Creating History

Greg's desire for Victoria to join them in exploring the dungeon wasn't just a temporary excuse to change the subject.

As mentioned before, Victoria, being a Hero, possessed several extremely practical Divine Protections that could greatly enhance the efficiency and safety of dungeon exploration.

First was 【Unyielding Will】.

This Divine Protection allowed her to forcibly retain a final point of vitality when taking damage that exceeded her limits, granting a brief period of damage reduction. It was a life-saving skill for critical moments.

Next was 【Demon-Breaking Sharpness】. Her attacks had an additional penetration and destruction effect against most mana-based barriers, armor, or magical creatures, making her effective against enemies with high magic resistance or special shields.

Finally, there was a precious team-buffing Divine Protection—【Heroic Aura】. Centered on her, it could boost the attack power and mana regeneration speed of teammates within a small radius.

Most importantly, these Divine Protections were permanent passive effects, unlike Greg's own talents, which could only be activated in truly dangerous environments like the dungeon.

Bringing Victoria along was equivalent to bringing a mobile buff source and a specialist against specific types of enemies, which would immediately lower the difficulty of the exploration significantly.

"Mmm... Are we back underground already?"

Not long after the three of them stepped into the cold air and dim light of the dungeon, Nightmare's ethereal voice, tinged with a bit of lazy sleepiness, echoed in Greg's mind.

"Hey, what's with that tone?"

Greg immediately questioned her in his consciousness. "You sound like you just woke up."

Nightmare: "Indeed... I have only just awakened."

Greg: "Dammit! I specifically brought you along, you unreliable Hajimi, so you could help keep watch while I caught up on sleep! But you had it even better than me—you slept the whole way?! I was wondering why you were so quiet today, not popping up once to complain. It turns out something was indeed fishy! You weren't even awake!"

Nightmare's voice carried a rare hint of sheepishness: "This... is not entirely my fault. It is primarily because staying in your shadow... feels far too comfortable."

Logically, as the Goddess of Night, Nightmare did not need to engage in inefficient physiological activities like sleeping.

But for some reason, when she resided in Greg's shadow, she always felt an indescribable... warmth?

Or more accurately, a strange sense of stability and compatibility.

She couldn't exactly describe it herself, but she simply enjoyed being in there. As a result, that overly comfortable feeling had inadvertently caused her to fall into a state of deep meditative sleep until now.

Greg: "Fine, fine. You fell asleep and you're blaming my shadow for being too comfortable? I think you should change your title from Goddess of Night to Goddess of Excuses."

Banter aside, Greg didn't have time to keep bickering with this unreliable goddess cat.

They had already entered the active monster zone of the first layer, and the sounds of rustling and low growls from restless monsters began to drift from the surroundings.

Since these common monsters had respawned, it meant they had to clear the path to the second layer once again.

Nightmare, unusually, said nothing more.

Within Greg's shadow, she slowly closed her ghostly green eyes and concentrated her perception, deeply feeling the essence of Greg's shadow.

A moment later, she opened her eyes again, a trace of indiscernible dark light flashing deep within her emerald pupils.

As I thought...

Deep within his shadow, there truly was... a trace of my own aura.

Though it was extremely faint, almost merged with the shadow itself, it was undeniably a trace of my power...

But why?

In my memories, there are no records of him at all... only the interactions after my recent awakening.

Could it be...

A bold guess surfaced in Nightmare's heart: "Reincarnation?"

But she quickly dismissed the idea.

The hallmark of reincarnation was the rewinding and restarting of the timeline, where all traces would be reset or overwritten.

If it were because of reincarnation, then the trace of her aura on him should have dissipated as well. It certainly wouldn't still exist in his shadow like this.

Furthermore, the entities capable of interfering with time on a reincarnation level... were all still suppressed deep within another dungeon. It should be impossible for them to achieve this.

Then what exactly was going on?

Even as the Goddess of Night, Nightmare was now plunged into deep confusion and thought.

The appearance of this aura completely exceeded her current range of understanding.

Greg, naturally, was completely unaware of the turmoil in Nightmare's heart.

