“This way, it is!”
I blasted the Kobolds away with my Explosive Blade and pushed forward.
Saito-san led the way as if he knew every turn by heart.
However—
『Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!? Just how many of them are there?!』
『Seriously, how many Kobold-kuns are in this fortress???』
『Right now they’re nothing but fodder for Leveling Junkie Bro, but doesn’t it seem weird that their numbers aren’t thinning?』
The horde of Kobolds appearing to block our path showed no signs of decreasing. They emerged from every nook and cranny to pounce on us.
That was strange enough in its own right, but something else bothered me even more.
I had been riding a high from the massive influx of Experience Points, but once I regained enough composure to hold a conversation, I took a moment to ask Saito-san.
“Saito-san! Isn’t this fortress... incredibly sturdy?!”
I recalled the scene after we had landed in the courtyard, where I blew a massive hole through the wall along with the door leading inside.
But it wasn't just that. Even now, as we advanced through the fortress while annihilating the Kobolds, there was something unsettling about our surroundings.
The fortress wasn’t collapsing.
To put it plainly, even though I was spamming Explosive Blade like a madman—creating craters in the hallways and blasting massive holes into the walls—the structure itself remained standing.
It had been the same in the courtyard. Explosive Blade had gouged the wall, but the overall damage was far too minor.
Even if its durability was enhanced because it was a Dungeon Structure, this was still bizarre.
When I defeated the first monster in this Dungeon, the Giant Centipede, I had thrust my sword through the creature and deep into the trunk of a large tree.
If the trees in that forest were Dungeon Structures, there was no way they should have been damaged by a raw attack of mine that hadn't even been enhanced by a Skill. Furthermore, the grass and the soil we had encountered on the way here possessed no more durability than those on the surface.
During the fighting, I had seen trees snapping and the ground being gouged, with dirt flying everywhere from the attacks of both our team and the monsters.
That was why I had assumed things inside this Dungeon weren't reinforced, but...
“Have you noticed, Junkie-niki-dono?!”
Saito-san widened his eyes for a split second, glancing over at me as he answered.
“It seems an extraordinarily massive amount of Magic Essence is flowing through this fortress! Even in a normal Dungeon, Magic Essence flows through the ground, floors, and walls—the Dungeon Structures—to reinforce them. However, the amount of Magic Essence used for reinforcement here appears to be on an entirely different level! That is likely why this place is particularly sturdy!!”
“I see, so that’s it!!”
In short, this fortress alone was far sturdier than a typical Dungeon.
However, if that was the case...
“At worst, I thought I might be able to annihilate the Kobolds by bringing the whole fortress down on them from the outside... but I guess that’s out of the question!”
If Explosive Blade only managed to blow a hole in a single wall, I had no hope of collapsing the entire structure.
“Indeed! Unfortunately, even for this one or Kurage-chan-dono, collapsing this fortress would be quite a challenge! Given the current situation where we must conquer other Floors as well, it is a method I would rather not resort to!”
So it wasn't impossible, then. But doing so would probably drain our energy to an absurd degree.
Well, I decided to look on the bright side: at least I didn't have to worry about being buried alive even if I went all out.
Suddenly—
“Wait—!? Y-You guys!! Put more effort into the diversion!! I’m going to run out of MP!”
Mayurin-san’s panicked voice rang out from behind us.
I fired an Explosive Blade forward and quickly spun around to check our rear.
Mayurin-san had deployed a barrier—or more accurately, a defensive wall—behind the group to block the corridor, holding back a sea of monsters.
The hallway was packed as tightly as a commuter train during rush hour. The Kobolds in the front row were attacking frantically, trying to smash through the barrier she had erected.
Meanwhile, Ikegami-san and the others were attacking the Kobolds through the barrier, trying to thin their ranks, but there were simply too many of them. They weren't making much of a dent.
“Don’t ask for the impossible!!”
“Our HP isn’t infinite, you know?!”
“We can’t handle this many!!”
“We’re going to run out of Potions...!!”
Swarmed by that many Kobolds, it was only a matter of time before Mayurin-san’s MP ran dry. Surely she had brought some Mana Potions, but still...
“Mayurin-san! Guard with everything you’ve got!”
I leaped high into the air and swung my sword toward the area behind her team.
Explosive Blade.
The flying blade of aura impacted the cluster of Kobolds on the far side of the barrier, triggering a massive explosion. Mayurin-san braced her barrier against the blue flames and the shockwave.
Cracks spread across the entire surface of the barrier, but since my Attack Multiplier was only at 144x and it was a flat wall rather than a sphere or hemisphere, the MP burden should have been manageable.
Once the flames cleared, a space had opened up in the corridor. I must have incinerated about twenty Kobolds in one go. However, that gap would likely be filled by the next wave of monsters soon enough.
