Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Another Chance Given (4)
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The dungeon was enormous.
Countless people had challenged it, but even now, no one knew how many floors it had.
It was so vast and expansive that it housed a variety of monsters, with each floor forming its own completely distinct ecosystem.
Among them, there were particularly special floors, and the most representative one was the 3rd floor.
Unlike other floors where multiple races coexisted, this one was dominated by a single race.
Orcs.
Monsters with faces like wild boars, muscular giant builds, and green skin.
They were born with strength surpassing that of an adult human male, and they boasted reproductive rates rivaling kobolds or goblins.
Based on these two traits, they had achieved something remarkable: claiming the entire 3rd floor as their territory.
Thus, for first-time challengers of the dungeon, it wasn’t an exaggeration to call the 3rd floor the most brutal obstacle.
And yet, those fearsome orcs were now...
“Krraaagh!”
“Kyaooo!”
...being pitifully massacred.
By just two people, no less.
Crack.
An orc’s head flew into the air.
Sien Igrit, who had slain her opponent in an instant, straightened her stance.
There wasn’t the slightest waver in her form as she gripped the ricasso with her right hand and the hilt with her left.
“Haah!”
Sien swung her zweihänder down with force. The greatsword was 150 cm long in total.
And yet, the attack was incredibly fast. Too fast to dodge.
The targeted orc instinctively realized this. It frantically swung up the stone axe clutched in its grip.
Boom!
The stone axe shattered entirely.
It wasn’t the blade’s doing.
It was the result of the wind pressure generated by the swing.
The greatsword’s blade continued onward, smashing into the orc’s head and literally bursting it apart.
Martin, watching the scene, stuck out his tongue.
‘Truly monstrous physical prowess.’
It was a sight he had witnessed countless times before his regression.
Even so, he couldn’t help marveling at it every time. After all, that ridiculous power came not from aura or unique abilities, but from pure strength.
“Uwooo!”
“Aooo!”
They had clearly watched their kin die gruesome deaths.
Yet the orcs hadn’t lost their will to fight.
In fact, two orcs charged at Sien, trampling over their fellow’s corpse. Their roars amid the charge exuded raw ferocity.
The only flaw was that it was woefully insufficient to change the outcome.
Swoosh.
Sien casually swept both hands to the side.
Once again, the blade unleashed terrifying wind pressure, and that was the end of it.
The instant the invisible pressure hit the orcs’ waists, their upper bodies exploded like they’d been struck by bombs. The remaining lower halves were flung aside, crashing into a fellow orc charging from the side.
The impact made the surviving orc stumble, and Sien didn’t miss the opening.
Her zweihänder came slashing down diagonally, like a bolt of lightning.
The blade dug into the orc’s left shoulder in a flash. Its entire upper body was cleaved diagonally.
It was a truly horrifying sight.
Even the fiercely combative orcs shuddered.
But their fear and hesitation didn’t last long.
The orcs quickly regained their footing and closed the distance, burning with the resolve to kill Martin and Sien.
“Phew. They just keep coming endlessly.”
“Yeah. Even knowing it’s a low-floor trait, I still can’t get used to it. Dealing with a few strong ones is way easier.”
Low floors.
This term referred to floors 1 through 10 of the dungeon, and their characteristic was simple.
The monsters that appeared here were individually weak in combat power.
But they made up for it—and then some—with sheer numbers.
How many people had lost their lives unable to handle that?
“I agree with that... but you’re hardly in a position to say it right now, are you, Martin?”
“Why not?”
“There’s a limit to shamelessness. We’re suffering more because you insisted on veering off the regular route to find something.”
“True, I did suggest it. But I never forced my opinion on you, did I? Who was it that agreed three days ago? Did they switch out with someone else when I wasn’t looking?”
“Ugh. If only you hadn’t brought up the previous family head...”
Sien shot him a displeased glare.
Three days ago—exactly half a month after entering the dungeon—Martin had made the proposal.
There was something they absolutely had to handle on the 3rd floor of the dungeon.
He hadn’t explained the details. Even so, she had no choice but to accept his idea.
How could she ignore something the previous family head had told him?
As a result, the two of them had to scour every off-the-beaten-path area they came across.
The 3rd floor was already tough to pass through, and blazing new trails only piled on the fatigue. Especially for Martin, whose body was frail, this environment was the worst possible.
Sien’s top priority was protecting Martin.
In that sense, this place was the absolute worst for carrying out her mission.
“But we’re almost there, so just hang in a bit longer.”
“Do you even know how many times you’ve said that already?”
“This time it’s for real. The terrain matches what Father described. The destination’s definitely at the end.”
“You’d better take responsibility for those words, Martin. If it’s not this time either...”
“Or else?”
“I’ll really smack you one.”
“...Just to clear away a corpse?”
Martin’s face paled.
She called it a flick on the forehead, but Sien could burst the skull of a knight trained in physical conditioning or a naturally sturdy monster with that alone.
Martin’s physical abilities were not only inferior to monsters but even to average knights.
If he took a flick from Sien?
