I Just Awakened My Sharingan, and You're Telling Me This Is DanMachi? Chapter 3: Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!

Ryota hadn't taken many steps before noticing that the ground ahead began to slope downward.

The previously flat and straight passage suddenly twisted into a downward-spiraling ramp.

Ryota paused, sweeping his gaze across this abruptly transford passage. He raised an eyebrow slightly:

"The passage... changed?"

"This isn't just a random fork—it looks more like a path leading to the next floor."

The three tomoe in his Sharingan quietly spun, his vision magnifying and his insight sharpening dramatically.

Indeed, a deeper world awaited below.

"..."

He remained silent for only a second, then without further hesitation, stepped forward into the descending corridor.

"Perfect."

"Fighting those small fry was getting boring anyway."

"Maybe the next floor will offer sothing interesting."

Before his words fully faded, Ryota's figure vanished into the narrowing tunnel, swiftly entering the second floor.

Yet shortly after entering the second floor, he quickly lost interest again.

The so-called "second floor" wasn't nearly as challenging as he'd expected.

It was almost identical to the first—sa rocky walls, sa phosphorescent floors and ceilings, sa randomly scattered rubble, uneven terrain, and goblins lurking in shadows, thinking they'd hidden themselves well.

The only noticeable difference was an additional type of monster.

"What's this thing supposed to be?"

Ryota stared blankly at the creature for two seconds before speaking expressionlessly:

"A kobold...?"

He casually nad the monster and imdiately punched forward, smashing the "kobold's" face straight into the ground.

Bang!!

Chunks of flesh splattered everywhere, blood pooled across the floor, and half a dog's fang even stuck to the nearby wall.

"Just as weak as the goblins."

Ryota stepped forward, picked out the newly dropped magic stone, and stuffed it into his pocket.

Thus—

The second floor was effortlessly crushed.

Then ca the third floor, followed by the fourth.

No ambushes, no coordinated attacks, not even a single formidable enemy that forced Ryota to catch his breath.

All along the way, he didn't even bother using ninjutsu—simply relying on his fists and feet.

A casual swing of his fist sent monsters flying into the walls the instant they tried to leap from the shadows.

Before long, Ryota stopped and glanced down at himself.

Both his pockets were now bulging with magic stones.

Every step he took caused the stones to clink together loudly.

"Tsk..."

He lifted one pocket with his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching in annoyance.

"I really should've brought a bag."

"These monsters are strange too—they disintegrate into black ash imdiately after death. Can't even skin them to make a pouch."

Grumbling to himself, Ryota stretched lazily and prepared to continue onward.

At that mont, his eyes narrowed slightly.

The surroundings had changed.

At first, he thought it was a trick of the lighting, but after taking another step forward, he confird it.

The cave walls up ahead were no longer the usual grayish-brown rock. Instead, they'd quietly shifted to a pale green hue, damp and slightly slick, as if covered by a thin layer of moss.

Even the ground had grown smoother, with so areas reflecting faint traces of water.

More importantly, the air itself had changed—damp, stuffy, and carrying a faint, fishy odor.

"I see. The fifth floor is clearly different from the previous four."

"Why does this setting feel so familiar?"

Ryota muttered softly, rapidly scanning through his mories, yet unable to pinpoint exactly where he'd encountered sothing similar.

After puzzling over it for a mont without any success, he shook his head decisively, pushing the thought aside.

"Forget it. I'll worry about it later."

He stepped forward again, officially entering the fifth floor.

Barely a few steps in, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from deeper within the corridor ahead, rapidly growing louder!

The next mont—

"Help!! Sobody help us!!"

"Run faster!! It's an elite monster!!"

Panicked shouts, frantic footsteps, and gasping breaths mixed together, reverberating through the dim space of the fifth floor.

Ryota glanced calmly toward the source of the commotion.

From a shadowy fork in the passage ahead, three figures stumbled out desperately.

They wore identical leather armor, though each was covered in blood, their faces pale from fear.

Leading the group was a red-haired young man, gritting his teeth as he supported a girl beside him who had sustained a severe leg injury.

Trailing behind them was an older man, his entire right arm severed cleanly at the shoulder, leaving a grueso trail of blood dripping steadily onto the floor.

"Don't look back! Just run!!"

They sprinted madly toward Ryota's location, hardly noticing soone standing calmly in the middle of their path.

Ryota's gaze passed over the fleeing adventurers and settled on the pitch-black humanoid figure chasing after them.

It had no feet, dragging itself forward swiftly on elongated limbs, its entire body enveloped in distorted black mist, obscuring its features.

Its unnaturally long arms nearly brushed the ground, each ending in three razor-sharp claws that emitted a shrill tallic scraping noise as they dragged across stone.

Clack—scritch, scritch, scritch!

Head lowered ominously, the creature moved with astonishing speed.

Ryota observed the shadowy form calmly, speaking in an even voice:

"Long arms, three claws, covered in black mist."

"Looks kind of like a monster from a horror ga I played before."

"It probably chased you up here from the sixth floor, huh? You guys are brave enough to run all the way to the fifth floor with sothing like this on your tail... I'll give you credit for guts, at least."

His body leaned forward slightly, hands swiftly weaving through a series of hand signs:

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"