowly gazed inside the deep tunnel with his anxious eyes.

'What the fuck was that?' Bernard questioned himself as the strength of his spine was weakened by fear. Goosebumps are all over his body while his feet refused to follow his command.

"This is probably... an A-rank dungeon or higher." Reynold bluntly stated with a frightened look. 'Well, this place was never been reached by the miners and almost like an enchanted cave.' He thought.

The facial expressions of everyone including the guild members that are with them also changed instantly upon hearing Reynold. The tension quickly escalated the more they stared at the deeper side of the tunnel.

'The other guild members might be inside.' Grey thought, calmly feeling the mana pressure coming from the within tunnel.

"Let's move, quickly!" The experienced elderly man yelled loudly, causing their eardrums to almost burst. His words snapped them out of their anxious thoughts. "Let's head inside, faster!" He screamed on their ears like a stubborn order before leading the way, rushing towards the unknown presence they felt inside. His breathing was calm but his face are full of worry and anxiety while running closer to the monster that they were facing next.

Everyone quickly followed him like horses running and not wanting to be left behind. Grey was lifted by his dad and carried him while running.

'You know, I can run faster that you, dad.' Grey whispered in his thoughts as they got closer to the overwhelming presence.

After running several meters, reach the part of the tunnel that is wider than the one they're going into just a while ago. The wide tunnel also became brighter as they go forward, making it easier to run since the darkness can no longer limit their visions. However, the closer they get, the more anxious they become. It feels like something they've never seen before is going to appear in front of their eyes. Suddenly...

"Splank!"

... a sound of something metallic impacting the ground was heard throughout the large tunnel, causing everyone to halt. They kept quiet for a second, before another violent impact echoed through the cave.

This caused Jurgen to slowly walk closer to the origin of the sound. He walked carefully, making sure not to make any noise that'll expose their presence. "move slowly." He whispered in his breath as he hyperventilated from the anticipation.

After hearing this, Grey quietly got down from his father's arm and followed his grandpa, gazing up and down at the bright cave in front of them while slowly walking. As they got nearer, the sound of metal banging the ground became louder. And soon, they stumbled upon a giant pillars of rock supporting each side of the tunnel. This stopped them from proceeding further and stared at the massive pillars in awe.

'What the hell is this?'

The only thought that came to their mind before their eyes wandered further in between the two pillars. They saw the ceiling slightly higher inside. This causes them to assume that the inside of that place was no longer a tunnel but more like the dungeon itself with a giant room inside.

Moreover, they could hear clearly the sound of pieces of metals slamming onto something. They soon realized that the sound didn't came from just pieces of metals but a sword. And with their curious mind, they built all the courage to take peek inside and the first thing they saw made their eyes widened.

They were staring slightly above the ceiling and the first thing they saw was Ryner, next to him is Rose, and behind him is Jagger. They're all tied up all over their body with one rope, looking like a caterpillar in a cocoon. And to make matters worse, they were hanging by a single rope that was tied on the ceiling. But that's not the most surprising thing inside that place.

After staring at their tied up comrades, they angled their gaze down. Upon looking down, they immediately laid their eyes onto a giant creature that probably is the source of the immense pressure. This brought a question in their minds.

'W-What in the world is that thing?'