The Author's POV

-Khuala! -Khuaka! -Khuaka!

Like a tsunami, green-like creatures of shorter-than-human stature with flat and long hooked noses, bat-like ears, and malevolent expressions with twisted smiles appeared from every corner of the cave.

"W-hat's that?"

"Are th-ose globins?"

"Hiiii"

Surprised by the unexpected development, the students at the front immediately stopped running and huddled up together.

With their backs against each other, they each raised their weapons and nervously looked towards their surroundings. Goblins appeared en masse everywhere they looked.

"W-what do we do?"

"I-i don't know"

Despite goblins being the most common monsters inside of dungeons, they were still dangerous creatures.

With their excellent sense of smell, hearing, and tendency to hunt in groups, many aspiring heroes fell because of them

...lest needed to be said about students who had no experience of being inside of dungeons.

"We-re sorroun-ded"

Staring at the numerous goblins blocking their paths, one of the students couldn't help but say as his voice shook.

"S-something is defi-netly wrong. H-how can there possibly be so many goblins inside of a ranked dungeon. W-we're all going to die!"

He wasn't the only one who thought of it that way, as almost everyone at the front shook in fear.

I mean, although it was dark, the number of goblins before them counted to at least a thousand. How were they supposed to fight with that many goblins?

"Move aside you bunch of wimpy primates"

Indifferently walking ahead of the students, Melissa's figure appeared holding onto a long metal spear with flame engraving at the tip of the spear.

Without giving a chance for the students to figure out what was going on, leaning backward, Melissa adjusted her position and proceeded to throw the spear in her hand.

-Swoooosh!

Like a bolt of lightning, the spear traveled through the sea of goblins leaving behind a red trail of flames...

-Kacha!

-Booom!

Soon after, an explosion reverberated across the whole dungeon. The cave shook, and debris and dust flew everywhere.

the students couldn't help but be stunned

"W-what?"

"Huh?"

before them was no longer visible, and what replaced it was a single goblin wearing a mage mantle with an orb in its

was supposed to look

lifelessly sitting on the hard ground with a spear imbued

a goblin

"W-hat?"

was all an

bearing somewhat, everyone stared at the body of the goblin that was

soon understood

was the works of a goblin mage. A more evolved and rarer version

illusion to scare the students into thinking that they were currently facing a horde of goblins. It was a fairly common strategy they used to hunt down

to spot if one paid close attention. All they had to do was look for the reflection that the orb the goblin mage

spotted the orb, you could instantly find where

it was evident

or their nervousness, but it seems like everything that the students had learned

ahead of everyone, with the most gentle smile Melissa could muster,

don't block the paths for others. You're honestly a nuisance, so please

Melissa picked up her spear and dashed deeper

at the back, looking at Melissa's

Melissa

Yup...yup...yup

venomous words with the most gentle face possible...only Melissa could pull it

say, despite the fact that Melissa was only F ranked,

to three rings

"Let's go"

"Follow her"

of the students woke up from their daze and

"Huuuu..."

the students that followed Mellisa's footsteps, taking

waited for no

to assess the performance of the students, I couldn't waste any more time

inside of my

as I moved forwards, with each step I took, the wind psyons

I activated drifting steps, I found myself freely running across the dungeon as my speed increased by small increments with each step I

-Wooosh!

"W-what was that?"

"Huh?"

quickly and swiftly surpassed some of the students who were running ahead. Though I was still far from the first placed people, I was confident that I would

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

I moved forward, the loud sound of students fighting

somewhat dodge the battles...but I knew

...and I was right.

of goblins soon appeared

I didn't have enough time to stop. Hence, briefly glancing towards my surroundings to