“Defeat the dungeon boss…? Hey, hey, hey—are you seriously saying that?”
After staring at me in shock for several seconds, Ark finally snapped back and confronted me with a face full of disbelief.
“Vegaltia’s Grand Dungeon has never been conquered! Not a single person has reached the end. It’s one of the highest-level, most dangerous dungeons in the entire country—no, in the entire world! And you’re telling me to clear it just like that!? Whatmore, with only those three girls!? That’s impossible no matter how you look at it!”
“It’s fine. I’ll be going with them at least. Well, I don’t plan on lifting a finger you see. And I’ll leave Lill here with you. So no matter what monsters show up, you shouldn’t have any problems.”
Even a top-tier dungeon wasn’t going to cough up something that could rival a Fenrir. And even if it did, it would only be at the very bottom—only the boss could possibly compare to a Fenrir.
“Hold on a second! I’ve gone down to around the fortieth floor before, but even that was pretty close to death, okay!? And you’re saying we’re headed even deeper than that!?”
“Anje-oneechan, that’s unusually timid of you.”
“Even I, the so-called musclehead, know the difference between bravery and being suicidal! And—wait—who are you calling a musclehead!?”
Uhm… You literally called yourself that just now…
“Don’t worry. I went down to the sixtieth floor alone easily, and honestly, with how strong you girls are now, I think you could handle that much without sweating.”
“Sixtieth floor… and easily….”
“Ahaha, for us, even with a five-person party, forty-five floors was our limit.”
“Back in my prime, I reached the fifty-fifth floor solo… but I judged going further was too dangerous and turned back.”
Gain, Emily, and Ark each revealed their personal dungeon records.
From the historical data, the farthest anyone had ever reached was apparently the sixty-third floor.
“By the way, from what I can tell, the bottom floor of this dungeon is probably around the seventy-fifth floor.”
“““Seventy-fifth floor!?”””
Their voices all overlapped in shock.
“Sixty floors might be manageable, but seventy-five? That’s impossible! Didn’t we hear that even the S-rank guildmaster could only make it to the fifty-fifth floor!?”
“…Well, even if I reached my limit, that was just the range considered safe for exploration.”
“Ahaha, Anje-oneechan, don’t worry. With how strong you are now, you could even beat the guildmaster. And of course, Fana-oneechan too, right?”
At my words, Ark’s temple twitched ever so slightly.
“That… is not something I can take lightly… though, since it’s your assessment, I suppose it must be correct.”
With his acknowledgment, the adventurers around us murmured in astonishment.
“Seriously… those girls are stronger than the guildmaster…?”
“Hey, hey, come on, that can’t be…”
“But the guildmaster himself is nodding, isn’t he?”
Karen was a little below the other two in strength, but the details didn’t matter much.
“Come on, even as we stand here, more monsters keep appearing. Let’s get moving!”
“Mm.”
“…Hah, I swear, I won’t be responsible if anything happens!”
“I’ll give it my all!”
And so, Fana, Anje, and Karen charged headlong into the dungeon.
“Alright then, Lill, you’re staying behind. Take care of things here.”
“Understood.”
With Lill handling the base, I followed after the three of them.
“We can’t afford to dawdle, so I’ll guide you along the correct route. And I’ll handle any traps too.”
I’d only ever gone down as far as the sixtieth floor, but with a little exploration magic, finding the right path was easy.
“Got it. We’ll leave it to you.”
“So all we have to do is smash every monster that appears in front of us, huh? Simple enough!”
“Very straightforward. I like it.”
On the first floor, only weak monsters like goblins and slimes normally appeared—but with the dungeon in runaway mode, even creatures normally found on the fortieth floor were lined up in formation.
“Hng!”
“Haaaah!”
“Yagyū Shinnen-ryū, Waves of the Torrent!”
Yet the three girls effortlessly cut through them, not slowing their pace in the slightest as they dashed down the corridor.
“Nice. Monsters from the fortieth floor don’t stand a chance anymore.”
Back when we were in Vegaltia, these floors had been a challenge to them.
“Still, if we fight fortieth-floor monsters from such a shallow level, we might run into trouble. Oneechan, take a left here!”
I gave directions to avoid the denser monster routes. Even if it meant a slight detour, it would ultimately be faster.
★★★
After about an hour of pushing deeper into the dungeon, their full-speed sprint brought them to the fortieth floor—the previous record for highest reach. Of course, this was just a milestone. There was still nearly half the dungeon left before the seventy-fifth floor.
“So, how’s your fatigue? Do you guys need a break?”
“Mm, I’m fine. But I am hungry.”
“I’ve got food.”
“I want some.”
“I want some too!”
“Me as well!”
I pulled rations from the pocket dimension and tossed them to the girls. Chomping on bread and meat, they didn’t slow down in the slightest, continuing their relentless run through the dungeon.
“(Munch munch) Hmm….fewer monsters here? (Munch munch munch)”
“(Chomp chomp)…Yeah, seems like it! (Chomp chomp chomp)”
“(Crunch crunch)… It’s been a while, but are we… taking a safer route, perhaps?(Crunch crunch crunch)”
“Nope, not really. I think most of the monsters from these floors probably moved up to the higher levels. (Slurp slurp).”
I took a moment to replenish my energy with some milk as well.
And so, barely encountering any monsters, we steadily pushed from the fortieth floor all the way to the forty-ninth.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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