“I see, so while we were resting, they went ahead.”

“If this dungeon only has ten floors, they should already be fighting the boss by now.”

“Since the dungeon is still functioning, that means the boss hasn’t been defeated yet. Or maybe they pushed ahead without resting and got themselves killed by the boss. Well, I doubt B-rank adventurers would make that kind of mistake.”

“By the way, what happens when a dungeon is cleared?”

I’d never really thought about it before, but a dungeon wouldn’t just disappear or collapse, right? If that were the case, no one would bother entering dungeons.

“Ah, in that case, the dungeon stops functioning, and over the course of a few days, the lights and air inside gradually disappear. No new monsters are born, their numbers slowly dwindle, and eventually, the place becomes nothing more than a ruin.”

“I see. So that means we have to return to the first floor if that happens?”

“When the boss is defeated, a magic circle appears at the lowest floor, allowing us to teleport back to the first floor, nya.”

Oh, that’s convenient. It makes sense, though—this dungeon isn’t too bad, but if there were a hundred floors, returning would be unbearable. And if someone died on the way back after conquering the dungeon, that would be beyond tragic.

“We’ve had plenty of rest, so let’s move ahead. If this dungeon has more than ten floors, we should be able to catch up.”

“Yeah, let’s hurry and chase after them!”

We quickly prepared and resumed our exploration of the dungeon. Judging by the pace we explored yesterday, if this dungeon has more than ten floors, we should be able to catch up to them along the way.

About three hours into our second day of exploration, we discovered a staircase leading further down on the tenth floor. That meant this dungeon had at least eleven floors.

“I knew it! There’s still more below, nya!”

“This means we might be able to catch up to them on the way.”

So far, we hadn’t encountered the Swift Thunder party or found any remains of monsters they had defeated.

We were trying to pick up the pace compared to yesterday, but as we descended, the floors became more expansive, the number of monsters increased, and it was hard to maintain speed.

Still, even though we were competing with the Swift Thunder party, rushing recklessly and getting injured would be pointless. The monsters were getting stronger, and our lives were on the line here.

“But seriously, does this dungeon even want people to explore it?”

“…I was thinking the same thing.”

I completely understood how Lilith and Rurune felt. From the first floor onward, the monsters we encountered were rats, bats, lizards, moths, caterpillars, and spiders—none of them were useful as food or materials.

Then, starting from the eleventh floor, scorpions, snakes, and wasp-like monsters appeared. Just when we had endured fighting disgusting creatures all the way to the tenth floor, now we were dealing with a parade of venomous ones.

Their venom apparently wasn’t very strong, but we needed a lot of antidotes and healing magic. While they could be used as materials, dismantling them was more trouble than it was worth, so we simply left their corpses behind.

“…Honestly, I never want to come back here.”

This dungeon seemed almost designed to repel people—filled with creepy creatures that weren’t useful for food or materials.

“We haven’t gained anything worthwhile so far. If we don’t get a reward for conquering this dungeon, we’re going to be in the red.”

And most of the treasure chests we had found were already opened. The ones that weren’t turned out to be mimics. Just as the Swift Thunder members had mentioned, this dungeon barely had any worthwhile rewards.

“Well, there are times when the cost of equipment and supplies for a quest exceeds the reward.”

Apparently, some requests ended up being unprofitable. Breaking weapons or armor, or using too many potions and supplies, could easily result in a financial loss.

At one point, we took a lunch break, eating the same sandwiches as yesterday before resuming our exploration. Thanks to taking proper breaks, we managed to reach the fourteenth floor without anyone sustaining any major injuries.

“There’s a safe zone here where we can rest, but since we still have plenty of stamina, I’d like to push a bit further today. What do you all think?”

It was around 4 PM. Since we had started our exploration earlier today, we had made great progress despite the dungeon becoming more expansive with each floor.

“I’m still good to go, nya!”

“Even if we can’t reach the twentieth floor, I’d at least like to check out the fifteenth.”

“We probably could reach the twentieth floor if we wanted to, but there’s no need to push ourselves that hard. Let’s head for the next safe zone and decide there.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good plan.”

“Hoo!”

“Alright, then let’s move forward!”

For now, we would proceed to the next safe zone and decide whether to go further from there.