Assaulting the Boss Room

Dungeons were natural phenomena formed by vast accumulations of magic power. Like living things, they drew monsters in with their immense power. When monsters died inside, the dungeon absorbed their magic power. But if monsters devoured the magic crystal formed from the dungeon's power, the dungeon would collapse and vanish.

This gave rise to another mechanism: symbiosis.

A dungeon attracted and sustained one or more powerful monsters, turning them into guardians that protected it.

The stronger the dungeon, the stronger its monsters and final guardian. No one knew how many years the A-rank Dungeon before them had existed, or how many monsters it had absorbed. It might already have become S-rank.

Zoldat was glad he had brought Sword God Cain and Water Saint-class Roxy along on this expedition. It had undoubtedly been the right choice.

Holding the fine steel sword Roxy had given him, Cain continued forward at an unhurried pace. Soon, monsters hidden in the darkness lunged at them.

Cain casually unleashed a Blade of Light too fast to see, splitting the B-rank Cave Demon Spider leaping toward the party in two. He whipped his sword around at blinding speed, knocking aside two arrows fired from his blind spot, then sent three sword arcs toward several skeleton archers in the distance, cutting them in half. Once he confirmed there were no more monsters, he signaled the party to move on.

Incredible!!

Behind him, Zoldat and the others stared wide-eyed. Whenever a monster appeared ahead, Cain cut it down a moment later.

Then Liya heard something behind them. She turned to see three wolf-shaped monsters charging at the rear of the party. Their mouths bristled with uneven fangs. They were called wolves, but they looked more like four-legged demons.

In the next instant, Brook and another rear guard stepped in front of the four mages. Roxy, who had also noticed the threat, finished her chant and fired four ice spikes, piercing the Demon Wolves' heads and spines in an instant.

"She cast that so fast!"

"Her chanting was fast too!"

Rina, Mia, and Fira stared at Roxy in shock. Roxy let out a long breath, then looked at the three of them with a serious expression.

"Please stay alert."

"O-okay!"

Anna, Mia, and Raffy looked at Roxy's adorably serious face, straightened up, and answered with flushed cheeks.

Roxy had encountered countless low-level monsters like these in dungeons. She was long accustomed to them; she could hear their footsteps from a hundred meters away. It was experience she had built up over many dungeon expeditions.

The other female mages around her, though, did not seem to enter dungeons often. Their reactions were a little slow.

The three surrounded Roxy and watched their surroundings warily. As expected of a mage who could hit a flying Red Dragon, she was quick to react.

"L-let us protect you, Lady Roxy!"

"Huh? N-no, you don't need to be so formal..."

Roxy still had no idea that Zoldat and Cain had quietly made her an irreplaceable, godlike figure in the adventurers' eyes. Some even shouted her name when all hope was lost and charged toward death without fear.

The party advanced steadily through the first floor, the second, and onward to the tenth.

"The monsters here have changed..."

At the stairway entrance to the tenth floor, Zoldat frowned at the remains of a Skeleton Warrior Cain had split in two with his Blade of Light.

An A-rank monster? But this is only the tenth floor. Has this dungeon really evolved?

The Skeleton Warrior stood over two meters tall, a fearsome figure wielding a rusty sword and an enormous shield emblazoned with a Red Dragon. It was an elite monster that should only appear in an S-rank dungeon.

Worse, it had deflected Roxy's high-speed stone projectile using Secret Art: Flow, a technique only a Water Saint-class swordsman could perform.

That meant it had been at least a Water Saint before it became a monster.

"What's wrong, Zoldat?" Cain's voice broke through his worries. As Cain slowly sheathed his fine steel sword, standing atop the Skeleton Warrior's remains with an almost invincible air, Zoldat felt inexplicably reassured.

That's right. We brought the Sword God from the Sword Sanctum. Even if the boss is something terrifying, Cain can probably beat it easily.

"Hmm. Your smile's kind of creepy..."

That stings. Is my smile really that creepy?!

