Greg's wish for Victoria to explore the dungeon with them was indeed not just a temporary excuse to change the subject.
As previously mentioned, as the Hero, Victoria possessed several extremely practical Divine Protections that could greatly boost the efficiency and safety of dungeon exploration.
First was 【Unyielding Will】.
This Divine Protection gave her a chance to forcefully retain her last point of Life Points when taking damage exceeding her limits, while briefly granting damage reduction—a god-tier survival skill at critical moments.
Next was 【Demon-Breaking Sharpness】; her attacks had extra penetration and destructive effects against most mana-formed barriers, armor, or magical creatures, effectively dealing with high magic resistance or special shields.
Finally, there was a precious team-buffing Divine Protection—【Heroic Aura】—which centered on her to boost teammates' attack power and mana recovery speed in a small area.
Most importantly, these Divine Protections were permanently active passives, unlike Greg's talent, 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 specialized attacker against specific enemy types, instantly reducing the exploration difficulty by quite a bit.
"Mm... have we returned underground already?"
Not long after the three stepped into the chilly air and dim light of the dungeon, Nightmare's ethereal voice, carrying a touch of lazy sleepiness, echoed in Greg's mind.
"Hey, what's with that tone?"
Greg immediately questioned in his mind, "Why does it sound like you just woke up?"
Nightmare: "Mm, I indeed... just woke up."
Greg: "Holy crap! I specifically brought you, this unreliable Hajimi, along out there so you could keep watch while I caught up on sleep! But look at you—you were even comfier than me, sleeping from start to finish?! I was wondering why you were so quiet today and didn't pop up to snark all day! Turns out when things are weird, something's up! You were never awake to begin with!"
A subtle hint of sheepishness rarely leaked into Nightmare's voice:
"This... actually, you cannot entirely blame me. It is mainly because staying in your shadow... felt far too comfortable."
Logically speaking, as the Goddess of Night, Nightmare had no need for an inefficient physiological activity like sleep.
Yet for some reason, whenever she rested inside Greg's shadow, she could always feel an indescribable... warmth?
Or more accurately, a strange sense of stability and harmony.
She couldn't describe it precisely herself either. In short, she simply enjoyed staying inside so much that she hadn't expected this overly comfortable feeling would unwittingly pull her into a deep meditation-like sleep state, sleeping all the way until now.
Greg: "Right, right, right. You fell asleep yourself and you're actually blaming my shadow for being too comfortable? I feel like you could change your title from goddess to entitled princess at this rate."
Complaints aside, Greg didn't have time to bicker with this unreliable goddess cat any longer.
Because they had already entered the activity zone of the monsters on the first layer of the dungeon, and rustling sounds and low growls of monsters beginning to stir started coming from all around.
Since these ordinary monsters had all respawned, it meant the path leading to the second layer needed to be cleared all over again.
Nightmare, too, was unusually silent.
Inside Greg's shadow, she slowly closed her eerie green eyes, focusing her perception to deeply sense the nature of Greg's shadow.
A moment later, she reopened her eyes, a faint, imperceptible dim light flashing deep within her emerald pupils.
Sure enough...
Deep within his shadow, there originally existed... a trace of my aura.
Although extremely faint and almost fused into one with the shadow itself, it was truly a trace of my power...
But why?
In my memories, there is clearly no record of him whatsoever... only our interactions after my recent awakening.
Could it be...
A bold guess surfaced in Nightmare's heart:
"Reincarnation?"
But soon, she dismissed the thought herself.
Because the characteristic of Reincarnation was the rewind and reset of the timeline, where all traces would be reset or overwritten.
If it were because of Reincarnation, then this wisp of her aura on his body should have naturally dissipated as well, rather than remaining in his shadow like it was right now.
Moreover, entities with the ability to interfere on the level of time Reincarnation... were still sealed deep within another dungeon right now, so it should be completely impossible for them to achieve this.
Then what on earth was going on?
Even Nightmare, a deity herself, sank into deep confusion and thought at this moment.
The appearance of this trace of aura completely exceeded her current realm of understanding.
And Greg, naturally, had no idea about the stormy waves tossing inside Nightmare's heart.
His attention was already entirely drawn to the monsters surging out of the corridor ahead.
This encounter was a small pack of Rock-shell Lizards, with levels between LV20 and LV25. Rough-skinned and thick-fleshed, their physical defense was quite high, but their movement was relatively slow and their resistance to elemental magic was average.
