While Leo was lost in thought, Line had already finished dealing with the spoils, gathering up all the magic stones and drop items and stuffing them into the backpack on her back that was bigger than she was.
Once the girl had finished handling the spoils, she ran straight over toward Leo.
Then Leo told her what he was thinking.
"Go to the 13th floor?"
Line let out a surprised sound.
"Right." Leo nodded. "The 12th floor can't satisfy my needs anymore, so let's go to the 13th floor."
"But..." Line said with some misgiving. "Is it really okay for just the two of us to go to the Middle Floors like this?"
It wasn't that Line was scared. Even though she was only Lv.2 and a non-combatant on top of that, as a rare Healer she had gone with the Familia's expedition forces to floors below the 50th.
That was even past the Lower Floors and the Deep Floors, so naturally someone who'd been there wouldn't be all that afraid of a mere Middle Floor.
It was just that, precisely because she'd seen the world traveling with the Familia's expedition forces, Line could appreciate all the more that the Middle Floors and the Upper Floors were completely different regions.
Some of the monsters there were the same as the 12th floor's monsters, like the Hard Armored, which would appear frequently on the 13th floor, only with strength somewhat higher than its counterparts on the 12th floor.
But a monster like the Hard Armored, said to be impossible to crack on the Upper Floors, was on the 13th floor just one of the lowest-tier monsters.
In the Middle Floor region starting from the 13th floor, not only would monsters categorized as Lv.2 appear, but the monsters' means of attack would be more complex too.
The monsters of the Upper Floor region generally attacked by rushing up to the adventurer for close combat, and the more complex ones, like the Purple Moth, would at most scatter some poison scale powder. But from the 13th floor on, the Middle Floors, the monsters appearing here would possess clear long-range means of attack.
For instance, the Hellhound, known as the "arsonist," not only possessed strength far surpassing the Upper Floor monsters, but could also spew flames from its mouth.
These flames were extremely powerful, easily melting ordinary armor, and even leveled-up adventurers would be burned by the flames this monster spat until not even bones remained. A large portion of the adventurer parties that came to the 13th floor and got wiped out died in the flames the Hellhound spewed, which was why the Hellhound was also considered the first magic creature adventurers entering the Dungeon would encounter, its mouth-spewed flames being the monster's magic, of boundless power.
On top of that, from the Middle Floors on, the Dungeon environment would also grow more complex. Natural armories could be found everywhere, and terrain would appear that favored the monsters while clearly hindering the adventurers. To step into the Middle Floors with no preparation at all meant that even a whole Lv.2 adventurer party would be buried here.
The Middle Floors were like a watershed within the Dungeon, completely unlike the Upper Floors.
For that reason, the Middle Floors were also called the Dungeon's first death line, and the number of adventurers who died here was simply on a different scale compared to the Upper Floors.
Generally speaking, there were basically only two kinds of adventurers who died on the Upper Floors. One was the greenest of greenhorns, the other was the dumbest of dumbasses.
The former needed no explanation. Being too green was a sin in itself, but the Guild had already issued clearing guidelines for each floor, so as long as you followed the guidelines and didn't step into a floor your ability couldn't handle, you generally wouldn't die.
The latter referred to the type who, despite their strength not yet measuring up, went charging in recklessly out of arrogance or contempt for the Dungeon's dangers. For people like that, not dying was a blessing from the gods, and their ancestors up in Heaven would have to work overtime for there to be any chance of keeping them alive.
In other words, as long as you weren't too green or too dumb, you generally wouldn't die on the Upper Floors, unless you ran into an Irregular like Leo did the first time he entered the Dungeon, or had the rotten luck of getting double-crossed by someone or the like.
But from the Middle Floors on, it was different.
Here, even if your strength measured up, your equipment was fully complete, and you'd made foolproof preparations in every respect, you could still be sent to a place of eternal ruin over a single lapse in attention or a single moment of carelessness.
So the number of adventurers who died on the Middle Floors was far higher than the number who died on the Upper Floors. If the Upper Floors were just the leveling grounds for novice adventurers, the proving place for screening out qualified strong ones, then from the Middle Floors on was the real battlefield, the real hell.