Zoldat's mouth twitched. He scratched his cheek.

"Come on, don't say that. We're lucky you and Roxy joined us this time, Cain. That monster alone would've taken us ages to deal with."

Zoldat meant it. A Skeleton Warrior capable of Water Saint-class swordsmanship and secret arts was a nightmare for adventurer swordsmen and mages. It could block sword strikes and reflect magic. Even Advanced-class Sword God Style swordsmen risked being killed by one in a duel.

Cain looked at Zoldat and pursed his lips.

"You mean that monster? It wasn't too bad. Easy enough to cut down. I don't know why Water God Style swordsmen get so strangely confident whenever they see a Sword God Style swordsman. Apparently, even turning into monsters doesn't change that."

Because everyone knows Water God Style counters Sword God Style...

Though that doesn't seem to matter at all against him...

Zoldat remembered how Cain had waited for the monster to assume its Water God Style stance before cutting it in two from the front. Even a casual strike from him exceeded the limits of a Saint Rank Water God Style swordsman's reactions.

He really is the Sword God...

With that thought, Zoldat settled down to rest with the party at the entrance to the tenth floor.

"I still have about two-thirds of my magic power. Don't worry about me, Cain."

Roxy smiled at Cain, who stood beside her, looking worried as he checked on her.

"But Cain, what do you think of this dungeon expedition so far?"

Cain pressed his lips together. He did not want to discourage his teacher, but for a swordsman of his level, even an S-rank Red Dragon would fall to one slash. Though he did wonder what Red Dragon meat tasted like. Would it be good?

Seeing the anticipation in Roxy's eyes, Cain gave her a faint smile.

"It's been all right. Something new, at least. If you'd like, Teacher Roxy, we can explore another dungeon together sometime."

Roxy's cheeks reddened slightly. She pressed her lips together, twirled a strand of blue hair around her finger, and nodded.

"Mm. Then next time, let's go together. Just the two of us."

The expedition went smoothly. Below the tenth floor, they encountered many Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Knights, and even Flame-Scaled Giant Lizards over three meters tall, their bodies covered in hard scales.

But under frontliner Cain's Divine Rank Blade of Light, they were cut into pieces almost as soon as they appeared.

Zoldat and the others quickly dealt with the few beasts that remained hidden.

Six hours passed on the pocket watch, and the party reached the nineteenth floor. Facing the boss room, Zoldat put the watch away, his brow deeply furrowed.

"That doesn't seem right... This is supposed to be an A-rank dungeon, but why does the boss room look more like one from an S-rank dungeon?"

"What's wrong?" Cain asked, wiping the blood from his fine steel sword with a cloth.

"Nothing. It's just that this guardian's room is frighteningly large..."

"Hey, Roxy, you've cleared plenty of dungeons before, right? Have you ever seen a guardian's room this big?"

Roxy came over, examined the magic patterns on the door, and blinked her blue eyes. She ran a small hand carefully over the patterns, then slowly shook her head.

"I see... What do you think, Cain?"

Cain raised an eyebrow.

"You're the leader. You're asking me?"

"Of course. No one here is stronger than you. If we go in, whether we come back alive depends on you."

Zoldat flashed two rows of white teeth, smiling as though he were talking about something trivial.

Could you not say something so ominous...?

Roxy's and Cain's eyes twitched.

Cain cleared his throat twice.

"I'm fine with it. After coming this far, I don't think anyone would be satisfied if we didn't go in and take a look."

Zoldat folded his arms and nodded.

"Good. That's the man I knew you were."

Should I remind you I'm only twelve...?

Cain's mouth twitched at the look on Zoldat's face, as if he were about to propose they become sworn brothers.

They changed their formation. Zoldat took charge of guarding the rear; no monsters would appear behind them in the boss room, so they had little need for a rear guard. Bruce and the apprentice member took the front, tasked with blocking any sudden attack from the boss. Cain stood behind them, ready to strike as soon as he saw it.