Success!

O rock kin buried deep beneath the earth, steadfast stone bearing the weight of mountains, heed the caster's command and rise proudly from the ground! Layer upon layer of rock shall overlap, forming an immovable fortress to withstand the torrent of flames, repel impact and roaring. No attack shall ever cross this wall!

"Earth Barrier!"

Roxy chanted the spell, creating a massive, thick stone fortress with both hands and enclosing everyone within it.

"Cain!"

Hearing her, Cain turned back to look at everyone prepared within the stone fortress and smiled faintly.

Sure enough, Teacher Roxy was still as reassuring as ever.

Cain's expression then turned solemn. The staff in his hand gradually emitted a dazzling radiance, like a meteor in the night, as surging mana poured into it.

He looked ahead at the massive bone dragon, which had lost its vision in the dense Water Vapor and was blindly spewing fireballs, then wrapped battle aura around his feet.

"It's time to end this!"

Cain bent his knees slightly! He assumed the stance of the Sword God Style! With a boom, he shattered the ground beneath his feet and shot forward like lightning!

The Flame Red Dragon suddenly sensed a chilling killing intent. It instinctively lowered its head, only to see Cain breaking through the white mist. Cain immediately raised his hand and unleashed an absurdly fast Blade of Light, cleaving its enormous body in two once more!

But Flame Red Dragon Grashum knew that a physical slash could not kill him.

Not until he fell to the ground and his hollow, red-glowing eye sockets accidentally caught sight of the magic staff in the boy's hand, blooming with blinding light!

Flame Red Dragon Grashum instantly sensed that something was wrong. The ant before him, whose swordsmanship was so powerful, seemed to possess another hidden ability... No! That was not an ability, but... an ultimate technique!

Cain pointed his staff at the jewel embedded in the chest of the bone dragon split in half.

As Chantless Casting activated, Cain calmly called out.

"Frost Nova!"

With a whoosh! In an instant, the entire several-hundred-square-meter boss room became like a sea of ice. Thick ice crystals formed everywhere, illuminating the whole chamber with their icy surface. Even the numerous high-value mana crystals behind the bone dragon were completely encased in ice.

Flame Red Dragon Grashum's magic-crystal bone dragon avatar was frozen solid, and with a crack!

His avatar shattered into a sky full of ice crystals. Flame Red Dragon Grashum's true body emerged ahead, his hollow skeletal eye sockets glowing red as he stared fixedly at the tiny, ant-like boy below. Crimson dragonfire gathered in his mouth.

But Cain gave him no chance to attack again. His battle-aura-wreathed feet landed in a flash, shattered the ground once more, and launched him into the air!

Cain swung his katana in an instant. The Blade of Light swept horizontally, faster than lightning, and the next moment, the world spun.

Flame Red Dragon Grashum's skeletal head was severed by Cain and flew into the air before crashing heavily into the pile of magic crystals behind it.

Though there had been many movements, everything had actually happened at incredible speed, in the blink of an eye.

Inside the stone fortress behind Cain, now coated in thick frost, Zoldat and the others saw the skeletal dragon's frame collapse with a crash. They finally let out a breath and slumped to the ground.

"What a battle between monsters..."

Zoldat sighed, feeling that they had not had any chance to intervene at all.

Roxy watched Cain standing atop the corpse of the dungeon boss, Flame Red Dragon Grashum, panting lightly as he searched for something. The tension in her heart eased, the concern in her eyes slowly fading and being replaced by a swelling sense of pride and satisfaction.

Because Cain had defeated that monster with the magic she had taught him.

"This must be that Magic Beast's core..."

Cain looked at the orange magic crystal in his hand, sheathed his sword, and nodded slightly.

"Cain, are you all right?"

Cain turned and saw Roxy running toward him anxiously. He smiled faintly and handed her the magic staff.

"Hmm, Cain, what is that? A Magic Beast's magic crystal? It's so big?!"

Roxy took the staff, blinked her azure eyes, and curiously examined the fist-sized orange magic crystal in Cain's hand. She poked it with a finger, and Roxy could see mysterious magical patterns within the crystal.

"It's not a magic crystal, but a magic item?! How amazing."

Cain blinked, tossed the orange jewel from his left hand to his right and then back again, curiously playing with it before holding it up to inspect it.

"Idiot, that's not a toy! This is a very rare magic item!"

Roxy's eye twitched. She snatched the jewel engraved with magic-circle patterns from his hand and looked at Cain solemnly.

"A magic item? It looks about the same as a magic crystal."