The Guild's clearing recommendation for the 13th floor was Lv.2, with basic ability parameters of I to H being enough, but the difference from the Upper Floors was that, from the 13th floor on, the Guild no longer recommended adventurers clear solo, instead recommending forming a three-person team.
A vanguard responsible for fending off incoming monsters at the very front, a middle guard responsible for guarding against the monsters' counterattacks and supporting the front at any time, and a rearguard responsible for long-range support attacks or taking on healing duties when the two on the front line were hurt. With this kind of joint-action system combining attack, defense, and support, clearing in teams of three was the most basic setup for clearing the Middle Floors, otherwise the difficulty of clearing would shoot up by a lot.
On the 12th floor, an adventurer could still fight solo here, relying on a Status that matched the Guild's clearing guidelines, but on the 13th floor, without three adventurers who all met the guidelines and could complement one another teaming up together, rashly going in was nothing but a dead end.
In other words, to enter the 13th floor, the most basic setup was three Lv.2 upper-class adventurers, and there had to be a vanguard, a middle guard, and a rearguard.
But Leo and Line were only two people, and the latter was a non-combatant on top of that. For a team like this to enter the 13th floor and clear it, the risk was too high.
"How about we just clear the 12th floor today, and once we go home tonight, find another companion to team up with."
Line offered her fair-minded advice.
In the past, a Lv.1 Leo wanting to find someone in the Familia to team up with would no doubt have been very difficult, but now Leo was already Lv.2 and about to enter the Middle Floors, so there were many more suitable teammates he could find.
There were still some Lv.2s in Loki Familia. During expeditions they might not be qualified to join and could only stay behind to guard the headquarters, waiting for their day to shine, but if it was just teaming up to clear the Middle Floors, their strength was more than enough.
In Line's view, even if she could just barely serve as a rearguard, Leo would still be better off finding another teammate, since that would be safer. Best of all would be to find a dedicated vanguard and a rearguard Mage, so that she could properly play the Supporter.
Leo, however, had a different take.
"We're only two people, but compared to an ordinary adventurer party, we've got advantages others wish they had."
Leo broke it down for Line like this.
"Other parties' vanguards and middle guards are basically warriors who can't use magic, but I'm a Magic Swordsman who can use magic, a high-grade middle guard class. I can handle vanguard, I can handle middle guard, and if it comes to it I can be the rearguard myself, since I've acquired the Mage Development Ability too, so it's no exaggeration to call me a rearguard Mage."
"You may be a non-combatant, but you're a Healer, rarer than a Mage. If I get hurt, you can bring me back to full and keep me fighting."
"So even with just the two of us, it's not like we can't go brave the 13th floor."
This really wasn't Leo overestimating himself, but a perfectly reasonable consideration.
As the high-grade middle guard class other adventurer parties dreamed of, the ability of Leo, a Magic Swordsman, already far exceeded the middle guard of an ordinary party. Even without a vanguard out front holding off the monsters, he could fully handle two positions alone, withstand the pressure, and slay the monsters.
He'd also acquired the Mage Development Ability, and his Magic had reached SSS even before leveling up, so his firepower already far exceeded an ordinary Lv.2 rearguard Mage and could fully rival a Lv.3 Mage. In fact, if he disregarded the cost and paid extra Mind to boost his magic's power, his firepower could definitely surpass ninety-nine percent of Lv.3 Mages.
With a setup like this, clearing the 13th floor was no problem at all. The risk was a bit greater, true, but with Line, a professional Healer other parties couldn't get even if they begged, the risk would no doubt drop a great deal.
That being so, clearing the 13th floor was no longer anything worth fretting over.
"This is..."
Put that way by Leo, Line started to waver too.
The main thing was that Leo wasn't wrong. As a Healer capable of traveling with the team to floors below the 50th, Line herself definitely had the ability to go brave the Middle Floors alongside Leo, and the kind who'd be a big help at that.
On the Upper Floors, Line had actually had a rather stifling time of it. After all, once Leo's strength came up, he barely ever got hurt, hadn't to this day taken even a single wound that required casting healing magic, leaving her, a Healer, with no chance to put her skills to use, able only to be a Supporter picking things up, and beyond that completely useless.
