We transferred to the 86th floor of the Southern Great Labyrinth.
The space was so vast it was hard to believe we were underground.
Grasslands stretched out endlessly, and above us, it looked like open sky—bright, open, almost refreshing.
Up through the mid-layers, the labyrinth felt like caves and tunnels. But starting from the lower layers, environments like this appeared—varied biomes.
The 86th through 88th floors were mostly clear, scenic grasslands.
New explorers often relaxed at first, thinking it was comfortable.
Of course—it wasn't gentle at all.
Everyone finished final gear checks in the safe zone.
I glanced at Will—no armor, no shield.
I'd heard about it during the briefing, so I wasn't shocked... but the fixed image of a defender in heavy plate and shield still made it feel strange.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Will—don't you use armor or a shield?"
I asked the question that had nagged me since the strategy talk.
"Nah—I'm not your classic defender. That's exactly why they almost forced me to convert to attacker."
The first person who came to mind when thinking "defender without armor or shield" was *her*—that S-rank legend.
"So... you're aiming for full evasion style in the end?"
"Huh? No way—I could never dodge everything like she does. Anyway—I'll pull aggro properly and give you a nice, easy environment to fight in. Leave it to me!"
Will declared it with total confidence.
No one else commented, so it must be fine.
I'd only seen his attacker performance.
Even there, he had A-rank ace-level skill.
But as a defender? How good was he really?
From what he'd said, his style required insane precision.
◇ ◇ ◇
We walked cautiously for a while when a mass of mana came flying from the right.
I judged it as a monster attack and prepared to trigger my waiting **Reflective Wall**.
—but—
"Leave this to me!"
Will shouted and charged toward it.
In the next instant, a weapon appeared in his right hand.
Double-bladed—a blade on each end of the grip.
—A **twinblade**.
An extremely difficult weapon to master; very few could wield it properly.
During the joint subjugation, he'd used dual swords of different lengths.
But as a defender—he used the twinblade.
"Hyaaah!"
Will spun it with perfect control.
The moment the blade touched the mana mass—it vanished without a trace.
(What a wild idea... And he's doing it flawlessly. His mana control must be insane, plus nerves of steel. One mistake and he'd take that hit head-on...)
"Lucre!"
At Selma-san's call—
"Already found it! **Flash**!"
Lucre cast the spell.
About 200 meters ahead—high in the sky—a red light burst.
"**Magic Up**."
Selma-san buffed Rain-san's magic power.
"Thanks, Lucre, Selma! Now—let's celebrate Orun-kun joining with a big firework! **Explode**!"
A mass of flame formed at the red light's location and plummeted.
It struck the ground.
A deafening roar—then the area erupted in an explosion.
Opening with a special-grade fire spell...
I couldn't keep up with the sequence at all.
(Not that there was room for me to jump in anyway.)
But one thing was clear from that flow—their coordination was on another level.
Selma-san and Rain-san built formulas incredibly fast.
Especially Rain-san.
Special-grade spells are powerful, wide-range attacks—but they demand massive mental processing.
Normally, they take much longer to construct.
Yet she'd done it in seconds—even if toned down for control.
Most people would need nearly double the time.
I knew they were deep-floor capable... but seeing it up close was something else.
Then Lucre.
Her ability was clearly far from "plain."
And finally—Will.
I'd heard about the twinblade beforehand, but watching him erase incoming mana was still shocking.
He was doing something as timing-critical as my **Impact**—except against incoming attacks aimed at himself.
One slip could mean serious injury.
Yet he made it look effortless.
That kind of mastery only came from relentless training.
"...Kinda basic reaction, but that was insane..."
The honest words slipped out.
"Hehe! That's the power of *Silver Rabbit*'s strongest party!"
Lucre puffed out her chest proudly.
Yeah... not sure about "strongest," but...
Her comment loosened the group's tension a little, but—
"All right—time to finish it."
Selma-san's voice snapped everyone back.
Right—we hadn't killed it yet.
That attack had likely come from our target.
Damage dealt, but no magic stone yet.
We advanced cautiously toward the blast zone.
From the 86th to 88th floors—some forest, but mostly open grassland.
Aside from our goal (Noxious Sheep), almost every monster here had ranged attacks.
Long-range combat dominated.
That's why frontline attackers were said to struggle here.
There were ways to close distance... but spell-focused fights were simply more efficient.