As time passed, even though most of the walls around Floor 58 had already repaired themselves, the monsters that had kept coming for so long had put this floor into a long production rest period. For the moment only a scattered few monsters appeared, and no more of the powerful dragon-type monsters like the Valgang Dragons and Ill Wyverns.
The vertical shaft in the vault that the Valgang Dragons had broken open slowly restored itself as well, cutting off any chance of more monsters attacking from other floors.
Of course, that didn't include the monsters that could cross floors on their own.
The worm-type monsters, for instance. They first appeared on Floor 51, later on Floor 50, and now on Floor 58, coming down from the floors above, which proved they had an inherent tendency to move across floors of their own accord, unlike the Ill Wyverns, which had to come in through the shaft and would never go looking for a passage.
Leo had been keeping an eye on that group of worm-type monsters the whole time, avoiding their line of movement, watching them come down from the upper floors one after another and head toward the south end of the floor, saying nothing.
Ais and the others didn't have that kind of leisure. They were all resting and treating their wounds, drinking water and eating, and even when they spoke they kept their voices deliberately low, talking quietly, letting a long-absent peace settle over them.
And so, about ten hours after Leo and the others had arrived on Floor 58, a group of familiar figures came bursting in at the entrance to Floor 57 at the north end of the floor.
"Leo! Ais!"
"Tiona! Tione!"
"Lefiya!"
Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Bete, Tsubaki, Raul and Alicia, seven of them, had finally crossed floor after floor to reach this place.
"Riveria..."
"Gareth!"
"Captain!"
"Mr. Raul! Miss Alicia!"
Ais opened her eyes and stood up, Tiona's face lit up as she shouted happily, every trace of anger vanished from Tione's face as she called out loudly, and Lefiya was overjoyed, looking ready to weep from it, like a little girl who had wandered far from home and finally laid eyes on family.
"Captain, Riveria, Gareth, Raul."
Leo answered them too, welcoming them over.
"Are you all right?! Are you hurt? Do you need a potion?!"
Raul was the first to rush up, the words coming out of him like rapid fire.
With Leo especially, Raul yanked him over and looked him up and down, the picture of someone who had been worried for a long time.
He was clearly still blaming himself over Leo falling into the shaft to save him and Lefiya.
"I'm fine, don't worry."
Leo laughed wryly and hurried to hold him still.
If he didn't stop him now, this guy was going to start putting hands on him.
They were both grown men, no need to make it that gay.
"Are you all right, Ais?"
"You've worked hard, Lefiya."
"Hmph, I'm amazed you lot managed to hold out."
"Not bad at all, girls."
Riveria walked up in front of Ais and asked quietly, Alicia and Lefiya hugged each other, Bete gave a cold snort and made his snide remark with his arms crossed, and Gareth burst into laughter.
As for Tsubaki, she had meant to come over and take a look, but the sight of the dust left behind across the ground where the monster corpses had faded away, along with the magic stones and all kinds of dropped materials, redirected her attention entirely.
"These are the fangs and scales of those Valgang Dragons?! And this... and this... and this...! All of it rare material you can't find on the market at all!"
Tsubaki's eyes shone, the smith's blood in her lit right up, and she went into something like a frenzy, on the verge of dashing over to pick those materials up.
"Don't. It'll take up too much space. Wait until we're on the way back."
Finn had been observing the state Leo and the others were in, and only after confirming that they really were fine did he let out a breath. Seeing Tsubaki about to leave the party to go collect things, he grabbed her at once and kept her from running off.
"It's for the best that none of you are hurt." Finn kept his grip on Tsubaki as he spoke to Leo and the rest. "I didn't expect the five of you to clear out every monster here on your own. Well done."
That part Finn honestly hadn't seen coming.
As he had said, the last time they came here, they came as a whole group, and even then they only barely took this floor.
This time, with all three of the leaders absent and even one of the executives missing, Ais and the others had conquered this floor by their own strength. The record was striking.
Finn felt he had underestimated Ais's ability after her level up, and underestimated the impact of Leo joining them even more.
Those two were fully capable of filling the gap in fighting strength left by the three of them being absent. It was a pleasant surprise.
And Lefiya. From the look in the girl's eyes, she must have been a good deal of use too, her condition worlds apart from the last expedition.
The younger generation in the Familia really had grown up.
Finn thought all this while looking at them with satisfaction.