“Th-Thank you, Leveling Junkie Bro-kun...”
Mayurin-san thanked me with a twitching expression.
“Sorry about that.”
I offered her a quick apology. It was a toss-up whether blocking the aftereffects of Explosive Blade or continuing to fend off the Kobolds' attacks was more MP-efficient. As I considered what to do next—
While I was occupied with the rear, the enemies in front had closed the distance. I hurriedly prepared another Explosive Blade, but I was a split second too late.
“—Fire Arrow, it is!!”
Just then, Saito-san fired a volley of Fire Arrows. Fiery lines resembling lasers streaked forward, piercing and incinerating nearly ten Kobolds at once.
That gave me just enough breathing room to finish my swing.
“Experience Points, rawgh!!”
The massive aura I released exploded ahead, wiping out the front line. That bought us a few more seconds.
In that opening, Saito-san turned toward Sakura-san and the others to issue orders.
“This one and Junkie-niki-dono are enough for the front! Sakura-dono and Jackson-dono, support Mayurin-dono and her team!”
“...Yes!”
“Understood.”
Sakura-san and Jackson-dono nodded and moved to the rear.
With those two joining Ikegami-san’s group, they began launching attacks at the Kobolds through Mayurin-san’s barrier.
As expected, Sakura-san and Jackson-dono were on another level. Sakura-san wielded her naginata with elegant, compact strikes, firing aura blades at blinding speed. Jackson-dono lunged forward from a practiced stance, his fists a blur as he unleashed barrages of aura.
They had been conserving their HP and MP for a battle that showed no signs of ending, but now they were pulling out all the stops.
Thanks to their help, the sheer volume of attacks from the rear guard increased dramatically, and the pressure on Mayurin-san began to ease.
They weren't necessarily killing every Kobold, but they didn't need to. Stalling them was enough.
The rear was no longer a problem.
As for the front—as if there could be any problem! The numbers weren't decreasing, making it feel as if they were infinitely spawning somewhere, but that was exactly why it was perfect!
I was steadily raking in those Experience Points!
I had predicted a minimum of 1.08 billion Experience Points per minute, but we were currently far exceeding that. At this rate, forget twenty minutes—I might level up in less than ten!
Seriously, this Dungeon was incredible!
It was an all-you-can-eat leveling buffet!
With that thought, I kept killing. We kept advancing.
However, it seemed the fun wasn't meant to last forever.
“—! It is there! Based on the flow of Magic Essence through the walls and floor, that room appears to be the destination!!”
Only a few minutes after entering the fortress, we reached the deepest part of the structure, our goal right before our eyes.
The Kobolds were filling the passage even more densely than before.
They were crowded so tightly that they could barely move. Normally, no creature would be foolish enough to trap themselves like that. The reason these Kobolds—and Special Variant ones at that—were packing the corridor was to protect whatever was in the room behind them. They were serving as meat shields.
They were guarding something of immense importance. I could feel their desperate determination to stop us.
I saw many shield-bearing Kobolds. Normally, breaking through them to reach the inner sanctum would be nearly impossible. But for us, it wasn't that hard.
Not with Explosive Blade.
I simply blew them all away.
Then, we rushed into the room they had been guarding.
“...That’s it?!”
“No doubt about it, it is the Dungeon Core!!”
『Dungeon Core is here!!』
『A giant crystal pillar?!』
『Wait, what’s guarding the Dungeon Core?!』
I knew it at a glance.
We had rushed into a wide space resembling an audience chamber, with a raised platform at the far end.
In the place where a lord or castle master would normally sit, a massive crystal pillar grew from the floor.
It glittered brilliantly and was clearly supernatural. It stretched nearly to the ceiling of the chamber, which was built for the large Kobolds, making it about five meters tall.
There was no mistaking it. That was the Dungeon Core.
Wait, didn't Tona-san say it was growing from the ground? This was a floor, not the ground!
I suppressed the urge to complain and readied my sword. This was no time for pedantry.
In front of the Dungeon Core stood a host of elite Kobolds.
A Kobold King and a Kobold General. There were armored Kobold Royal Guards holding greatshields, Kobold Swordmasters with greatswords, and Kobold Archwizards clutching staffs.
The number of Royal Guards serving as tanks was overwhelming. Their resolve to protect the Core was palpable.
The Kobold King, wearing a crown, pointed the tip of an ornate sword toward us.
“Grrrrr... VOOOOOOOOOOOOHNNNNN!!!”
The instant it roared—
“Eek?!”
“Gah?!”
“What—?!”
“Kyaah?!”
Everyone except for me and Saito-san screamed and collapsed to their knees.