Even if she held back, he absolutely couldn’t withstand it.
“...Sorry for the joking around. But we’re really almost there now.”
“I’ll trust you one more time. Anyway.”
Sien’s gaze shifted back to the orcs.
Kuuooo!
The air began to churn around her.
No, space itself was trembling.
At last, she was activating her unique ability.
“Dealing with them one by one is getting annoying.”
No sooner had she spoken than silver aura enveloped the zweihänder’s blade.
Creeeak.
A sharp metallic screech echoed.
The masterfully crafted famed sword couldn’t fully withstand the pressure of Sien’s power.
But the effect was potent. The orcs closing in were crushed by the pressure, their movements slowing.
Seeing this, Martin leisurely stepped behind Sien. He needed to avoid the attack’s aftermath, as it wouldn’t be good for his body.
He didn’t forget to add a few words as he did.
“You know, right? You have to infuse the same amount of mana into both the aura and the unique ability. That’s how proper resonance happens.”
Aura was formed from mana transmitted from the mana core in the abdomen. Unique abilities manifested from mana flowing from the mana core in the head.
The cores’ positions differed, but the mana itself was the same.
However, aura and unique abilities had completely different properties, requiring delicate control to combine them.
Hummm!
Following Martin’s instructions, Sien sent equal amounts of mana into her aura and unique ability.
The unique ability’s light melted into the aura.
“Good job, Sien. Now just control the power carefully. One slip, and this place could collapse like the training hall last time.”
“We agreed not to bring that up!”
Sien bristled as Martin mentioned her embarrassing past, but she still drew back her sword. Like drawing a bowstring.
“Grrr.”
“Uwooo.”
These were orcs that had wavered a few times but never lost their will to fight. For the first time, they stepped back.
They were utterly overwhelmed by the power Sien displayed.
Some even turned tail and fled outright.
Martin chuckled and shook his head.
‘Too late for that.’
The Adalbert family’s sword, enhanced by a unique ability, was something no one could evade.
And the same held true for the five branch families, including the Igrit family.
“Hah!”
With a shout, Sien thrust her zweihänder forward with all her might.
In response, the silver aura coiled around the blade shone brilliantly, taking the form of a long beam of light that shot forth.
Kaboom!
It looked like a simple thrust, but the result was anything but ordinary.
The moment the silver beam touched them, dozens of orcs were shredded apart. All they could do was wail desperately.
Next, dungeon features like stone pillars and stalactites that cluttered the terrain were all pulverized. It was as if a new path had been carved right through the dungeon’s heart.
In an instant, the enemies vanished, leaving the interior silent.
Clap, clap, clap.
The sound of applause broke the stillness.
“That was a truly splendid strike, Sien. Combining aura and ‘Space Repulsion’ in actual combat for the first time, and you nailed it perfectly.”
Space Repulsion.
A space-type unique ability that manipulated space to unleash powerful shockwaves. Difficult to handle on its own, let alone combine with aura.
Yet Sien had mastered it quickly, despite manifesting aura only recently.
“Of course it succeeded. You’ve been watching and advising me the whole time. Honestly, even an idiot could pull it off with your help.”
“Hey, that’s overkill. It’s all because you’re talented.”
“...If you’re gonna pretend to be humble, at least don’t grin about it. Just brag outright.”
“Should I?”
Martin quipped playfully. Sien shook her head in exasperation.
“Anyway, let’s get moving again. We’re really close now.”
“You’d better remember that promise, Martin. If the destination isn’t there this time, I’ll really smack you.”
“Th-this time it’s for real.”
“I hope so.”
Sien smiled faintly at the trembling Martin.
With those words, the two pressed deeper inside.
And about five minutes later, they arrived at their destination.
* * *
“What... is this place...?”
Sien stared blankly ahead.
There was the entrance to a massive cave.
That alone wasn’t surprising. The dungeon was full of such spots.
The problem was the blue barrier draped over the entrance—a ward.
A feat achievable only through magic or unique abilities, something the 3rd floor orcs couldn’t wield even in death.
“...This is the place the previous family head told you about?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he tell you what’s inside?”
“Of course.”
Contrary to his casual reply, this was a lie.
His late father knew nothing about this place. After all, it wouldn’t be discovered by the world for another three years.
He’d invoked his father only to persuade Sien easily. And indeed, she hadn’t shown a shred of doubt.
“I’m going in.”
“I-Is that okay? There might be something dangerous inside.”
“If it were, Father never would’ve sent me.”
“...And there it goes again.”
“Right? So go ahead and enter without worry.”
Martin smiled and stepped forward.
‘Off to a good start.’
Deep inside the cave lay the legacy of a great ancestor.
Fist King Lota Adalbert.
A collateral branch member of the Adalberts who had earned the title of Fist King. His power was so immense it even threatened the main family’s supremacy.
In his later years, the Fist King had lived here, leaving behind his martial arts manual and all he had accumulated.
And three years from now, Kallain would claim this legacy and grow exponentially stronger.
‘Your luck is mine now, Kallain.’