On the third floor, at the bottom of a short five-step staircase, near a tree, there were two Ropers.
"Gerrr..." The expression of disgust on Aria and Vulcan's faces couldn't be more telling of how revolted they were just by seeing those two creatures.
Even Tomoya felt repulsed upon seeing them.
Without hesitation, he pointed his magic scepter.
Soon, ten water arrows were created simultaneously and then bombarded the two Ropers.
The shots were swift; in moments, several holes appeared in the Ropers' bodies.
Ropers were monsters of at least Rank D.
[Level Up!]
[Skill [Magic Enchantment Lv.1] of the Mage Class unlocked!]
Tomoya's eyes flickered, and the corners of his lips curled up upon seeing this.
Tomoya approached the corpses.
From what he had heard, he only needed one tentacle from each Roper to prove he had defeated them.
In the attack he made, he had already cut off the tentacles, so he simply sold the Ropers' corpses.
[+4 Gold Coins]
...
On the third and fourth floors, Ropers were the most common, especially on the fourth floor, where there were groups of more than three Ropers.
Tomoya took the lead and killed them with shots of water arrows.
'With this, that's 28 Ropers I've killed...' He thought.
They were disgusting creatures but extremely easy to kill from a distance.
On the other hand, for Aria and Vulcan, they were annoying enemies to face.
After storing the tentacles, he sold the rest.
"Tomoya, sorry we've had to let you be the only one attacking so far." Aria seemed to feel guilty saying this.
"Nyah, I feel guilty too." Vulcan scratched her head.
"Don't feel bad. I don't mind doing this. As you can see, it's easy for me to kill these creatures." Tomoya said casually.
He felt he could level up at any moment. There was no reason to be upset. Not to mention, since he was killing them alone, he was the only one profiting from the money made by selling the bodies at the shop. Although he still intended to split the mission rewards when they returned to the guild.
A curiosity. He had asked before what would happen if he didn't keep the monsters' corpses. That was when he received strange looks from the two, but they still explained that the corpses, after some time, would either be eaten by other monsters or dissolved by the labyrinth.
Even adventurers' corpses were the same if no one collected them after a while.
Many believed the labyrinth was alive because of this.
Descending the stairs, they arrived at an entrance with a stone head that looked like a bull's head.
"There's a Minotaur on this floor." Vulcan said: "Be careful."
She looked mainly at Aria.
As for Tomoya, given the power he had shown, even a Minotaur, which was Rank C, wouldn't be a match for him.
They moved forward. Passing through the passage, a Minotaur was soon spotted.
"Mooooooo..."
An almost ordinary moo, but somewhat beastly. The Minotaur had its back turned and hadn't noticed their presence.
Pointing the scepter at the two, he used a total of three buffs on them: Physical Enhancement, Magical Enhancement, and Physical Protection.
He finished with: 'Magic Enchantment' on their weapons.
When their weapons were enchanted, a magical aura surrounded them in a golden color. It was semi-transparent and gave a brilliant shine to the enchanted weapons.
"This feels strong... I feel stronger..." Aria murmured quietly, not wanting the Minotaur to notice them yet.
"I think the same – nyah..." Vulcan agreed, saying: "Aria, want to go first?"
"Okay." Aria nodded.
Walking with soft steps, when her presence was noticed by the Minotaur, which mooed threateningly, she began to run.
When Aria murmured "Acceleration," her speed more than doubled. And that was on top of her speed already boosted thanks to the buff she received from Tomoya.
Her own figure was enveloped in a semi-transparent aura. Unlike before, her senses, like her vision, could perfectly keep up with her speed.
When she saw the Minotaur attack with its wooden club, she dodged and, with an upward swing of her sword, she slashed near the Minotaur's wrist.
A clean cut.
She was stunned.
It wasn't her first time attacking a Minotaur, so she knew how absurdly tough this monster's defense was. But it felt like she was slicing through cheese?
