The Dungeon, Twelfth Floor.
As the final floor of the upper levels, the Twelfth Floor represented the peak in strength, numbers, and refresh rate for monsters in this region.
Dense mist hung in the air.
Within it, surrounded by monsters, Shirou and Lefiya were locked in continuous combat.
"Ahhh!"
Lefiya swung her spear without pause.
Having thoroughly grasped the essence of the hack-and-slash-randomly style, she used the spear more like a club than a proper thrusting weapon.
Fortunately, Shirou had anticipated this. He had deliberately lengthened the spearhead, allowing it to inflict damage even when used in chopping motions.
But the real reason it worked wasn't technique.
It was Lefiya's overwhelming basic stats.
Faced with the ferocious monsters, her wildly swinging spear crushed everything around her. One blow was enough.
A textbook example of stat suppression.
"Calm down, Lefiya."
Shirou cut through the monster horde with ease, leaving neat arcs of blood in his wake. Even so, he still had the spare attention to guide her.
"Look. None of these enemies can take a single hit from you."
"Relax. Fight with awareness. Don't just rely on your body."
"Yes, Shirou-san."
Lefiya slowly steadied herself.
After fighting through these three floors, she had already formed a clear understanding of the monsters' strength. Even reckless swings had been enough to kill many of them.
That realization hardened her resolve.
"Roarwooo!"
An Orc lumbered toward her through the mist.
Lefiya tightened her grip on the spear.
She had never used this kind of weapon before. But what she had witnessed during the expedition had already taught her something important.
A spear-
Was meant for stabbing.
She raised the weapon, leveled the spearhead at the approaching Orc, and charged.
This time, she didn't shut her eyes.
She burned the image of this moment into her mind.
"Die!"
With Lefiya's shout, the spear pierced straight through the Orc's body.
The massive figure froze.
Then collapsed.
Moments later, it crumbled into dust.
"I... I did it!"
Lefiya stared at the spear in her hands.
Her eyes shone with triumph.
This was the first monster she had personally slain in close combat.
By her own will.
As a magic-specialized orthodox mage, Lefiya's accumulation during her first two levels hadn't been particularly deep. But the qualitative leap brought by leveling up was something no LV.1 could ever hope to handle.
Otherwise, defeating a LV.2 monster with LV.1 strength wouldn't be called a great feat.
The reason Shirou had been able to easily defeat LV.2 monsters at LV.1 was simple.
His weapons and martial arts far exceeded what adventurers of the same level possessed.
Without that, a LV.1 wielding ordinary equipment wouldn't even be able to pierce the hide of a LV.2 Minotaur.
Martial arts allowed one to strike while avoiding attacks.
But here-
A LV.1 Orc with no combat skill.
Against a LV.3 Lefiya, also lacking martial technique.
This wasn't a fight.
It was a stomp.
After killing the Orc, Lefiya's confidence surged.
She charged toward the next monster, spear forward, no longer waiting passively.
As long as she could solidify her fighting spirit, these monsters posed no threat to her at all.
That was exactly what was happening.
Her spear technique was still clumsy.
But with the crushing advantage of her level, Lefiya was rampaging through the monsters.
Watching this, Shirou cut down the enemy in front of him, then stopped fighting altogether.
He observed Lefiya's budding combat posture.
"As expected," he murmured, "with Lefiya's LV.3, these monsters can barely hurt her at all."
"The pressure between levels is just too overwhelming."
Lefiya charged headlong into the monster group, taking hit after hit.
And yet, she suffered almost no damage.
The difference in level was brutally clear.
Under normal circumstances, Dungeon monsters had blank-slate stats.
They possessed massive basic attributes, but little else.
With refined martial arts, rare skills, and powerful magic, strong adventurers could always overcome stronger foes.
But some monsters were different.
Elite variants.
Like the Hellhounds of the middle levels.
Without fire-resistant gear, a direct hit from a Hellhound's flames would instantly carbonize a LV.2 adventurer.
No resistance. No survival.
Those monsters were true hazards.
"Given Lefiya's basic stats," Shirou thought, "she could already function as a frontline fighter even in the middle levels."
"But her weapon needs to change."
Watching her movements, he felt that a sword might suit her better than a spear.
After all, Lefiya was still an orthodox mage.
Her future focus would always be magic.
Even for close-range defense, she shouldn't be spending excessive energy.
And learning the spear properly was difficult.
"I shouldn't have made her a spear just because she used a staff."
"A sword would work too."
"Or maybe fists and feet..."
In truth, none of that was the core issue.
What mattered was this-
When faced with sudden danger, she needed the ability to counterattack.
Only then could she chant magic with confidence.
Trusting teammates was important.
But trusting one's own strength was even more so.
In Attack on Titan, when chased by the Female Titan, Eren chose to trust his comrades.
Levi's squad was almost completely wiped out.
In the end, personal strength mattered most.
As the saying went-
Relying on parents wasn't as good as relying on yourself.
Strength gained personally would never betray you.
"No way... is that really Lefiya?"
A familiar voice reached Shirou's ears.
He turned around.
Sure enough, it was Tiona.
Beside her stood Tione and Ais.
"Why are you here?" Shirou asked. "You didn't follow us, did you?"
Hearing that, Tione rolled her eyes in irritation.
Did he really think they were that free?
"We were picking up our weapons from the Gobniu Familia," she said. "That delayed us a bit. We just happened to run into you."
So that was it.
Shirou understood immediately.
He had been there yesterday when the three of them went to have their weapons serviced.
"That's not important!" Tione snapped. "What matters is-why has Lefiya turned into a warrior?! She's a sorceress!"
Her expression clearly said what a waste.
Shirou sighed inwardly.
Just as expected.
The mages of this world were like orthodox Western fantasy mages.
Unlike later eras influenced by game balance, where mage was just another class.
Here, mages held a distinctly elevated status.
And for good reason.
Compared to Heroic Spirits, most adventurers were blank slates.
No innate skills.
No Noble Phantasms.
A handful of elites possessed abilities equivalent to those, but they were still primarily melee-oriented.
Mages were different.
They were like Heroic Spirits wielding area-destroying Noble Phantasms.
Unlike the Caster class in the Nasuverse, magic in this world was inherently equivalent to a Noble Phantasm.
A mage's magic attack was a Noble Phantasm attack.
A Heroic Spirit who only fired Noble Phantasms-
Was that frightening or not?
From that alone, one could understand the status mages held.
But Shirou hadn't acted without thought.
After he explained his purpose, Tione and the others fell silent.
"...Using close combat to strengthen her courage," Tione muttered. "That's... bold."
At first, it sounded absurd.
But thinking about it carefully-
Wasn't Lefiya standing proof of its effectiveness?
Ais watched Lefiya as she fought relentlessly among the monsters.
For once, her expression changed.
She let out a soft laugh.
"Lefiya," she said quietly, "has become stronger."
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter