Chapter 21

When we arrived at the square, which was the designated meeting place, all the members of the Ninth and Tenth squads were already there.

Logan, as usual, was giving me a hostile look.

I decided to let Logan do as he pleased, so I called out to Caroline.

"Caroline, try to be aware of the Defender's movements today."

"Eh, why? Besides, is coordination even necessary in the first place?"

Caroline raised her voice in dissatisfaction and asked about the necessity of coordination.

Do I have to explain this...? She should have been taught this in the clan.

"I'm strong, right?"

Caroline continued talking.

Indeed, compared to the other new members, she is overwhelmingly strong.

If she continues to grow steadily, she could become a famous explorer.

"I think it won't be long before I become the ace of this clan! So I'll kill the monsters. I think everyone else should just support me."

How selfish...

"That's not going to work. I've heard that Albert, the ace of the *Silver Hare of the Night Sky*, also emphasized coordination. There are limits to what one person can do. That's why everyone forms parties and explores the dungeon, right?"

Albert Sensible.

He was an explorer who was called the absolute ace of the *Silver Hare of the Night Sky* until last year.

Last year, he lost his life in the battle against the black dragon, the floor boss of the 92nd level of the Great Labyrinth.

His death caused various troubles within the clan, but I'll skip the details as it's a long story.

"Wasn't he the one who died protecting his comrades? Even the Defender. He was stupid. He should have known that everyone would lose their smiles if he died."

I felt an unusual pressure from Caroline as she spoke in a muttering tone.

She seems to be carrying some kind of darkness. This is a territory I, as an outsider, shouldn't intrude upon.

In the end, not only Logan but also Caroline decided to act as they pleased.

...I wonder if they'll be okay with their skills?

At least, I'll be prepared to step in if things get dangerous.

Now, the characteristics of the 36th to 50th floors are—

"Ah, um, Orun-san...!"

"―Hm? What's wrong, Sophia?"

While recalling the structure and characteristics of the floors we would explore today, Sophia spoke to me.

"Um, I'm sorry for the rude attitude of my party members! Um, I want to continue receiving guidance from you, Orun-san. Could you please teach me...?"

Sophia looked at me with serious eyes.

Over these two days, I've noticed that Sophia tends to overwork herself.

On the day we first met, she even formed a party to explore the dungeon, despite being forbidden by Selma.

I think her serious personality is a virtue.

However, it seems to be slightly overworking.

I hope it doesn't go in a bad direction.

Still, it would be bad to dampen her enthusiasm, and since I won't be giving instructions to the Tenth Squad today, I have some leeway.

"Of course, I can. What do you want to learn?"

"Um, what do I lack?"

What do you lack...?

You've already cleared the level expected of a new member.

If so, I should teach you what you need to advance to the next level.

"Got it. We're about to enter the dungeon, so I'll tell you when we have some free time."

"Thank you!"

Sophia beamed at me.

◇

As usual, the training exploration began with Selma's command.

Stepping into the 36th floor, I spoke to Sophia while keeping an eye on our surroundings.

"First, I want to know your understanding of magic. Explain magic to me."

"Yes! Well... First, magic is the power to cause various phenomena by utilizing the magic power that exists in the air. However, only monsters can use magic. —Magic is a technology developed by referencing magic. By mediating magic power with a spell, humans who couldn't use magic before can now cause phenomena similar to magic."

That's mostly correct.

To be more precise, a spell is a 'procedure to convert magic power into phenomena.'

In other words, magic and magic are essentially the same.

I'll skip the details to avoid confusion.

In short, they are just different names, but in reality, they are the same.

"You understand well. Now, what about the activation procedure for magic?"

"...The activation procedure for magic is divided into two stages: spell construction and magic power input."

"Then, explain the two stages."

"...Spell construction involves adding settings such as power and effect range to the basic formula of each magic to create a spell. Next, magic power input involves flowing magic power into the completed spell."

If you understand this much, you deserve a high score.

I didn't expect you to answer this well.

A regular magic user would probably only understand that 'by performing complex calculations in the brain and combining the result with the magic power in the air, magic is activated.'

Magic is very complex.

If you're not trying to develop new magic, this level of understanding is sufficient.

"I'm impressed. I didn't expect you to understand this much."

"Hehe, thank you."

"Then, I'll teach you the necessary concepts and knowledge to reach a higher level."

"Thank you!"

◇

Our conversation was interrupted by battles with monsters, but that couldn't be helped.

