The Journey Begins in DanMachi

Noah bathed in the gore scattered across the ground, swinging his silver blade to unleash a light that spelled death, then relying on his speed to keep pace with the carnage.

Under such an all-out assault, Noah gradually felt his body heat up and his mind grow increasingly clear.

Forgetting the past, forgetting the present, forgetting everything, he listened to the will of his own body, swinging his blade under the intense intuition brought forth by Ode to Spring.

An astonishing heat surged from within him, seeping through his skin like a furnace, tempering Noah's spirit and body until they were fused together in perfect harmony.

As the final monster collapsed amidst the tremors of the earth, Noah swung his sword and looked around, but not a single monster remained in sight.

Within the range of vision, barely cleared as the mist was shredded by his sword aura, the woods were silent and the killing intent had vanished, leaving the surroundings feeling strangely serene.

After a deep breath, Noah looked toward the distant cliff, sheathed his sword, and walked toward the two figures approaching him.

Although it was said that Ais would act as the supporter, Riveria was also carrying a massive backpack.

Despite being a mage, she bore the primary load with a strength that did not lose to other melee-oriented Level 5 adventurers.

Ais, carrying a slightly smaller pack, took the initiative to pick up magic stones and dropped items, darting around like a little golden mouse.

With a Young Dragon scale larger than herself atop her head, the golden-haired young girl looked as adorable as a sprite resting under a lotus leaf after the rain.

"How is it?"

Taking the canteen handed over by Riveria, Noah took a long drink and carefully assessed his physical condition.

"Hmm, frankly speaking, there's no pressure."

Even with lingering hidden injuries and weaknesses in strength and endurance, the monsters on the twelfth floor posed no pressure to Noah.

For these past three hours, even though Noah had been fighting without a moment's rest, practically plowing through the ground from the first to the twelfth floor, he still felt as though he had an inexhaustible supply of power within him.

Though his body and mind were essentially synchronized, he felt a sense of lingering desire for more.

"Is it still not enough, then?"

Although she had been mentally prepared, after witnessing Noah's battles from the first floor to the twelfth, Riveria felt numb with shock.

She was not shocked that the monsters of the upper floors could not pressure Noah; she had anticipated that much.

What left Riveria in awe was the speed of Noah's growth.

Riveria had experienced the discomfort that came with a sudden surge in power, and she knew it required time and dedicated training to master.

Yet, within the scope of Riveria's experience, no one could adapt as quickly as Noah.

Whether it was his grasp of power or the agility in his movements and transitions, Noah became more proficient and precise with every passing second, until by the end, he was wasting almost no energy at all.

Combat was never merely a contest of strength, speed, or magic, for an attack that failed to hit the enemy was meaningless.

Compared to adventurers of the same level, monsters often possessed a strength advantage of several or even dozens of times, requiring only a single hit to decide the outcome.

However, monsters possessed immense strength but were fundamentally unable to strike the adventurers.

Adventurers, while often needing to dodge, could frequently secure victory with a single blow.

This was the essence of technique, the secret by which the creatures of the lower world could overcome the strong with the weak and defeat monsters.

As for Noah's combat technique, Riveria felt she had nothing left to teach him... no, rather, he had already far surpassed her.

After all, he had fought for so long without a single drop of blood staining his body, which said everything that needed to be said.

"Although, in my opinion, it would be more appropriate to call it a day here..."

Watching Noah, whose eyes still glowed with a restless eagerness, Riveria sighed and took some of the weight from the approaching Ais.

"...but looking at you, you surely wouldn't want to leave just like that, would you?"

"Of course not. After all, I haven't even used magic yet to train..."

As he spoke, Noah blinked and slowly lowered his head, looking at Ais, who was leaning toward him and sniffing with her delicate, fair nose.

"Ais, what are you doing?"

No matter how Noah looked at it, Ais's actions were exactly like she was smelling him.

If their positions were reversed, Noah was certain that the second he made such a move, he would be met with sanctions from Riveria.

"...Noah smells... so good..."

Coming back to her senses, Ais's cheeks flushed a rosy pink, and she lowered her head like a child caught doing something wrong by their parent.

Though still young, she was already aware of what should and should not be done.

The girl had some self-awareness that her recent behavior was inappropriate.

But, it really did smell wonderful.

That faint, clean fragrance reminded Ais of the depths of her memories, of a green field where white flowers swayed in the wind...

Feeling guilty, Ais subconsciously glanced at Riveria, only to find, to her surprise, that she wasn't scolding her, though there was a complex look on her face.

Riveria had actually noticed that strange 'fragrance' on Noah long ago.

Before they had even entered the Dungeon, Riveria had to be very close to catch a whiff of it.

But as Noah continued to fight, not only did the expected scent of sweat fail to appear, but the fragrance itself had become increasingly distinct.

This proved that the scent was not some perfume Noah had picked up, but something emanating from him.

What was even more bizarre was that the concentration of this fragrance did not change with distance; it remained perpetually faint, hovering in a realm that was neither quite there nor entirely ignorable.

Even the well-informed Riveria felt a sense of bewilderment at this situation.

She had heard of certain potions and unique races capable of inducing mental haziness or consciousness control through scent alone, yet she felt perfectly clear-headed right now.

Or rather, she felt strangely at ease and tranquil.

Especially in an environment reeking of blood, inhaling the faint fragrance emanating from Noah, Riveria felt none of her usual mild discomfort. Instead, it was as if she were in a quiet forest on a midsummer night—exceptionally comfortable and mentally settled.

What was going on?

A charm that kept the mind clear?

She had truly learned something new today.

Roar—

"Fragrance?"

Hesitantly, Noah sniffed his own arm, but he couldn't smell anything unusual.

