The destruction caused by an attack of this scale was already no weaker than the first stage of her wide-area annihilation magic, yet it didn't seem to cost Noah much at all.
It was his first time using magic, and yet his total mind and magic reserves were probably already no less than her own...
As expected, this guy had the potential to become a Mage...
In that case, she'd have to teach (discipline) him even more (strictly).
She couldn't let such a fine talent go to waste. That would be a downright crime against Mages.
"Ri, Riveria?"
Riveria was clearly smiling, yet Noah couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.
"Is it almost noon already?"
After taking out her magic-stone pocket watch to check the time, Riveria also pulled out a map of the Dungeon.
"In my opinion, venturing to the lower floors on your first exploration is already extremely reckless. If possible, we should call it a day and explore the areas beyond another time. But—"
Looking at Noah, who was still full of energy, and Ais, who was beside him with wide eyes and a look of eager anticipation, Riveria sighed helplessly.
"—I suppose you two wouldn't be very willing to go back just like that, would you?"
"The monsters up here can't train me at all. The fights so far haven't even been more than a warm-up. I want to see where my limits are."
Gripping his sword hilt, Noah looked into the depths of the cavern, as if meeting the gazes of the more dangerous monsters within.
Even so, when Noah saw the backpack Ais was carrying—several times bigger than she was—he hesitated.
"But, Ais..."
Before he could finish, Ais interrupted him.
"It's okay! I can still manage!"
She hefted the huge backpack on her small frame, pressing her lips together as determination filled her youthful face.
"Besides, I want to learn about the deeper parts of the Dungeon!"
But seeing you like this makes me feel guilty, as if I'm making a child suffer.
Meeting Ais's gaze, Noah hesitated for a moment.
Watching the two of them look at each other, Riveria felt a faint stir in her heart.
Even before Noah appeared, Ais had already been on the verge of leveling up.
The reason Riveria, Finn, and the others hadn't told her that a "great deed" was a requirement was that they all thought Ais needed to train her mind more than her body.
With hatred as her driving force, the stronger Ais became, the closer she came to death.
They could take care of Ais's daily needs and teach her how to fight, but they had never been able to truly reach her inner world.
Until Noah appeared.
Riveria couldn't say for certain just yet, but there was no doubt that Ais felt a sense of admiration and longing toward Noah.
That made the Elf Royalty, who had worked so hard to care for the girl for a year, feel a little jealous, but it also brought her comfort.
In Ais's mind, so consumed by hatred, even the tiniest ray of light would be enough.
Besides, now that Ais knew a great deed was a requirement, could Riveria really keep her from taking risks forever?
Perhaps it was time to let go.
Young people have their own epics to fulfill. We old folks can't walk every step of the way for them. When it's time to let go, we should let go. As long as we stand behind them and lend a hand when they're struggling or lost, that's enough...
Recalling the dwarf's steady voice, rough yet reassuring, Riveria felt like punching him.
Who are you calling old? I'm still young!
39 The Seventeenth Floor
Having made up her mind, Riveria stopped agonizing over it.
If she couldn't stop them, then she'd just have to accompany them on their adventure.
Besides—
Sneaking a glance at Noah, Riveria looked away, the corners of her lips curling into a crescent.
She had secretly left the Alf Forest in the first place to explore the "unknown" of this world.
Did she really want to spend every day lecturing people and constantly getting teased for acting like a nagging mother?
It was all those thoughtless youngsters in her Familia's fault!
But things were better now. With Noah, who would soon surpass her, leading the way, she probably wouldn't have to worry so much before long.
Riveria was beginning to understand Finn's happiness more and more!
If she could serve as the Familia's commander, then taking on the role of its foremost Mage should be a piece of cake, too, right?
As Noah wondered how to lighten Ais's load, he felt another chill run down his spine.
That's right. Again.
It was a very familiar chill.
Though he had no proof, Noah instinctively glanced at Riveria.
But Riveria had already looked away.
"Since you're both so determined, let's eat something and then keep going. We'll find another adventurer party to sell the cheap magic stones and items to. Once we're back upstairs, we'll have them send the Valis to the Twilight Manor."
She took Ais's backpack off her and began sorting through the items.
"You have two hours. How far we get is up to you. After that, we'll have to head back. We might not make it out of the Dungeon before nightfall otherwise."
Riveria said they'd sell the items cheaply, but when she casually stopped a Familia party and negotiated with them, Noah realized she was asking about the going market rate.
At that price, the party was practically carrying the goods upstairs and selling them for free.
Even so, the party cheerfully shouldered the magic stones and items and set off on the return journey.
Noah understood after thinking it over for a moment.
The Guild bought all magic stones at a fixed rate, but items could be sold to other Familias through negotiation.
Of course, unless they were rare materials from the deep floors, adventurers usually had a hard time getting a price they were happy with.
After all, if you wouldn't sell, there were plenty of other adventurers who would.
But when there were this many dropped items, it was a different matter.
Because the Dark Faction was interfering, Dungeon exploration in Orario was currently in a slump. The Guild had assigned forced commissions to every Familia with any real strength, and that was barely enough to maintain Orario's supply.
For production-oriented Familias, one or two items wouldn't change much, but a haul this large could keep them supplied for quite some time, so offering a discount was only reasonable.
