Time in the Dungeon was not measured in hours, but in heartbeats and hammer swings.
Two weeks had passed since Aiden and Lyra made the decision to stop playing hero and start playing the numbers game. Fourteen days of waking up at dawn, eating tasteless ration bars, walking to Babel, descending to Floor 5, killing until their arms shook, and dragging themselves back to the slums.
It was monotonous. It was grueling. It was exactly what they needed.
SPLAT.
Aiden's sledgehammer came down with a dull, wet thud. The Frog Shooter didn't even have time to extend its tongue. Its head caved in, and the monster dissolved into ash.
Aiden didn't pant. He didn't stumble. He simply pivoted on his heel, using the recoil of the hammer to swing it back up to a ready position.
"Clear left," Aiden said, his voice calm.
"Clear right," Lyra replied. She was standing ten meters away, her ash wood wand glowing faintly. A Dungeon Lizard lay dead at her feet, its eyes glazed over—a victim of a targeted Reverie spike that had shut down its motor functions, allowing her to slip the red chitin dagger between its scales.
Aiden checked the surroundings. The mossy cavern of Floor 5 was quiet.
He pulled up his interface.
[Status Check]
[Strength: H-124] [Endurance: H-105] [Agility: I-60]
"H-Rank," Aiden muttered. "Finally."
In the world of Danmachi, stats were graded by letters. I was 0-99. H was 100-199. Most adventurers spent months trying to break the I-Rank barrier. Aiden had done it in three weeks.
It wasn't because he was a genius. It was because he was cheating—not with the Devil powers, but with the System. The Omnifract System optimized his Excelia gain. It ensured that every drop of effort was recorded and applied efficiently to his soul. There was no "wasted effort."
"We're getting faster," Lyra said, wiping her dagger on a patch of moss. "Two weeks ago, this room took us ten minutes and half my mana. Today? Two minutes. Zero mana wasted."
"Efficiency is survival," Aiden said. He picked up the Frog Shooter skin. "That's skin number fifty for the week."
They were essentially farming. They had turned the danger of the dungeon into a job.
But the job had overheads.
That evening, the mood in the Soma Familia base was tense.
It was "Collection Day."
Zanis Lustra sat at the head table, a ledger open in front of him. A line of ragged adventurers stood before him, handing over pouches of Valis. Those who didn't have enough were dragged away by the guards—toward the locked room where the Divine Wine waited to turn them into mindless slaves.
Aiden and Lyra stood in line. They didn't look like the others anymore. Their leather armor, though scuffed and acid-stained, was maintained. They stood straighter. They didn't shake from withdrawal.
When they reached the table, Zanis didn't look up.
"Eclipse Party," he murmured. "Two weeks of perfect attendance. You're becoming boring, Aiden."
"Boring is profitable," Aiden placed a heavy bag on the table. 10,000 Valis.
It was an exorbitant tax. Most Familias took 50% or a flat fee. Zanis was taking nearly 70% of their earnings. He was trying to bleed them dry, forcing them to work harder and harder just to stay afloat.
Zanis weighed the bag. "Light."
"It's the agreed amount," Aiden said, his tone neutral.
"The price of security has gone up," Zanis smiled, showing white teeth. "Orario is dangerous. The Soma name protects you. 12,000."
Aiden didn't flinch. He reached into his belt pouch—his emergency reserve—and pulled out another 2,000 Valis. He dropped it on the table.
"Done."
Zanis's smile faltered for a microsecond. He was disappointed. He wanted them to beg. He wanted them to fail.
"You're hiding money," Zanis whispered, leaning forward. "You're doing well. Maybe too well for Level 1s."
"We work long hours," Aiden said. "Can we go?"
"Go," Zanis waved his hand dismissively. "But remember, Aiden. The dungeon gets harder the deeper you go. Eventually, you'll need the wine. Everyone does."
Aiden and Lyra walked away. They felt the eyes of the other Familia members on them—envy, hunger, and hatred. They were the "stars" of the slums now, and that made them targets.
Back in their room, Aiden engaged the lock and slumped against the door.
"He's going to squeeze until we pop," Lyra said, sitting on the bed. She counted their remaining funds. "800 Valis left. We can buy food and maybe one potion. We're running in place, Aiden. We make more, he takes more."
"He's accelerating because we're growing," Aiden walked to the corner where his sledgehammer rested. "He sees the stats increasing. He knows if we hit Level 2, he can't control us anymore. A Level 2 adventurer is a protected asset in Orario. The Guild would step in."
"Level 2 requires a D-Rank stat (500+) and a Feat," Lyra recited the rules. "We're at H-124. We're months away."
"Not months," Aiden said. "We need to go deeper. Floor 5 isn't giving enough Excelia anymore. The System says my growth curve is flattening. I'm one-shotting the frogs. No struggle, no growth."
