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As soon as they set foot on the thirteenth floor, everything felt different.
The monsters here were nothing like those on the upper floors. They were fiercer, and there were a lot more of them.
Before, August had to use bait to draw out large groups of monsters. It even felt like the Dungeon was targeting him by sending extra his way.
But here?
Here, monsters showed up in huge numbers without any tricks. Right after they walked in, fifty or sixty Al-Miraj charged at them. These tough creatures were a signature of the early Middle Floors.
And they were ard.
"You've got to be kidding ..."
"This many right out of the gate?" Lili stared in shock as the Al-Miraj charged. They were small, like Pallums, but carried natural weapons so sharp that even human blacksmiths had trouble making anything similar.
In a matter of monts, the mob blocked off the cavern entrance.
"This is fantastic," August grinned. "I don't even need bait this ti."
"Lili. Combat formation."
Now that he was on the thirteenth floor, August chose not to fight barehanded.
"Triple-formation assault rifles."
"First volley, fire." August drew his familiar ordnance.
Because they were fighting in caves instead of open ground, August had to watch his shots to keep bullets from bouncing or causing a collapse.
He handed Lili a heavy tactical ballistic shield.
Lili imdiately crouched behind it, planting the shield firmly in the dirt to form a barricade.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!"
Loud gunfire broke the cavern's spooky silence.
The monsters dropped fast. The ones in front had no chance.
But the noise from the assault rifles brought even more Al-Miraj from nearby tunnels. As bodies piled up, the crowd just got bigger.
"A single Middle Floor mob already numbers in the hundreds." Lili looked through her shield's bulletproof visor and saw more and more monsters pouring out of the tunnels, all drawn by the noise.
"That's it. Keep them coming."
"Numbers like this... get my blood pumping."
"HAHAHAHAHA!" August spread his arms, and strange ripples ford in the air, bringing a cluster of guns around him.
But the monsters weren't just charging the front.
So of the Al-Miraj broke off, utilizing adjacent tunnels to flank August and Lili from the rear. Ard with heavy axes, the flanking force rushed in for the kill.
August didn't even turn his head.
New spatial ripples appeared at his hips.
Several heavy combat shotguns projected from the void.
Shotguns weren't like assault rifles... They were built for strong, close-range hits.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!"
A blast of buckshot tore through the rabbit-like monsters, taking them out right away.
The weaker ones were vaporized into Magic Stones on the spot.
The slightly tougher variants were blown to pieces, missing limbs, eyes, or entire chunks of their torsos.
A single blast from the specialized buckshot punched gaping holes clean through their bodies.
Most people would be shocked by the violence, but for experienced Adventurers, this was just another day in the Dungeon.
When fighting for your life, there's no ti to show rcy.
"These heavy-type variants... they're clustering up too much." August noticed the mob was packing too tightly into the narrow corridors.
August knew he had to change his approach.
"Flathrowers on standby."
August pulled his heavy flathrowers from the void.
He was ready to burn every connecting tunnel.
"Lili."
Lili understood what the flathrowers could do. They could turn the whole cave into an oven, burning up anything inside.
"Understood." Lili pulled out a tactical gaphone.
"EVACUATE THE AREA IMDIATELY!"
"EVACUATE THE AREA IMDIATELY!"
"EVACUATE THE AREA IMDIATELY!"
She repeated the warning three tis over the gaphone.
That was as much warning as they were willing to give. If anyone didn't get out in ti, it was their own fault.
"Fire." August swept his arm forward.
A whole row of flathrowers appeared from the ripples and fired all at once.
Even regular napalm was extrely hot and had a long reach. But a focused barrage?
Every tunnel was quickly filled with intense heat as flas rushed through the entrances.
The sight scared off any Adventurers who had been thinking about coming closer.
They had heard Lili's warning over the gaphone. But the very next second, they saw walls of fire surging through the tunnels.
"Holy shit! What kind of lunatic is spamming high-tier fire magic in the tunnels??"
"RUN!"
"DAMN IT, MOVE YOUR LEGS FASTER!"
