Morning came, and after everyone woke up and finished their meal, we headed toward the dungeon entrance. Seeing the entrance, Ahn Tae-woo spoke.

"The entrance looks small compared to the dungeon’s size."

Yu-ju responded in a way that kind of killed the vibe, "...We’re going in."

Everyone looked tense. After all, no one except Seo Yu-ju knew what awaited us inside the dungeon.

As soon as we entered, an alert appeared.

[ You have entered the Tutorial Dungeon. You cannot leave until you clear it. ]

'Of course... So this is why we were told to challenge it only after growing stronger.'

When I first heard the guide’s explanation yesterday, I had assumed that if things went south, we could simply escape. But reality wasn’t so kind.

Looking back, I saw the entrance was blocked by a transparent barrier.

"Once we’re in, we can’t leave. This is absolute bullshit."

"That’s right, noona. If we can’t clear it, we’re dead for sure... But at least we don’t have to worry about the darkness. Luckily, torches are mounted on the walls at intervals."

The torches placed along the walls were a huge relief. Given the pyramid-like structure of the dungeon, I had been worried about lighting, but this eased my concerns.

After some walking, we came across a ladder leading underground.

'This is different from Earth’s pyramids.'

As far as I knew, Earth’s pyramids were structured with interiors rising upward toward the North Star.

But this dungeon had a descending structure.

"I’ll go down first."

Seo Yu-ju took the lead, climbing down first. One by one, the others followed.

After about three minutes of descending, Kang Iseo spoke up, frustrated.

"...Why is this place so deep?"

There was no end in sight. Even with torches placed intermittently along the way, the darkness made it difficult to see below.

After roughly ten minutes, the bottom finally came into view.

Thud.

Kang Iseo stretched her arms, complaining.

"Ugh, damn it... Climbing down a ladder for that long was suffocating."

The scenery before us revealed that we were in a cave, with a passageway so narrow that three people walking side by side would completely fill it.

Kiiieeeek—

A monster’s cry echoed through the cave. Hearing the sound, Seo Yu-ju gave orders.

"Everyone, stay alert. It seems monsters are ahead. If it’s not an emergency, Ha-eun and Yun-seong, please conserve your mana. The vanguard will be me, Uncle Ho-won, and Hyun-jin. We’ll move forward cautiously. From now on, keep your voices low or whisper."

"......"

Everyone moved forward cautiously in silence.

After some distance, something suddenly flew toward us.

Whish!

Clang.

Seo Yu-ju swiftly deflected the incoming object with her spear.

'...An arrow?'

I was shocked by the sight, did that mean someone else was in the dungeon?

'No, that’s impossible. We camped right after discovering the dungeon and entered the next morning. There’s no way someone else got in before us...'

While I pondered the meaning of the arrow, the others, except for Seo Yu-ju, looked just as bewildered.

And then, the monsters appeared.

"Krrrk. Krrrk. Krrrk. Krrrk."

Their appearances weren’t too different from the monsters outside. The only notable difference was their color—those outside had red skin, whereas these ones were green.

And most importantly...

"H-holy shit! These bastards have weapons!"

"Wait... They actually know how to use weapons?!"

The creatures were small, but they wielded human weapons—swords, shields, spears, and even bows.

'Fuck... So this is why we needed to be fully prepared before entering.'

The creatures let out cries and charged at us. The weapons made them more dangerous, but their sheer numbers posed an even greater threat.

There were at least twenty of them.

Seo Yu-ju shouted urgently.

"Everyone, prepare for battle! Watch out for incoming arrows, and if possible, take out the archers first!"

Fortunately, the narrow passage helped us hold our ground. As Uncle Ho-won blocked their advance with his shield, Seo Yu-ju and Hyun-jin took them down one by one.

Song Ha-eun summoned a spirit, and together with Kang Iseo, began targeting the monsters with bows.

"Kieeek!"

Thunk!

"Aagh!"

"Hyun-jin!"

Ho-won was blocking with his shield, but through the gaps he couldn't completely cover, one of the monster bastards thrust its sword, stabbing Hyun-jin’s arm.

Kang Iseo immediately pulled Hyun-jin back, and Ahn Tae-woo took his place.

"Hey, are you okay?! Yu-hyun! Check Hyun-jin’s wound!"

"Y-Yes! Just a moment!"

Unfortunately, it must have been a deep stab, as the middle part of his arm between the wrist and elbow seemed to be completely pierced by the sword.

"Grrr..."

"Just hold on a little, hyung."

A light started emanating from Yu-hyun’s hands, and the wound on Hyun-jin’s arm slowly began to heal.

"Haa... Haa... Yu-hyun, thanks. Now... it’s a bit better."

The pain hadn't completely subsided, but at least the wound looked significantly healed.

"Yeah..."

