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CHAPTER 251 – CURU’S CHALLENGE AND ADVANCED DUNGEON CONQUEST 6

—Curulario’s Perspective—

「Graaah… Gubluuugh…」

BOOOOOM!!

The massive body of the Aquilaleo slowly toppled to the ground with a thunderous crash. It twitched a few times, then stopped moving entirely.

It had been just over fifty minutes since the fight began. I’d cleared the time limit trial Master had given me—but instead of satisfaction, I was feeling something closer to… regret.

「I wanted to experiment a little more…」

No doubt about it: one hit and I’d be on death’s doorstep. The pressure was real.

But that’s exactly why I could feel my growth so clearly—being able to pull off stealth movement using the 【Camouflage Barrier】, turn the enemy’s expectations against them, and keep managing poison and paralysis effects… all on my first time facing an advanced boss.

And still, where else would I get the chance to fight such a tough opponent one-on-one, with no interference, in a ‘boss room’ like this? I probably wouldn’t until the Liberation Battle.

「Hmm… If I really push myself, I might be able to get in one more run in the advanced dungeon before the Liberation Battle… but I want more training from Master and the others too. …Ughhh!! I still had five minutes left on the timer!! I messed up the poison damage calculations!! Or wait, maybe I should’ve thrown a potion at the enemy when I was about to die?! There were ways to tweak the flow—I totally wasted it!!」

The 【Poison Synthesis】 skill. Honestly, it’s way more broken than I expected.

Sure, it won’t show its full potential if the enemy has rare gear that nullifies status effects, or innate resistance to poison and paralysis. But even then, as I learned from this fight against Aquilaleo, the right combination with paralysis or other effects can still make poison work—even against tough opponents.

Something else that became clear was the synergy between the 【Camouflage Barrier】 and the poison debuffs.

Against humans, you don’t need to finish the enemy off. Especially in the context of the Liberation Battle, leaving someone barely alive is more of a burden on the enemy team.

If I can help give Tekirana even a slight numbers advantage—by staying hidden and spreading debuffs and status effects to sow confusion—then even after I retreat with a return stone, the healers will still be stuck cleaning up my mess. That’s probably going to be my standard role in the Liberation Battle.

「Seriously… just how far ahead do Master and the others see, anyway…?」

Master Nelfie always used to say: 「If you want the upper hand in battles against humans, restrict their actions first.」 Which of course implies the reverse—「Avoid getting your own actions restricted at all costs.」

Now that I’ve reached this stage, I think I finally understand what Master and the others really meant when they gave me that advice…

「Anyway, no point getting sentimental about the boss fight. Time to head back and give my report to—whoa!?」

Just as the corpse of the Aquilaleo sank into the earth, a glowing magic circle flared up—and then a treasure chest appeared, dyed bright red.

「W-Wait, no way… is that a red chest!?」

It was my first time seeing a red treasure chest. And it was nearly twice as big as I imagined one would be.

Still, I can’t let myself get too excited. Sure, there’s a high chance it holds a high-rarity item, but you never know the real quality until you get it appraised.

「Okay. I’m calm. Totally calm.」

Cautiously, I opened the chest—and inside was a sinister-looking, crimson-colored curved sword.

A type of blade known as a shamshir or scimitar, built purely for cutting. Even someone like me with little strength could probably cause serious wounds just by swinging it down.

…But what really stood out was the size. Just at a glance, it looked like the blade was about 1.5 times longer than normal. Could I even handle a weapon like this?

「Ah, right—Master Aun did say something once… 「If you pull a high-rarity weapon or armor from a treasure chest, don’t you dare channel any mana into it until I’ve appraised it!」」

Apparently, there was a guy who stole a weapon Master Aun had picked up, equipped it without permission, poured mana into it—and got his consciousness devoured by a cursed magic sword.

「Okay, better stash this in the magic bag for now. I’ll have them appraise it when I report in!」

…Maybe I could land a surprise hit on Master Aun with it while he’s not expecting it? I thought about it for half a second—but the image of him turning the tables on me was all too vivid.

「Well… I guess the fact I’m clearly aware of the gap between me and the masters now just shows how much I’ve grown. But still, it’s a weird mix of frustrating and gratifying, you know?」

…Though maybe just once—I could try?