His attention was entirely focused on the monsters emerging from the passage ahead.

This time, they encountered a small pack of Rock-shell Lizards, levels ranging from LV20 to LV25. They were thick-skinned with high physical defense but moved relatively slowly and had average resistance to elemental magic.

"Victoria, straight ahead, three o'clock. The largest one—the connection between its eye socket and belly is the weak point! Charge up a 【Flame Spear】, but don't release it yet. Wait for my command!"

Greg quickly scanned the battlefield and immediately began directing.

His current feeling was quite strange, as if he had returned to his previous life, sitting in front of a computer and controlling game characters to clear a dungeon.

"Silvia, cast 【Light's Blessing】 on Victoria to boost her next spell's power. Then keep your distance and be ready with 【Heal】 or 【Dispel】 for any surprises."

"O-Okay!"

Silvia raised her hand, and soft white light condensed in her palm, quickly turning into a stream of light that entered Victoria's body.

【Light's Blessing】 took effect. Victoria felt the mana flowing more smoothly within her, and the power of her next spell received a tangible boost.

"Now, fire!"

Greg saw the moment a LV25 Rock-shell Lizard turned, exposing the vulnerable connection between its neck and belly, and gave the order decisively.

"Hah!"

Victoria released the 【Flame Spear】 she had been holding!

The orange-red spear, enhanced by the charge and the buff, didn't just fly straight at the target. It curved slightly in a small arc, accurately striking the weak point Greg had indicated!

Boom—!

The scorching flames were accompanied by the sound of a dull explosion.

The largest Rock-shell Lizard let out a pained hiss. Under the combined effect of the precise weak point strike and the 【Demon-Breaking Sharpness】 protection, its thick rock shell was blasted open, and searing flames poured into its body.

Its massive frame wobbled twice before crashing to the ground, its life force extinguished.

Seeing this, the smaller Rock-shell Lizards nearby immediately fled in a panic.

"That's it?"

Victoria looked at the fallen monster in surprise.

She remembered that these Rock-shell Lizards had very high defense. In the past, if she had faced one alone, it would have taken a lot of effort even if she could win.

But this time, under Greg's precise instructions and Silvia's timely support, she had taken down the most troublesome one in a single blow.

And...

Her gaze quietly drifted to her friend Silvia beside her.

She remembered that in the past, when facing fierce beasts in their village or training dummies when they first entered the academy, Silvia would always seem a bit nervous and clumsy.

But now, in the truly dangerous dungeon, facing a hideous monster, Silvia appeared exceptionally calm. Her casting movements were smooth and accurate, and her eyes were focused.

Moreover, the effect of the 【Light's Blessing】 she cast seemed significantly stronger than what she remembered from academy practice.

That sense of warm, firm power was very obvious.

Has Silvia... grown this much without me noticing?

She's almost surpassing me.

A subtle sense of urgency and competitiveness flashed through Victoria's heart.

But she quickly shook her head, suppressing the thought for now, and turned her gaze toward the blonde boy behind her who had been standing with his arms crossed.

"Hey! You lazy bum!"

Victoria shouted dissatisfiedly, her gray eyes glaring at Greg.

"You were the one who invited me to explore the dungeon, right? So why haven't you made a single move yourself! You're just standing in the back talking? What is the meaning of this!"

"Little Gray, I see you don't understand at all."

Greg was indeed slacking off.

On one hand, clearing these LV20 monsters provided very little experience for him at LV29; the efficiency was low.

On the other hand, he truly enjoyed this feeling of commanding from the wings, as if he were playing a 5D version of a game. Furthermore, his teammates were the original protagonist and the poster girl—this experience was quite unique.

However, even though he was called out, he showed no shame, saying righteously: "I have my reasons for doing this. Haven't you noticed that your level is rising very quickly?"

At Greg's reminder, Victoria suddenly remembered and immediately checked her current level.

LV22!

She remembered clearly that before entering the dungeon, she had only just broken through to LV20.

And in just over an hour of combat, she had actually gained two levels!

This kind of soaring speed was simply unimaginable in the routine study and practice at the academy!

