Although she was the infirmary teacher, Beiren had still chosen half the path of a teacher.
She pondered what kind of answer Bried needed.
To be honest, she found it hard to understand Bried’s train of thought.
Realizing she was being too nice to her Childhood Friend, she felt it violated his conditions?
Then she really started acting cold, making herself uncomfortable too?
Sorting it out, it meant Bried was actually dissatisfied with the current situation.
In other words, Bried wanted to get along amicably but couldn’t find a good reason…
If it were Beiren, she’d just go ahead and hug him.
Why overthink it?
This girl is really contradictory.
So clumsy it’s almost pitiable.
After finishing the blueberry mousse, she came up with a method.
Anyway, the point was to let Bried accept the current situation.
“Taros, you… do you think she wants to get closer to him?”
“Not exactly get closer, but it’s uncomfortable as it is now, can’t even eat.”
Beiren shared her method:
“How about this? You tell her, she actually didn’t violate any conditions.”
“Didn’t… violate?”
“Right, from what you described, all the concern she showed is what a Childhood Friend should do.”
“Childhood Friend? You mean…”
“Exactly.”
Beiren nodded, pointing her fork at Bried.
“Closeness at this level is nothing. Her kindness toward him is just what a Childhood Friend should offer. Even if he came to her house to borrow the bathroom and take a shower, that’s what good friends and neighbors do. It’s ordinary. Everyone’s like that.”
“Every Childhood Friend is like this?”
“Yeah.”
“So, having a Childhood Friend come over to cook is fine too?”
“Hmm? Of course. So you don’t have to deliberately keep your distance. Just treat him as a good friend.”
“Good friend, good friend, friend…”
Bried muttered, her eyes gradually brightening.
“Thank you, Teacher Gewina. I think I understand a bit now, how to interact with him properly.”
That’s right, this is like, no mistake!
But it’s affection based on caring for a Childhood Friend!
I didn’t violate my current agreement with Siloque.
She told herself, deceiving herself.
Once she understood this, Bried suddenly saw the light.
Guuu——
Her stomach growled again.
“Sorry, I want some bread.”
“Go ahead, you bought it anyway. Eat as much as you want. Just don’t finish it all.”
Ten minutes later.
Beiren was dumbfounded, as if she’d seen some rare animal.
She really finished it all.
“Taros, is your talent or by any chance?”
A mountain of bread was gone, not even a crumb left.
“Just call me Bried, Teacher Gewina… I don’t have that kind of talent. Is eating this much weird?”
Bried wiped her mouth with a damp towel, trying to hide her reddened cheeks.
“No, not weird at all.”
Beiren thought it was a pity.
If Siloque knew, he’d be shocked.
Because Bried ate so fast, Beiren forgot to ask if she could take a commemorative photo.
***
Siloque was pretending to be a [Tank].
The Boss’s powerful one-handed giant axe slammed into Siloque’s tower shield, sending him back 13 meters, leaving two long grooves in the ground.
After all, it’s a skill found only on the second floor— left Siloque unscathed.
But it wasn’t easy.
Just one attack from this Boss forced Siloque to use half his mana to maintain , and his shield-bearing hand went numb.
First-floor gatekeeper Boss—Minotaur General, known as Minotaur General for short.
Two legs as thick as tree trunks stomped the ground with a roar.
Its body was black as coal, chest raised high.
Upper body bare, waist covered with gleaming chainmail.
The head was indeed a bull, but with four horns, and a giant axe nearly its own height hung from its back.
To say nothing of the two axes in its hands, both bigger than Siloque.
Based on game experience, in its second phase the Minotaur General would go berserk, throwing away the two axes, pulling the giant axe from its back, and unleashing flaming power.
The Boss’s own punches and stomps would all deal fire damage.
But Siloque knew, with Myut around, he’d never get to see that grand and splendid second phase.
“Cass!”
“!”
Seizing the moment when the Minotaur General’s axe missed, Cass rushed at the enemy, aiming for the only weak spot—the eyes—and slashed.
The Minotaur General tilted its head to dodge, swung the right axe from the lower right to upper left, but Cass stepped onto the axe, activated , and orange mana wrapped the white blade, leaving a streak of orange-red light.
“Die! Exhibitionist!”
“?”
Siloque didn’t understand Cass’s complaint.
The slash missed, leaving only a shallow wound on the Minotaur General’s temple.
Cass retreated.
“Wooohhhhhh!!”
The Minotaur General was enraged.
With a deafening roar, the giant axe fell.
The ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern, sending out eight shockwaves from the center.
Fortunately, everyone was running, so no one was directly hit.
“Siloque!”
“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!”
The aftershock had grazed Siloque, splitting open the arm guard and biting into the bone, blood gushing from the armor seams.
Siloque pulled a Compressed Needleless Recovery Medicine from his waist pouch, lifted his mask a bit, and pressed it to his neck.
Thank you, Cass, for buying this medicine.
It refreshed him, relieved fatigue, and the wound healed instantly!
Siloque considered saving it, but in a life-or-death battle, full health was safer.
Cass continued close combat with the Minotaur General.
The Boss’s attacks were heavy and fierce, but Cass dodged again and again.
Incredible battle instincts allowed Cass to evade deadly attacks, while he continuously “scraped” small wounds on the Minotaur General.
Bried had said that an Explorer’s stats and technique were two different things.
Now Siloque truly believed it.
If it were just stats, Cass would never match the Minotaur General’s superior numbers and gear.