"Victoria, straight ahead, three o'clock direction—the largest one! The junction between its eye socket and belly is its weak point! Charge up 【Flame Spear】, but don't release it fully yet! Wait for my command!"
Greg swiftly scanned the battlefield and immediately began commanding.
His feeling at this moment was rather subtle, as if he had returned to his past life, sitting in front of a computer screen controlling a game character to clear a new raid.
"Silvia, cast 【Light's Blessing】 on Victoria to enhance the power of her next spell. Then make sure to keep your distance and be ready to use 【Healing】 or 【Dispel】 at any time to handle surprises."
"O-Okay!"
Silvia raised her hand, a soft white light gathering in her palm before rapidly turning into a streak of light that sank into Victoria's body.
【Light's Blessing】 took effect. Victoria felt the flow of mana inside her become smoother, and the power of her next spell received a tangible boost.
"Now's the time! Fire!"
Greg seized the exact moment when the LV25 Rock-shell Lizard turned and exposed the vulnerable junction between its neck and belly, decisively barking the order.
"Hah!"
The 【Flame Spear】 Victoria had prepared beforehand suddenly burst forth!
The charged and buffed orange-red spear did not fly straight into the target; instead, it cut a slight arc and struck with pinpoint accuracy right at the weak point Greg had indicated!
Boom—!
Blazing flames erupted alongside a muffled explosion.
The largest Rock-shell Lizard let out a pained hiss. Under the combined effect of the precise hit on its weak spot and her 【Demon-Breaking Sharpness】 Divine Protection, its heavy rock carapace was blown open with a gaping hole, allowing scorching flames to pour into its body.
Its massive body wobbled twice before collapsing to the ground with a loud thud, completely devoid of life.
Seeing this, several smaller Rock-shell Lizards nearby immediately scattered and fled in panic.
"That took care of it already?"
Victoria looked at the fallen monster in front of her in surprise.
She remembered that these Rock-shell Lizards had very high defense. In the past, whenever she fought one alone, even if she could win, it would require quite an effort.
Yet this time, under Greg's precise weak-spot instructions and Silvia's timely support, the most troublesome one was dispatched in a single hit.
Furthermore...
Her gaze quietly drifted over to her close friend Silvia beside her.
She remembered that back in the village when facing fierce wild beasts, or when facing training dummies right after entering the academy, Silvia would always seem a little nervous and flustered.
But now, inside a truly dangerous dungeon and facing hideous monsters, Silvia appeared remarkably calm, her spellcasting motions smooth and precise, her eyes focused.
Moreover, the effect of the 【Light's Blessing】 she cast seemed quite a bit stronger than what Victoria remembered from their practice at the academy?
That warm, firm sense of power was exceptionally distinct.
Has Silvia... grown this much without me noticing?
She's almost about to overtake me.
A subtle sense of urgency and rivalry flashed through Victoria's heart.
But soon, she shook her head, suppressing the thought for the moment, and turned her gaze toward the blond youth behind them who had been standing with his arms crossed the whole time.
"Hey! You slacker!"
Victoria shouted dissatisfaction, her gray eyes glaring at Greg:
"You were the one who invited me to explore the dungeon together, weren't you?! So why haven't you taken action even once so far?! All you're doing is standing back there running your mouth! What on earth do you mean by this?!"
"Little Gray, I see you don't understand at all."
Greg was indeed slacking off right now.
On one hand, clearing monsters around LV20 yielded significantly diminished EXP returns for his current level of LV29, making it cost-ineffective.
On the other hand, he genuinely enjoyed directing from behind the scenes, as if he were truly playing a 5D game. Plus, his teammates were the original protagonist and poster girl, an experience that was undeniably unique.
However, even though he was called out, he showed zero shame on his face, declaring with complete self-righteousness:
"I have a good reason for doing this. Have you not noticed how quickly your level is rising right now?"
Prompted by Greg, Victoria seemed to suddenly remember and immediately checked her current level.
LV22!
She remembered very clearly that before entering the dungeon, she had only recently broken through to LV20.
Yet in just over an hour of fighting, she had actually leveled up twice!
Such a skyrocketing pace was simply unimaginable through step-by-step study and practice at the academy!
