As the three fell asleep, Belle calm in her new spot, Rin had a sweet smile. The private conversation has brought her back to the orphanage. The way Alissa comforted the scared girl was just like the nuns comforting a child who’d had a bad dream. Of course Rin thought what Alissa and Adrest had said was just boasting to a child, even if they‘d truly met every word.

It was a quiet three hours for Rin who was stuck reminiscing about before she’d been tested and torn away from everyone she knew. She thought about the kind nuns who raised her and shaped her into what kind of person she was today, about the kids who were clinging to her, crying for their sister to stay one more day.

By the time it was time to switch Rin was feeling very tired.

She gently shook Adrest awake who opened his bright orange eyes with a start, but calmed down seeing the familiar face above his own.

With a wide, silent yawn he whispered, “That time already? Just give me a minute to wake up and move around.”

Adrest hopped up and stretched out his tight muscles and stiff bones. Now more aware, Adrest spoke, “Feel free to just sleep in my bed, I’ll sleep in Alissa’s when we switch, that way she can’t think about sneaking back to bed.”

Rin smiled and nodded, "I think I’ll take you up on that then Adrest, thank you.”

She crawled into the roll and felt more comfortable surrounded by lingering warmth, more than she thought possible while sleeping on rocks.

“Maybe I’m more tired than I thought.” Was the last thing Rin thought before drifting off to sleep.

Adrest passed the time by pacing around slowly, patrolling in the pitch dark with ease. Adrest was wondering what was going on, he truly had no idea if they were going in the right direction or not, or what they were walking towards as Alissa hadn’t given any hints all day, just silently agreeing with the group and taking chances to teach her two students.

Adrest was lost in his thoughts, passing the three hours quickly and began trying to wake Alissa up. He was mentally preparing for the herculean task, but before Adrest’s hand could tussle the sleeping form, a pair of glowing violet eyes opened, he pulled his hand back in surprise, but Alissa was faster and grabbed the retreating appendage.

Alissa pulled the crouched Adrest into her, with him falling forward and his head stopping directly in front of Alissa’s. The pair of eyes that were vibrant in the black stared into each other for a long second before Alissa moved her lips to her ear.

“We have to be really quiet so we don’t wake up Rin, but this will be the only time we can talk in peace for the day. Did you have fun exploring Ady?”

Adrest rolled his eyes at the flippant tone but answered, “Honestly, it’s exciting and fun. I’m worried about what’s waiting for us at the end of these tunnels though. It’s the monster you said was breaking through to S rank, isn’t it?”

Alissa’s eye widened, “And how did you guess that?”

“Well, you said earlier they were using the mountains to mask the breakthrough, so either It’s the one in control of the dungeon, or this mountain is a deathtrap which even you probably wouldn’t bring us into.”

Alissa glared at Adrest for thinking she would try to kill them like that, even she knew when to not play with fire. In retaliation, she used her free hand to pinch Adrest’s nose and pulled his head as she pleased.

“Good job my darling little student. It’s like you guessed, the monster breaking through is the ruler of this pile of dirt. It’s still a good way’s down, but we’re on the right path.”

Adrest narrowed his eyes, and with his squished nose it was quite the sight, “Will Belle and I be okay? Alissa, a serious attack from either of you could kill Belle or I instantly."

Seeing the concern on Adrest’s face, Alissa released the hostaged nose and wrapped her hand on the back of his head pulling him into a hug and combing his black hair with her slender fingers.

With her lips brushing against his ear she reassuringly whispered, “I promise you and Belle will be just fine, just like I said to Belle, If monsters come, I’ll kill the monsters. If the mountain falls, I’ll prop them up. But this won't be as dire as you're imagining. You’ll find out when we get there, all you and Belle have to do is watch and try to remember every detail, it’ll be invaluable later.”

Adrest actually was blushing at the unexpected intimacy and was speechless. They just stayed like that for several minutes, Alissa enjoying playing with Adrest’s thick and curly hair.

It came to an end when Adrest returned to reality and propped himself up, dragging Alissa up with him as she still had an arm looped behind his neck. She stuck her tongue out teasing him, “Thanks for the ride.”

Adrest flicked her forehead, hiding the sharp pain running down his finger, “Goodnight Ali, I trust you.”

“Sweet dreams Ady.” Alissa walked away and sat on a stool she pulled out of the air. She sat and pulled out a book. It would be a comical sight if anyone could see it, a young woman sitting in the pitch black dark trying to read, but to her it made no difference. She was reading through a bestiary she’d bought years ago, it came from the monster city and contained nearly every notable monster and beast bloodline on this half of the continent.

Stolen story; please report.

For a monster to achieve S rank, it wasn’t just about comprehension or accumulation, the limiting factor is almost always bloodline. To achieve S rank is the peak of mortality, only when a body is perfect in every way can a monster or beast break through to the peak.

Therefore, She was carefully reading through and making sure she completely memorized every monster and their details if they controlled at least the earth element, the list was hundreds, over a thousand, long, but there was no way around it. Plus, with her A rank memory, it wasn’t too tall of a task.

The time passed quickly and not a single monster wound up attacking through the night. As her three hours ran up, Alissa looked up from her book and stood to wake everyone. Looking over, she paused and smiled at the scene.

Sometime in the last few hours Belle had rolled over and hugged the persons roll beside her. The only issue is, she had probably done it in her sleep thinking it was Adrest who had initially gone to sleep there. Belle had an arm thrown over the sleeping Rin and was resting her head against Rin’s shoulder. Because of how she way laying, one of Belle’s ears had ended up being used as a pillow for the hero who was sound asleep.

