"...That makes nine waves."
As the number of enemies increased with each wave, and the individual performance of the foes was enhanced, even Ren's group struggled. Even Ren, who was merely standing and casting magic, felt a heavy fatigue in her shoulders. The immediate range recovery magic that flew in quickly soothed the physical exhaustion, but there was nothing they could do about the mental fatigue. And even that range recovery was only possible because they had forcefully annihilated the ninth wave of enemies.
"I'm really low on MP now. But the next one is the last, right?"
"Yeah. The next one should be the maximum force, including the boss."
Hearing Ren's answer, the mage girl pulled a small vial from her Storage, saying, "I guess there's no choice. Time for the secret weapon." It was an expensive MP Potion. After chugging it down and letting out a relieved sigh, she extended a hand to Ren.
"Ren-chan, you should recover a bit too."
"Ah, I'll gladly accept."
Ren firmly interlaced her fingers with the girl's. The MP recovery efficiency increased with two people making contact, giving her a little breathing room. Just then, they heard the sound of footsteps, like a rumble in the ground.
"There it is."
A horde of enemies approaching from afar. The number was dizzying; it might be close to a hundred. They could spot a Goblin King, an Orc Queen, and multiple Goblin Paladins. Their supreme commander was an Ancient Goblin, a rare and powerful ancient species. Ren didn't want to fight an enemy like that even in perfect condition, but—
"Alright! That's the one we have to beat to finish this, right? Let's do this!"
The leader shouted the command in a spirited voice. He, too, had frayed equipment and signs of fatigue on his face, yet he projected a vigor as if none of that mattered. Ren honestly thought he was cool. His courage was contagious among the comrades, and the first to respond was his partner, the young male Thief.
"We can't be using projectiles on that. ...Furi, give that back."
"Okay. From now on, it's a knife fight on this side."
The Cleric girl used her remaining MP to cast supportive magic on the frontliners. She also drank her secret MP Potion, preparing for the final fierce battle. They could expect recovery magic maybe one or two more times.
"Master, may I have some soil afterward?"
"Yeah. You can eat as much as you like."
Mei's unchanging demeanor was a comfort. Ren answered, barely suppressing a laugh, and Mariabelle spoke in her usual calm voice.
"This is the crucial moment. But we have come this far without losing a single person. We cannot lose. Let us win."
"Yeah."
Since the leader from the other party had started the rallying cry, Ren felt she would lose face if she didn't finish it. Flapping her wings with a fwap, Ren declared loudly.
"No matter how many of them there are, they're still just Goblins and Orcs. Let's send them scattering!"
"Ooh!" everyone's voices chanted in unison, and the comrades moved into full interception mode. The distance to the enemies had closed significantly.
"Alright. This is no time to hold back."
"Agreed. Ren-chan, can you provide suppression?"
"Yeah, leave it to me."
The two offensive magic users shared a common magical support skill. It was MP-intensive, which was why they had saved it until now, and Ren had only just recently acquired it. While tricky to use, it delivered tremendous power when executed properly.
'Double Cast'.
A boosted rain of over a hundred pebbles poured down on the enemy horde, eliciting shrieks and roars. And closely following it came the main attack.
Fireball x 2.
The nearly simultaneous explosions created a synergistic effect, producing an insane level of heat and shock. Several Goblins in the very front line were vaporized instantly, and the blast significantly affected those behind them. Although the enemies' numbers were reduced by only ten percent or less after the explosion subsided, it was still enough.
The condition of the ground, already ravaged by the constant attacks, was now at its worst. The enemies, forced to advance over a direct path of gouged earth and scattered stones, were compelled to slow down. Naturally, the more time they took, the more projectiles Ren's group could fire.
"Alright! My remaining MP is just enough for a major spell. I'm going to spend it all here! Ren-chan, get me up high!"
"O-oh!"
Ren quickly picked up the girl and levitated high into the air. The girl, staff in hand, concentrated her mind and expended all her magical power to activate her final spell.
"Blizzard!"
A storm of freezing cold, cast downward, struck the stalled enemies directly. About half of the Goblins reduced the damage by hiding behind the massive Orcs, but the rest were swallowed up, helpless. Even the survivors were in terrible shape, having suffered frostbite after being burned. Although the Healers and Paladins chanted recovery magic to treat the wounds, this was already factored into Ren's plan.
