The seven youths and their three veteran Adventurer escorts were the first to enter the dungeon today. The other groups camping by the entrance decided to wait half an hour before entering. This was the so-called Adventurer etiquette. Entering was on a first come first serve basis, then wait half an hour before the next group enters. This was to avoid crowding the dungeon corridors and tunnels.

There were no monster encounters on the first few minutes of traversing the cave tunnels. The air was cool and damp, and the cave floor was slightly slippery, but it posed little threat even to the newbie Adventurers. With their bodies enhanced with the effects of their God’s blessings through their brand, keeping their balance on this slightly slippery surface was as easy as breathing.

In just a quarter of an hour, they encountered a fork. The one to the right would lead to the shortest path to the stairs that would allow them to descend to the next level. With the guidance of the veterans, they chose the left path. This was so they could spend more time to get accustomed at the easiest level of the dungeon as well as train their combat senses along the way.

“Keep your eyes peeled. Some monsters hide themselves in the terrain while others have camouflage abilities,” Travis warned the group.

“None of that kind on the first level, though,” Zenni said, breaking the mood just as soon as everyone started to act vigilant.

“Still better to be wary and careful at all times,” Travis answered while shooting a glare at the red-haired woman. She only shrugged at this, while Kezzan who was at the rear was silently chuckling.

After half an hour, they finally encountered their first monster. It was a Giant Spiderling, the offspring of a Giant Spider.

“There must be a Giant Spider nest nearby. This is a good place to practice,” Travis said as he motioned at the three male youths that formed a group. “You three will be the first to test out your skills. Show us what you've got. Don’t worry, if things appear to be taking a dangerous turn, we’ll help you out.”

Zenni had her crossbow at the ready and loaded with bolts. She was the middle-guard and stood with the other male-female pair. She kept her eyes on the situation, and was ready to shoot the spiderling at Travis’ signal.

The trio’s performance couldn't be said to have anything noteworthy. With three people, one of them acted as the vanguard tank, one focused on dealing damage, while the last one provided support while keeping a close eye on their surroundings. With their formation, they quickly dispatched the spiderling.

Up next was the other pair. The male who was using a long sword tried to show off to his female companion only to fail hard, causing Lauren to burst out laughing. Shamed, the male youth tried to vent off to the spiderling only to be stung by its poisonous fang. Luckily, his companion was a worshiper of the God of Cures and dispelled the poison with a single spell. In the end, Travis assisted him in killing the spiderling.

Finally, it was Lauren and Sievor’s turn. They had already chosen a formation they would work with. Despite Sievor being the youngest of the group, he would be taking the lead in their pair, with Lauren following close behind. They would divide their roles equally, keeping watch of their surroundings while fighting against the enemy.

This formation was done because both of them focused on agility-based melee combat. Although Lauren had a ranged damaging spell, it’s effectiveness decreases with distance.

Dashing to the target, Sievor entered the spiderling’s range. It was almost as tall as him. To him, the spiderling was a huge enemy only because he was small in size. Despite that, his size actually gave him an advantage. He was hard to target.

The spiderling tried to pounce on him, but he managed to dodge diagonally to the side with the support of Lauren’s spell, Windfeet. With his current position, the spiderling’s rear and side was exposed to him. With a quick slash of his carving knife, he left a mark on its furry body, but not deep enough to consider it as damage.

A ten year-old performing greatly on his first actual combat may seem strange at first, but the three veterans knew otherwise. The fact that a God had chosen to brand him at such a young age meant that he had great potential. Also, with just the effect of the brand, a person gains faster movements, stronger attacks, and quicker reaction speeds than normal humans. They also gain an innate talent for combat, but this may differ depending on the person and the God that gave the brand. This was what made Adventurers unique.

Lauren quickly followed up by performing a thrust with her rapier. With the boost of the spell Windarm, her attack was almost invisible, and all that could be seen was the trails of a silver flash. Her inexperience showed at this moment, and her attack hit a spot just beside the spiderling’s vital point, the brain, completely missing a supposed to be killing blow.

With a shrill shriek, the enrage spiderling targeted Lauren who was still standing in front of it. It released a spray of sticky web at her as it raised its body. Luckily, Lauren managed to cast Windfeet in time and retreated. The web attack hit only empty space and landed on the cave floor.

Behind the spiderling, Sievor positioned himself to jump on its back. Before he could do so, he heard a shout and a sharp sound cutting through air. This was a moment of carelessness for the two youth.

“Behind you!” It was Travis who yelled the warning and Zenni shooting a bolt with her crossbow. Sievor turned around to see a spiderling swiftly approaching through the tunnel from a nearby hidden side path. On its head was a rough and thick carapace shell with a crack on the surface and a crossbow bolt sticking out. Although blood was dripping on its face, it didn't seem to mind. Also, it was moving quite fast and would reach him in just a few seconds.

