The Dungeon, the 17th floor.
Uneven rock walls dominated the field of vision in all directions. Huge boulders exposed from the walls radiated a heavy sense of oppression from every side, weighing heavily on one's mood.
The ceiling here was remarkably high, and the stone pathways on the ground were so jagged and uneven that walking was difficult. Even the paths themselves intersected irregularly. Combined with the dim lighting, the terrain could only be described as abysmal. It was hard to believe anyone could actually fight monsters in such a place.
Yet no matter how unbelievable it seemed, the spectacle unfolding right before their eyes asserted a concrete fact.
Namely, someone truly was fighting monsters here.
"Bubu-ooooohhhhhhh!!!"
One after another, copper-colored Minotaurs rushed from the front of the cavernous path. Each one possessed a robust physique reminiscent of solid rock, and their eyes were so blood-red they seemed to burn with fire, causing a vicious, savage aura to permeate the air.
The Minotaur, the most representative monster of the middle floors, was classified as Level 2. If any single one of them managed to break into the upper floors, it would be an entity comparable to, or even surpassing, an Infant Dragon. Yet here, they launched charges in packs, and their target was merely a "frail" human.
They roared and bellowed, their powerful hooves trampling the already uneven ground. Carrying splattering debris and dust, they charged toward him with a momentum that seemed intent on trampling that tiny human into mush.
Faced with such a large number of Minotaurs, even a veteran five-person team of Level 2 adventurers would most likely choose to flee for their lives. Even the previous Leon would have had to unleash magic first to thin the enemy numbers before dealing with such a herd of fierce bull monsters.
But this time, Leon was unwilling to waste even that much mental energy and actually charged straight ahead.
Compared to the Minotaurs' stampede, his advance carried no grand momentum, let alone the earth-shaking rumble of trampling everything in its path.
However, the moment he dashed forward, his silhouette seemed to blend into the darkness, transforming directly into an imperceptible breeze. In the blink of an eye, it swept into the monster horde, slipping straight into the encirclement of those large monsters.
The next instant, sword light suddenly flashed.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish—!"
In a mere fraction of a second, streaks of sword light sliced through the air, slashing toward the creatures with bull heads and human bodies.
"Splat!" "Splat!" "Splat!" "Splat!" "Splat!"
A large group of Minotaurs had no time to react. It was as if they did not even know the enemy had already charged over, receiving the slashes mid-charge.
The charging postures of several Minotaurs collapsed instantly. Some had their arms severed, some had their thighs hacked off, some had their abdomens sliced open, and some had their throats slit, causing an immense amount of blood to gush out.
By the time these Minotaurs crashed to the ground and let out agonized wails, Leon's slaughter show was already fully underway.
"Splat!"
As the sword light swept past, a spray of blood burst forth. Another Minotaur was struck, sliced clean in two right from the waist. As its upper torso slid down, a massive torrent of blood immediately erupted like a fountain, bloody and brutal.
Leon went into a frenzy of slaughter right in the midst of that large group of Minotaurs. Moving like a gale, not a single Minotaur could keep up with his pace. Wherever he passed, the sword light formed cold, sharp arcs. Every time it appeared, a Minotaur was hacked to the ground, gushing blood continuously, gradually dyeing the floor crimson.
That unwavering posture, showing absolutely no hesitation even when facing dozens of Minotaurs, charging forward into a feast of slaughter like slicing through melons and vegetables—essentially entering an invincible state—completely dazed the girls who had been closely following behind Leon.
"So... so strong—"
Seeing Leon's combat posture against monsters for the first time, Lefiya gripped her staff tightly. She stared blankly at that invincible display, murmuring those words under her breath.
"He really is strong."
"—Is this the level of strength a Level 2 should possess?"
Tiona and Tione offered their commentary in succession, one filled with awe, the other with doubt.
It wasn't that they didn't know Leon possessed impressive strength. After all, Leon sparred with Ais in the central courtyard of the headquarters almost every single day. Even if these Familia members weren't present, they could glimpse Leon's fighting style through the open-air corridors. However, sparring was just sparring; there was still a difference between that and a real, no-holds-barred battle.