Even if they only made a little profit on each item, the sheer quantity added up to a substantial income.
Noah, who had started out saddled with a fifty-million-Valis debt, didn't care much about this amount of money. But for small and medium-sized Familias, it could keep them comfortably afloat for a while.
That was probably why every newcomer wanted to join a large Familia.
At the start of an adventurer's career, the two biggest problems were lack of experience and lack of money.
No matter how much potential an adventurer had, they were extremely weak at first, and that was when the risk of death was highest.
High-level adventurers occasionally died in horrifying incidents below the deep floors, but in terms of sheer numbers, the adventurers who died in the middle and upper floors far outnumbered those lost in the deep floors.
The other problem was that earning money by hunting monsters on the upper and middle floors to save up for equipment was a very slow process for new adventurers. After all, equipment from the Hephaestus Familia started at hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of Valis.
Meanwhile, cheap weapons wore down quickly, slowing newcomers' progress as they saved up to buy better gear.
Unlucky adventurers often used cheap equipment to save money, only to die in the Dungeon when their weapons broke just as they were about to reach their goal.
In large Familias, both problems could be dealt with quite effectively.
Having high-level adventurers watch your back and offer guidance was far safer than exploring on your own with nothing but written advice from a Guild consultant.
What's more, even if newcomers only served as supporters for high-level adventurers, picking up the "junk" their seniors didn't want could earn them several times more than a party of adventurers at their level could make in the same amount of time.
These two advantages attracted newcomers, who in turn made powerful Familias even stronger.
With the burden taken care of, the three of them resumed exploring the Dungeon.
Or rather, they began charging toward the lower floors.
Dark-blue arcs of electricity surged around Noah as he recklessly plunged into the monster horde, launching a one-sided slaughter.
It was as if a thundercloud had descended into the abyssal cavern. The continuous crackle of electricity rang out alongside bursts of blinding light, while the dark radiance flooded the entire scene like a tide.
After the thunderous roar made their skin sting, the monsters' ferocious growls turned to wails, and then they were reduced to ash in the explosions.
But Noah kept his objective in mind and began adjusting the magic surging around him as he charged forward, cutting down monsters.
As his charge and slaughter continued, the arcs of lightning gradually tightened around him, no longer shining with dazzling brilliance that illuminated everything.
With the arcs of electricity wrapped around his body, Noah's speed and defense increased dramatically while his magic consumption dropped sharply.
Once the silver-white blade was wrapped in dark-blue arcs, it looked as if it had been dyed the color of crystalline ice.
Yet the sight of this beautiful, art-like weapon slaughtering dozens of monsters with a single slash silently revealed how terrifying it was.
From time to time, a Dungeon Worm that had been boring through the walls suddenly burst out, opening an abyssal maw lined with dozens of rows of sharp teeth.
Noah didn't slow down in the slightest. With a casual flick of his hand, like a master chef wielding a knife, he split the disgusting monster, more than ten meters long, in half from head to tail.
The middle-floor monsters that had just given Noah the thrill of battle once again posed no challenge at all under the boost of magic.
Even when he charged onto the Seventeenth Floor and encountered the Minotaur, rated by the Guild as the strongest ordinary monster of the middle floors, nothing changed.
Neither its skin, tough as red copper, nor its massive, bulging muscles could withstand a single strike from Noah.
As they continued forward, the surrounding caves grew larger, the paths branched less often, and the passages became wider and taller.
The frequency of monsters appearing around them also dropped off a cliff, as if they were suddenly afraid.
It was almost as though the Dungeon were preparing for some enormous monster to appear—
When they entered a vast hall, Noah confirmed his suspicion.
The hall was a level, rectangular space formed from rough-hewn rock.
Only the wall on the left was different. It was a smooth, white stone surface covering the entire wall, as if a craftsman had polished it until it was like a mirror.
In this environment, its beautiful, immaculate appearance only made it more unsettling.
The Wall of Sighs, home to Goliath, the Floor Boss that had exclusive dominion over the Seventeenth Floor.
"Phew. Let's call it a day here. We need to hurry back, or who knows when we'll make it to the surface."
With a backpack even bigger than the one she'd carried before they lightened the load, Riveria decided that their exploration for the day was finally over and turned to leave.
But no footsteps followed.
"Hmm? Noah? Ais?"
Puzzled, Riveria turned around and saw Noah standing completely still, gazing at the distant Wall of Sighs.
"Riveria, if I remember right, it's been over half a month since Goliath was last defeated, hasn't it?"
At the sight of the excited smile tugging at Noah's lips, Riveria immediately had a bad feeling.
"Hey! Noah!"
40 The Floor Boss and the Blonde Elf
"Um, Riveria, would it be all right if—"
Noah turned around, but before he could finish speaking, Riveria cut him off with a rapid-fire triple refusal.
"No! No way! Don't even think about it!"
Riveria's brows shot up, and a fury and severity unlike anything she'd shown before blazed in her emerald eyes.
"You want to fight a Floor Boss on your first Dungeon exploration?! There's a limit to how reckless you can be!"
The Goliath that appeared on the Seventeenth Floor was said to be equivalent to a level-four adventurer. But with a monster's natural strength, enormous size, and regenerative abilities, it still took several level-four adventurers working together to defeat one safely.
Before you continue