Chapter 112: Welcomed by the 17th Floor Boss

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The next day, there were no patients scheduled.

Not many people knew about August's healing magic yet. Rumors were just beginning to spread, but only a few were aware of what really happened. The middle-aged men from the day before took time off to watch over the healed patients and check for side effects. With their own work to do, the medical business paused for the day.

Back in Orario.

Today was the day Hestia attended the Denatus. To pass the time, August and Lili decided to head back into the Dungeon.

They followed the map and, as usual, ran into ambushes. Monsters charged at August as soon as they spotted him, but heavy gunfire took them down before they got close.

"Seriously, do these things have any brains at all?" Lili muttered, watching the carnage. "Not a single thought up there."

She fired up the industrial vacuum, sweeping the scattered Magic Stones into her pack.

"Still, it is a bit strange," she added.

As they went deeper, August got tired of walking and brought out a vehicle. He had already cleared these floors before, so they drove straight down to the thirteenth floor.

The monsters here were even more aggressive, attacking as if they hated everything. They roared, but August's long-range shotgun blasts took them out quickly. He kept driving, steering through the tunnels and heading deeper.

"The engine noise is doing a great job drawing them out," Lili observed. "Unless they have specialized sensory organs, a loud engine like this just makes them run in circles."

The loud engine worked like a magnet. Monsters could sense people nearby, but the noise made it hard for them to track August and Lili.

"We should still be careful, though," Lili warned, staying alert. "Who knows if a high-level irregular is mixed into the pack."

Some monsters might look like regular Level 2s, but they could be as strong as a Level 3 or 4.

"Agreed. Better safe than sorry. This isn't exactly a friendly neighborhood."

Even August knew he wasn't invincible in the middle of the Dungeon.

They drove further down. The winding tunnels eventually opened into massive caverns. They reached the sixteenth floor, where a steep, sloping ramp led downward.

"Are we getting close to the Big Wall of Grief?" Lili asked. "I didn't expect to make it this far."

"We're already on the sixteenth floor."

Unlike their previous dives, the fourteenth and fifteenth floors hadn't thrown massive hordes at them. Just a few stragglers. But the sixteenth floor was different.

This was the domain of the Minotaurs.

This cavern was home to the strong, Level 2 Minotaurs. Their strength could easily kill beginners. Adventurers needed at least B-rank Strength or Agility to stand a chance. The jeep rolled through the Minotaur spawn area and down the slope.

Suddenly, the walls on both sides lit up.

The Dungeon no longer hid its hostility toward August. It seemed to want revenge.

Dozens of Minotaurs burst from the dungeon walls. They lined the cavern, glaring fiercely at August and Lili.

"Here they come again." August kept his hands on the steering wheel. "Too bad they don't stand a chance."

He slammed his foot on the gas.

The jeep shot forward, crashing into the group of Minotaurs. This was no ordinary vehicle. It had tank-level steel armor and a spiked bumper for ramming.

The Minotaurs screamed as the jeep's heavy frame broke their legs. Some were unlucky enough to get stuck on the bumper spikes, their huge bodies hanging from the front as the jeep kept going.

The rest of the monsters stopped in their tracks. There were hundreds of them against just one jeep, but they were the ones being wiped out.

"Oh yeah!" Lili cheered, watching monster blood splatter across the reinforced windows. "Crush them!"

The Minotaurs soon noticed the jeep wasn't taking them all out at once. Hoping to win by wearing it down, they regrouped and charged again.

"Like hell I'm stopping," August scoffed.

He rolled the window down and flipped the charging herd a mocking gesture.

Seeing the vehicle speed toward the seventeenth floor, the Minotaurs went berserk.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

They weren't used to this kind of humiliation. Getting run over was bad enough, but being mocked pushed them over the edge.

Bellowing in rage, they chased after the jeep.

But the Minotaurs' hooves were no match for the jeep's tires. August sped ahead, leaving them behind as he drove onto the seventeenth floor.

He finally arrived at the domain of the first Floor Boss.

The Big Wall of Grief.

"So this is the Big Wall of Grief?" August looked around.

The walls near the boss room were much smoother than the rough tunnels above. Monsters from these walls were much stronger than those on the upper floors.

