Liam simply sighed, his gaze steady.
He sensed a slight fluctuation in the cores of the other eight golems.
The dark-moss-covered golems attacked swiftly.
He remained unperturbed, casting spells upon his own body; the razor-sharp magical energy coating his hands—generated by his spells—was further amplified by additional magic.
Several long, sharp claws passed within millimeters of his body, but failed to injure him.
With dozens of rapid slashes from his hands, Liam cut down all ten golems.
He exhaled and surveyed his surroundings.
Hundreds more of those moss-covered golems remained nearby, though these stood just over two meters tall.
Some lurked among the tree branches, others clung to the trunks, and some simply walked toward him.
He could not see where the golems were originating, but he realized that once the ten C+-Rank golems were destroyed, the others stopped multiplying.
Beyond the "wooded zone," the three beautiful women were still battling the moss-covered golems; however, a slight mana disturbance rippled across the dungeon floor.
Humanoid golems, crab-like golems, and golem princes emerged.
"Damn it, this is hell!" Sirem exclaimed upon seeing the new enemy golems appearing in droves.
They had not yet finished destroying the moss-covered golems when the golems they usually faced on the dungeon's earlier floors appeared.
Sirem stepped back, moving closer to Vivian and Margaret.
The beautiful witch conjured dozens upon dozens of explosive fireballs, using them without hesitation to destroy many of the golems.
Seizing the moment, Sirem drank a potion to boost her stamina.
Sirem's body bore superficial wounds inflicted by the claws of the moss-covered golems.
She felt a strange numbness in those wounds, and that numbness brought on a slight sense of fatigue—something she did not ignore.
After drinking the potion, she resumed her attack.
Vivian spotted the golems she usually controlled and immediately employed her spells and magical perception, aiming to manipulate the movements of three Crab Princes. After taking control of the three Crab Princes, she maintained command over only one of the moss-covered golems.
The battle proceeded just as it had on previous floors.
It took several hours for all the golems to be destroyed, yet that was merely the first round on that floor.
...
Several rounds later, the heads of twelve Imperial Generals rolled across the ground, and another twenty moss-covered golems were hacked to pieces.
Liam was bleeding from wounds on his forehead and shoulder, but he didn't hesitate; he seized the moment to destroy the six blue-black crabs remaining on the lake's surface.
He had to dodge dozens of swift, pressurized water bullets and white projectiles.
That was how he finished off each of the six blue-black crab golems.
Liam sighed.
"What madness; it's starting to feel more and more like hellish training," Liam thought.
Sirem was utterly exhausted.
Hours had turned into days, and the fatigue was creating a strange sensation akin to anxiety.
Both she and Vivian were completely drained.
It was more apparent in Sirem's case, given the bruises and wounds covering her body.
As for the beautiful witch—despite her mastery of magic and flawless mana control—she was lightly sweating; unlike Liam, who voluntarily suppressed his own power, hers had been capped at Rank B by Liam's master.
Furthermore, no matter how suppressed Liam's power was, his physical body was already that of an "A-" Rank human, meaning his stamina and strength were inevitably superior. And Margaret was a mage; if her mana circles were suppressed to contain her Rank, her mana reserves would be lower, and a mage's potential is based as much on their knowledge as on their mana reserves.
This time, Liam did not wait for the three women to finish off the remaining golems, as he knew that Sirem and Vivian's potions were running out.
Liam once again imbued his hands with cutting spells and, with precise strikes, took out hundreds of golems.
He sliced through each golem one by one, specifically targeting their vital cores.
...
Mission: Clear Rank C Dungeon]
[Dungeon Floors: 81/100]
[Play Points Earned: 3060]
[Play Points: 1315]
[Remaining rest time: 11 Hours| 38 Minutes| ...]
Liam looked at the virtual window as he collected the vital core fragments and vital cores.
He had instructed the three women to rest while slowly absorbing mana.
A few hours later the beautiful witch was the first to recover.
Sirem and Vivian entered one of the camping tents, the two of them wanted to get some sleep.
Liam was sitting on a rock near the lake.
"Husband..."
"What's wrong?"
She sat on the grass and placed the side of her beautiful face on one of Liam's legs.
"I felt a strange familiarity coming from that magical barrier"
"Just that, or did you recognize something else?" Liam asked matter-of-factly as he stroked the beautiful witch's straight hair.
"Just that," she replied.
"Then don't worry, we will get out of this dungeon soon, and in the future maybe we will find answers to that. If it is something bad, we will face it together"
Hearing Liam, she raised her face and then rushed towards him to hug him.
Her delicate arms wrapped around his neck.
"Maybe it's very dangerous"
"It doesn't matter, Margie, if something threatens you, I will do my best to destroy it."
She didn't say anything else, she just kissed Liam, and he accepted the kiss.
A warm and deep kiss.
[Host fluids increase sensitivity in the woman's body]
...
Time flew by.
On the subsequent floors, Liam instructed Margaret to create magical barriers that would separate two-thirds of the golems from the rest.
Although it was grueling, Liam—with his Rank voluntarily suppressed—faced two-thirds of the golems spawned by the dungeon.
There were times he couldn't avoid getting injured, but he always managed to escape serious wounds.
Floor after floor, the number of golems per wave rose from hundreds to over a thousand—especially on the 90th floor.
Had Liam not undergone hellish training under his master, he likely would have succumbed.
Even so, despite having long since ceased to feel fatigue, he once again experienced the sensation of a physical body begging for mercy.
Now his hands trembled from fatigue as he watched the many golems preventing him from approaching a Dark Red Golem Crab that stood behind 12 bluish-black Golem Crabs.