The seasoned Adventurers broke into a panicked sprint.
Are you crazy?? You don't set off a firestorm inside an enclosed cavern!
Heat surged quickly. Breathing beca difficult as a wave of warmth swept the tunnels.
"It's so hot." Lili wiped sweat from her forehead as she watched the monsters burn. Even in light clothes, the cavern felt as hot as an oven.
The heat would take a while to fade, but the fire had cleared out the area. Only August and Lili were left alive in that part of the Dungeon.
August surveyed the thirteenth floor. The entire ground was carpeted in Magic Stones.
He disengaged the flathrowers.
"The residual heat is still dangerous. Don't pick up the Magic Stones yet."
"Let's clear out any surviving stragglers first," August told Lili.
"Yes, sir."
Lili took control of the surveillance drone and piloted it down the scorched tunnels. If she spotted any twitching bodies or surviving monsters, she relayed the coordinates to August, who systematically executed them.
The Dungeon could heal itself quickly. After feeling the huge burst of heat, the Labyrinth seed to know it couldn't do anything to August for now. No one else would have used so much firepower in these tunnels. The walls were blackened from the flas.
But because the Dungeon was a living entity, the surrounding rock walls actively began absorbing and dispersing the trapped heat.
If it allowed the cavern to remain a literal oven, it couldn't spawn new thirteenth-floor monsters. Any newly spawned creature would instantly roast to death or flee to another floor just to survive.
"The temperature is dropping."
"As expected of a living Labyrinth. It's auto-regulating the environnt incredibly fast." August watched with interest.
He'd read that the Dungeon was alive, but seeing the walls repair themselves and release heat in real ti was strange. It almost felt like the Dungeon was sulking and watching him.
"Lili, bag the loot." August signaled for her to collect the thirteenth-floor Magic Stones.
"On it."
Lili turned on the industrial vacuum and quickly collected the Magic Stones and the occasional monster drop.
With all the chaos, no new monsters were showing up on the thirteenth floor for now. The Dungeon hadn't expected August to be so ruthless. It sent hundreds of monsters after him, but he wiped them out easily.
If people could eat monsters, August's kills would have fed the whole city for a week. The Dungeon just couldn't make new monsters fast enough to keep up with him.
While vacuuming up the loot, Lili noticed several abnormal Magic Stones scattered among the ash.
"Hellhound stones."
Lili inspected the larger, jagged stones. She instantly recognized they didn't belong to the rabbit variants. They belonged to Hellhounds.
She hadn't expected Hellhounds to be roaming these tunnels.
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As they cleared the loot, a few [Level 2] Adventurer parties began trickling back into the sector. Seeing Lili casually vacuuming up a mountain of Magic Stones, they imdiately knew who was responsible.
If an area was cleared out this brutally, everyone knew it had to be the rookie with the crazy strength.
"I can't believe it. This rookie slaughtered his way through the thirteenth floor!!"
"He didn't even spare the adjacent tunnels. Between the monsters and the rookie, the rookie is definitely the bigger nightmare."
"Look at all those Magic Stones... picking them up by hand would take hours."
The other Adventurers left Lili alone while she collected loot. In the Dungeon, everyone knew that if you killed the monsters, you got the rewards. August had used massive firepower to take over the area. So were jealous, but they couldn't complain. If you were strong enough, you could do the sa. If not, you just kept hunting as usual.
Still, a few lucky Adventurers managed to snag the occasional Magic Stone August hadn't bothered to sweep up from the far edges of the blast zone.
Stepping deeper into the cavern network, the Adventurers broke off into different tunnels.
The thirteenth floor was a huge maze of caves, not just one big room. August had only cleared about a quarter of it, so there were still plenty of monsters left.
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August watched the Adventurers scatter. So pushed toward the fourteenth-floor stairs, while others hunted the remaining Al-Miraj in the outer sectors.
"Lord August."
After spending considerable ti clearing the zone, Lili finished harvesting the intact Magic Stones, leaving the shattered fragnts behind.
