Antagonist Protection Service

Soon arriving at where the Challengers before me were located, I passed by them on my way through the 'second floor' of the Tower's dungeon.

"Eek...?!"

"Ah, hey...?!"

Disregarding the two, I was sure that all they could see was a blur as I rushed past and onwards, beginning to clear a path I wasn't particularly concerned that they might follow.

Just like the previous Floor, even if I accidentally activated a trap I didn't mean to, such as a pitfall, spike trap, or an arrow trap, the majority of them were too slow to hit or catch me, and for those that weren't concerned with speed either way, I simply allowed Heightened Senses to take full control and avoid stepping wherever my instincts told me was a bad place to go.

There weren't any more traps on this Floor than the last, but that wasn't exactly the same in regards to monsters.

In addition to the mostly harmless, small hordes of rotting undead already present, now there were those with ancient armour and rusty weapons, each hiding in nasty places to try and catch me off guard; massively oversized rats crawling through all sorts of holes in the walls; and more undead in the forms of living skeletons.

The latter seemed to be rarer than the basic undead from before, more ancient and strangely containing significantly higher strength in their magic-powered bones, even possessing more dangerous weapons like one-handed swords, maces, axes, shields, even old crossbows.

Needless to say, regardless of their increased power and danger, that didn't mean they posed any more of a threat.

With a single flick of my wrist, clusters of bones collapsed to the ground; big, filthy rats squeaked their last breaths, and dozens of mindless undead fell for the final time to the edge of the Villainous Blade.

Once again, it was made perfectly clear that Anti-Evil was not necessary for such simple opponents, and as the weapon continued to cleanse itself after every swing, so too did the path before me swiftly rid of obstacles.

For a short while, I wondered if it would have been beneficial to snatch the map away from the Challengers before to ensure I was going the correct way, promptly reassuring myself that it wasn't necessary.

The dungeon's layout was still relatively simple, consisting mostly of small chambers and corridors, traps and monsters spread all throughout, with large chambers only beginning to sprout up on occasion, but more importantly, it was pretty linear, both on this Floor and the Last, and even more so than the Second and Third Floors.

Adding the help of Heightened Senses on top, I could pretty much just mindlessly charge and bust through the dungeon without a care.

And, for better or worse, I did.

'Woah...!'

Before I knew it, I accidentally activated a trap and fell down into another large hall of waiting undead, armed to the teeth with a sea of lesser rats pouring through dozens of smaller holes in the walls, ushered by larger pack leaders.

"Tsk-!"

Patent disgruntlement painting my face at the abrupt development, I frowned.

I couldn't use Moonlight Thule because I needed to save as much of my divine energy as possible to ward off the agony of the demonic magic energy flowing through me, and I could already feel it beginning to gradually fade as things were.

The divine energy offered by the Winter Mother's Blessing was undoubtedly powerful, but it was not everlasting.

Before it ran dry and I was rendered completely immobilised by the demonic energy, I needed to get to a safe place and let it recover.

Thankfully, I could always go to the Library for that, so there shouldn't be any worries in that regard.

'If I use Moonlight Thule, it'll run me dry almost instantly. I still don't know how far away the next Floor is, so I shouldn't use it recklessly.'

Ordinarily, it wouldn't be a problem. I could just use it, transport myself in two seconds to the Library until I recover to full, and then return and continue, repeating that every time there was an enemy that required its use.

The problem was, that was a huge sink of time.

I didn't have the luxury at the moment to waste such inordinate amounts of time, I needed to ascend the Tower, and fast.

'Oh, just get on with it then...!'

Brandishing the Villainous Blade, I interrupted my own dragging thoughts and dashed forth, cleaving through the horde of monsters that had accumulated.

Honestly, just like the rest, they were no match.

Even if they were slightly better equipped and in greater numbers, it meant nothing. Unable to even penetrate the scales and leather of the Draconic Shadow shielding my body, their efforts were futile and their defences furthermore.

Not all of the monsters in the hall were slain, but just enough for me to reach the exit.

On the other side of the lot, a great, reinforced wooden door was located―reaching it with little stress, I raised a leg and kicked with as much force as I could muster, forcibly tearing it off its hinges and knocking it with a heavy crash to the ground.

I wasn't sure if there was some hidden key in this hall that it wanted me to try and find, but regardless, I didn't have time for such games.

Beyond the door, a lone walkway of the same withered stone was present, suspended over deep and endless darkness.

