"Ha!"
With a sharp, clipped shout, Mil brought her sword down. A flash of light followed the blade as it sliced clean through the monster’s thick arm.
The brown giant let out a roar of agony. It hadn't lost its fighting spirit, however; it lunged at Mil with its remaining left hand, trying to seize her. She leaped back in a hurry, but escaping the reach of those long arms was easier said than done.
But they moved with the rhythm of long-time partners.
"Not on my watch!"
Rei stepped in to cover her immediately, slamming his shield into the giant’s arm. Though the giant had the weight advantage, the force of the collision was enough to bridge the gap in their sizes, knocking the behemoth off balance. The party wasn't about to miss an opening like that.
"Sally!"
Mil and Rei both scrambled back to create distance. Hearing her name, Sally didn't bother responding with words; instead, she unleashed her magic.
"Rising Blaze!"
Pillars of fire erupted from beneath the giant's feet, surging upward like towers of flame.
Each pillar flared and vanished in short order, but they came in a relentless, rapid-fire succession. The giant twisted its body, desperate to flee, but the flames pursued it, refusing to let its prey escape.
After being scorched by nearly twenty consecutive pillars, parts of the giant’s body had carbonized into blackened husks. It was still clinging to life, but it was on the verge of death and its movements were sluggish.
"Take... this!"
Rei shouted, bracing his shield as he charged. The giant’s brittle, charred body couldn't withstand the impact. With one final, low groan, the monster dissolved into motes of light and vanished. It was a victory for Rei’s party.
"Whoa!"
Watching from the sidelines, Halfa and Spira clapped and cheered. Even Lowell looked impressed.
This was the boss room of the tenth floor of the Cygnil Dungeon. In other words, that giant had been the floor boss—and Rei’s group had taken it down with just the three of them.
"That was amazing! You guys have really been training even after you retired from adventuring!"
When I called out to them, Rei and Mil looked back with complicated expressions.
"We have been training, yes, but..."
"I don't think training is the reason for this..."
"It’s incredible! My magic power has spiked so much!"
Well, at least Sally was in high spirits.
"You already knew your stats had gone up, didn't you?" I asked.
"Well, yes, we checked with Simple Appraisal, but..."
"Even so, this is just unreal. They went up way too much!"
"It’s great, it’s great! I feel like I could cast any spell now! Oh, hey, Tort-kun. Do you have any new magic tools? I’d love to borrow some if you do."
"Sally, calm down a bit."
Sally's enthusiasm aside, Rei and Mil seemed more than a little bewildered. Perhaps I’d gone a bit overboard with the doping. Still, considering their safety, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
The day after we’d secured the lower floors of the dungeon using the antibacterial Air Golems, we had decided to move in and eliminate the Silver executives. Since those Abominations seem to multiply out of nowhere, I felt we had to strike at the source immediately.
The Cygnil Adventurer's Guild had agreed with that plan. We were acting as the vanguard, while other adventurers followed behind us. Their job was to secure the paths between floors and handle logistics. While the Air Golems' search-and-destroy sweeps should have wiped out every Abomination on the floors we'd passed, there was always the chance we’d missed a few.
Besides, normal monsters still spawned in the dungeon, so those had to be cleared out too. It would have been perfect if Garna could have just taken control of the dungeon, but apparently, she couldn't right now. Since the Silver Faction was using it as their base, it seemed they had usurped her control. Currently, the gods were focusing all their divine power on trying to wrest that control back. Garna was helping them, so she wasn't with us at the moment.
Well, that was fine. The real issue was Rei and his friends. They had insisted on coming along for the executive subjugation, arguing that they couldn't just stand by while Cygnil was in danger.
I was happy to be able to adventure with them again, but they were technically retired. While the lower floors were one thing, I’d been hesitant to take them into the deep floors where the Silver Abominations were likely hiding.
And that was why I had initiated the Great Doping Operation!
My logic was simple: if their stats weren't high enough, I just had to buff them. Fortunately, I had plenty of Status Enhancement Potions on hand. I’d spent quite a bit of time feeding them to Rei’s group, and just now, I’d had them test out the results.
Actually, I’d wanted to give some to Dolga-san too, but he wasn't here. On Rei's instructions, he’d gone to report their participation in the subjugation to Rei’s father—the Lord of the region. To be more precise, he was sent to ask for permission, but Rei hadn't waited for the answer. Essentially, he was here without official leave. I hoped that wouldn't cause trouble later.
"Our performance just now was almost entirely thanks to that medicine..."
Rei seemed to be dwelling on the Status Enhancement Potions. It was true that higher stats made it easier to kill enemies, but stats alone didn't make a fighter.
"You can't fight like that just because your numbers are high," I told him.
"He's right," Lowell added, nodding. "Without sufficient experience, you would just be overwhelmed by your own strength. That coordination you showed is a kind of power that can't be measured by a status screen."
Rei’s face brightened slightly, seemingly realizing we were being sincere.
"I’m glad to hear that... but it doesn't change the fact that the medicine was the deciding factor. It must have been incredibly valuable, wasn't it?"
At Rei’s question, I found myself instinctively looking away. I didn't check, but I’m sure Lowell did the same. I could just feel it in the air.
We were acting that way because we felt a little guilty, but Rei misinterpreted our reaction as confirmation of his fears.
"I... I knew it. I'll talk to my father and we'll repay you as much as we possibly can. Though, given the sheer quantity we used..."
"Wait, wait! There’s no need to pay me back!"
Rei was turning pale as he started calculating a repayment plan, so I stepped in to stop him. I hadn't given them the potions with the expectation of getting paid. And besides...
"Actually, they aren't really that valuable."
"What? There’s no way that's true."
Oh, but it was.
You see, I’d recently discovered a bit of a trick...