"Heheh, I really did put in the work this time."
"Captain! I fought so hard this time!"
Tiona was pleased with herself and Tione was pitiful, begging for comfort.
"It was everyone's doing, Mr. Leo and Miss Ais above all. Without them we couldn't have managed anything like this."
Lefiya shook her head over and over as she said it, and neither Tiona nor Tione objected to that.
The three of them had performed well, of course. This time they had all fought beyond their usual level, crossing their limits more times than they could count to manage it, but the ones who actually made this record possible were Leo and Ais.
Ais had grown stronger by more than one degree after reaching Lv.6. Before the level up she already had strength equal to Lv.6 by relying on Ariel, and now that she had reached Lv.6 and used Ariel to reinforce herself, the strength she unleashed was terrifying, already showing hints of not belonging to the Lv.6 tier at all.
Leo's showing was even more dazzling. He was only Lv.5, yet he handled every monster capable of flight by himself, blocking the Ill Wyverns that swarmed thick as locusts up in the sky and not letting a single fireball fall. That performance had made Lefiya and the others truly understand that this Monster Rookie's strength really had surpassed Bete, Tiona, Tione and the rest, and could stand alongside Ais.
One of them relying on the power of wind inherited from a Great Spirit, the other on unprecedented flight magic, the two of them had forced out strength beyond their current Levels and shown a presence that could match an army, which impressed Lefiya and the others enormously.
That was why the three of them took no credit for themselves at all, feeling that without those two there was no way they could have conquered this floor.
"Don't say that. Without your help, the two of us might not have held out."
"...Leo is right."
Leo laughed wryly again, and Ais nodded seriously, agreeing with what Leo said.
"There's no need to push it back and forth. We all understand how each of you performed, so modesty is pointless." Finn smiled a little at the five of them praising each other, then turned serious. "I won't waste words, since the fight isn't over. All we've done is reach the floor we reached before, and harsher battles are waiting for us ahead."
"Everyone rest. Resupply what needs resupplying, treat what needs treating."
They nodded and settled down to rest where they were.
Ais and the others had rested for a while, but they still weren't back to full condition, and Finn's group was already tired from the trip down. Now that they finally had a chance to rest, everyone made the most of every second.
Raul, Lefiya and Alicia, as the Supporters, had their packs off and were quickly handing out supply items to everyone, along with some food, passing it over one by one.
They sat on the ground, some sipping at potions, some eating the rations they carried, while Riveria treated Ais, Tiona and Tione, and Tsubaki simply brought out a full set of smithing tools and smoothly began emergency repairs on everyone's weapons.
"Hand your sword over to me too."
Tsubaki took the chance to reach her claws toward the Starlight at Leo's waist again.
"I don't need it. Just repair everyone else's."
Leo slapped away the hand of this smith who wouldn't give up, saying it sourly.
He had inspected it before Finn's group arrived. The Starlight was still exceedingly sharp, without the slightest wear, and its white-platinum glow hadn't dimmed in the least, still as brilliant as ever, which had made him marvel at it for a long while.
He could only say that it lived up to being a legendary weapon blessed by a Great Spirit. With the protection of power equal to a divine miracle, even after several thousand years the Starlight's sharpness and radiance probably wouldn't fade at all.
Which was exactly why Leo was even less willing to hand it to Tsubaki.
A creation this close to divine craft and divine miracle was, in the eyes of these smiths who wanted nothing more than to climb to the highest peak of their craft, more tempting than the most beautiful goddess.
Leo strongly suspected that once the Starlight was in Tsubaki's hands, getting it back would be difficult.
So Leo had decided not to let Tsubaki's hands touch the Starlight even once.
"Tch, so stingy."
Tsubaki sulked, thoroughly unwilling to let it go.
They rested for about an hour, and only then was everyone's condition properly adjusted.
"Are you all right, Ais?"
Leo had stayed at Ais's side the whole time, checking on her physical condition.
"Mm, I'm fine now."
Ais nodded in reply.
Her body still hurt a little, but it wouldn't affect her movements anymore.
"I'm revived too!"
"Stop yelling so loud all the time."
Tiona and Tione stood up as well, both of them full of energy again, the blood wiped off them, only their clothes still torn.
"If everyone's rested enough, then let's move."
Finn stood leaning on his spear, checking everyone's condition over and over, and only spoke once he was sure there were no problems.
"To Floor 59."
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