Countless monsters gathered, completely hemming me in.
The moment the absurd swarm spotted me, they sprang into motion all at once.
They raced through the dunes and charged down from the sandy crests. Up above, air superiority had already been claimed by flying monsters, circling round and round while watching for an opening to strike.
I had only a few seconds before actual combat with the horde would begin.
There was no move I could make. Without Hinata-san around, and without the heal potions I had brought in hand, the probability of me being killed by these monsters was over ninety-nine percent.
It was an almost certain death.
Yet that was precisely why I didn't need to agonize over it.
What I needed to do was crystal clear.
For now—short of fighting these things to the bitter end and somehow holding out until Saito-san and the others came to rescue me, I had zero chance of survival.
It was a virtually nonexistent possibility, but it was my only option.
In that case, there was no need to think about anything else. Naturally, I cast aside every stray thought.
(...Strange.)
Rolling my eyes around at the monsters rushing in from all directions, I checked their types and estimated their lower and upper limits of strength.
Within my line of sight was a group of non-undead Lamias. A pack of glamorous beauties with the lower bodies of serpents, each brandishing a weapon, slithered across the sand toward me. In normal dungeons, they appeared on Floor 11 and beyond—in other words, their strength was on par with Orcs.
There was also a monster resembling a giant earthworm, or perhaps the mythical Mongolian Death Worm. Its name was the "Worm Drake." It was nearly ten meters long, with a body measuring roughly 1.5 meters in diameter. Its surface was covered in tough scales, and what appeared to be its mouth was lined with countless dense fangs. Befitting the name "Drake," this was a powerful sub-dragon species known to appear on Floor 15 and beyond in several dungeons.
Additionally, there was a pack of giant wolves coated in sand-colored fur. Monstrous beasts standing about two meters tall, their heads were held higher than my own. Their name: "Invisible Death." Possessing a wide variety of skills including Color Camouflage, Silent Walk, Presence Disguise, Odor Reduction, and Wind Magic, they were monsters that aimed for one-hit kills through extremely high-level stealth maneuvers.
There were also monsters resembling giant armadillos. With physiques matching brown bears, their entire bodies were encased in hard carapaces. Curling into balls, they had already begun rolling down from the tops of the dunes at high speed. Their name: "Road Killer." True to their name, they specialized in crushing enemies to death using their massive size and hard shells.
Circling in the sky and watching for an opening were "Assassin Falcons." Large, bird-type monsters resembling falcons. Unlike the Invisible Deaths that relied on hide-type skills to aim for a one-hit kill, these monsters used pure speed and flight capabilities as their sole weapons to go for lethal strikes.
Assassin Falcons weren't the only ones in the air. A massive swarm of giant crane flies over a meter long also flew through the sky, drifting on the desert's hot winds. Their name: "Fly Bomber." Monsters with terrifyingly low Constitution and Spirit stats, and meager HP that made them easy to defeat. However, they possessed the obnoxious Self-Destruct skill, which triggered an immediate massive explosion upon death. They were infamous for having killed numerous high-level explorers in a certain African dungeon.
—For now, that was about the extent of the monsters present.
The number of monsters in plain sight already easily exceeded a hundred. If I factored in the ones hidden behind the dunes, there was no telling how many had gathered.
Every single one of them was a monster that would only appear on Floor 11 or deeper in a normal dungeon.
If floor depth and species values correlated to strength in this dungeon as well, I had to assume they were stronger than almost any monster found on Floor 1.
Estimating their individual threat levels was pointless. They were all equally lethal.
And yet...
(I'm way too calm.)
No fear, no anxiety, no panic—nothing. My heart was completely still, without a single ripple.
It wasn't that I saw a path to victory. I was convinced I would almost certainly die. But I felt nothing about that fact.
I couldn't fathom the reason behind this bizarre state of mind.
(—Status.)
Even so, I would do what needed to be done. Wasting focus on questions I couldn't answer was pointless.
Checking my remaining HP on the displayed status:
[HP] 452/480
After leveling up from destroying the dungeon core, I hadn't allocated my status points or skill points yet, so my status remained unchanged. I didn't have the time to allocate them now, and even if I did, it would be a drop in the ocean.
However, since Hinata-san had fully healed me earlier, I still had plenty of HP.
First, I had to... consume that HP.
I activated the skills Berserk, Fighting Spirit, Sword Aura, Mighty Blade, Asceticism, and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds.
Pouring in 30 HP, I formed a massive blade of aura. Infusing it with Mighty Blade and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds, I unleashed it.
