"Understood!"
---------------------------
In the dungeon, on the 58th floor, several figures were spread out fighting nonstop to protect their companions behind them.
Fron, Tione, and Tiona were giving it their all, fiercely clashing with the endless monsters being born.
It had been about eight hours from when they had set out. They had set out at 10 in the morning surface time, and now it was already 6 in the evening.
On the surface, the black curtain of night was already beginning to descend.
"They're should be here in some time!"
Fron, leaning on his staff with one hand on his waist, breathed heavily in ragged gasps.
Looking closely, his face was slightly pale, blood overflowed at the corner of his mouth, exhaustion filled his golden pupils, and his cheeks, mixed with dust and sweat, made him look utterly battered.
Even his strongest equipment, the Goliath Black Cloak, had multiple tears, and the exposed skin underneath was burned in several places.
Not only that, he no longer knew how many bones in his body were broken. His whole body was falling apart, and on top of that, his mind throbbed painfully from overexertion of his mind...
At this point, Fron felt utterly weak to the extreme, so weak that even a child could easily kill him.
Facing the monsters so battered, nearly killed several times, he hadn't experienced this kind of struggle in a long while.
The endless, unceasingly spawned Lv.5 Valgang dragons, with their overwhelming might, had taught the gradually swelling Fron a deep lesson, that no matter what, one must remain humble and low-key, always remembering that there are always stronger people beyond.
Of course, to force him to this extent, who knew how many monsters he had slain!
Dragons, new variants, it didn't matter what they were, Fron never let them go, each one killed in a single strike. The thick carpet of magic stones across the floor proved it!
At minimum, he had killed over a thousand monsters! Terrifying beyond belief!
"Tione, Tiona, how are you holding up!"
After cutting down yet another wave of monsters, Fron, in a short break, shouted to his partners fighting in the other directions.
"So tired, I'm dead tired! Valgang Dragons, Wyverns, those worms, it's so annoying!"
The fact that Tiona still had the energy to complain showed she hadn't yet reached her limit, good. But her condition wasn't much better than Fron's. If not for the fact that she was an Amazoness and had experience fighting constantly, she would have been dead.
As for Tione, she bit her lip and gasped for breath just as hard. Unlike earlier, her curved blade had been destroyed, forcing her to fight with a halberd. Her body, like Fron's and Tiona's, was battered, and even the specialized armor was at its breaking point.
The ones being protected, Alicia, Lefiya, and Raul, because of their lower levels, had long since run out of endurance. Their bodies were collapsed on the ground. Still, at least they hadn't sustained fatal injuries.
No, more accurately, they couldn't afford to be injured. If they had been hit, with Lv.4 stats, they might have been vaporized instantly.
"Raul, how many magic swords are left?"
"Counting the four you're carrying, there are seven left in total."
"Seven, huh. That should be... enough?" Even Fron wasn't confident in his own guess.
"But... but... bad news, our potions are completely gone. The only thing left is the Elixir."
"..."
"Both healing potions and mind potions are completely consumed?" Fron narrowed his eyes, noting the worried expressions of the supporters, silently calculating.
'Aside from the Familia's supplies, I still have some elixirs on me. Prioritize giving those to them. I can make do with stamina potions for myself...'
He pulled a fine pocket watch from inside his cloak, opened the cover, and, after a glance at the hands, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
--!
"You! You activated that skill again!"
Tiona seemed to notice. Sure enough... when she saw the azure rings glowing in Fron's golden eyes, she couldn't help but comment.
"Ahh, so flashy, though it is amazing!" Lefiya rolled her eyes cutely.
"So that's why you recklessly used quick-cast magic earlier?"
"The 'Reader' skill restores mind so quickly that if I don't empty it out before activating it, all that recovery would go to waste."
Maximizing his daytime mind, this was Fron's own mana-control technique, developed after their last expedition.
"...Hey, wait, what's that?"
Just as they were catching their breath, suddenly, a change!
Rumble rumble...
The ground shook violently, splitting open,
And then...
A super gigantic Valgang dragon, several times larger than the others, roared and lifted its massive head!
"Son of a-"
Fron cursed under his breath, exhaled deeply, grabbed his staff from the ground, and, wreathed in flame and lightning, charged forward!
"Fron, watch out!!!"
From the rear, Alicia and the others could see it clearly, sparks flickered in the monster's mouth.
That was,
BOOM!
A colossal super flame-blast breath, over ten meters in diameter, surged forth, smashing directly into Fron, who had just rushed under the monster, caught squarely in its blind spot.
"...?"
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
In an instant, the distorted air and blazing fireball completely engulfed Fron's figure.
"Fron!!!!!!"
Tione and Tiona hadn't even regained their senses. By the time they tried to move in support, their bodies were already limp, too exhausted to act.
"Damn it!!!!"
...
With each breath, Fron felt the air itself burning. The skin exposed outside his armor sizzled, scorched by the heat. Through the distorted flames, a massive black shadow swayed before him.
"Can't you bastards just let me catch my breath for once!!!!!"
Boom!
A raging figure burst through the beam of fire, soaring upward! Fron's face twisted with fury, his eyes cold and merciless. His staff was suddenly dyed in abyssal black and twilight crimson, wreathed in serpent-like orange flame trails...
Across his whole body, violent flame and lightning rampaged, expanding and contracting, endlessly twisting!
"[Burn (Surtr)]"
"[Wynn Fimbulvetr]"