Expedition (Part 2, Upper Floors)

[Dark Spirit, mysterious beyond measure, clear everything away for me! Clear!]

As the expedition with the Freya Familia began, such chants rang out through the Dungeon one after another.

It was simply because Falan was incomparably excited after weaving his very own magic for the first time.

He could finally use magic. As someone who had transmigrated into a Western fantasy world,

no one could possibly crave magic more than he did, especially after learning from Soma

that he had gained two additional skills: Dark Elf's Favor and Magic Weaving.

With the foundational skill of Magic Weaving, he was destined to become famous throughout Orario.

And as he excitedly continued using his newly woven magic,

the monsters appearing before him in the Dungeon were swiftly wiped out.

After all, Clear, a branch of Life Magic, automatically picked up dropped items.

All Falan needed to do was race deeper according to the map while continuously bombarding monsters.

Not far behind Falan, a team followed closely like shadows.

A silver-haired elf wearing glasses could not help but complain.

"Big Backpack, using magic so recklessly is such a waste. Even if you've only just learned Weaving Magic, you should show some restraint. At this rate, both your stamina and mana will be depleted incredibly quickly. Captain, aren't you going to stop him?"

"Hahaha, let it go. He's different from us, after all. He's still young~ Full of drive and passion. What we need to do is protect him from the shadows and accompany him to the middle floors. Besides, Ottar..."

Sensing Captain Mia's gaze, the burly man clad in armor slowly spoke.

"Lady Freya told us to cooperate with him as much as possible. This is to test Big Backpack's capacity and the power of his magic, so we can understand how he should work with us once we reach the deepest floors. Our target this time is the 49th Floor."

"..." The Freya Familia adventurers all fell silent, for this was the defining trait of the Freya Familia.

After all, they were all high-ranking adventurers, while Falan was merely a small-time Level 1. Having him take the lead during an expedition—how could the adventurers of a great Familia, who had long stood above others, possibly accept that?

Perhaps most Familias respected their own gods because, after descending to the Lower World, those gods treated adventurers as family and friends. But the Freya Familia was different.

The Freya Familia might have been no different in its early days, but later, during the era when the Evils Familia held sway, it gradually transformed into a Familia that worshipped Freya as its faith, both to protect its own power and to strike against the Evils Familia.

In truth, including Ottar, the Level 6 vice-captain second only to Captain Mia, more than half of the Freya Familia's members adored Freya and regarded her as the faith of their lives. Therefore, Ottar speaking on Freya's behalf was equivalent to gaining the silent approval of all the adventurers.

Captain Mia also said, "Don't be so dissatisfied. Falan can only show off his magic like this in the middle and upper floors anyway. Just treat it as saving strength for this expedition and let him clear the way for us first."

With the will of Freya behind it, along with Captain Mia—the person most trusted by the Familia members—speaking up, the adventurers naturally felt there was nothing wrong with letting someone else take the vanguard.

A few hours later, Falan silently drank the Lesser Mana Recovery Potion he had prepared beforehand.

At the same time, he continued using his magic to blast apart the monsters appearing before him.

He was no longer as excited as before, feeling somewhat numb instead. As his mouth grew sore, the intensity of his bombardment gradually weakened.

Not to mention that after moving from the upper floors into the middle floors, the monster spawn rate had increased.

Not only were the monsters here pack creatures, but most adventurers only operated in the upper floors.

As a result, the middle-floor monsters lacked adventurers to clear them out, making their density higher than in the upper floors.

Falan could no longer rely solely on chanting magic. He had to pick up his longsword and fight the monsters himself.

Of course, he was not truly afraid of these monster hordes.

Because not far behind him, the Freya Familia expedition force was standing guard.

After all, the Freya Familia had already dubbed him Big Backpack.

Using his own magic alone, he carried all the supplies for the Freya Familia's expedition on his person.