—Mighty Blade Great Flying Blade: Explosive Blade.
Without even looking up, I swung my sword toward the sky.
The first strike was mine. I made this attack the beacon to signal the start of battle.
The colossal slash soared into the heavens, striking a Fly Bomber floating lazily in the air. The Fly Bomber triggered a massive explosion through the effect of Self-Destruct, which in turn detonated the Explosive Blade, swelling a blue aura of flames until it burst.
Caught in the resulting massive blast, the countless surrounding Fly Bombers began sympathetic detonations one after another.
The explosion expanded over a wider area, swallowing the Assassin Falcons. Looking up from below, it resembled a hellish spectacle of fiery flowers blooming across the entire sky.
Yet I didn't spare the sky a single glance—
"Hmph—!!"
I fired off consecutive Explosive Blades.
I launched an Explosive Blade at the pack of Road Killers barreling toward me at high speed, unleashed one at the group of Lamias attempting to attack from range with bows and magic, shot another at a Worm Drake trying to burrow into the sand, and sent one into the pack of Invisible Deaths trying to flank behind me, masking their presence without a sound or footstep, their sand-colored fur blending seamlessly into the terrain.
At that point, having a little HP to spare, I fired a Great Flying Blade without Mighty Blade applied toward a different Worm Drake from the one I had just slain.
"Whaaat!!?"
"Did he take out almost all of them!?"
"For real!?"
"He wiped them out!?"
"Leveling Junkie Bro is so freakin' stroooong!!!"
"Wait, maybe he can actually pull this off!!?"
"No..."
"If only Hinata-chan were here, he might've cleared the whole batch, but...!!"
Through the relentless barrage of Explosive Blades, I succeeded in defeating the vast majority of the monsters in my field of vision.
A massive amount of experience points flooded into me. While it wasn't enough to level up, it felt incredible.
If not for the situation, I would have closed my eyes and focused my entire body on savoring that pleasure, but I had to hold back for now.
Meanwhile, having seen the vast majority of the monster swarm wiped out, the viewers began making a racket as if they had found hope. Even so, that was only a portion of them. Those who remained composed accurately understood that I still had zero chance of winning.
As if to fill the void left by the wipeout, new monsters began emerging from beyond the dunes. In the sky where the massive explosions had ceased, new Assassin Falcons and Fly Bombers came flying in.
In the blink of an eye, the situation reverted to its initial state.
"Ah... you've gotta be kidding me...!?"
"Wait wait wait!! What about Leveling Junkie Bro's HP!?"
"He used up HP with those attacks, right!?"
"Isn't he in deep trouble!?"
"Doesn't he have any potions!?"
No, you could argue the situation was even worse now. With no means to recover HP, my HP remained depleted.
However, this very state was the minimum condition required for me to survive.
[HP] 85/480
With my HP dropping below twenty percent, the second stage of Blood Vengeance activated.
In addition, because I was alone against an overwhelmingly superior number of enemies, Unrivaled Lv. 2 was already active.
In exchange, I deactivated the skills Berserk, Fighting Spirit, Sword Aura, Asceticism, and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds. I simply couldn't afford to consume any more HP.
Consequently, my status became the following:
―――――――――――――――― Strength: 500 Constitution: 552 Intelligence: 12 Spirit: 422 Agility: 460 Dexterity: 510 ――――――――――――――――
The enemies' strength definitely exceeded the equivalent of Level 50. Compared to the footage I had seen on DungeonTube, the Road Killers moved faster, the Fly Bombers' explosions were larger, the Invisible Deaths' movements were harder to detect and swifter, and the Worm Drakes were even more massive.
Intuitively, they felt stronger than the Orcs appearing on Floor 18 of the Shinjuku Dungeon.
Considering that the Floor 18 Orcs were Levels 51 to 54, the monsters here possessed strength roughly equivalent to Level 60.
That estimate was likely not far off.
In terms of stats, I was definitely outmatched. On top of that, without being able to use Mighty Blade or Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds anymore, landing not just one, but ten strikes wouldn't be enough to take down anything other than the Fly Bombers...
"Run!!"
"Leveling Junkie Bro, run!!!"
Naturally, there was no way I could run.
Or rather, I wouldn't run.
(Ah...)
The newly appeared monsters surged forward from all directions once more, like a repeat of before.
This time, I couldn't wipe them out with Explosive Blades.
Even so.
(This feeling... it brings back memories...)
I was focused to an unprecedented degree.
To the point where I couldn't even recall what words I had just muttered inside my own mind.
—Now then, this is where the real battle begins.