"Floor 6?" Lyra asked. "War Shadows."
"Floor 6," Aiden confirmed. "And then Floor 7. The Killer Ants."
"We're skipping the middle floors?"
"We're chasing the Feat," Aiden turned to her. "To level up, we need to do something impossible. Farming frogs isn't impossible. Hunting the Monster Rex of the middle floors... or surviving a Deep Floor dive... that counts."
"You want to fight the Goliath?" Lyra looked at him like he was crazy. "On Floor 17?"
"Eventually. But first..." Aiden pulled out a map he had drawn. "We need a breakthrough on the Devil powers. My [Render] is active. It costs too much stamina. I need a passive application. Something that makes the grind sustainable."
He held out his hand. The Severance Devil stirred.
"I've been trying to 'sever' the air resistance," Aiden murmured. "But it's too abstract. But what if I apply it to myself?"
"Sever yourself?"
"Sever the limit," Aiden said. "The body has natural inhibitors. Pain. Fatigue. Fear. They stop you from using 100% of your muscle strength to prevent tearing."
"Aiden, if you sever those, you'll rip your own arms off."
"Not all of them," Aiden's eyes glowed with a faint, dark light. "Just the safety margin. From 70% to 80%. A micro-severance of the biological limiter."
[System Query: Biological Limiter Adjustment.]
[Risk: High.] [Potential Skill: "Adrenaline Bypass".]
"I'm going to try it tomorrow," Aiden decided. "On Floor 6."
The next day, they descended past the Green Hell of Floor 5.
The stairs to Floor 6 were slick with moisture. The air grew colder. The walls shifted from mossy green to a dark, oppressive gray.
"Floor 6," Lyra whispered. "The domain of the Shadows."
They hadn't taken five steps into the corridor when the lights went out.
The phosphorescent moss that lit the dungeon dimmed.
Flicker.
A War Shadow emerged from the wall. Then another. Then a third.
Three War Shadows. Level 2 potential monsters.
"Test time," Aiden said. He didn't raise the hammer to a defensive guard. He lowered his stance.
He focused inward. Not on the enemy, but on his own nervous system. He visualized the electrical signals that screamed stop when muscles were pushed too hard.
Sever the inhibitor.
[Skill Development: LIMIT BREAK (Minor)]
[Effect: Strength Output +20%. Self-Damage +10%.]
A jolt of electricity ran through Aiden's spine. His vision sharpened. The fatigue in his legs vanished, replaced by a cold, burning power.
The first Shadow lunged, its claw aiming for his throat.
Aiden moved.
He didn't just swing the hammer; he snapped it. The acceleration was unnatural. The iron head moved faster than his I-Rank Agility should allow.
CRACK.
The hammer met the Shadow's torso mid-lunge. The impact was like a cannon shot. The Shadow didn't just dissipate; it was launched backward down the corridor, smashing into its two kin.
Aiden roared, the sound tearing from his throat. He felt a muscle in his back strain, a warning twinge of a tear, but he ignored it.
He charged.
He was on them before they could recover.
Smash. Smash.
He turned the remaining two Shadows into black mist.
[Combat End]
Aiden dropped the hammer. He fell to his knees, gasping. His right bicep was twitching uncontrollably.
"Aiden!" Lyra ran to him, wand raised. "Your arm... it's bruising instantly."
"I broke the limit," Aiden grinned through the pain. "Strength I-24... plus 20% output. I hit them with Strength G force."
"You're tearing yourself apart to pay Zanis," Lyra scolded, applying the last of their burn salve to his arm to soothe the muscle.
"No," Aiden looked at the dispersing mist of the War Shadows. "I'm tearing myself apart so we don't have to pay him much longer."
He looked at the loot. Three large, jagged magic stones.
"Floor 6 is viable," Aiden declared, standing up shakily. "If we manage the self-damage... we can grind here. The Excelia gain is triple that of Floor 5."
"And the risk is quadruple," Lyra countered.
"That's the trade," Aiden picked up his hammer. "Welcome to the fast lane."
They continued into the dark.
Unbeknownst to them, they weren't the only ones on Floor 6.
In a shadow deeper than the War Shadows, a small, hooded figure watched them. A Prum with a massive backpack.
Liliruca Arde.
She watched the "Eclipse" party destroy the Shadows. She saw Aiden's self-destructive power and Lyra's precise control.
"Soma Familia," Lili whispered, spotting the emblem on their status sheets through a gap in their armor. "But they don't fight like junkies."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Profitable," she decided. "And exploitable."
[Time Elapsed: 3 Weeks since Arrival.]
[Status: H-Rank Stats Achieved.]
[New Skill Unlocked: Limit Break (Self-Buff/Self-Harm).]
[Multiverse Flag: Liliruca Arde (Observer).]