"No wonder... Silvia has become so much stronger. It's all because she followed Greg into the dungeon last time and went through this kind of real combat!"

Once she realized this, Victoria's dissatisfaction with Greg's slacking vanished instantly, replaced by the excitement and eagerness of having discovered a secret to rapid leveling.

Her gray eyes lit up, her previous fatigue swept away. She even looked toward the depths of the passage, her tone carrying a clear note of challenge:

"Is this all the dungeon has to offer? Can't you turn up the intensity a bit?!"

Greg looked at the gray-haired Hero, who had suddenly become full of energy and was even asking for a beating. His mouth twitched imperceptibly.

As expected of you, Little Gray. This drive to seek death...

Immediately, a mischievous smile slowly surfaced in his heart.

Since you've said so yourself, you can't blame me when you're suffering in the second layer later~

He could already envision the scene of Victoria being overwhelmed by the special mechanics of the monsters in the second layer, screaming, "Greg, you bastard, why didn't you say so earlier!"

Afterward, the three continued down the dim passage.

They cleared a few more waves of stray monsters that came their way and finally arrived at the entrance to the second layer—the boss room where Greg had previously defeated Lady Eight-Legs.

It was the first time Victoria and Silvia had set foot here.

When they followed Greg into the cave, the sight before them caused both of them to stop in their tracks, their breath hitching slightly.

The cave was terrifyingly vast. Looking up, the ceiling was lost in deep darkness.

The most shocking part was the crisscrossing giant spider webs. They were not the creations of ordinary spiders; each thread was as thick as a finger and glowed with an ominous gray-white luster. They densely covered more than half of the cave walls and ceiling like countless hanging, pale shrouds, shimmering silently in the light from an unknown source.

Dried remains of prey were still stuck to some of the webs.

The air was thick with a faint, fishy scent, adding to the oppressive atmosphere.

But Greg was accustomed to the sight. He didn't stop to admire or comment. His gaze quickly swept over the familiar cave, and he walked straight toward a corner deep in the cave that was completely obscured by a wall of webbing.

"Follow me."

He gave an instruction without looking back.

Standing before the web wall, Greg raised his right hand. With a soft "pfft," a fireball the size of a fist instantly formed.

With a flick of his wrist, the fireball traced an arc and struck the thick, gray-white web precisely.

Sizzle—!

As the flames made contact with the sticky and resilient silk, they immediately flared brighter, accompanied by a pungent burnt smell.

The seemingly tough webs quickly curled, melted, and snapped under the continuous heat of the flames, revealing a dark passage leading downward.

The outline of stairs flickered in the firelight, leading into a deeper darkness.

Greg waved his hand to disperse the remaining smoke and hot air, then stepped aside and gestured to his two companions, who were still a bit stunned.

"Well then, let's go."

Before this, due to the high-reward search request posted by Catherine and the news of Lady Eight-Legs' defeat spreading through the academy, some students' adventurous spirits had indeed been briefly ignited, and they had tried to explore deeper into the dungeon.

However, the students' courage and curiosity about the unknown were often fleeting in the absence of clear gains and safety guarantees.

When they personally felt the harshness of the dungeon environment and compared the small rewards of their shallow explorations with the potential risks, the vast majority eventually made the rational choice to give up.

Therefore, as Greg took the lead, stepping into the passage scorched open by the flames and heading down the stairs into the deeper darkness, Victoria and Silvia, following close behind, clearly realized—the three of them were currently creating history.

They would be the first student team in the recorded history of Glory Cael Academy to step into the second layer of the Academy Dungeon.

This realization couldn't help but make the two of them feel a bit nervous.

However, that nervousness lasted only a brief moment.

Ahead, Greg's back, illuminated by the flickering firelight, was upright and steady.

There was not the slightest hesitation in his step. That extraordinary composure and certainty were like a stone thrown into a lake, instantly suppressing all ripples of unease.

Silvia and Victoria exchanged another glance, both seeing a similar resolve in each other's eyes.

They took a deep breath, exhaling the last bit of hesitation, and stepped forward firmly, following closely behind the light that was leading them into the darkness.