She jogged back to his side.
"Looting complete. However, I spotted Hellhound Magic Stones deeper in the adjacent tunnels."
Lili reported her findings.
The Hellhounds had been converging on their position, but August's relentless flathrower barrage had incinerated them in the crossfire.
"The flathrower's effective range managed to clip them all the way down at the intersections."
Hellhounds.
As their na implied, they were the true gatekeepers of the Middle Floors.
They were real threats to [Level 2] Adventurers. Anyone who made it this far had to fight them eventually. They could use fire magic and were naturally tough against fire attacks.
But being resistant to fire didn't an they were immune. Even Hellhounds couldn't survive a steady blast of modern napalm.
"Hellhounds?" August said.
He hadn't expected to see them this early, though it wasn't impossible. They were the Labyrinth's enforcers, ant to take out unprepared rookies.
Seeing them spawn early ant the Dungeon was actively trying to intercept him.
"Shall we proceed to the fourteenth floor?" Lili asked. She knew August's arsenal was deep. Descending further was well within his capabilities, and standing around waiting for respawns was a waste of ti.
August considered the terrain.
"These floors are all tunnels. Except for the big safe areas on the sixteenth and seventeenth floors, everything from ten to fifteen is just a bunch of tight caves."
"These narrow tunnels really limit what weapons I can use."
August picked up one of the jagged natural weapons dropped by the Al-Miraj. Most monster weapons shattered upon death, but a few lingered as rare drops.
He glanced at Lili's tactical shield.
The heavy ballistic glass and reinforced plating were scored with dozens of deep scratches and dents.
Those weren't monster scratches. Those were ricochets.
The caves were bigger than the upper floors, but still closed in and rocky. When he fired assault rifles, bullets bounced off the stone walls.
Since August was in the center, he avoided the shrapnel, but Lili's shield took several stray ricochets.
"It's ti to swap out the arsenal."
August realized it was too risky to keep using small guns in a place where bullets could bounce everywhere. To keep his team safe, he needed to use sothing bigger.
August raised his hand.
A new set of gear appeared in his grasp.
"Suit up."
He handed a heavy tactical vest to Lili.
"Yes, sir."
Lili strapped on the heavy vest and pulled a specialized combat helt over her head. The helt was equipped with a built-in comms headset.
August swapped his own gear, donning an identical set.
"Deploy."
"Short-Barrel Light Tank."
A massive, armored combat vehicle dropped from the spatial void, landing heavily onto the cavern floor.
This wasn't a regular tank. It had been heavily modified. Instead of a long-range gun, it had a short, powerful cannon made for close-range blasts, perfect for the Dungeon's tight tunnels.
The driver's seat was completely automated, operated by an advanced AI system. Once the terrain data was fed into the computer, the AI would auto-navigate the cavern routes perfectly.
The vehicle was custom-tailored specifically for August's expedition into the Orario Middle Floors.
"You're on the main gun," August ordered.
He knew Lili was a natural shooter. Even though she was a Pallum and not very strong, her aim was excellent. She could fire a hand crossbow quickly and accurately, even in the dark, and her Falna made her even better.
Her skill set made her the perfect gunner.
"Understood! I will complete the objective!"
Lili accepted the role, though she was slightly nervous.
She wasn't confident she could match Naaza's insane archery skills, but using an advanced targeting computer to aim a tank cannon? She was sure she could handle that.
In the end, using big explosives made aiming less important anyway.
"Good. Mount up."
With their comms synced and gear ready, they climbed onto the hull.
"Yes, sir!"
August and Lili dropped through the top hatch.
August took the commander's seat and acted as the loader. He had trained for this exact setup back on Earth.
The heavy steel hatch sealed shut above them.
August booted up the command console, syncing his tablet to the tank's localized network to activate the AI driver.
He tapped the ignition command.
The tank's massive engine burst into life. The deafening rumble shook the cavern.
"Whoa!"
Lili felt the tank's power through the hull, and her eyes shone with excitent.
This machine was amazing!
"Driver. Advance."
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