So fast!
The dog-headed creature under the goblin knight—running on just two legs—reached them in the blink of an eye!!
"Watch out, meow!"
Evan barely avoided that lance, packed with terrifying momentum. Even though it only grazed past, the gust it dragged along still scraped his cheek painfully.
Evan knew their first aggro target would definitely be him.
So he was already ready.
He drew the greatsword strapped to his back—"Great Fortune"—and swung it in a wide horizontal slash, aiming not at the knight, but at the dog-headed mount beneath it.
Everyone knew the rule: when you fight a rider, kill the mount first if you can.
But something shocking happened.
The goblin knight and its mount worked together with flawless coordination. The knight raised its massive shield and blocked the blow for its mount.
And then—
From behind the shield, a pair of filthy claws shot out!
Just as he thought—this thing attacked from both top and bottom!!
Evan dodged sideways like he'd expected it, and saw the dog-headed creature clearly: its whole body wrapped in grimy fur, only wearing ragged chainmail, its muddy eyes full of madness.
And from behind it extended a pitch-black tail—
With a dagger tied to the tip, stabbing straight for Evan's chest!
Sneaky bastard!!
Evan always assumed the worst of the Dungeon, so even at this critical moment, he used the dagger hidden at his left wrist to barely block the strike.
Clang!
Dagger met dagger in midair, sparks flashing coldly.
At the same time, Evan let go of the greatsword. With his freed right hand, he drew the katana at his waist—"Flashlight."
Combat Art: Full Moon Slash!
Combined with the weapon's built-in [Draw Attack] trait, the strike released at the moment the blade left its sheath gained extra power and speed.
A cold moonlight arc flickered—
And the dog-headed creature beneath the goblin knight was cut down in a single slash.
But when Evan's katana continued its path and struck the knight—who was falling midair after losing its mount—
The sharp blade only left a shallow cut along the armor's gaps.
It didn't even bleed!
This thing really was an iron can!!
Evan quickly adjusted his approach. He targeted the joints in its arm. Before the monster could get back up, he seized the opening and severed the knight's shield arm clean off.
All of it happened in a flash.
Even so, at the ends of the tunnels on both sides, several more goblin knights were already charging in with their lances.
But the wounded one in front of Evan had already dropped its lance and drawn a longsword, clearly trying to drag him into close combat.
If it stalled even a few seconds, reinforcements would arrive.
It didn't get the chance.
Because Lefiya had finished chanting.
The elf girl—after preparing herself mentally all day—snapped into combat mode instantly despite the sudden ambush!
"Arrow of liberated light, bowstave of holy wood—
I am the famed archer.
Intercept! Fairy Archer.
Pierce through! The Unerring Arrow!"
The chant wasn't long. She completed it in under ten seconds—exactly the length of time Evan had been engaged with that goblin knight since the fight began.
Then—
A pure-white arrow of light shot from her staff. In an instant it struck the monster that had just climbed to its feet. After a burst of dazzling white light, half of its body—armor and flesh alike—vanished as if erased.
Holy crap. Mage.
But it made sense: something with high physical defense usually had low magic defense.
Evan had heard it before—if a normal party wanted to push deeper, a mage was basically mandatory.
Most mages had long chants, and needed teammates to hold monsters back and create space.
But once the mage's spell went off…
Everything got better.
And Lefiya was already a Level 2 mage, with mana attributes that outclassed the entire School District. Calling her the strongest mage of her year wasn't exaggeration at all.
"Proud warriors, archers of the forest…"
The battle wasn't over.
Goblin knights were charging from both front and rear, and Lefiya had begun chanting a wide-area spell.
Even as terrifying monsters closed in, the elf girl stayed rooted in place, raising her staff high and chanting loudly, focusing entirely on gathering mana.
That was a mage's weakness.
They had to be protected—
And they trusted their teammates absolutely to protect them.
At the same time, Anya moved.
"That side's Evan's job, meow!"
"OK."
One side each.
Evan repeated his routine. He picked up his greatsword and charged the two goblin knights running at him.
He swung in a horizontal slash again, forcibly "braking" them!
Then he stepped back to create distance, dropped the greatsword again, switched to the brass greatshield on his back, and slammed forward—shield-bashing the left goblin knight off its dog-headed mount.
Then, while using the shield to block the fallen "mount's" attacks, he pulled out his spear.
And began hopping backward in small steps while stabbing—shield thrust, shield thrust, shield thrust!
The dog-headed creature's claws, and the goblin knight's longsword after it closed in, couldn't break through Evan's shield.
At this point, Evan could slowly grind them down—
And he even had a mage teammate now.
Time's about right~
"By my command—loose your arrows, elven firebolts!"
"Fall like rain—burn the savages!!"
As Lefiya's voice dropped—
Several crimson streaks shot out like meteors trailing tails, even curving midair, and landed precisely on the monsters' heads. In a single volley, they burned them into charcoal.
After casting, Lefiya immediately collapsed onto the ground, panting hard. She hurriedly pulled out a stamina-recovery potion from her belt and drank it.
Your endurance is bad, kid.
Evan's side of the fight was done—and Anya's side was even faster.
Long before this—
The cat-girl, spear in hand, had charged straight into the goblin knights charging at her.
And then—
In the blink of an eye, two monsters rushing from the other side were smashed into pieces by the sheer impact. Even their magic stones shattered instantly, and their bodies turned straight into drifting ash.
A Level 4 adventurer was obviously way too overpowered down here.
But…
"Evan! Lefiya! Run, meow!!"
Anya got a little too smug and had charged too far. Not only did she fail to "brake," she also triggered another rolling-boulder trap from ahead!
With practiced ease, she hoisted Lefiya—who was still sitting on the ground resting—back onto her shoulder.
Anya dashed past Evan without even looking back, pumping her short legs and sprinting onward!
"Sprint, meow sprint, meow! Hurry, sprint sprint, meow!!"
Evan could only grab his weapons and chase after her.
And then came another long run…
…
"Ah… I'm exhausted, meow…"
It'd been a long time since she'd moved her body this much, meow~
Anya, who usually slacked off every day as a tavern waitress, plopped down on the ground to rest.
Evan was fine.
But Lefiya was even dizzier now. Leaning against the cave wall, she looked like she'd gotten carsick, swaying unsteadily.
"So… where did we run to?" Evan asked.
"No idea, meow…"
"Did we just pass a downward corridor?" Evan asked.
He remembered that during the mad dash—facing boulders coming from multiple directions—they'd chosen the only tunnel without a trap, slid through it, and came down a sloped passage to this place.
"Yeah, we did," Lefiya said.
Even though she was dizzy, she remembered clearly.
As a top student, she always remembered what the teachers taught: the most important thing in the Dungeon was remembering the path you came from. Because once you lost your direction and got lost—
That was when things became truly terrifying.
"Then this is Floor 3," Evan murmured.
There wasn't a powerful guard monster stationed at the passage between floors like before?
Or was it…
As if sensing something, Evan lifted his head—then noticed, scattered around the distant tunnels, were countless shattered monster corpses.
When they got closer, he saw goblins, dog-heads, and also the Dungeon Lizard that started appearing from Floor 2—a monster about two meters long, earth-yellow, capable of crawling along walls and ceilings.
Their remains were strewn messily along both sides of the cavern.
And among the gore and grime, beautiful sky-blue flowers were blooming—an eerie contrast against the filthy blood and torn flesh.
Seeing this scene—so clearly different from everything around it—Evan instantly understood.
He looked deeper ahead, and sure enough—
At the end of his sightline stood a gray, hazy fog gate…
-------
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