THE SMITH’S SITUATION

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“Finally, the eleventh floor!”

Mr. Welf pats his lower back a few times, his weapon over his shoulder as he announces our arrival to no one in particular.

Just like he so vigorously said a moment ago, we’re on the eleventh floor of the Dungeon.

We’ve just stepped off of a very wide stairwell and into the room that serves as the starting point for this floor. Just like the tenth above it, a thick fog fills every room on this floor except for this one.

With nothing to block my vision, I can see that the floor in here is covered in ankle-high grass just tall enough to hide my boots. There are also several dead trees scattered throughout the room. Monsters can use these landforms as weapons.

“Didn’t you say this is the lowest you’ve ever been, Mr. Welf?”

“Yep, that’s right. Sorry about this, Bell. I’ve thrown a lot of information at you since we met.”

At first I was really surprised when he asked to join my battle party yesterday, but after hearing why, I invited him right away.

We’d already agreed on a direct contract so there was no reason to refuse him. I was looking for another battle party member, too, so I’d call it a win-win.

“Don’t worry about it. And this is all to get Forge, so I’m already involved as it is…”

“Glad to hear you put it like that.”

Mr. Welf’s request was to help him level up so he could acquire the Advanced Ability called Forge.

That ability is a complete game-changer for the smiths who acquire it. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it can make or break the future for a smith. Mr. Welf explained with a very sad look in his eyes exactly how much more his fellow smiths inHephaistos Familiacould do as soon as they leveled up.

Normally, whenever a member of anyFamiliagoes into the Dungeon, they form a party with other members of the same group…

“It’s a little embarrassing to say this myself…but what’s their deal?! Whenever a battle party goes into the Dungeon, I’m always left out! Can you believe that?”

…So, that’s what’s going on.

Mr. Welf needs high-quality excelia in order to level up, but since his allies always kick him out, he’s had to work solo. Therefore, going deeper than the top few levels is impossible—no one can make it out in one piece. So he started looking to join battle parties with members of otherFamiliasas a last resort.

It sounds like the members—smiths ofHephaistos Familia—have to overcome many obstacles on their own, as well as engage in friendly competition with other smiths in order to improve. But the Forge ability—in other words, leveling up—is the equivalent of life and death for a smith. Since they’re all in the same boat, most form deep friendships as they fight their way through the Dungeon…

I asked Mr. Welf why he was always left behind, but all he said was, “They’re just jealous of my hidden talents,” in a really sullen voice. I wonder what’s really going on…

Mr. Welf must have noticed me looking at him as he scratches his head. He drops his shoulders and flashes a warm smile.

“In any case, I’m grateful, Bell.Familiastend to be picky about who they work with, but I’m glad you could throw that way of thinking out the window.”

“W-well, um…I couldn’t exactly refuse, not after receiving all of this…”

Mr. Welf smiles at me again. I take another look at my new equipment before smiling back at him. It can’t be helped.

The armor on my chest sparkles like new, even in the dim light.

“…Lilly heard that we had a new friend, but what’s this? Mr. Bell’s trust was bought by such simple things?”

A very annoyed voice cuts into a pause in our conversation.

A bead of sweat rolls down my cheek. Lilly’s disapproval of the arrangement came across loud and clear. I look over my shoulder tosee her a few paces behind, hands clamped firmly on the straps of her backpack and a very irritated look in her eyes.

I tell her there’s a misunderstanding, but from her point of view, it really might look like I was bribed.

At this moment, I’m wearing the new light armor set that Mr. Welf made for me.

The set isn’t all that different from my old equipment. It’s a plate of armor over each knee and a breastplate, along with two ruby-encrusted wrist guards that cover my forearms all the way up to my elbows. A little fancier than before.

It’s just as light as the last one. Mr. Welf said that the material is a little thicker, but I can’t feel that much of a difference. It takes time to adjust to a new set of armor, but it feels like I’ve been wearing this for years.

It’s not that I didn’t want an armor that my body was used to…but, yeah, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a factor.

The pressure from Lilly’s half-eyed gaze is so strong that I can’t even crack a grin.

“Oh, Lilly’s sad. Very, very sad. It was supposed to be a nice, easy shopping trip, but Lilly’s hopes were completely dashed and now we’re stuck with a problem…Mr. Bell’s kindness is making Lilly cry.”

The sheer sarcasm in her voice is like a body blow. But Mr. Welf’s armor can’t block that…!

But what does she mean by “problem”…?

“Isn’t that going a little too far, Lilly?! Mr. Welf’s not trying to do anything bad…There’s no problem, just a misunderstanding!”

