When another Cannon Dragon attacked, the situation took a different turn.
The bombardment was not as scattered as before, targeting everyone in the squad.
Instead, the attacks were all concentrated in a small area, targeting only one person!
Familiar sounds came from below, and just when everyone thought that this was the same shelling as before, they all ducked and moved away.
To everyone's surprise, the shelling that penetrated was concentrated around a green figure.
"What?!"
"Oops!"
"Riveria!"
Everyone was shocked by this sudden change and broke out in a cold sweat.
Looking at the figure who was about to be engulfed by the pillar of shelling fire, everyone felt anxious.
Riveria herself was also shocked because she had never encountered such a situation before.
She felt very depressed for a moment, thinking that she might have to meet her end here.
Although she always had a shield on her body, it was only her second-level defensive magic. It could block the usual bombardment, but if it was such a concentrated attack, she would not be able to withstand it at all!
Once the shield broke, she could only resist with her body.
But even if she was Level 6, she was a mage, which meant she was much weaker physically than ordinary melee combatants of the same level.
Even Gareth, a Level 6 tank, might not be able to withstand such a large amount of bombardment, let alone her.
"Dying? I haven't confessed my feelings to him yet, and I was hoping we could be together..."
Riveria closed her eyes in despair, still mumbling about Takumi.
Originally, as a senior adventurer, Riveria had taken life and death lightly.
In the depths of the dungeon, even if you die in the next second, it is not a surprise.
However, after meeting Takumi and deciding that she liked him, her mentality began to change.
Mainly, she had another reason to miss her life, which made her reluctant to die.
"Who is 'he' you are talking about? Can you tell me?"
"It's Ta..."
Riveria answered subconsciously, but mid-sentence, she suddenly froze.
Why did this voice sound so much like Takumi's?
Moreover, a lot of time had passed, right?
Why didn't it hurt at all? Had the bombardment not arrived yet?
Riveria quickly opened her eyes.
Then she saw the face that she had remembered so deeply in her heart these past few days.
She took another look.
It turned out that she was being held in Takumi's arms in a princess carry.
"Ta? Takumi what? It seems that apart from me, there is no one else in the team whose name starts with that."
Takumi joked to Riveria with a mischievous smile.
He didn't expect that he would hear such interesting words after saving Riveria at the critical moment.
Is this a direct confession from her? Yes?
Just now, when no one else had time to react, Takumi, who had been paying close attention to Riveria, acted.
He came to Riveria's side in a flash and used his magic shield to block the attack of the Cannon Dragon, successfully saving her.
And all this happened only in the moment after Riveria closed her eyes.
The others saw it and were relieved.
Only with her eyes closed, Riveria didn't realize that she had been rescued and said those words.
When Riveria heard Takumi's teasing, she finally understood what she had just done, and her face suddenly turned bright red.
"You... please put me down first."
She didn't know how to face Takumi now.
She didn't expect that her last sigh, when she thought she was about to die, would be heard by Takumi himself!
Although she admitted those words were true and represented what she felt at the time, it didn't mean she was ready to tell him!
Especially not to Takumi directly.
She wasn't ready yet, so why did she confess her love in such a confused way?
This made Riveria so ashamed that she wished she could go back to a moment ago and just disappear!
She quickly asked Takumi to put her down. She was afraid that if she continued to face him, she would really die of embarrassment.
But as Riveria struggled, Takumi only hugged her tighter.
"Don't move, we're going down."
"What?" Riveria was stunned after hearing this, and then noticed their current situation.
At this time, the two of them were falling quickly along the hole penetrated by the shelling.
"Oops!" Riveria was startled and quickly put shields on the two of them to cushion the impact of landing.
But Takumi smiled. "It's okay, don't panic, I'm in control. Look if you don't believe it."
As he said that, he activated his flying magic to stop their descent, and the two of them hovered in mid-air.
"Flying magic? Why didn't you say you had this?"
Seeing this, Riveria breathed a sigh of relief again, and then couldn't help but ask with some doubt.
Takumi, on the other hand, said matter-of-factly:
"Of course I will go down to avenge you. Those little Cannon Dragons dared to target my Riveria like this; naturally, I will not let them have an easy time."
"Who is 'your' Riveria?"
When Riveria heard this, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at this shameless guy in shame. However, she felt very grateful for Takumi's care.
