"Alright, disarming complete."
It was roughly an hour after Vel had begun work on the trap that he made his declaration.
The watch had already rotated from Rei to Ara, and then from Ara to Kyuste. Just as Elena was considering taking over the shift herself, Vel’s voice rang through the passage.
"Good work. It must have taken quite some time to disarm, so take a moment to rest, Vel. It would be a problem if we ran into enemies while you're exhausted."
"As expected of our Queen. You certainly have a knack for managing your subordinates' morale."
Vel must have been incredibly focused. He muttered the words with a tired air as he leaned back against the faintly glowing dungeon wall.
Elena gave a wry smile at his state and took over the watch from Kyuste, beginning her sweep of the surroundings.
"Thanks for the hard work," Kyuste said.
"Sure thing. It's my specialty, after all. Though I feel like since we set foot in this dungeon, my 'specialty' has been in demand a bit too much."
With another wry smile, Vel pulled a canteen from the pouch at his waist and offered it to Kyuste.
"Much obliged."
Kyuste shared the smile as he took a long drink.
"Honestly," Ara chimed in. "The two of you look so pathetic."
"Pipe down. You're only fine because your magic items are keeping your stamina from draining," Vel grumbled, shooting a look of annoyance at her. Ara was likely just getting back at him for all the times he had teased her.
Rei watched their banter from where he lay on the floor, leaning against Set. He idly stroked the gryphon's back as the beast kept a sharp eye on their surroundings.
"Well then, let us resume our exploration."
Elena gave the order about thirty minutes after Vel had started his break.
The group nodded, rising to their feet and readying their weapons.
"Vel, I'm sorry to place the burden on you again, but we're counting on you."
"Yeah, yeah, leave it to me. We've only got one floor left, I can handle it."
"I'll hold you to that. The formation remains unchanged. Let's move."
With Vel and Kyuste in the vanguard, Rei and Elena in the midguard, and Ara and Set in the rearguard, the party proceeded down the now-safe passage.
"Hey, Vel. What kind of trap was it, anyway?" Ara asked as they walked.
While keeping his eyes peeled for any new signs of danger, Vel answered in his usual casual tone.
"You want to know? Well, I guess I could tell you."
"Why the dramatic pause? Was it really that incredible?"
"Less 'incredible' and more 'nasty.' Simply put, it was a ceiling collapse trap. It would have triggered the moment we stepped on that section of the floor."
"What? That's horrible. There's no way we could have dodged that."
Ara looked stunned as she walked, but Kyuste interjected.
"Wait, if the ceiling here collapsed, wouldn't the floor of B5F give way as well?"
"Who knows? I'm not an architect, but this is a dungeon that fits entire forests and rivers inside its walls. It wouldn't surprise me if the ceiling could cave in without affecting the floor above at all."
"……That is a fair point."
Recalling the sheer number of absurdities they had witnessed so far, Kyuste found himself forced to agree.
They continued down the passage for another thirty minutes. Curiously, they encountered none of the traps that had plagued them so frequently before.
"I suspect Vel was right earlier," Elena muttered, her whip-sword gripped tightly as she remained alert for monsters.
"You mean about the trap being a sort of test?" Rei asked, his Death Scythe ready to swing at a moment's notice.
"Yes. Considering the density of traps on this level, that last one likely served as a final exam."
"……Elena-sama, you might be spot on."
Vel, who had been listening to their conversation, muttered the words as he spotted something ahead.
In his line of sight stood a massive door, nearly five meters tall. It was a double-door construction, carved with the imposing image of a giant swinging a colossal club.
"I've got nothing but a bad feeling about this," Vel said, his voice dripping with exasperation.
Rei gave a wry smile and kept walking. "I get what you mean, but if we don't open that door, our only choice is to go back to the crossroads."
"True enough. And the other paths probably lead to doors exactly like this one. Fine, fine. Time to brace myself."
Vel slapped his cheeks to psych himself up and moved to inspect the door. Within minutes, he shrugged and gave his verdict.
"No traps. It looks like that ceiling one really was the finale."
"Good. Then let us head inside immediately. We don't know what's waiting for us, so stay on your guard."
Everyone nodded at Elena's command. Vel, taking his responsibility as the thief role seriously, pushed open the Giant's Door.
Inside, they saw...
"A goblin?" Rei muttered.
The room beyond was immense—a square roughly five hundred meters on each side.
Standing in the center was a creature with green skin, short horns, and a hideous face. It was small, reaching only as high as Rei's waist.
To any ordinary observer, it was clearly a goblin. Yet, Rei felt a nagging sense of wrongness.
(A goblin behind a door carved with a giant? Is that possible? Given how spiteful this dungeon is, I can't imagine it would leave us with such an easy opponent...)
Even as Rei pondered, the goblin spotted them. It grabbed a club and began charging toward them.
Kyuste and Vel stepped forward, looking almost bored by the sight.
"Elena-sama, a mere goblin is no match for us."
"……I feel something strange, too. Well, with Kyuste here, we should be able to handle a goblin easily enough," Vel said, drawing his bow to provide support.
