Before you get into the chapter I just want to say that it’s not a typo made by me. The author stated in this chapter that the monsters “finally” went above level 50, when it was mentioned that the monsters in the last chapter were already level 55 by the time they reached the ninth floor.

I went in and double checked but it seems like the author made a small mistake here. Then again, it’s not really that of a big deal in the grand scheme of things so I left it as is and translated as it is shown in the original.

My guess would be that the monsters until the tenth floor were actually all lv50 and after the tenth floor they gradually became stronger, considering what happens at the end of this chapter.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Once we left the resting area on the tenth floor, the enemies’ strength immediately went up.

The time each fight took gradually increased and the speed at which we proceeded also slowed down.

However, as we kept fighting, our teamwork improved.

Timing of the buffs, who to target with debuffs, delaying the enemies with bolts, and the two people in the front exterminating everything.

Even if our clearing speed decreased, the way we fought improved.

「If we are with you guys, it feels as if we could go anywhere.」(Albert)

「It’s comfortable…」(Philia)

The three of us suddenly became busy, but it seems like the parent child duo took a liking to our support.

We were currently on the twentieth floor and the monsters we met were finally above level fifty.

As for the spoils we earned until now: there were some low grade gems, some cloth materials, a necklace with resistance to poison and a few small gold ingots…

「These results are quite sad. The necklace does seem rare though.」(Hind)

「This makes coming here not worth it…isn’t there some kind of destructible object around here? There are some walls here and there that we can investigate though.」(Selene)

「In the end, there was no secret chamber so far. How much further should we climb? That would be hard to judge right now.」(Hind)

Since we were going to explore a place we had no information about, we had deposited all our money in case we wiped.

However, I would want to avoid a situation where we wiped if possible.

Aiming for results while making sure we played it safe, we carefully moved forward while taking those into consideration.

Albert looked at us and placed his fingers on his mouth while being pensive.

「Fumu…there are dungeons like this all over the place in the continent.」(Albert)

「Ah, do you know anything about them? Anything’s fine, I would like to have some information.」(Hind)

「There are obviously some players that were motivated to clear them and they entered them prematurely.」(Albert)

The parent and child duo had already bought horses and had gone to a lot of places to take requests.

Due to that fact, they had obtained more information than us.

Since they had collected what they had heard from a high amount of real players, the chances that they obtain credible information faster than the forum people can, is high.

What he meant by prematurely is…in other words, those that wanted to clear the dungeons before anyone else.

「Didn’t those players ask you to cooperate with them to clear the dungeons?」(Hind)

「Those types of players usually want to clear the dungeons with their own efforts. Since they are aiming to be the first ones, they monopolize the information and won’t tell other players. Even if they were to request our help, that would be as a last resort.」(Albert)

「Ah, it’s the type of situation you would only arrive at if you cared about appearances. They wouldn’t want to clear by borrowing the strength of a mercenary, or something like that.」(Hind)

「That’s why I only know that on the twentieth floor there will be a boss class monster. This is something that I didn’t hear from the players themselves but you could say it was from hearsay.」(Albert)

「So you mean that, there will be a boss monster here…?」(Hind)

Though it is unknown if this boss will be a mid-boss or the real boss of the dungeon.

However, if those people that aimed to clear dungeons first had already done so, there would be more people talking about it, so most likely…

「There’s no player that has cleared the twentieth floor…or something like that? Most likely.」(Selene)

Selene-san seems to have had the same line of thought as me.

If there hasn’t been an increase in the amount of information released, it would mean something like that.

The exception to that would be…

「As long as there’s not any strong players aiming for the top that don’t mind releasing that information, it will be like this.」(Hind)

「To begin with, wouldn’t it be announced inside the game if someone cleared them? Like when you first beat the field boss of an area.」(Riizu)

After hearing those words from Riizu, I remembered.

Now that I think about it, when we defeated the 『Venom Scorpion』, our names weren’t announced…

Field Bosses and Area Bosses are gatekeepers that reside in multiple places throughout the continent, so I guess they are not that of a big deal to be a topic people talked about all the time.

Among the names of players that are mentioned often, are the players we fought in the semifinals of the tournament. The party of Licht.

「Now that you mention it. I haven’t seen the completion of a dungeon being announced even a single time.」(Hind)

「It not like we are always logged in, so there’s the chance that we might have missed it…」(Selene)

「But since it’s a topic that hasn’t been talked about in the BBS at all, wouldn’t that mean that it hasn’t happened yet? Even if it happened during the day when there’s fewer players, it would have been impossible for no one to have seen it.」(Riizu)

「…Do you guys like to discuss that sort of thing? I stopped and noticed I had lost sight of you.」(Albert)

After listening to Albert’s voice, we went to where he was.

It’s true that even if we talked about it right now, there would be no real meaning…

「When Yumir and Tobi are not here and it’s only us three rearguards, it tends to become like this quite often. Normally-」(Hind)

「Yes. Yumir-san would say something like, “I don’t get it so is it fine if I just go ahead?”, she would say something like that and keep going alone. Right, Secchan?」(Riizu)

「Ah, yes. It’s true that it would be like that, yup. I feel like Tobi-kun would do something similar.」(Selene)

「I see.」(Albert)

「But…it balances things out?」(Philia)

Muttered Philia-chan as she tilted her head.

The passage suddenly came to an end and we came out to a dimly lit hall.

The first thing we noticed after entering that hall, was that the temperature was far higher and it was sort of hard to breathe…

「Everyone stop, there’s something further in the back…!」(Albert)

Albert signaled us to stop by raising one hand and we stopped in place.

The thing that appeared from within the darkness, gave off a sense of presence that we could feel at a single glance even from this distance.

Because that thing’s body was…

「Its body is burning…?」(Hind)

「I think it would be more accurate to say that the fire is taking the form of a human. It seems like this is the boss of this area!」(Albert)

Albert replied so to my murmurs,  he took out his greatsword and took a stance aimed at the fire avatar.

In reaction to that, the monster’s fire burned violently, it was unreservedly showing that it held hostility towards us.

The displayed level was 55, the name of the monster was『Vestiges of King Knurl』…

We had already taken a stance with our weapons and followed after Albert who slashed at the monster.