"You shaless, despicable woman! You're going to pay for disrespecting our captain!" Tione had held herself back long enough. She charged forward faster than Ais, who had already activated Ariel, and swung her recurved blade rcilessly toward Valetta.
Although her deity had been banished to the heavens, Valetta, a forr officer of the Dark Faction, was still a first-tier adventurer at level 5.
But Valetta didn't make a move herself—instead, one of the robed figures jumped in to intercept Tione.
Ais tried to assist, but the red-haired woman intercepted her, and the two clashed violently.
"Ais, we et again!" the red-haired woman cried, wielding a grotesque black sword that crashed down with trendous force each ti.
Finn had already ntioned they'd encountered this woman during the Monsterphilia incident—and back then, she had overpowered Ais, who hadn't yet reached level 6. It had taken Finn himself to drive her off.
But things were different now. Ais had grown vastly stronger.
Still, Ais's expression was grim. While she had grown, so had her opponent.
"Just how many magic stones has she consud...?" The question lingered in Ais's mind as she felt the woman's monstrous strength.
Ais had long realized this red-haired woman, like the white-haired one before her, was no longer human. She had beco a monster—a Variant, a special type of monster that grew stronger by consuming the magic stones of its kin.
Ais had seen her eat magic stones with her own eyes earlier, and now she could feel the result in her blade strikes.
Charles and Tsubaki joined the battlefield as well. Since they'd entered the Dungeon to test weapons, Tsubaki had only brought her Returning Hamr.
That didn't an her performance was lacking. Swinging her short-handled warhamr, she sent one robed figure flying after another.
As she got into the rhythm of combat, she flung the warhamr like a projectile. Her monstrous strength turned the hamr into a cannonball—it shattered the first man it hit and sent the rest tumbling like bowling pins.
Now unard, Tsubaki grabbed a nearby enemy's wrist and spun into a kick that flattened a carnivorous flower. She then slamd the captured enemy into the ground, opened her palm toward the air—
And the warhamr flew back, colliding with another foe before landing neatly in her hand. With a flourish, she crushed another flower monster.
That was the skill of a first-tier adventurer—quickly mastering and adapting a new weapon mid-battle.
Watching her, Charles idly thought he should forge a unique set of armor and a red cape to complete the Thor cosplay.
Finn's eyes lit up. Tsubaki's combat style had clearly evolved, thanks to her new hamr. But what drew his attention wasn't just the hamr—it was the man who forged it.
Tsubaki was a top-class smith, no doubt. But Finn instinctively knew Charles was the craftsman behind this.
"So this is the growth you've achieved since your expedition?" Finn murmured under his breath as he fought.
Charles couldn't hear him—his mind was elsewhere, though his body moved precisely.
Gripping his Sure-Hit Spear, he deflected a robed attacker's short sword and countered with a brutal stab to the chest, lifting the man off the ground.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the corpse into a nearby flower monster.
As the flower reeled back, Charles closed in and drove his spear deep into its core, shattering its magic stone. He yanked the weapon free, his eyes narrowing.
The new-type monsters weren't much different from what he'd faced before. What concerned him were the robed attackers.
At first, Charles had assud they were Dark Faction remnants. But sothing was off.
Their footwork was deliberate, practiced—far more refined than the average adventurer. Their strikes were aid not at monsters, but at human vitals. These were kill moves.
And their fearlessness—throwing themselves at a team of first-tier adventurers without hesitation—was unnatural.
There was only one explanation: assassins.
Professionals trained to kill, not survive. These weren't adventurers. They were executioners.
Charles rembered now—there had been rumors the Dark Faction was linked to assassination guilds. These were likely mbers of such an organization.
Unlike adventurers, who gained strength through fighting monsters, assassins rarely leveled up. Few ever reached level 4, like the infamous Black Cat. No matter how refined their techniques, they couldn't match a team of level 5 elites.
—At least, not under normal circumstances.
Tiona spun her massive twin-blades, Urga, slicing through another wave of flower monsters. Yet more robed enemies rushed her.
"Persistent little bastards," she muttered.
Didn't they realize how outclassed they were? Their sluggish attacks couldn't possibly hit her.
She raised her weapon, ready to cleave through them—when her body suddenly felt sluggish.
The black-robed man dodged her swing and managed to slice her side with his short sword.
It wasn't a deep wound. Tiona had survived far worse. She was an Amazon warrior from a country of endless bloodshed—tough as nails.
She also possessed the [Abnormal Resistance] skill, so it wasn't poison.
But the pain from that shallow cut was unbearable—unnatural.
Finn, fighting nearby, skewered an enemy through the throat and snatched the man's weapon.
"Everyone be careful! Their weapons are cursed—don't let them touch you!" he shouted.
In this world, magic and curses were opposing forces.
Magic was powerful and direct. Curses were insidious and subtle, harder to resist, harder to heal.
Curse-users were rarer than even high-level mages. And crafting this many cursed weapons would require more than just one curse master.
Charles, too, had picked up one of the cursed blades in the chaos. The craftsmanship was unmistakable.
The maker was a bearer of [Mystery]—just like him.
The na ca to him at once: Bakka, descendant of Daedalus. The architect of the artificial Dungeon Kronos.
He, too, wielded [Mystery]—and these cursed weapons were clearly his work.
If the Dark Faction was deploying these weapons here, it ant they were serious.
But even so—it wasn't enough.
Charles's instincts told him: this wasn't their trump card.
So what was the Dark Faction really hiding?
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