Ren landed on the high ground, took the mage girl's hand again, and while wrapping his tail around Iris's leg, resumed firing stone projectiles. Iris's arrows also accurately sniped the frontliners.
"That's more than enough. The rest is up to us!"
The frontliners bravely charged into the enemies who had pushed through, battered and bruised. They scattered them with the force of tearing and throwing. Now, it was a test of whether they could fight through to the end without losing momentum. The higher-class Goblins and Orcs were difficult to take down in one hit. As they caught up from the rear, the frontliners were cornered into two-on-one and three-on-one situations. Furthermore, the enemies were closing in on the Cleric girl near the stairs.
"Drain Bolt!"
"Hah!"
The enemy, weakened by Ren's last-ditch attack, was hit by a blast from the Holy Staff, finally vanishing.
"Alright, I'm coming down too!"
"Wha—Ren-chan, it's dangerous...!"
"It's fine. If I take the aggro down here, it'll be easier for everyone to target."
Ren floated down gently to the front of the stairs and engaged the enemy, mixing Drain Bolt and Mana Bolt attacks. In the end, the "attack magic that recovers the caster's MP" proved useful. When he couldn't attack in time, he would even punch the enemy to create an opening and reduce their numbers. The pain from the several attacks he took was healed by the area recovery magic.
"And now, it's just you guys left."
In the blink of an eye, only three enemies remained: the Goblin King, the Orc Queen, and the Ancient Goblin. Their army annihilated, they glared hatefully at the leaders' group and attacked with all their remaining strength.
"I'm counting on you, everyone!"
Mei's mace crushed the King's armor. The leader's sword deeply pierced the Queen's heart, and Mariabelle's roundhouse kick brilliantly shattered the Ancient Goblin's skull. The last one fell, and after a few seconds of silence, a voice broke the stillness.
"...It's over, right?"
Ren slowly nodded at Iris's tentative murmur.
"Yeah, it's over. We won."
After waiting for a while, nothing happened. Instead, several treasure chests appeared before the group, and the reality of their victory finally set in. More than half the group, including Ren, collapsed onto the ground, unable to move for a while. Before the battle, they had talked about having a celebration, but their immediate thought after it ended was, "I want to go home and sleep right now."
Meanwhile, the two relatively energetic Thieves immediately began opening the treasure chests to confirm the rewards. They deliberately stayed together while opening the chests to prevent any suspicion of embezzlement. Although they knew none of them would do such a thing, they left a record of everything just in case.
"Hey, Ren? Can you cast Heal on everyone after you rest a bit?"
"Don't be unreasonable. My MP is completely empty, as you can see."
Then, a sleeve was tugged gently.
"In that case, um, please take some from me."
"I can do it too, you know?"
"If you take it from her, those guys will complain. ...Alright, Iris."
"Yes."
Feeling the mage girl look on with curiosity, Ren touched lips with Iris for emergency recovery. Using the recovered MP, Ren first cast Heal on himself. Then, casting recovery on everyone else significantly lifted their mood.
"How are the treasures?"
"They're amazing! First, the number of fragments is insane."
Twenty fragments per person. Excluding Mariabelle, there were eight people, and Iris and Mei were counted as two people's worth, totaling exactly two hundred fragments. They decided to divide this among the members as their personal share. They had agreed beforehand to split the remaining treasure in half. For items that there was only one of, they would use the sale price as a basis and compensate the party that didn't receive the item with extra money.
"It looks like they all dropped at once at the end so it wouldn't get mixed up if they dropped after every kill. The amount of money and jewels alone is unprecedented."
"Well, we did defeat over two hundred of them..."
The highlights included one Class Change Stone and one Reset Stone to re-allocate skill points. There were also magical weapons and potions.
"The potions are handy. Let's replenish the amount we used."
"Agreed. Consumables are expensive."
They had offered to let the other party take their share of the consumables separately, but the leaders insisted on "paying properly," so Ren's group agreed to let them use their empty Storage space for carrying some of their load in exchange for the payment. Naturally, what was loaded into the Storage was Mei's food (soil, stones, and metal).
