Dungeon, middle floors, Floor 13.
Leon's party was moving fast down a narrow "single-file" corridor, aimed straight at the massive chamber ahead.
As everyone knew, from Floor 13 onward, the passages between chambers stretched out far longer.
For Adventurers, the correct call was to reach the open chambers as quickly as possible and not linger in the corridors.
Their party's strategy was no different, given this wasn't their first time here. When it came to adaptation, strategy, and tactics, they had things well refined.
"Crack-crack-crack!"
Without warning, the rock walls near the vertical shaft and the ground around them split open!
A swarm of snarling monsters burst out of the earth, sealing off the mouth of the corridor in an instant.
The group froze mid-step, their faces going long.
Glancing around at this all-too-familiar scene, Leon sighed and couldn't help grumbling.
"Ugh... this again. Give it a rest, Dungeon!"
The moment he finished speaking, the four of them snapped into battle formation on reflex, taking up intercept stances.
A biting killing intent spread through the corridor in an instant.
Jeanne leaned forward with her lance, her silver heeled combat boots stepping sideways, sharp eyes locking on the monsters pouring in from the front.
Without looking back, she gave the order.
"I'll handle the front! You take the flanks as main attacker! Laurier, Aura, support and cover! Leon, got it?"
"OK!"
The corner of Leon's mouth curled into a brash grin.
"Grind them into dust! Frost Armor!"
Hum...
Magic swirled into a vortex! A silver-blue magic circle flashed beneath Leon's feet and was gone.
An eggshell-thin shield forged from frozen ice wrapped snugly around him.
"Laurier, Aura. You two stay behind me."
Without waiting for a reply, Leon, his eyes blazing with magical light, leveled his staff and launched straight into the attack on the swarm.
"Multi-cast Fireball, twenty shots!"
The corner of his mouth twitched upward as he called out.
"Fire!"
The next instant!
The mana crystal at the tip of his staff and the crimson magic circle began to flash without pause.
Fireballs the size of truck wheels, blazing with heat, strung together into a single red streak and detonated among the monsters in an instant!
Explosions ripped through the cavern. The monsters' dying screams wove together with the blasts into one deafening roar.
Leon's firepower didn't let up. He carpet-bombed the monster zone without mercy, each fireball's shockwave kicking up brutal gusts that sent everyone's cloaks whipping loudly.
"Hahaha, hahahahahaha!"
"So good! So good! So good!!!"
"Combat bliss! Hahahaha!"
In the corridor, the explosions were deafening, but Leon's brash, roaring laughter still came through clear as day.
Laurier and Aura clamped their hoods down hard, squinting against the wind as they stared in slack-jawed shock at the endless, devastating bombardment. Their scalps tingled, their minds went blank.
What kind of ridiculous firepower output was this?
Are you really a Lv. 2 mage? Or some Lv. 5 bigshot in disguise dropping in to farm the small fry?!
Compared to Laurier's simple awe, Aura, as a fellow mage, was even more stunned, her brain outright crashing.
"That... is that Instant Cast Fireball? How is this... how is this not even the same thing as what I saw before?!"
She gasped, her voice breaking out of pitch.
"This, this is too insane!"
Laurier's voice was swallowed up by the lingering echoes of the explosions.
Looking at the figure up ahead, silhouetted against the flames, cackling and unleashing fire without pause, the adoration and shock in Aura's eyes all but took physical form, spilling over.
"So, so amazing!"
...
A few minutes later.
The smoke cleared, and the battlefield stank of scorched rot.
The entire stretch of corridor, baptized by extreme heat, was still giving off trails of pale smoke.
Looking at the glittering Magic Stones scattered across the ground, Leon beamed.
As for the monster corpses?
Corpses?
What corpses?
Under firepower like that, what corpses were there going to be?
Leaving behind ash was already Lord Leon showing mercy!
Lowering his gaze to his own palm, Leon couldn't stop his lips from curving up.
The me right now is strong. Seriously strong. When I was Lv. 1, my Fireball would hit a monster and at most leave chunks blown off here and there. Level up to Lv. 2, and now it just outright vaporizes the target. This kind of power... not bad, not bad.
Thinking this with quiet satisfaction, he spoke up.
"Laurier, Aura. Stop spacing out, clean up the battlefield, fast!"
"This is all money! Scoop it up right away!"
The two elf girls were still standing there glassy-eyed like idiots. Leon arched a brow and quickly called out to snap them out of it.
"Huh? It's over?"
Laurier came to as if from a dream.
"Got, got it...!"
Aura hurried to respond as well.
Watching the two of them scramble to bend down and gather Magic Stones in a flurry, Jeanne walked over with a hand on her hip, shaking her head with a helpless laugh.
"Honestly... I don't even know what to say to you."
Leon rubbed his nose a little guiltily. I'm just being a bit more "practical," caring about the loot! Since when is that wrong?
Compared to those First-Class Adventurers who had nothing in their heads but honor, achievements, fame, "combat bliss," or spouted "for the goddess" at every turn, their mental state clearly a bit too "pure," Leon considered himself... pretty normal by comparison.
"Here, Jeanne, you've worked hard! Drink some water to settle your nerves?"
Leon eagerly held out the waterskin.
"..."
Faced with such an obvious "bid to get on her good side," Jeanne rolled her eyes at him, torn between annoyance and amusement.
In the end she didn't refuse, taking the waterskin and sipping from it.
...
With Laurier and Aura, two elves quick with their hands, serving as Supporters, the pickup efficiency was noticeably higher.
Before long, every last Magic Stone on the ground had been stowed into their bulging packs.
Leon bent down and picked up a Magic Stone the size of a gold coin, holding it up to his eye for a careful look, clicking his tongue in appreciation.
"Damn, this size, this quality. No wonder they call this the good stuff from the middle-floor monsters, definitely a cut above. Beats those shallow-floor ones that aren't even the size of a fingernail by a country mile."
Jeanne handed the waterskin back to Leon and, while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, answered with a smile.
"There's no comparison, is there? Middle-floor monsters have a potential of at least Lv. 2, so naturally the Magic Stones they drop are higher quality."
Leon nodded in full agreement.
"Yeah. Power's gone up, tactics have matured, combat experience is solid. Dealing with monsters really has gotten a lot easier."
"I think back to when I was Lv. 1 without any magic, and handling ten-some monsters at once would leave me scraping by."
"Look at me now. Dealing with monsters of the same tier, I barely even need to put in effort, and I can mow down a whole pack."
"Things really change fast, huh."
Jeanne smacked his arm lightly, giving a small huff.
"Quit preening. They're done. Time to move on."
"Right."
[Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]