Before dawn, Noah arrived alone at the Dungeon.
And he descended all the way to the 11th floor in one go.
This was also the deepest level he had reached during his solo expeditions.
Having elevated his rank, as a level 2 adventurer, the movements of these upper-floor monsters seemed like slow-motion playback to him, allowing him to easily evade and precisely counterattack their weak points.
Of course, if he felt too lazy to dodge, he would resort to simpler and more brutal methods.
Facing a monster charging straight at him, Noah neither dodged nor avoided it.
Instead, he directly extended his hand clad in 'raven feathers', grabbed the monster's face and then clenched his fingers, crushing its skull and seizing the magic stone in his palm.
"So slow."
The monster he had just defeated was almost the most agile one in the upper floors, yet it still felt sluggish to him.
He knew it wasn't actually slow—it was because, over the past year, he had absorbed vast amounts of experience from adventurers, making him so familiar with all the upper-floor monsters that it was nauseating.
Most unintelligent monsters had monotonous patterns of movement.
Experienced adventurers could distinguish these patterns to accurately predict the monsters' next actions.
He had absorbed countless such experiences.
Thud.
Thud.
Heavy footsteps transmitted vibrations through the earth to the soles of Noah's feet.
Following the direction of the sound, he saw massive monsters emerging from the thick fog, appearing in the gray forest.
"Ogres, huh."
Noah observed the large group of ogres surrounding him from multiple directions, not just in front of him.
'The count... 11 of them, all ordinary monsters, no Strengthened Species.'
Then it was no problem.
Generally speaking, the larger the monster, the more difficult it was to deal with in the Dungeon, as greater size meant greater mass and more formidable strength.
Against such monsters, light attacks would only cause superficial wounds, and if the weapon wasn't sharp enough, it might get stuck, unable to smoothly cut through the monster's skin to inflict damage.
The ogres advanced toward Noah, casually snapping pale tree trunks and gripping them in their massive hands.
Seeing the monsters arming themselves with makeshift weapons, Noah recalled the information about the upper floors that Misha had once told him.
"I see, so this is what they call the natural armory."
For ogres several meters tall, these trees made perfect clubs.
Combined with the ogres' terrifying strength, a single strike could shatter a human body and pulverize internal organs.
If a level 1 adventurer was hit head-on, there would be absolutely no chance of survival.
Since the enemies had armed themselves, the stage was set.
From this moment on, this place was the testing ground from him!
Noah drew Crimson Guardian from his waist, channeled his mana/mind to activate it and a dazzling red light flashed as the deep crimson mana blade was unleashed.
"Ooorrrgh!"
The ogres seemed to sense the threat, reacting as if provoked and charged fiercely forward.
Their massive bodies caused the ground to tremble slightly with each step.
What did it look like when humanoid creatures several meters tall ran?
The sheer pressure alone would make cowards lose all will to fight and flee immediately.
"Due to its massive size, once it begins its charge it cannot stop. Running away would only play right into the monster's hands—the correct choice is to advance."
At this moment, Noah overlapped with countless adventurers.
He manipulated gravity and wind, dispersing both gravitational force and resistance to further increase his speed, instantly arriving beneath the ogre while simultaneously entering the blind spot of this colossal creature.
Suddenly losing sight of its target, the ogre staggered on its legs and consequently lost its balance.
Noah gripped the Crimson Sword and aimed at the ogre's pivotal support point—its left leg.
Sweeping the sword in an arc, Noah's entire body tilted slightly—an inconceivable phenomenon for someone who had mastered "Hundred of Swordsmanship style."
Whether it was shortswords, longswords, dual blades, or even greatswords—not to mention exotic weapons like chains and scythes—he had achieved considerable proficiency in them all.
Logically, losing balance like this should only happen to novices.
His body contained the sword memories of hundreds of swordman after all.
"GROOOOAR!!!"
The ogre suddenly let out a pained roar.
Noah glanced sideways and saw the ogre had already collapsed to the ground, its left calf completely severed from the main body.
The detached calf and foot stood upright nearby.
'Huh?'
Had he actually cut it?
He thought he'd missed due to the loss of balance.
There had been absolutely no tactile feedback.
It felt like swinging through empty air—even though the sword had clearly passed through the monster's flesh, there wasn't the slightest sensation of contact.
Even when cutting paper or leaves with a blade, one would feel minimal resistance.
But Noah hadn't detected any such force at all.
This wasn't a matter of sharpness—terms like "cutting through iron like mud" felt utterly inadequate before such destructive power.
A howling wind swept past his ears.
Drawing on his "experience," Noah dropped into a crouch while raising the sword.
Whoosh!—a gust of wind pressure swept over him.
This was immediately followed by the sound of something heavy crashing to the ground.
Straightening up, Noah looked back to see the "natural weapon" used by the ambushing ogre now cleanly severed into two sections.
Suddenly, he understood.
"So that's how it is..."
He had inherited sword experience from countless individuals, but not one among them had ever wielded a weightless blade capable of cutting through anything.
The sword's speed matched his arm's movement—naturally far faster than conventional sword swings.
He'd been applying sword-swinging force to this weightless weapon, hence the mistimed movements.
The ogre roared, lifting the remaining half of the tree trunk in its hand to smash downward, but Noah flipped onto its arm instead.
Sprinting up the thick limb, Noah leaped into the air and casually swung the Crimson Guardian forward.
Though he'd barely exerted any force, the massive ogre was split open from shoulder to flank by a gigantic wound.
Simultaneously severed was the magic stone inside its body.
The monster fell to its knees, disintegrating into dust before it even hit the ground.