"Hahhhhhhh???"
Tsubaki's jaw dropped dramatically after staring blankly for several seconds.
Had she heard that right just now? Noah actually said he wanted to go down to the 37th floor together with her?
"No, no, no, no. Noah, I hate to break it to you, but the deep floors are absolutely no place for a Level 2 like you to survive!"
The usually carefree and seemingly thick-skinned Tsubaki was now speaking with unprecedented seriousness, emphasizing her point with a completely dead-serious face.
"You've only ever been to the upper floors, so you have zero understanding of the horrors of the deep floors. That place is literal hell! Once you reach the deep floors, the Dungeon literally devours people!"
"It gnaws your bones and sucks your marrow, leaving not even scraps behind!" Tsubaki seriously emphasized the absolute terrors of the deep floors, rambling on incessantly.
However, upon seeing Noah's completely blank unchanged expression, she moved way past mere seriousness and shifted into a nearly derogatory, harsh tone.
"Noah, being an adventurer isn't a child's play, so you can't just be blindly confident about your own strength, or else you'll die real fast."
Coming from Tsubaki, words like that carried tremendous weight, because so far, she had personally watched way more than just ten or twenty people die down in the Dungeon.
They died right in front of her eyes, mere steps away, yet she couldn't even retrieve their bodies and was only able to watch their despair and those eyes filled with a desperate longing for life.
Being stared at by those dying eyes felt utterly cursed, making her dream of those people multiple times as they accused and questioned her: 'Why didn't you save me then? Why did I have to die?'
She absolutely didn't want to see Noah with that same look in his eyes, nor did she want to watch her junior die right in front of her.
"I don't want to have anymore damn nightmares, can you understand that, Noah?"
...
Noah looked at the intensely serious Tsubaki standing before him, realizing this was completely different from the Tsubaki Collbrand he knew.
Right now, she definitely wasn't just speaking as Tsubaki, but rather she was speaking seriously as the captain of the Hephaestus Familia guiding her junior, looking sufficiently imposing and sufficiently badass.
But.....
"Pfft... Hahaha, sorry Tsubaki, but this really doesn't suit you at all."
Because he knew the real her, Noah understood that this girl was really forcing herself right now, doing something she wasn't good at, but having to muster 120% seriousness to take responsibility for her junior's sake.
She was just too damn kind!
"Ahhhhhhh." Tsubaki suddenly deflated completely, scratching her scalp because it felt itchy from the sheer embarrassment and messing up her long black hair terribly in the process.
"I really shouldn't do things I'm not good at, since even you could tell. Am I just a weak-ass captain?"
"No." Noah suddenly became totally serious. "On this point I can state definitively, Tsubaki, you are absolutely a qualified captain."
"Uwoooooh... Don't do that, you praising me so seriously is just really embarrassing."
The two of them shared a laugh.
Noah turned around and grabbed his construct coat off the hanger.
"Come outside with me for a bit, Tsubaki."
"Eh?" Seeing his completely battle-ready expression, she sighed helplessly.
"You're seriously still not giving up, huh?"
Noah: "It's a rare opportunity, so anyway, just let me prove I have the right qualifications for this, alright?"
Tsubaki: "Ah, what a pain in the ass. I'm really not good at holding back, you know."
Noah: "Just don't kill me."
...
Out at the Hephaestus Familia base, the "former" workshop that Tsubaki had blown flat was still untouched and sitting there like a total wasteland.
As a sparring ground, it was absolutely impeccable, but it was somewhat unfavorable for the weaker party in a situation with such a massive power gap.
In real battles, being able to fully utilize your advantages, using the environment, or even the weather, could become vital cards to narrow the power difference between fighters, so an open environment like this meant the weaker side had zero opportunities to pull off any clever bullshit.
"Alright then, to make you quickly abandon this dangerous idea, I'll just attack you straight on! Be careful not to get smashed to bits, Noah!"
After putting some distance between them, Tsubaki immediately drew the massive great axe and greatsword from her back.
Both were heavy weapons that ordinary adventurers would need two hands just to wield properly, but in Tsubaki's hands, they seemed to float around completely weightless.
She held the great axe in her left hand and the greatsword in her right, totally ignoring her exclusive weapon, 'Benishigure'.
After all, as a Level 5 first-class adventurer, using her main weapons against a Level 2 would be way too excessive and completely defeat the purpose of the test.
"Here I come!"
Tsubaki swung the great axe with one hand, generating a raging wind pressure that made Noah feel like he'd instantly get turned into fucking mincemeat if he actually got hit.
Seeing her swing that massive great axe around like it was a short sword with such an exaggerated attack range made Noah realize that Tsubaki truly wasn't good at holding back, considering even a Level 4 adventurer would be instantly finished if that thing struck them!
Noah hastily dodged out of the way, but when the great axe struck the dirt, it exploded upon impact with the force of a high-yield bomb.
Anti-barrier!
Realizing he absolutely could not underestimate that kind of power, Noah quickly channeled his mana straight into his coat, instantly activating the defensive measures built into Construct C0.
His body, completely wrapped in the barrier, was tossed around like a tiny boat caught in the violent wind pressure, throwing him back a good ten meters before he could barely manage to correct his stance.
"It's not over yet!"
Tsubaki arrived in the air right above him almost simultaneously, making Noah stare up at her like he'd just seen a ghost.
"Wind, repel her!"
Using the Spell-Weaver skill to manipulate the wind elements, a mana-compressed storm violently exploded between them, instantly blasting Noah back down toward the ground.
Meanwhile, Tsubaki swung her insanely heavy greatsword with just one hand, directly tearing the entire windstorm apart.
This was the raw power of a Level 5, truly monstrous and completely excessive!
"Gravity reversal!" Noah manipulated the gravity around him via Spell-Weaver right before he smashed into the ground, letting him land safely as he looked back up at Tsubaki hovering in mid-air.
"You can't possibly dodge this now, right, since there's zero leverage for you up in the air?"
Noah quickly channeled his mana into the Raven Feather gauntlet, causing the hand armor to fully deploy as he aimed it straight at Tsubaki above him.
"Try this on for size."
'Bombard!'
A scorching fireball erupted out of the glowing magic circle deployed by the Raven Feather gauntlet, reaching the Cyclops in a split second and exploding violently right in front of her slightly astonished eyes.