But the Middle Floors would be different. There was no way a Healer like Line wouldn't come in useful, since at the very least Leo couldn't claim he'd still take not a single wound in a place like that.
Having witnessed Leo's strength, Line could also guarantee that he absolutely met the conditions for entering the Middle Floors, and that even with an incomplete team setup he could make up for it with his own ability.
Firepower that could rival a Lv.3 was unstoppable in the Middle Floors. Apart from the Floor Boss, there was simply no monster that could withstand it without getting hurt.
Leo himself was a Magic Swordsman who'd also acquired the Mage Development Ability, so he could handle vanguard, middle guard, or rearguard.
Thinking about it that way... maybe they really could give it a try?
"Let's go."
Seeing Line already wavering, Leo smiled and said a line.
"It's just the Middle Floors. To others it may be a den of dragons and tigers, but to us Loki Familia, what kind of dead end could it really be?"
Hearing this, Line's mind was made up too.
Right, we're Loki Familia adventurers, the Familia that currently understands the Dungeon better than any other in all of Orario.
In Orario today, the two Familias that had cleared the most floors were Loki Familia and Freya Familia, both of which had already pushed deep into the region below the 50th floor. What was a mere 13th floor? Worst case they'd just retreat. Surely the two of them, with their abilities, couldn't fail to even run, could they? She always stocked up on supplies and the like before every entry into the Dungeon too, and with those, braving the 13th floor was absolutely doable.
"Then... I'll follow your lead, Mr. Leo."
Line made her decision and said it to Leo.
"Good." Leo decided without hesitation. "Then we set out for the 13th floor right now."
With that, the two began heading toward the entrance leading to the 13th floor according to the route map.
The way there was naturally not all smooth sailing. All sorts of 12th-floor monsters kept popping out endlessly, Needle Rabbits, Imps, Bad Bats, Silverbacks, and so on, but these monsters had never been able to do anything to Leo before, and now it went without saying.
Even the Silverback, a large category monster trickier than the Orc, Leo now dealt with in a single swing of his sword. Nothing could stop their advance.
So before long, Leo and Line ran across a grassland where the grass grew shin-high and entered a cavern chamber.
This chamber was rather unusual, no longer grassland terrain but a stretch of rocky ground.
The thick mist found everywhere on the 12th floor here happened to cover only half the space, while the other half had nothing to obstruct the line of sight, opening up the view.
And at the deepest part of the chamber, right in the center of a wall made of gray rock, was a huge hollow.
In the deep, dark hollow, one could faintly make out the rugged rock surface running down a slope, extending downward.
That was the entrance to the Middle Floors.
"We've made it, Mr. Leo." Line said evenly. "Through there, and we can enter the 13th floor."
Clearly Line already knew this route extremely well, familiar enough to call it second nature.
"Then let's go in."
Leo was just as calm.
He knew the Middle Floors were far harder to clear than the Upper Floors, and knew that stepping inside there was no way the combat environment would still be so safe, but with his current strength, to keep clearing the Upper Floor region would honestly only be a waste of time.
Silverback, Orc, Hard Armored... these most dangerous monsters of the Upper Floors he now one-shot. What was the point of staying any longer?
Even the Infant Dragon, called the Upper Floors' Floor Boss, Leo was confident he could easily handle, so he really had to enter the Middle Floors to once again feel pressure, once again get tempered, get growth, and keep getting stronger at that inhuman pace.
It was just danger, and it wasn't like he hadn't faced it before. Back then he'd dared to charge all the way to the 7th floor with all abilities at 10, so now, with his abilities exceeding the standard in every respect, if he didn't even dare enter a 13th floor and got all timid about it, he might as well stay at the headquarters and keep practicing tender, loving swordplay with Ais.
At least, sparring with Ais, a Lv.5, even if she went easy, Leo could get solid training. And as long as he could get training, Leo could keep gaining excelia and let his Status grow.
It was just that the training from sparring with Ais was definitely less than what he'd get from a desperate fight in a dangerous situation.
All things considered, the Middle Floors, he was going there today for sure.
"Let's go, Line."
"Yes, Mr. Leo."
The boy and girl stepped fearlessly into the deep hollow and, following the slope, headed down to the floor below.
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