To avoid any accidents during the expedition, the Freya Familia members would undoubtedly do everything in their power to ensure his safety.

"Cough, cough. We finally made it to the 17th Floor..."

Upon reaching the stairway area connecting the 16th and 17th Floors, Falan leaned against the wall to rest, exhausted.

After all, absolute Safe Zones had never existed in the Dungeon. Even the 18th Floor, known as a safe floor, had suffered hundreds of monster rampages. This was merely a relatively safe stairway area, and monsters could migrate through here at any time.

"Finally tired, little brother Falan?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Captain Mia, and everyone from the Freya Familia."

The burly Ottar said, "It's nothing. It just happened to let us see your strength clearly, so we'll know how to protect you in the deep floors."

"Cough, cough. Vice-Captain Ottar didn't mean it like that. He's praising you. You did well."

"That's right, that's right. Reaching the middle floors alone at Level 1 is already an impressive achievement."

Of course, alongside praise for Falan, there was also criticism.

The silver-haired elf had wanted to lecture Falan ever since midway through the journey, and now he finally got his wish.

"Big Backpack, I know you're excited because you've just woven a magic that belongs only to you. But please understand that this is the Dungeon. Without us from the Freya Familia, what kind of danger would you face if you exhausted your mana here?"

"As a spellcaster, what we learn is how to control our mana consumption..."

As he wearily listened to the Freya Familia members' concerned, reproachful, or indifferent words, Falan gradually began to fit in among them.

After all, these people were veteran adventurers. Even their casual remarks conveyed the experience and conduct an adventurer needed when exploring the Dungeon.

This also allowed him to lower his guard around the Freya Familia. Such a great Familia truly had reason to be proud, and besides, he was now considered accepted among them.

For the sake of better adventuring and the safety of this expedition, there was no need for him to reject the Freya Familia's goodwill because of meaningless preconceptions. Before long, they reached the end of the 17th Floor.

In an enormous room, as the Freya Familia arrived, a massive monster inside—namely the Floor Boss Goliath—struck fiercely toward the entrance without showing any weakness.

Watching adventurers fight such a colossal creature, Falan regained his reverence for the Dungeon.

This was the Dungeon, after all. Even though his Destruction Magic could easily destroy ordinary middle-floor monsters,

the Dungeon contained many more varieties of monsters, such as the Floor Boss Goliath.

Just watching the Freya Familia adventurers slash desperately at it, only to leave wound after wound,

made Falan realize that before the enormous entity known as the Dungeon, he was still merely a small fry.

If he faced such a powerful enemy alone, aside from using his magic to inflict superficial damage, he likely had no other means. Goliath's thick skin possessed magical resistance as well.

Even the Freya Familia had to rely on team tactics to take down Goliath. This was absolutely not something a lone adventurer could handle.

"Little brother Falan, what are you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking that Floor Bosses really are powerful. Even the Freya Familia has to deal with it for so long."

"Hahaha~ Floor Bosses are indeed powerful, but Goliath is an exception. Strictly speaking, Goliath has too many weaknesses and is easily countered by adventurers. Do you know why? Its movement speed is too slow, and it can only attack with close-range hammer blows."

"In theory, as long as a Level 2 mage has enough agility, they can kite Goliath to death. In fact, Goliath is the first great deed many adventurers think of when they want to level up."

"Either exterminating Goliath as a team or challenging Goliath alone—those are choices every powerful adventurer considers."

"You too, Captain Mia?"

"Mm. Not just me. Ottar as well, and many Freya Familia adventurers too."

"Then what about now?"

"Only the Freya Familia's Level 2s and Level 3s have gone up. It's also a chance for them to get some practice. After all, little brother Falan, you cleared all the monsters along the way. To prepare for the battles ahead in the deep floors, they need Goliath as a whetstone to get their feel back."

"..." So this was the pride of a great Familia... In their eyes, a mighty Floor Boss was merely a whetstone for practice.