Water City.
A vast aquatic expanse spanning from the 25th to the 27th floor.
Numerous aquatic monsters lurked in these waters, hiding and waiting for opportunities to deliver fatal blows to adventurers.
The danger level had shifted significantly from the middle to the lower floors.
"Great Water Snakes! Watch the water surface movements around us! Beware of ambushes!"
Though not as skilled as Finn, Riveria who had always fought by his side, had naturally picked up some things through constant exposure.
Moreover, she was an experienced adventurer herself.
The formation had been organized and sufficiently trained on land beforehand, so she only needed to give simple commands.
Four Great Water Snakes simultaneously attacked from different directions.
At the same time, a large group of Ironclad Crabs emerged from the water onto land.
"Everyone be careful! If you get dragged into the water, it's over!"
Due to the existence of the Great Fall, all water on this floor converged rapidly in the same direction with a turbulent flow.
Additionally, many aquatic monsters hid within those waters.
If an adventurer accidentally fell into the water, monsters would immediately attack and grapple with them.
Given adventurers' status values, falling into water itself wasn't particularly problematic.
The key was returning to land immediately.
Otherwise, they would be swept by the turbulent currents to the water's convergence point—the Great Fall.
Falling from that nearly kilometer-high waterfall meant almost zero survival probability.
Noah observed the battle situation and simultaneously cast Appraisal on the surrounding monsters.
Recently, he had become able to handle large amounts of information flooding his mind without discomfort.
Ironclad Crabs had hard steel shells with strong physical resistance, weak to fire (50%) and lightning (50%).
Great Water Snakes were large, primarily attacking through biting, highly agile in water, with average defense, weak to lightning (70%) and fire (30%).
Noah instantly loaded three red bullet.
"Lightning Strike"
Creator: Noah
Magic Bullet
Maximum Range: 1.6km
Maximum Lethal Radius: Within 2 meters
Lightning-attribute gunshot capable of causing armor-piercing damage with defense-breaking and electrification effects.
Targets locked: Great Water Snakes ×4.
After marking them, Noah raised the Annihilator and aimed upward.
"Lightning Strike."
White-hot lightning surged forth like an unsheathed blade shooting into the sky, coalescing into a ball of lightning.
The next moment, four lightning bolts descended from above, accurately striking the four Great Water Snakes eyeing the party, electrocuting them rigid with black smoke pouring from their mouths.
"That should immobilize the Great Water Snakes temporarily, the others can finish them off."
The moment the Loki Familia members recognized the opportunity, those with long-range attack capabilities immediately followed up with assaults, directly killing them.
The Great Water Snakes' bodies turned to dust, reclaimed by the Dungeon.
After firing Lightning Strike, Noah didn't hesitate, immediately retrieving three more rounds.
The cartridge casings and bombardment spells were similarly made of tungsten alloy, just much smaller in size.
"Tempered Edge"
Creator: Noah
Enhancement Bullet
Maximum Targets: Single target
Maximum Duration: 180 seconds
Imbues weapons with the fire element, adding flame attribute effects, causing fire damage when attacking.
Noah observed the frontline battle, seeing Raul's slash get deflected, so he quickly loaded three bullets engraved with the Tempered Edge spell.
"Focused Strike."
As Noah completed the ultra-short chant, the three loaded Tempered Edge rounds compressed into one, the effect increased by 300% and the duration halved!
"Raul! Catch!"
Hearing Noah's voice, Raul looked back after evading, then saw a beam of light enlarging before his eyes.
Under his astonished gaze, the beam accurately landed on the sword in his hand.
"Huh?"
'Support magic used on the sword, not me?'
This moment reminded him of when he severed Goliath's tendons under Extreme Cut's effect.
However, this effect was clearly not the wind attribute.
'Amazing, it was like i was using magic myself!'
'Moreover, Ironclad Crabs had very poor fire resistance.'
'Did Noah consider this?'
"Thank you very much, Noah!"
Raul gripped his weapon with both hands, aimed at an Ironclad Crab before him, and swung the blade!
