When Chaotic Individuals Gather, Chaos Ensues (1)

(3rd Person POV)

At the other side of the forest, a group of three girls are gathered together, all of them still wearing their beginner's armor and clothing. Since they're all already level 10 and above, the three of them; Kaede, Rikka, and Satania, proceeded to explore the deeper parts of the forest.

Their in game names are; Maple, Snowflake, and Queen.

During their expedition, the three once again encountered the Giant Queen Bee that Maple killed earlier this morning. Since they didn't know if only one person needed to acquire the skill [Poison Resist(L)] or if all of them needed to acquire it, Queen and Snowflake tried out what Maple did.

Since they have a lot of Potions in their inventory, the two persevered and managed to gain [Poison Resist(M)]. Once they were done with that part, an angered Queen blasted the poor Giant Queen Bee, along with Rikka's throwing weapons.

"Phew! That goo was disgusting! To think that this Satanichia, a Great Archdemon, had to endure such tortuous experience to gain one skill! I'll burn every poisonous creature I meet from now on!"

"That was real painful. Good thing I turned off the pain receptors in my settings in time…"

While Queen and Snowflake are talking amongst themselves, they didn't notice Maple wander off on her own. They only noticed her disappearance when she sent them a message telling them that she found a dungeon.

Curious about this said dungeon, the two went even deeper inside the forest. As they pressed on, the trees they encountered were progressively more withered while the ground was cracked and dry. The landscape felt increasingly desolate.

The two of them even passed by a number of bubbling swamps. After ten more minutes, they came upon a rise in the land, like the ground had cracked open its jaws to swallow them whole.

There, they saw Maple standing in front of a dungeon's entrance while excitedly shouting something.

"A dungeon expedition! It's like I'm finally on a real adventure!"

"Oi, Maple. It's a good thing that you invited this Great Archdemon on such a thrilling adventure!"

"Huhu! My [Tyrant's Eye] will help me to squarely hit any targets we will face! I can see it, our success!"

Maple and the crew had spent all of their money on potions and mana potions, just in case. With Maple having to tank for them, the two rear guards are not in any immediate danger.

Since they all only had forty HP, the most basic potions were plenty enough to heal them all. Also, Rikka took the position of a support/healer so they're okay in that front.

After the three of them decided that they are all as ready as they'd ever be, they headed toward a dungeon they've read about on a forum—the Poison Dragon's Labyrinth

They didn't search for it intentionally but came across it accidentally but it all works out for them. Not like they'd care even if this is a dungeon with a level 100 dragon.

"We've got Poison Resist (M), so we should be fine!"

"Ha! That measly dragon or whatever better not stand in this Queen of Hell's way or I'll blast him with my scorching flames!"

"Don't worry Maple, we will surely clear this dungeon. I can see it!"

With that, they set off and immediately traveled to inside the cave that will lead them to their very first dungeon crawl. All of them are beaming with excitement, ready to receive whatever this dungeon may throw at them.

If this wasn't a game and they weren't carrying a their weapons and shields and staves, a casual observer might have assumed that they were on their way to a picnic.

As they ventured deeper inside the dungeon, some noxious-colored slimes and lizards came slithering along the ground and walls, threatening to swarm them.

"Hah! Take that!"

Maple stabbed a slime, but the core inside the gelatinous creature kept shifting around. Unable to land a clean hit, her attacks did no damage.

But no matter how much the slime tackled her, it couldn't deal any damage, either.

Right behind her, Satania, who have the username of Queen in this game, is having the time of her life blasting the poor lizards and insects to pieces.

"Fufufu… A-Hahahaha! Burn! Burn from the flames of Hell!"

"Queen-san, please manage your MP. At this rate, you'll have no more to spare when we arrive at the boss."

"I know! Just a few more and I will finally be satisfied!"

While Queen is having the time of her life, Maple is in a bit of a pinch.

"Hngg… this is getting me nowhere! How about this? "Shield Smash"!"

Maple raised her shield up and promptly fell directly on top of the slime, crushing it beneath her. This wasn't a real skill or anything, so there wasn't much power behind the move, and dropping to the ground right in front of her opponent left her badly exposed.

But however exposed she was, none of the monsters had any attacks or poisons that did Maple the slightest harm, so she wasn't worried. Also, her party members are there to provide her support.

The shield's impact didn't do much damage, but it was enough to crush the slime's core—exactly what she needed to kill them.

Slimes turned out to be the perfect prey for her.