During sparring, although Leon similarly gave his all and exerted every effort to attack Ais, the gap in strength between him and Ais was ultimately too vast. Even though Ais constantly held back massively, he was still the party being thoroughly suppressed. This prevented onlookers from grasping his full capabilities, only catching a glimpse of the whole through a narrow lens.
But when the opponent was swapped for monsters against whom he could strike to kill without any reservations, Leon's strength as he single-handedly massacred them was fully revealed.
That posture, which remained largely unaffected even when restricted by the terrain and environment, allowing him to exert his strength to one hundred percent, fully demonstrated exactly what tier Leon's current power had reached.
Those Minotaurs, classified as Level 2 and considered difficult for even high-ranking adventurers to handle, were like mere chicks before him. They could not put up even the slightest shred of resistance before being slaughtered.
Just as Tione said, this was absolutely not the strength a mere Level 2 should have.
To be able to disregard such a numerical disadvantage and single-handedly massacre a herd of Minotaurs would be entirely impossible without overwhelming strength sufficient to create a level gap.
"Mr. Leon has become so much stronger again—"
On the other hand, Line's reaction was quite ordinary.
She had been partying with Leon for nearly a month, and the two had even adventured together yesterday right here on this 17th floor, so she no longer felt overly astonished by Leon's performance.
Although yesterday's Leon was certainly not as strong as today's, Line had already grown accustomed to the unusual.
Every time her teammate updated his status, his strength seemed to advance by leaps and bounds. At the beginning, Line would feel shocked by this, but now she didn't.
Thus, Line merely followed the group in silence, watching Leon kill ruthlessly inside the Dungeon.
Along the way, Leon continued his slaughter like this. Whenever a monster appeared, he would charge up, draw his sword, and slash, as if doing his final warm-up to keep his body in peak condition.
Looking at Leon like this, Tiona suddenly spoke up.
"Don't you guys think Leon looks a lot like a certain someone right now?"
The moment these words were spoken, the girls present all turned their gaze toward that person.
"?"
Ais, who had been staring at Leon's retreating figure all along, felt everyone's gaze. She froze for a moment, a look of complete bewilderment appearing on her face.
"That's right, we're talking about you." Tiona pulled Ais into a hug and said with a giggle, "Aren't you just like Leon? Every time you see a monster, you immediately charge up, draw your sword, and slash, slicing monsters up like vegetables, making it look as effortless as anything."
Having it pointed out by Tiona, Ais also realized with hindsight that Leon's manner of slaughtering his way through the monster horde was practically a mirror image of her own.
"Well, after all, Leon has been learning swordsmanship from Ais all this time." Tione, however, thought nothing of it and said, "His combat style was learned entirely from Ais, so of course it would resemble hers a lot."
Beside her, Line nodded repeatedly, as if in agreement.
In fact, she had felt this way long ago. She always felt that Leon's posture during combat and Ais's posture during combat were almost identical, as if cast from the exact same mold.
It was fine when he fought using magic, but once he entered close combat, Leon's fighting form could almost overlap with Ais's.
That wasn't a clumsy imitation, but a combat style that clearly allowed people to feel a direct lineage.
The similarity between the two did not simply refer to identical moves, but rather to that unhesitating, decisive, cold, and razor-sharp style of a one-hit kill.
Because of this combat style, Ais was called the "Sword Princess."
Now, Leon had also inherited this fighting style, acting like a natural-born monster hunter, colder and—crueler than any other adventurer.
"—Did I teach him badly?"
Ais suddenly felt a bit uneasy.
Watching Leon's battle, Ais finally understood a little of what others usually felt when watching her back during combat.
That merciless method of fighting didn't seem problematic when she did it herself, but watching someone else do it gave her a sense of whether it was perhaps too ruthless, too detached, and too terrifying.
This caused Ais to reflect for the first time, harboring the thought of whether this was perhaps not very good.
It couldn't be helped. Even if the opponents were monsters, that kind of scene where flesh and blood flew, severed limbs and debris littered the floor, as if creating a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, ultimately carried a bit too much visual impact.
This caused Ais to start feeling worried with hindsight, wondering if she had unconsciously taught Leon badly.
