A Life-and-Death Battle

Amidst the explosion-like noise, the walls of the dungeon crumbled, countless debris scattered, and a cloud of dust rose, covering the surroundings.

Lefiya, who had been tackled by Riezel, stared dumbfounded at the scene and took her a while to react. She only saw a gigantic claw, resembling a wild beast's claw, thrust into the wall and penetrating it.

"Don't just stay there!"

As Lefiya struggled to come to her senses, Riezel yelled, yanked her up, and rolled to the side.

*BOOM!*

The next moment, another explosion-like noise occurred.

Once again, the gigantic claw flew in and crashed down on the spot where both of them had been moments ago, shattering the ground.

Dragging Lefiya, Riezel rolled a considerable distance before finally getting up and looking toward the direction from which the claw had come.

As he looked, his pupils contracted, almost doubting his own eyes.

*ROAAARRR—!*

A roar like that of a demon swept in from the front, raising countless dust and dislodging numerous rocks.

A creature with a head like a dragon, a body like an elephant, roaring like a bull, with sturdy limbs and sharp claws, covered in thick fur.

It resembled the Behemoth from Western mythology that Riezel had seen in his previous life. Though not as terrifying as the myths, it still stood at around four to five meters tall.

Even at just four or five meters, the creature was much taller than Riezel and Lefiya, undoubtedly a giant beast, a powerful monster that radiated a tremendous sense of oppression.

It was panting, saliva dripping from its mouth. Its sharp claws held a severed limb, making it look incredibly gruesome.

"Wha-What kind of monster is that?!" Lefiya couldn't help but scream.

Her charming face turned as pale as paper when she saw the ferocious beast breathing heavily, drooling as if it had been starving for ages, with a pair of crimson eyes fixed on both of them.

Even Riezel couldn't help but change his expression.

For one, he also didn't recognize this demon-like creature. Whether in the monster index of upper floors provided by the Guild or the records in the Familia library, there was no mention of such a creature.

Secondly, from the creature's body, he felt a suffocating sensation, indicating a significant threat.

Undoubtedly, this was a very powerful monster.

'Why would an unknown monster appear on the 6th Floor?' Riezel pondered in confusion.

Not only did its appearance not match any monsters in his memory, but it was also a large species that should only appear on the 10th Floor and above, not something the 6th Floor could breed.

This made sparks seem to burst in his mind, recalling a term mentioned in a book.

'Irregular...'

This was the term used when encountering situations in the dungeon that deviated from basic patterns. Although the dungeon was a den of monsters, it still adhered to certain known rules and principles.

For example, which types of monsters appeared on which floors were fixed. Moreover, the deeper one went into the dungeon, the stronger the monsters became.

Under normal circumstances, monsters usually didn't cross floors. Even if it happened, it was usually limited to adjacent floors, and significant jumps between floors rarely occurred.

Such rules had been explored, confirmed, and documented in books for adventurers worldwide to study.

However, the dungeon was alive, not dead.

It could birth monsters.

It could autonomously repair damaged terrain.

It could even, seemingly intentionally, spawn numerous monsters out of the blue, forming hordes to attack adventurers in times of trouble.

Occasionally, it created exceptions, special cases, as if retaliating against intruders on its territory.

Any such occurrence that broke existing confirmed knowledge and dungeon rules was termed an irregular.

And now, both Riezel and Lefiya had encountered one.

They faced this rare irregular.

*ROARRR!*

The monster roared, shook off the limbs hanging from its claws, and raised its three sharp claws, aiming at both of them.

Seeing this, Riezel reacted almost instantly as he knew that the monster's claws could fly.

*Whoosh—!*

The claw in the monster's hand violently shot out in front of his gaze.

The speed was as fast as lightning.

*BOOM!*

The sharp and massive claw struck the dungeon wall for the third time, exploding the surface with a muffled popping sound, raising dust, and scattering rocks everywhere.

This excessively powerful attack not only had astonishing speed but also a terrifying destructive power. Even a slight graze would likely have left any ordinary low-class adventurer severely injured.

While carrying Lefiya, Riezel narrowly avoided it at the last moment but still got blown away by the shock wave. He crashed into nearby rocks, shattering them.

"Mr. Riezel!"

Lefiya only realized what was happening as she looked at him, who protected her. Unfortunately, he can't afford to respond to her at the moment.