“—What is Lilly misunderstanding?! ‘Until an ability is acquired’? He’s just taking advantage of us! And isn’t this too-perfect timing to find a party member?! As soon as this no-name smith meets his goal, he’ll leave and we’ll be back to where we were before! One step forward, one step back! This is a complete waste! There’s no light at the end of this tunnel!!”

Her eyebrows sink lower with every word, her eyes sharpening like daggers.

Her relentless barrage attacks me from every angle, a swarm ofverbal bees coming out to protect the hive. At this rate, she’ll break me in half!

The way Mr. Welf is looking at me…It’s too pathetic…!

“Why didn’t Mr. Bell talk with Lilly before adding someone to our party?! Why, Mr. Bell?!”

“Was…Was that bad…?”

“Not bad, no, not bad, but if Mr. Bell doesn’t talk with Lilly first, Lilly might get in trouble! Lady Hestia entrusted Lilly with making sure Mr. Bell is safe!”

R-really? The goddess asked her to do that…I guess that’s how little she trusts me.

I can feel my head drooping as I look back over at a still very hostile Lilly. I get the feeling that the real reason she’s angry has nothing to do with Mr. Welf.

Maybe she’s trying to take care of me…No, that can’t be right.

She must think it’s dangerous for me to be doing things on my own and wants to keep me under her thumb. Probably.

“Oh, am I getting in the way, Small Fry?”

Mr. Welf had been watching us talk in silence but chooses this moment to jump in.

Lilly isn’t too fond of Mr. Welf already, but her chestnut-colored eyes went ablaze after being called “Small Fry.”

“Lilly is not Small Fry! Lilly’s name is Lilliluka Erde!”

“Okay, pleasure to meet’cha, Li’l E.”

“…Lilly doesn’t care anymore. It’s pointless!”

Mr. Welf bends over and sticks his toothy grin in Lilly’s face like he’s making fun of her, which I’m pretty sure he is. Lilly lets out a small “Humph” and looks the other way.

He doesn’t seem to mind Lilly’s reaction; on the contrary, he looks like he’s enjoying it…I don’t have a good feeling about these two from here on out.

“…Well, um, Lilly. I know it’s a little late, but I’ll introduce him. This is Mr. Welf Crozzo. He’s a smith belonging toHephaistos Familia.”

Lilly should at least know Mr. Welf’s full name, so I tell her. Iwanted to tell her earlier this morning when we were on our way to meet up with him, but her mood was so bad it just didn’t seem like the right time.

And Mr. Welf already knows Lilly’s full name, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

I wasn’t expecting any kind of response, and Lilly is looking the other way anyway—

“Crozzo?”

Lilly’s body shakes as if she’d been slapped in the face the moment she hears Mr. Welf’s family name.

“Huh?” The sound escapes my mouth before I knew it. What’s with that reaction?

“The cursed house of magic swordsmiths? The noble family of smiths that fell into ruin?”

Magic swordsmiths…?

Even more than that, what does she mean by “noble family of smiths”?

I turn to Mr. Welf in confusion and look for answers.

His playful grin is gone; a sour face has taken over.

“Ah, um…Crozzo?”

My eyes jump back and forth between them, Lilly in shock and Mr. Welf with an irritated twitch in his eye. I have to break this uncomfortable silence, so I ask him about his family name. Lilly’s eyes go wide as her face snaps right to me in surprise.

“Do you not know about them, Mr. Bell…?”

“Eh, well…No, I don’t.”

What reason is there to say anything else? I shake my head no.

“Long ago, the Crozzo family was granted noble status by a king for the magic swords they forged. It’s said that the only thing they made was magic swords…tens, hundreds of thousands of them.”

“So that means…?!”

“They were the masters of the magic sword, the symbol of their time. Some claim that their magic swords were so powerful that they could ‘set fire to the ocean’…”

Lilly pauses for a moment and looks up at Mr. Welf.

Her fingers curl; she looks like she’s building up courage to say something difficult.

“…But one day they fell out of favor with the king. They lost their noble status and their house fell into ruin…”

Lilly speaks as quickly as she can. What kind of face am I supposed to make now? I try to keep my expression as neutral as possible as I look over to Mr. Welf.

He scratches the back of his head for a few seconds, his hair wavering back and forth. Then he lowers his hand and waves, a forced smile on his face.

“…Well, that’s not important right now, is it? We’re here to crawl the Dungeon, aren’t we? Right?”

“Ah…y-yes.”

Mr. Welf’s slightly higher gaze falls on me as he tries his best to change the subject.

He takes the weapon resting on his shoulder, a surprisingly wide-bladed longsword with incredible reach, and thrusts it into the ground.

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I give him a quick nod as Lilly takes a step back, like she’s waiting for something to happen. She looks up at him, her penetrating gaze looking for anything unusual.

“—?”

“Hm?”

