The room housing the Dungeon's core—the same one they had approached once before.
With every step closer, tension welled up within Rei and the others, willing or not.
Still, it wasn't overwhelming enough to paralyze them. Calling it a healthy level of tension was likely a testament to their past experiences.
Yohanna and her group, who had been entrusted with Vihera and Rhodos, remained further back at the spot where Grimm had teleported them.
(Leaving Yohanna's group behind was the right call.)
Gripping Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, Rei muttered to himself. His palms on the grips felt slightly clammy already.
The tension came from challenging the Silver Lion, but it also stemmed from the fact that if they didn't defeat it, they couldn't restore Vihera's consciousness.
(I will win. No matter what.)
As he refocused his mind, a hand suddenly landed on Rei's shoulder. For a split second, he thought it was an enemy—but he quickly realized it was Elk's hand and exhaled.
"Calm down. If you're that tense, the rest of us won't be able to fight with peace of mind either. You're the leader of this party, after all."
"...Huh? Me?" Rei wore an expression suggesting he'd just been told something completely unexpected.
In truth, Rei had no awareness whatsoever that he was this party's leader. He'd assumed someone with more experience, like Elk or Marina, should take the lead.
"Obviously. In the first place, the only reason this whole endeavor is possible is because of you, Rei."
"No, even so, there's no need for me to be the party leader. Even considering experience, Elk or Marina would be..."
"It's fine. Rei leading this party is our consensus. ...Right?"
"That's right." Marina, receiving Elk's gaze, nodded with a smile. "Rei is going to need to work hard as an adventurer from here on out, too. So that much is only natural, wouldn't you say?"
"Indeed. I also agree with Marina's opinion."
Elena nodded in agreement, and Min and Ara followed as if it were a matter of course.
"Grrrrrl!"
Set purred, perhaps pleased that Rei was being praised.
(It's not like I'm being praised, though.) Rei thought, watching Set's demeanor—but being acknowledged still made him happy. Since he was holding the Twilight Spear, he gently stroked Set with the back of his hand instead of his palm.
Seeing Rei like that, smiles appeared on the others' faces as well. The tension that had been building inside him gradually melted away with each stroke.
With that, they resumed walking... and before long, their destination came into view.
Even though they hadn't yet entered the room, they could already feel an intense pressure.
(I don't think I felt any kind of pressure like this when I came to this Dungeon before... Is it because I know the Silver Lion is inside?)
Rei wondered to himself, but ultimately, what they needed to do remained unchanged.
In front of the room, Rei spoke up as if making a final confirmation.
"Ready? When the Silver Lion's Roar comes, each of you deal with it on your own. If you absolutely can't withstand it, take the hit once, then step outside the room. Recover, then go back in. Same applies if you get injured."
Rei didn't expect everyone to get through the Silver Lion battle unscathed. While minor injuries were one thing, sustaining wounds that hindered combat would make retreating outside to the safe zone and recovering the best course of action, without a doubt.
"I'll leave some potions here. If you think your injuries are a problem, feel free to use them."
Saying that, Rei began pulling potions out of his Misty Ring one after another.
The majority were standard potions that could be purchased in Gilm, but among them were potions crafted from World Tree materials—ones that could only be obtained by spending Light Gold Coins.
They couldn't restore Vihera's consciousness, but they could instantly treat even severe injuries. In fact, even if someone's limbs were severed, using these potions could likely reattach them.
Elk and Min stared in astonishment at how casually Rei produced potions of such extraordinary potency.
Marina had once seen Rei administer a World Tree potion to Vihera mouth-to-mouth, and Elena and Ara had known Rei long enough to understand he wasn't the type to hoard rare potions in a situation like this.
"H-Hey. Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, no problem. If we lost to the Silver Lion because I was stingy with potions, that'd be something we could never take back."
Rei nodded at Elk's words and spoke again.
"Now. Seems like they're waiting for us over there... Let's go."
At Rei's words, everyone shifted their focus from the potions to subjugating the Silver Lion.
What Rei and his party saw upon entering the room was a lion with silver fur, just as its name suggested.
Even through Rei's eyes—accustomed to Set's size, which exceeded two meters in total length—the creature was clearly massive.
Excluding its tail, it was about four meters long, roughly twice Set's size. Including the long tail typical of a lion, its total length would reach about six meters.
A lush mane, marking it as a male lion, framed its face—and like everything else about it, the mane was silver.
It truly possessed a majestic appearance befitting the title King of Beasts.
The space the Silver Lion occupied was wide enough for it to move around freely even with its six-meter frame.
"Grrrrrrr."
The cry was similar to Set's, likely due to their shared trait of being lions.
(Though with Set, only his lower half is a lion.)
Majestic, imposing, bizarre—various words crossed Rei's mind, but he noticed that he wasn't actually all that tense. He was confident. He could definitely wield his power to its fullest. He held that conviction firmly.
And it wasn't just Rei.
Elena, Marina, Elk, and Min each held their weapons and steeled their fighting spirit. Set, who required no weapons, showed not the slightest sign of intimidation before the Silver Lion, which was nearly three times his size. However...
"..."
In the sense that it uttered no words, it was the same as Rei and his party. But what Ara felt was undoubtedly awe.
