Two days passed uneventfully.

  With such a huge party of adventurers, it was no surprise that most monsters did not want to attack us.

  A few dumb monsters did try their luck, but as one would expect they were quickly reduced to dust.

  As for the ones around me, their actions had not changed.

  Lower rank adventurers continued to try speak to me to the point of exasperation.

  Most of these guys were about a decade older than me, but they shamelessly tried to hitch a ride with me.

  Over the time of our journey, I found out that the other nine C rankers were separated into two parties.

  That was the reason that more people tried approaching me, since I was a lone C rank.

  I did try to approach the two parties, but they seemed to look at me with suspicion, more or less giving me the dry treatment in conversation.

  They weren't outright rude to me, so I didn't think too much of it.

  I guess from their perspective, having toiled for years to reach C rank, I must look suspicious.

  Rather than them, the one I was worried about was the leader of the raid group.

  The B rank adventurer, Corsen.

  I had noticed from the first day that he was looking at me with outright malice.

  He tried to hide it, but the instincts honed in my first life still rang true.

  He was someone who was familiar with monsters, but I was familiar with the evil in the hearts of men.

  So how could I not recognise his gaze?

  He approached me for conversation a few times, though I made sure to keep him at arm's length.

  I didn't know what he was planning, but I intended to stay far away from him.

  'Feels like I'm going to be more vigilant of the humans rather than the monsters.'

  The dungeon entrance had an ominous vibe to it.

  The surroundings were that of a picturesque spring, so the cave oozing with darkness stood out like a sore thumb.

  Sure, on the outside, it looked like a regular cave entrance, but standing next to it one could easily tell that there was something off.

  Corsen climbed up on a small boulder and adressed all of us, dividing us up into separate teams.

  According to the information the Flame guild had purchased from the association, the dungeon had three pathways, meaning one team would take on each pathway.

  I had expected Corsen was plotting to have me on the same team as him, in which case I had a bunch of excuses at the ready, but surprisingly I was assigned to a different team.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Corsen was leading the main vanguard consisting of twenty people who would take the center path towards where the boss was supposed to be.

  Two smaller groups of fifteen would take the left and right paths, bearing the responsibility to handle the sub-bosses.

  Five C ranks were assigned between the two teams, with me ending up on the right team with four other C rankers belonging to a party called 'Golden Warriors of the True Morning Sun'.

  The name was a mouthful. Golden Warriors or True Morning Sun would both surely be better names.

  Immediately after the parties were declared, we were given time to familiarise ourselves with eachother and figure out what roles we would play in our parties.

  I overheard Corsen telling his members, consisting entirely of E and D rankers, that he'd handle everything.

  'Must be nice to get carried.'

  Though, something told me that he wasn't exactly going to look out for those guys.

  "Ah, you're Outis, right? I'm Flight, the leader of the Golden Warriors of the True Morning Sun, pleasure to meet you."

  My eye twitched slightly at his attitude.

  I had previously tried to approach him and his group, but they gave me the cold shoulder.

  Now he was acting like such a thing didn't happen at all.

  I masked my irritation with a smile and shook his hand.

  'Wow, really?'

  He gripped my hand hard.

  Clearly, he was trying to establish some sort of hierarchy.

  If my strength were still at stage one, I probably would've folded, but I managed to stand my ground.

  He was undoubtedly stronger than me physicially, but it was not to the point of being unbareable.

  "Oh, you're pretty strong for a mage."

  "...You know about me?"

  "Yeah, overheard from some of the lower rank guys."

  "Well, I'm supposedly a magic swordsman, so I have to be at least a little strong, right?"

  "Haha, guess that's right."

  When he let go of my hand, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  'You, I'm going to kill you, you blonde haired asshole.'

  I could absolutely sense his malice, and even if I couldn't tell from his eyes, his actions were proof enough.

  ...

  We quickly decided decided upon our roles, with Flight taking the lead as the vanguard of the party.

  Naturally, as a mage, I was a backliner.

  At first, I was quite pleased with this development.

  I would have an easy time killing him from behind.

  But the composition of that man's party was strange...

  "I see why you call yourselves golden warriors..."

  The other three C rankers in the party were all mages who happened to be blonde women.

  Honestly, there wasn't even any point thinking about what was going on with that party.

  'I guess that's just his taste.'

  Anyway, with these three staying in the backline with me, I'd have some trouble acting freely.

  I was certain they were weaker than me individually, but taking on all three would be difficult.

  If I got the jump on them, I'd probably be able to kill all three at once, but I could already tell that they were on guard around me.

  Certainly, I'd have to play some tricks.

  As for the D and E ranks, they were split between the back, middle and frontline.

  Their roles were unimportant to me, as I was sure I'd be able to handle them easily regardless of the situation.

  ...

  Thud!

  As soon as we entered the cave, the entrance shut behind us.

  Immediately, some adventurers began to panic, trying to damage the wall which had appeared so suddenly.

  "Everyone! Don't worry, this is standard for dungeons, it just means we can't leave until we clear this thing, understand? Oh, and don't think about deserting, you'll just get yourself killed."

  Our party leader calmed them down with an explanation that this kind of thing was standard, and so the raid began in proper.

  After a few minutes of walking through the cave, the earth walls and stone ground became more akin to brick.

  'Natural formation my ass.'

  Shortly after, as we had been told, the path separated into three routes.

  Corsen and his group went down the middle path, and my group went down the right.

  The mage women conjured balls of light to properly reveal our surroundings, although it was largely unecessary for me.

  Every since my eyes had... regrown? I was granted the ability to see well through darkness.

  Anyway, it helped bring confidence to the lower rank adventurers, so I guess it was fine.

  I stayed alert, constantly checking my surroundings for traps and sneak attacks from monsters.

  And if any humans were trying to sneak attack me.

  At this moment, I was truly reminded of just how vulnerable I was.

  One of the most valuable spells in a mage's arsenal was the barrier spell, a spell I obviously did not have.

  I quickly shifted my thoughts, realising that this was not the time to lament.

  Click, Clack.

  Shortly after, our first encounter began.