At the same time, within the labyrinth passages of the 9th Floor, two figures were also sprinting through the twisting passages, charging forward at extreme speed.
"Ais!"
Bete kept twitching his nose, sniffing the scents lingering in the air, and called out to Ais, running beside him.
"I can smell it. Monsters that don’t belong to the Upper Floors—and that damn brat, too. He’s right up ahead!"
Bete lifted his chin and pointed toward one of the branching paths, then immediately accelerated.
It had to be said that the title of the fastest member in the Loki Familia was no exaggeration.
Even though Bete was still only Level 5, his speed was hardly inferior to Ais, who had already advanced to Level 6. In fact, he was faintly faster, forcing Ais to trail him by half a body length.
"Up ahead?"
Ais closed her eyes and relied on her perception of ’Wind’ to read the flow of air, judging the direction and position of the target.
"Huuu... Haaa..."
Ais quickened her breathing, sharpening its rhythm and precision, and unexpectedly accelerated as well, just like Bete did.
"...Tch."
Seeing this, Bete clicked his tongue.
’At this rate, I won’t even have a place left in the familia.’
His speed had always been his pride, yet now Ais was keeping up with him effortlessly, and Riezel had already long since vanished far ahead.
Such a fact left Bete feeling thoroughly disgraced.
’No matter what, I gotta go further in this expedition.’
Bete steeled his resolve, just like Tiona had.
He refused to admit that he was inferior.
He refused to admit that he had been easily surpassed by a mere rookie and the woman he had admired for so long.
With that thought, a fierce glint flashed in Bete’s eyes.
He focused only on resolving this anomaly as quickly as possible, clearing out these small fry, and then heading to the Deep Floors at top speed.
That was where his battlefield lay.
That was where his adventure truly belonged.
Whether he could preserve this negligible pride and protect this trivial shred of self-respect would be decided here and now.
Driven by that resolve, Bete accelerated for the second time.
Ais followed suit, and the two of them stirred up violent gusts and clouds of dust as they tore through the passage.
Along the way, they encountered a pallum girl who had already been treated and lay unconscious against a wall.
They slowed to check on her, and after confirming that she was not in danger, they reached the same conclusion as Riezel: this floor was no longer dangerous.
Leaving the Pallum girl where she was for their companions to handle, they set off once more and resumed their sprint forward.
"!!!"
Suddenly, both Ais and Bete slammed on the brakes, skidding to an abrupt halt.
"This smell is—?!"
Bete seemed to catch something—his eyes widened, and then he bared his fangs in a feral snarl.
"Could it be...?"
Ais sensed it as well.
She sensed the unmistakable presence.
She sensed the aura of a rival, an enemy she had faced more than once, the strongest existence—one that no one could ignore, nor dare to take their eyes off.
"KING!"
Every hair on Bete’s body stood on end as he let out a furious roar, and in that very instant, something extraordinary happened.
*BOOM!*
With a thunderous explosion, the passage ahead of Ais and Bete shattered.
Two figures burst out through a storm of flying rubble, smashing through the passage and the Dungeon’s wall alike as they surged forth from the dust.
Instinctively, both Ais and Bete raised their arms to shield themselves from the oncoming shockwave while leaping backward, as if jolted by electricity, forcing distance between themselves and the sudden epicenter of destruction.
Soon, before their eyes, the two figures that had smashed through the wall from another passage clashed in a heart-stopping battle.
"HUUURRRAAAH—!!!"
It was the roar of a boaz.
"HAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
It was the battle cry of a human.
The human, wielding a thin crystal sword, and the boaz, gripping a massive greatsword, collided amid the flying debris.
At point-blank range, blades intertwined into a blinding storm of steel, each striking at the opponent before them with slashes capable of tearing a body to shreds.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
In an instant, metallic impacts rang out like a great bell being struck countless times, sparks exploding wildly as the deafening noise echoed throughout the passage.