"Splitting everything into two equal parts is going to be a hassle. What do you want to do? Do it later when we get back?"
"Recording everything so we can split it later is more trouble. Let's divide it here. It's okay if the prices are a bit rough."
Since they had a surplus, they gave the Class Change Stone to the other party and took the Reset Stone. Because this was a milestone floor, even the half share was a small fortune. With this, they wouldn't have to worry about living expenses for a while, even if they didn't do anything.
"We won't get the discount if there's another summoning, so we need to save up money now."
"You guys seem to have plenty of money, despite that... How do you save it?"
"We don't do anything special. I think it's mostly because the food expenses for Mei and me are essentially zero."
"My excellent fuel efficiency is my greatest boast."
Considering the market price, saying she has "excellent fuel efficiency" is definitely a lie, but it's not wrong in the sense that they can get her food for free in the dungeon. As for Ren, cleverly utilizing Energy Drain means her food expenses are not just zero, but negative, though she doesn't actually use it that way. They decided to keep the large amount of Orc meat for themselves. The pork jerky was quite popular, so they could process it all and distribute it to various people.
"Alright. Now, all that's left is to check the stone monument."
"We have to walk all the way over there? That's a pain..."
Walking around the damaged ground to the descending stairs several kilometers away felt like an "excursion," but they needed to check it so the Sage wouldn't complain, and also to find out if Iris and the others had gained any new powers.
In the end, the stone monument displayed two messages: one for Ren's group and one for Iris's group.
The army you destroyed was merely the enemy's vanguard. The true foe is far more formidable.
Knowing your own abilities, learning, and striving will open the way. Seek guidance from your predecessors and work hard.
The new blessing given to Iris and Mei was the "Skill List Display Function." The magic and abilities that Iris and Mei possessed were now displayed in the form of skills. Although their skill points hadn't increased, nor had their class levels been added, unacquired skills were now displayed for some reason.
They found out what this meant when they tested it by having Iris cast "Fire Bolt."
The resulting flame was clearly larger than before.
"The skill level correction is now being applied... is that it?"
"I think so. I feel like my magic has gotten a little closer to my mother's."
The level of Fire Bolt, which she used frequently, was high, while the magic she remembered but rarely used remained at level 1. However, most of Ren's skills were only at level 1.
"I see. Iris-san and Mei-san originally possessed far more talent and ability than we did."
Iris could acquire and strengthen skills without points by learning from her mother, and Mei could do the same by eating a lot and expanding her functions. Now, the skill levels would be added to that. While it wasn't as simple as it was for Ren and the others, they would be much stronger in the long run.
"The same goes for Shou and the others. ...Though I'd still be reluctant to let them conquer this floor."
"Yeah. This isn't a place to come to lightly."
"It was too much of a hellscape..."
Maybe they could come if everyone leveled up about 5 more times and could lead them while humming a tune. No, 5 levels wouldn't be enough to hum a tune. They would need 10 levels.
"But Master, theoretically, if we bring a different novice here one by one, we can mass-produce Class Change Stones and Reset Stones, right?"
"Mae. That's essentially sacrificing people."
Ren might consider it in a game where she could reset, but in real life, she wouldn't do it without an absolute guarantee of victory.
"Besides, having them clear the sixteenth to nineteenth floors first is an incredibly tough prerequisite."
"Yeah. We need the blessing from the twentieth floor."
What did it mean that they needed the perks from the twentieth floor to reach the twentieth floor? Even if that was impossible, Ren hoped Shou and the others would take at least two more years to get here. Iris and Mei were truly exceptional.
============
🚀 Want Early Access & Bonus Content?
"Loving this story so far? You can read ALL chapters RIGHT NOW by joining my P4tr3on!
✨ Unlock instant access to the full completed novel
✨ No waiting for daily updates
✨ Support your favorite degenerate author (that's me!)
Only $5.99 for the full experience!
🔗 Check my profile for the Link!!
Free readers - don't worry, I'll still be posting daily updates here. But Pa4r3on members get the VIP treatment!
Your support helps me create more wild stories like this. See you on the dark side! 😈"