Just a little bit short

As Ais and Bete appeared, the monsters from the 17th floor were instantly struck down.

The crisis was resolved in an instant.

Ais neatly sheathed her sword, her gaze sweeping over Thor and the blood-soaked Bell, asking in a calm yet concerned tone, "Are you two alright?"

Thor smiled slightly, pinching his thumb and forefinger together to indicate a tiny distance: "You really saved us. If it had been just a hair closer, I would have been done for."

His demeanor was composed, as if the brush with death moments ago were merely an illusion.

Confusion filled Ais's golden pupils; she couldn't quite grasp the strange, instantaneous movement Thor had just displayed.

Was it a skill?

Or... did I see it wrong?

"You just now..." she began.

"Hey! Tomato brat!"

A violent, harsh shout rudely interrupted Ais.

Bete viciously grabbed Bell by his blood-soaked collar, nearly lifting the limp boy off the ground.

"Where the hell were those useless eyes of yours wandering just now?! Huh?!"

His words were filled with undisguised contempt.

"You dare to lose focus while fighting for your life against that thing? Are you in such a hurry to die?!"

He shoved Bell violently toward the remains of the Minotaur he had kicked to pieces.

"Look! Look closely! This is the end that a half-baked amateur like you deserves! If we hadn't arrived, you and that idiot companion of yours standing there in a daze would be nothing but two piles of meat right now!"

He spat on the ground, continuing his sharp verbal assault.

"Listen up, rookie! If you don't have the skills, keep your tail tucked and crawl back to the upper floors to bully Goblins! The Dungeon isn't a playground for trash like you who don't even know how to fight!"

His reprimand was vicious and grating, every word like a whip lashing against Bell's heart.

Seeing Bete hurl such insults, Ais felt embarrassed and apologized to Thor beside her: "I'm sorry, my companion is..."

Thor waved his hand dismissively: "Don't take it to heart, we don't mind."

Thor could see it.

Beneath Bete's rough actions and words lay an unspoken logic.

He had pointed out the fatal consequences of losing focus and emphasized the absolute importance of strength.

This was less of a pure insult and more of a "warning" based on cruel reality, wrapped in the harshest possible packaging.

It seemed that because of the werewolf youth's own past experiences, he loathed weakness—especially the kind that he perceived as "dragging others down," which was perhaps a projection of his own past trauma.

Just then, from a more distant fork in the path, the faint roar of another Minotaur echoed.

The number of these monsters that had climbed up from the 17th floor was likely staggering.

Bete glanced at the blood-covered, dejected Bell with disgust and growled, "Ais! Let's go!"

Without another word, he turned and sprinted toward the direction of the roars.

Ais nodded faintly, preparing to continue clearing out the monsters that had escaped them.

Before leaving, she swept her gaze over Thor once more.

That instant movement... it must have been an illusion. The beginner gear on him had nothing special about it; he was just a super rookie...

Ais shook her head slightly, suppressing her doubts.

"Please wait!" Thor suddenly spoke, his voice steady, "Can you leave the magic stones of those Minotaurs to us?"

Ais paused, nodding briefly.

Then, her figure flashed, and she followed Bete deep into the corridor.

Thor immediately leaned down to pick up the dark red magic stone on the ground, which was still radiating a faint warmth and was the size of an infant's fist.

He rubbed the rough surface with his fingertips, sensing the energy contained within, and a look of joy instantly appeared on his face.

He called out to Bell: "Bell! Good news! The quality of these Minotaur magic stones is extremely high; I only need ten of them to condense a Stardust!"

However, only a stifling silence answered him.

Thor turned to look.

Bell remained in the position he had been left in after Bete's shove, knees pulled to his chest, curled up on the cold ground with his head buried deep in his arms, his blood-stained white hair hanging down in disarray.

He radiated an inescapable aura of dejection.

Thor walked closer and could faintly hear Bell's tiny, choked voice, filled with intense resentment and self-reproach, muttering repeatedly as if questioning himself or confessing to the ground.

"...trash... burden... I was so close... why am I so weak..."

It seemed that because the prey he had fought with all his might to defeat was finished off by Bete's single kick, and he was subsequently berated as "trash" and a "burden" without mercy, the massive disparity and sharp sense of humiliation had plunged him into a vortex of self-denial.

Thor showed no sign of disgust at Bell's blood-stained and disheveled state.

He walked straight over, reached out, and grabbed Bell by the back of his collar, hoisting him up from the ground like a dejected little animal.

"Enough. Dwelling on the past is meaningless."

Thor's tone was calm yet carried an unquestionable weight. He dragged the still-despondent Bell along, his footsteps never faltering as he headed toward the corridor where Ais and Bete had vanished.

"There are still plenty of Minotaur magic stones 'delivered to our doorstep,' as Miss Ais personally promised. Let's not waste this 'gift'; we're going to collect it."

With that, Thor half-dragged the dazed Bell away. Their figures soon vanished into the deep, dark corridor ahead, leaving only the faint sound of boots scraping against gravel as they faded into the distance.

The scene shifts.

Inside the Guild's spacious reception room, the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

"Lord Thor!"

Eina Tulle slammed her hands onto the desk with a loud thud.

She leaned forward, her tone laced with irrepressible anxiety and a hint of lingering fear.

The recoil from this movement caused her already magnificent assets to tremble slightly.

"Please, do not enter the Dungeon on your own again! This time, it even triggered a massive incident where Minotaur appeared on the fifth floor from the seventeenth!"

She took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions.

"Fortunately, there were no adventurer casualties this time, otherwise..."

Before she could finish her stern reprimand, Thor, who had maintained a leisurely posture throughout, acted as if he hadn't heard a word of her warning. He pushed his empty plate toward Eina as if no one else were in the room and interrupted her naturally:

"Please, some more refreshments."

Beside him, Bell remained trapped in his own world, head bowed and hands resting limply on his knees. He was deaf to his surroundings, clearly still unable to recover from the previous blow.

Eina's lecture was instantly choked off in her throat.

She looked at Thor's indifferent, detached expression, then glanced at the soul-crushed Bell beside him, who looked as if he had suffered a devastating trauma. In the end, she could only let out a long, helpless sigh in her heart.

No matter how much one dotes on their own child, a "God" shouldn't be personally following them into the Dungeon to act as a bodyguard...

It would only hinder the child's growth...

She rubbed her temples, quickly forcing herself to calm down.

Professionalism allowed her to suppress her personal emotions.

She reached out to take the empty plate Thor had pushed over, her tone returning to its usual gentleness:

"Please wait a moment."

With that, she swallowed the rest of her unsaid advice and turned to walk out of the private reception room.