“Rejection!”

  A wave of purple magic blasted out from Emily’s staff, sending some attacking Blue Crabs flying violently into a nearby wall. The force was so great that their insides were turned to a messy pulp, their bodies going lifeless before they even hit the ground. Behind her, Ouka distracted a small group of Crystaroth Urchins as the others did battle with an Aqua Serpent. With Adama’s blessing, Theresa had come along with their party, and the young elf scored an impressive hit on one of the Serpent’s eyes even as it writhed around evasively. The monster wasn’t seriously injured by the Level 1’s attack, but it was distracted enough to allow Asuka to snag it with her golden rope-magic. They looked to have things well in hand, so Emi decided to help Ouka instead,

  “Swift Dash!”

  The large man’s feet were enveloped in a purple glow, and Ouka’s speed was suddenly and enormously boosted as he dashed out of the way of one of the enemy’s attacks. A different Urchin was taken by surprise as Ouka rocketed toward it, and it was unable to react as he brought his axe down on an opening in its shell, killing it instantly. The speed boost wore off soon afterward, but the girls had finished off the Aqua Serpent by then. Working with Ouka, they killed off the last of the Urchins and ended this little skirmish.

  The party had been spending all their time in the Dungeon since they’d broken camp with Adama. They’d gone all the way down to the 28th floor, the safe room known as the Under Garden, and set up a small base there. The monsters of the 29th floor were broadly considered impossible to kill for Level 2 adventurers, so they’d continued their training in the Water Capital, finding and destroying as many monsters as they could find. Since they’d killed the Amphisbaena, the road from the 28th to the 27th floor was clear, allowing the adventurers to come and go as they pleased. They regularly pushed themselves to their limits, leaning on their immense stock of potions and Emily’s to make them victorious in countless battles.

  However, the mage in question now looked around carefully at the haggard faces of her comrades and shared a glance with Lilli. Even with the potions, they still needed to sleep to recover their focus, and consuming too many potions within a short period of time would lead to Potion Sickness. It was probably time to head back to camp.

  “Everyone!” Lilli called out, getting their attention, “You’re all doing great, but it’s time to rest.”

  If the slave driving prum said it was time to sleep, it was definitely time to sleep. The others offered her tired nods and began trudging back to camp, with Emily bringing up the rear to guard them against any ambushes. Her alertness soon proved to be a wise policy.

  On the way back, the party had to pass through a wide-open room with a high ceiling and several rivers flowing horizontally across the floor in front of them. Those rivers came from the waterfalls thundering down on their left, which originated from the cliff far above. Emi kept her eyes on the rivers, but her ears twitched in concern when she heard a strange fluttering sound coming from the top of the cliff. Without hesitation, she started a chant, looking upward and startling the rest of the party with her abrupt reaction. But Emi’s quick thinking had saved their lives. A large flock of crimson birds had flown over the cliff above and swooped around to target the adventurers below. The mage finished her “Rock of Ages” spell right as the birds collided with their position, the monsters blurring with speed as they shot forward, beak-first.

  The sound of the enemies crashing into the barrier was like heavy hail falling on a tin roof, shrill to the point of deafening. Emily’s eyes widened as she watched her barrier begin to fail, so she pivoted, calling out, “Ouka!”

  The big man got the message, and he put his body between the flock and the rest of them as the mage began another chant. She finished it just before the barrier splintered in earnest,

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  “Armor of God!”

  Ouka’s body was surrounded by a localized purple shield that visibly outlined his figure like a big suit. Emily’s other barrier failed soon afterwards, and Ouka took the brunt of the horde on his body as the girls sheltered behind him. Fortunately, most of the Iguanzu flock had already broken themselves on the Rock of Ages, so the rest of them merely smashed impotently on Ouka’s armor. Everyone, especially the big man, was panting with fear, but when they all congregated around Ouka after the fight, they saw he was completely unharmed. The Armor had faded away quickly, as it was less permanent than Emily’s Rock of Ages, yet it was arguably even tougher than her Mid-Grade magic.

