I’d shed tears, feeling the full weight of my own inadequacy.
But I managed to pull myself together, bolstered by the viewers' kind words, and resumed the expedition. Hinata-san and I exited the Monster Room and descended to Floor 7.
The boss room?
Yeah, sixteen monsters spawned. I cleared them easily enough and headed down.
At any rate, here we were on Floor 7.
By the time you reach this far, the corridors of the dungeon—which look like underground ruins—become quite cavernous. The corridors alone were four or five meters wide. Naturally, this meant the monsters appearing here were getting larger too.
The monsters on Floor 7 of the Shinjuku Dungeon range from Level 17 to 20.
In terms of new additions, the Goblin Wolf Rider joins the roster alongside the enemies from Floor 6. And no, this wasn't my first time seeing them. It was that chimera bastard I’d encountered back when I saved Mogi and his party.
『Floor 7 mobs are here!!』 『Look at those guys. They’re all huge and rugged!』 『At a glance, the Rider looks the biggest, but...』 『There are so many new monsters from this floor on, I can't tell which one is the most dangerous.』
As the comments pointed out, the Rider wasn't the only newcomer. The full lineup for Floor 7 consisted of eight types: Assassin, Knight, Lancer, Berserker, Commander, Rider, Bow Knight, and Archmage.
The Bow Knight was a higher class of Archer, while the Archmage was a higher class of Mage.
The Bow Knight was a knight encased in slender full-body armor; they utilized bows at long range and drew daggers for close combat. As the armor suggested, their physical defense was high, though not quite at the level of a standard Knight.
The Archmage was a monster that possessed Flame Magic, the superior version of the Fire Magic skill, and it even had Level 1 Mind Concentration. They were extremely troublesome foes that wielded a variety of powerful spells—not just Fireball, but Fire Arrow, Fire Lance, and depending on their level, even Explosion.
And as you might have guessed, these guys dropped Fire Magic skill orbs. Of course, even if one dropped, it would be a useless white elephant to me, so I planned to give them all to Hinata-san.
The first group we encountered on Floor 7 consisted of five: a Knight, a Berserker, a Rider, a Bow Knight, and an Archmage.
The moment I activated Taunt to start the engagement, the goblins sprang into action. The Berserker’s body was enveloped in a red aura, and the Rider was the first to charge.
However, overtaking the Rider’s massive frame as it approached like a literal arrow, a bolt from the Bow Knight flew toward me with pinpoint accuracy.
Fast!
Wary of the arrow hitting Hinata-san behind me, I parried it with my sword. Clang! The heavy impact and the vibration through the hilt were unlike anything I’d felt against an Archer. Its power was on a completely different level.
Next, fired without a moment's delay, came the Archmage's Fire Lance. A spear of glowing red flame surged toward me with the momentum of a cannonball. Even if I blocked this, it would explode if it failed to pierce its target. If that happened, I’d take a fair amount of damage.
I triggered my Magic Sword as I swung back, launching a blade of fire from the line carved through the air. The two attacks collided, neutralizing the Fire Lance mid-flight.
Boom!! A massive explosion of flame spread instantly, filling the wide corridor. However—
『Whoa, wait!?』 『Are you serious!?』
From beyond that veil of fire, the Rider leapt out, piercing through the smoke.
Monsters are a nuisance because they do things like this. Since Explorers have to fight numerous enemies, they have to minimize injury and damage as much as possible. On the other hand, monsters will attack without any regard for injury, damage, or even their own lives.
This discrepancy in self-preservation—the willingness to accept self-destruction—is a massive headache. It makes even lower-level mobs dangerous enough to catch you off guard.
That being said—
"Hnnngh!!!"
Diving in alone just made an inferior opponent an easy target. I swung my sword vertically from a high guard, launching a blade of fire toward the pouncing Rider.
"—!!?"
The flaming blade split the chimera bastard clean down the middle.
The Rider's trait of continuing to move as long as either the goblin or the wolf survives is annoying, but if you take them both out in one hit, that's the end of it. Alternatively, if you stop the wolf part from breathing, you can restrict its movement and finish it easily.
The fire blade that bisected the Rider flew further, slicing the veil of flames in two. I dove through the opening.
"Gaaaaaaaah!!!"
In that instant, as if it had been lying in wait, the Berserker swung its greatsword. A massive block of iron hurtled toward me at high speed. I decided to cut through the situation with style.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
"—!!?"
I roared back, swinging my sword upward from a low position.
The greatsword and the Holy Sword collided. In terms of potential energy, the Berserker should have held the advantage, but stats are what shatter such common laws. Levels and stats never lie, and they never betray you!
