Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 632: The Dungeon Of Beasts [Part 2]

When they entered the Boss Room on the tenth floor, they came face to face with a Steel-Hide Boar.

Just as its name suggested, its body was as hard as steel. To make matters worse, it also had four Iron-Hide Boars as minions, which would have been a real threat to weaker warriors.

But not for Renard. He single-handedly demolished all of them within three minutes.

The Steel-Hide Boar was a Rank 3 Monster, but Renard was now a Rank 4 Berserker Juggernaut. Like the boars, his preferred "strategy" was charging directly into battle.

The similarities ended there. Renard could hit far harder than the pigs could attack or defend. Unsurprisingly, this encounter ended with the demise of the Boss Monster and its minions.

Chuck and Dim Dim picked up the beast cores before following Renard and Alex to the path leading to the eleventh floor.

The landscape of the eleventh floor was very different from the earlier floors. It was a lush forest that felt more like a fairytale scene than a dungeon floor. Unfortunately, it was home to three Rank 3 Monsters.

They were the Rage Bear, the Gray-Fang Wolves, and the Stone-Hide Lizard Men.

The Rage Bear was the strongest of the three, but it only hunted solo.

The Wolves and the Lizardmen attacked in groups of three, which forced Alex, Renard, and Chuck to fight together.

They already had clear roles assigned to them for such situations. Chuck cast spells from a safe distance while Renard fought at the frontlines.

Alex served as Chuck’s guard just in case someone or something got past Renard’s deadly strikes.

’Practicing our teamwork before we reach the fifteenth floor might not be a bad idea,’ Alex thought. ’Also, Renard has grown so much stronger while I was away on trip.’

Strong as Alex was, he was still a rank below Renard!

Truth be told, this was decent given Alex’s youth. But being decent was not enough to face the threats waiting for them in the future.

His encounter with Reverse Alex had been a wake-up call for him. He knew that if he ever failed to take leveling up seriously, it would be to his own peril.

Despite the team’s efficiency at clearing monsters, the eleventh floor turned out to be bigger than expected. Alex even secretly checked his map to find the way! Even then, it took the young men two hours to get to the staircase leading to the twelfth floor.

"Hey, don’t you guys find it strange?" Chuck suddenly asked as soon as they reached the twelfth floor.

Renard frowned. "What do you mean? Things have been going well for us."

"There should be other adventurers exploring the dungeon right now," Chuck pointed out. "But we haven’t met anyone yet. Of course, it’s likely they’re already on the lower floors since they entered before us. However, there should be at least one of them around here, right?"

Alex and Renard exchanged a glance. Now that Chuck had mentioned it, it was strange that they hadn’t met a fellow adventurer.

Access to the dungeon was restricted, but Duke Marius had also hired multiple explorer teams to map out the dungeon as fast as possible. The young men were certain that there should be at least a dozen active teams right now.

"Let’s hurry to the next floor," Alex said calmly. "We might see them there. According to the guard, no one has made it to the fourteenth floor yet. I’m sure we will find the other adventurers sooner or later."

"I hope you’re right." Chuck sighed. "I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Don’t worry," Renard commented. "If we see a monster we can’t defeat, we’ll just make a run for it. For now, don’t lower your guard."

He then led the way to the next floor, but Chuck still felt something amiss about their surroundings.

————

Somewhere on the thirteenth floor.

"Brother, are you alright?" Astrea asked. "I shouldn’t have come here. Because of me..."

"It’s not your fault, Astrea," Cassian replied. "We just got too careless when we entered the fifteenth floor.

Her eyes teared up while pouring some healing potion on her brother’s injury.

The young lady then handed the remainder of the healing potion to her brother so he could drink it. While he was drinking, she bandaged his wound.

Due to the horror they had faced on the fifteenth floor, their healing potions were all but used up.

The other Adventurer Parties had also suffered serious injuries, with some of their members even dying before they could escape.

"My Lord, My Lady, we can’t stay here," one of the Knights serving the Nocturne Family said. "We need to return to the upper floors as soon as possible. That monster might have already entered this floor as well."

Cassian nodded and forced himself to stand up. Deep inside, he was still rattled from what had happened on the fifteenth floor. A Crimson Mantis had suddenly ambushed them while they had been exploring the forest.

It was a Rank 5 Mutant, which made it much, much stronger than ordinary monsters.

For some reason, it had ignored the vanguard of their party and chosen to target Astrea, who had been at the rear.

If Cassian had been a second slower, his sister’s head might have already been separated from her body by the monster’s incredibly quick attack.

The Crimson Mantis was an Elite Rank 5 Monster, which was a term used for a wandering Field Boss.

Since it was a mutant, it was nearly as strong as a Rank 6 Monster, making it an incredibly deadly opponent to fight.

It just so happened that it attacked them when the teams had scattered to efficiently survey the fifteenth floor.

When everyone realized what was happening, they tried to control the situation.

Unfortunately, their opponent was too quick and too strong for them to do anything. In just the span of a few minutes, it already wiped out three of the twelve teams.

The other parties also lost at least one member each as they made their escape back to the previous floor.

But there was one problem.

The Crimson Mantis actually followed them to the 14th Floor as well!

"Brother, I’ll help you!" Astrea said as she reached out to support Cassian, but the latter only shook his head.

"I can manage, Astrea," Cassian promised. "Just be sure to stay close to me. Captain Jonas, if the monster finds us, prioritize my sister, please."

"I can’t do that, Young Master," Captain Jonas replied. "You are the heir of the Nocturne Family. Lady Astrea is also the gem of the family. Your father and mother will grieve if either of you die in this dungeon.

"I will use my life if that means both of you can escape. Please do not think of anything else aside from getting to the surface alive."

"The captain is right," one of the clerics serving their Knight Order commented. "We will buy as much time as possible for you to escape."

"Don’t be pessimistic, everyone," another knight, who wielded a spear, interjected. "While it is not unheard of for a strong monster to suddenly go to the upper floors of a dungeon, I believe it had given up on us and returned to the Fifteenth Floor."

But as if to prove him wrong, the Crimson Mantis screeched from somewhere in the forest.

Everyone looked at the pitiful guard, who had unknowingly raised a death flag in his attempt to liven the atmosphere up.