Team 2 POV

Inside the dungeon, Grace led her team forward with confidence. The air was scorching—each breath felt like fire searing her lungs, and sweat clung to her skin.

The environment alone made it difficult to move any further; at this rate, they would faint before they even got the chance to fight.

Realizing the situation, Grace—who had naturally taken the lead—spoke up.

"Selena, Amy, can you use your water and wind affinities to cool us off before we get into any real fights?"

Both girls nodded. With the temperature this high, staying in good condition before battle was crucial.

With their plan set, they quickly went to work. Selena conjured four orbs of water, while Amy mirrored her, summoning four orbs of air.

Selena began first, moving one orb until it hovered above the team. Tiny droplets of water formed and floated around them, glistening faintly.

Then it was Amy's turn. She directed a wind orb over the droplets and, using the techniques she learned from Professor Seraphim, released a gentle breeze that carried the droplets through the air. The soft mist cooled them almost instantly.

Feeling refreshed, they continued down the molten path that stretched deeper into the dungeon.

Eventually, they came across trees that were nothing but blackened husks—burned down to the roots. The bark was dark like charcoal, with small flames still clinging stubbornly to the surface.

Among the charred remains slithered lava serpents. The creatures hissed, sensing intruders trespassing on their territory.

There were about twenty of them. Each serpent was as long as a horse-drawn carriage, their scales glowing like molten coal, with lava-like drool dripping from their fanged mouths. All were lower D-ranked monsters—but still dangerous in groups.

The serpents lunged all at once.

Grace faced four of them, each one aiming to tear into her limbs. Reacting quickly, she stepped back and enveloped herself in a swirling barrier of wind. Then, focusing her mana, she conjured four arrows made of condensed air.

Each arrow shot forward with a sharp whoosh, piercing through the serpents' bodies. The moment they struck, the serpents convulsed—then went still. Their inner fire dimmed and burned out, leaving behind only brittle, coal-like husks that crumbled to ash.

Selena faced her own four serpents but decided to conserve her energy. She formed four water orbs around her and launched them in rapid succession.

The moment the water struck the serpents, steam hissed through the air as their flames extinguished. Their glowing bodies hardened and cracked apart, collapsing into the scorched ground.

Amy faced her attackers head-on. As the serpents lunged, she conjured four massive boulders from the ground and hurled them forward. The impact crushed the serpents with brutal precision, reducing them to lifeless heaps of smoking stone.

Ivy, on the other hand, was surrounded. The serpents circled her like vultures closing in on prey.

Without hesitation, flames burst to life around her body. One serpent tried to wrap around her, but she ducked low, grabbed its midsection, and swung it like a whip—slamming it into two others and breaking their formation.

She then conjured three flaming spears—each larger than a normal one—and hurled them in one smooth motion. The fiery weapons impaled the serpents cleanly through their bodies, killing them instantly.

Their remains turned to cracked lumps of charcoal as they fell. Ivy didn't even pause to celebrate; she simply continued walking deeper into the dungeon.

Brad Pitt had his own set to deal with. When two serpents lunged at him, he encased his arms in hardened earth, forming thick gauntlets. He caught both serpents mid-bite and crushed them effortlessly.

Before he could relax, two more lunged at him from behind. Reacting instinctively, he released a surge of wind from his body that blasted them away.

He dashed forward—his hulking frame moving with surprising speed—and slammed his fist into one serpent's head, crushing it. In the same motion, he grabbed the other by its body, stretched it taut, and ripped it apart with brute strength.

When the last of the serpents fell, Grace glanced around at her team. They had handled the monsters with ease, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"They were weak—it was easy," she said, brushing the sweat from her brow.

Brad chuckled, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, too weak," he agreed. "But fun. Let's move—we've got a bet to win."

"We shouldn't let our guards down — who knows what might happen," Selena commented.

"Yeah, but still, it's good that we handled these serpents pretty easily, isn't it?" said Amy.

Selena didn't refute her statement, but she remained on guard. Just then, they all felt it — the sensation of being watched.

And right on cue, a hound lunged toward Amy from behind, completely catching her off guard. Selena noticed this and immediately launched a water spear at the hound.

The spear struck the hound's body, making it stagger before slamming onto the ground.

Everyone saw what happened and instantly became alert, realizing they were in a dire situation — they had been surrounded by a pack of Blazehounds.

They had assumed the monsters in the dungeon would fight them systematically, as if bound to their own biomes, but they failed to realize that a dungeon wasn't like a simulation.

Anything could happen at any moment — and they should always remain vigilant. Selena knew this, which was why she hadn't lowered her guard even for a moment.

The whole team was surrounded by fifteen Blazehounds. Even the one hit by Selena's water spear had shrugged off the attack and rejoined its pack.

Seeing how it had endured the strike, they realized it was a mid-stage D-rank monster, while the serpents they'd fought earlier were only lower-tier D-rank.