The two, whose bodies were completely mismatched, fought as if they meant to overturn the entire 9th Floor of the Dungeon.
With overwhelming ferocity and momentum, they slashed and clashed without restraint.
The thin crystal sword carried howling winds, releasing endless arcs of sword light like a passing typhoon. Dust and stone fragments were ripped from the ground, walls, and ceiling alike as the storm swept toward the bulky boaz. Every strike aimed for a vital point, each one lethal, without the slightest mercy.
Yet in the hands of the boaz, the heavy greatsword was wielded as if it were weightless. With effortless control, he knocked aside each incoming sword light, neutralizing every slash without exception.
This was the collision of ultimate offense and ultimate defense.
This was a fierce assault pitted against flawless guarding.
In the midst of the battle, one combatant completely abandoned defense to unleash relentless attacks, while the other stood like a solid rock, repelling every strike and allowing not a single step of the sword storm to draw near him.
What was unexpected, however, was that the attacker was Riezel, while the one devoted entirely to defense was Ottar.
A storm of slashes on one side.
Absolute defense on the other.
Orario’s strongest adventurers clashed in this manner, charging through corridors, smashing countless rocks and stone pillars, even pulverizing the Dungeon’s walls as they burst from one passage into another.
Using the entire 9th Floor as their battlefield, they fought with explosive intensity.
"Riezel!"
Buffeted by shockwaves mixed with clouds of dust, Ais could only raise her arms to shield herself as she watched the awe-inspiring duel before calling out.
"Dammit!"
Bete’s eyes were stretched wide open.
He tried again and again to rush forward, only to be driven back by repeated shockwaves, so all he could do was growl in frustration.
Yet all of this had already been cast aside by the two fighters locked in combat.
At this moment, there was only each other in their eyes—only the powerful enemy before them.
Ottar was no exception.
"Impressive."
Maintaining an absolute defensive stance that rejected all harm, Ottar spoke with genuine admiration, stirred by a surging battle spirit.
"You’re only Level 5, yet you can display such power. Riezel Brynhart, you truly are a human with the makings of a hero."
As he spoke, Ottar let out a low roaring sound, tightened his grip on the greatsword, and brought it crashing down toward Riezel, who was once again unleashing a storm of slashes.
*BOOM!*
Missing Riezel, who twisted his body at the last possible instant to evade it, the ferocious strike instead hit the ground dead center, detonating it as if a meteor had fallen and unleashing a massive explosive shockwave.
Wrapped in wind, Riezel tried to counterattack while evading, but the blast reached him first, hurling him upward toward the high ceiling.
"You’re not bad yourself, boaz."
Riezel adjusted his angle and planted his feet against the ceiling, clinging upside down like a gecko as he raised Fool.
"With that look, you really wouldn’t think you’d be this good at defense."
He shattered the ceiling under his feet and descended from above, shooting toward Ottar like an arrow while spinning his sword, as a massive rotating wind blade formed around him like a wide-ranging tornado, crashing down upon Ottar from above.
This was the Fifth Form of Wind Breathing, a wide-area sword technique—Cold Mountain Wind.
The attack was like a true tornado bearing down on the passage, carrying enough force to shred everything in its path as it targeted Ottar alone.
Even to Ais, who had already reached Level 6, Riezel’s strike was overwhelmingly threatening. Her expression shifted repeatedly, while Bete’s face twisted so badly that the lightning tattoo on his cheek contorted into a strangely comical shape, perfectly reflecting his shock.
Yet, faced with an attack capable of instantly killing a Level 6, Orario’s sole Level 7 remained utterly calm.
Ottar raised his greatsword, lifted it higher, and brought it down—movements so simple they bordered on unbelievable.
*BOOM!*
What was even more unbelievable was that this simple lift and strike crushed the incoming storm as if a mountain were collapsing, shattering the vast wind assault that braced against the thin crystal sword, and even knocking it away.
