Chapter 11: A-rank Dungeon

Elisa sat in her bathroom tub, which she had filled with warm water. Her body still ached from her fight, but the water was really nice after having been out in the cold for so long. Though they were still on break, they had a trip scheduled. On Friday, they were told they would be going into a dungeon. Aside from that, she had no specific plans for the week. She would spend most of that free time training. Whenever Elisa could find her, she'd ask Sylia to spar with her. So far, they'd had a total of 50 matches, and all 50 wins had gone to Sylia, but before they could go for round 51, Gramps found her and dragged her back to her dorm to rest, scolding her the entire way back, something about how she needs to give her body time to heal. Slyia was a lot better than Elisa had assumed. The girl was incredibly strong and fast, but she was also tough. Elisa's blade wasn't capable of piercing through her skin, though when that happened, it was an accident, not like she was purposely trying to sever her friend's arm. Aside from doing nothing, she still had her dual ego class. Gramps had them continue to train using their Ego while under suppression until they were comfortable using it as they normally would.

"Once you have gotten used to drawing your Ego while under suppression, you'll notice the difference when not under suppression. We will move on to combat training once the break ends. After that, we'll go back to suppression." Gramps left them with that; this time, they were to stay until the fourth ring from the clock tower. Sylia progressed smoothly, drawing on her Egos as if it were nothing, so she slacked off when Gramps wasn't here, which consisted of lying on the bench and sleeping. Elisa was to wake her before they left. Lucas and Elisa were slowly getting there. Lucas had switched from using his water Ego to his second Ego, teleportation. His objective was to be able to teleport himself first and then try again with the training dummy. Elisa was also supposed to train her second Ego today, but Gramps told her not to worry about it and just focus on her lightning. Since he knew what her second Ego was, he must be encouraging her to try to master her first Ego. As she drew on the electricity, her mind wandered. Every night since she got back, she tried drawing her Irokomi again; she's made very little progress, but the results were always the same. She's able to grip the handle now, and that's it. Her hand would shake, her heart would beat faster, and fear would swallow her every time, forcing her to let go before it became too much. Why was she able to draw it then, but not now? This question would lurk in the back of her mind.

Soon enough, the day of the dungeon trip came. Only those who had been enrolled in the "Dungeon Hunter" course were going, and of the people here, she only recognized Dan. The dungeon trip was being led by the Dungeon Hunter Professor and an S-Rank hunter, who turned out to be Professor Ferno, or was it Mentor Ferno now? They set out once everyone was here. They were to head into a newly broken dungeon underneath a mountain north of Yu'rein. The dungeon was pretty far from the academy, which meant they would have to use a car. From what she had recently learned, cars were only used by a select few groups within each empire, including the government and the super-rich. The academy had a bus, allowing all the students to sit comfortably for the duration of the way there. "How do you think this is gonna go?" Dan seemed nervous; she couldn't blame him. This was probably all their first time in a dungeon. "We'll do fine, plus we got an S-rank with us; the chances of something going wrong are very, very slim," Elisa reassured him, but to be honest, she was also pretty nervous. But not super nervous, thanks to that quest, she has a little experience with real battle, though against monsters, battle experience against other humans wasn't very reliable. Based on what the prof said, this dungeon was a boss type, meaning they just had to get rid of the boss, and they'd be done.

By the time they arrived, the sun was high, and they all stood before the massive entrance into the cavernous dungeon. The Prof and Ferno stood at the front as everyone got ready. "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE!" The prof shouted, "We will be heading into the dungeon shortly. Please stick close and don't wander off alone, as this is an A-rank dungeon. This is merely an observation. You will be given the chance to show off a little, only if it's deemed safe by the hunter," He explained the rules thoroughly. Elisa had brought both her blades with her just in case, in the very off chance she needs to, she'll force her hand to draw the second blade. They entered the dull-looking cave, and upon entering, they were ambushed by rock golems. The Professor let some of the students try their hand at fighting them; two of them wielded swords, while the third wielded a book, a "grimoire," which is what she vaguely remembers them being referred to as in one of her other classes. This went on as they progressed through the dungeon; whenever the prof deemed it all right, he would let some students fight. Elisa stayed behind as she didn't want to go around smacking her precious blades on some rock monsters; on the other hand, Dan went at it, showing off his impressive firepower. At some points, the Prof himself stepped in and took care of the rocks; she guessed he was preserving Fernos' strength for the boss.

She could probably beat these things by overloading them with Varlant energy or using her Ego. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two students had slipped away; she just barely saw one of them turning a corner... yeah, there was no way she was gonna miss whatever that was. Elisa slowly drifted away from the group until she managed to round the same corner the two others had, just in time as they continued further down. The turn they took led deeper into the cave, and Elisa carefully followed them down. They were whispering to each other about something, but Elisa was obviously too far to hear. They eventually reached a large door, a....hidden dungeon! Right, she managed to remember its name. The taller student reached into his pocket to grab something, but stopped as the stone doors pulled back, revealing the way forward. Elisa stayed hidden behind a rock as the two stood in front of the door talking, arguing? Their voices were much louder now. Elisa risked glancing over the side of the rock to see that the two were still deep in argument, but above the door, attached to the frame, was a moving dial. A timer.

She really wanted to know what was in the hidden dungeon, so she did the only reasonable thing. Focusing her Lightning ego into her feet, she swiftly got into a running position, catching the attention of the bickering duo. Elisa launched herself with all her might, barreling into the girl as they flew through the closing door. The taller guy noticed and ran in. The hidden chamber was much smaller than the one they were just in, no more hiding spaces, not like it'd help after what she had done. Elisa winces as the girl pushes herself off, her body still aching from before, though it wasn't as bad as a few days ago. "Are you stupid!" the girl yelled at her, if anything they should be thanking her. The taller guy pulled her back, "The door was running on a timer; if she hadn't done that, then we all would still be out there. The girl clicked her tongue and looked away. During all the chaos, she didn't feel it; she did now. The taller man pulled out a gun and aimed it at the person next to Elisa. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked the Grandmaster. Elisa's eyes warily scanned his face. He was smiling. And his eyes were crimson. She got up and brushed herself off, carefully moving away from him. They are on the same side, but what happened during the entrance exam still has her on edge, though she doesn't notice that her right arm shook ever so slightly. She had a feeling this whole thing wasn't gonna end well.