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CHAPTER 248 – CURU’S CHALLENGE AND ADVANCED DUNGEON CONQUEST 3

—Curulario’s perspective—

「Nheheh—this feels amazing!!」

I did it!

Sure, I got a little banged up, but I managed to take down six B-rank monsters at the same time!!

The members of Black Thunderbolt, my masters, could probably handle that without breaking a sweat, but by normal standards—even for an A-rank adventurer—this would’ve been the kind of situation where you’d almost certainly use an escape stone. That’s how high the risk of death was here.

I know this challenge was borderline reckless. And precisely because of that, the sense of having pushed past a wall is making my brain tremble. I’m riding a full-on high—endorphins pumping through every vein in my body.

「…Oops. Master Aun did say, ‘Always reflect after a battle.’ Can’t just stand here grinning like an idiot.」

The most dangerous moment was definitely when those three Red Goblins ambushed me at once. If I hadn’t reacted instinctively with a defense there, the whole fight would’ve gone south fast.

My body still remembers that sensation. I need to drill it in immediately—burn it into muscle memory.

「Wait… was that a magic barrier?」

I’ve never been able to produce one before—not even a flicker. The masters always said the nature and awakening of a magic barrier differ from person to person.

Master Aun’s is what you’d call an ‘offensive-type barrier’.
Master Drake uses a dual-attribute barrier.
Master Shinku uses her barrier as a sensor for counterattacks.
Masters Nelfie and Kinu have gone as far as integrating their barriers into clone techniques and battle skills.

Now, I finally understand how insane all that is. What I managed under pressure was just the basic version. The masters took that foundation and customized it—evolving it into something that complements their individual fighting styles.

「Which means… I’ve still got a ton of room to grow.」

First step: stabilize this basic version. From there, I’ll need to adapt it into something that synergizes with my combat style. That’s probably the real goal behind the task Master Aun assigned me.

「My specialty, huh… I guess stealth and assassination-type tactics? I also really need to establish a solid one-vs-many combat style. Oh, right…」

That’s when I remembered something Master Nelfie once said:

「This is just my take on it, but those who get called ‘strong’ tend to fall into three broad categories:
One, the type that forces their strength onto others.
Two, the type that prevents others from using their strengths.
And three, the balanced type that can do both.
To put names to them: Aun and Drake are the first kind.
Shinku and I are the second.
Kinu falls into the third.
Personally, I think Curulario’s ideal form would be like Kinu’s—a balanced type.
But to get there, you’ll first need to overcome the things you’re weakest at.」

And that was exactly what this battle showed me—my weaknesses.

Narrow field of vision. Poor predictive judgment.

In other words… lack of real combat experience.

My power’s strongest when I’m outnumbered—but if I sharpen those weaknesses, I can make it even better.

I also have to admit something unpleasant—my attention span in combat falters. I got too caught up in the thrill, and for even just a second, I lost awareness of my surroundings. That’s what caused the crisis in the first place—losing track of the constantly shifting battlefield and enemy positions.

Balancing adrenaline with calm focus like Master Aun does… that’s no easy feat.

「So what I really need to overcome my flaws and hone my strengths… is repeated training under live-combat conditions, right?」

This first level of the Lion Tower is perfect for that. I can keep practicing multi-target engagements while using the basic barrier consistently. And even if I need to run back to town for potions, I won’t lose much time.

The Killing Leos and Red Goblins here also fight with tactics pretty similar to humans, and they give plenty experience points when taken down.

But if this is just the first level, then that monster room on the tenth floor the masters mentioned must be on an entirely different level. No matter how hard I try, I wouldn’t stand a chance…

「Alright then! For the next three days minimum, I’m gonna grind it out on this first level!」

◇　　◇　　◇　　◇

—14 days later, 39th floor of the Lion Tower—

「Gugyagya…」

「Garf…」

「Phew… finally wiped them all out! That means next is… the final floor.」

The first few days, I focused completely on killing Red Goblins and Killing Leos on the first floor. That let me not only overcome my weaknesses but also refine my magic barrier and level up overall. I’ve grown comfortable with multi-enemy fights now.

Using 【Existence Misdirection】 to create confusion and provoke friendly fire while I hid myself, then inflicting poison and paralysis from blind spots with ranged attacks—that method turned out to be super effective.

I’m confident now that this is the foundation of my future combat style.

That said… I was not ready for that monster room on the tenth floor to throw over 30 enemies at me at once.

「Seriously, that room is just murder incarnate!! I can’t count how many times I nearly died in there… If I hadn’t figured out that trick with the magic barrier, I never would’ve made it through.」

My goal of catching my masters is still far away… They cleared that same room and repelled a surprise attack from Calvados’ elite forces without even getting scratched.

Yeah… they’re monsters, but in the best possible way.

But now that I’ve made it through that room too, I finally get it. Just how careless I was with risk management until now.

In that sense, I think I finally understand why Master gave me this trial in the first place.

「I’m getting pretty good at using the magic barrier in creative ways…
But now comes the last trial: beat the boss in under an hour.」

A final challenge, almost thrown in as an afterthought. But I can already tell the difficulty it’s gonna be brutal.

「Still… that’s exactly the kind of thing that fires me up!!」