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Chapter 18: Loki Familia
"I want to go too." Ais stood there expressionlessly, but her golden eyes revealed determination.
"I... I want to go with Miss Ais too." Lefiya, following behind Ais, summoned her courage to whisper her opinion.
"Sigh..." Riveria, who entered last, covered her face helplessly with her hand, revealing a headache-induced expression.
Finn looked at this group of overly energetic members and couldn't help but smile.
"You came just in time."
He glanced at the commission request.
"In that case, you guys go. The mission content is to investigate the new monsters appearing on the first five floors of the Dungeon and collect detailed data on them."
He had already assessed this mission. For First-Class Adventurers like Ais who were Level 5 or higher, there was absolutely no danger.
"Oh yeah! Long live the Captain!"
Tiona cheered excitedly, feeling like she could go out and play properly again.
"I'll go along too."
A cool and helpless voice sounded.
Riveria massaged her throbbing temples. She really couldn't rest easy letting Ais and this group of problem children form a team on their own.
"Oho? That's perfect!"
Hearing this, Loki immediately grinned, speaking in her usual teasing tone.
"With 'Mama' tagging along, I'm even more relieved."
Riveria rolled her eyes elegantly, casting a look at her own patron god that said she couldn't be bothered to respond.
Soon, this temporary investigation squad composed of Orario's top combat power was assembled.
Riveria, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, and a look of impatience on Bete's face—the group of six left Twilight Manor and headed straight for Babel Tower.
Meanwhile, on the gloomy second floor of the Dungeon.
Clang!
The dull sound of metal colliding with wood echoed in the narrow rock passage.
Aiden twisted sideways to dodge a heavy swing. The longsword in his hand, which should have been of fine quality, let out an overwhelmed groan after blocking the crude wooden club in the Hilichurl's hand.
At this moment, he was surrounded by five Hilichurls.
Hilichurls were monsters about 1.2 to 1.5 meters tall, stocky and sturdy, with short limbs and gray-black skin. Their faces were covered by simple totem masks, and they had sparse brown fur on their heads and long, slender black ears. Like the slimes, they did not belong to the Dungeon but appeared because of Aiden's skill.
Two club-wielding Hilichurls acted as the vanguard, roaring and launching oppressive attacks. One holding a simple wooden sword was more cunning, constantly circling to find blind spots in his defense. On the rocky protrusions behind them, two archers were constantly nocking arrows, firing deadly cold shots when least expected.
"Hah..." Aiden's breathing was a bit rapid, and beads of fine sweat seeped from his forehead.
Using the uneven walls around him, he maneuvered within the small space.
With a light tap of his toe on the wall, his body shifted horizontally, defying gravity, dodging an arrow from behind by a hair's breadth.
The longsword in his hand sliced through the air, leaving silver afterimages as he precisely parried and deflected the oncoming attacks.
But every collision made the web of his thumb go numb, and the wear on the blade became increasingly severe.
The strength and toughness of these monsters far exceeded the goblins on the first floor.
Just as he was entangled by the three melee Hilichurls and finding it hard to break away, an archer in the rear seized the opportunity and drew its bowstring to the limit.
"Resound!"
The instant the arrow left the string, a cool and short chant rang out.
Robin had been standing quietly at the edge of the battlefield, her lake-green eyes analyzing the entire situation calmly.
She didn't act rashly but waited for the best opportunity.
Now, the time had come.
An invisible, sharp sound wave erupted from the tip of her staff, arriving first despite starting later, accurately intersecting with the arrow in mid-air.
With a harsh hum, the wooden arrow was smashed to pieces in the air.
Then, a piercing sound wave went straight for the Hilichurl archer.
The Hilichurl archer let out a grunt of pain, covering its ears, temporarily losing the ability to attack.
The skill effect of [Overture of Inebriation] quietly activated. A faint warm current fed back into Robin's spiritual world, replenishing part of the mana consumed by the spell just now.
This allowed her to provide support for longer at a lower cost.
Aiden seized this split-second opening.
He stopped defending. His legs powered down, his body leaned forward, and his longsword transformed into a swift streak of light. He knocked aside a Hilichurl's club from below, the tip of the sword flowing upward to pierce precisely into its unguarded throat.
Succeeding in one strike, he didn't pause. With a turn of his wrist, the blood-stained blade swept out, forcing back the other two melee Hilichurls. Borrowing the momentum of the rotation, he charged toward the other archer who had just recovered from the sound wave's impact.
The archer panic and tried to retreat, but Aiden was faster.
A cold light flashed, and its head flew into the sky.
In an instant, two of the five were gone.
The remaining three Hilichurls let out angry roars, their offensive becoming even more chaotic.
Aiden took a deep breath and went to meet them.
After another fierce struggle, at the cost of a burning bruise on his left arm from a grazing club, he finally cut down the last Hilichurl.
As the last monster dissipated into black ash, Aiden leaned on his sword, his chest heaving violently.
Robin stepped forward, skillfully picking up the scattered Magic Stones and a rough totem mask from the ground, putting them into the backpack.
She looked at Aiden's slightly weary expression and the longsword in his hand, which was now full of notches and even slightly bent, and said softly, "We should go back."
Aiden nodded and gave a wry smile.
Indeed, they should go back.
With his Level 1 strength, if he were facing ordinary Dungeon monsters, killing his way to the fifth floor wouldn't be a big problem.
But because of his passive skill, the strength of the spawned monsters completely exceeded the standard of the current floor.
From the Pyro and Cryo Slimes on the first floor to the Electro and Anemo Slimes on the second, and now these Hilichurls who understood basic coordination... their combat power was more than a tier stronger than goblins and Dungeon Lizards.
This led to a sharp increase in his stamina consumption.
And most fatal was the wear on his weapon.
After just half a day of fighting, this fine weapon from the Hephaestus Familia was on the verge of being scrapped.
If they fought any longer, it would probably snap in combat.
Robin took out half of the Magic Stones harvested today from the backpack and handed them to Aiden.
Aiden took them, and with a thought, fed all these Magic Stones into the [Intertwined Fate] system in his mind.
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