In different dungeons, encountering monsters you've seen before isn't anything unusual.
There are indeed countless varieties of monsters. But where they appear usually follows the internal logic of each dungeon.
Shadow Caverns tend to spawn shadow-type monsters.Serpentwood Forest is naturally filled almost entirely—sometimes exclusively—with snake-type monsters.
And as for the final dungeon lord…
Without question, it would also be a serpent.A second-tier snake monster.
"Still… what a coincidence."
Boom!
The instant the giant serpent locked eyes with Kanzaki Rei, its entire body shot forward like a compressed spring releasing!
[Headbutt]
A plain, straightforward physical attack.
Because a snake like this had nearly killed him once before, Rei had specifically gone to the library and looked up its entry in the monster compendium. Its habits, the locations it might appear in, its attack patterns—he knew them all like the back of his hand.
"Captain!"
"Careful! There's a dark crystal on its head! It's an evolved variant!"
A sharp warning came from behind Rei—Jade's voice.
Rei hadn't even reacted yet, but Galen's face instantly turned pale.
Still, as the defender of the team, he stepped forward and raised his shield!
"My body is iron!"
[Second-Tier Combat Art — Harden]
"Root myself!"
[Second-Tier Combat Art — Immovable]
Oh?
So this is what Combat Arts look like?
It was Rei's first time seeing abilities that weren't magic. He'd heard that warriors, defenders, archers, and assassins all used Combat Arts rather than spells.
While briefly observing Galen—
BOOM!
Three massive stone walls erupted from the ground, one after another!
And at the same time—
Slash!
Before the serpent could even crash into the first wall, its body suddenly split open with hundreds of wounds—flesh torn apart, cuts digging all the way down to the spine.
[Wind Rending Spiral (Second Tier) (LV: 121)]
The sudden wind-element spell struck without warning, forcing the serpent to writhe in midair from the pain.
After several days of studying under Izparut, Rei had already mastered more than six second-tier spells.
At the same moment, a massive stone spike burst violently from the earth!
BOOM!
[Piercing Pillar (First Tier) (LV: 175)]
The tip of the pillar was black and hardened, launching upward with terrifying speed!
SPLASH!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The giant serpent was instantly impaled, skewered through the body like meat on a roasting spit, suspended helplessly in midair.
Then—
A second pillar appeared.
And a third.
Three razor-sharp pillars pinned the serpent firmly in the air. It writhed and twisted violently, but there was no longer the slightest chance of escape.
Rei rubbed his index finger against his thumb.
A condensed sphere of flame formed at his fingertips.
[Condensed Fireball (First Tier) (LV: 167)]
Evolution Path — Power
This was one of the few spells Rei had evolved specifically for raw destructive force.
With a casual flick of his hand, the already three-in-one condensed fireball drifted toward the giant serpent.
The instant it touched the creature—
BOOM!
The entire serpent burst into roaring flames!
It thrashed violently in agony, its massive body twisting desperately—but it had absolutely no way to escape.
In the end, beneath the searing blaze of extreme heat—
It finally stopped moving.
Dead.
—
…Just like that?
The three remaining members of the party stood frozen in place.
The entire battle had been resolved almost instantly.
All they saw was stone walls rising from the ground… then three enormous spikes erupting from the earth in rapid succession.
After that, a small drifting flame floated over—and the skewered snake was simply roasted to death.
Rumble—
The sound of crumbling stone echoed.
The three Piercing Pillars dissolved, and the giant serpent dropped from midair.
A strange smell began to spread.
Fragrant… yet foul.
An oddly conflicting scent.
Still, Rei turned and called to the older man behind him.
"Could you harvest it for us?"
Only then did Joel snap out of his daze.
"Ah—oh… right. I'll get to it now."
In truth, Rei knew something.
Using fire magic to roast a dungeon lord like that might reduce the number of usable materials.
But…
He had a personal grudge against snakes.
Even if this wasn't the exact same one that nearly killed him before, just seeing it made him extremely annoyed.
So he decided to make it suffer a little.
The snake was enormous.
But the parts of it that were actually valuable were surprisingly few… otherwise it wouldn't have sold for only 70 silver coins before.
Its meat was bitter and carried a trace amount of toxin, making it inedible.
No one had yet discovered any medicinal value in it either.
Only the skin and the venom sac could be sold.
Together, they were worth about 70 silver.
Still, there was indeed an extra reward.
Earlier, Jade had shouted that it was an evolved variant.
On its head was a protruding dark crystal.
And it was quite large.
Joel returned carrying the dark crystal he'd extracted.
This one was even larger than the one they'd found in the Shadow Caverns earlier—about the size of a bowl, held in both hands.
Joel examined it and said,
"Should be worth about 1 gold."
He couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"Well… it is the Harvest Month, after all."
"The total value produced by this dungeon run is already close to six gold."
Rei felt a bit emotional himself.
Originally, this second-tier dungeon would only earn about 1 gold and 26 silver if you didn't count the quest reward.
Now they were walking away with five gold.
More than three times the usual profit…
And the cost of supplies and equipment wear hadn't increased much.
That meant each person's net earnings from the dungeon were significantly higher.
"Captain, I've checked the rest of the forest," Jade reported. "There doesn't seem to be anything else valuable here."
Rei nodded.
"Alright. Let's head back."
Treasure chests can appear randomly inside dungeons—but they don't show up every time.
…
After returning to the Adventurers' Guild, they turned in the commission.
They received 6 gold and 82 silver.
After paying the hiring fees for the three party members, Rei was left with 6 gold and 22 silver.
Money really was easy to earn.
Rei held up a gold coin and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Sure enough… no matter what world you're in, people with strength make money easily.
Heh… that sounded like the grumbling wisdom of an old man's soul.
Meanwhile, Jade stared at the silver coins in her own hand.
She'd just earned 20 silver that easily.
The whole time she'd simply followed him around. She hadn't even done anything.
Just standing there had earned her 20 silver.
If making money were always this easy, life would be perfect.
Her thoughts drifted back to the mage she had teamed up with before—Tessa.
That mage's earth wall took one or two seconds of chanting before it appeared. Her earth spikes weren't particularly powerful either—and they missed frequently.
Comparing her to Rei was like comparing the heavens to the earth.
Of course, it wasn't that Tessa had any particular problem.
That was simply how most level-2 mages were.
At first glance, the mage class seemed incredibly versatile. They had utility spells and a wide variety of combat options—almost like they could do everything.
They could attack with different elemental magic.
They could cast defensive spells like stone walls and barriers.
They could disperse fog and illuminate darkness.
Compared to the mage class, other professions almost seemed a little inferior.
But in reality, once you actually teamed up with them…
And had to listen to them mutter chants for half the fight before finally throwing out a single spell during a critical moment—
Only then did you truly understand just how exhausting it could be.