In the hearts of the adventurers preparing to conquer the Rock Vault Labyrinth, when dealing with demonic hounds like Hellhounds, the absolute primary objective was that they must prevent them from breathing fire.
The power of a Hellhound's flame attack was simply too immense, and the threat was far too great, comparable to the spectacles of mages utilizing magic, making it an absolute necessity to guard against.
For adventurers, magic was a bottom-of-the-barrel trump card, a devastating weapon capable of altering the course of battle, and conversely, the same applied to monsters.
The magical attacks of monsters carried an even greater threat to adventurers. After all, no matter how one looked at it, adventurers were still human—even thick-skinned dwarves were merely demi-humans. Unless there was a truly massive gap in Level where the difference in strength was excessively disparate, no one was willing to take a single magical attack from a monster. That would be no different from charging stark naked into a sea of fire.
Consequently, when conquering the 13th floor and below, the tactical countermeasures formulated by adventurers always included one identical policy.
"Once a Hellhound appears, prioritize eliminating it."
Even if it meant falling into a situation of being besieged by other monsters, the Hellhound had to be dealt with first. Otherwise, once the opponent's flame breath swept over them, the outcome for adventurers would usually be singular: being burned to ashes alongside the surrounding monsters and companions.
Never mind Level 2 third-tier adventurers—even Level 3 and Level 4 second-tier adventurers, unless they possessed an endurance specialization, would inevitably suffer injuries upon taking a blast of a Hellhound's flames.
Under such circumstances, if Line, a Level 2 non-combatant, were to be struck by a Hellhound's flame breath, she would certainly die, with absolutely no room for luck.
Thus, seeing the surging massive explosion of flames about to engulf Line's petite figure, Leon's heart stopped.
Just as his pupils contracted sharply and the mental energy within his mind billowed drastically, on the verge of recklessly unleashing a chantless magic to block the massive explosion for Line, Line took action ahead of him.
She swiftly retrieved a shield from the backpack on her rear, holding it before herself.
That was precisely the small shield Leon had used previously.
Wielding this small shield, Line actually advanced instead of retreating. Biting her teeth, she charged straight into the massive explosion, completely blocking the menacing flames outside the shield. Moreover, with a violent momentum, she parted the flames while charging out of the coverage area of the explosive blaze, arriving before those few Hellhounds.
"Ya!"
Following that, Line swung the shield in her hand, unexpectedly sending those few Hellhounds flying one by one.
"Galu!"
"Hou-ao!"
Those few Hellhounds were also smashed into a daze, only letting out howling cries of pain after their bodies crashed against the wall.
Line had thus rawly forged a path for Leon, leaving Leon, who was just about to unleash his magic, staring blankly.
"Mr. Leon! Quick!"
Line hurriedly called out to Leon, bringing Leon back to his senses.
He shifted his footwork; one second he was still in his original spot, and the next second he had already charged out violently like a gust of wind, overtaking Line from behind and entering the vast cavern chamber almost front-and-back with her.
"Ji-ji-ji!"
"Ji-yi!"
"Yi-ya!"
A horde of Needle Rabbits only then poured into the cavern chamber like a surging tide, but they no longer had any means to surround Leon.
Compared to the passageway over there, the cavern chamber here was undoubtedly much wider. The horde of Needle Rabbits that had almost completely filled the entire passageway just now instantly dispersed upon entering this place, causing the pressure Leon felt to weaken by an unknown degree all at once.
"Good job, Line."
Leon could not help but praise Line, causing the slightly panting Line to reveal a smile.
"Even though I am a non-combatant, supporting the combatants and relieving pressure for the front line is equally my duty."
No matter what, she was still Level 2. Even if she was weak, she would not completely lose her capability to resist in a place like the start of the middle floors. Leading monsters away, forging a path, and knocking away a few monsters blocking the way were things Line could still manage.
Of course, it did not come without a price.
Leon saw that some scorched black marks had appeared on Line's shield-bearing hand, and the same was true for her face, thighs, and various other parts, with some areas even suffering burns.
The small shield in Line's hand had turned completely charred black, with extremely severe signs of damage. It was likely that even if it were taken for repairs, it could not possibly be fixed properly.
This was only natural. This small shield was merely an item Raul had used during his novice period. While it was more than sufficient for use in the upper floors, it was a bit forced upon arriving at the middle floors.