  All of Emily’s new Low-Grade magics had made similar tradeoffs. Velox Offendas (Chant: “Swift Dash”) boosted speed to extraordinary levels for a short period. Rejection didn’t have the range and power of Cornerstone, but it could knock back enemies that were even stronger than her, and it could be used as a last-ditch defense thanks to its quick chant. In fact, all her new spells were extremely useful from a self-defense perspective, arguably more than her Mid-Grade magic. They made Emi more versatile, and they’d been extremely useful throughout all their battles.

  After defeating the Iguanzu, the party experienced no meaningful trials on their way back to the Under Garden. As they stepped into the safe point, Emily wondered idly how Adama and Hestia were doing. Hopefully, they were doing just fine.

  …

  Hestia slowly rocked back and forth in the inn’s common room, setting aside the sock she’d been knitting to simply sit and think. In the corner of her eye, she saw a certain renart sitting nervously on the couch nearby. The poor girl’s viridian eyes often darted nervously toward the rocking divinity; her lips unconsciously pursed with conflicted emotion. Haruhime hadn’t gone with the others because her level-boost magic lessened the amount of excellia its recipients obtained from combat. Since Hestia Familia could use all the growth they could get, they’d unanimously decided to leave the renart in safety. Haruhime didn’t mind, since she hated going into the Dungeon, yet that didn’t stop her from feeling guilty. She clearly had something she wanted to say to Hestia, though the renart was too hesitant to just come out and say it.

  After around half an hour of this, Hestia made the first move, “Did Tim ever tell you the story of how he and I met?”

  Haruhime flinched in surprise at Hestia’s words, though when the renart gathered herself again, the goddess continued, “I found him on the streets. Beaten up and sad. A resilient man, yet one who didn’t have a home to speak of. He found one with me.”

  Hestia let the silence linger for a little longer after that, before Haruhime finally spoke, “I got taken in, too. By Mistress Ishtar.”

  She seemed reluctant to say anything beyond that, but Hestia was quick to pick up that ball and keep it moving, “You lived there. But was it your home?”

  That made Haruhime look thoughtful, and Hestia turned her chair to face the young girl, “Everyone deserves a home, Haruhime. You never have to feel guilty about wanting one. If you’re worried about Ishtar, don’t be. You’ve got good friends. They’ll take care of that silly old minx.”

  Haruhime locked eyes with Hestia then, hope slowly blooming on her face, “Really? Can they?”

  “Knowing what I do about Tim? Yes.”

  With that, Hestia turned to face the fire again. However, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Haruhime felt much more relieved. Smiling slightly, Hestia picked the sock back up and went back to work.

  …

  Adama’s sleep was interrupted three times by the desert’s monsters, though said monsters didn’t even manage to force him to get up. Instead, they threw themselves on his Hidden Blades, only to be dismembered entirely. Adama had one eye open out of curiosity, but he soon went back to sleep after he verified he wasn’t in danger. After maybe an hour or so of sleep, Adama hopped up and dismissed the swords; his strength fully returned to his limbs. As a Level 4, he didn’t need much rest to recover fully, so he soon found himself romping back through the White Palace’s tunnels and into the Colosseum in practically no time at all.

  The cycle repeated itself as Adama leapt into madness once again. This time, he pushed himself to his mental limits within the Colosseum, leapt out, ran around the rest of the Palace for half an hour or so, then jumped back into the Colosseum. His natural Mind regeneration, coupled with his other recovery items, made it all possible, and the swordman had two more battle sessions in the Goblet of Death before he was forced to go back to the oasis. It was brutal, bloody, and deadly, but Adama could feel his connection to something improving ever so slowly. The song of battle was louder than ever in his duels with the never-ending abominations, sword flashing through the air with an easy, yet enigmatic power.

  And yet, the swordsman was doing something truly dangerous, far beyond the act of fighting endless monsters. He was mocking the Dungeon. His constant, ridiculous tendency to throw himself into the jaws of death and walk away alive spat in the face of the entire place. It had created the Colosseum for its own purposes, and now Adama was twisting it to his own benefit. It was the ultimate form of mockery.

  And the Dungeon would not be mocked.