Early morning at the Central Plaza.
Only a handful of adventurers had gathered here. Ron's purpose in rising early and returning late was precisely to use this opportunity to avoid the watchers arranged by the Soma Familia.
He did not believe that that group of fellows, obsessed with divine wine, could possess such self-control.
After passing the identity verification conducted by the Ganesha Guard Corps, Ron swiftly arrived at the starting floor. The route leading to Floor 6 was completely unobstructed—this aspect of the Dungeon was somewhat similar to the extinction mechanism in Dark Souls II.
Very good. It saved time.
As his stamina bar recovered, the "Mimic War Shadow" began to writhe incessantly as it emerged from the ground.
"In this life, I tread as if on thin ice—can I really make it to the other shore?"
No one could give him an answer.
The existence of the Soma Familia not only brought a palpable sense of looming danger, but also added further motivation for self-improvement to his upcoming Dungeon exploration.
What Ron could do was this:
Abandon wheelchair tactics and face the monsters head-on.
Therefore, on this Dungeon expedition, he did not carry the extremely heavy brass greatshield, nor did he equip more than simple bracers and greaves as armor, in order to preserve his own mobility.
Of course, the more important reason was the characteristic of the "Revival" skill itself—overreliance on this skill would inevitably lead to recklessness in terms of combat style.
When dealing with adventurers, this was something to be strictly avoided.
If Ron did not resist his own abilities, it did not mean rejection—if death was unavoidable, then lessons had to be learned and transformed into his own experience.
"Very good."
"Next, I will complete today's exploration without dying even once!"
Casting aside all burdens.
Ron felt his body become lighter than ever before. This was precisely one of the advantages of being an adventurer—possessing speed that ordinary humans could never attain.
He held his weapons in a reverse grip in both hands, knees slightly bent.
In an instant, the explosive force propelled his figure like a cannonball, launching from the spot straight toward the monster as he initiated the attack against the Mimic War Shadow.
Meanwhile, the monster—possessing the combat experience of an adventurer—naturally raised its shield to defend.
Bang!
As they collided, metal rang out with a crisp, clear sound.
Facing the wide horizontal sweep of the Mimic War Shadow's greatsword, Ron deftly twisted his body to evade the strike, and at the same time used the monster's recovery lag to shoulder-check it to the ground.
The thrusting sword he held in a reverse grip pierced straight through the Mimic War Shadow's back without hesitation.
"Execution."
This type of technique was particularly effective against humanoid monsters.
Watching the corpse completely dissolve into black dust, Ron picked up the dark-purple magic stone. Without lingering where he stood, he stepped forward toward the depths.
Control.
He firmly believed that as long as one was willing to put in the sweat of effort, limitless improvement was possible.
"Today's Dungeon..."
"I hope it won't be full of such fodder—let me grind more monsters and hone my combat skills."
As if it were the Dungeon's stubborn reply..
Ron raised his head and looked toward the "Mimic War Shadow" that had appeared in the distance ahead and was gradually taking shape. Its size was clearly larger than before.
Most crucially—he also saw the familiar face of "Bruno."
The monster's face, which had originally shown no trace of expression, erupted with anger the instant it recognized him—an intensity even stronger than the Dungeon's own hatred!
"According to DanMachi's explanation, not only humans, but even the Dungeon's monsters have the concept of reincarnation—so could this thing be a second-run Mimic War Shadow?"
Such a conjecture arose in Ron's mind.
But that did not mean he felt fear toward the monster before him. On the contrary, this powerful Mimic War Shadow was perfectly suited to testing exactly where his limits lay.
However...
In the instant of their brief exchange, the Mimic War Shadow's instinctive backward retreat exposed the lingering trauma left by repeated shield-thrust tactics. This, in turn, gave Ron an opening, and he was the first to launch a rapid assault at the monster.
While flashing aside to evade the monster's attack, he lowered his body, blood spreading across his palm and coating the dagger.
[Ash of War: Bloody Slash.]
An extremely wide-ranging Bloody Slash.
It granted the dagger an attack reach far beyond what its length should allow, striking straight at the retreating Mimic War Shadow and completely tearing apart the armor on the monster's chest.
By all logic, an attack of this magnitude should have been sufficient to kill the monster outright.
Yet the fact that the Mimic War Shadow still stood before him—having merely staggered and suffered injuries—was already proof that Ron's inner conjecture was correct.
Not knowing how to kill him outright, it started stacking stats on the monster instead?
"You've really outdone yourself, Dungeon…"
...
Early morning.
Ais Wallenstein headed to the Dungeon alone, preparing to rendezvous with the expedition force stationed on Floor 18. As for why they did not travel together—the reason was simple.
The weapon she had commissioned Uncle Goibniu to refurbish had finally been rushed to completion.
This Familia expedition was crucial. To the extent that even a first-class spare sword could not suffice, the only viable objective was the Dungeon's deeper regions.
Ais did not pay much attention to these matters.
The black flame of vengeance burning within her heart made her hate all monsters equally. Wherever she went, as long as she could kill monsters and continuously grow stronger, she had no objections.
When she arrived in the Floor 6 area and was just about to pass through quickly, the girl sensed the sounds of battle coming from not far ahead. She was not interested in the fights between other adventurers and monsters, and merely intended to pass by.
However, what entered Ais's view were two adventurers with an enormous disparity in size.
Judging solely from the combat situation, it was clearly the black-haired boy who held the advantage—like an exceptionally seasoned adventurer, he was even able to temporarily suppress his opponent through technique.
"…"
Was this a sparring match?
But from the special aura leaking from the tall, burly adventurer, and from the shadowy body that was being maintained with some difficulty as Ron pressed his attacks, she found it familiar…
It was connected to the strange god she had encountered in the Dungeon when she was eight years old—after refusing that god, she had been forced to fight a young dragon summoned by the deity.
That's right—this was exactly the feeling!
Because when a god entered the Dungeon, it would provoke the Dungeon's hatred, ultimately leading to the occurrence of an "abnormal incident," giving rise to monsters never before seen.
Inconceivable…
Ais recalled the Floor Boss that had appeared in the Floor 1 area a few days earlier. The incident had caused quite a stir in Orario, but as for the final results of the investigation—to be honest, she did not particularly believe them. Yet now, upon clearly seeing this monster disguised as an adventurer on Floor 6, could the answer be connected to this black-haired boy?
As she was pondering this question, the battle in the distance ahead quietly came to an end.
From the perspective of a Lv.5 adventurer, Ron's movements in his fight with the special monster were very slow, so even while distracted, Ais still witnessed the entire process.
So that was it—Ron's hand was not injured.
Rather, it was a special combat method: coating the surface of the weapon with blood to produce crimson slashes. This was absolutely an unprecedented fighting technique.
Should she ask him about it…?
She hesitated inwardly. To Ais, this sort of thing was genuinely interesting. And this was only a War Shadow from the upper floors—if one were to go to the lower floors, or even the deep floors, what exactly would happen?
Just as Ais made her decision, she realized that Ron was already nowhere to be seen in the distance ahead. The somewhat airheaded girl suddenly became aware of the seriousness of the situation.
"Oh no…"
"It seems I forgot to ask him what his name was…"
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