(The Giant's Door... a goblin... wait. Giants? Goblins? I'm sure I read something in the Monster Encyclopedia... a Spriggan!?)
Rei's mind made the connection, and he shouted instinctively.
"That's no goblin! It's a Spriggan!"
Elena was the first to react, rushing forward with her whip-sword at the ready.
Ara followed immediately after. She didn't know the reason for the alarm, but if Elena was moving to the front lines, that was all the justification she needed.
The moment the entire party crossed the threshold, the massive doors slammed shut automatically. They were too focused on the enemy to notice.
"Kyuste, get back!" Elena screamed at the spearman.
Her warning was a split second too late.
Kyuste had been leveling his spear at the creature he thought was the size of a child. Suddenly, a wall of green flesh erupted before him.
No, it wasn't a wall. it was a massive figure nearly six meters tall.
The Spriggan. A monster that lived in a form easily mistaken for a goblin but revealed its true nature as a giant once combat began. It was a creature with two faces: the ugly imp and the gargantuan titan. Though it was a member of the giant-kin, it was a low-intelligence, ferocious monster with a particular taste for human flesh. Its rank was B—the same level as the Orc King Rei had slain in the orc settlement.
In terms of ferocity and hunger, it was similar to the Ogre Rei and Set had fought on B4F, but unlike the Ogre, it possessed a degree of cunning that made it far more dangerous. The only saving grace was that, unlike higher-ranking giant-kin, it could not use magic.
"Gaaaaaaa!"
As the Spriggan grew, its club transformed with it. Unlike the Ogre’s weapon, which had been a simple uprooted tree, this club had been crafted into a heavy, blunt instrument of war. It swung the massive club down toward Kyuste.
Clang!
Elena’s whip-sword extended like a lash, the tip of the blade biting into the head of the club just before it hit. She used the leverage to forcibly yank the weapon's trajectory to the side.
"Tch!"
Kyuste snapped back to his senses and leaped backward. Vel fired a volley of arrows to cover him, but...
"You've got to be kidding me! The arrows won't even go in! What kind of skin is that?"
The five arrows, fired at a target too large to miss, all struck the Spriggan Body. However, they failed to leave even a scratch, falling harmlessly to the floor.
"Don't waste them on the torso! Aim for the face!" Rei shouted, charging past Vel with his Death Scythe in hand. Set was right beside him.
"Gaaaaaaa!"
The Spriggan roared in irritation, noticing Rei, Set, and Ara rushing it from different angles. It raised its club for a wide sweep.
"Ara, I'll draw its attention! Aim for the tendons in its legs! Your Herculean Strength and that Power Axe should be enough to cut it!"
"Understood!"
Rei swung his Death Scythe with a massive arc toward the giant.
"Flying Slash!"
A blade of compressed air erupted from the scythe, carving a deep horizontal gash across the Spriggan Chest just as it prepared to swing its club.
However...
"Tch, too shallow!"
Unlike Vel’s arrows, the Flying Slash definitely wounded the beast, but the cut was only skin-deep. It sliced through leather and muscle but failed to reach the bone.
The Spriggan ignored the pain and brought its massive club down, targeting Rei as the source of its injury.
"Guruuuuuu!"
Set let out a cry, activating King's Intimidation. The Spriggan’s movements slowed visibly. Rei leaped to the side to avoid the strike, then immediately jumped onto the club's head while it was still grounded. He sprinted up the giant's arm, aiming his Death Scythe at the Spriggan Head.
"Gaaaaaaaa!"
Sensing the lethal power behind the scythe instinctively, the Spriggan threw up its left arm—the one not holding the club—to protect its neck. Rei's blade connected, severing the hand at the wrist and sending a fountain of blood into the air.
"Dammit! An Ogre would have been dead by now!"
Rei kicked off the giant's shoulder to clear the area, the image of the B4F Ogre flashing briefly in his mind.
The Spriggan tried to lash out at him with its bleeding stump, but Elena's whip-sword snaked in first. It moved like a dancing serpent in the air, its tip finally piercing the Spriggan's thick chest.
As the giant faltered from the unexpected blow, Elena’s voice rang out.
"Ara!"
Obeying the signal, Ara appeared at the Spriggan’s feet. She raised her Power Axe high.
With her innate Herculean Strength and the magical power of her weapon, she brought the axe down on the Spriggan's left leg—specifically, the ankle. The blade bit deep, severing more than half of the joint.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The Spriggan let out a gut-wrenching scream. With its tendon severed, it could no longer stand and crashed to its knees.
"Now! Finish it!"
At Elena’s command, the party fell upon the beast.
Rei’s Death Scythe, Elena’s whip-sword, Ara’s Power Axe, and Kyuste’s Water Magic Spear all tore into the giant's sturdy flesh. Vel rained arrows down upon the Spriggan Head.
"Guruuuuuu!"
Finally, Set delivered a crushing aerial strike from above. The Spriggan’s life was snuffed out, and its massive form slumped motionless to the dungeon floor.