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August ticulously cleared the battlefield.
"Here you go, August."
Having finished gathering the massive pile of Magic Stones left behind, Liliruca Arde handed over the salvaged bullet casings and usable artillery shrapnel she had collected.
These materials were valuable and could be recycled.
"Good."
August took the scrap tal and tossed it back into his [Spatial Backpack].
After stowing away the salvage and tallying up the monster drop materials they had gathered, August turned his attention to his Supporter.
"Lili, how do you think we should plan our next move?"
Since he was new here, August wanted to hear what a local thought before making any decisions.
After all, the two of them were in a very dangerous situation.
This was only his second dive, yet they had already encountered a coordinated ambush featuring Middle Floor monsters intruding on the Upper Floors.
"It seems the Dungeon harbors an incredibly deep hatred for you, August. It even deployed magic-casting monsters from the Middle Floors," Lili couldn't help but point out.
He was drawing way too much attention from the monsters.
They were only a party of two, yet the Labyrinth had dispatched an army of thousands to besiege them. Even a Level 5 Adventurer could have easily been killed if they made a single misstep against that horde.
"At this rate, the deeper we go, the more massive the monster legions will beco."
"We might even face strike teams composed entirely of elite monsters."
Lili guessed that the Dungeon would only get more dangerous from here.
The deeper they went into the Labyrinth, the scarier the monsters waiting for August would be.
Just thinking about groups of elite monsters working together made her shiver.
"Is that so?"
August thought about this carefully.
Lili was right. This was just the end of the Upper Floors. Once they reached the Middle Floors, starting at the thirteenth, there would be even more and stronger monsters waiting for them.
If he wasn't careful, he could be caught off guard and killed.
"It seems I'll need to upgrade my gear."
In the Middle Floors, they wouldn't see as many open caverns. Instead, the area would beco a network of huge, interconnected caves.
The structural layout of the Middle Floors differed significantly from the Upper Floors.
Truly colossal rooms only existed on specific floors—naly, the seventeenth, the eighteenth, and eventually the twenty-fourth floor.
Those specific floors resembled the massive open spaces of the eleventh and twelfth floors.
After they finished packing up—
"Let's go."
August led Liliruca Arde down toward the twelfth floor.
This was the final stage of the Upper Floors.
Beyond this point, the layout would transition into dium-sized subterranean caverns.
Stepping onto the twelfth floor, they found the cavern was even more expansive than the eleventh.
This area was larger to fit dium-sized monsters like Silverback Apes.
Just as the Orcs on the tenth floor thrived in the dense mist, Silverbacks required their own specific ecosystem. But since August's last battle had wiped out all the monsters on the twelfth floor, the Dungeon hadn't had ti to respawn them yet. The floor was empty.
As they walked, they passed other Adventurer parties. Every one of them looked at August with awe and respect.
They had seen for themselves how powerful August was when he fought thousands of monsters.
They knew for sure they could never do sothing like that.
"August, everyone seems to be staring at you," Lili noted, observing the surrounding Adventurers.
She could feel their deep-seated awe.
Feeling their admiration, she got a rush of excitent.
But when he heard this, August just ignored it. He had no interest in being anyone's idol.
"There are no monsters left..."
"It seems that battle just now completely shattered this floor's monster population."
August stood there, looking over the walls and the strangely empty cavern.
He needed more monsters to farm. Unfortunately, both the eleventh and twelfth floors were completely devoid of life.
"If you want more monsters, we'll have to wait. It takes a certain amount of ti for the Dungeon to spawn them," Lili explained.
Lili thought the huge battle had used up most of the Dungeon's energy for now.
Nine Infant Dragons. Ultra-rare spawns.
According to the Guild's records, encountering even one was an incredibly rare event. Yet nine had spawned simultaneously, backed by a legion of over a thousand monsters, and supported by a trump card of Middle Floor monsters setting up an ambush.
"Should we wait here for a while?"
Lili looked at the stone walls and reached out to touch them. This was her first ti ever touching the walls of the twelfth floor.
Her previous personal best was only reaching the seventh floor.
Seeing the twelfth floor for herself gave her a thrill she couldn't describe. Adventurers always felt a strong urge to explore the Labyrinth.
"No need."
"We'll head back to the surface."
August considered it briefly before concluding there was no point in lingering.
Monsters were different from humans.
If he were dealing with humans or other surface-dwelling lifeforms, given his thod of wiping out enemies, August wouldn't hesitate to camp a spot for three months just to be safe.
August had read many novels, so he knew people could be unpredictable.
Transmigrators, reincarnators, and the like—they all required extre vigilance to deal with.
But the Labyrinth followed its own rules. When monsters died, their energy went back to the Dungeon, which would create new ones. Sotis, these new monsters even seed to have human-like intelligence, almost as if they had souls from the surface.
"More importantly, if we step into the next floor, there's no telling what kind of horrors might be waiting for us."
"Unless we have to, we shouldn't hang around down here."
He issued the order.
"Yes, sir." Liliruca Arde prepared to comply.
"Also, write down what happened here. Later, you'll co with to the Adventurer's Guild." August realized that when Yui and Ui Hirasawa arrived in this world, they would need official identities to move around freely.
It would be best to register them.
They could stay in Orario under the banner of the Hestia Familia. But Orario was still a dangerous city, and there were places they definitely shouldn't go.
"Docunt it? Why do we need to record this?" Lili was surprised. In her mind, there was nothing beneficial about recording this.
"Because the way I fight is very different from normal Adventurers."
"If soone's talent is way beyond normal, the Dungeon will react just like it did today."
"So, turning this in as an official report will make the Hestia Familia's reputation soar."
A real genius always attracts envy.
With this battle as proof, any Adventurer who read the report would feel real despair. Only soone with August's crazy abilities could trigger such a focused, overwhelming attack from the Labyrinth.
This was basically a badge of honor and a huge boost to his fa.
Since August was the captain of the Hestia Familia, he wasn't about to let their na go unnoticed. Plus, he had to satisfy his Goddess's need to brag.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
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