“It’s a Giant Armored Spiderling!” Kezzan shouted. A Giant Armored Spider was a rare mutation of the Giant Spider. When reaching its mature stage, the carapace shell on its head would already cover its entire body and making it harder to kill. Also, it was much faster and stronger than an ordinary Giant Spider. Luckily, the one that ambushed them was just a spiderling.

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“Shoot it!” Travis yelled at Zenni while making his way to Sievor. The Giant Spiderling which they were fighting against earlier tried to hinder him.

“It’s jammed!” Zenni yelled as she threw her crossbow to the side and took out her short sword. She then dashed after Travis to assist in the situation.

Travis did not really need her help. With one slash of his sword, he cut the spiderling in half, but the few seconds it took him to do so had allowed the other spiderling to reach where Sievor was.

Giant Armored Spiders and their spiderlings normally appear in the fourth level and below. For it to appear on the first level was a rare occurrence. First timers in the dungeon would definitely have a hard time dealing with them. In fact, most of the deaths in the dungeons were caused by unexpected situations such as this.

The spiderling had already pounced toward Sievor, its fangs wide open and ready to bite. Sievor’s current level of power was not enough to handle this type of enemy. At the moment, he was just a helpless little ten year-old boy.

They said that at the moment before your death, your life flashes before your eyes. Why this happens, no one really knows. Some said this was caused by the mind’s rejection of death. It forces the fear out of a person’s thoughts by bringing back the memories of that person’s life. Other say that this was the mind’s way of giving the person a reason to live and break through his limits. ( A/N: Queue Gundam Build Fighters Try OP Cerulean )

The truth is uncertain, but at this moment, Sievor’s memories flashed before his eyes. All of them contained the smile of Old Gregor, his grandpa.

How would he feel if I died? That was what he thought.

He would be sad. He would blame himself for not stopping me. He would grieve. He would regret.

I will not let that happen!

As those thoughts ran through his head, a strange power was emitted from his body and extended to the world. This was a God’s blessing. This was his God’s blessing.

Since he was small, he had always wondered why the world continued to move on without regard to whatever a person did. When he was five, he was amazed at how the clock’s hands continued to turn. Time was always there. Time was always turning. Time… was taken for granted.

He can’t remember when it actually started, but he felt deep respect for the God of Time. He wondered why nobody worshiped and prayed to this almighty God. If not for time, nothing would exist.

All started as time began, and all will cease to exist if it ever stops. That was what Old Gregor said, and it struck deep into his heart.

I have my God’s blessing. My God will protect me. That was what he told Kezzan.

That’s right… His God will protect him. His God will never fail him. That was what filled his thoughts.

As the power expanded, everything it touched seemed to slow down. It was not the same as the freezing effects of ice magic. Time itself was slowing down.

Sievor could see everything clearly. The world was dyed a faint gray and everything moved slowly including himself. His body felt heavy and slow, but he could still move.

The spiderling had already leapt of the ground and was just a few inches away from him. It’s three pairs of eyes were focused on him and its mouth was wide open, revealing poisonous fangs.

Although the spiderling was almost as big as him, the head of the spiderling was on a lower position. With its leaping angle, it was actually aiming to bite his chest while pushing him down.

Inch by inch, it slowly approached. Its shell covered head was the only available target and would be difficult to break through. Even Zenni’s bolt had only managed to shallowly pierced its skull after cracking its shell.

Sievor’s eyes brightened as he saw the crack on the carapace shell on its head. It was a do or die gamble, and he was willing to stake it all for the chance of saving Old Gregor from the grief of losing him.

With a loud thud, the spiderling crashed on top of Sievor.

“NOOO!” Lauren shouted as she dashed to his location. She had been struck with fear upon seeing the Giant Armored Spiderling. She knew it was a difficult opponent, and she was unable to move a finger at the crucial moment. She thought, what if she had released a Windblade? She might have been able to save him!

Actually, her Windblade was still weak, and at that distance, she wouldn't be able to penetrate the carapace shell. Even though it was already cracked, her control over her Windblade’s accuracy and precision was not enough to make a pinpoint attack like that. There was also the chance of hitting Sievor who was within the target range.

She tried to stab the spiderling which had pushed Sievor down but was stopped by Zenni.

“It’s dead,” Travis said as he poked the spiderling with his sword. All they could see was the huge body of the spiderling covering Sievor. Its head was buried against his chest. Lauren finally noticed that Sievor was actually alive.

Travis kicked the corpse off from Sievor and turned it over, revealing the cause of its death. On the crack caused by the Zenni’s crossbow bolt, a single carving knife was buried deep into its head. The blade of the knife was not long enough to penetrate through the carapace and the skull. What was shocking was that a small part of the carving knife’s hilt had struck the end of the bolt pushing it even deeper. This was the cause of its death.

Upon seeing this, Zenni was caught speechless. In that short amount of time, that ten year-old boy had actually managed to perform such a crazy stunt during a life and death instance. As she turned to question him how he did it, she found him lying on Lauren’s lap, fast asleep.