Looking at Yu-hyun’s expression, it seemed like a lot of his mana had been drained—he looked exhausted.

"Hey, man up... This much is nothing! Just rest in the back for a while. I’ll take care of these monster bastards."

"Phew... Noona, be careful too. These guys having weapons makes it a completely different fight from outside the dungeon."

Looking ahead, Seo Yu-ju seemed fine, but Ho-won was clearly exhausted. Constantly blocking attacks from so many monsters had taken a toll on him.

I shouted towards Seo Yu-ju and Ho-won.

"Both of you, fall back!"

Both of them heeded my words and retreated.

I immediately threw fire at the approaching monsters. As they caught fire, it spread to the ones following behind them, and soon the entire group of creatures was writhing in agony as they burned.

"KIEEEEEK! KKIEEEEH!"

"Iseo! Ha-eun! Now—!"

Understanding my intent immediately, Kang Iseo began shooting arrows, reducing their numbers, while Song Ha-eun’s summoned spirit continued hurling gusts of wind.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, as if she had an epiphany, Song Ha-eun gave an order to her spirit.

The spirit stopped throwing gusts directly and instead began fanning the flames, spreading the fire further behind the monsters.

"KYAAACK! KIEEEEK!"

The monsters' screams echoed throughout the cave for a long time.

Once the battle ended, everyone collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

"Haa... Shit... Isn’t this just the start of the dungeon? Why is it so damn tough?"

Kang Iseo’s complaint was answered by Ahn Tae-woo.

"If the passageway had been any wider, we would’ve all been dead. We were lucky it was narrow."

From what I could tell, this tutorial dungeon was not designed to be cleared with a party of ten or fewer. The only reason we were managing was because Seo Yu-ju was with us.

Judging by the fight earlier, the number of monsters she had taken down alone was almost equal to the rest of us combined.

I turned to Hyun-jin and asked about his condition.

"Hyun-jin, can you still fight? How’s your arm?"

"Thanks for worrying, hyung. I’m fine. It still hurts a little, but... if we all want to survive, we have to fight together."

"That’s a relief... More importantly, Ha-eun, how did you come up with the idea to spread the fire with the wind? That was brilliant."

"Yeah, unnie, thanks to you, we avoided taking more damage. You were amazing."

Hearing everyone’s praise, Song Ha-eun’s face turned red. She lowered her head and fiddled with her hands as she spoke.

"Th-that was just... something that suddenly came to mind... It’s not really that impressive..."

"No, Ha-eun, thanks to you, we avoided more injuries. And Yun-seong, you did great too. Your magic prevented the monsters from approaching."

As Seo Yu-ju spoke, Song Ha-eun seemed to seize the opportunity and suddenly started praising me.

"Y-yeah! Yun-seong oppa used magic at just the right moment, and I only followed up on it!"

"Yun-seong oppa?"

"Ah..! Th-that... I’m sorry! It just slipped out!"

"No need to apologize. You can call me oppa if you want. ‘Yun-seong-ssi’ feels kind of stiff. This sounds much better."

I needed to take this chance to close the emotional gap between us.

"O-okay! Then, oppa, you should speak casually to me too!"

"Should I, Ha-eun?"

As soon as I called her informally, Seo Yu-ju’s expression darkened slightly. Meanwhile, Kang Iseo, hearing our exchange, started teasing me.

"Hah... So sweet, look at you two, having a little romance in a horror movie dungeon."

"H-huh?"

"I wasn’t talking to you, Ha-eun. You didn’t do anything wrong. This bastard here is the problem. I knew it! I bet he was a total playboy back on Earth!"

Feeling guilty, I turned my gaze elsewhere.

"Hah... Now you’re gonna pretend you don’t hear me?"

"......"

"Ahem!"

Ho-won suddenly cleared his throat to draw attention before addressing Seo Yu-ju.

"Anyway, we’ve confirmed that the monsters use weapons, and that the dungeon is significantly different from outside, what’s your plan moving forward?"

"...I think we’ll be ambushed a few more times."

"May I ask why you think so?"

"It’s simple. Think about it—this time, we weren’t detected by the monsters. They ambushed us."

Listening to Seo Yu-ju, I realized she was right. The monsters hadn’t just discovered us; they had come at us as if they already knew our location.

We had been moving silently, yet they attacked us first. That was suspicious.

"Then..."

"We should move forward slowly and always assume another ambush. We need to plan our countermeasures in advance."

"Then how about we keep using my magic and Ha-eun’s spirit magic to block their approach while taking them down?"

Seo Yu-ju shook her head in disagreement.

"There’s no guarantee that fending off ambushes is the only objective of this dungeon. Since this was the first attack, it was fine to use magic, but we should conserve our mana for unexpected situations, we might face stronger monsters later."

‘...So there really is something stronger waiting for us, huh?’

A boss monster or something similar.