It was unbelievable! Aria pressed her lips together, her eyes sparkling with a smiling curve.
She instantly understood that this was thanks to Tomoya's buffs. She wasn't arrogant enough to think it was due to her own skill.
But that didn't discourage her.
Behind her, Vulcan let out a loud "Wow!" sounding very surprised.
"BUMOOOOOOO!!"
Upon losing its hand, the Minotaur roared furiously.
Veins threatened to burst on its bull-like head.
Standing at 4 meters tall, even without one arm, with its incredible muscles, the Minotaur was still quite intimidating as it attacked with a clenched fist toward Aria.
Vulcan, who had approached, stepped out from behind Aria and struck the Minotaur's hand with a powerful hammer blow. The Minotaur's hand seemed to be crushed in slow motion. It was like an adult fist smashing a loaf of bread. The deformation was instantaneous.
"BUUUMOOOOOOO!!"
The Minotaur raised its hand high, roaring loudly again.
Aria took advantage and, with her two swords, pierced one into each side of the Minotaur's chest.
There wasn't much resistance; the swords easily pierced through the Minotaur's unprotected body.
Jumping back to retreat, the Minotaur began to fall forward.
When it was over, Aria and Vulcan stood in silence.
They had no words to describe what they were feeling.
Happy, euphoric, excited, thrilled... perplexed, perhaps?
Maybe what they felt was a mix of all that — or something even more intense.
When they turned, they shot Tomoya a look so intense it was almost frightening.
It was like the gaze of a jeweler encountering a rare, unpolished diamond.
"Tomoya, you really are a box full of surprises!" Vulcan exclaimed with a smile, approaching: "Not only do you have absurd power, but you also carry a ton of incredible items – nyah! – even a storage item, which is super rare... And those buffs of yours? With those, you'd be able to make pigs fly~"
"Make pigs fly? Huh... Why does that sound... interesting?" He pretended to ponder.
This prompted laughter from Vulcan and Aria, who had been a bit tense.
"If you ever actually manage to do that – nyah – don't forget to call me to see~" Vulcan said cheerfully.
Her mouth took on the shape of a feline. It was quite cute when she did that.
"I'd like to see that too~" Aria giggled a little.
Obviously, neither of them was taking it seriously.
The next step was to cut off the Minotaur's horns.
One part of the arm was needed to complete the mission, while the horns would be used by Vulcan.
Tomoya sold the Minotaur's massive body.
[+19 gold coins]
'Not all Minotaurs were Rank C+ like the one those two killed; most are Rank C. This amount in gold coins...'
He thought for a moment and rounded it to 15 gold coins for every Rank C Minotaur Aria killed.
With that, she already had 28 gold coins in his hands.
**
Before leaving the labyrinth, Tomoya took out all the monster parts they would use to complete the missions.
It required an enormous sack, like a Santa Claus bag. It weighed over 100 kilos.
When it was placed on the gondola, the weight sank the boat slightly. The gondolier looked at them with a surprised expression but didn't utter a single word of refusal.
At the guild, when they entered, many turned their attention to them.
Women looked at Tomoya, and men at Vulcan and Aria.
It was a trio that stood out quite a bit due to their excellent appearances.
The gazes shifted to the large sack Tomoya was carrying. Curiosity about what was inside the sack was sparked in several of them.
"Ara ara~ If it isn't Little Aria, Little Vulcan, and Little Tomoya. Welcome back!" Anna said, approaching with her arms slightly raised and graceful steps. Her tone was warm, almost melodious.
Soon, Anna's eyes turned to the large sack Tomoya was carrying: "What a big sack you've got, hm~" She winked with her left eye, smiling: "Looks like you all worked hard~"
The way Anna spoke, which seemed to carry a double entendre – intentional or not – made many who heard it feel uncomfortable.
To make matters worse, some even glanced at a certain part of Tomoya's body.