Next, he witnessed something he couldn't comprehend.
That Ironclad Crab was cleaved in two.
The sword wrapped in raging flames sliced through the dark steel shell like cutting through butter.
However, what truly shocked Raul came next.
The flames wrapped around the sword extended into a crescent shape due to Raul's slash, terrifying flames carrying high temperatures pouring forth onto the remaining Ironclad Crabs, directly engulfing large numbers of them.
Seeing the sea of fire he created with one sword strike, Raul was utterly dumbfounded, feeling profound emotion from the depths of his heart.
As an ordinary man, aside from using magic swords, this was the first time he unleashed an attack he had always yearned for!
Raul swung his sword again; this time, a massive fireball shot directly from the sword, landing in the sea of flames and exploding.
Ironclad Crabs, annihilated!
Nearby, the black-haired cat girl Aki was completely stunned.
'Is that really Raul? Just from one support spell from Noah and he became this fierce?'
"Incredible!"
"Was that done by Raul?"
"Unbelievable!"
"Did Raul finally awaken magic?"
Riveria was also astonished seeing Raul's ferocious attack power.
Such power far surpassed low-grade magic swords circulating on the black market.
More crucially, their costs were worlds apart.
A magic sword like this would cost 2 million valis, but with Noah's support, judging by Raul's condition, he could continuously launch such attacks...
Where did the Hephaestus Familia find such a freak?
Noah watched Raul's mighty display while also marveling—'as expected of Tempered Edge boosted to 300% effect, the power was truly strong.'
Raul held the burning sword, his mind filled with only one thought.
'I am the protagonist!'
Having been an ordinary man for so long, Raul was momentarily moved to forgetfulness, completely unaware of the hidden threat behind him.
Tendrils emerged from the turbulent currents, crawling up behind him.
"Raul, be careful!" Aki was the first to notice the abnormality and immediately issued a warning.
But it was still too late.
Raul only felt a terrifying force on his ankles, pulling his entire body off the ground.
The sword in his hand fell, and Raul was dragged at high speed into the turbulent river.
"...Damn it!"
"Grab him!"
"Wait, idiot! You'll just get pulled in too!"
"Raul!"
Whoosh!
As everyone panicked, a pale beam shot through the crowd, falling like a meteor above the turbulent river.
Instantly, ultra-low temperatures froze the water flow, also freezing Raul who had fallen into the water but not yet submerged, in ice.
'Alicia? No, It's Noah!' Riveria instantly realized it, directing everyone to rescue Raul.
Seeing Raul being salvaged, Noah worked the bolt to eject an ice-crystal-like cartridge case.
"Freezing Ray"
Creator: Noah
Magic Bullet
Maximum Range: 0.8km
Maximum Effect Radius: 5 meters
Fires an ultra-low-temperature ray capable of freezing targets or creating ice blocks.
"Well done, Noah. If not for you, Raul would have been in danger." Riveria specifically came over to thank him on behalf of the entire party.
She looked at the calm-faced youth before her, her evaluation of him rising once more.
He wasn't just intelligent and talented.
In that situation earlier, his reaction was faster than anyone's, and he took reasonable action even quicker than the first responders.
This observational power and ability to calmly handle emergencies were already remarkable.
Moreover, in such a short time, he had consecutively used three different attributes—lightning, fire, ice—plus the wind attribute from before.
If the youth hadn't personally admitted not being a mage, Riveria might suspect he was a half-elf.
The only races so blessed by magic could be elves, or among beast-humans, the extremely rare fox-person sorcerers.
Seeing Raul rescued, Noah put away the Annihilator and approached him.
Looking at Raul suffering from slight frostbite, he took out a potion for treating abnormal statuses.
However, since Raul kept shivering uncontrollably, his lips chattering wildly, the potion couldn't be properly administered into his mouth.
After two failed attempts, the potion almost fell to the ground.
Noah frowned, directly taking a syringe from his backpack.
He attached the potion to the syringe, then pressed the switch to extend the needle.
After checking the needle's smoothness, he gave Raul a direct injection.