Seeing this, Riezel immediately shifted his sword stance and, before even landing, he twisted his body and unleashed a succession of tornado-shaped spiral wind blades, cleaving toward Ottar.
This was the Seventh Form of Wind Breathing, a technique that assaulted the enemy from multiple angles with converging wind slashes, leaving no room to escape—Gale, Sudden Gusts.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Against the countless converging wind slashes, Ottar still responded with a single sword.
Despite wielding a massive, heavy greatsword, he handled it with the delicacy and precision of threading a needle—his arm muscles bulged, veins standing out as he knocked away every incoming wind slash without fail.
Under Riezel’s relentless high-speed assault, Ottar neutralized every attack with a composure that defied imagination, never once falling at a disadvantage.
Needless to say, this was precisely why Riezel had said that such a fighting style was impossible to discern from Ottar’s appearance.
At a glance, a boaz with such an enormous frame, such well-developed muscles, and such overwhelming strength should have been the type to excel at charging headlong—either as a meat shield or a breakthrough attacker.
Yet the truth was the exact opposite.
Even though Ottar’s attacks, driven by his abnormal arm strength, were terrifying enough, his true specialty lay in defense.
This was a technique honed through decades of relentless training.
This was endurance forged by extraordinary physical toughness.
Unshakable footing, reflexes capable of responding to any attack in less than an instant, eyes that could read all techniques, and exceptional END—Ottar unified all of these abilities into a defense as solid as a fortress.
’Absolute Defense’—this was the term used by those who had witnessed Ottar’s battles and understood his abilities to describe his combat style.
With this Absolute Defense deployed, Ottar stood firm within storms powerful enough to blow everything away. No matter how fierce or spectacular Riezel’s attacks became, not a single strike managed to break through and land on him.
Otherwise, when facing Riezel as he was now—having already adjusted his strength to the absolute limit of Level 5, no longer holding back as he had before, when he had only just suppressed his level to Level 5—Ottar could never have remained completely unscathed.
It should be noted that even when newly advanced to Level 5, Riezel had been able to match Level 6 opponents in normal combat, crossing levels to challenge them.
Now, having unlocked part of his power and reached the limit of Level 5, he could fight top-tier Level 6 adventurers like Finn or Gareth to a standstill under normal conditions.
On top of that, Riezel was using Wind Breathing and had even activated Ariel, so his current combat power had undoubtedly reached Level 7.
Yet even against such a Riezel, Ottar’s defense remained unbreakable, leaving him without a single scratch, which demonstrated how formidable his Absolute Defense truly was.
It could be said that if Riezel had not activated the Transparent World, repeatedly seeing through Ottar’s techniques and sword strikes during this ferocious battle, then, in his current limited state, he would have had no chance of threatening Ottar at all.
And if Ottar were not threatened, he would not have needed to move a single step, let alone battle Riezel with such earth-shaking intensity, turning the entire 9th Floor of the Dungeon into a battlefield.
This was precisely why Ottar could not help but praise Riezel.
A mere Level 5, yet able to threaten him across two levels, forcing him to move and roar in battle—if such an opponent did not deserve praise, then who did?
"It’s not just your raw power. Your skill in battle against other people is extremely high as well, far beyond my expectations. No wonder Allen suffered at your hands."
After bringing down his greatsword and knocking away Riezel’s attack, Ottar continued his praise, with the fighting spirit in his eyes growing ever more intense.
"Surprised already?"
Riezel slid backward, his feet scraping across the ground and carving out a long trail, before speaking calmly to Ottar.
"No worries, this is just a warm-up—the real fight starts now."
As he made this declaration, Riezel charged forward, a raging cyclone wrapped around his body, and extended his hand.
"Unleashed streak of light, bow limbs of the holy tree. You are an expert of the bow."
A deep golden magic circle spread beneath Riezel’s feet, and the magical energy surged upward.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]