In the middle section of the 17th Floor, many three-way intersections began to appear.
As they walked through the cavernous passage, the path suddenly merged with another, significantly increasing both its length and width.
However, the widening terrain did not reduce the difficulty of the battles; in fact, it greatly increased it.
As they approached the depths of the 17th Floor, the monsters that emerged became stronger and more numerous. The Minotaurs encountered here were considerably more powerful than those on the 15th Floor, and they often appeared in groups.
As they delved deeper, the passages gradually merged into one, and the width of the cavern increased significantly.
In the expansive cave, a chilling sense of oppression surged from the front of the path, as if something terrifying awaited at the end of the passage.
"Up ahead is the stone chamber that spawns the Floor Boss." Line's expression grew increasingly serious, clearly showing some fear of the area at the end of the passage.
"I wonder if a new Floor Boss has been born in the stone chamber. If there is, with our team's strength, it would be impossible to get through..." Ryoji took out the map from his waist pouch, and indeed, the last section of the cave on the 17th Floor was marked with a warning of extreme danger.
Floor Boss.
Officially named "Monster Rex," it is a special and powerful monster that only spawns on certain specific floors of the Dungeon, which can be simply understood as a boss-type character that appears on specific floors.
And on the 17th Floor, there just happened to be the first Floor Boss since entering the Dungeon.
The strength of a Floor Boss is generally speculated to be the level of the monsters on that floor plus two levels. For example, if the monsters on the 17th Floor are mostly level 2, then the Floor Boss on the 17th Floor would be level 4.
A level 4 Floor Boss is simply impossible for their team to defeat.
"Isn't it impossible to win even with Lefiya's magic?" Ryoji looked at the Elf girl beside him, who also wore a troubled expression.
"Um, if you let me chant quietly for five minutes, no, three minutes..."
Lefiya whimpered, looking like she had little confidence.
Five minutes.
In a battle with a Floor Boss, how could they possibly be given that much time to chant?
As the only vanguard in the team capable of engaging monsters up close, Ryoji could confidently say that if the Floor Boss was intent on killing Lefiya, he would absolutely be unable to stop it.
"However, the Floor Boss on the 17th Floor should only appear once every half month, right?"
"That's true, but we can't guarantee that there isn't a living Floor Boss inside right now."
After a Floor Boss is defeated, it spawns again after a fixed period, which means there is a refresh time for the monster.
The refresh time for the Floor Boss on the 17th Floor is half a month; after being killed, the next one will appear only after that time.
After all, there are so many Adventurers entering the Dungeon, and some might find it a nuisance and defeat it. Generally speaking, the Floor Boss's lifespan is quite short, as it spends most of its time in the spawning phase.
"Alright, then let's head back today."
Ryoji felt a bit reluctant; they had almost reached the end, but he didn't expect to have to pull back here. However, even if he was unwilling, he couldn't joke with his life.
After discussing with Line and Lefiya, the three prepared to return.
They had already been grinding on the 17th Floor for a day, and considering the time, it was almost evening, so it was time to turn back.
"Isn't there a bit of a lack of Adventurers?" On the way back, Lefiya looked around with some confusion.
Upon returning from the 17th Floor to the 16th Floor, they saw no other Adventurers besides themselves. It felt as if the entire Dungeon was left with just the few of them, creating an unsettling silence.
"After all, it's getting late, and usually, there aren't many Adventurers wandering around the 17th Floor."
Low-level Adventurers wouldn't come to the mid-levels, while high-level Adventurers would camp in the deeper floors. Only Adventurers around level 2 would wander through the upper levels, and this group was quite small.
Moreover, it would take over an hour to return to the surface from the 17th Floor, so any Adventurers heading back would have already set off.
"What happened, Ryoji?"
While Line answered Lefiya's question, he suddenly noticed that Ryoji had stopped in his tracks ahead, thinking that a monster might be approaching, which made him tense up.
"I have a bad feeling."
Ryoji rubbed his chin, focusing his gaze on the staircase leading to the 15th Floor not far away.
"A bad feeling?"
"Are you hungry?"
"I'm not joking." Ryoji casually replied to Lefiya, then after a moment of thought, turned to the two.
"Wait here for me. I'm going to check the situation ahead. I'll be back soon."
With that said, before the two could respond, he wrapped himself in his dark cloak and quickly stepped into the dark passage.
"What should we do?"
"Since he said so, let's wait a bit. With his strength, he should be fine."
...
15th Floor.
The terrain here was still cavernous, with narrow passages occasionally spawning monsters like Minotaurs and NTRs.
His strong instincts vaguely sensed the presence of malice, and Ryoji hurried toward the passage leading to the 14th Floor.
A few minutes later.
As the passage to the upper levels appeared, figures began to emerge before Ryoji.
He stopped, not immediately approaching, but instead hid around the corner of the passage. In the dimly lit Dungeon space, he appeared quite inconspicuous in his black cloak.
"…Damn fat woman, it's so late, and she still won't let us go back to rest!"
"Keep your voice down; if she hears us, we're done for."
"But how could a rookie who just became an Adventurer come to such a place? Even we, level 2 Adventurers who have been at it for years, need to team up to come down here!"
"I heard he has a Thousand Elf and Lokolite with him; they might be teaming up to grind for experience."
There were only a few level 2 Adventurers.
All of them wore hoods, obscuring their faces, and Ryoji could only judge their gender from their body outlines and voices.
With this scale, it should be manageable with a bit of effort.
Ryoji silently weighed his options.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Just as Ryoji was about to summon his unique Spiritual Item (Device), the rocky ground beneath him suddenly trembled, as if some enormous monster was gradually approaching.
"Hey, what are you all shouting about? Get serious, will you!"
A monster over two meters tall emerged from another passage, approaching the group of Amazonesses and bellowing at them in a rough voice.
"Is that a person… how can someone be so ugly?"
Ryoji was greatly surprised.
It was a massive woman with a very broad and muscular build, reminiscent of a toad. Her facial features, compared to Ryoji's, could only be described as having the bare minimum, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and so on.
"However, the sense of oppression is so strong, it's just like Tiona..."
Ryoji remained frozen in the corner, not daring to move.
But this also confirmed their purpose.
There was no doubt they were here to find him.
The reason was still unclear, but Ryoji had reason to suspect that these Amazonesses were after his beauty. After all, no one could compare to him in terms of looks, and it was not uncommon for low-quality admirers to be drawn to him.
Legal loli stepped on it.
"Crack!"
Suddenly, the crisp sound of cracking rock echoed in Ryoji's ears.
A massive crack opened up in the wall beside him, revealing the figure of a Minotaur about to awaken.
"Who!"
A pitch-black short axe flew toward him, spinning through the air with a powerful sound.
Ryoji: Bad luck, can't blame anyone else.
(End of Chapter)
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