"Um, I'm here for my morning training, Noah. You—"
Seeing the two problem children, Ais and Noah, about to strike up a conversation, Riveria grew frantic.
If the truth slipped out and Noah found out, what would he do?
"Oh? So even the usually serious and earnest Lady Riveria has a side like this. I never would've guessed... How cute!"
No!
She absolutely couldn't let that happen!
"Ais!"
Just as Ais and Noah were about to continue, Riveria suddenly interrupted them.
"Ais and I are going to explore the Dungeon today. Do you want to come along as our supporter?"
The confusion in Ais's eyes turned to delight. They widened slightly, shining with a dazzling, jewel-like light.
Whatever she'd been thinking about before, Ais forgot it all in an instant.
There was only one thing on her mind now: she could finally go back into the Dungeon!
Seeing Ais so happy that even her flowing golden hair seemed ready to float, Riveria hurriedly added, "You'll only be supporting us. You're still not allowed to fight!"
But Ais wasn't listening. She spun around and dashed back inside Twilight Manor.
"I'm going to get my armor!"
After Ais left, only Noah and Riveria remained outside Twilight Manor.
The difference was that Riveria folded her arms and stared at the brightening sky, treating Noah as if he were invisible.
Noah wasn't bothered by awkward silences, but since they were all going to the Dungeon together, he figured it would be hard to enjoy himself if he upset Riveria.
"By the way, Riveria, how did you know I was planning to go to the Dungeon today?"
Riveria saw right through Noah's attempt to change the subject, but she had no intention of dwelling on the matter.
"Heh. You think the Goibniu Familia would let you take the armor after placing a five-million-Valis order without informing me, the one paying for it?"
"Oh, so that's how."
When she brought it up, Noah really didn't know what to say.
When you were living off someone else, you couldn't exactly act like you were in the right.
Seeing Noah fall silent, Riveria quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She hadn't told him everything. Aside from the bill from the Goibniu Familia, the more important thing was that Amid had told her Noah had bought potions on credit.
But Riveria wasn't foolish enough to sell Amid out so easily. She still needed her to keep track of Noah.
Over the past week of magic lessons, Noah hadn't finished all the books on those shelves, but he'd already managed to astonish Riveria.
She'd never expected him to complete all the coursework in such a short time. Otherwise, wouldn't that make her look foolish?
Even so, Noah's progress had far surpassed her expectations. In just seven days, he'd finished the material the academy expected new mages to learn over three years.
That only strengthened Riveria's conviction: Noah would surpass her at an unimaginable pace, perhaps even the monsters of the Zeus and Hera Familias.
And for that very reason, Riveria wanted all the more to protect him as much as possible in the early days of his adventuring career.
In the Dungeon, the greatest danger was never the monsters. It was the unknown: unknown places, unknown monsters, unknown enemies...
The Dungeon was alive. When adventurers were at a disadvantage, it would strike and plunge them into despair.
It was common for high-level adventurers to finish exploring the deep levels, only to die on the way back because they'd let their guard down in the upper levels.
Strength never meant you were safe from danger. On the contrary, the stronger you were, the more often death walked by your side. Riveria, who had witnessed the downfall of the Zeus and Hera Familias, understood that better than most.
It may be a short time, but I'll do everything I can. Glancing at the silver-haired boy out of the corner of her eye, the Elf Royalty made herself a vow.
Once Ais had changed into her armor and emerged with a huge backpack, the three of them left Twilight Manor in the cold morning breeze.
After eating a little by the roadside and packing some food for lunch, they entered the Dungeon.
Straight to the Twelfth Floor
Passing through the great hole beneath Babel's first floor brought them to the broad avenue known as the Path of Departure.
Though its stone-paved road was solid and wide enough for several carriages to travel abreast, it somehow felt winding, narrow, and gloomy.
With every step, the dark, cold walls on either side seemed to press in, as if they might close together and crush them.
After entering the cavern, which resembled a giant beast, Noah stepped onto the dirt floor and stopped. He closed his eyes and breathed in the surrounding air.
This was his second time entering the Dungeon, but now he was finally taking the time to absorb it all.
Phosphorescent light illuminated the surroundings. The ceiling overhead was fairly spacious, yet the moment they entered the Dungeon, everything felt different.
A gentle breeze could roar through the caverns like a beast howling in challenge to the adventurers.
The sun, moon, and stars; the changing seasons; wind, frost, rain, and dew—all the signs of the outside world had been left behind.
Ahead lay a deep cavern full of endless dangers, stretching down without end. Even the gods didn't know where it led.
Endless beasts, endless danger, endless battles...
The ever-present sense of danger surged through Noah like static. His hair stood on end, and his breathing grew deeper.
His heart raced, pumping hot blood through his body as his muscles tensed on their own.
There's no mistaking it. This is where I belong. This is my true nature...
Ais and Riveria stopped too, quietly watching Noah and recalling how they'd felt when they first entered the Dungeon.
Fear, tension, excitement, dread...
Those emotions still felt vivid, as if they could relive them. They wondered what Noah was feeling now.
When Noah opened his eyes again and calmly surveyed the way ahead, Ais and Riveria both felt a blade-bright glint sweep over them, as though it had pierced their souls.
But when they looked again, Noah's eyes had returned to their usual calm, making them wonder if they'd imagined it.
No. They hadn't.
Both Riveria and Ais were certain as they watched him.
Something had vanished from Noah's clear blue eyes: the slightly languid calm he usually carried.
