The Dungeon, the 4th Floor.
This floor, like the three above it, was composed of pale blue walls and ceilings. Its overall structure remained that of a classic labyrinth, filled with intersections and corridors, though its total area was significantly larger than the previous levels.
One of the laws of the Dungeon was that the deeper one descended, the stronger and more numerous the monsters became. Furthermore, barring special circumstances, the area of each floor would expand.
Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Leon officially stepped onto this floor, engaging in a life-and-death struggle against the monsters here.
At this moment, he found himself besieged by a pack of Kobolds.
As their name implied, these were dog-headed monsters that used sharp claws and teeth as weapons. They stood at a height similar to Goblins, not even reaching a meter tall. Generally, they rarely appeared in groups, mostly wandering the Dungeon in solitary pairs. However, upon reaching a wide clearing, Leon had suddenly encountered a large pack that attacked him without hesitation.
"Gulu!"
"Ga!"
"Ga-ahhh!"
A total of about ten Kobolds raised their sharp claws and surrounded Leon. Without a second thought, he turned and dashed into a side passage. The pack immediately gave chase, cornering him.
Or rather, Leon had proactively rushed toward the corner to, as he had done before, prevent himself from being attacked from both front and back.
With his back against the wall, he faced the ten Kobolds head-on. He held his shield firmly aloft, while his small straight sword remained concealed behind it. When one Kobold, unable to restrain itself, lunged forward, he swung the blade violently toward its head.
Pshh!
A cold glint flashed. Before the Kobold could react, the sharp sword cleaved through its skull, shattering its head. The blade even sliced down through its neck and body, splitting the creature entirely in two.
"Ga-gu!"
"Ga-ooh!"
Witnessing this, the remaining Kobolds were instantly enraged. They lunged forward one after another, their claws raking toward Leon.
Bang! Thud thud! Bang bang bang!
Following a series of chaotic impacts, the Kobolds' claws fell upon Leon's raised shield, blocked entirely by the barrier.
Relying on the observations, analysis, and accumulated experience from his battles today, Leon easily tracked the attack patterns of the large pack. Thus, even though the shield equipped on his left hand was not large enough to protect his entire body, he managed to block every incoming strike with minimal movement. He even found openings when the Kobolds' momentum slowed, counter-attacking with his straight sword to pierce through their bodies and slay them.
Under these conditions, the number of Kobolds dwindled, and the pressure on Leon gradually eased.
Just as Leon thought he would continue picking them off one by one until the pack was wiped out, something unexpected happened.
Crack—
It was the distinct sound of something splitting.
Like a rock fracturing or an eggshell breaking, the sound appeared so abruptly that Leon's pupils shrank. He whipped his head around to look at the wall behind him.
And then, Leon saw it.
Behind him, the thick, silent wall began to slowly crack open. From within the widening fissures, an orange-yellow light seeped out, looking much like the heat provided to life about to hatch from an egg.
The reality wasn't far off.
Under Leon's gaze, the wall cracked further and, as if giving birth, dropped a large group of monsters out from its "womb."
"Ga-ru!"
"Gaga!"
"Ga-ahhh!"
In moments, about twenty Kobolds appeared before Leon, letting out vicious snarls.
"...As expected of the Dungeon. This knack for kicking a man while he's down is exactly like the rumors described."
Leon, having quickly moved away from the corner, looked at the scene with a strained expression.
"The Dungeon is alive."
This was a phrase constantly on the lips of countless people and even the Gods. Whether as a warning to others or mentioned casually in idle gossip, humans and Gods alike repeated this sentence as a constant admonition.
A newcomer might find it puzzling, failing to grasp the true meaning behind those words. But Leon was different. Whether from the original story, the records of his Familia, or the mouths of his comrades, he understood what that sentence implied.
It was literal: the Dungeon was a living, breathing entity.
It could self-repair, regenerating its damaged structures. It could also "hatch" monsters from the labyrinth walls that were filled with hostility toward the life of the lower world. No matter how many an adventurer defeated, the Dungeon would always replenish them; they could never be truly wiped out.
Furthermore, when an adventurer active in the Dungeon encountered a crisis, it would often spawn a massive number of monsters nearby, as if determined to drive the intruder into total annihilation, turning adversity into a death trap.
This malicious activity was proof enough that the Dungeon possessed a will. It was alive—a being that vented its hatred and loathing upon the life forms of the surface.
This was why, a thousand years ago, humanity built the Tower of Babel over the Dungeon's entrance to serve as a lid, suppressing it. Around the tower, they built Orario, making it both a Labyrinth City and a world-renowned Fortress City.
As long as the Dungeon was watched and managed from above, preventing the monsters from escaping, the people of the surface would not be threatened. This was the purpose of Orario's existence and the primary duty of the Guild.
But while those on the surface were protected, the adventurers who proactively entered the Dungeon had to endure the malice of the labyrinth that could manifest at any moment.
Now, Leon had encountered this living malice. Just as the tide of battle was about to turn in his favor, he had been "ambushed" by the Dungeon.
A group of Kobolds, far more numerous than the first pack, snarled at Leon with hideous faces. Seeing this, Leon didn't even think; he turned and bolted.
"Ga-woo-aooo!!!"
The Kobolds howled in unison, pursuing Leon like a charging pack of wolves. They weren't exceptionally fast, but their stamina far exceeded that of a human. When Leon began to gasp for breath, they immediately accelerated, closing the distance between them.
Crack—
Crack—
Along the way, Leon didn't encounter a single fellow adventurer. Instead, he heard that cracking sound from time to time, telling him that the Dungeon's malice was persisting and that the number of enemies might be increasing.
