"Thank you for the talk, Sir Ralyks."

Belle rose to her feet and bowed slightly to the Dark Adventurer.

Her gentle smile and pleasant face gave off an air of cuteness and downright innocence. Her boobs jiggled as she raised her head from its bowed position, but it seemed she didn't notice.

"You're welcome. Go and rest for the remaining time. We'll be resuming the Raid very soon."

"Understood!" She gave a salute and jogged off.

As she happily hopped off, Ralyks—or rather, Ater—smiled underneath his mask.

'That went well…' He thought to himself in amusement.

The mind of humans never ceased to intrigue him. Even the most vile among them were like mere blank canvases that could be contorted to his whims.

'[Compulsion] works like a charm, as expected.'

Of course, he made sure to edit some of her memories of the events that transpired between them. That way, no risk would come to his Master's persona.

'But with this, I suppose one seed has been planted.' He took one final look at the girl, watching as she sat among her male friends.

Darkness coiled within the red of his eyes.

'I look forward to your future, Belle.'

********

Once they were done resting, the Otherworlders began their journey downward.

Of course, this meant encountering even more powerful Monsters.

"Full power! Attack the left flank!"

Echoes of desperation, as well as roars of powerful strikes, filled the entire Eight Floor.

The reason was simple.

'Since we didn't face the Monsters of the Seventh Floor, we haven't properly acclimated to the Monsters here…' Rey thought to himself as he maintained his position on the formation.

Their current enemies looked like massive lizards.

They had scales like crocodiles, though, and their bodies seemed to be as elastic as rubber.

They had camouflage abilities, venomous breaths, acid spray, and a bunch of other nasty abilities that made them very problematic.

Their scales were tough, and their senses were razor sharp.

The only advantage that the Otherworlders had going for them was speed and intelligence.

The Monsters, despite their multifarious abilities, were predictable and lacked anything beyond basic intelligence.

After facing them for a while, it was clear that these were the kind of creatures who acted based on their impulses and nothing more.

As a result, the Otherworlders were able to give a brilliant counterattack and gain momentum from there.

Since utilizing physical attacks was very disadvantageous when fighting the Monsters, Magic-based Skills were preferred.

Keeping their distance from the Monsters while sending bombardments of Spells in their direction seemed to do the trick.

The moment the Monsters caught wind of this, the Otherworlders would switch tactics to distracting them with a feint in their flanks, and then giving them the real deal when they least expected it.

Since everyone's Levels had gone up quite a bit, and they had Items aiding them in their venture, fighting these Evolved Monsters suddenly began to get a lot easier.

Not as easy as the Second Floor… but somehow close.

In less time than expected, they reached the Boss Room and dispatched the Boss and its goons.

… All thanks to an unceasing volley of Magic Attacks.

**********

[Several Hours Later]

"Haaaa… haaa…"

Adonis' leaked exhausted sighs as he tightly held his Divine Blade.

The sword was lodged deep into the Boss Monster's Skull, and he used his weapon to support himself as he stood on the corpse's head.

They were finally done with the Tenth Floor, their final challenge for the third day.

It was an optional venture, but since the Otherworlders felt confident about their abilities—especially since the last two Floors weren't too difficult—they let their guard down in the Tenth Floor.

The Monsters there were on a completely different level—especially the Boss.

Thankfully, they somehow managed to pull though.

With everyone on the brink of exhaustion, Adonis personally requested to handle the Boss Monster by himself.

Ralyks gave him the permission to do so, and all his teammates were behind his decision as well.

One would have expected him to need assistance at some point in the battle. But…

"Huff… huff…"

… Adonis was able to defeat the Boss Monster on his own.

'Finally…' He smiled to himself as he looked at his Status Window.

[STATUS WINDOW]

- Name: Adonis Levi.

- Race: Human (Otherworlder) (Regressor)

- Class: The Hero (S-Tier)

- Level: 90 (56.99% EXP)

- Life Force: 420 (+210) [100]

- Mana Level: 750 (+375) [150]

- Combat Ability: 1,000 (+500) [200]

- Stat Points: 0

- Skills (Exclusive): [Divine Sword Summon]. [Absolute Defense]. [Grand Light Magic]. [&$@?3$$!0n]

- Skills (Non-Exclusive): [Combat Application]. [Magic Application]. [Mana Recovery]. [Full Sense]. [Life Force Recovery]. [Indomitable Power].

- Alignment: Lawful Good

[Additional Information]

Your desire to save this world has transcended the very bounds of time itself, and now you are once again on the journey to protect those you love.

Good luck!

[End Of Information]

'… My Stats have reached a satisfactory level.'

Adonis grinned even more when he looked at his Skills. He had gotten new ones.

'I guess I made the right call after all.'

He had abandoned his Life Force Stat and focused on his Combat Ability and Mana Level.

This was simply because he had a Skill for defense, and throughout the Raid, he could always be healed by Alicia if he sustained damage.

What mattered most to him was how many enemies he could defeat in order to grow stronger.

As a result of this choice, he was able to get a bunch of new Skills—one of which gave him the ability to slowly recover his Life Force.

In essence, Healing.

'It's a Passive Skill, and its effects are slow. But since it doesn't consume any Mana, it's plenty useful.'

He also got [Indomitable Power], which temporarily doubled his Base Combat Ability Stat.

All of these Skills contributed to how elated Adonis was at the moment.

Yes, he felt so exhausted that he wanted to vomit and collapse on the ground.

However, more than that… he felt ecstatic.

'Just as you said, Rey…' Adonis cast his gaze on the nobody in the background and widened his smile.

'I… I've gotten stronger!'

*

*

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Thanks for reading!

Do you ever think that Adonis and Rey will have some kind of clash in the future?

If so, what do you think the clash will be about?