"Kyu!? Kyu-kyu-kyuuu!"
The moment they teleported into the small room containing the stairs and magic circle on B16F, Ielo, who had been riding on Seto's back, let out a tiny shriek.
The cause was the stench of putrid flesh that saturated every corner of the sixteenth floor.
An ordinary human might have gotten away with merely wrinkling their nose, but for those with a keen sense of smell, the odor was a physical blow.
Rei, Elena, and Seto—the two humans and one beast who had experienced a similar undead floor in the Dungeon of the Altar of Inheritance—could manage to endure it. However, Ielo was smelling this rot for the first time. Half-crazed by the intensity of the stench, the little dragon buried its nose into Seto’s fur, trying desperately to escape the miasma.
"...Ielo, I understand your loathing for this rot. However, as long as we are conquering a dungeon, this is a path we cannot avoid. It feels harsh to say this to one so small, but you must adapt."
As Elena reasoned with Ielo, Rei remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings.
Actually, it's not so much about adapting as it is your nose just shutting down, Rei thought to himself.
Fortunately, B16F was a standard-looking dungeon, a sharp contrast to the vast desert floors. The passages were lined with familiar stone floors, and the walls glowed with a faint, ambient light.
Without the sprawling horizon of the desert, it was much easier to notice anything approaching them.
Case in point.
"Guruuu."
Seto, still carrying Ielo, let out a low rumble in its throat as it caught a sound.
"Yeah, I know. Elena, we’ve got guests already. Prepare a welcome."
Replying to Seto, Rei retrieved the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and leveled it.
The path from the small room led straight ahead, allowing Rei to focus his attention entirely on the front as he urged Elena forward.
Elena drew her whip-sword, holding it ready to lash out at a moment's notice.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of something hard striking the cobblestones drew closer. Soon, the glowing walls revealed the identity of the intruders.
"Just as I thought. Seto, if you would."
"Guru!"
Three skeletons emerged from the shadows, wielding rust-pitted swords and spears.
As a group, the skeletons likely intended to swarm them all at once. The moment they spotted Rei’s party, they moved to ready their weapons, but—
"Gurulululululuuu!"
With a resounding cry, a torrent of blazing red flames erupted from Seto's beak.
Fire Breath, now at Level 3, displayed overwhelming destructive power against the undead.
The skeletons tried to push forward, but the pressure of the flames released from Seto's mouth was absolute. Instead of advancing, they were forced back a step, then two, overwhelmed by the sheer force of the inferno.
And all the while, their bodies were being incinerated.
In the end, the three skeletons didn't even manage to launch an attack. They had barely shown themselves before Seto's Fire Breath burned them down to the marrow, causing their charred remains to collapse onto the cobblestones.
It had been roughly thirty seconds since they first sensed the approach. It was a literal instantaneous kill.
"Seto's Fire Breath... seeing it like this, the power has truly increased considerably."
"Kyu!"
As Elena murmured in admiration, Ielo let out a chirp of agreement. The little dragon had moved to Elena's left shoulder during the exchange to avoid getting in the way of Seto's attack.
Listening to the praise from the woman and the beast, a wry smile played on Rei's lips.
"It’s powerful, all right, and handy for clearing out trash mobs. But it has a drawback: it burns everything to ash, meaning we can't recover materials or magic stones. Well, skeletons are weak monsters like goblins, so we probably wouldn't have learned a skill from them anyway."
"Come to think of it, we failed to obtain a skeleton magic stone in the Dungeon of the Altar of Inheritance as well."
"Yeah. Just like now, they were burned to a crisp along with the stones."
Rei glanced at the scorched bone fragments scattered on the cobblestones. The ambient temperature had risen slightly due to the fire, but neither Rei nor Elena seemed bothered by the heat.
"Guruu?" Seto tilted its head slightly, as if asking if it had done something wrong. Rei shook his head, reaching out to stroke the gryphon's head.
"Don't worry about it. Let's move on. Fortunately, the path here isn't that complicated. If we keep moving straight without detours, we should reach the stairs to the floor below relatively quickly. Though, with it being a linear path, I expect the enemy density will be high."
On the desert floors, encounters with monsters hadn't been that frequent, mostly due to the sheer scale of the environment—with the obvious exception of the oasis on 15F.
However, on B16F, the stone walls, floor, and ceiling defined the path. In terms of area, it was incomparable to the desert floors. Consequently, the concentration of monsters was far higher.
"Well, I’d like to clear this floor as fast as possible. The undead floors don't continue for long like the desert ones, do they?"
Elena nodded, though her brow remained furrowed in distaste at the smell.
"Indeed. While there are a few floors ahead where the undead appear, the level immediately following this one is a forest. It is not as harsh as the desert, and we will not have to contend with this stench. Environmentally, it is quite pleasant. However, because the environment is so favorable, the variety of monsters there is said to be quite diverse."
"Still better than this place."
They continued away from the site of the skeleton skirmish for about ten minutes. The single path from the starting room finally opened into a fork.
There were no signs of other adventurers or monsters nearby. Only the faint glow of the walls illuminated the passage, alongside the lingering scent of rot from zombies that seemed to have soaked into the very stone.
Ielo seemed to have finally acclimated to the environment, as it was no longer letting out the piteous cries from before.
"So, which way?" Rei asked, looking at the split. Elena produced a map and spread it out.
Thanks to the glowing walls, the map was easy to read, and she identified their route immediately.