There was no sweat odor, though Noah had always been like that; even when drenched in sweat, his scent remained very light.

However, he couldn't smell the "fragrance" Ais was talking about either.

Noah was completely baffled and looked toward Riveria.

The moment Noah's gaze swept over, Riveria knew exactly what he wanted to ask.

But as she recalled her previous actions, a strong sense of shame welled up in the Elf Royalty's heart. More importantly, she feared Ais might recall what happened this morning.

If that were brought up, she would have to transform from an elegant elf into a crude dwarf and dig a hole to hide in right then and there.

Thus, she tossed him a recovery potion and, without giving Noah a chance to speak, grabbed Ais and turned to leave in a hurry.

"Alright, aren't you going to continue forward? Let's pick up the pace."

Subconsciously catching the potion, Noah looked at the shimmering crystal-blue liquid in the bottle, his mind immediately flooded with the bitter taste of such recovery potions.

The question he originally intended to ask was instantly cast to the back of his mind.

After a moment of hesitation, Noah chose to silently tuck the potion into the pouch at his waist.

Training, after all, was about finding ways to pursue one's limits.

As they strolled through the mist-filled eleventh floor, the figures of other adventurers finally began to appear alongside Noah and his companions, who were charging straight ahead.

"...This is hell, why are there so few monsters today?"

"I promised Miss Aster of the Wind Moon Pavilion that I'd bring her a gift!"

"Is the Dungeon planning something big? Should we just head back?"

Wandering through the fog, the trio passed through a long, sloping cavern and finally arrived at the "Rock Cave Labyrinth" in the middle floors.

The walls on all sides, the floor beneath their feet, and the vaulted ceiling above were all composed of gray rock, and the air was thick with damp mist.

Although the path did not twist, the long corridor stretched beyond sight, with vertical shafts appearing in various corners from time to time.

Adventurers often became stranded here, suffering casualties when they were separated and surrounded by monsters.

This was the thirteenth floor, known as the "First Line of Death."

The difference between middle-floor monsters and upper-floor monsters, aside from strength, size, quantity, and respawn speed, was that they no longer relied solely on melee assaults but possessed ranged attack capabilities.

For adventurers not yet accustomed to the intensity of the middle floors, whether it was the Hellhound that spat flames or the Horned Rabbit that threw stone axes, both were formidable enemies that could inflict heavy damage if one was the least bit careless.

Even Ais had never been here before, and she couldn't help but widen her eyes, observing her surroundings.

Under the faint phosphorescence, the trio accelerated, passing through the straight rock path.

The Horned Rabbits that appeared from time to time were all dispatched by Noah with a single sword strike.

Finally, the three arrived at a massive cavernous room.

The high ceiling, supported by stone pillars, was covered in jagged, strange rocks.

Behind the many pillars lay layers of overlapping phosphorescence and darkness, stretching to an end invisible to the naked eye.

Although they felt as if they had entered the line of sight of many monsters, fighting in a spacious cavern provided more room to maneuver and allowed for better coordination with teammates.

Upon reaching the cavern, before Noah had a chance to observe, many ominous red lights like fresh blood emerged from the darkness.

Their uneven, pitch-black skin looked as if they had walked out of purgatory; they were the size of calves, and their eyes were a chaotic, vicious crimson.

There were about twenty of them, along with several times that number of Horned Rabbits.

Even though these rabbits were snow-white and looked very cute, the sight of over sixty rabbits holding sharp, gleaming stone axes and staring in unison was enough to make one's skin crawl.

"Well, is this a friendly greeting sent to me by the Dungeon?"

Seeing Riveria shielding Ais, Noah drew his sword and charged out with a cautious, yet not overly cautious, posture.

At a distance of several dozen meters from the monster pack—a distance that would be considered a safe zone on the upper floors—the pitch-black Hellhounds raised their heads, spewing large bursts of high-density flames from their fang-filled maws.

As powerful monsters rated with a potential ability of Lv. 2, the flames spat by Hellhounds could easily melt standard armor.

Most adventurers would choose to purchase Fire Spirit Protective Cloth, which possessed high resistance to fire, before attempting to conquer the middle floors.

However, the armor Noah wore, which cost fifty million Valis, was not money wasted; naturally, a basic resistance to fire was one of its standard features.

Of course, mere Hellhound did not require Noah to tank their attacks head-on.

He swung his sword, whipping up a gust of air; the immense wind pressure pushed the flames back, transforming them into a firestorm even more ferocious and violent than before.

Being struck by their own fire was clearly beyond the expectations of the Hellhound, and they immediately scattered in a chorus of howls.

As for the Horned Rabbit, their fate was even more miserable.

The combat prowess of these monsters was little different from the average monster of the upper floors, and they were only rated as Lv.2 due to their agility and pack tactics.

Once engulfed in flames, the cute bunnies didn't even have time to drop the stone axes in their hands before they were incinerated into ash, turning into charred rabbit heads.

Taking advantage of the monsters' broken formation, Noah charged in with his sword, unleashing the Death Sword Dance.

Although the bodies of mid-floor monsters were far harder and tougher than those of the upper floors, they were still sliced through like butter under Noah's blade, and blood immediately sprayed in all directions.

Occasionally, a Hard-Shelled Rat would curl its body, wrapping its hard scales on the outside to roll toward him at high speed like a cannonball.

But even with scales that could be called the strongest defense among the upper and middle floors, they could not withstand the arrival of death.

After a bout of slaughter, Noah, feeling that he had gradually adapted to the strength of the mid-floor monsters, came to a halt.

After turning to meet Riveria's gaze, he tightened his grip on the hilt, took a deep breath, and began to chant.