Crack!All of us hear it at the same time.

We freeze for a moment. The three of us have spent enough time in the Dungeon to know exactly what that sound means.

A monster is being born from the dungeon wall.

“W-woah…!”

“…Big one.”

“An orc, for sure.”

All of us respond as our eyes seek out the source of the noise. It doesn’t take me long to find a massive crack in the wall.

Another series of cracks echoes through the room as a thick brown arm forces its way out.

Pieces of the dungeon wall fall to the ground like bits of a brokeneggshell. A huge chunk crashes to the ground as the monster’s right arm blasts through, followed closely by the beast’s head and torso.

“BUGGIII…ooOOOHHHH…!”

Announcing its birth to the world, the orc fully emerges.

I’ve never seen an orc birth before…

I clear my throat to steady myself. Large-category monster births are quite a sight.

The only word I have for seeing the dungeon wall crumble like that is “overwhelming.”

The monster falls onto all fours as it lands with a loud crash. Slowly but steadily, it climbs to its feet.

“…It ain’t over. This is why the Dungeon is so scary from the tenth on down.”

Crack, crack, crack!Sounds keep coming from the dungeon walls. Now the sounds are echoing from every direction in the room, and monsters are right behind them.

Many adventurers have reported that monsters will suddenly emerge in large numbers in the same room, starting around the tenth floor of the Dungeon.

The walls basically fall apart as the room is inundated with monsters. A “monster party,” that’s what this is called.

They are, of course, very dangerous. Especially if you happen to be in the middle of the room when it happens, since you’ll be surrounded in no time flat. I take a step back, a dumbfounded smile on my face.

“There is no reason to panic. There is no fog in this room and it is very wide. There’s little chance of being surrounded and we can retreat to the tenth if necessary.”

Lilly speaks calmly as she adjusts her backpack with a small sigh.

She has traveled with many battle parties, and this isn’t her first trip to the eleventh floor. Her Status might be far below ours, but she knows what she’s doing.

I take a quick look behind me and see the stairwell right there, just as Lilly had said. A little of the tension gone, I take a deep breath and survey the room.

“All right, I got dibs on the orc.”

“Eh, are you sure?” My eyes pop open at Mr. Welf’s declaration.

Orcs are extremely strong. If a Level 1 adventurer, or even a Level 2, takes a direct hit from one of these monsters, that person won’t be getting up for a long time.

Mr. Welf’s eyebrows sink, a grin back on his lips as he looks at the surprise on my face.

“Should be great news, yeah? The things are slow and stupid. Even I’m more than a match for them.”

Oh, so people can think like that…

Whether I’m still a novice or Mr. Welf is a daredevil, I’m not sure. But in any case, he seems to believe that an orc will be no problem. He takes a step forward, jerking his jaw in the direction of the beast.

Hephaistos Familiamight be a group of smiths, but they’re also very powerful. Warrior smiths, if you will. And Mr. Welf is no exception—although he claims it’s all just to get the Advanced Ability Forge. From what I’ve seen of his fighting style so far and what he did on the lower tenth floor, he won’t hold us back. He may be a Level 1 adventurer, but there’s no doubt he’s one of the most powerful.

“Mr. Bell, please fight as you like. Lilly will support the smith from behind. To be honest, Lilly would appreciate Mr. Bell checking on us from time to time.”

“Oh? What’s this? I thought you hated my guts, Lilly?”

“Of course Lilly does. But Lilly doesn’t want you to get in Mr. Bell’s way.”

Lilly grins at him, her eyes sparkling. I can only grimace at the look on her face.

She’s probably made this suggestion to give me a chance to try out my new Level 2 abilities. She’s determined that I’ll be okay on my own in this situation.

I’m not going to argue with her.

…And also, it might be a little reckless, but…

I want to test myself.

“Let’s get cracking! Before the imps swarm in, yeah?”

“You don’t have to tell Lilly twice. Mr. Bell. Lilly thinks Mr. Bell knows, but…”

“Yes, don’t worry. I won’t let my guard down.”

A chorus of sliding metal and snapping sounds surrounds us as we each arm ourselves for battle.

I do a few quick stretches, take a deep breath to focus, and charge into the fray.

“Hyyeeh!” “Hyyeegii!”

I race across the open plain, a swarm of imps heading right for me.

Mr. Welf has taken care of the monsters that we encountered on the way down to the lower eleventh floor. This will be my first actual combat today.

A small group peels off from the swarm and swoops down at me, all of them shrieking at the top of their lungs. It’s five on one for now.

I have no clue how many monsters are emerging from the dungeon walls. Loud cracks are still echoing through the room, and the imp swarm is growing larger by the second.

—For the first time ever, I dash toward them at full speed.

I lean forward while on the move.