"The left leads to several small rooms, but it's ultimately a dead end. The path forward is to the right."
"Right it is... Wait."
Rei felt a sudden sense of déjà vu, remembering their time on the desert floor. He recalled a similar exchange in the labyrinthine rocky desert where Vihera had been fighting the Cyclops.
He remembered choosing to head toward a dead end specifically to use a magic stone and learn a skill.
He didn't necessarily need to explore the dead end here, though. Currently, the only absorbable magic stone he had was the one he’d managed to retrieve from the Desert Lizardman corpse found inside the stomach of a Sandworm.
He could have waited until tomorrow when they were scheduled to handle the material stripping request, but Rei decided that since they were already in the dungeon, they should take care of what they could.
Fortunately, this fork is reasonably wide. The walls are bright, but there's enough cover that we don't have to worry about being spotted from a distance, he thought.
"Seto, Elena, Ielo. Move over to the wall for a second. Since we're here, let's take care of the magic stone absorption."
"...Here?" Elena asked, surprised by the sudden suggestion. Rei gave a short nod.
"It's only one Desert Lizardman magic stone. It'll only take a few seconds. If we stay by the edge of the passage, we'll see anyone coming before they see us."
"I suppose that's true... Very well, if that is your judgment, Rei."
Understanding that the process was nearly instantaneous, Elena agreed. For magic stone absorption, Seto only had to swallow the stone, and the Death Scythe only had to slice it.
Of course, the part that usually took the most time was verifying the performance of the newly acquired skill.
Sensing her lingering doubt, Rei shrugged.
"Even if we test the skill, we can manage it if it's just one. Besides, this floor isn't exactly a popular spot for people to hang around."
For a moment, the party in the plaza looking for mages who could use flame or purification magic crossed Rei's mind, but he brushed it aside. Finding a mage was rare enough; it was highly unlikely they'd just stumble upon one and make it down here so quickly.
And even if they were desperate enough to try this floor without a mage, there were other undead levels they could have chosen, just as Elena said.
He moved toward the wall to begin the process.
"Kyu?" Ielo followed along with Elena.
"Now, which of us should take it... Well, we're guaranteed to get more Desert Lizardman magic stones starting tomorrow, so no need to overthink it. Seto."
"Guruu?" Seto tilted its head, as if asking if it was really okay. Rei nodded.
Seto hesitated for a moment, but then remembered the Desert Lizardman corpse it had defeated was already stored in the Misty Ring. The gryphon took the magic stone from Rei's hand with its beak and swallowed it down.
[Seto has learned the skill Wind Arrow Lv. 2]
The announcement message echoed in Rei's mind.
"Wind Arrow Level 2. Well, considering I might not have learned anything at all, I'll take the upgrade."
"Guruu... Guru? Gurululululu!"
Seto nodded in agreement, but then suddenly looked around, its posture tensing as it let out a cry of warning.
In that instant, Rei and Elena gripped their weapons. Ielo flapped its wings and took flight, hovering away from Elena's shoulder so as not to hinder their movements.
A moment later, a distinct sound echoed from the right-hand path of the fork.
Clang. Clang. Clack.
A heavy, metallic cadence. Rei's brow furrowed.
It wasn't the light rattling of a skeleton or the wet, squelching thud of a zombie.
"Our first new enemy, then."
The undead Rei had fought so far had been fleshy or bony; they didn't make sounds like a suit of armor walking.
"If it’s a metallic sound, is it possible it isn't an undead?" Elena murmured beside him.
Rei looked at her, caught off guard. He had been so sure that only undead appeared on this level. According to his preliminary research, there hadn't been any reports of non-undead enemies on B16F.
However, they knew about the anomaly species, and Rei recalled the adventurer from House Silwa they’d met on 15F claiming to have seen one nearby.
Rei kept his gaze fixed on the passage. Soon, the source of the noise emerged into the light of the glowing walls.
It was a suit of full plate mail, standing roughly two meters tall, wielding a pole-axe. That was Rei's first impression.
"An adventurer?"
At a glance, the figure looked human. However, Rei immediately sensed an overwhelming dissonance. There was no presence of a living being whatsoever.
As soon as he realized that, the pieces clicked into place.
"A Living Armor!?"
A Living Armor was a suit of armor possessed by a restless spirit. Their rank varied depending on the strength of the spirit and the quality of the armor, but most were equivalent to D-rank monsters.
The proof of subjugation part was the magic stone housed within the armor. Unlike most monsters, it wasn't embedded in flesh; it sat inside the hollow of the suit, much like the core of a skeleton.
That was also its primary weakness.
While the magic stone was the only part typically harvested for quests, the Living Armor itself and its weapon were often magic items of significant value.
However, since some were cursed, it was standard procedure to have them appraised by a blacksmith or alchemist before use. Cursed items could also be broken down and used as materials to forge new magic items.
The massive suit of armor stood before them, its pole-axe held ready.
[Seto] Water Ball Lv. 3, Fire Breath Lv. 3, Wind Arrow Lv. 2 (New), King's Intimidation Lv. 1, Poison Claw Lv. 4, Size Change Lv. 1, Tornado Lv. 1, Ice Arrow Lv. 1, Optical Camouflage Lv. 2, Magic Eye of Shock Lv. 1
Wind Arrow: Shoots 5 to 7 arrows of compressed air. While the individual power isn't massive, the arrows are nearly invisible and boast high projectile speed.