part1 · 058-ep58

Episode 58: Floors Six Through Nine

Down onto the sixth floor, Ren pressed on without stopping.

Coming through the fourth and fifth floors had gotten him used to fighting with magic. The monsters of the sixth floor were clearly stronger than anything before.

Even so—

Ren cut them down.

Raising his physical abilities with body strengthening. Focusing magic where it was needed with Magic Manipulation. And finishing monsters off with a spear wreathed in magic.

Fight. Kill. Move on.

It was that, over and over.

With every battle, Ren's movements grew more refined. Reading the flow of magic. Focusing it where needed. Pouring it into the spear.

Wasted movement faded away, little by little.

And—

He broke through the sixth floor.

The seventh floor.

The monsters grew stronger again. But Ren had grown stronger, too.

Attacks that would have given him trouble before, he now dodged with room to spare. His use of body strengthening kept improving, too.

Magic Manipulation hardly needed conscious thought in battle anymore. The magic wreathed around his spear steadied as well.

Ren cut the monsters down methodically and pressed on.

The eighth floor.

Even stronger monsters appeared. The fighting turned fierce.

But—

"...I can still keep going."

Ren tightened his grip on the spear. Concentrated his magic. His body lightened.

He stepped in. The spear punched through a monster.

Another one. Then another.

He'd lost count of how many monsters he'd killed. His level had gone up without him noticing, too. His skills were growing little by little.

Even so, Ren didn't bother checking each time.

Fight. Move on. Survive.

That was all.

And—

The ninth floor.

By this depth, the monsters' strength was clearly on another level. Back at the beginning, even a single one of them would likely have given him a desperate fight.

But for the Ren of now, it was different.

Watch the monster's movements. Dodge its attacks. Concentrate magic. Swing the spear.

That alone was enough to kill them.

"...I've gotten strong."

Ren could feel the change in himself, too. The feel of his body was nothing like when he'd first entered the dungeon.

Strength. Speed. Magic.

All of it had grown, little by little.

Then, as his exploration of the ninth floor neared its end, Ren stopped.

"..."

Before his eyes, a staircase. One leading down.

From beyond it drifted a presence unlike anything before.

"The tenth floor..."

Ren stared at the stairs. He'd made it this far. Next was the tenth floor.

A depth he had never seen.

Ren tightened his grip on the spear.

"Let's get going."

And he started down the stairs.

The sixth floor. The seventh floor. The eighth floor. The ninth floor.

Past them all—

Ren was finally about to set foot on the tenth floor.