But when the “stats” from a game became reality, actual “technique” could make up for a combat power gap.
Cass’s growth was simply too fast.
This Minotaur General was Lv15—one hit and Cass would be down.
His body flexibility alone let him dodge attacks, combined with his talent, it created a bizarre battle of “You can’t hit me, and I chip away at you.”
“Uwaaaa! That’s too many!”
“Jade, you idiot! Calm down! Stop running around!”
In the distance, Jade was being chased everywhere by four Minotaur Heavy Warriors—Minotaur General’s minions.
Calling them “heavy warriors” was a stretch; they just wore iron vests and battle skirts.
If not for the bull heads, they’d be “muscle men with bare torsos.”
Weiss was giving full support, using her high mobility to cast and slow the minions’ pursuit.
Being chased by four muscle-bound beefcakes looked painful.
Thank goodness it wasn’t me…
Siloque mourned silently.
Jade, your sacrifice is appreciated.
As a [Tank], Jade didn’t take the hits, but at least he drew the monsters’ aggro.
Besides, those four strong Minotaur Heavy Warriors were Lv10.
Jade surviving their attacks would be a miracle.
Siloque and Cass took turns locking down the Minotaur General’s aggro, preventing it from attacking others.
As for Myut…
She was holding a skull-decorated scythe in both hands, smiling leisurely.
What’s with that smile?
Hurry up and help.
As if hearing Siloque’s thoughts, or maybe she was just done watching, after 44 seconds of this nearly one-sided Boss fight, Myut stepped back, raised her small hand.
In the void, five scythes appeared, hovering over each Minotaur’s head.
“Eh?”
“Bwoo?”
Jade and the Minotaurs let out dumb, mournful sounds.
The next moment, fine lines appeared on the Minotaurs’ bodies.
Lines slashed across the torsos, chests, weapon-raised arms, thighs, shoulders—only the heads were spared.
Several lines appeared in succession.
“Gu-pu! Bwoo! Mooo—oo—oo—oo—!!”
Ear-splitting, deathly screams.
Along the lines, the four Minotaur Heavy Warriors and one Minotaur General’s bodies fell apart, spraying blood and black-red fluid, collapsing instantly.
The Minotaurs still had a sliver of life, their mutilated bodies reduced to blood-spraying fountains, drenching everyone in a downpour of gore.
Myut shook her hand, retrieved her scythe, and smiled, gesturing “after you” to Siloque and Cass.
She still left the finishing blow for the others.
“Cass, finish the Boss and get the LA.”
“Huh? Siloque, you don’t need it?”
“No. You fought it for so long, I only tanked one hit. It’s right for you to have it.”
“…Thanks.”
Cass bowed to Myut in thanks, then finished off the Minotaur General.
Tch.
You don’t have to thank Myut.
Soon you’ll want to punch her.
Besides, Siloque wished the Minotaur General could suffer a bit longer.
In the game, when the team lost to these muscle-bound bull-headed monsters, regardless of gender, they’d get hung up and humiliated, then the GAME OVER screen would pop up…
Siloque held his head, filtering out the dark memories.
“By the way, this effect could be used to pay homage to .”
Siloque admired the blood rain, then looked at the hero who ended the Boss fight—Myut.
Her robe was enchanted; the blood slid off her and pooled on the floor, leaving her clothes spotless.
“Are you okay? Can you stand? You just defeated a floor Boss. You’re amazing, Jade.”
“Ah… ugh…”
She smiled gently, helping the dazed Jade up.
“……”
Weiss silently approached, pulling Jade to her side from Myut’s support.
Earlier, when the five of them fought monsters together to reach this floor, it hadn’t felt this way.
But now, Myut’s overwhelming Lv32 power had made the floor Boss seem like a fish on a cutting board.
Myut’s talent—[Void Scythe]
The good news: she never learned any skills.
The bad news: she didn’t need to.
Cass landed the finishing blow on the Boss.
Jade and Weiss took down the four minions, though it took them a lot of effort to cut through those muscular necks.
No one had to dig out the crystal cores by hand; Myut just controlled her flying scythes to hook the cores from the monsters’ bodies.
A floor that should have been the hardest for newbies was conquered with ease.
But this Boss would respawn after a while.
For someone like Myut who frequented The Dungeon of Cass, killing this Minotaur Boss was probably as easy as drinking water.
A thrilling (?) Boss fight ended.
Everyone except Myut leveled up.
Siloque Lv9→Lv10; Cass Lv10→Lv12; Jade Lv6→Lv8; Weiss Lv7→Lv9.
Cass also picked up the Boss drop—a women’s Swimsuit with a flaming Minotaur design.
Cass blushed, wanting to give the swimsuit away.
Unfortunately, only Jade showed interest, but Weiss immediately knocked him on the head, forcing Cass to tearfully keep it, stuffing it into Siloque’s big backpack.
Siloque remembered this gear’s function: it allowed underwater breathing and gave minor stat boosts so low they could be ignored—a gag item.
But why a Swimsuit?
Unintentionally, he imagined Cass wearing a Swimsuit.
A handsome guy in a swimsuit.
What a total pervert…
The image was so intense, Siloque felt bile rising.
I remember in the game, it was supposed to be men’s black boxer briefs.
Except for Siloque taking a single hit, the rest practically leveled up for free.
Siloque admired Jade’s “good fortune” in drawing Myut, the kindest Fallen Mage Society member.
From here on, Jade could continue to farm experience and resources for free—assuming he made it out alive.