The three of them slowly descended through the narrow entrance, and after walking for a long distance, they discovered an astonishing underground world.
They stood on a path at the edge of a cliff, below their feet a bottomless void.
A giant waterfall cascaded down from above the cavern, jagged stalactites hung upside down from the stone walls, and glowing mushrooms emitted a faint light, adding a gentle glow to the darkness of the labyrinth.
“Is this a dungeon?”
Alice gazed at the scene before her, unable to hide her awe. She looked left and right, curiosity written all over her face.
“So beautiful…”
“Yes, this is what dungeons are like.”
In contrast, Field seemed calm. Although it was her first time entering the Nasca Labyrinth, she had followed royal elders into other labyrinths before.
“Each dungeon presents a different environment depending on the elements within it.”
“It’s truly a masterpiece of nature.”
Liakade nodded in agreement.
After entering the dungeon, she, too, felt a bit excited.
Such scenery was rare before Liakade crossed over.
Even though she had explored many dungeons in games, seeing them in reality was completely different.
The Nasca Labyrinth was abundant in Water and Shadow Elements, and most of the naturally occurring monsters within were either water-attribute or shadow-attribute.
“Be careful not to fall.”
Liakade walked along the path, reminding the other two.
“Hehe, it’s fine! Miss Liakade can fly, right? Even if we fall, Miss Liakade will save us!”
Alice giggled, turning her head to look at Liakade.
“Of course, but don’t make me work too hard.”
Liakade replied helplessly.
Just then, a blue Slime about half a meter tall, translucent and bouncy, hopped out from the side. It didn’t seem aggressive at all.
“Such a cute Slime!”
Seeing this, Alice walked over, leaned down, and stroked the Slime’s smooth surface.
However, the moment Alice touched the Slime, its surface suddenly secreted a layer of slime, and a thin blue stream of water sprayed at Alice, drenching her.
“Uwah!”
Startled, Alice jumped back several steps, rubbing her eyes, feeling completely soaked.
Her originally white uniform had become somewhat transparent and clung to her body, making her curves more visible, with even the outline of her underwear faintly showing.
“Pfft… Hahahaha! Serves you right for touching things you shouldn’t!”
Seeing Alice drenched from head to toe, Liakade laughed gleefully.
But she still grabbed Alice’s hand to keep her from stumbling.
Liakade couldn’t help but tease, “So it’s still white, huh? Really suits Alice-chan’s style. Thanks for the treat!”
“Miss Liakade… Stop looking!”
“Alice, how can you be as careless as Liakade? Sigh.”
Field sighed helplessly, then drew the sword at her waist and with a light swing, sliced the blue Slime in two.
The jelly-like Slime split into two puddles of slime on the ground, unmoving.
“Hey! I can’t just ignore that comment!”
Liakade puffed her cheeks and glared at Field.
“I wouldn’t go around touching monsters on the road!”
“So sticky…”
Alice muttered weakly as she wiped the slime from her face.
“Haha, that’s what you get for touching things! Even if this guy’s level is low, that doesn’t mean it’s harmless.”
Liakade took out a handkerchief and laughed as she helped Alice wipe her hair and face.
Alice also tried to use her Light Element’s purification ability to clean off the slime.
After expending some magic, it felt less sticky, but still damp.
“Let’s move ahead a bit and find a safer place to rest. I’ll help dry you off.”
Field looked around and suggested.
After all, this path was right by a cliff. Camping here was too dangerous. It was better to move forward and find a larger platform for safety.
“Uuu… I’m sorry for holding everyone up. We just entered the labyrinth and already need to take a break…”
Alice apologized to the two of them, a little dejected.
“I’ll never touch a Slime again…”
To be honest, when that blue Slime appeared, Alice had already used Detection Magic to check its level.
It was only LV.3, and Slimes were marked as almost entirely harmless in the academy’s textbooks, even weaker than Goblins.
That’s why Alice dared to touch it.
And even if this Slime turned out to be special and attacked, with Alice’s current Healing Ability, she could heal even broken bones quickly—though something like regenerating a lost limb was still out of reach.
“It’s fine. We said earlier this is like a field trip, right? No big deal.”
Liakade comforted Alice, looking unconcerned.
Liakade and Field felt the same. They judged that the blue Slime posed no real threat to Alice, so they hadn’t stopped her from touching it.
If they had sensed danger, they would have slain it immediately.
The three of them chatted and laughed, as if they were really on a journey, completely unconcerned about the dangers of the dungeon.
Not far behind them, hidden behind a stone pillar, Anatoli and his group secretly followed Liakade’s party, observing their actions and feeling even more certain of their own thoughts.
Although they were students of the Royal Magic Academy and had a Princess in their group, they didn’t realize how dangerous the dungeon was and lacked the strength to explore it with just three people.
They only acted after being attacked.
Therefore, Anatoli was even more determined to follow them.
He believed Liakade’s group would soon encounter danger, and then he could appear suddenly, rescue them, and play the hero.
Liakade’s group continued deeper.
They were still on the first floor of the Nasca Labyrinth, where most monsters were below LV.10, and most were harmless beings like the blue Slime from before.
Since Alice was the least experienced in real combat among them, Liakade and Field left all the battles on the first floor to Alice, both to train her combat ability and to help her gain more experience.
The most aggressive monsters on the first floor were the Water Elementals that occasionally appeared from the nearby river.
Formed from Water Elements, they had almost no intelligence, looked like water droplets, and when humans approached, they would rise from the river and spray water at them.
When a Water Elemental suddenly appeared, Alice was startled, but she quickly recalled what she had learned, identified the monster type, blocked the water with a Light Element shield, then flicked her fingers to launch a light orb that easily defeated the Water Elemental, turning it into a puddle that flowed back into the river.
After that, Alice became cautious of the streams nearby, using the Light Element to sense elemental fluctuations in the water.
Any Water Elemental that emerged was quickly destroyed as soon as it surfaced.
Anatoli’s group, following behind, witnessed this scene as well.
But defeating Water Elementals wasn’t anything special.
On the contrary, judging from Alice’s strength, they concluded the other two were of similar strength, and were even more certain that Liakade’s party couldn’t possibly explore the dungeon successfully.
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