Only then did Laurier and Aura let out belated screams, scrambling to hide behind Rose.
"Frost Armor!"
Leon casually threw up his ice armor and sidestepped to the water's edge, cold light flashing in his eyes as he swung the Twisted Staff again.
"Frost Nova!"
A bone-chilling wave of cold surged outward, freezing the entire stretch of rushing water channel solid.
"O flame, grant me your power!"
"Fireball!"
His first fight against Lower Floors monsters. Leon wasn't going all out, but he wasn't holding back either.
A short chant and a brief charge later, a blazing fireball over five meters across roared out and slammed into the frozen river!
Ice and fire collided violently, like an underwater mine detonating. A towering wall of water erupted upward, crashing against the cavern ceiling before raining back down in a torrential downpour.
Fortunately, the entire party had already changed into hooded cloaks and combat gear made from Undine Cloth before setting out. The fabric's excellent waterproofing kept them completely dry through the sudden deluge, and if anything, the moisture in the air only made them feel more agile and at ease.
Monster killed. Excelia +1.
Monster killed. Excelia +1.
Monster killed. Excelia +1.
...
Watching the full +1 Excelia notifications pop up on his panel one after another, instead of the 0.1 he'd been getting before, Leon's eyes lit up.
Finally. The grind's actually paying off now!
Thinking back to fighting in the cave labyrinth and the Great Tree Labyrinth, where each kill had only given him a tenth of what he was earning now, he winced a little.
As his level went up, the only way to keep his Excelia rate efficient was to hunt monsters at his level or higher...
Lv. 3, Lv. 4, even Lv. 5 were manageable. Worst case, the Deep Floors had plenty of Lv. 5 mobs to farm.
But once he hit Lv. 6, that's where it'd get ugly...
Then again, he was only Lv. 3 right now. Worrying about Lv. 6 problems? That was borrowing trouble. So he shoved those concerns aside.
Cross that bridge when I come to it.
Just as those thoughts were running through his head...
"Stay sharp!"
Through the curtain of rain, Jeanne's voice rang out as she swiftly shifted the party from marching formation into a defensive circle.
Everyone reacted instantly, tightening their positions.
Leon dropped low, eyes locked on the stretch of river he'd just blasted, his brow creasing.
As the steam slowly dispersed on the cavern's faint breeze, a scattering of monster remains came into view, drifting among the broken chunks of ice.
He studied the charred but not fully disintegrated corpses floating in the water, and his eyes narrowed.
"Fire magic's effectiveness is significantly reduced down here."
After three level-ups, Leon had reached Lv. 3, and with the Demon Lord's Crest doubling his Endurance and Magic, those two stats were on par with a top-tier Lv. 4 mage. Add Scholar's Heart's secondary enhancement, the Development Ability Mage H, and the multiplicative bonuses from his custom Scholar's Staff...
By all rights, anything his Fireball hit dead-on should have been vaporized on the spot, nothing left. Even a Lv. 4 with a full tier of potential over him shouldn't have been able to leave an intact corpse behind.
And yet...
Looking at the monster bodies on the water's surface, neither vaporized nor fully charred, Leon's tone darkened.
"Part of it is the water absorbing the impact, but... these monsters' resistance to fire magic is abnormally high."
Before he'd even finished, Jeanne's expression went sharp.
"Incoming!"
A dense, clattering racket surged from the maze of tunnels deep in the cavern, rolling toward them like a tide.
Sensing that all-too-familiar feeling of impending disaster settling over them again, the party exchanged glances. Helpless but knowing smiles appeared on every face.
"Here we go again."
"Yep."
"Just another day at the office."
Listening to what sounded like some kind of inside joke between Jeanne, Rose, and Leon, Persephone frowned slightly.
"An Irregular... a Monster Party? You've been through this many times before?"
Laurier, finally having caught her breath, took a deep inhale and nodded.
"Yes, Persephone. This kind of thing... it's been happening to Leon since Floor 7."
Persephone fell silent.
What the hell? If it were Loki, Freya, or Ganesha's top-tier Familias running massive Expeditions through the Lower Floors or even the Deep Floors, treating Irregulars like routine encounters would make sense. But...
Weren't you all Lv. 2 and Lv. 1 before?
How are you treating Dungeon Irregulars like daily quests?
Are you sure this is still the same Dungeon I know?
Or has the whole Adventurer scene gotten this competitive in the two years I've been away?
Persephone's mouth twitched. She looked at the group standing there like this was perfectly normal and could not wrap her head around it.
And that was when Kureha caught her eye.
"A Monster Party? Finally, a real fight!"
Kureha drew her longsword, one hand gripping the scabbard and the other extending the blade out to her side. Her legs, clad in purple high-heeled boots, split into a forward stance as she lowered her center of gravity, leaning in. The whole posture radiated predatory aggression, a beast coiled to strike.
Persephone stared.
If it wasn't Kureha who was crazy, then it was Leon's entire group.
What is wrong with these people? When you encounter an Irregular, shouldn't the first instinct be to retreat? Kureha, you're Lv. 1! Why do you look like you're about to charge head-first into this?!
She couldn't even begin to process how little sense any of them made.
But she also knew it was too late to run now.
Complaining furiously on the inside, she drew her weapon and took a combat stance.
"Here they come!"
The frenzied clatter of hardened limbs hammering against the cavern floor grew louder and louder, and then, all at once, Blue Crabs swarmed in from every direction, flooding every inch of available space.
"Aura, start chanting your first spell! Go to standby once it's ready!"
"Laurier, enchant your arrows and provide full covering fire!"
"Leon, move up! Area denial and fire support!"
"Kureha, Persephone, you've got the left and right flanks! If the pressure gets too heavy, pull in and tighten formation. Don't play hero!"
"Rose, we're taking the front!"
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