Until now, Ara had encountered beings that inspired awe on many occasions. Elena, for one. Rei, Set, and Elk were likely others. She had seen similar existences before, but... to Ara, the Silver Lion was an opponent she could not possibly face head-on.
Without realizing it, her legs, her hands, her entire body trembled. If she stayed before the Silver Lion, she would lose her life. Her instincts screamed that truth.
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A roar from the Silver Lion, completely different from its previous cry.
The moment she heard it, Ara's legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground.
"Ara, wait outside the room for a bit. Once your body can move again, join the battle."
Though he'd been elevated to party leader, Rei understood exactly what he needed to do. He said those words precisely because he understood that forcing Ara to fight now would only result in her being killed by the Silver Lion.
Under normal circumstances, she would have stubbornly insisted on joining the fight if Elena was participating. But standing before the Silver Lion right now, that was impossible for her.
To put it bluntly, if this mission were about restoring Elena's consciousness, Ara would have been able to fight the Silver Lion without any hesitation.
Of course, it wasn't that Ara hated Vihera. But to Ara, Elena and Vihera were simply not of equal value.
"Y-Yes, understood."
With a trembling voice, Ara stepped back.
Watching her retreat, Rei and the others stepped forward.
"Let's go."
Rei muttered, simultaneously activating Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—and everyone moved at once.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRL!"
As if to check Rei and his party's advance, the Silver Lion let out a roar.
At the same time, Set planted his feet firmly, activated King's Intimidation, and unleashed a roar of his own.
Normally, King's Intimidation was an ability that could seal an opponent's movements. But Set's roar couldn't even match the Silver Lion's, managing only to weaken its power slightly.
Still, it was fortunate that he managed to reduce the roar's effect even a little.
Thanks to Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei was virtually unaffected by the roar.
Elk and the others also managed to attenuate the Silver Lion's roar using their own respective means—personal strength, magic, Magic Items, the power of Spirits...
Using those combined forces, they couldn't completely nullify the roar, but they kept the damage to a level that wouldn't hinder their next actions.
"Flying Slash!"
The first attack unleashed was a strike Rei excelled at.
It was a skill that had reached Level 5, its power significantly increased compared to before—but Rei naturally didn't expect it to be effective against the Silver Lion.
The Silver Lion possessed strong resistance to magic and slashing attacks. This Flying Slash was strictly a probing strike.
If it could draw even a fraction of the Silver Lion's attention toward him, that would be enough.
That was the intent behind the strike, but...
"Grrah!"
The reaction was completely unexpected: the Silver Lion casually extinguished the Flying Slash's blade with a single flick of its tail.
(Tch, I knew this type of attack wouldn't work, but... I never imagined it could block it so easily with just a tail swipe.)
Troublesome.
Rei wanted to say as much, but there was no denying that the previous strike had successfully forced the Silver Lion to take action, even if only for an instant.
In that brief opening, the others had each transitioned into their own attacks.
Elk closed the distance with the Axe of the Thunder God in hand. Elena swung Mirage in its whip form to restrict the Silver Lion's movements. Marina used Spirit Magic to send a wind shockwave crashing into it. Min chanted a spell. Set flapped his wings and soared into the sky.
Rei confirmed everyone's movements before stepping forward himself.
Because he'd been moving while still deploying Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei—despite acting last—reached the Silver Lion faster than anyone else in the party.
"Take... this!"
A strike from Death Scythe utilizing the maximum physical enhancement of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
The scythe, infused with magical power, was swung as if to reap the Silver Lion's life, just as its name suggested—but it bounced off the creature's fur with a high-pitched metallic clang.
"!?"
Rei couldn't suppress a cry, but he used the momentum from Death Scythe being deflected to spin in place and thrust the Twilight Spear in his left hand straight toward the Silver Lion's face.
However, the spear's tip struck the Silver Lion's forehead and only produced another high-pitched metallic ring throughout the room.
At the same time, sensing something barreling toward him, Rei leapt reflexively—and in that instant, took a heavy blow that sent him flying.
"Guh!"
He twisted his body in midair and landed on the floor, but the force of the Silver Lion's strike sent him sliding several meters, feet scraping against the ground.
He readied Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear as he steadied himself, but no follow-up attack came.
He understood why immediately.
Right after Rei had been blown back, Elk had reached the Silver Lion and brought the Axe of the Thunder God crashing down.
The Silver Lion swiftly twisted its body to evade Elk's full-power strike. Marina's wind shockwave, released as a restraining attack, and Elena's whip-formed Mirage struck next.
But the Silver Lion didn't even move, as if to say such attacks weren't worth dodging, and simply glared at Elk.
(I knew attacks other than physical strikes wouldn't work, but I never imagined that a Death Scythe strike infused with magic—even one enhanced by Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—would have no effect? Even as a joke, that's way too cruel.)
Currently, the only one the Silver Lion perceived as a threat was Elk, who wielded the Axe of the Thunder God. That was surely because it instinctively understood that a strike from that weapon alone could damage it.
In other words, the Silver Lion believed that as long as it kept watch on Elk, it would not lose.
Feeling a dull ache in his ribs from the Silver Lion's previous strike, Rei drew a short breath.
"I'll show you... that you're wrong about that!"
Gripping Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, he drove his foot into the floor and charged forward to close the distance with the Silver Lion in one explosive burst.