The distance between us rapidly disappearing, I slam my foot into the ground and push off.

Dirt goes flying in my wake.

“—Hye?”

The imp flies up to my face.

No.

Iclosed the distance.

This speed is no joke. The wind is whistling in my ears.

Even though I’m flying through the air faster than ever before, my senses are keeping up.

I take a swing at the imp in front of my face with the Divine Knife.

SHING!

“?!”

The imp’s head leaves its body and flies toward the ceiling.

About half of the accompanying imp swarm is distracted by their comrade’s flying head and by the arc of purple light that took it off.

Their surprise at the sudden turn of events opens the window I need to keep going forward and take on the rest.

Downward slash.

My body light as a feather, I weave my way from imp to imp like a lightning bolt through the sky. One of the monsters drops to the ground in pieces with every hit. I’m on to the next before they even knew what hit them.

It only takes one hit. Armed with my dagger and the Divine Knife, my black and white fangs, I tear through the imp swarm and leave a trail of bodies in my dust.

They’re so slow…Wait—

I’m taking the first strike. None of them have even tried to counterattack.

My enemies aren’t slow.

I’ve become so fast that—

They can’t counterattack!

I’ve changed. I’ve completely changed. Nothing’s the same as before!

So this is the true meaning of leveling up!

The goddess’s blessing!

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!”

“GAHII?!”

I land one of Aiz’s spin kicks square into the chest of an oncoming imp. It’s launched with the speed of an arrow off of my foot and straight into the dirt. After bouncing and tumbling a few times, it comes to a dead standstill and doesn’t move.

An imp swarm that once contained more than ten individuals is now completely wiped out.

“RWOOOOOO!!”

“!”

A new monster appears in front of me, howling.

It’s about as tall as I am. It stands on two short, stubby legs, but its two long arms end in a very deadly looking set of claws. Its back and arms are completely covered by a series of shells, almost like it’s wearing a suit of armor. The shell on its head comes to a point in front of its eyes, like it’s wearing a battle helmet.

Another one of the armadillo-like monsters emerges. The two of them advance on my position.

“Hard Armoreds.” They first appear on the eleventh floor.

I’ve never seen one before, but luckily I’ve got a monster encyclopedia in my head courtesy of Eina’s aggressive lectures. What did she have to say about these guys again?

Much like the killer ant, Hard Armoreds have very strong defense courtesy of their thick shell-like armor. However, their unprotected underbelly is very vulnerable to attack. Compared to the killer ant’s full-body protection, it’s easy to see where to strike…However, their Defense is by far the better of the two.

Out of all the monsters on the lower eleventh and twelfth floors, their Defense is second to none. In other words, when it comes to taking a hit, they can withstand more damage than anything else in the upper levels.

A Hard Armored is basically a walking iron fortress that can repel a dwarf’s attack with ease. It has often been said that a Level 1 adventurer doesn’t stand a chance against one of them in hand-to-hand combat.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that adventurers need Basic Ability levels ranging fromBtoS, in order to survive on the lower eleventh and twelfth because of Hard Armoreds.

“—HEH!”

Time stands still for a moment as we size each other up. The instant our eyes meet, we charge.

My powerful legs burst forward.

One of the Hard Armoreds curls his body into a ball and rolls at me with blinding speed.

That thick shell on his back is a very sturdy defense, but it can be apowerful weapon at the same time. One of these attacks has enough power to plow through entire battle parties and send them flying. Nothing short of a powerful blow will bring them to a stop.

The rolling beast is practically a man-size boulder careening toward me. Covering the area between us in no time flat, I barely avoid an impact that would have sent me reeling for days.

I set my sights on the other one.

It’s still on its feet, so if I take care of this one first, then I can focus on the roller without having to watch my back.

“OOAAAHHH!!”

The beast charges at me, claws drawn and ready.

I bring my blades forward and hold my ground until the last possible moment—before jumping up and to the side.

“?!”

My body arcs just in front of the monster’s nose and eyes.

Unable to follow my movement, I completely disappear from its line of sight.

I’m in its blind spot, diagonally behind its head.

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Bringing my knees up and flipping forward with the Divine Knife upside down in my grip, I slash downward.

“—GAAhhh?!”

The Hard Armored’s shell splits cleanly in two under the force of my attack.

—An opening!

The best Defense in the upper levels is breakable.

Rotating in midair, I catch a glimpse of the amount of damage I inflicted on the creature’s body and tighten my grip on the knife.

“ROOOOOOAAHHH!!”

The remaining Hard Armored has regained its balance and is rolling at me at full speed.

I curl my head under my shoulders and roll over my back as I land. The instant my foot hits the dirt, I raise my right arm and spin around to face the oncoming monster.

“Firebolt!”

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