The moment the blades clashed, the Berserker's greatsword was ripped from its grip.
"Hmph!"
In a fluid motion, I swept my blade through the Berserker's torso, cleaving it in two. Without sparing a glance at the massive body collapsing to the floor, I sprinted toward the remaining three.
Naturally, the Knight stepped forward to block my path. I blew it away with a fire-imbued Magic Sword strike—and immediately after, an arrow and a Fire Lance came for me.
Of course, my trusty Danger Sense had already signaled the threat.
I evaded by leaping toward the front-right, closing the distance to the Bow Knight and the Archmage. Once they were within my reach, the game was over. Even though the Bow Knight's physical defense was high, its magic defense was lackluster. The Archmage had a high Spirit stat, but it possessed no defense skills and wore nothing but a flimsy robe.
I bisected both of them with a single flash of my blade. Finally, I finished off the remaining Knight with room to spare.
Battle over.
"Takeo-kun, good work! That was amazing! A total victory!!"
『Whoa, whoa, whoa!! That was a piece of cake!!』 『I wondered what would happen when he started crying on Floor 6...』 『Takejiro-chan is winning without Fighting Spirit; he's definitely still got this!!』 『Seriously, how is he bisecting even Riders and Bow Knights in one hit?』 『As expected of Junkie Bro, it's an attack-power-specialized Skill Build. Still, it’s pretty insane.』 『If he just skips the Monster Rooms, he could definitely handle Floor 9 or 10, couldn't he!?』
Hinata-san and the viewers offered words of concern. They were emphasizing how it was a "total victory" or "a piece of cake"... but I knew better than anyone that it was mere flattery. It meant nothing if I couldn't win in the Monster Room.
"Thank you, Hinata-san, everyone....Shall we move on?"
"Ah, yeah..."
『Junkie Bro doesn't look too happy.』 『I don't know. I'm getting "fake smile" vibes.』 『...Wait, you don't think this guy thinks our comments are just flattery, do you?』 『No, there's no way...』
Sensing a certain premonition, I began walking toward the Monster Room located deep within Floor 7. By the way, for this battle, Hinata-san gained 4,725 experience points, while I gained 9,450.
...The experience was actually quite good.
●◯●
And so, we arrived at the Floor 7 Monster Room.
Before entering, Hinata-san asked once more if I really didn't need Support Magic, but I declined. The viewers' comments were also tinged with anxiety.
『Hey, this is gonna be okay, right?』 『Surely even Junkie Bro wouldn't commit suicide...』 『If he didn't think he could win, he wouldn't enter in the first place...』
I led the worried Hinata-san into the room. As usual, I placed my backpack against the wall and drew my sword.
In the center of the room—which was far larger than the Floor 4 Monster Room—a giant Magic Circle glowed brilliantly. Then, forty-nine monsters appeared all at once.
"............"
『Uwa... this is seriously bad...!!』 『Is this an army of myths...!!』 『The Intimidation is enough to make me shake even through the screen...!!』 『The fact that these are all goblins is almost like a joke...!! Not that it's funny at all!!』
It was an army of aberrations standing in orderly ranks. There were chimeric Riders, muscular Berserkers reaching two meters in height, Knights clad in full armor, and Bow Knights—similarly tall but slender. Then there were Assassins, Lancers, Commanders, and Archmages. Though the Intimidation they gave off was smaller compared to the others, every single one of them was larger than me.
The frail image usually associated with the word "goblin" was nowhere to be found. And there were forty-nine of these monsters.
It was only natural that the viewers were in an uproar.
『It's insane that this is still only Floor 7...!!』 『Floor 7 is supposed to be a shallow floor, isn't it...!?』 『Wait, is Floor 7 actually a dangerous place?』 『It's understandable if you aren't familiar with dungeons... but everything below Floor 5 is considered the domain of Pro Explorers. And Pros make up less than one percent of all Explorers.』
I realized my premonition had been correct. The "instinct" I’d begun to feel—the one that had surfaced during my first Monster Room or when Kanzaki’s group attacked—was telling me that if I fought in a melee like usual, I might suffer defeat even if I gave it my all.
(I guess this is my limit...)
If I could have my way, I would have liked to level up in a place with better experience efficiency... but if I proceeded to the Floor 8 Monster Room as I was now, I would probably die.
While feeling a sense of chagrin at my own incompetence—
"—Eh?" 『Eh?』 『Eh?』 『Eh?』 『Eh...?』
In less than thirty seconds, I annihilated every goblin in the Floor 7 Monster Room.