World's Fastest Level up!

The next day after I accepted the request for a joint capture from Claire, I came to a new dungeon that appeared in the suburb a little away from the center of the city.

Although there is a residential area not far from here, there were no ordinary people near the dungeon. This was because just like when the Isolated Demon Tower appeared, besides those who have permission, it is forbidden to enter or even approach the area because it is still unknown how dangerous the newly appeared dungeon will be.

Instead, eight people stood in front of the dungeon, wearing proper equipment on their entire body, such as armor or robes.

"As expected of an A-rank party. Their aura is different."

Seeing them, I muttered like that and recalled something that I heard from Claire yesterday.

When a party is going to challenge a newly appeared dungeon for the first time, the difficulty of the dungeon will be checked in advance by placing a special device inside the gate to measure the magic power accumulated in the said dungeon. Thereupon, it will be possible to predict the difficulty to some extent.

Through this process, new dungeons can be roughly divided into two categories, which is C-rank and lower or B-rank and higher. Even in the case of C-rank and lower, for safety reasons, a party with experience in capturing B-rank dungeons will be the one in charge of capturing it for the first time in most cases. And when it comes to a B-rank and higher, an A-rank party, which is quite rare in Japan, will be the one in charge of capturing it.

From the result of the measurement, they discovered that the new dungeon that appeared this time was said to require at least level 10,000 to capture. Because that was a level equivalent to a B-rank dungeon, Yoizuki decided to put their sole A-rank party in charge of this dungeon. Incidentally, because Claire was an S-rank by herself, she didn't come here today as she seems to be on another mission, which is a shame since to be honest, I wanted to capture a dungeon together with her the most.

At any rate, everyone here were overwhelmingly strong people who are in the top 1% of active adventurers. If it was only in terms of level, I would be the most inferior here, so, I have to brace myself.

While thinking along those lines, I met someone that I knew on the way. He is Yagami, the person who takes me and Claire to the Yoizuki guild's headquarters. In addition, according to Claire, he is the leader of this party. Looks like he wasn't just a driver.

Anyway, first of all, greetings.

"I'm Amane, best regards."

"… tch, you really came."

However, the reply that came to me was just a click of the tongue. What's the problem with this guy?

No, looking back, I remember that he was having the similar reaction as now when we met for the first time. Although I don't know the reason, apparently, I am hated by him.

When I look around, other than Yagami, everyone in the party seems to look at me with interest. Although they definitely have heard from the guild master in advance about my participation, they seem to be skeptical about the participation of young people like me in a dungeon capture of this rank.

… Well, of course they would be having that kind of reaction. Because even I would do the same if I was in their standpoint. I do feel a little bad but, let's have them bear with me for a while.

When I was having that thought, Yagami said in an irritated tone.

"Let me say this in advance. We only let you in because we don't have a choice as the guild master told us to. So, don't participate in the battle and just stay in the rear. That's our condition to take you in. If you can't do this, we will leave you here."

"I know."

Since it was the same condition as I heard yesterday, I nodded. Even I don't have any intention to butt in and break the party's coordination after all. Or rather, if I do that, I won't be able to fulfill my original purpose, which is seeing their abilities.

At any rate, after finishing the final checks, we finally entered the dungeon, with Yagami as the leader in the lead and us following him one by one. Of course, I will be the last one.

And here, while looking at them entering the dungeon, I suddenly thought.

"Now… I wonder how long this capture will take"

In a newly appeared dungeon, the location of the stairs leading to the lower floor is unknown, and it is necessary to pay more attention to the monsters that appear and also the traps. Thus, the required time to capture this dungeon will be several times longer than usual. And when it comes to a B-rank dungeon, it will take at least one day to capture.

…. Just in case, I have told Hana about this, thinking I might not be able to come home today. Then, like when I went to the Isolated Demon Tower, with a smile, Hana said "… Of course, it's not like you are going to stay with your girlfriend, right, Onii-chan? Fufufu"

I don't know why, but at that time, I felt like chills went down my spine. Even though it was supposed to be a smile, I felt terrified of that smile. I wonder what on earth was that…

Like that, while I was having that kind of unrelated thought, it was finally my turn to enter. Since I was in the middle of intermission, of course, I'm not going through the gate–

"Transfer Within Dungeon!"

–But I will use my skill to get inside. And in front of me, there were the eight people who entered before me.

"…..?"

However, I wonder if this is just my imagination, but, the moment I stepped into the dungeon, an uncomfortable feeling assaulted me.