While Genichi and Goliath were locked in a brutal exchange, another group was steadily closing in on the seventeenth floor.
Members of Loki Familia.
Tiona Hiryute, Lefiya Viridis, and…
Ais Wallenstein.
The blonde girl known as the "Sword Princess" walked at the very front, her face unreadable.
At her waist hung the rapier called Desperate, her golden hair catching a faint halo in the dim light.
They'd accepted a Guild request to eliminate the seventeenth floor's Floor Boss.
After all, a monster on the Floor Boss tier couldn't be left alone. If it was allowed to roam, it would become a threat to every adventurer entering the middle floors.
Clearing it out was the unspoken bottom line shared by the major Familias.
And yet…
"Huh?"
Tiona suddenly stopped, tilting her head to listen.
"Did the Floor Boss wake up early?"
From far ahead came a series of earthshaking roars.
Goliath's voice, furious and berserk.
And also…
"Someone's fighting it?"
Surprise flashed in Tiona's eyes.
Mixed into Goliath's howls were the sounds of weapons colliding, and the boom of some kind of magic.
It was obvious an adventurer was already engaging it.
"Let's hurry!"
Lefiya tightened her grip on her staff, her voice tense with urgency.
"If it's just ordinary adventurers who ran into Goliath, they're in danger!"
An ordinary adventurer facing a Level 4 Floor Boss only had one ending.
Death.
"Go."
Ais kept it short.
The instant she spoke, she shot forward like an arrow.
Her foot slammed down, cracking the ground. Her golden hair trailed into an afterimage as she vanished down the corridor.
Tiona and Lefiya rushed after her.
When they burst into the Floor Boss chamber on the seventeenth floor, the sight in front of them made all three freeze.
In the center of the vast space, the giant over five meters tall was thrashing, swinging its arms like it had gone mad.
Its body was riddled with dozens of wounds.
Some shallow, some deep. The deepest cuts were so severe they exposed white bone.
Its left eye was completely gone.
A vicious slash ran from the socket down to its cheek, flesh torn open in a horrifying line.
It was drenched in blood, roaring in rage and agony like a trapped beast.
And standing in front of it…
A black-haired boy was fighting it head-on.
He gripped a dark-gray blade, his body slipping through the giant's attacks with fluid precision.
Every evade flowed into a counter.
Every strike carved a fresh wound into the giant's body.
His movement was smooth, almost like a dance.
His gaze was cold and steady, as if the thing in front of him was just another opponent, not the Floor Boss that made countless adventurers go pale at the name.
More than that…
He had the advantage.
That mountain of a giant was being beaten down by him alone.
Tiona's mouth fell open, her amber eyes filled with disbelief.
"That guy looks kinda familiar?"
She scratched her head, forcing her memory to work.
Where had she seen him?
The Guild?
Babel?
Some shop?
"Genichi."
Ais's calm voice cut through the silence.
She stared at the figure fighting Goliath, and the name landed with certainty.
Tiona and Lefiya both flinched.
Genichi?
With that prompt, their memories snapped into place.
That boy was the one who had come to Loki Familia trying to join, only to be refused at the door.
The boy they'd met in the Dungeon while returning from their expedition, the one who had followed them back up to the surface.
The boy Demeter Familia had taken in, the "newbie" rumored to be only Level 1.
But what they were seeing now…
"But he's Level 1, isn't he? How…?"
Tiona's voice trembled.
Not from fear.
From shock.
A Level 1 adventurer challenging a Level 4 Floor Boss?
Forget challenging. Staying alive long enough to even see a Floor Boss was already a miracle.
A normal Level 1 started struggling by the ninth floor.
The thirteenth was their absolute limit.
And the seventeenth…
That was territory only Level 2 and above dared to enter.
And on top of that, there was a Level 4 Floor Boss here.
Yet this boy had not only come this far, not only challenged it, but…
He was winning.
Tiona rubbed her eyes, convinced she had to be seeing things.
But no matter how many times she blinked, the scene didn't change.
The black-haired boy kept trading blows with Goliath.
And Goliath kept getting pressed back.
"How is that possible?"
Lefiya's voice shook too.
To fight a Floor Boss head-on, you needed at least Level 4.
But…
Hadn't he become an adventurer less than three months ago?
In a single month, going from Level 0 to Level 4?
That was impossible.
It broke everything Orario believed about growth, everything that defined the rules of an adventurer's progress.
Ais didn't speak.
She simply stood there, golden eyes unmoving, locked onto the boy's silhouette.
Watching him evade.
Watching him counter.
Watching him circle that giant and control the tempo.
Something complicated flickered in her gaze.
That was…
Swordsmanship?
No. Not just swordsmanship.
That was Astraea Familia swordsmanship.
She had seen it before.
Back when Astraea still remained in Orario, during the rare occasions their Familias had crossed paths, she'd seen those righteous followers practicing.
That distinctive way of generating force.
That agile evasion.
That precise timing on the strike.
It was Astraea Familia swordplay.
So why did everything about it look like Viridis-style swordsmanship?
Ais narrowed her eyes.
The fight continued.
Genichi had no idea anyone was watching.
All of his focus was on the towering monster in front of him.
He'd found the rhythm.
Goliath's attacks were brutal, but its movements were relatively slow.
As long as he didn't take a direct hit from those massive palms, as long as he kept his distance and stayed alert, he could punish every opening.
One cut.
Then another.
One wound.
Then another.
None of the strikes were immediately fatal, but the accumulated damage was starting to wear Goliath down.
Its movements began to slow.
Its roars turned ragged.
Its breathing grew chaotic.
Almost there.
A cold glint flashed through Genichi's eyes.
A few dozen more cuts, and the giant would drop to its knees.
Then, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Do you need help?"
Genichi snapped his head around.
And saw three figures at the chamber entrance.
Tiona. Lefiya. And…
Ais Wallenstein.
Genichi's pupils tightened.
Loki Familia.
Why were they here?
But he crushed the ripple of emotion almost instantly.
"No."
His voice was calm, firm, leaving no room to argue.
Then he turned and surged back toward Goliath.
Ais watched his back, a strange light flickering in her golden eyes.
For some reason, she found herself looking forward to it.
Looking forward to what kind of surprise this boy might show her next.
(End of Chapter)
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