While Ren Kuroda was attempting to clear the underground labyrinth, the weak monsters that lacked intelligence were practically crushed by his aura before they could even get close.
As for those that had developed even the slightest bit of awareness…
The moment they sensed the terrifying presence radiating from Ren's body, they didn't dare show themselves at all.
Once they realized this was a figure far beyond anything they could provoke, the only sensible thing to do was step aside and let the floor guardians below deal with the challenger.
As for those so-called guardians—whether it was the nine-tailed beast Kumara, who had once been bound by Demon Lord Clayman and was now one of Rimuru's subordinates…
Or the newly named monsters of the Jura Forest…
Because Ren and Rimuru had an extremely close relationship, all of them knew who Ren was.
So when this "challenger" appeared, they simply threw out one or two symbolic skills for show before promptly surrendering.
It couldn't be helped.
Any monster who knew Ren understood that Lord Ren was not only Lord Rimuru's closest friend, but also someone whose strength surpassed even Rimuru himself.
Among the Nine Pillar Demon Lords, he was one of the rare individuals capable of standing toe-to-toe with the Destroyer Tyrant Milim.
Against a challenger of that absurd level…
If someone in the labyrinth truly had the power to fight him, it was probably only the guardian of the 100th floor—Lord Veldora himself.
That was precisely why Ren managed to conquer ninety-nine floors of the dungeon in less than half an hour.
Because when the guardians saw that the challenger was Ren, they all chose to slack off rather than risk getting beaten up.
It wasn't that they lacked loyalty.
It was simply that even if they fought with everything they had, the result would still be the same.
So they wisely gave up struggling.
As for Ren, since these monsters were Rimuru's subordinates—and many of them were old acquaintances—he naturally felt awkward about going all out against them.
So although he was technically "conquering" the dungeon, the journey felt more like a relaxed countryside stroll.
In just over ten minutes, Ren had already reached the 96th floor.
The air instantly became unbearably hot.
The entire region was filled with roaring flames and flowing rivers of magma.
And residing here was one of the four dragons Milim had captured.
The guardian of the 96th floor was the Fire Dragon King.
"Impressive," a thunderous voice roared.
"To have conquered the first ninety-five floors and reached my presence… it seems you are quite the formidable challenger."
"But your journey ends here."
"As the first warrior to reach this place, I grant you permission to declare your name!"
The moment Ren stepped onto the 96th floor, the blazing heat from the surroundings was the only thing that stirred even the slightest reaction from him.
After all, his journey through the dungeon had been full of familiar faces.
Not a single one of them had dared to seriously fight him.
Frankly, the entire experience had been terrible.
So when Ren entered the 96th floor without much expectation—and heard that loud, majestic dragon roar—
His expression immediately lit up with interest.
Finally.
After walking through the dungeon for so long, he had encountered someone who actually looked like a proper boss.
All the previous floor guardians had addressed him with "Lord Ren" every other sentence.
Technically, Ren was the challenger and they were supposed to be the bosses.
Yet their attitudes had been so humble it almost felt embarrassing.
But look at the guardian of the 96th floor!
Now this guy had real boss energy.
First he demanded the challenger announce their name.
Then he would presumably kill them afterward.
Perfect villain aura.
A truly qualified RPG boss.
When the Fire Dragon King had first been captured and dragged into the labyrinth, he had been extremely dissatisfied.
He was a proud dragon of noble blood.
Now he had not only been forced to serve under someone else, but was also reduced to standing guard like some gatekeeper.
To him, it had felt like the greatest humiliation imaginable.
But Milim, who had come to capture him, hadn't bothered arguing.
When he refused…
She simply used her favorite method of persuasion.
"Reasoning with dragons through force."
After sensing the overwhelming aura of a higher dragon lineage within Milim—and experiencing her terrifying strength firsthand—
The Fire Dragon King and the other three Dragon Kings could only submit under her oppressive power.
However, after they were brought to the so-called underground labyrinth, they encountered another terrifying existence.
The calamity known as the Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest.
Even as lower-rank dragons, the four Dragon Kings might fail to recognize many beings in the world—
But they would never fail to recognize one of the Four True Dragons.
Even lesser dragons took great pride in their bloodline.
To them, the Four True Dragons were practically divine beings.
"What? Then why didn't they respect Milim the same way?"
Well, that was simple.
Milim was technically a Dragonoid.
Although she inherited the bloodline of the strongest dragon species, she was no longer a pure dragon.
But Veldora?
Veldora was a genuine member of the Four True Dragons.
The real deal.
So when the Dragon Kings heard that Storm Dragon Veldora himself served as the final boss of the dungeon…
They suddenly had no complaints about becoming guardians.
After all—
Even one of the Four True Dragons was technically just a floor boss.
If that was the case, then them guarding floors below him wasn't something worth complaining about.
On top of that, the environment here was incredibly comfortable.
The air was saturated with the dense magicules and draconic aura leaking from Veldora's body.
For fellow dragons, it was an incredible blessing.
So the four Dragon Kings who had initially been dragged here against their will…
Instantly transformed into Veldora fanatics.
In fact, because they admired Veldora so much, they even began learning various things from him.
For example—
The speech the Fire Dragon King had just delivered to Ren?
He had learned that directly from his boss, Veldora.
Veldora had explained that it came from something called "manga culture."
To the four Dragon Kings, this culture seemed incredibly profound.
It perfectly matched the dignified—well, chuunibyou—aura of dragons.
Just look at what happened!
The moment he shouted those lines, his presence instantly became far more imposing.
Even the challenger standing before him seemed stunned into silence.
Seeing the challenger apparently frozen in shock, the Fire Dragon King spread his wings and soared into the air.
Then—
He unleashed a massive dragon breath of flames straight at Ren's face.
The Fire Dragon King was extremely excited.
Their boss Veldora had explained that the more challengers they defeated, the more merits they would accumulate.
And those merits could be exchanged with Veldora for all sorts of rewards.
For example:
Pure True Dragon blood.
Or those mysterious things that taught dragons how to display their majestic dignity—
Manga.
The four Dragon Kings were roughly equal in strength.
But the Fire Dragon King believed himself the smartest.
Back when they were assigned floors, he had stubbornly insisted on guarding the 96th floor.
Sure, the lower floors had denser magicules.
But once challengers reached the 96th floor…
Did he really think he would allow them to keep going deeper?
Of course not.