Template Dungeon Leveling Scenario (1)

"What the hell do we do in this situation?!" Nine fidgeted with his UI.

"Okay, okay. First of all, let's calm down and think through it. We have a few options to..."

"How about we spend points to just teleport there? Simple right?"

"Yeah.."

So basically, what we found were two heroes and this princess named Alytia surrounded by a pack of hungry tentacles. Not the best situation in the world, and it certainly didn't arouse me in the slightest.

For some reason, they were separated from the rest of the group. The other heroes were panicking.

As for the Regressor, he was.. I don't know. He seemed to be fighting some elite monsters? Oh, he's trying to find them.

I actually have no idea where exactly in the dungeon the three of them are but..

Fortunately there's some sort of barrier around them, protecting the three from the tentacle monster. They've been inside for quite some time, and a quick appraisal would tell us that the barrier talisman would last for at least another hour. Okay. We still have time, let's not rush.

I guess this is the cliche MC fell into some dungeon and became OP kind of scenario. Except.. we wouldn't know how it would end up. I've never come across this situation where the MC falls into some dungeon trap together with two girls.

Actually, isn't it the Regressor's job to save them? What's going on?

We'd be changing the plotline entirely if we intervene but.. in the first place, the [Reincarnated Otherworlder] title already made us part of the plot so no problems adjusting things right? I'd rather not learn what happens to the red-flashing daily quest if one of them dies.

"Nine, let's do this.."

I explained my plan.

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"DIE!!"

"To your left!"

"Uh.. exclasis boost?"

The group of new heroes were training in the dungeon. They were defending against a pack of rock wolves and slinger sloths. Both species seemed to cooperate with each other in a synergistic manner, making it a difficult advance.

Currently on the 23th floor, Alytia and Captain Peter watched over them as they fought. There were other knights on duty to intervene if they found themselves in any sort of predicament. Though, this private dungeon had been used since the 7th cycle, so all parts of it had been explored to and through. The danger was minimal.

"They're improving at a fast rate. I think it could be a record," Commander Peter, who held one of the higher ranks in the royal order of knights, said.

"I wouldn't think that. There isn't any reference to compare them to to begin with," Alytia shook her head and folded her arms.

Most of them here had already reached level 40. The highest was level 67, Sasaki Ishida, the light hero, the runner up would be Kaito at level 59.

"HIAH!!"

"I'll shield you go!"

"Got it!"

Kaito strengthened his body with magic and propelled himself forward with [Charge]. It was a skill he 'Assimilated' from a previous monster.

[Assimilation] was the Unique Skill Kaito was given. In the beginning, it was thought to be a useless skill as he couldn't figure out the use of it. Initially, he thought killing a monster was the prerequisite, but nothing particularly useful happened.

It was only after running a few experiments did he realize the use of this skill.

He needed to assimilate their 'souls' into his.

That thought scared him, but for the sake of his survival and for the sake of fighting against the demon lord, he bit the bullet.

The swing of a sword, it clashed into the rock wolf of the highest level in it's pack, level 56.

It howled and swiped Kaito away with its claws. Though Kaito was fortunate to have a barrier around him, he still flew a few meters away due to the impact.

From behind, reciting a chant, Ishida came and swung his sword that glowed in a golden light.

The rock wolf was wounded.

Ishida then quickly retreated to switch with Wada Haru, a shield bearer.

"ORA!!"

Haru swung his shield against the rock wolf that tried to pouce on Ishida.

Kaito, who recovered, rushed over.

While the mini group of vanguards were fending off against the wolves, the mages were supporting from behind.

Takata Sayu pointed her wand at the sloths, keeping a slow hurling pace of flame magic. Small explosions resounded where the impact met but it did little damage. Everytime the sloths spat saliva and was about to hit anyone, another mage, Suzuki Ayaka would blow them away using boosted magic.

"What should I do.. should I switch a spell?!"

"Try earth pellet shots."'

Takata Sayu held her wand again, looking amaicated from the loss of mana. This time, she shot rocks at bullet speed. The rocks didn't seem to penetrate the skin of the sloths. They were just too tough.

"Just focus on supporting, we'll take care of them after dealing with the wolves," Sakurai Reina said before exploding forth. With a swing of her katana, a large gash was inflicted on the wolf, "Ugh..", the recoil from that slash hurt her wrist more than expected.

"Hiih.." Nanako Rika's spear was torn away from her grasp by the jaw of another wolf. She quickly retreated to the backlines as another classmate helped to pull her out of the situation.

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"They seem to be working well together?" Moirae asked.

"I feel like their levels are higher than in the first life," Jiwon muttered.

The heroes and royal knights remained unaware of the two's presence. It was thanks to Moirae's magic which helped conceal any trace of their existence.

"Are you not going to join them?" she turned her golden eyes to him.

"No. We'll watch from behind. We still don't know what will happen."

There might even be a chance that his reaction in the beginning of the summon had changed the entire course of events-- the butterfly effect.

"So what exactly happens? One of the heroes ends up alone at the lower reaches of the dungeon?"

"I have no idea. All I remember was who went missing. I don't remember how it happened. Keep an eye out for the 2nd Princess, Aoki-san and Takata-chan."

"Understood.. Hey. Jiwon-san. Are you really not going to reply to her message?"

"We're busy. I could always do that later.."

Jiwon observed as the team finally took down the three rock wolves. All that's left was to clean the battlefield.

Jiwon brought up this mysterious UI. It was similar to his current status board, except the only thing on it was a chat box.

5 missed calls and a galore of spam messages.

Though his heart ached to know...

"No. This could be a trap. I don't know whose Unique Skill this is, I can't get a read.."

That was a lie.

It wasn't that he was afraid of this being some trickery. He was afraid because he didn't know how to face Laura.

After her death, he fell for Rika and had made a family in his past life. He broke his promise with her.

Then again.. though he wasn't a virgin in mind, he was a virgin in body in this current life wasn't he?

"This might be Creator-sama's doing.." Moirae muttered under her breath.

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"This is tiring.. how long has it been already? I'm hearing ding's over and over," Haru said, stretching his body and massaging his stiff shoulder muscles. The heavy shield wasn't really to his liking, it was difficult to do a shield bash with it.

And by 'dings', what he meant were the sounds of leveling up.

"Do you think our levels are high enough yet?" Kaito asked, assimilating the soul of the rock wolf. Everytime he assimilated a creature, he could choose among the many skills that the creature possessed to be added to his own.

In short, his Unique Skill which was initially thought to be the worst was in fact, the most overpowered in the group..

"I don't know, Sensei said we lost to the demon lord even with everyone here," Ishida said after drinking water from a canteen. He looked at the other students who were chatting idly among themselves.

That said.. not everyone was able to get along.

"Is nobody going to accompany Takata-san?" Haru asked worryingly.

"Got it," Kaito said with a sigh and got up.

"I didn't mean that you need to go.."

"Nah, it's alright. She's my friend so--"

Kaito came over to Sayu's side.

"Are you alright? Takata-chan?" he spoke to this classmate of his, Takata Sayu, the mage. This girl with a short bob hair cut was nibbling on a piece of fancy jerky.

"I'm good, what brings you here Aoki-san?"

"No reason," Kaito sat down beside her.

Sayu looked down to the ground.

Kaito snuck a glance at her-- she lowered her head and in a soft voice..

"Will we die?"

"Hm? Sorry, could you repeat, I didn't hear it clearly?"

"Nothing," Sensei's message rang in her head. He had said that they lost previously, which meant they died because of how weak they were, right?

"It's about the demon lord isn't it? I also don't really know if we're strong enough to fight the demon lord. Well, even if it's like that. I'm sure sensei has a plan. We're but side characters after all.."

"And side characters will die."

"No they won't… er.. actually, I don't know." Kaito took back his words and hung his head. He didn't know what he was saying. He didn't even know how to console this girl.

Sayu hugged her knees.