But something else had appeared in its place: a cold, keen focus, like that of a beast locking onto its prey.
His expression showed no visible fluctuation, but Ais and Riveria understood. It was merely a layer of ice over swift-moving currents.
It was like a magic sword containing an incredibly dense concentration of magic. Even resting quietly in its sheath, it drew the eye without fail.
Ais stared wide-eyed at the silver-haired boy, who seemed like a stranger to her.
She could still remember the nervous apprehension she'd felt when she first entered the Dungeon a year ago. She tried to find something in Noah that she could relate to.
But she failed.
That look alone made her realize there was an enormous, unbridgeable gap between them.
Noah was different from her... He was strong.
The shudder that swept through her, even the fear, made Ais understand that.
"Let's go."
Unaware of their gazes, Noah took the lead and headed deeper into the cavern.
They hadn't gone far when they heard the Dungeon's walls break apart on their own.
Amid the falling debris, monsters emerged, unfurling from their curled-up forms as they landed and revealing their full shapes.
They had dark gray fur and short, hunched bodies, yet could walk upright. Their sharp claws and fangs gleamed coldly.
Their blood-red eyes, brimming with malice, were the clearest sign that monsters possessed a nature fundamentally different from all life in the Lower World.
Kobolds, like Goblins, were among the weakest monsters in the Dungeon. They appeared from the first to the fifth floors; only their numbers and frequency varied.
They were cannon fodder that even an adult with a weapon could defeat.
Still, the sight of these monsters didn't exactly inspire much desire to fight.
Even so, as Noah looked at the more than thirty Kobolds before him, he slowly drew the sword at his waist.
With a metallic rasp, the silver blade slid free.
The instant its flash streaked through the dim cavern, Noah's figure blurred where he stood, and he slashed forward!
Three hours. The twelfth floor!
The surrounding phosphorescence was gone. In a withered forest shrouded in gloom like the morning mist, Riveria and Ais stared at the scene before them, dumbfounded.
The Silver Sword swung down, and its sword energy tore through the fog and dust, sweeping five round, portly Orcs over three meters tall into its slash.
Before the Orcs could collapse from their fatal wounds and turn to ash, the silver-haired figure was already racing alongside the raging sword energy, flashing past like a beam of moonlight.
Unlike the upper floors, with their countless crisscrossing caverns and deep holes, this floor was a forest choked with weeds and dead trees, blanketed by white mist that seemed to come from nowhere.
Across the wide wilderness, a figure swept from left to right, never dodging or veering from his path.
Slashes, swings, thrusts, horizontal cuts... Countless attacks formed a bladed barrier, shredding and annihilating every monster within reach.
The sword that purged evil left countless afterimages. Everything its shrill keening swept over was reduced to monster corpses and dust.
The monsters sensed the threat and unleashed a dense barrage of vicious attacks. Claws, fangs, clubs, and flying stones all missed the boy by inches, only for the monsters to have their bodies cut apart amid agonized howls.
Noah slipped under a log crashing down from the Silverback Ape's hands. Without even looking, he trusted the "intuition" that surfaced in his mind and sent a backward slash.
Then, just before the Silverback Ape froze up and died, he stepped on it for leverage. When he landed, he kicked in the chest and belly of a Hard-Shelled Rat.
Although Noah had cut down more than ten Imps with a single slash, they weren't his target. His eyes were fixed on a group of amber-colored figures in the distance.
Long tails, sharp teeth, four legs planted on the ground, amber scales gleaming with a solid, icy sheen.
Young Dragons, rare monsters found on the eleventh and twelfth floors.
They had no wings, but their hard scales and powerful muscles gave them astonishing defensive strength, unmatched by any monster in the upper levels. They were considered the de facto Dungeon Bosses of the upper region.
There were about twenty Young Dragons in front of Noah. Whenever so many appeared at once, it usually meant the Guild would receive news of a novice adventurer party being wiped out.
Noah twisted his wrist, sweeping away every attack with a wide slash. Then he kicked hard off the ground, sending an astonishing rush of air bursting outward.
Accelerating fiercely, Noah became a whirlwind in the truest sense of the word.
He charged without hiding his approach, passing the Young Dragons' tails a second before they struck the ground like hammers and shattered it. Reaching the edge of the cavern, he didn't slow down, but charged up the rock wall.
He raced into midair, flipped, and kicked off the ceiling to launch himself away!
As he moved faster than the eye could follow, Noah's body gradually blurred, turning into a streak of silver light alongside his sword.
The Young Dragons were pulverized amid their roars and howls!
Is This Charm Even Legit?
Hurling yourself into the air during a fight was dangerously foolish. Unless you could kill your enemy in one blow, you'd often give them a chance to counterattack.
Noah chose to fight this way and kept changing how he killed his enemies because he was adapting to his body.
Whether it was the physical enhancement he'd gained from his Falna or the overwhelming strength he'd received after seven unforgettable days of physical healing from Amid, both had left Noah with power far beyond what he'd had before, and his control had suffered as a result.
A slash meant only to cut through a monster's neck instead smashed its entire head apart.
He tried to leap behind a monster for a counterattack, only to land more than ten meters farther away than he'd expected.
Or he misjudged how hard the rock beneath his feet was and crushed it underfoot as he pushed off, nearly pitching forward.
To regain precise control over his body, Noah abandoned the many efficient techniques he'd honed through years of combat.
When monsters attacked, Noah neither dodged nor blocked. He relied solely on his speed and the sword in his hand to smash through them head-on.
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