We reached the fifth floor in no time with Tizmilly swinging her sword from the start without me having to help her.
The combination of her Ice Rose and sword skill was even better than I thought.
Her tactic was simple. First, she would freeze most of the wolves with her magic. While they were restricted and drained by Ice Rose, she would launch a barrage of attacks towards those who weren't affected by her magic. Only after that did she start killing the frozen wolves one by one with ease.
"So powerful, and beautiful! As expected from our Villainess!"
I couldn't help but keep praising her because of that.
And whenever I praised her, it always succeeded in flustering her.
"B-beautiful!?" She exclaimed with a red face.
And I gave her a thumbs-up for that.
"Yeah! No wonder they called you one of the most beautiful girls in the Academy. They sure have good taste, I'm gonna admit it."
But my words only make her face even redder.
"S-stop spouting nonsense already, will you!?" She yelled.
"And don't just watch, quickly help me fight those monsters so we can harvest gems faster!" She reprimanded me before she launched herself into a pack of wolves, carving through them like a blur of steel.
'Well, guess it's time to stop watching and start.'
Look ahead, I found another pack of wolves creeping toward us, their eyes fixed on Tizmilly's swift figure, which was cleaving wolves now and then. They clearly intended to ambush her.
I grabbed my spear and used Levitation on myself. The duration of the spell was: 2 seconds!
In that instant, I launched myself forward and jumped.
Without the restriction of gravity, I could float so high that I almost looked like I was flying. The spell deactivated just when I was right above those wolves.
Now here is the moment where my spear is needed.
This spear, used by me for years already, of course, was not just a simple spear bought from a cheap blacksmith. I found it after I defeated an anomaly monster on the 35th floor. I almost died at that time, but through it, I obtained a perfect Enchanted Weapon for myself.
I named the spear Boulder Thrust. It was enhanced with a spell to manifest a boulder at the tip of it. If it were a normal Lancer using this spear, most of them might call this spear a cursed weapon, but for me, who possessed Levitation, it was a huge upgrade. Like a diamond made solely for me.
I injected my mana into the spear as I began to fall. The spell in the spear activated, creating a boulder 3 meters in diameter right at the tip of the spear.
I release my grip on the spear and cast Levitation again on myself as it begins to fall.
This was one of the most destructive moves I had made.
Boulder Fall!
The air cried as the false meteor pierced through it like a flash. The wolves could only tremble in fear as it was falling toward them.
The moment of impact came in an instant. Tremor reverberated through the earth, raising dust in the air. Cries of wolves could vaguely be heard, but they faded just as instantaneously as the fall of my Boulder Fall.
Using Levitation, I safely landed beside Tizmilly. I glanced at her side profile, and she was currently gaping in shock.
"Shocking?" I asked her with a grin, "I still have way more of them. Some aren't as destructive, but they are far deadlier."
I patted her shoulder gently.
"I showed it to you so that you wouldn't think that your magic applications are already perfected. There must be more to magic. The point is to be creative. Especially while inside a Dungeon. Being creative is essential."
Leaving the stunned Tizmilly behind, I went toward the crater I just created to retrieve the spear and collect the gems left behind by those wolves.
"Oh, right, if you killed a monster with a single attack without wearing them down first, their gems would appear higher in quality. So, if possible, try as much as you can to kill them in one attack."
Before we head toward the sixth floor, I first informed her about one of the most important tips a Dungeon Diver should know.
...
We were steadily getting deeper and deeper into the Dungeon.
Since the terrain was mountainous, naturally, trees and other vegetation often found in mountains also existed here.
Some of the trees even grew edible fruits. And of course, some of them were also poisonous.
Along the way, I explained everything a Diver should know about this Dungeon, including these fruits.
For example,
"It's a pitfall trap."
I stopped Tizmilly before she stepped into a trap.
We were currently on the ninth floor of the Dungeon. Primate monsters called Yoyo Monkeys lived here. They were cunning. Not as smart as humans, but they were still able to create simple traps like this.
I taught her how to identify these traps and how to neutralize them as we trekked onward.
"They... Didn't show up?" Said Tizmilly after she realized that we were never being attacked by those Monkeys even once after we entered this floor.
I laughed before looking around the place.
"They would only show up when their targets fell into their traps. They were timid in nature, you know. They knew they were not as strong as the monsters they had met before entering this floor, so they wouldn't dare face the Divers who came to their floor up front. And in a way, this instead made them even more dangerous than the boss floor we would face on the tenth floor later. After all, not everyone could spare their attention to the ground when monsters might show up from the rear or from the trees at any time. Many newbies fell prey to their traps, actually."
Tizmilly nodded solemnly at my words.
"What a troublesome monster," she commented.
I shrugged, "That's Dungeon for you. The deeper we go, the stranger it becomes."
Shortly after, we reached the peak point of this floor.
Two options appeared before us: to descend or to exit.
I glanced at Tizmilly. Since I was supposed to only do a short dive from the beginning and never intended to go too deep, I never planned to face any boss. But for Tizmilly...
"Mister Roost, let me fight it alone," said Tizmilly, her fingers already reaching toward the option to descend.
I thought about it first, and after considering her sword skill and her magic, I realized that her winning chance was quite high against the Boss of the 10th floor.
I smiled and gestured for her to do what she wanted.
Determination flared inside her eyes as she tapped the option to descend.
"I wouldn't let you down, Mister Roost!"
Our surroundings began to twist and turn. Like an oil painting, everything seemed to liquify and fade for a moment, before it became normal again. However, we were already inside a rainforest with towering trees at the moment.
"Here we are, on the tenth floor. The Rain Serpent is agile, so be careful," I warned her before floating myself with Levitation.
"No problem, I'll handle it!" Tizmilly stated with a confident smile.
She looked determined to win this battle.
Hm, maybe she was trying to show her capabilities to me? That she was not a burden, or a weak girl who couldn't do anything?
I never thought she was weak, though. She was, after all, that Villainess who would even dare to make a contract with the most Dangerous Dungeon to obtain a power powerful enough to kill Ahlia in the later part of the game.
At that time, her magic would have already grown so powerful that even Ahlia was having a hard time dealing with it...
The sudden downpour drowned out my thoughts. Thick, grey clouds swirled above the peak, plunging the rainforest into a premature twilight.
"It's coming, Tizmilly!" I shouted over the roar of the wind.
She didn't waste breath replying. Her eyes scanned the shadows, but she was looking at the ground—a fatal mistake against a Rain Serpent.
Above her, a massive, obsidian-scaled shape uncoiled from a branch. It didn't make a sound; the rain masked its approach perfectly. It lunged, a streak of black lightning aimed at her throat.
Tizmilly caught the strike on her blade at the last millisecond, but the sheer momentum sent her skidding back four meters across the muddy floor. Before she could counter, the serpent vanished into the gloom, leaving only the sound of rain hitting the broad leaves.
She spat out a mouthful of rainwater, her teeth gritted in frustration.
Come on, Miss Villainess, I thought, clutching my cloak against the wind. The snake isn't your only enemy here. The rain is its weapon—learn to listen to it too.