"They're completely different! Magic items have special abilities, while magic crystals can only provide mana."

"Hey, Teacher, do you know what ability this stone has?"

Cain asked curiously. This was also the first time he had gotten a magic item with a special ability from a wild monster, and it was even a size larger than the Red Dragon's magic crystal.

Roxy shook her head. She was not an appraiser, so she could not identify the ability of this orange jewel. Still, since it was a magic item dropped by an S-rank dungeon boss, it surely possessed quite formidable properties.

"I don't know, but it's not a stone! And it's not a toy! It's a very valuable magic item, idiot!"

"S-sorry."

Roxy sighed helplessly and looked at her carefree disciple. In some ways, Cain really was a bit like a child.

"In any case, let's take it back to an item shop and have it appraised first. It might be a very precious magic item. Then you can decide whether to sell it or keep it. But you're not allowed to treat it like a toy again! This is a very valuable treasure."

Cain looked at the orange jewel in his hand, then at the faintly relieved smile on Roxy's face, and helplessly spread his hands.

"If Teacher Roxy likes it, I'll give this jewel to you."

Roxy watched Cain smile and offer the jewel to her again. She smiled helplessly, shook her head lightly, and waved a hand.

"Although I'm an inadequate teacher, I won't do something so shameful as taking a good thing from my disciple."

"Is that so?"

Seeing Roxy's firm attitude, Cain sighed and nodded helplessly before putting the jewel away against his chest.

Fine. I'll give it to Teacher properly as a return gift later.

With that thought, Cain looked toward the group that had thrown themselves into the pile of magic crystals.

"Woohoo, we struck it rich this time!"

Zoldat and the others cheered from within the pile of magic crystals. They had never seen so many high-grade magic crystals in their lives. They were piled up like a small mountain, enough to cover their entire party's expenses for half a lifetime.

Those money-grubbing guys like Zoldat did not need to worry about him, but they could at least ask him a couple of questions, right? After all, defeating that thing had taken quite a bit of effort.

Cain's mouth twitched.

"Can those guys really split everything evenly with us, Teacher Roxy? Looking at them now, I feel like they're about to keep all the magic crystals for themselves..."

Roxy smiled helplessly, blushed slightly, and took Cain's hand.

It felt as though he had been shocked.

Cain's face reddened slightly as he looked at Roxy beside him. She pursed her lips shyly as one of her small hands gently held his.

"T-Teacher!?"

"I-I just... Ahem, ahem. I was afraid you'd get lost." Roxy turned her face away and spoke softly.

"I-is that so? All right..."

I really feel like I'm being treated as a child...

"Teacher Roxy, I'm at least someone of some standing. Could you let me save a little face..."

On the way back, Cain moved closer to Roxy, who was leading him forward by the hand, and spoke with a faint blush on his face.

"Hmm, Cain, don't you like me holding your hand?"

Roxy adjusted the magic hat on her head, turned back, blinked, and looked at Cain with a faint blush.

"N-no, I like it! Of course I like it, it's just..." Cain's eye twitched as he looked at the others staring at him and Roxy.

"Oh, they're whispering to each other again."

Zoldat and the others carried several large sacks of high-purity magic crystals. Looking at Roxy and Cain holding hands, they narrowed their eyes and wore rather comical smiles.

"N-not at all... Hey, Zoldat, don't talk nonsense!"

"Ha, you weren't this red when we saw you holding Roxy before."

"That was because Teacher was sick! Special circumstances naturally require special treatment... Idiot!"

Roxy walked ahead, and as she listened to the conversation behind her, her face reddened even more. Yet her hand tightened slightly around Cain's.

Zoldat grinned mischievously and threw an arm over Cain's shoulder.

"Heh, is that really how it was?"

"What do you mean, 'how it was'? Say another word of nonsense and I'll cut you down."

"And stop making that disgusting face, idiot Zoldat."

Seeing Cain's hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist and the displeased look on his face, Zoldat's mouth twitched.

This guy was still so easy to tease...

Zoldat composed himself and waved a hand.

"Fine, fine, let's say it was just as you said. In any case, when it comes to the rewards, I'll definitely treat everyone equally. You don't need to worry about that."

"Seeing how you threw yourself into that pile of magic crystals earlier, I thought you were going to keep everything for yourself."

"Hey, hey, I was only joking earlier. Are you still mad, you brat? Show a little of that Sword God magnanimity."

The group smiled faintly. Zoldat's adventuring party had gained a great deal this time. They had filled more than ten sacks with high-purity mana crystals alone, along with all kinds of gemstones, magic items, and more.