She felt a sweetness in her heart, like eating honey. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up in a subtle arc.
"Is that not it? Did you just say that we wanted to be together?"
Takumi controlled the flight and continued his descent while continuing his offensive against Riveria.
Now that Riveria's intentions had been confirmed and such an opportunity was rare, Takumi would not let it go.
He was prepared to win her over in one fell swoop.
"I... I was just..."
When Riveria heard this, she immediately panicked and wanted to explain something, but she didn't know how to phrase it.
In other words, would explaining it really be better?
Riveria hesitated.
And just when she was hesitating, Takumi saw the right moment, leaned in, and kissed her so that she didn't have to explain anymore.
"Mm?!"
Riveria also didn't expect that Takumi's attack would be so fierce, leaving her no time to prepare.
Riveria began to struggle, but with her strength, she could not break free.
In the end, Riveria simply accepted her fate and chose to follow her heart.
Perhaps this was a good result.
"Roar!!!"
Unconsciously, the two of them landed on the fifty-eighth floor.
The Cannon Dragons standing upright discovered them and roared one after another.
They felt as though they were being ignored by this couple.
Riveria came back to her senses and quickly pushed Takumi away, breaking from his arms. She stood on the ground and began to tidy her somewhat messy appearance.
However, she saw Takumi looking at her happily, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.
"What are you looking at? Don't you want to deal with them? Go quickly!"
Takumi didn't refute and turned to look at the Cannon Dragons. He raised his hand and instantly activated his combat mode.
The overwhelming magic array illuminated the entire fifty-eighth floor.
Chains shot out, killing those Cannon Dragons. One by one, they were all tied up.
Takumi then slowly took out his blade.
"Then, it's time to settle the score."
He did not kill these Cannon Dragons directly but began to systematically eliminate them.
Removing their limbs was just the beginning. What was even more terrifying was the influx of magic energy, hitting them from all sides! The process of dismantling them was thorough. There were also some new methods that Takumi performed on the spot.
For example, he used earth magic to make the Cannon Dragons swallow rocks until they suffocated.
Or he used ice to see whether they would perish from the cold or the pressure first.
Takumi was genuinely angry because this was the first time one of his own was in danger right in front of him.
Well, Takumi, who had confirmed Riveria's feelings, had already regarded her as one of his own.
The fact that the culprits were such a group of minor monsters made Takumi angry, and it also felt like a personal insult.
Just killing them was no longer enough to vent his anger; he had to punish them severely.
Seeing Takumi venting his anger, Riveria didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
On the contrary, she felt that Takumi really cared about her, which made her very happy.
At the same time, everyone in the team who was still above was very anxious.
Although Takumi used telepathy to tell them when he took Riveria down that they were fine and that he just wanted to go down first to take revenge, it did not stop them from worrying about their companions.
Finn made a prompt decision and asked the team to speed up and rush below to join the two of them as soon as possible.
Thanks to Takumi controlling all the Cannon Dragons below, and the team pushing forward at high speed, their progress was very fast.
In two hours, they arrived at the fifty-eighth floor.
Then they saw a group of defeated Cannon Dragons lying on the ground.
And they saw the two of them, looking perfectly fine and neatly dressed, sitting aside and chatting intimately: Takumi and Riveria.
"Ah, this..."
"Wait, what are you doing..."
For a moment, they didn't know how to react to the two over there. They felt so surprised that it was like a breath was stuck in their chests.
They worked their hardest to come down here to save them.
But it turned out that you guys were perfectly fine and even getting closer?! Besides!
When the hell did you guys hook up?!
"Yo, you're here. Hurry up."
When Takumi saw them, he stood up with a smile and waved to them.
Riveria also stood up, holding Takumi's hand, and stood beside him quietly. She didn't care at all about making her feelings public.
There was even a hint of declaring her choice.
"We were so worried we didn't stop once."
Finn was the first to react. He looked at Riveria speechlessly and said, "It's great to see that you are okay."
He also felt a little tired.
However, he did not interfere with the affairs of the two of them.
Although they were companions of the same Familia, he had no right to interfere in their private lives.
Moreover, he respected Riveria's choice and sincerely expressed his blessings.
Others also agreed and did not interfere.
Although they were surprised that Riveria found a partner without a word, they all supported her.
