’The layout of the eighth floor is indeed quite similar to the seventh.’
From the internal structure alone, the resemblance was striking.
Bell stayed alert, carefully observing his surroundings. He could hear plenty of heavy footsteps, but no screams—unlike the chaos of the seventh floor, this level seed relatively calm. The thick fog served as a cover, making it easier for him to move around.
With a kick off the ground, a pale blue light enveloped Bell’s body, dramatically enhancing his physical abilities. Even without activating Lightning Transformation, his speed surged.
He quickly spotted a group of Ogres and Hobgoblins wandering this floor.
"Yaaah!"
Hobgoblins had exceptionally sharp senses of sll and hearing. Even in this thick fog, they could detect footsteps and pinpoint the location of Adventurers.
The mont they reacted, the nearby Ogres also gathered around.
Seven or eight Ogres moved in at once—an intimidating sight.
Hobgoblins might be child-sized, but Ogres were as tall as grown adults. Together, they ford a literal wall of muscle and nace.
But Bell, the focus of their attention, remained calm.
"Roar!"
A massive Ogre charged in, swinging its spiked club.
Bell didn’t dodge imdiately. Instead, he shifted his center of gravity ahead of ti. Just as the club nearly struck, he tilted away, narrowly avoiding a direct hit while letting it graze past him.
With his body enhanced by Rune, even a direct blow wouldn’t be too damaging—but Bell had no intention of taking hits head-on.
Endurance needed to be trained through impact. Strength, on the other hand, required unleashing power through weapon strikes.
That ant he couldn’t afford to go easy in this fight, especially while focusing on raising those two stats.
He twisted to evade part of the blow, taking about 20% of the force. His shifted balance helped absorb most of the impact as he fell back with control, dissipating the montum.
Though he was pushed back a fair distance, the hit barely hurt him.
At the sa ti, Bell had grasped the Ogre’s capabilities.
’Its strength is impressive—not far off from a Level 2 Minotaur.’
’That massive fra must offer extre physical defense. Combined with that dense muscle, it’s clearly a monster built for strength and durability.’
’No magical power. Its resistance to magic must be weak.’
’So I only need to worry about physical attacks.’
’It’s the perfect training dummy for right now.’
Bell wasn’t surprised. Ogres were heavy hitters with tough defenses, but their speed was lacking.
If he kept up the pace, they wouldn’t be able to touch him. Their main advantage lay in sheer numbers.
But numbers didn’t an much to Bell.
In fact, to raise his Status, he needed a lot of Ogres.
Unlike before, he couldn’t trigger massive monster spawns in the Dungeon again—he’d draw the Guild’s attention. That ant he needed monsters like these: fast-spawning, nurous, and ideal for building up his stats.
’Ti to begin.’
...
At the sa mont, back on the seventh floor, the Pallum girl had just finished luring and killing three Adventurers who had entered the Dungeon together. She quietly gathered their "inheritance."
Her face showed no emotion.
Ambushing and killing—these acts were routine for her.
Everything she did was for one goal: survival.
She knew what she was doing was wrong. She knew that in Orario, she would be despised for it.
But to survive, she had no choice.
The Pallum girl knew full well that these were just excuses to cover up her disgraceful deeds. Yet she needed them—without those excuses, she might start to hate herself.
’How much longer do I have to keep doing this?’
Liliruca had no idea when it would end.
Wearing a numb expression, she carried her belongings and made her way to the upper floors.
When she reached the sixth floor, two figures suddenly appeared before her.
The mont she saw them, Liliruca’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.
She recognized them—fellow mbers of the Soma Familia. But unlike her, they were Adventurers, not Supporters.
"Yo, Lili. Looks like you made a decent haul today."
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, and his greedy gaze zeroed in on her bulging backpack.
He knew exactly how much a supporter like Liliruca could rake in when she succeeded. He was simply waiting for the mont she finished so he could swoop in and take everything for himself.
Liliruca knew she was the target. This was robbery—plain and simple. But she was powerless to resist. She wasn’t even allowed to say no.
"Hand it over, unless you want a beating."
His face twisted with greed and nace. He felt no guilt at all about preying on a small Pallum girl. To him, it was just the natural order of things.
The weak were ant to be consud by the strong. Just like what he was doing now to Liliruca.
Not because of any grand reason—just because he was an Adventurer, and she was rely a Supporter.
Liliruca didn’t dare fight back.
She knew resistance would only get her beaten. Thankfully, she had stashed her valuables near the entrance to the seventh floor. All she carried now were the things she couldn’t easily hide.
She had been through this so many tis that she knew better than to think about fighting back. All she could do was try to lower the risk however she could.
The man rifled through her bag, satisfied. But when he saw it was full of worthless junk, his face darkened.
"Tch. What a bunch of broke losers."
Even though it was all garbage, he took everything anyway.
As he left, he flashed Liliruca a smug grin.
"Work hard again tomorrow, slut."
Liliruca kept her head down, fists clenched tightly behind her back—but there was nothing she could do.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / PinkSnake
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