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CHAPTER 240: THE 40TH FLOOR OF THE ADVANCED DUNGEON

 

We then extracted as much information from the two captured Calvados Adventurers as possible and examined it together with the information that we have obtained ourselves so far.

 

As we had expected, Calvados had already begun to investigate us, the members of “Seiha”.

 

The clues would date as far back as to when Curulario was attacked by an Assassin Clan in the Beginner Dungeon and I fought them back. For now, Calvados only thought of us as an outsider Clan that just so happened to interfere with their plans on a complete accident, and it seemed that they did not know about Curulario’s training or exam that we had prepared for him, which was actually a relief to hear, but this incident had not only put us on high notice, but they would likely start to monitor our actions even more closely than ever before.

 

Or rather, it seemed that Calvados did actually have connections with the Assassin Clan and has been using its financial power to keep them under its control. Testimony from these guys has turned that suspicion into a certainty right now.

 

If that was the case here, it would be easier for us to achieve our goal of clearing the Dungeon if we actively went around crushing Calvados and its troops whenever we came across them, and made them realize that they would suffer great and substantial losses if they were to become our sworn enemy, the “Seiha”. But that would be troublesome in its own right, and we did not want them to think that we were actually supporting the Tekirana camp for the time being.

 

The ties that we had been forced to form by participating in the struggle for supremacy within Wislo could be a factor in depriving us of our freedom in the long run. We intended to maintain our stance as a “single force that doesn’t belong anywhere” and maintain our neutrality.

 

「So then, what should we do if we find a passage blockade or a Hunting Ground monopoly in the future?」

 

「I am not saying that we should actively kill more of those guys, but it should be okay to repel them and force them to retreat. It would be annoying if we had to be considerate of them when conquering the Dungeon at all times, after all. “Doing what we want, the way we want,” that’s what we, “Seiha”, are. So if they are going to interfere with our freedom, we will switch to a policy of completely eliminating them for thinking that they could actually do that.」

 

「Understood!!」

 

「For the time being, our goal is to conquer this Advanced Dungeon. In terms of level, I think the real dungeon conquering will start when we reach the Highest Level, but there is a possibility that A Rank monsters will appear in groups on the upper floors of the Advanced Level as well. Let’s keep our guard up as we conquer this place and actively level up.」

 

And so we returned to conquering the Tower of the Lion.

 

 

◇　◇　　◇　　◇

 

 

— Three days later

 

「Well now, now we are finally on the 40th floor of the dungeon.」

 

「So, the next floor is most probably going to be a High-Level Boss! By the way, what kind of monster is the Boss on this floor?」

 

「If it’s a Normal Boss, it seems to be a High-Rank S Rank monster called Aquilaleo. Looking at the Rank alone, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a problem.」

 

「Mhm. Shall we share information just in case, and take a break while being at it?」

 

「Yeah, let’s do that!」

 

Since we passed the 10th floor, Calvados has not interfered with us or monopolized the Hunting Grounds at all.

 

I think it was actually fine, but there was no guarantee that we would not be surrounded by Calvados Adventurers when we would finally return from the Dungeon.

 

It’s been about three days since then, so we could assume that our information and the events on the 10th floor have already been shared with the rest of Calvados…… But for now, we needed to focus on defeating the Boss.

 

The Boss of this Advanced Tower was “Aquilaleo,” a large monster with a lion’s head, an ogre’s body, four arms, and eagle-like wings growing from its back, making it a boss worthy of being called the absolut apex of the “Tower of the Lion”」

 

Like the Archchimera of the Silent Ruins, it had a lion’s head and an appearance that seemed to be a combination of various other monsters, but its biggest difference was that it walked on two legs like a human, held various weapons in its four arms, and could fly through the air at high speeds.

 

It was also said to have durability worthy of being called a Boss monster, and the fact that it required aerial combat and long-range attacks to beat it seemed to be what made it difficult to defeat in the first place.

 

By the way, the general guideline for defeating it was said that it takes more than an hour for even an S Rank party to completely defeat it.

 

As I was thinking that, Cinque spoke up.

 

「Aun-sama, I have a suggestion. Would you like to listen to it?」

 

「Huh? What’s up?」

 

「How about we leave the next Boss battle to Drake?」

 

「Drake…… You mean you want Drake to do a one-on-one battle with the Boss?」

 

「Yes. Drake and I have been training together to improve ourselves as much as time allowed us to do it. Drake, isn’t this the perfect opponent to test out that…… thing of yours?」

 

「Yeah, that’s certainly true! I still don’t know how much maximum firepower I can produce myself with it, but…… That’s why I want to test it out against a Boss monster! So, Big Bro, I would like to ask you to let me do it, too!」

 

Like Cinque, Drake seemed to have achieved some kind of improvement over the course of the recent events.

 

Although he had not shown any of it in the battles so far, from Cinque and Drake’s reactions alone, it seemed they were looking forward to showing it to us all.

 

「Okay. In that case, we won’t lay a hand on the Boss at all…… Drake, go ahead and knock it down in style!」

 

「Yes! Please leave it to me!」