Black Rhinos—a rhinoceros-type monster with rough, blackish-bright skin that was as hard and thick as armor. It bore two horns on its head, one long and one short, and adopted a forward-leaning bipedal stance. Although its height didn't even reach two meters, its body possessed robust, dense muscle and a physique truly worthy of the large-scale classification.
This rhinoceros-type monster could be seen everywhere on the 51st floor. Every single one possessed the capability to instantly slaughter a Minotaur; if they were to appear on the upper floors, they would undoubtedly be boss-level monsters, hardly inferior to a Floor Boss.
Yet now, they appeared here in herds. Unleashing furious roars and bellows, they stampeded toward Leon and the others with an astounding momentum that seemed capable of trampling the entire earth to pieces.
Faced with such a vast herd of Black Rhinos, even if a ten-person squad entirely comprised of Lv.4 adventurers arrived, they would likely have no choice but to flee in a wretched scramble, completely lacking the courage to oppose them head-on.
However, the girls who watched this herd of monsters charged out one after another.
"Heiya!"
Tiona was the first to rush forward. Letting out a cute cry, her slender hands frantically brandished a double-headed great blade like a windmill.
This was a massive, lethal weapon featuring two giant sword blades linked together by a thick, heavy hilt. Its size was larger than Tiona herself, and its length exceeded that of a long spear. It was absolutely a colossal-scale weapon capable of rivaling a great battleaxe; the blade itself was exceptionally wide and thick, its immense power evident at a glance.
Its name was Urga, a first-class armament forged using the highest quality adamandite sourced from the deep floors. Its might, durability, and weight ranked among the highest tier even among numerous first-class equipments. It was a customized weapon Tiona had commissioned the Goibniu Familia to forge specifically for her.
To acquire such a weapon, Tiona had spent a whopping 120,000,000 Valis, a price even higher than Ais's Desperate Sword.
At this moment, this heavy double-blade—which would cause the veins on a dwarf's hands to pop just to lift—was being spun by Tiona with an extraordinary physical strength completely unbefitting her slender frame. As if performing a dance, it leaped and zipped nimbly alongside Tiona's charge, cleaving into the attacking Black Rhinos.
Puchi!
Amidst a crisp and decisive slicing sound, the massive double-blade in Tiona's hands effortlessly tore through the rough, thick hide the Black Rhinos prided itself on, slicing this monster—which stood just under two meters tall—into two halves, splashing countless streams of blood.
"It's not over yet!"
The fierce Amazonian girl charged into the herd of monsters with an innocent, radiant smile, like a ferocious beast. Twisting and leaping, she repeatedly brought down her massive double-blade, dismembering one Black Rhinos after another on the spot.
Qiang!
Following closely behind Tiona, Ais similarly unsheathed her beloved sword from her waist, its silver blade flashing with cold arcs of light within the darkened space. Her eyes were sharp, completely devoid of her usual ephemeral and detached demeanor; her entire being resembled an unsheathed, lethal blade as she charged straight into the monster herd.
She did not display the same terrifying, monstrous strength as Tiona, but her speed and agility surpassed Tiona's. With a single flourish of her Desperate Sword, she instantly unleashed dozens of sword lights that enveloped multiple Black Rhinos.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!—
In an instant, one Black Rhinos after another was slaughtered by the silver blade in Ais's hands. They either had their chests pierced through by Ais, dying from the direct destruction of their Magic Stones, or had their heads lopped off, necks slashed, or were even split in two from their waists or shoulders. Their manner of death was extremely wretched.
Ais butchered these monsters with a cold face, as if she harbored a deep-seated hatred for them. Her strikes were not only merciless but exceptionally brutal.
"You two! Don't charge too far ahead!"
Tione was a step slower than her younger sister, and a step slower than Ais. Only after shouting this warning did she become the third person to hack her way into the monster herd.
Unlike her sister who carried a colossal, lethal weapon, she utilized two kukri knives designed to fit snugly into her palms. Those two kukri knives were roughly the size of short swords, yet like Ais's Desperate Sword and Tiona's Urga, they were first-class weapons crafted from the fangs of wyverns. Their crafting difficulty wasn't high and their versatility was strong, allowing them to double as throwing weapons; though their price didn't match Ais's or Tiona's weapons, they still required 58,000,000 Valis.
Wielding these two kukri knives, Tione charged into the herd of Black Rhinos. As her hands flipped, she drew out two cold arcs of light that slashed toward the surrounding monsters.
The Black Rhinos struck by her knives almost instantly erupted with blood. Amidst agonizing howls, they had their arms severed and thighs taken off; only after they completely lost the ability to continue fighting did Tione plunge a knife into their heads to finish their lives.
The three beautiful girls displayed astonishing strength matching that of first-class adventurers, slaughtering the Black Rhinos—which ordinary people feared like fierce tigers—as easily as killing chickens. The scene could only be described as a massacre rather than a subjugation.
