Goliath Gets Taken Down Again

After picking out all their weapons, Falan took the three little ones to Orario's Central Tower.

After all, adventuring required far more than just the equipment they wore.

For example, recovery potions. Using the "Divine Wine (semi-finished product)" Soma had given him before, Falan bartered for supplies.

After all, the Soma Familia's finances had completely collapsed, and they had only just begun to recover.

They needed money everywhere they looked, and aside from the Divine Wine (semi-finished product), they had nothing else worth trading.

Thanks to the high quality of Soma's Divine Wine, they exchanged it for a batch of low-grade potions sufficient for Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 adventurers.

They had even taken Liliruca into consideration. Since she had switched from supporter to crossbow archer, the Familia had thrown in a batch of arrows as well.

Besides that, they purchased all sorts of miscellaneous supplies. It was a military expedition, after all~

A single expedition lasted several months. Without enough supplies, an accident could easily leave them starving to death in the Dungeon.

Falan only managed it because he had enough "Backpacks." Otherwise, with space needing to be reserved for the other Familias' belongings, there would have been no room for all this.

The military expedition began a few days later.

"Captain, we..."

"Follow the Loki Familia's orders for now. We'll advance to the 18th Floor together first."

Although this was called a military expedition, the different Familias still needed time to coordinate with one another.

Falan had to admit that Finn's move was clever. The 18th Floor was the Dungeon's first safe floor and the adventurers' first major threshold. If the Loki Familia wanted to command the entire allied expedition force before the joint expedition—

Some Familias would inevitably pay lip service while harboring other thoughts. Thus, making the 18th Floor the first day's gathering point was not only a test—after all, reaching the 18th Floor was usually no problem for Lv. 2 adventurers—but also a way to make every Familia willing to accept the Loki Familia's arrangements.

With Falan's bug-like development ability, Mage, the Soma Familia squad quickly advanced to the 17th Floor. Along the way, Falan deliberately let quite a few small monsters slip through for his three little ones to surround and kill.

The Soma Familia was simply too weak right now. Other than himself, it had no one capable of holding things up. Falan intended to repay Soma for recognizing his worth, and during this military expedition, he would also train the Soma Familia's three little ones.

"Better teamwork than I expected~" The person who had "accidentally" let monsters through watched the three of them.

Yunika used [O Nature—Entwined Vines, I am nature's messenger, Entangle—] to bind the target monster. Al rushed in and slashed at it with his sword, while Liliruca continuously fired her shortbow in coordination. The framework of a small party gradually took shape.

"It's a shame this world doesn't have priests, but this warrior-mage-archer setup is pretty good too."

While secretly watching over them, Falan continuously used his chant-version Clear to eliminate the monsters endlessly pouring in from the middle floors.

Then, by sheer coincidence, a few more monsters slipped past him for the three little ones to kill and level up on.

As for the three whom Falan called his little ones, they worked hard as well, killing every monster that slipped through.

Having explored as far as the 17th Floor, they more or less realized that the monsters they encountered along the way had all been deliberately let through by Falan to test them. Whether it was for a place in the military expedition or to make a good impression on their captain, they did their best to eliminate every monster.

At first, they could kill monsters instantly on the upper floors. Now, they could only defeat them after bitter struggles, before encountering more monsters Falan had let slip through.

They came to understand their own strength, as well as their coordination with their companions, a little better.

Yunika: So this is why Captain Falan values my magic?

At this point, she no longer thought about killing monsters with her magic herself. After all, restraining the monsters so her teammates could kill them—that was the role she had come to understand for herself along the way.

Al: Yunika's magic is so strong. Is she really the weakest person everyone talks about? Compared to her, my attacks are just too slow.

Watching monster after monster get restrained and pierced by arrows from behind, Al felt somewhat powerless. Though he had been called the strongest in the Soma Familia, this expedition had taught him that strength came in different forms.

Was Yunika weak? If she were alone, naturally she would be weak. But in team battles, she was a devastating weapon.

And was Liliruca weak? Though her lowly status as a former supporter had prevented her ability values from developing properly, years of adventuring alongside others had given her exceptional insight into opportunities during combat. And now she had a whole pile of arrows at her disposal...

In any case, though this expedition had only just begun, Al, Yunika, and Liliruca had all gained a different understanding of what it meant to be adventurers. They quietly looked toward their captain.

Because the one responsible for this situation was their captain. Everything about Falan seemed far too mysterious in their eyes.

"Captain Falan, aren't you going to let any more monsters through?"

"No need. There aren't any monsters left. Next is the floor boss's room."

"The floor boss's room?" The three little ones were stunned. Had they advanced that quickly?

"Heh heh..." Falan felt a little smug inside as he watched the astonished three.

After all, over the past month, he had traveled this route more than forty times.

He had long figured out which paths were easier to take and how to reach the 18th Floor faster.

As the four of them approached the boundary between the two floors, Falan looked at the enormous figure inside and nodded.

"As expected, Goliath hasn't been taken down yet. Yunika."

"Yes! [O Nature—Entwined Vines, I am nature's messenger, Entangle—]"

[Dark Spirit, Silent Observer, become countless chains and bind the Titan before us—]

[Offer Dark Thorns to Goliath.]

Endless chains burst from the ground and swiftly bound Goliath. Having gained experience from the first time, Falan had modified his magic. The moment the chains wrapped around Goliath, barbs grew from them and dug into Goliath's body.

The last time he defeated Goliath had been mostly luck. This time, he could not rely on luck again.

Only then did Yunika's nature magic begin to send countless vines drilling up from the ground.

They continuously bound the massive creature that had been dragged to the ground, intertwining around it in tangled layers.

Seeing Falan and Yunika make their moves, the other two acted as well.

Al gripped his greatsword and rushed toward Goliath's head, repeatedly striking at its eyes, the universal weakness of humanoid monsters. Liliruca took out special arrows and continuously fired at Goliath.

Falan had no idea how much time passed. In any case, it definitely took longer than the last time Goliath had destroyed itself.

Because they were focused on the battle, they failed to notice that the other Familias in the allied expedition were arriving one after another.

Yet none of them chose to lend a hand. Defeating a floor boss was an honor belonging to a single Familia.

Finn quietly asked Nine Hell beside him, "Riveria, can you use magic like that?"

"No. The type of magic one possesses is greatly connected to the individual."

"Is that so..." Finn considered it and found it quite reasonable.

What Falan had displayed so far was spatial storage magic, along with his current chain-binding magic.

Neither had much direct relation to slaying monsters. Both served more as support.

Perhaps the elven princess of his Familia truly could not fight in that manner.

As Finn and Riveria spoke, the other Familias also began considering similar party arrangements.

After all, what they were seeing now was two people restraining the floor boss while another two dealt damage.

This style of combat was simply too safe, completely unlike anything they had experienced before.

And so, Goliath was taken down once again, announcing that the Soma Familia, newly joined to the allied expedition—

Was absolutely not as simple as the other Familias had initially imagined.