Aik

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Aik (艾克)
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Oss Family; captain of the Ironblood Thorns Squad; later leads the Oss Family vanguard 41 88 106
Occupation/Role	Advanced Professional warrior/swordsman; expedition commander 41 56 88
Status	Alive; continuing the advance team’s exploration of the Seventh Layer 111
First Appearance	Chapter 41

Appearance

Aik is a tall, powerfully built blond man with a handsome face and short golden hair. His muscular physique draws attention even outside combat. 41 97

• Carries a two-handed greatsword as his primary weapon. 49 74
• Wears heavy adventuring armor and can also fight with a round shield. 26 74
• Has sharp, hawk-like eyes and an imposing presence that intimidated a distant catfolk scout. 42 43

Personality

Aik is confident in his squad’s strength and ambitious about the Oss Family’s future, treating the dungeon’s abnormal difficulty as an opportunity to secure resources for a Legendary powerhouse. 42 He is also practical: he bypasses insignificant upper-floor treasure, declines to mine a valuable Elemental Gem Vein during an active expedition, and orders retreats when continued exploration would needlessly endanger survivors. 42 73 85

As captain, Aik accepts responsibility for failures rather than placing blame on his companions. After Ross’s near-death experience, he admits that his own complacency contributed to the danger; after Ulag is injured by Desert Worms, he focuses on reinforcing the camp rather than faulting Mary. 46 67 His loyalty can override sound military judgment, however: he led Ulag and Ghost into the Sixth Layer ruins rather than abandon the teleported Mary and Ross. 74

Abilities & Skills

Advanced Swordsmanship and Frost Battle Aura

Aik is an Advanced Professional swordsman whose battle aura manifests as powerful frost-based attacks. He can rapidly clear large groups of enemies and contend with powerful layer guardians. 44 56

• Frost Sword Dance — launches dense icy slashes from midair, freezing and cutting down Treants. 44
• Frost Slash / Ice Slash — destroys enemies with freezing sword strikes. 43 74
• Frost Spiral Slash — breaks through an undead army’s vanguard. 61
• Frost Cyclone Slash — kills nearly half of a group of Muscle Puchis in a single attack. 56
• Explosive Frost Slash — used against Molten Iron Golems during the ruins rescue attempt. 78

Advanced Professional Physique

His physical strength, speed, endurance, and battle aura let him overwhelm lower-level monsters and survive direct clashes with creatures far larger than himself. 44 56

• Killed hundreds of level-three Treants with his squad and delivered the final blow to the level-six Giant Tree Guardian. 44
• Defeated a level-seven Treant Elder in less than half a minute after being caught off guard. 56
• Can be weakened by coordinated curses; during the Skeleton Warrior battle, Ross’s support and Mary’s magic were necessary to restore his effectiveness. 61

Tactical Command

Aik directs formations, assigns specialized roles, and adjusts plans in response to battlefield conditions. 55 107

• Ordered Ulag to defend the spellcasters while he attacked the undead vanguard. 61
• Revised a monster-camp assault to preserve valuable supplies by limiting Mary’s use of fire magic. 55
• Reorganized the vanguard after the Seventh Layer’s Exploding Slimes killed and injured shield guards, shifting to ranged attacks and healing support. 107
• Divided the later expedition into groups by strength to test whether the Sixth Layer ruins adjusted their difficulty to intruders. 103

Survival and Expedition Management

Aik combines combat leadership with practical camp management and resource discipline.

• Refused to challenge the colossal Fourth Layer tree despite the possibility that it contained another Life Crystal. 45
• Imposed a two-person movement rule during rest periods after Ross was nearly killed at the Fifth Layer lake. 46
• Identified the Nature Flower Fairies as likely stealth monsters after they robbed the squad, based on what valuables they took and left behind. 50
• Prioritized rest, fire-resistance supplies, and casualty management before entering the Seventh Layer. 106

Equipment

• Two-handed greatsword — Aik’s principal weapon, used with frost battle aura techniques. 49 56
• Round shield — Carried during the initial exploration of the Sixth Layer ruins. 74
• Alchemy Expansion Bag — Used to store expedition supplies; stolen by Nature Flower Fairies during the Fifth Layer camp raid. 45 50
• Life Crystals — Aik’s squad recovered Life Crystals from the Giant Tree Guardian and Treant Elder for emergency restoration of health, mana, battle aura, and stamina. 45 56

Relationships

• Ghost — Ghost Assassin, longtime companion, scout, and one of only two survivors of Ironblood Thorns’ first Sixth Layer expedition. Aik relies on Ghost’s reconnaissance and trap expertise. 61 79 87
• Ulag — Shield warrior and frontline defender. Ulag repeatedly protected Aik and the squad before sacrificing himself to save Aik and Ghost in the Sixth Layer ruins. 44 85
• Mary — Elemental mage and core offensive/support member of Ironblood Thorns. Aik trusted her magic in battle and chose to enter the ruins to rescue her after her teleportation. 44 74 85
• Ross — Advanced bard, support mage, and Aik’s longtime companion. Aik refused to abandon him after the ruins’ teleportation trap separated the squad. 44 74 79
• Korien Os — Local Oss Family viscount who hosted Aik’s squad and later treated Aik after the failed expedition to obtain his report. 41 88
• Marquis Ailio Oss — Head of the Oss Family. After hearing Aik’s report, Ailio appointed him to lead a reconnaissance vanguard rather than immediately commit a full expedition corps. 88
• Wicker Oss — High-ranking Oss Family Bloodline Knight who pressures Aik to meet the family and marquis’s expectations. 100
• Oruona — Advanced Fire Mage serving in the later vanguard; she questions Aik’s decisions but accepts his authority. 103 106

Story Role / Major Arcs

Ironblood Thorns’ Initial Expedition

Aik arrives in Margery Town as the Oss Family’s principal combat asset and captain of Ironblood Thorns, a five-person Advanced Professional squad that had already conquered three small dungeons. The squad enters the dungeon to assess whether its resources could support the Oss Family’s ambition of producing a Legendary powerhouse. 41 42

On the Fourth Layer, Aik leads the group through the Venomous Swamp and Mushroom Jungle, prioritizing Mana Mushrooms and deeper access over ordinary chests. He helps defeat the Giant Tree Guardian and claims its Life Crystal, but refuses to recklessly challenge the vastly stronger central tree. 43 45

Fifth and Sixth Layer Exploration

The Fifth Layer exposes weaknesses in the squad’s vigilance. Ross is nearly drowned by an invisible Water Element Slime, while Nature Flower Fairies infiltrate their camp and steal much of the party’s portable equipment. Aik rescues Ross, analyzes the theft rationally, and tightens camp rules. 46 50

Despite these setbacks, he leads the squad through monster camps and undead forces on the Fifth and Sixth Layers. His team relies on clearly divided roles: Aik attacks, Ulag guards, Mary controls the battlefield, Ross enhances allies, and Ghost eliminates hidden threats. 56 61 64

Destruction of Ironblood Thorns

The squad’s first attempt to explore the Sixth Layer ruins becomes catastrophic. A delayed teleportation array separates Mary and Ross from Aik, Ulag, and Ghost. Although retreat would be safer, Aik orders a rescue attempt because he refuses to abandon his companions. 74

Ross dies to a corrosive trap after becoming distracted by treasure, and Mary is later killed by the Undead Pharaoh Themos. Ulag ultimately sacrifices himself to force Aik out of a lethal gravity trap, leaving Aik and Ghost as the only survivors. Aik orders a retreat to avoid losing Ghost as well. 79 85

Vanguard Commander

After escaping, Aik reports the dungeon’s scale, resources, and dangers to Korien Os and Marquis Ailio Oss. He concludes that a single Advanced Professional squad cannot conquer it and recommends an expedition corps. The marquis instead assigns Aik to lead a smaller vanguard of Advanced and Intermediate Professional squads tasked with mapping the dungeon and preserving their strength. 88

Aik later returns to the Sixth Layer ruins with a staged entry plan designed to test the ruins’ apparent adaptive difficulty. The vanguard clears the ruins at severe cost—153 survive while 197 die—then advances into the Seventh Layer after a period of rest and preparation. 103 106

Seventh Layer Advance

Aik reorganizes the vanguard after the Seventh Layer’s mutated Exploding Slimes inflict immediate casualties. Although later collapses and lava eruptions reduce the force to fewer than one hundred people, he chooses to continue exploring because the surviving main combatants remain capable of fighting. 107 111

Notable Quotes

“Go in! We have to go in and save Mary and Ross.” 74

“Those thieves are hiding somewhere on this floor, and they may not be far from us.” 50

Trivia

• Aik and the original Ironblood Thorns members were orphans adopted and trained by the Oss Family; they were granted noble status after conquering small dungeons but feel little attachment to it. 65
• Mary suggests that Aik could open a tavern if he ever retires, an idea presented as plausible because of his cooking. 65
• Aik’s squad was strong enough to clear three small dungeons, yet the Margery dungeon nearly destroyed them before they found an exit from its Sixth Layer ruins. 41 97