If he became just like her, feared and avoided by everyone, what should she do?
Wouldn't her sin be immense?
The young girl, completely unaware that she was feared and avoided because she was respected and loved by those around her, and because she was simply too beautiful that it made people timid and hesitant to approach her casually, thus developed this bizarre worry.
"Not at all!" Lefiya hastily spoke up, refuting, "To be able to learn the techniques to deal with monsters from Miss Ais is a blessing that so many people could never even beg for. How could it be considered learning badly?"
For Lefiya, who had always admired and yearned to be like the young girl, this point was beyond any doubt.
After all, it was precisely because she watched Ais's dignified combat posture that she had developed feelings of admiration for her.
That posture of always being able to charge at the absolute forefront of danger regardless of the time or place, completely fearless and showing no timidity even when facing hundreds or thousands of monsters, daring to squarely face hideous and terrifying existences, had brought salvation an unknown number of times to Lefiya, who didn't dare to fight monsters directly and had felt tense and afraid amidst their roars countless times.
It could be said that Lefiya had gained a sense of security and encouragement from Ais's back, which was why she wanted to keep moving forward.
Therefore, she was qualified to say such words.
"Yeah, Ais, you're overthinking it. We've been fighting side by side with you all this time, you know. No one understands better than us just how much of a sense of security your figure brings to everyone when you charge into the fray." Tiona also voiced her agreement, laughing, "Compared to you, Tione when she loses her mind is the one who's truly terrifying."
"Hey, who's terrifying? I'm not terrifying at all, okay?" Tione became displeased, saying, "Usually, aren't you and Bete the ones ignoring orders and running around wildly? The Captain has lectured you guys about this unknown how many times!"
"But at least we don't lose control. Unlike you, who usually looks like a well-behaved girl but immediately goes wild once you get angry." Tiona also became displeased, clamoring, "I still remember to this day how terrified everyone looked the first time they saw you go so wild that you threw down your weapons and just used your bare fists to thrash monsters."
"What did you say?!"
Tione's face contorted with anger, and the two Amazon sisters instantly began bickering, completely ignoring the fact that this was the middle floors of the Dungeon where monsters could appear at any moment around them.
Of course, these two were also qualified to do so. After all, for them who were already Level 5, the middle floors were like a backyard. Even with empty hands, they could still stroll around however they pleased without needing to worry about encountering danger.
Lefiya and Line both began to tremble as they watched the bickering Amazon twins.
In their view, both Tiona and Tione were actually equally terrifying.
One always swung a giant blade heavier than her own body with an innocent smile, casually slicing monsters into two asymmetrical halves; the other would get angry whenever she felt annoyed, and would lose control once angry. Even if the opponent was a monster dripping with lava and coated in severe poison, she would dare to hurl herself forward with bare fists to beat it up, acting so fierce that it wasn't just unlike a girl, it could practically be described as unlike a human.
Compared to them, Ais, who always calmly rushed at the very front to block the monster hordes, truly appeared incomparably beautiful and moving.
Unfortunately, the person herself lacked even a shred of self-awareness. Even now, she seemed somewhat puzzled as to why the sisters had suddenly started bickering, a look of complete bewilderment on her face.
Leon, however, knew nothing of the farce occurring behind him.
He had already thrown himself whole-heartedly into the battle before his eyes and the upcoming challenge, entirely forgetting the existence of Ais and the others.
He merely slaughtered blindly, advancing forward after vanquishing the monsters. His pace was neither rushed nor slow, yet his purpose was highly clear, continuing to walk along a single direction.
As he advanced, the scale of the cavernous paths began to gradually expand, slowly forming a spacious area capable of allowing dozens of people to pass. The pathways also turned into single tracks with fewer deviations, like walking into the open maw of a giant beast. Even the ceiling grew higher and higher, as if the Dungeon itself was consciously providing a battlefield spacious enough for a certain massive entity to exert its power, causing the surroundings to grow increasingly quiet.
By this point, the monsters also began to decrease, as if fearing a certain existence and not daring to approach this area.
Leon stepped forward with strides that could already form echoes, advancing all the way.
Finally, he successfully arrived.
Arrived at the absolute end of this floor.
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