Up to the ninetieth floor, floor bosses appear every ten layers—one per boss area.
In the deep layers, though, every single floor has its own floor boss.
That's the biggest difference between lower and deep zones.
Floor bosses are overwhelmingly powerful monsters confined to a fixed range.
No one knows why they can't leave, but records show none ever have.
So explorers accept it as fact: that's just how floor bosses are.
Yet here—far outside the boss zone—the black dragon stood as if it belonged.
Why!?
The dragon let out another massive roar and dove straight toward us—still reeling from shock.
"Tch!"
Derrick reacted instantly, stepping forward and raising his shield.
"—! Philly! Prioritize Derrick—buff all of us with everything you've got!"
"...Ah..."
Philly stood frozen, unresponsive.
"—No buffs! Everyone—evade on your own!"
I scooped Philly up and shouted to the others as we scattered.
Orun would've cast support on Derrick before I even finished speaking.
How could someone supposedly better than Orun fail at what he did effortlessly!?
The black dragon slammed down on all fours, momentum intact.
The impact blasted me and Philly backward through the air.
I managed a rough landing—then a fireball roared toward me.
The dragon's follow-up.
I dodged—barely—but the residual heat scorched me lightly.
Quick scan: Aneiri safe.
Luna was rushing to Derrick, casting recovery.
Couldn't see his injuries from here, but he was conscious.
"Oliver-san! Buy time for retreat! We can't win like this!"
Luna shouted for withdrawal.
With Derrick compromised, fighting the black dragon head-on was impossible.
"Kuh—fine. Philly—can you move yet!?"
"Y-yes. Sorry…"
The earlier blast seemed to have snapped her out of it.
"Apologies later. Buff everyone first—then regroup with Luna!"
"Yes!"
She immediately cast on me.
I gathered ambient mana along my blade.
Normally invisible, but concentrated like this—it formed pale golden flames wreathing the sword.
Some rare humans possess unique powers called "gifts."
—Gifts: forces entirely separate from human magic or monster spells.
Mine is [Mana Convergence].
It simply gathers surrounding mana into one point.
But when released in an instant—the resulting shockwave surpasses even top-tier spells that require long chants.
"Heaven Flash!!"
I swung the golden-flamed sword downward.
My strongest technique: launching the gathered mana as a slashing wave.
I aimed to shear off the wings—cripple its flight!
We'd proven last time: no wings meant drastically reduced mobility.
The golden slash struck the wing—exploding into a massive shockwave.
That should keep it from chasing if we retreated.
"—What!?"
Last time, Heaven Flash had torn the wings clean off.
This time—the wings remained intact. Not even a serious wound.
"Why…?"
"Oliver—watch out!"
Aneiri's voice, maybe.
"Gah…!"
Stunned by the failure, my mind blanked.
Next thing I knew, the dragon's tail—moving too fast to track—slammed me airborne.
"…Guh… cough…"
I hit the ground hard—no proper breakfall—but Philly's buff kept it non-fatal.
Aneiri took over attacking—yet her spells still lacked power. The dragon barely reacted.
Fortunately, I'd been blown near Derrick and Luna—her recovery reached me.
"…Oliver-san—let's use 'Capricious Door.' We'll face another floor boss, but it's far better than this black dragon!"
Luna proposed while healing me.
'Capricious Door'—a magic tool usable only inside great labyrinths.
It forcibly connects your location to another—randomly—always to a boss area outside the deep layers.
Normally, no sane person would use it right before fighting a floor boss.
But any non-deep boss was vastly weaker than this thing.
Even in our slump, this lineup could handle deep-layer-adjacent bosses.
"Understood."
I pulled a glass bottle filled with white smoke from my storage tool.
"Using 'Capricious Door'! Everyone—jump in!"
I issued the order—then smashed the bottle on the ground.
White smoke billowed; space warped.
As we all moved toward the distortion—
The black dragon slammed both forelegs down.
The shockwave cracked the earth—fissures everywhere.
We all lost balance—hands braced on the ground.
The dragon charged low—straight at the warp.
Long-honed explorer instinct kicked in—we scattered to dodge.
The dragon plunged into the distortion.
It vanished before our eyes.
Silence fell—as if the battle had never happened.