Part of this was because the prestige Riveria had accumulated as the head of the Familia prevented anyone from questioning her.
Another part was that they all felt Takumi was worthy of Riveria. He was powerful, handsome, talented, and smart. There was no one in Orario who seemed a better fit.
But it was also at this time that they truly realized how impressive Takumi was.
When they hadn't compared them carefully before, they hadn't noticed it.
For a moment, the other two girls in the team, Line, who was in charge of healing, and a female supporter, couldn't help but envy Riveria.
At the same time, they couldn't help but sigh. The leaders are truly something else; if they take action, they take the best.
But with Riveria there, they could only watch.
If it were anyone else, even if they felt they had fallen for Takumi, they probably wouldn't try to compete.
But since this person was Riveria...
They figured they should just sleep; they could have anything in their dreams.
Are you kidding?
Compete with Riveria?
This is Riveria!
That would be a losing battle.
But at this moment, Tiona came up to Takumi casually, nudged him with her elbow, and said teasingly:
"Okay, Brother Takumi. Yesterday you said it was nothing, but today you've already won her heart."
Everyone's eyes widened again instantly. They didn't expect that Tiona actually knew about the two of them.
And according to what she said, the two seemed to have just started.
In an instant, everyone cast a gossipy look at Takumi.
"Ahem."
Takumi coughed twice and said with a smile: "It's a coincidence, just a coincidence. Don't gossip. If you have nothing to do, just eat something and rest."
At the same time, he also took out some dry rations and offered them to Tiona.
It was public now, but he didn't want to be the center of gossip. After all, these were private matters.
"Mmph!"
Tiona, who was suddenly offered a mouthful of food, almost choked. She quickly took out her water bottle and took a swig. It took a moment to recover.
Then she couldn't help complaining to Takumi: "Hey! Do you want to choke me?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Hearing her complaint, everyone laughed happily.
Immediately, everyone stopped pestering Takumi and Riveria. They all found a place to sit down, eat, and drink, taking the time to rest and recover.
They were all exhausted from rushing down here.
They didn't feel it when they were worried about their companions, but seeing that the two were safe and sound, the fatigue hit them once they relaxed.
Everyone ignored those Cannon Dragons.
It was better for the monsters to stay in the state they were in.
If they were half-dead and presented no threat but weren't fully dead, new monsters would not refresh on the floor, making this a temporary safe zone for them to rest.
After everyone took a rest, the team set off again and arrived at the fifty-ninth floor.
Then they saw a scene that made people freeze.
In the spacious chamber, which was larger than the fifty-eighth floor above, there were green trees and vines growing.
The entire space was filled with dense vegetation: tall trees with strange flower buds hanging on them and countless colorful, eye-catching, but weird flowers on the green grassland.
There was no sense of beauty; combined with the quiet environment, it was full of frightening abnormality.
Even Takumi, who was well-informed, was unsettled by this strange environment.
This was just like the Cthulhu works from his previous life; they were practically identical!
"Ugh!"
The supporter with the lowest tolerance in the back of the team couldn't hold back and vomited out what he had just eaten.
Others were also uncomfortable, their skin crawling at the sight.
Seeing this, Takumi took action.
"Meteor Shower!"
A row of more than a dozen magic arrays unfolded, and huge fireballs fell like raindrops.
Boom!!!
The fireballs hit the ground, exploded, and burned, instantly turning the strange scene in front of them into a sea of fire.
But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, they saw the woods and grasslands begin to recede and disappear.
Yes, like a part of some creature, they quickly retracted, revealing a piece of gray land.
In the blink of an eye, the center of the floor became a wasteland. Here, countless strange worms, as well as piranhas and other monsters of various shapes, began to appear.
A large number of disgusting monsters surrounded a creature with a huge plant-like lower body and a woman's figure above, threatening the team from the edge of the clearing.
"Great. If strength fails, you play mental attacks, right?"
Takumi was disgusted again and couldn't help but curse.
"Careful! Get your backup weapons! Ready to fight! But don't get obsessed with the battle; fight if you can, and retreat as soon as you can't!"
Finn also stood up and began to direct the battle.
After hearing the words, everyone took out the prepared weapons with indestructible properties, and the supporters quickly retreated to a safe area.
Before the monster group could rush forward, Takumi, together with Riveria, launched a wave of preemptive magic.