A Feat had been achieved.
Guede's earlier slaughter—three young dragons and a swarm of monsters—combined with this latest, near-death victory in a one-on-one battle across levels. The stacked accomplishments finally satisfied the last condition needed to level up.
Adventurers needed two things to rank up:
At least one attribute had to reach D or higher.
They had to complete a "Feat"—something ordinary people would struggle to accomplish.
By normal logic, killing the young dragons should've counted already… but Guede's system evaluated things a little differently.
Right now, though, he had no spare attention for that.
After killing Zanis, Guede dragged his half-numb body to where Lili lay unconscious.
His condition was terrible.
Even though he'd fought to suppress it, the poison had already spread throughout his body. If it broke through the final defenses—his heart and brain—his life would end.
At this point Guede stopped caring about propriety. He flipped the unconscious Lili over, pulled a long glass bottle of antidote and recovery potion from her special waist pouch, yanked the stoppers, and chugged five vials in one go.
The moment the liquids hit his stomach, purifying and restorative power surged through him. His mind snapped clearer.
Antidote destroyed the poison; recovery potion repaired the damage it had caused.
He could feel sensation gradually returning.
Only after stabilizing a little did he rummage through Lili's massive backpack. It took him a moment—too many layers—but he finally found the rest of the antidotes.
There was a small pile of them—an absurd amount for a normal Dungeon run.
Lili must've predicted Zanis would use poison, so she'd over-prepared to prevent accidents.
Clever.
She hadn't gotten the chance to use them herself—but they were enough for Guede to purge the poison completely.
And since Guede had saved her life, you could say those potions still ended up being used "for Lili," indirectly.
He splashed antidote directly onto his wounds. The black web-like veins standing out across his body visibly began to recede.
Once most feeling had returned, Guede got up and smashed the nearby "high-weight" terrain again to prevent monster spawns.
Only after confirming the area was safe did he spread his Observation Haki widely, checking the situation on the other battlefield.
What he saw surprised him.
That should've been a Level 2 fighting four Level 1s.
Instead, something had changed.
Because a gale had blown through.
A cloaked, masked elf—Ryuu—radiating brutal killing intent, interrogated those adventurers one by one…
…and then executed every last one of them.
It was the first time Guede had ever seen that kind of murderous aura from Ryuu.
The Ryuu he knew from the tavern was always composed, calm, carrying the dignified poise expected of an elf.
"Who's there!?"
Guede jolted.
He had only observed Ryuu with his Haki—
—but she noticed, and in a single glance traced the "origin point" back to Guede's exact position.
Then the gale surged forward. In only a few seconds, wind struck Guede's face, whipping his hair around.
"…Mm."
The incoming killing intent was fierce—but once Ryuu confirmed it was Guede, it dissipated. Her eyes softened, the vicious edge draining back into calm.
She scanned the scene: Lili unconscious, Guede covered in blade wounds and still poisoned, and Zanis's headless corpse on the ground—no longer invisible, since the Hades Helmet's effect didn't apply to the dead.
From the familia crest, clothing, and build, Ryuu identified the corpse as the captain of the Soma Familia.
A man of poor character, recently suspected of dealings with the Evilus—dying by the fire he'd played with. It was exactly the kind of ending such people tended to get.
But the Soma captain… should be Level 2.
Putting the information together, the conclusion was obvious:
Guede had killed Zanis.
No arrows, no supporter's assistance—so it wasn't a team kill.
Which meant—
Zanis, using his higher level for some reason, had tried to murder Guede and Lili.
And Guede, at Level 1, had barely won… and killed a Level 2 in return.
Just like before—inside the Dungeon, he'd slaughtered monsters alone, even multiple young dragons.
A question surfaced naturally.
"Guede… are you already Level 2?"
"No. Still Level 1."
"I see."
That made sense. He'd been an adventurer less than two weeks—there was no way he'd climbed to Level 2 already.
But that only proved his strength from another angle.
No wonder Syr had taken an interest in him—he kept producing miracles.
"Miss Ryuu, why are you here? Weren't you heading deeper earlier?"
A sharp question.
Still—Guede didn't look like someone naive. When attacked, he killed decisively.
He was mature enough.
"Guede… you saw that I killed those adventurers, didn't you? Could you keep it secret for me?"
"No problem. But can you tell me why?"
Fair.
Without enough trust, asking a stranger to keep a secret—without explanation—was unreasonable.
Ryuu herself knew that if she were in his position, she'd suspect the other party was a criminal and wouldn't let it slide.
So she explained.
"First, let me confirm—Guede, you've heard about my past, right?"
"Yes. I know some basics. Like how you hate the Evilus."
"Then I won't repeat the details. If you know that much, you'll understand the rest.
After we parted, I went down to the 18th floor—the Dungeon's 'Labyrinth Paradise'—because I heard there were signs of Evilus activity there.
I spent a day gathering information, and a few hours ago I rooted out an Evilus spy hiding on the 18th floor."
As she spoke, she recalled the interrogation. Mentioning Evilus drew visible disgust onto her face.
"I questioned him. He said he was waiting on the 18th floor to buy a grimoire with valis.
But under deeper interrogation, he admitted he never intended to pay. Once the adventurer handed over the grimoire, he would coordinate with other Evilus members hidden on that floor to kill him.
That's exactly the kind of thing Evilus would do.
Based on his testimony, I hunted down and killed the other spies, then hurried back up to intercept those adventurers.
They claimed their grimoire had already been stolen by an invisible man. Since they were colluding with Evilus, I executed them.
After that… I sensed your gaze, Guede."
Ryuu seemed fully aware of how savage her actions looked.
After finishing, she showed a faint, uncomfortable embarrassment.
To Guede, though, it wasn't a major issue.
"I understand. Don't worry, Miss Ryuu—I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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