Still, Logan is unusually quiet. Selma told me not to scold him, but he might have been nagged a bit.

As we repeated conversations and battles, we reached the boss area of the 40th floor.

Until now, the floor bosses have been fought by Ansem, Bernard, and the healer of the instructors—her name is Cathy.

If all the instructors fought the upper-level floor bosses, they would defeat them instantly.

However, to show the new members the battles against the floor bosses, only three of them fought.

From the 40th floor onward, it becomes the middle layers, and the strength of the floor bosses increases dramatically.

Three people can defeat them without any problem, but without attackers and enhancers, the attack power is insufficient.

Also, there are two boss battles today.

Therefore, the floor bosses of the 40th and 50th floors will be defeated by five people.

"Orun, I'm counting on you!"

Bernard, standing next to me, called out.

"Yes. Still, my main role this time is support. My moment will be on the 50th floor."

"Can you really do what you mentioned during the meeting? You have a gap as a swordsman, right? Even if you didn't have that gap, I don't think you could do it..."

"No problem. Let's finish this quickly!"

The five instructors entered the boss area, followed by the new members.

The boss area is a large hall-like space.

The new members gathered by the wall and watched the instructors' battle.

In the center of the hall stood a giant with four arms and a height of about five meters.

The giant's muscles were bulging, and its body was as hard as natural armor.

"We've discussed the plan, but this is our first battle as a party. Try to follow your roles! [Strength Increase], [Life Force Increase], [Agility Increase]"

After Selma called out to the members, she cast support magic on Ansem and Bernard.

By the way, I told Selma that I didn't need her buffs because I wanted to cast them myself according to the situation.

After receiving the buffs, Ansem and Bernard approached the giant from the front with lighter movements than usual.

I cast [Strength Increase], [Technical Skill Increase], and [Agility Increase] on myself and moved to the giant's blind spot.

I carefully attacked the relatively soft parts like joints to avoid drawing the giant's attention.

The two Defenders blocked the giant's attacks with their shields and had the spare capacity to attack.

We, the front-line members, focused on attacking the lower half of the giant, while Selma and Cathy attacked the upper half with magic.

The giant was helpless against the five advanced explorers.

In just over five minutes, we easily defeated the giant.

When a monster dies, its body turns into a black mist, leaving only the magic stone inside.

Occasionally, parts of the body remain as black mist, and these are called monster materials.

They are transformed into weapons, armor, magic devices, or even items unrelated to explorers by craftsmen.

However, in the case of floor bosses, monster materials are always left behind, and sometimes the entire body remains.

I left the recovery of the giant's magic stone and monster materials to the two Defenders and returned to the new members.

"Your attacks were passive and from behind. I don't think the result or content would have changed even if you weren't there. Are you really a front-line attacker?"

As soon as I returned, Logan made a snide remark.

I was mainly supposed to support this time, and the battle ended more easily than I expected.

Indeed, I also think I didn't need to participate in this battle.

"Maybe."

I gave a nonchalant response, and Logan clicked his tongue and didn't say anything more.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Hey! Ansem! What was that just now!?"

While checking and storing the materials from the giant we had defeated with Bernard, Bernard let out a puzzled voice.

I can understand Bernard's confusion. This battle was one-sided.

We are A-rank explorers.

We have reached the 87th floor of the Great Labyrinth.

However, the opponent was a floor boss.

Even with Selma's enhancement magic, it shouldn't have been so easy to defeat.

The biggest factor that made this possible was—Orun Doura.

His speed and strength with the sword are superior to our party's front-line attacker.

As a swordsman, Orun is probably just barely at the A-rank level.

However, Orun's movements were not something that could be explained by such a low level.

As he said, Orun focused on support this time, completely sealing the giant's actions.

Monsters are living beings. They always have preparatory movements.

Based on this, I felt that Orun was predicting the next attack from the preparatory movements.

By attacking the critical parts of the opponent's next attack first, he neutralized all of them.

As a result, the giant couldn't launch any significant attacks and was easily defeated by us.

This was the first time I've seen such a one-sided battle.

"It's really something. It's hard to believe he has a few years of gap."

Yesterday, Orun said, "Even with low physical abilities, they can be compensated for with technique and experience."

This battle was a perfect embodiment of that.

Furthermore, if he can really do what he mentioned during the meeting, Orun is probably very close to the ideal swordsman he aims to be.

I'm sure I'll be surprised again during the boss battle on the 50th floor...

Thank you for reading to the end.

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