"No wonder... Silvia has gotten so much stronger. It turns out it was because she went into the dungeon with Greg last time and experienced real combat like this!"
Having figured this out, the small amount of dissatisfaction Victoria held toward Greg's slacking off vanished into thin air, replaced by the excitement and eagerness of discovering a secret shortcut to leveling up fast.
Her gray eyes lit up, her earlier fatigue swept away, and she even actively looked toward the depths of the corridor, her tone carrying a clear hint of challenge:
"Is the dungeon really only at this level? Can't you bump up the difficulty for me?!"
Watching the gray-haired Hero suddenly brim with energy and even actively ask to be punished, the corners of Greg's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
Classic Little Gray... that knack for seeking death...
Immediately after, a sinister smile slowly surfaced in his heart.
But since you said so yourself, you can't blame me when you suffer on the second layer later~
He could already foresee the scene of Victoria flustered before monsters with special mechanisms on the second layer, screaming, "Greg, you bastard, why didn't you say so earlier!"
After that, the three of them continued advancing along the dim corridor.
Along the way, they cleared several more waves of stray monsters that arrived at the noise, finally reaching the entrance to the second layer of the dungeon—which was the Boss room of Lady Eight-Legs whom Greg had previously subjugated.
It was Victoria and Silvia's first time stepping foot in this place.
As they followed close behind Greg into the cave, the sight before them caused both of them to stop in their tracks simultaneously, their breath catching slightly.
The cave was terrifyingly spacious. Looking up, the ceiling was submerged in deep darkness.
What shocked them most were the crisscrossing, massive spiderwebs. They were not the creation of ordinary spiders; every single strand was as thick as a finger, gleaming with an ominous grayish-white luster, densely covering over half of the cavern walls and ceiling like countless hanging, ghastly shrouds quietly shimmering under a light of unknown origin.
Adhering to some of the webs were the long-dried remains of prey.
The air was permeated with a faint bloody stench, adding to the oppressive atmosphere.
But Greg seemed entirely accustomed to this sight. He didn't pause to admire or lament; sweeping his gaze quickly across the familiar cavern, he walked straight toward a deep corner of the cave that was completely blocked by a web forming almost a solid wall.
"Follow me."
He instructed without turning his head.
Standing before the wall of webs, Greg raised his right hand. With a soft pfft sound, a fist-sized orange-red fireball instantly materialized.
With a gentle flick of his wrist, the fireball cut an arc through the air, colliding with pinpoint precision against the thick grayish-white web.
Sizzle—!
The moment the flames contacted the highly sticky and tough spider silk, they flared up into an even brighter light, emitting a pungent burnt smell.
Under the sustained burning of the flames, the seemingly tough webs rapidly curled, melted, and snapped, revealing the dark corridor entrance leading downward behind them.
The outlines of stairs flickered faintly in the firelight, leading into even deeper darkness.
Waving his hand to disperse the lingering smoke and scorching air, Greg stepped to the side and motioned to his two companions, who were still somewhat dazed.
"Well then, let's go."
Although prior to this, due to Catherine's high-reward missing person request and the news of Lady Eight-Legs' successful subjugation spreading across the academy, it had briefly sparked some students' passion for adventure to attempt exploring deeper into the dungeon...
However, the students' courage and curiosity toward the unknown were often fleeting in the absence of clear rewards and safety guarantees.
When they personally felt the peril of the dungeon environment and weighed the tiny gains of their superficial exploration against the potential risks, the vast majority ultimately chose rationally to give up.
Therefore, when Greg took the lead and stepped into the channel scorched open by fire, walking down the descending stairs toward the deeper darkness, Victoria and Silvia, following closely behind, clearly realized—the three of them were creating history right now.
They would be the very first student party in the recorded history of Glory Cael Academy to set foot on the second layer of the Academy Dungeon.
This realization couldn't help but make both of them feel a hint of nervousness.
However, this nervousness lasted for only a brief moment.
Ahead, Greg's back was straight and steady under the flickering firelight.
His steps held not a shred of hesitation. That extraordinary composure and certainty was like a boulder cast into the lake of their hearts, instantly settling all ripples of unease.
Silvia and Victoria exchanged another glance, both seeing a similar resolve in each other's eyes.
Taking a deep breath, they exhaled their final trace of hesitation, stepping forward with firm strides to closely follow the light leading them into the darkness.
Rate on N.U.