'Still more...?'

Lightly clicking my teeth, I wondered for a moment how much longer it would go on―some of the remaining monsters interrupting me from behind, I swiftly cut them down and hurried along.

'Agh. Whatever.'

Stepping foot onto the walkway, wide enough to fit just a single person, I continued forward.

"..."

Everything was silent, even the monsters behind me had ceased the chase, and somehow, the dense darkness below was such that it couldn't be penetrated by my eyes, just like that which led to this Floor in the first place.

I couldn't see what was below me, in front of me, or to the sides, as if I was surrounded by an inexorable void.

Only, a short distance ahead, the narrow walkway that continued on.

The tension in the air quickly rose, palpable as if to be felt.

'Something's gonna happen...'

At that moment, as if speaking it into existence, I sensed something rapidly approaching.

"...!"

Dink-!

Hastily raising the Villainous Blade, I deflected an iron bolt flying my way from the darkness.

"Tsk, I knew it..."

Grumbling under my breath, I increased my awareness to the fullest―

Dinkdinkdinkdinkdinkdinkdink--!!

Orange sparks erupted into the air from all along the edge of the Villainous Blade as I parried the sudden flurry of bolts.

They were coming from within the shadows on both sides of the walkway, but thankfully, I was able to detect and deflect them without much trouble.

I knew I hadn't stepped on a trap, meaning there was just one possibility.

Flaring my magic energy to better scan the surroundings, I then sensed a multitude of presences that matched precisely what I thought.

Envisioning the rows of skeletal crossbowmen that must have been standing by on my left and right, I pressed my foot hard against the floor, pushing myself forward with a burst of speed.

Lowering my posture, I sprinted across the confining stretch at full capacity, tilting my head and torso to let the projectiles whizz past my body, holding up or swiping the Villainous Blade to block or knock down those I wasn't so confident in dodging.

Perhaps in part thanks to how much faster than usual I was zooming ahead, and how much I continued to accelerate further, the bolts gradually became less and less concerning, until whatever skeletons shooting at me simply didn't know how to aim ahead, completely missing.

Like that, I soon made it to the end of the walkway―it turned out to be longer than I thought, but not enough to warrant concern, and an identical fortified door could be found on the other side.

Honestly, a good half of me was expecting the walkway to collapse partway through, but whether it was thanks to the Weight Reduction Enhancement of the Draconic Shadow, or if that was never intended to happen from the beginning, everything was fine.

Digging my feet into the ground to hurriedly break as I approached the door, the collective presence of the skeletons hiding in the shadows gradually faded out.

'Guess they'll stop shooting now...?'

Pausing for a moment just in case they tried to get me in the back, it indeed seemed to be true that I safely made it past. Nodding once, I promptly kicked down this door as I did the previous, not wasting any time in walking through.

'I don't sense anything close by...'

Entering the connected corridor, I realised this one actually contained windows.

Well, I called them that―they were just holes sealed with vertical iron bars, exactly like a prison cell, and they seemed to be overlooking deep chambers bathed in shadow.

I couldn't tell what lay at the bottom of those places, but I certainly sensed something.

'Is it about as strong as the boss from the Fourth Floor?'

"..."

Following the corridor along, it led me down some more stairs, this time not veiled in darkness, and finally to another metal frame door.

Crack-!

Busting the rusty hinges was simple. Moving through, I subconsciously raised my alertness.

"Seriously... How big is this place...?"

My initial thoughts were that it was going to be a relatively small, plain dungeon you might find in an RPG.

Not only was it quickly proving to smash my expectations to pieces, but this was only one rabbit-hole I was continuing to fall down deeper into.

There were a number of paths I hadn't explored before that fall into the trapped room with the horde of monsters, so I wasn't even sure if this was the right way.

"It better be..."

At the unpleasant thought floated by that I might be wasting my time, I hurried my feet along.

Continuing for a while down some more corridors and flights of stairs, I eventually passed by another vast chamber with iron bars. Unlike the last one, however, this one didn't seem to contain any presence at all.

Although...

"Ahh..."

...The iron bars were utterly destroyed, smashed to bits and torn violently out of place.

Glancing through the hole and down into the chamber, there were indeed many ominous-looking scratch marks carved deep into the stone walls.

"...Well, now isn't that just charming...?"

Something in the back of my mind told me this wasn't the regular path through the dungeon.