"Aoki-san, I'm scared of dying."

"Me too.. but we have no choice but to face it do we?"

"I have the worst Unique Skill among everyone don't I?"

"Oh come on, there might be some hidden effect to it, you just don't know yet?"

The reason why the two got along was because they were holders of some pretty useless Unique Skills-- in the beginning though. Their status changed when Kaito learnt of his skill's true worth-- but Kaito wasn't willing to abandon her just like that.

In Sayu's case.. her Unique Skill was [MultiCast]. It sounded powerful, but put into practice, it was a useless skill that allowed her to cast magic faster than normal people. What was the point of faster casting when her mana pool was just that small? Her MP was merely a value of 300. For someone at level 40, 300 was a very minute value.

Though, if Unkwon's [APPRAISAL] were used instead of the conventional [Appraisal], her MP value would be around 60. It was low.

"Then you just need someone to protect you right?" Kaito tilted his head.

"Jee, so you're going to take responsibility for this Sayu-chan then Aoki-san?" Sayu pouted.

"Maybe. We'll see about that."

"Meanie.." she turned away, blushing.

Kaito only shook his head.

"Aoki-sama," Alytia, the second Princess called out, "Come here for a moment."

"Your Highness, you can call me Kaito-san, I said it trice already."

"Then call me Alytia first."

"No way. I'll be killed if I did that."

Kaito got up and walked over to where Alytia was. Sayu watched their exchange and could only accept how she would slowly become ostracized from the rest.

She heard it from Siesta a while back. Those that didn't have much potential would be allowed the chance to live as a normal citizen in the empire. They may go register themselves as adventurers and venture out into the free world.

They would no longer have any direct affiliation to the kingdom anymore; they were not obliged to participate in the war.

It was great for both parties as it would save resources and allow freedom to those who struggle to keep up.

At least, that was how most people would think of it.

Sayu thought however..

To be suddenly tossed out from the castle, knowing nothing about the world-- that was scary. More so was that she had no close friend. Not only that, since she had the lowest level among them, the chances of her being kicked out to survive by herself was almost a hundred percent.

Initially she thought at least Aoki Kaito who understood what it meant to hold a useless Unique Skill-- that he too would also end up being kicked out-- at least had someone she could depend on.

Such a hope came crashing when she came to learn of his true strength.

"Takata-chan?"

"Hah?"

"Are you not coming?" Kaito asked.

"M-me?"

For some reason, he wanted Sayu to come along.

"O-okay," Sayu got up on her feet.

Alytia showed them a carving on the wall.

"You see this, it's a teleportation zone. Till now, there hasn't been anyone capable of activating it," Alytia pointed to the ground. There were runes that formed shallow dents on the ground. The rune drew a semi circle before being cut off, it looked as if the other half of the circle was on the other side of the wall.

"A teleportation stone? Are you sure? Wait, it's in Japanese.." Kaito noticed some text on the dungeon wall. This shouldn't be possible right?

"What's this.. it says to inject magic into these points at the same time to activate the 'trap'," Kaito said. The points were marked with a circle on the wall.

"Is that so?"

"We shouldn't touch it. It says very obviously that it's a trap," Sayu bit her lips.

"I agree," Alytia stood up from her crouching position.

"The weird thing is, who even built this?" Kaito scratched his head. This was made on purpose. Was it built by the previous cycle of heroes?

"What if there were some secrets if we activated it?" Alytia traced her fingers on another paragraph.

"It says here that there's a cheat equipment at the end if you can clear the 'trap'," Kaito read with a cautious voice.

"It might be beyond the current us for all we may know."

"If we need the same frequency to activate it.."

"Only an advanced mage could reach that sort of control." Alytia interjected.

"Ah, but Takata-chan has [MultiCast], there should be no problems right?"

"Eh?"

Alytia fell into thought.

"For now, it might be a little too early. We can come back to this when we get stronger then," Kaito, after sensing Alytia's indecision.

"Got it," Alytia said.

Sayu nodded her head.

And so they left the spot.