DanMachi World's Puppeteer

Besides that, a goblin fang had dropped. Even as loot, it was worth very little.

"Better than nothing."

After all, it was his first pot of gold.

Ming Ge put the magic stone fragment and goblin fang into his bag, then continued onward.

The Hera Familia member following behind him, however, could not help but question her life.

"A type of magic similar to Lady Alfia's... If I remember correctly, that guy isn't an adventurer, is he?"

He was not an adventurer, yet he could use magic. He was neither a magic race nor had she heard him recite a chant.

In other words, it was an innate magic with no chant!

She remembered that after Meitellia had asked her for help, she had mocked Ming Ge for overestimating himself.

Thinking of how Meitellia had not refuted her, instead revealing that strange smile, she could not help smacking her forehead.

The clown had been herself.

And... Meitellia had gone bad too.

That man must have been the one who led Meitellia astray.

Thinking of how the once gentle Meitellia had now become a little devil, and of how she herself had become a clown, she could not help feeling a powerful wave of shame.

"Wind Origin Slash."

A circular blade spun through the air, crossing five meters to sever the heads of two large lizards before plunging into the body of a frog archer.

"Bang."

Ming Ge provided the sound effect.

The tiny circular blade let out an explosive crack, and an attack like a thousand cuts erupted from within the frog archer.

Lizards were monsters found on Floors 2 through 4. Like goblins and kobolds, they were among the lowest-tier monsters.

Frog archers, meanwhile, were one-eyed monsters capable of shooting out their long tongues to attack adventurers. It was said that novice adventurers were often swept up by their tongues and stuffed into their bellies...

Just thinking about it sent chills down one's spine.

"Wind-attribute Blade Origin Slash is still more useful."

Ming Ge muttered as he continued forward.

The range within which he could control Blade Origin Slash was eight meters. Beyond that range, his magical control and precision would decline.

Once he lost control entirely, the circular blade would erupt according to its attribute.

Fire Blade Origin Slash exploded, while Wind Blade Origin Slash was similar to the attack just now.

Its consumption was negligible, far less exhausting than raising a sword to cut down monsters.

Compared to magic, Ming Ge was not particularly good at physical labor.

Still, he had entered the Dungeon today to see some blood, so that when he truly had to fight, he would not freeze up or become excessively nervous.

"Hmm?"

Using Detection Wave out of habit, Ming Ge paused.

Detection Wave was the most basic skill, consuming even less than Magic Bullet. After becoming an adventurer, he could even maintain it at all times.

He had only used it now to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum consumption, just in case. Therefore, after the battle ended, Ming Ge discovered a black shadow in a corner of the Dungeon, separated from the wall.

That black shadow was rushing toward him at an extremely fast speed.

Having read the monster guide beforehand, Ming Ge knew that it was a War Shadow.

A monster that appeared on the sixth floor, it possessed speed surpassing low-tier monsters such as goblins, as well as fingers sharper than those of kobolds.

Pitch-black and shadow-like all over, it had only one red eye, gleaming with scarlet killing intent as it charged at Ming Ge.

"It actually tried to ambush me."

The monsters of the upper floors had low intelligence, yet they had even learned to ambush people.

Ming Ge complained as he released a shockwave that slammed the incoming War Shadow against the wall.

In an instant, its body was shattered, and a magic stone fragment fell to the ground.

Picking up the magic stone, Ming Ge fell into thought.

"Looks like the upper-floor monsters are completely inadequate."

Ming Ge muttered, then remained on the sixth floor.

After using magic to deal with the excess monsters, he engaged the remaining monsters in fair one-on-one battles.

His planned path was that of a professional mage; originally, he had no need to wield a sword against monsters.

But when he thought of how Alfia was clearly a professional mage yet possessed strength comparable to a vanguard, and could reproduce someone else's swordsmanship after seeing it once, Ming Ge silently picked up his sword.

Not to mention reaching Alfia's level—that would be difficult without cheating. Ming Ge strongly suspected that she was modeled after Nanakimura Nanami from Katanagatari.

At the very least, when someone's sword was about to strike him, he needed to be able to use magic to defend himself or counterkill, rather than panic, have his mind go blank, fail to cast magic, and die.

That was a little ridiculous.

Half-Orc

After an hour of combat awareness training, Ming Ge had at least reached the level of "knowing how to use a weapon."

His magic consumption was very low, only around one-tenth, so after thinking it over, Ming Ge continued deeper into the Dungeon.

Upon reaching the ninth floor, Ming Ge discovered a large number of life-sign reactions after scanning the area.

"Group monsters?"

The presence of monsters differed from that of adventurers, and the presence of adventurers differed from that of ordinary people.

Becoming part of a god's Familia meant possessing divine blood. Naturally, their scent differed from that of ordinary people.

But generally speaking, the presence of monsters and adventurers produced two completely opposite reactions.