Asta's roar echoed through the hall, full of curiosity.
Everyone gave him a look as if he were an idiot.
"If you don't know, why are you so surprised?"
Magna, with a speechless expression, leaned closer to Asta and began his explanation.
"Listen up, a dungeon is a place where ancient relics are buried, like an ancient tomb. You idiot."
He pointed his thumb at himself, his tone full of passion. "Inside are countless ancient secret treasures and methods for using powerful magic. It's a place for real men to challenge."
"Ohhh! Ancient secret treasures... the strongest magic."
Flames instantly ignited in Asta's eyes, and he was practically drooling.
Luck, standing nearby, added with a grin, "But to protect those treasures, the dungeon is full of dangerous traps and powerful beasts."
He licked his lips, an uncontrollable excitement on his face.
"It's a super dangerous and super fun place."
Yami exhaled a thick puff of smoke, interrupting the idiots' fantasies.
"Listen up, this dungeon is a bit special."
His voice deepened, and everyone listened quietly.
"It appeared in the border area bordering the Diamond Kingdom. That means..."
Yami's eyes sharpened. "We might run into guys from the Diamond Kingdom. To avoid being beaten to it by them, we need to finish this quickly."
"Diamond Kingdom..."
The name made the atmosphere in the room a few shades heavier, but Asta's thoughts were clearly not on the same wavelength.
"So, if I get through the dungeon, I can find the strongest magic, right?"
He raised his fist, enthusiastically volunteering, "I'll go, please let me go! Maybe I can also learn the strongest magic!"
Yami glanced at him with a look reserved for idiots. "You don't have mana, so you definitely can't learn it, you idiot."
"Uh..."
Asta instantly turned to stone, as if struck by lightning, but then immediately retorted, "No one can say for sure!"
"But anyway..." Yami changed his tone.
"If you want to go, then go, kid."
"Eh?"
Asta and the others suddenly looked up, unable to believe their ears.
"Besides, the Wizard King specifically asked for you." Yami calmly dropped the shocking news.
"The Wizard King... asked for me?" Asta's brain crashed.
The next second, a huge wave of emotion surged from his heart.
"Ohhh! Wizard King Sire—!"
He glowed with a holy light of emotion, his eyes welling up as he looked at Yami.
Yami disdainfully averted his gaze, too bothered to deal with this emotional idiot.
His gaze shifted to the other two.
"Noelle, you go too."
"Ah!"
Noelle was surprised and nervous to hear this suddenly.
"And Ryoma."
Yami's gaze finally fell on the man who had been quietly reading a book the whole time.
"You go too. Your magic should be very useful in that complex environment."
Ryoma closed his book, his face showing no surprise. He had intended to go anyway.
Are you kidding? That's where Yuno obtained the Wind Spirit Sylph and Asta got his second sword.
There are plenty of good things inside.
How could he, a transmigrator, miss out on such a plot benefit point?
Perhaps he could also find something suitable for himself.
"Understood." Ryoma replied calmly.
"Good."
Yami nodded, then announced the most jaw-dropping decision.
"The leader for this mission..."
He pointed to the battle maniac who was smiling the most. "will be Luck."
"Yay! I can go wild!" Luck jumped up excitedly.
Instantly, the hall fell silent.
Ryoma's lips twitched slightly.
Let Luck be the leader?
This guy... he's probably the type who, as soon as he senses a powerful mana fluctuation, will completely forget about his teammates and rush in alone to fight.
How is that any different from having no leader?
No, it's even worse than having no leader.
Captain Yami, you're definitely retaliating for my lax attitude just now.
Ryoma ranted wildly in his mind, but his expression remained calm.
"Then, let's go."
As Yami gave the order, a portal suddenly appeared in the center of the hall.
Finral smiled and waved to everyone. "Everyone, are you ready? A day trip to the border, departing now."
The four-person team didn't hesitate, stepping into the portal one after another. In a blink of an eye, the four had appeared in a scenic woodland.
The surrounding scenery was nice, with birds singing and flowers fragrant.
Finral's Spatial Magic required him to have been to the place and have clear coordinates. This place was probably somewhere he specifically found to flirt with some girl.
"So, next, we go this way."
Luck looked at the surroundings, roughly determining their current location.
The four could still see traces of ruined buildings in the forest.
They followed the traces, and before long, a magnificent yet dilapidated building appeared before them.
On the ground was a huge gully, as if plowed by something, which seemed to be a trace of recent crustal movement.
It was a massive stone structure, most of it broken and collapsed into the mountain, revealing only a square entrance at the very bottom.
The stone walls at the entrance were covered with moss and cracks.
"Wow... how... how amazing..."
Asta looked up, his mouth wide open, completely awestruck by the sight before him.
Noelle gulped, her palms slightly sweaty.
This is... the dungeon.
"Let's go!"
Luck was the first to rush in, with Ryoma following close behind.
Asta and Noelle exchanged glances and followed suit.
The interior of the dungeon was even darker and more humid than imagined.
The long passage was pitch black inside, and they could only barely see the way forward by the light of the lamp in Asta's hand.
"It's so dark..."
Noelle subconsciously moved closer to Asta as they walked.
After an unknown amount of time traveling in such darkness, Ryoma and Luck almost simultaneously noticed a faint glow emanating from the edge of a stone slab on the wall ahead.
Luck, without hesitation, pressed on that stone slab. Instantly, a dazzling flash of light erupted, and then that section of the wall instantly crumbled and collapsed.
A strange space appeared before their eyes.
The extremely dense magic power here seemed to materialize, transforming into countless tiny specks of starlight floating lightly in the air.
Countless huge rocks of various shapes floated in the air, and areas combined in various incredible ways.
The direction of water flow also had no regularity here.
"Wh... what is this?"
Noelle was too stunned by the sight before her to speak.
"It looks like magic distorted space..."
Luck had his usual smile on his face,
"The natural mana here is much denser than outside."
Ryoma closed his eyes, sensing carefully. Besides the unusually dense natural mana, he also felt a clearer spatial fluctuation.
Because the mana was too vast and chaotic, the spatial structure here had become unstable, showing subtle distortions and wrinkles.
Just as Ryoma was immersed in this wonderful perception, a familiar roar startled him awake.
"Waaahhh! What in the world is this!"
Ryoma opened his eyes to see Asta frantically swinging his huge black demon-slayer sword.
The stone slab beneath his feet sank, and countless arrows, shimmering with magical light, instantly shot out from the walls on both sides.
Asta spun like a top, eliminating the arrows one by one with the flat of his sword.
"Hahahaha! How interesting!"
In stark contrast to Asta's panic was Luck's wild laughter.
Not only did he not help, but he acted like a child who had discovered a new continent, jumping up and down in this trap-filled area.
"There's one here too!"
He deliberately stepped on a stone slab of a different color.
Boom!
A huge rock suddenly crashed down from above.
"Watch me!"
Asta roared, and with a backhand swing of his sword, shattered the huge rock.
"Over here! This one looks even stronger!"
Luck ran to another corner, triggering a trap magic on the wall.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless sharp stone spears instantly shot out from the ground. Asta was forced to continuously swing his demon-slayer sword to dispel the magic.
"Hahaha... So interesting! I feel so excited!"
Ryoma held his forehead and let out a deep sigh. He knew this would happen.
Letting Luck lead the team was indeed the worst decision ever.