It was so cute Alissa couldn’t be the only one to see this, using all of her A rank skill to not wake the pair she crept over to Adrest.

Alissa gently tapped his exposed cheeks a few times until he stubbornly woke up. He was about to speak but Alissa put a finger to his mouth silencing him. Looking at her in confusion, she pointed to his side.

Adrest looked where instructed and couldn’t help but smile at the scene. It was like a little sister had sneaked into her older sisters bed in the middle of the night. Adrest and Alissa silently giggled at the scene.

Eventually their fun has to come to an end and Adrest whispered, “Who do you want to wake up first?”

She simply shrugged, “Same time? I’ll wake up Rin and you Belle?”

Adrest went with the suggestion and rolled over so he was facing Belle’s back and waiting for Alissa to get near Rin. At the same time they nudged the sleeping girls who woke up at the same time.

Rin’s eyes were still sleepy and feeling the soft object under her face, she stretched and rubbed into it. Then, she looked down to see a head of white hair under and halfway on top of her. She was confused but soon had a doting smile.

Belle on the other hand opened her eyes and was confused about how she’d wound up in such an odd position. She tried to sit up, but there was a weight on her ear, looking up to investigate she saw a happy looking Rin looking down at her.

As the two made eye contact, Belle turned the same shade of red as her eyes. For a second Adrest thought he’d see steam coming from her ears, especially when Rin stroked her head saying, “Good morning Belle. Did you sleep well?”

Adrest couldn’t hold it anymore and laughed at the poor girl who was still frozen. Alissa chuckled as well then deciding Belle had suffered enough, reached over Rin and picked Belle up setting her on her feet.

“Don’t worry about it too much, it was really cute and I don’t think Rin minds too much.” Alissa comforted.

Belle refused to look up from the ground so Alissa let her be and offered a hand to the still tired Rin. Taking the outstretched hand, Rin got to her feet and patted down her clothes.

They ate and packed up, getting ready to continue through the labyrinth of tunnels. Their "morning" started off peaceful, with only a few stray monster and traps. But, as Rin made it to the end of a downward sloping tunnel, she came to a stop. When the rest caught up they could see why.

In front of them, the passageway opened into a wide open cavern. There was so much moisture in the now warm air, Adrest could feel it sticking to his skin. There were stalactites and stalagmites littered everywhere, and Adrest heard drops of water hitting the ground, ever so slowly forming more.

Even though Adrest couldn’t spot any threats in the open space he knew there was much more space he couldn't see than he could, the hair on his neck was standing straight up. There was just something intangible that warned him. It was saying he would die if he casually walked in. As he was contemplating what threat was hiding, Belle quietly said the question he was thinking.

“What’s inside?”

Rin shook her head, “No idea, but it’s strong. For now, the three of you stay back here and I’ll try going in.”

Rin slowly stalked forward with her weapons drawn. The only noise was the tiniest crackling of stone underfoot and Adrest was on high alert for any sign of movement on the cavern.

Step. Step. Step.

Rin made it to nearly the center of the cavern with nothing out of the ordinary. Her ears and eyes were straining for the tiniest hint of an attack, and her heart still felt uncomfortable, like she was being watched.

Step.

It happens in an instant, a sickly green light surged towards Rin from the side. A harsh clang of metal on metal rang out. Adrest couldn’t just barely see the outline of what at a glance looked human.

That was all he could make out in the brief second it paused. After that, a cacophony of ringing echoed off the stone walls as Rin and the attacker moved back and forth at a speed Adrest couldn’t quite keep up with.

Alissa let out a low whistle at the fight getting her students’ attention, once they were looking at them she explained for them.

“It’s a Groenn. They’re pretty rare because to see because of their habitat,” She gestured at the deep and dark cave they were currently in.

“They're actually nearly blind, when Rin is finished I’ll show you, but their eyes are a milky white and about half the size of a human’s. They rely on hearing and vibration to hunt, and have bone scythes growing from their elbows. In their own environment, they’re just about at the peak of what B rank can get, excluding the really special ones and the ancient bloodlines.”

Adrest was enjoying the lesson, but couldn’t take off his eyes off the fight, worried for Rin. Alissa saw this and pouted before pinching him.

As Adrest yelped she said, “Don’t worry about Rin. She’s just stretching, it’s a fun opponent for her because they’re so similar in how they fight.”

Adrest glared at the purple haired abuser but had to play nice as he couldn’t get beaten up here, it was one thing for Belle to see it, but his image in Rin’s eyes would be ruined.

Just as she said, the clanging and blurred shapes came to a sudden stop after just a few more minutes. Rin’s figure was now visible with not even a cut in her clothing. She was breathing harder than before, but seemed perfectly at ease.

Opposite her a few meters was the Groenn, now that it had stilled Adrest could make out the details, a dirty grey skin wrapped around a stick thin frame. The figure was human-ish, but wrong as it was crouched to all fours and its jointed contorted. It was completely hairless and looked feral with a snarling face revealing it’s 2 rows of yellowed sharp teeth.

Adrest had just enough time to take in the figure before a spray of blood erupted from it’s neck as it’s head slid off. It fell over in a pool of it’s own dark yellow blood with a loud this and splash.

Rin was all smiles as she came back to the waiting party. “Did you see? That was a Groenn, I haven’t been able to fight with one before, but it was pretty fun. There was an entire class about a horde of these things nearly destroyed an entire city before the imperial forces were able to put them down a few hundred years ago.”