If it were used to block the impact of a Needle Rabbit or the chop of a stone axe, it could still manage, but the flames of a Hellhound were something capable of burning even high-ranking Level 2 adventurers to ashes. Relying on this shield, which cost no more than ten million Valis, to completely block it down was simply an impossible task.
Under such circumstances, it was entirely understandable that Line would get hurt.
"Please do not worry."
Line naturally noticed Leon's gaze. Smiling, she drew out a staff that had been kept at her waist all along.
"Injuries of this degree can be healed in an instant."
The orb embedded in the staff in Line's hand released a gentle radiance, causing the burn marks on her body to recede at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing this, Leon finally felt relieved, turning his gaze toward the steadily increasing Needle Rabbits and those few Hellhounds that had scrambled up from the wall at some unknown point.
"It is time to finish you all off."
Griping the small straight sword, Leon's figure shot out like lightning.
"Light of the Heavens, Sword of the Stars."
"Meteor Dance!"
Without waiting for the monsters to react, Leon immediately chanted his magic, causing a magic circle to deploy beneath his feet.
Streaks of meteors flew out from the magic circle, yet they did not shoot directly toward the horde of monsters. Instead, they were controlled by Leon to dance around his body.
The Needle Rabbits let out cries, hurling one howling and chopping stone axe after another toward Leon.
Peng! Peng! Peng!
However, just as those flying stone axes were about to strike Leon, they were unexpectedly knocked away one by one, and even smashed to pieces, by the meteors dancing around his body.
Carrying the countless dancing meteors, Leon charged directly into the monster horde.
Boom!
This charge was immediately like a meteorite smashing into a crowd of monsters, provoking a resounding roar.
One by one, the Needle Rabbits were blasted away, pierced through, and crushed by the meteors dancing around Leon's body, as if struck by countless shimmering starlit blades or meteor hammers, unable to even touch Leon, who was enveloped by the meteors.
Leon rampaged through the monster horde in this manner. Wherever he passed, countless Needle Rabbits were blasted away, pierced, and crushed, with not a single one able to escape.
"Galu!"
Those few Hellhounds opened their jaws lined with fangs, tongues of fire rising and falling inside, seemingly already prepared to release their flame breath.
But this time, Leon did not give them the chance.
Boom!
Several meteors abruptly flew out from around Leon's body, slicing through space. Ignoring the surrounding Needle Rabbits and even bypassing the Needle Rabbits blocking the way, they struck the Hellhounds with open jaws.
Those few Hellhounds did not even have time to let out a wretched cry before being obliterated on the spot by the pillar-thick meteors.
Without realizing it, the sky had already begun to gradually turn dark.
When Leon and Line emerged together from the exchange office of the Tower of Babel, although the two of them cut a dusty and even entirely tattered figure, looking at the coin purse they had just obtained, they still could not help but feel a burst of joy.
"Four hundred and seventy-five thousand Valis!"
Line was both happy and excited.
"So much! We earned so much this time, Mr. Leon!"
It was indeed a lot.
One had to know that prior to this, the most money Leon and Line had earned in a single day was just over two hundred thousand Valis, and sometimes not even two hundred thousand Valis.
Yet today, they had earned nearly five hundred thousand Valis, a full two times more than before. How could this not make the two of them feel happy?
"I didn't expect that adventuring in the middle floors would be so lucrative."
Leon was somewhat surprised, but thinking about it carefully, he felt it was within reason.
The middle floors were certainly far more dangerous than the upper floors; only high-ranking adventurers of Level 2 and above could explore there, and they even had to form parties to guarantee safety. But precisely because it was dangerous, and precisely because only high-ranking adventurers could explore it, the prices of the magic stones and drop items produced there would also increase accordingly.
Magic stones went without saying. The magic stones dropped from Level 2 monsters haunting the middle floors would only be larger than those dropped by upper-floor monsters. Even the magic stones hidden within small-scale monsters like Needle Rabbits were larger than the magic stones of some medium-scale and even large-scale monsters in the upper floors. Selling such magic stones would naturally fetch a handsome price.
Drop items would only be more precious, rarer, and of higher quality; it was impossible for the prices not to skyrocket.
Coupled with the higher frequency of monster appearances in the middle floors, the number of monsters vanquished by adventurers increased, and the spoils of war would naturally earn them more.
