One grueling round followed another; the dungeon offered no respite.
Sirem drank a mana potion, then a stamina potion.
She was exhausted, and one of her arms was bandaged.
She bore visible bruises, with others hidden beneath her clothes.
The battles against the golems were becoming increasingly hellish.
"I just want this to be over," Sirem muttered with a hint of annoyance as she sensed the golems amidst the thick fog.
Vivian, with a drop of blood trickling down her nose, was deeply focused; she was currently manipulating a Crab Prince and six C+ Rank golems.
The six C+ Rank golems were tasked with protecting her, while the Crab Prince was used to destroy other hostile golems.
"I need to further improve my perception," Vivian critiqued herself as her magic compass levitated right in front of her.
Amidst the thick fog, Liam was slightly agitated; beads of sweat trickled down his temples.
He was at that moment facing a humanoid Golem with a bluish-black exoskeleton.
The golem stood approximately two meters and thirty centimeters tall, and despite its robust build, it was remarkably agile.
Moreover, this golem was leading the crab princes.
[Imperial General: Golem (Rank C+++)]
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!...
The three bluish-black golems sometimes took turns firing swift bullets of pressurized water at Liam.
Liam sighed; he hadn't expected to encounter a golem stronger than the crab princes inside the dungeon, but he realized just how wrong he had been.
He had anticipated being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of golems, but now he realized the difficulty would be far worse than imagined once they cleared the 70th floor.
Without further delay, he closed his eyes, engaged his magical perception, and lunged toward the enemy golems.
He was still suppressing his level to Rank C+, but as he fought and honed his skills, his rank mattered less and less.
Liam narrowly dodged the golems' attacks; unlike before, he ignored the lower-ranked golems this time, as they no longer posed a significant threat to him.
Liam's movements appeared even faster as he evaded the diverse array of attacks, but in reality, he was predicting or sensing the golems' slightest movements, allowing him to discern the direction from which the attacks were coming.
He exhaled deeply, cast a variety of spells upon himself, and then leapt straight toward the Imperial General.
A fierce battle ensued; the entire dungeon floor shook from the constant clash of the two opposing forces.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!...
Liam unleashed magical slashes to counter the powerful "Aquatic Strikes" launched by the Imperial General's pincer-like arms.
The Crab Princes lunged at Liam.
He sighed and then executed dozens of precise slashes.
The Crab Princes fell to the ground, sliced into pieces.
Boom!
A powerful, thunderous blow slammed into Liam's abdomen.
He vomited blood, yet a smile played on his lips as his right hand clamped tightly onto the Imperial General's left arm.
"You're finished," Liam murmured, raising his left hand to unleash an upward magical slash.
Boom!
Liam's magic slash not only cut the Imperial General in two, it also sliced through one of the bluish-black crab golems and then cut through one of the dungeon walls.
That magical slash was at the level of a pseudo-Rank "B-" (Rank C+++).
Liam didn't stop there; he was well aware of the threat posed by the other blue-black golems.
He channeled two-thirds of his remaining mana into spells to amplify his movements and the power of his magical slashes.
Two glowing horizontal lines cut through the mist as Liam closed in on the bluish-black crab golems, swiftly annihilating them.
Liam was panting, somewhat exhausted; he used the side of his right forearm to wipe the blood from his mouth and chin.
The fog was shifting—it would take a few hours to dissipate completely—but the floor boss had already been defeated.
Liam sensed the many golems still advancing toward him.
He walked silently toward them.
When the golems lunged at him, he coated his hands in cutting spells and showed no mercy.
...
Several hours later, all the golems had been wiped out, and the fog had vanished.
This time, Liam lay on the ground, somewhat exhausted; the situation reminded him of his days of physical weakness before meeting his master.
Vivian approached him and lay down beside him after drinking a mana potion.
"Do you want a potion?" she asked in a weary voice.
"No, I think I can recover gradually," he replied, gently stroking Vivian's soft hair.
For him, the exhaustion was something he could overcome if he stopped suppressing his power, so he didn't consider it necessary to use up the potions belonging to the two women.
Especially now, when it seemed likely that both women would need every single potion they had brought with them.
[Mission: Clear Rank C Dungeon]
[Dungeon Floors: 70/100]
[Play Points Earned: 2,450]
[Play Points: 705]
...
Some time later, after collecting the vital cores,
the four of them headed to the next floor.
The area was even larger, and the lake was quite impressive.
But what surprised everyone most was that, once again, there appeared to be no time limit.
Liam realized that the absence of a time limit was a clear warning: the subsequent floors could only be tackled with proper preparation.
"It's time to relax a bit; let's rest for a week first, and then we'll start training with the next floors in mind," Liam said in a relaxed tone.
He knew that nothing good would come from intimidating or stressing the others with his conclusions about the dungeon.
To him, the best approach was to relax first, train sufficiently, rest properly, relax again, and repeat the cycle over and over.
Liam undressed, leaving only his black underwear on, and jumped into the lake to inspect it and wash the blood and sweat off his body.
Sirem and Vivian headed toward the lake, but they only undressed to bathe and then went back to their tents to rest.
Once they had left, Margaret dropped her black dress onto the grass, then her underwear, and after that she walked naked, her beautiful figure on full display.
Upon reaching the shore of the lake, the beautiful witch slowly submerged herself into those waters.