"You really aren't going to give me a way out, are you?"
Leon pulled a potion from the small pouch at his waist, unscrewed the cap, and poured it directly into his mouth.
Before he could even register the taste of the elixir, his heavily depleted stamina began to recover visibly under its effect. Even while running at full tilt, he felt his breathing rhythm slow and the fatigue in his body gradually dissolve. It was as if he had regained his strength, and he accelerated once more.
Crack—
However, just as Leon was about to put some distance between himself and the Kobold army behind him, the cracking sound returned. This time, it wasn't behind him, but right in front—at a junction in the corridor.
Leon looked up and immediately saw several monsters drop from the fractured wall. They blocked his path.
"Gu-ga!"
"Awoo!"
The monsters bared their teeth and claws, looking as though they were sneering.
Leon stopped his running legs, seemingly giving up the struggle.
"Gu-ga-ahhh!!!"
Monsters snarled in front, and hideous beasts loomed behind. Leon was finally surrounded, trapped in a desperate situation.
"...I can't escape?"
Realizing this, Leon took a deep breath and quickly regained his composure.
When you are still weak, you must never take risks.
Thinking back on the rule he had set for himself and then looking at the current predicament, Leon finally realized how unrealistic that "rule" was. If he had decided to be an adventurer, it was impossible not to take risks. If he had decided to enter the Dungeon, then sooner or later, he would encounter this kind of danger and desperation.
Although he was just a transmigrator who had been in this world for only a year—and before today, he hadn't even been in a real fight, let alone a battle—a year was enough time. He had seen countless powerhouses who transcended mortality. He had seen adventurers who slaughtered terrifying monsters like chickens. He had seen the incredible possibilities brought by the Grace of the Gods and the miracles of magic.
Specifically, that gold-haired, gold-eyed swordswoman who had led him out of this Dungeon once before—her silhouette, passing through countless monsters like a gale and dismembering them with ease, had long since been etched into the depths of his heart.
That was the first time he had seen what it meant to be extraordinarily powerful. That was the first time he had seen a silhouette so far beyond his reach.
Perhaps, from that moment, a seed had been planted in his heart. A seed of refusal to be ordinary, a desire to not have come to this world in vain, to live a second life different from his past, and to master the power that one could usually only find in worlds of fantasy.
Adventurers must take risks, and no transmigrator is ever content with the ordinary. He was both a transmigrator and an adventurer.
Therefore—
"Right here, right now... this is my first adventure, the moment I shout my farewell to an ordinary past."
Muttering this, Leon unstrapped the small shield from his left hand and tossed it carelessly onto the ground.
"Ga-ahhh!!!"
The monsters, showing no mercy, howled simultaneously and charged straight at Leon. Facing such a desperate end, Leon looked up abruptly.
From his mouth, words carrying power were firmly uttered.
"[Light of the Heavens, Sword of the Stars.]"
And thus, the miracle known as "Magic" was awakened.
"[Meteor Dance]!"
The short incantation triggered the supernatural power sleeping deep within the human body. From the hand of the boy surrounded by monsters, a streak of starlight flew out.
That starlight was like a true meteor. First, it circled a few times above the boy's raised hand, then it boomed forward, shooting toward the roaring Kobold in front.
Boom!!!
The Kobold didn't even have time to react before it was blown apart by the oncoming meteor, turning into ash along with the scattered stardust and vanishing instantly.
Clack—clack clack—
A small magic stone fragment fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and came to a stop.
"!!!"
The remaining Kobolds in front froze in their tracks, eyes wide, unable to move. They were terrified.
But Leon did not stop.
"[Light of the Heavens, Sword of the Stars.]"
He quickly performed a second incantation, spinning around to face the larger group of Kobolds behind him.
"[Meteor Dance]!"
This time, Leon increased the output of his mental energy, causing several meteors to rise and circle from his palm. [Meteor Dance] was a magic that could increase in power and add additional attacks by consuming extra mental energy.
By pouring in more energy, Leon added extra strikes. Several streaks of starlight shot out from his hand in succession, blasting into the oncoming Kobold army.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the next second, meteors struck one Kobold after another, shattering their small frames instantly into ash.
"[Meteor Dance]!"
"[Meteor Dance]!!"
"[Meteor Dance]!!!"
Leon had no intention of stopping. Over and over he chanted the magic, and time and again he fired the dancing meteors, causing the Kobolds to be pierced, killed, and blown apart.
Thanks to this, when the Kobolds finally managed to reach Leon, their overwhelming numerical advantage had been gutted—only fewer than ten remained.
"Ugh—!"
The remaining Kobolds pounced on Leon with fury. Some bit into his arms and shoulders, while others tore at his chest, thighs, and abdomen with sharp claws. He let out a muffled groan as wounds finally opened on his body.
However, injuries of this degree were within his threshold of endurance.
Pshh!
Pushing through the pain, Leon swung his small straight sword with force, cleaving through a Kobold that was biting his thigh. He followed up with two rapid stabs, piercing the chests of two more, killing them instantly.
"Ga!"
The remaining Kobolds continued to lunge and claw at him. Leon roughly tore them off one by one, swinging his sword repeatedly to lop off limbs or heads, finishing them off.
By the time Leon was covered in blood and riddled with wounds, only two Kobolds remained. Terrified by his performance, they retreated repeatedly.
"[Light of the Heavens, Sword of the Stars.]"
"[Meteor Dance]!"
Leon naturally had no intention of letting them go. He chanted the magic once more. The meteors flew out, piercing the bodies of the last two Kobolds and sending them collapsing to the ground in a chorus of wails.
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