"So... so amazing—"
Lefiya was somewhat dazed as she watched. Although it wasn't the first time she had witnessed Ais and the others in combat, she still felt a sense of awe every time she saw this sight. There was no helping it; compared to these first-class adventurers, she was simply too green.
"Galuarrrr!"
A Black Rhinos managed to slip through the slaughtering net formed by the trio. Like a fish that escaped the net, it charged straight toward Lefiya.
"Lefiya!"
"Watch out!"
Tiona and Tione witnessed this scene and halted their charging steps simultaneously with Ais, whose face tightened.
The Black Rhinos gave the girls no time to react and lunged directly at Lefiya, causing Lefiya to freeze entirely on the spot, her mind turning completely blank.
Boom!
In the next second, a meteor suddenly shot from beside Lefiya, striking the Black Rhinos and blasting its entire colossal frame away.
"Don't daze out!"
Leon had raised his jade-colored magic staff at some point, aiming it toward Lefiya's direction. He issued instructions to the elf girl while summoning waves of dancing meteors.
"Chant your magic quickly!"
Saying so, Leon manipulated the streaks of meteors, accurately sniping down the stragglers that had bypassed the three first-class adventurers' slaughtering net.
One could see the meteors moving as if guided by invisible hands, hovering and flying up and down within the labyrinth while bypassing the Black Rhinos' charges. Making sharp turns or suddenly accelerating, they shot forth in straight paths, striking the Black Rhinos in succession.
They did not detonate upon hitting the Black Rhinos; instead, they seemed to transform into spears of stars, piercing through the chests of the monsters one after another to precisely shatter the Magic Stones inside their bodies, executing them instantly.
Through this magic-shooting capability that resembled a performance show, Leon's speed in slaughtering the Black Rhinos was actually not a single bit slower than the three first-class adventurers. He didn't seem like a second-class adventurer who had just recently advanced to Lv.3 at all.
"Hurry!"
Leon controlled the flying meteors and urged Lefiya, causing her to hurriedly raise the Forest Teardrop in her hands.
This staff with a flower-petal-like tip was a second-class armament capable of enhancing magical power. The magic gemstone at the center of its front would react to the user's mana and radiate a pale white glow. Valued at 37,800,000 Valis, it was far superior to the Jade Staff in Leon's hands, which cost less than 6,000,000 Valis.
Yet, despite holding such a staff, Lefiya's mind unexpectedly remained in a completely blank state. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, failing to chant the incantation of her magic for a long time.
Seeing this, Leon's brows furrowed slightly. He said nothing, merely increasing the frequency of his magical attacks silently. He summoned a significant number of meteors and directed them toward Lefiya's side, killing the monsters intending to attack the elf girl one by one.
In this manner, whether it was Leon or Ais's trio, they butchered the monsters at an astonishing speed.
By the time all the monsters were completely slaughtered, and the corpses of the Black Rhinos dissolved into ashes and vanished—leaving only sparkling Magic Stones and various dropped items on the field—silence visited this battlefield not far from the 50th floor.
Everyone gathered in front of Lefiya, looking at the elf girl while hesitating to speak.
"I'm... I'm sorry!"
Lefiya's face was utterly pale, her eyes welling with tears as she repeatedly apologized. She knew that she had committed a very severe mistake during the combat just now. Faced with the fierce Black Rhinos, she had actually been so tense and terrified that she couldn't even chant her incantations. As a mage, she was simply too incompetent.
"Why does this happen?" Tiona scratched her head, speaking with a face full of confusion. "Lefiya could clearly chant her magic normally when we were on the upper floors, so why can't she manage it once we get here?"
This was actually not the first time Lefiya had experienced this.
During previous expeditions, Lefiya would occasionally display a state of tension and panic to the point of forgetting to chant her incantations. Therefore, many people, including Ais, were aware of Lefiya's issue.
Lefiya had always felt somewhat inferior and ashamed regarding this.
When facing ordinary monsters, she wouldn't end up like this. During expeditions, she was surrounded by teammates and had people protecting her, allowing her to chant magic normally. However, the moment a monster charged right in front of her face, forcing her to directly confront an opponent whose capabilities far exceeded her current level, her mind would instantly go blank. She could achieve nothing and could only freeze stiffly on the spot, sometimes unable to even move a muscle.
"As expected, I still can't do it—"
Tears fluttered in Lefiya's eyes, her demeanor turning incredibly submissive. She had gathered plenty of courage this time, wishing to change herself and overcome this timid state, yet the result showed that nothing had changed.
"You just get tense too easily, Lefiya," Tione comforted. "Don't think too much, and there's no need to fear those damn monsters. With your magic, you're entirely capable of burning them all to crisp with a single fire, right?"
Ais also looked toward Lefiya, nodding gently as if to encourage her.
"But I always turn out like that when the moment arrives, unable to remember even a single word of the magic incantation—"
Lefiya had a sorrowful face, appearing to have completely lost her self-confidence.
Leon did not speak. He merely stared at the disheartened Lefiya, his thoughts unreadable.
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