CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER 75 - DUNGEON

After the air shuttle landed, Logan stood up quietly.

Derek stared daggers at him as he also stood up, while Livia remained calm and collected.

They left their room one after another, heading for the shuttle’s hatch.

Other students joined them, gathering in the hallways as the shuttle’s hatch slowly lowered itself.

Logan squinted as the light from the outside world filled the shuttle.

’Amazing,’ he thought, eyeing a reinforced wall twice the height of the last dungeon he’d visited.

Around it sat a few hotels, trading points, potion shops, blacksmiths, and even a church.

’It really is an entirely different kind of economy around here,’ he thought, stepping off the hatch.

Looking around more carefully, Logan noticed tens of guards all standing around the landing place.

’And it doesn’t look like there’s any civilian nearby.’

Following a guide, Logan and the other students from their shuttle were led away towards a large stone building.

"We’ll wait here until every student is here," the guide shouted, grabbing everyone’s attention. "Make sure you are around your group so we can quickly let you enter later."

Logan looked around him, only finding Livia while Derek had disappeared.

"Where’d he go?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No idea," Livia said, not even bothering to look around her.

"I guess he’ll show up when we need to go in," Logan said, sighing.

"He’d better," Livia said, annoyance clear in her tone.

’She is definitely not happy,’ Logan thought, smiling slightly. ’She isn’t even trying to tease me anymore.’

’Offending the Imperial Church was a very smart move, Derek,’ he thought, his smile widening. ’With Livia’s SSS-rank talent, she surely has some say within the church.’

If Derek kept this up or interfered with Livia’s performance in the dungeon, Logan was sure the Alvarez family would face consequences.

’Which would be a nice opportunity for my company to take advantage of.’

A few minutes later, the last two air shuttles landed.

The guide that had been assigned to their group immediately perked up and grabbed everyone’s attention before speaking.

"Everyone, we’ll now be heading towards the dungeon," the guide said. "Make sure you stay with your group as you’ll be entering at the same time."

Logan glanced at Livia and shrugged, still not seeing Derek anywhere.

The group slowly walked forward, passing through a large open gate.

Around a mile or two ahead, Logan saw another group of students who’d arrived before them.

’Seems like we’ll need to wait a little.’

Up ahead, Logan could see a large hill with all kinds of trees on it. Beside the path, he spotted empty stalls where vendors usually set up to lure in mercenaries.

Their guide stopped before reaching the other students, grabbing everyone’s attention.

"From here on, we’ll form a line," the guide said loudly. "Five groups beside each other and following their group number."

Logan and Livia moved forward, walking to their designated spot.

Once there, Derek finally joined them, staying silent with an annoyed expression on his face as he glared at Logan.

After all students from their group lined up, the guide gestured everyone to follow him and wait in line with the other students.

’The line is moving fast,’ Logan thought, serious as he looked ahead.

Minutes passed in silence when they finally arrived at the part where they’d be forced to walk down a long tunnel.

’This tunnel is much larger compared to the other one,’ he thought, amazed.

The tunnel was at least five times larger than the dungeon he’d visited.

Other than that, not much had changed at this point. Just simple mana lights covering the walls and broad concrete stairs descending deeper than Logan could see.

After descending several hundred feet deeper into the tunnel, they finally reached a checkpoint.

"Alright," one of the staff there said, scanning their student IDs. "This is group 23, correct?"

"Yes," Livia answered calmly.

The staff member nodded, grabbing a few protection buttons and emergency flare guns.

"After you leave this checkpoint, your time will be started," he said, handing them the items. "These buttons will send a soft beep four and two hours before the 48-hour mark."

"If you aren’t back before the 48-hour mark, you’ll be disqualified."

Logan gave a small nod, attaching the button to his chest while putting one of the emergency flares away.

The staff member checked his watch, waiting another minute before signaling for them to go in.

"Remember," Livia said, "Stick to the plan."

Logan nodded, following behind her.

They walked down, passing through the strange mana barrier before heading deeper into the cave.

’The tunnel is growing larger and larger,’

Logan thought, observing everything carefully.

"We are wasting too much time here," Derek suddenly said, attracting both Logan and Livia’s attention immediately.

"We should jog down and split up from the other groups as soon as possible," he continued, starting to run.

Watching Derek run ahead, Logan exhaled sharply.

’Well... so much for the plan.’

He glanced at Livia, wishing he could see her reaction behind that veil.

Logan heard Livia mutter something under her breath before she silently started jogging after Derek.

Logan shook his head slightly before also following after them.

As they descended further and further, they passed by many other groups who were patiently walking down to save their energy.

Logan stopped as a massive crack in the cave wall came into view.

Behind the cracks, he could see the massive blue tree forest and even some icy mountains in the distance.

"Amazing," Logan muttered before catching up to his teammates.

As he caught up to them, he heard both of them bickering.

"Slow down, now," Livia said coldly, still jogging after Derek.

"We’re almost there," Derek said, laughing. "Why would we stop now?"

"Just trust me. I know what I’m doing."

Now fully out of the tunnel and into the dangerous land pocket, Logan slowed his pace. He wasn’t about to charge into unknown terrain just because a teammate had lost his mind.

As he channeled a few mana threads into his eyes, they turned red and his surroundings began to change.

’There’s nothing around,’ he thought, sighing in relief as he stopped supplying mana to his eyes.

Up ahead, Livia had stopped chasing Derek and was now walking back toward him.

No words were needed for Logan to understand how extremely frustrated she was.

"Let’s rest," she said coldly. "Then we’ll continue with the plan."

"I’ll deal with him properly once we’re out."

Logan gave a small nod, sitting down.

’If we manage to get out, that is.’