These hounds were canine-shaped monsters with cracked volcanic skin that glowed from within. Lava dripped from their jaws each time they growled.

Every step they took left molten footprints on the ground, showing how much heat their bodies generated.

Grace assessed the situation and quickly took charge as the leader, relaying instructions:

"Everyone, into formation! We're surrounded!" Grace shouted.

Everyone followed her command immediately. This was a real dungeon, not an artificial one — any injury they sustained here would be permanent.

The academy had a tendency to acquire dungeons. When it was founded, they built the facilities around existing dungeons to use them for student training.

The team huddled in a circle, covering each other's blind spots, facing the incoming hounds.

Two of the beasts lunged toward Amy and Ivy.

Both were already alert and reacted instantly. Amy used her affinity to create a large wall in front of the hounds, causing them to slam into it — but the wall cracked and shattered under the force.

The hounds shook their heads from the impact, momentarily dazed. Amy and Ivy seized the opportunity.

"Ivy, now!"

Ivy nodded, conjuring five arrows made of fire. Amy assisted by channeling her wind affinity — spiraling currents wrapped around the arrows, increasing their speed and penetration power.

Ivy launched the arrows at the hounds while they were still stunned. Two arrows pierced one hound's head, killing it instantly.

The other regained its senses faster and tried to dodge, but one arrow struck its leg, making it fall, while the remaining two impaled its body, leaving large holes that ended its life.

On the other side, six Blazehounds charged toward Selena, Grace, and Brad. One opened its mouth and released a breath of magma toward them.

Selena reacted immediately, conjuring a water wall in front of the attack. When the magma hit it, steam erupted in thick clouds.

But hidden behind the steam was not another fire attack — it was a massive boulder barreling toward them.

Selena quickly channeled her mana, raised her hand, and fired a bolt of lightning that shattered the boulder midair.

The others saw her display and leapt into action.

Brad encased himself in an armor of earth and charged forward like a tank. He slammed his muscular body into one hound, then grabbed another by the leg and smashed it into a third.

His efforts disrupted their charge, allowing only three hounds to break through toward Selena and Grace.

Brad decided to finish off the others quickly. He slammed his hands on the ground, causing spikes of earth to shoot up and impale three of the hounds, pinning them in place.

Though the spikes didn't kill them outright, they prevented the monsters from moving.

Taking advantage of this, Brad lifted a massive chunk of earth and channeled his fire affinity, encasing it in flames to boost its power. He then hurled it at the pinned hounds.

The flaming boulder slammed into them with crushing force, killing them instantly.

Meanwhile, Selena and Grace were fighting their own set of hounds.

They lunged, but the two women knew their affinities well and used them strategically.

Grace conjured a swirling vortex of wind in front of her and launched it at the hounds. Selena synchronized with her, creating multiple water orbs and firing them into the vortex.

The two attacks merged into a new move — a Water Vortex.

The charging hounds couldn't react in time and were caught in the spinning torrent.

They were shredded by the combined forces of wind and water, their fiery bodies extinguished, leaving behind only blackened husks that were blown away like dust.

Now, only seven hounds remained.

Brad raised his hands once more, creating earthen walls that trapped the remaining hounds in one area.

He nodded to the others, signaling that it was done, and they nodded back, ready to strike in unison.

Amy and Grace acted together, conjuring two wind vortexes that merged into a massive one, amplifying its destructive force.

At the same time, Ivy and Selena joined in. Selena formed another water vortex and used her second affinity — darkness.

A dark mass formed in her palm, morphing into an orb that she hurled toward the hounds. Upon impact, it exploded, cloaking the area in a veil of shadows, blinding the monsters.

Then, the vortexes struck.

The colossal Water Vortex tore through the area, breaking down Brad's earthen walls and sucking the hounds inside.

The Blazehounds were shredded in seconds, their molten bodies ripped apart by the torrent.

Steam filled the dungeon as the attacks subsided, leaving behind silence and victory.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"I told you all not to let your guards down," Selena said, exhaling deeply.

"You're right… I got complacent," Amy admitted.

"That was close," Ivy added.

"Yeah, if Selena hadn't acted as fast as she did, Amy might've been injured," Grace said.

"Well, that was fun though, wasn't it? We should do it again," Brad joked.

The others turned to glare at him with murderous eyes, shutting him up immediately.

But just as they relaxed, the ground began to shake violently.

They all felt it — something massive was approaching.

ROAR!!

The thunderous roar echoed through the dungeon, sending shivers down their spines as the tremors grew stronger.

Then they saw it.

A towering, beast-man-like monster emerged — its horns blazing with fire, its body massive and muscular, covered in molten fur and stone-like skin.

Each of its steps radiated volcanic force. In its hands, it wielded a massive axe wreathed in flames.

ROAR!!

It bellowed again and hurled the giant axe toward the team. The weapon spun through the air, surrounded by spiraling fire — as large as a carriage — aimed to behead them all in a single throw.

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