It took the three of them a few minutes before they all managed to kill off all of the monsters around the vicinity. Queen and Snowflake took care of the lizards and insects while Maple took care of the slimes.

"Okay! Let's dive deeper!"

"Ha! I want to see which boss wants to square off against me!"

"I'll provide support if needed! My [Tyrant's Eye] is always there to see which of you needs help!"

Once they were all ready, the whole party kept going deeper. Given that it was a poison-themed dungeon, it was only natural for there to be all sorts of poisonous monsters… and traps.

Eventually, they finally reached a wide-open area. After squeezing through narrow passages, the three instantly felt liberated.

"Phew! That was really such a bad passageway. Isn't a dragon living here? Why is it so narrow?"

"Ask the idiot developers Queen-san. Who knows? It might be instead called the 'Poison Dragon's Prison' or something."

As the two are letting out a few of their complaints on the developers, Maple is busy poking the small purple flowers swaying side to side nearby.

"These are so cute… I wonder if they're an item? Can I take them with me?"

In response to her poking the purple flower, it suddenly balled up like a bud and released a purple mist. This seemed to cause a chain reaction as all the flowers did the same thing.

The mist was clearly poisonous.

"Whoa?!" Maple yelped. The whole room was becoming more purple by the minute. She got up and ran away towards Queen and Snowflake.

"What did you touch again, Maple!?" Snowflake shouted as she ran towards the next corridor.

"She just poked a suspicious looking flower!" Queen replied while also sprinting towards the next corridor to escape the poisonous mist.

"Hehee, sorry guys! Now that I think about it… I guess it makes sense that there would be traps."

"What do you mean 'it would make sense'!? It's clearly poisonous, you know!?"

It looks like Snowflake was really quite mad about the earlier incident still.

"Sorry sorry, it was my bad~."

Seeing Maple smile foolishly while apologizing, Snowflake could only sigh. She's not in any position to reprimand her, anyway.

Once they settled down, the whole party started walking again. However, what they encountered next was an open room containing a swamp that was clearly bad news. Some sort of gas was bubbling up from its murky depths.

"That's obviously poisonous. You can't fool me this time!"

With Maple's shout, the group decided to move past it. Just as they are passing by, something flew out of the swamp and scored a clean hit on the back of Maple's head who was leading the way!

"Augh! Wh-what was that?!"

"It's a flying fish that jumped out of the poisonous swamp!"

At Queen's prompting, Maple and Snowflake found what looked like a flying fish hopping around Maple's feet.

"I-is this…?"

They glanced back at the poisonous swamp. This time they clearly spotted a fish hopping out of it.

"That almost gave me a heart attack…," she groaned, carefully smashing the fish at her feet with her shield.

Queen didn't leave the fish alone as she blasted it with her fireball while Snowflake threw a shuriken at the other one that jumped out of the swamp.

Avoiding monsters and traps while having a good time with all the slimes, lizards, and insects that they encountered, the party finally reached the end of the dungeon. The double doors in front of them were three times their height.

To open the door, the had to push simultaneously as a team. The unoiled hinges let out a shrill screech as they parted to reveal the room beyond.

There were many patches of poison marsh dotting the ground, and the air itself was tinted purple.

"Should we enter?"

"Ha! Do you think I, Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell, am scared of anything Maple!? Follow me!"

"Be careful, the door—"

As they stepped inside with Queen on the lead…

…the doors slammed shut behind them.

"Eep?!"

"—automatically closes when we enter it…"

The sound of Queen and Maple's yelp, and Snowflake's explanation was drowned out by the resounding roar of a dragon that is rising from the swamp.

This wasn't just your run-of-the-mill dragon. Its rotting, fetid flesh sloughed away, revealing the bones underneath.

The monster had three long necks. Several eyes were missing, leaving only gaping holes.

When the dragon roared, it belched purple mist. The undead dragon from the poison swamp was far more intimidating than any monsters they'd met on the way.

"Th-this is the poison dragon?!"

"Is this the Hydra that the [Group Chat] gave us a quest about? I can feel it, my [Tyrant's Eye] is telling me to slay it!"

"Hehehe… Fufufufu… FuHahaha! Finally, finally! I can now slay a dragon with my own two hands!"

As the three showed varying reactions, the dragon once again roared at them, indicating that it doesn't have any plan on giving them any warm welcome.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ Welp, that's a wrap for now. Let's see what I can do to spice this battle up.

※ Rikka doesn't have many moments since she's decided to go for a support build. No need to worry though. During the next quest, she'll be doing a different build from the support one.