The ferocious monster, enraged by their evasion and failing to secure its target, began roaring and charging ahead with tremendous power.

It smashed rocks and obstacles in its path, carrying a rolling dust storm, heading straight for Riezel and Lefiya like a berserker.

This relentless charge left no time to catch a breath, undoubtedly reaching a deadly climax.

Fortunately, Riezel was mentally prepared this time. While still carrying Lefiya, he spun around and kicked the fragments of the recently shattered rocks, turning them into projectiles that struck the monster's head.

*ROAAARRR—!!!*

The monster let out an angry howl as its head took a direct hit from the rock projectile. In pain, it was forced to halt its charge.

"Lefiya!"

Riezel finally took advantage of the brief moment to catch a breather and shouted at his only party companion.

"Find a chance to use your magic!"

Leaving those words behind, he pushed her aside, unsheathed his sword at his waist, and with a stomp of his foot, turned into a bullet, shooting towards the monster.

*ROARRR!*

Seeing this, the monster was even more enraged as it raised its front claw, sweeping it toward him mercilessly.

Riezel found himself couldn't dodge this sweep.

Due to terrain restrictions on the 6th Floor, they found themselves in a narrow passage. The monster, with its imposing size blocking the entire path, could unleash attacks that practically covered the entire surface of the passage.

As Riezel charged at the monster like this, he couldn't avoid this sweeping attack that covered the entire passage unless he chose to retreat. Otherwise, he would have to take this strike head-on.

But faced with this almost unavoidable sweep, he didn't choose to retreat.

"Tempest!"

Riezel chanted his magic.

Soon, a surging and overwhelming wind wrapped around his body, covering him entirely. He transformed into a gust of wind.

Without hesitation, he met the monster's claw head-on.

"Miss Ais's magic...?!"

After being pushed aside by Riezel and falling to the ground, Lefiya exclaimed in surprise, her eyes widening as she witnessed the scene where he used Ariel.

Although she had already learned from his mouth that he had learned Ais's magic, seeing it with her own eyes still surprised her. What surprised her even more was that after he cast the magic, he became invincible, just like Ais in her impression.

*Clang!*

A deafening metal collision sound suddenly rang out, unleashing a shock wave-like energy.

Riezel with his slender sword, winding the wind around the sword edge. With a heavy strike, he clashed fiercely with the monster's sweeping claw, creating an intense collision and clash.

Ariel gave him tremendous enhancement while also heightening the effectiveness of his weapon, enabling him to smoothly deflect the monster's claw and close in as he poured all his power into the strike.

*ROAAARRR!*

The monster erupted in anger and roared while raising its other arm to slam forcefully into the front.

As he saw this, Riezel quickly lunged forward and struck the monster's chest with his sword.

*Pu-chi!*

The sound of the flesh tearing apart was not unexpected. But his wind-enhanced slash failed to completely break through the monster's flesh; it only tore through its fur, leaving a shallow wound. Compared to its massive body, the wound seemed almost insignificant.

On the contrary, the monster's swing was unparalleled in power, delivering a thunderous impact on Riezel's body.

*BOOM!*

Like a large truck colliding with an oil tanker, the collision echoed loudly.

Riezel, whose figure was only slightly larger than the monster's fist, was hit by its pillar-like strike and was sent flying.

"Mr. Riezel!" Lefiya let out a mournful cry.

*ROARRR!*

The monster immediately roared in her direction, causing her to shudder and retreat in fear.

Despite being a Level 3 second-class adventurer, she was intimidated by a monster from the 6th Floor. As a result, her staff lost its purpose in her trembling hands.

—Find a chance to use your magic!

Riezel's voice from before echoed in her ears, urging Lefiya to rise and resist. But her brain was like a blank space, frozen in place and trembling helplessly.

As a result, the monster grinned maliciously, raised its claws, and aimed for her head.

However—

*Pu-chi!*

A silver light, accompanied by a violent wind, flashed by and slashed at the monster's arm, causing it to burst into a spray of blood.

*ROAAARRR—!!!*

The monster's malicious grin turned into a howl of pain, and its claws involuntarily dropped.

The next second, a gust of wind kicked up the dust, rushing towards the howling monster, with the chilly sword light rising from the swift wind.

With a cold expression on his face and fiery emotion in his eyes, Riezel unleashed a powerful slash.

A life-and-death battle, where mistakes were not allowed, unfolded at this moment.