If one earned too little in the middle floors, why would high-ranking Level 2 adventurers bother to form parties to explore there?
It was certainly because exploring there was still profitable—even when needing to split it equally with teammates—is why those high-ranking adventurers were willing to enter in groups. Otherwise, it would be better to continue staying in the upper floors alone.
Thinking of it this way, it seemed earning this amount of money was nothing out of the ordinary.
Once they became more familiar with the Rock Vault Labyrinth later on and more adapted to the difficulty of conquering it, the earning speed of Leon's duo would rise further. At that time, raking in wealth daily would not be a dream at all.
This was why so many people wanted to enter the Dungeon even at the risk of their lives, because one truly could amass a fortune there.
After her excitement, Line also began to divide the money.
"Mr. Leon, for you."
Line handed a thick coin purse to Leon, causing Leon, who weighed it briefly, to furrow his brows.
"Isn't this too much?"
Leon spoke with a frown.
Although he did not inspect and count it carefully, based on this weight, Leon could be certain that the money allocated to him was at least four hundred thousand Valis.
In other words, Line only took the small change, leaving the lion's share entirely to him.
"Isn't this what we agreed upon beforehand?" Line smiled and said, "As a supporter, I only need to take a small portion. Mr. Leon is the primary combatant, and the sole combatant at that, so of course you must take the vast majority."
This was the distribution rule Line had established on the very first day they formed a party.
According to her words, she merely followed behind Leon to pick up items, process corpses, and transport cargo. No matter what, she could not take too much.
Leon felt it was inappropriate right from the start, but Line also had her own insistence, only willing to take the portion matching her labor, leaving Leon with very little recourse.
Therefore, all along, when the two of them earned money while adventuring, Line would directly allocate seventy percent to him, and sometimes even more than seventy percent. She herself only took less than thirty percent, and even had to pay out of her own pocket to purchase supplies, causing Leon to lecture her about it unknown how many times.
Consequently, Line still took only the minority portion today, yielding the lion's share to Leon. How could Leon stand for this?
"Before was one thing, when you indeed only performed the work of a supporter. But today you led monsters and forged a path, and even used magic to heal me unknown how many times. How can you continue to take this much?"
Leon no longer agreed to this distribution method.
Line had truly helped him a lot today. As a supporter, she was loyal and dutiful, completely flawless, and her performance was exceptionally outstanding. Furthermore, as a healer, she had finally come in handy today. How could she continue to take the minority?
Healers were a profession even scarcer than mages, a teammate that others' squads could not even beg for. If she were still allowed to earn so little, how could that be justified?
When some healers accepted requests from others to help treat injuries, the reward received for a single instance could be more than one hundred thousand Valis. How many times had Line utilized healing magic today?
Therefore, Leon was absolutely unwilling to distribute it this way again.
However, Line also had her own thoughts.
"I am actually not particularly strapped for cash. Although I do not frequently go to the Dungeon to explore like the combatants in the Familia normally do, I accept requests from others to help treat certain difficult and complicated illnesses that ordinary spiritual medicine cannot cure. So don't look at me like this; my savings are much more than adventurers of the same Level."
Line looked at Leon, saying this very seriously.
"But Mr. Leon is different. Although you have already leveled up, you are still a newcomer who has debuted for less than a month. Right now, you should be at the stage of needing to accumulate as much wealth as possible, right?"
Saying this, Line did not give Leon a chance to speak, pointing out a problem straight to the point.
"The weapon in Mr. Leon's hand actually can no longer keep up with the intensity of your battles, right?"
Hearing this, Leon was rendered speechless.
He touched the un-sheathed small straight sword at his waist. This weapon, which had been considered quite sharp previously, was now riddled with notches all over the blade housed within the scabbard, its wear and tear exceptionally severe.
The small shield Leon used previously could already somewhat fail to cope with the monsters of the middle floors; this small straight sword was naturally the same.
This was originally something phased out by a senior in the Familia. That senior had felt this weapon was no longer sufficient after rising to Level 2, which was why it had been phased out.
This small straight sword was absolutely sufficient for use in the upper floors, but when dealing with large-scale monsters on the 10th floor, it was already no longer as universally advantageous as before, and it goes without saying after arriving at the middle floors.
Therefore, it truly could not keep up with the current intensity of battle.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi