Middle Floors, Floor 16.
Inside a massive cavern formed by numerous vertical shaft slides, the chill and dead silence unique to the underworld hung thick in the air.
BOOM!
A thunderous crash shattered the stillness.
The stone wall of one of the shafts blew apart on impact. Through the shower of fragments, a figure, as hulking as an iron tower, came slamming down on a gust of wind!
His feet drove into the rock like steel pilings, planting him in a steady stance. The dust he kicked up spread out in a ring.
"Hm?"
Before he could even look around...
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A few more figures came flying down from other shafts.
CRACK!
One of them landed heavily, the hard rock under his feet splintering on contact. A hearty laugh rang out from the billowing dust:
"Hahahaha, isn't this the Ottar kid? What's the city's only Lv. 6 doing slumming it on Floor 16?!"
Ottar straightened his massive frame and slung the terrifying greatsword backward over his broad shoulder. He turned his head slightly, his calm peripheral gaze sweeping over the figures emerging from the settling dust.
"Mission. Rescue."
"Hahahaha, what a coincidence. Seems we're here for the same thing. Let's form a temporary team."
The owner of the hearty laugh spoke again. It was Gareth.
Ottar glanced at the other four.
Two familiar faces from Loki Familia, Lv. 4, and...
Hm?
His gaze lingered on Jeanne and Rose for a moment, carrying a trace of barely perceptible scrutiny.
"Demeter Familia. Jeanne."
As if reading his mind, Jeanne stepped forward and gave a slight nod, her posture composed and graceful as she introduced herself.
Rose beside her followed suit with a bow.
"Mm."
Ottar's response was still short and hard, as though squeezed out through his nose. No one in attendance minded.
Gareth and his companions were naturally familiar with the Warlord's reticent temperament.
Jeanne and Rose were meeting Orario's strongest for the first time, but they showed no fear or tension.
It was a product of what they'd been through.
"All right, time's tight. Cut the chatter, let's go!"
Knowing Ottar wasn't one for words, Gareth took up the temporary command without hesitation.
The instant the words were out, gazes met, and the group turned into several swift black blurs tearing toward the depths of the chamber.
Jeanne, we didn't bring any supplies down with us. We have to be careful.
While on the move, Rose shot Jeanne a look.
The two were of one mind, and Jeanne caught Rose's meaning instantly.
She gave an almost imperceptible nod, her lips moving silently.
The Middle Floors aren't much pressure for us, as long as we don't get surrounded by endless monsters and dragged into a war of attrition. But this is the Dungeon. Accidents happen. We can't let our guard down.
The wordless exchange was done in a flash, the tone of their approach set, and both of them already had a clear plan of action in mind.
As for relying on the other adventurers in this patched-together team?
Admittedly, Loki Familia and Freya Familia were both top-tier powers in Orario, and Loki Familia was particularly careful about its reputation.
But Jeanne and Rose had never pinned all their hopes on others.
Better to rely on yourself than on others. That principle applied anywhere, let alone in the Dungeon.
As for Leon's safety?
To them, this sortie was called a rescue, but in reality it was more of a link-up.
Because both of them knew perfectly well that, with Leon's abilities, he almost certainly wouldn't be in any trouble.
In fact, deep down they had a creeping sense that... the ones who should really be praying for themselves were probably the Evilus members Leon had set his sights on.
A mage who could cast instantly. What did that mean in a same-level confrontation?
No one knew better than they did!
A pure warrior-killer. A melee butcher.
Up against Leon's firepower suppression, unless the Evilus members had some trump card up their sleeves, they'd likely be vaporized on the spot before they could even close in.
And even if they relied on superior Agility and Dexterity to dodge Leon's attacks, once they did get close, the enemy would despair at what they found:
That thick layer of ice armor was nowhere near going to break from one or two hits. And what waited for them after that was the freeze of an ice ring, turning them into someone's living target.
...
BOOM!
Just as Jeanne and Rose predicted...
This was exactly what Leon was doing against Evilus.
The Under Resort. The ruins of Rivira.
Near the blasted-open town gate.
Leon was crouched low, advancing while his arm kept swinging, lobbing Fireballs at the chaotic meat-grinder battlefield ahead.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Unbroken explosions bloomed through the enemy ranks, every roar accompanied by shrill screams and flying gore.
"Damn it! Watch out for that one!"
"Dammit, he's wearing the same black robes as us. We overlooked him completely!"
BOOM!
"AAAAAAH!"
"Dodge, dodge the bombardment!"
"Bastard! What the hell is that mage?!"
"This density of fire... does his magic not even need chanting?!"
"Shit! Damn him!"
"You, you, and you! Forget the others! Concentrate everything, take that bastard mage down at any cost!"
"I want to hear him scream in despair!"
"Yes sir!"
Whoosh! BOOM!
After reaching Rivira, Leon had split off from Riveria and the others on his own initiative and quietly slipped into the battlefield from the flank.
He kept his Frost Armor active over his body, drifting along the outskirts of the fighting.
Leveraging his reach advantage and excellent field of view, he began his insidious killing spree.
At this moment, he was like a seasoned hunter, picking off isolated, wounded, or turned-away "prey" with precision, suddenly calling their names with a fatal Fireball and vaporizing them on the spot.
In the beginning, he kept his movements subtle. In the middle of this berserk mutual slaughter, no one paid any attention to a fringe figure stealing kills.
But as his "hunting" appetite grew, the number of Evilus members dropping under his Fireballs kept climbing...
Eventually, this sneaky, insidious kill-stealer did get noticed by the Evilus leader.
And not just by the enemy.
In the center of the battlefield, Ais and Heith, fighting back-to-back drenched in blood, had also caught sight of that black-robed figure skulking around the edges and "taking potshots."
"That's... Mr. Leon?"
Heith, panting, swept aside an enemy's attack with her sword.
Ais's cold golden eyes cut over to Leon's position, and she let out an undisguised snort of contempt.
"Hmph, coward!"
Heith, hearing that, propped up her exhausted body and couldn't help rolling her eyes hard.
The Sword Princess really is as single-minded as the rumors say. Nothing in her head but fighting, lovely!
This is Mr. Leon's tactic, thank you very much!
A bit of observation made it obvious: compared to the two of them here trading sparks with the enemy in flashy swordplay, Leon's seemingly "sleazy" ranged strikes actually blew them out of the water in terms of kill efficiency.
Look at the mess on the edge of the battlefield: those charred, twisted "humanoid briquettes" were almost all his work. He'd just about silently "cleaned up" the Evilus grunts who'd been besieging Rivira.
If the numbers hadn't dropped so drastically, the Evilus leader probably wouldn't have caught on even now.
And by the time the enemy commander did finally sense something was wrong... heh, clearly it was already too late.
Tch, spotted?
Well then... nothing for it.
Leon straightened up and pulled his hood lower.
He shot a glance at the information stream scrolling madly across his panel, and under the shadow of his hood, a pleased smile crept into his eyes.
Evilus soldier killed. Excelia +15
Evilus soldier killed. Excelia +17
Evilus soldier killed. Excelia +11
Evilus soldier killed. Excelia +19
Evilus soldier killed. Excelia +22
Dense kill notifications cascaded down his info panel like a waterfall, practically spamming the screen.
In a very short span, the number in his Excelia Pool shot up in a huge wave.
Compared to the pathetic 1 point of Excelia he got from killing a same-level Dungeon monster, the haul from this battle was night and day.
Evilus's generosity was genuinely touching.
The rules for acquiring Excelia were pretty clear by now.
Any hostile target with sentience, once killed, granted full Excelia based on their actual combat strength.
Lv. 1 grunts: base of 10 points, cap of 19...
So the 22-pointer... should be a Lv. 2 elite, then?
Mm... monsters and sentient beings were fundamentally different, after all. A richer PVP Excelia payout was only reasonable.
After all, killing people... tch, I'm not some kind of monster. I can't really be treating people like wild mobs to farm, right?
Though admittedly, my current behavior isn't particularly convincing on that front.
[Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]