"The Floor Boss, Goliath," Lili said, checking the area. "Too bad it isn't here. It hasn't been long enough since the last respawn."

Part of her was disappointed. She wanted to see if August's tanks could blow a hole in the giant.

"That's fine. We aren't in a rush."

August got out of the jeep and walked up to the Big Wall of Grief. Its texture felt different from the usual dungeon walls. He tapped the stone, wondering how it glowed and where the light came from.

If he remembered correctly, the eighteenth floor below was a Safe Zone with its own artificial daylight. He searched for a bit but didn't find anything helpful.

Just then, the Minotaurs caught up. They had spent ten minutes running hard to close the distance between floors.

ROARRRRRR!

When the herd saw the metal vehicle and the two people out in the open, they got excited. They charged, hooves pounding, rushing straight at August and Lili.

"Persistent, aren't they?" August smirked.

These Minotaurs acted strangely. When the Loki Familia attacked them, they usually ran away in fear. But when they saw just one human and a Pallum, they grouped together and attacked.

"I'm not exactly an easy target, though."

August waved his hand.

Dozens of assault rifles appeared out of nowhere. Smoke filled the air as a steady stream of bullets tore into the charging Minotaurs, pinning them down. August had done this before.

Even so, the Minotaurs were tough. Some used the bodies of their fallen as shields and managed to get closer.

Lili raised her hand crossbow.

Thwip.

She shot a volley of bolts, blinding the last Minotaurs. Lili was a great shot—she had to be to survive alone in the Dungeon. With their eyes hit, the Minotaurs stumbled, and August finished them off with rifle fire.

In the open cavern, the Minotaurs were easy targets. The 7.62mm bullets tore them apart until they turned to ash and left behind Magic Stones.

"They never learn," Lili sighed.

She started clearing the battlefield. With Goliath still gone, she felt safe enough to collect the loot. Hundreds of Magic Stones would bring in a quick payout—several hundred thousand Valis. Not a bad profit.

Suddenly, a loud cracking sound echoed through the room.

"Move!" August reacted instantly.

He grabbed Lili and ran toward the edge of the cavern. The Big Wall of Grief started to crumble, and a huge shape appeared from the stone.

"No way. It's supposed to take a few more days!" Lili panicked.

She always tracked boss timers. The last group to defeat Goliath did it just over a week ago, so the respawn should have been at least three days away. This early spawn broke the usual Dungeon rules.

"It's a targeted hit," August said grimly.

The Dungeon was spawning Goliath early on purpose, just to target him. It was clearly a trap.

"Dammit! It accelerated the Floor Boss spawn??" Lili clung to him as he dodged the falling boulders.

August had no intention of playing defense. If the Floor Boss wanted a fight, he was ready to give it one.

"All guns, open fire."

He called up his heavy artillery. Several tank barrels appeared, all aimed at the giant's head.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!"

The shells slammed into Goliath.

The giant roared in pain. It was used to fighting Adventurers with swords, magic, and potions, but it had never faced modern armor-piercing weapons. One high-explosive shell blasted a huge hole in its chest.

August didn't let up. He unleashed a relentless barrage.

Goliath, a monster strong enough to smash stone walls, was being torn apart. Its body couldn't handle the force of the artillery. The Level 4 Floor Boss was getting beaten down.

"Amazing…" Lili watched the tank shells effortlessly suppress the giant.

Goliath tried to roar again, but a shell shot straight into its mouth and blew its jaw apart.

"Tough bastard," August noted. "Too bad you aren't the Black Goliath."

If he had been up against the Irregular Black Goliath, he might have needed 600mm artillery to win. But regular 120mm tank shells were more than enough for this boss.

Goliath struggled to its feet, only to have its head blown clean off.

Without fast healing or magic attacks, the giant was just a big, fleshy target. All it could do was take the hits until it died.

But as the giant let out its death rattle, a response echoed from the tunnels.

A huge group of monsters poured out from the passage back to the sixteenth floor. The Dungeon wasn't done yet—it was sending reinforcements.

August narrowed his eyes. "How many did it spawn this time?"

He thought the Dungeon would make two or three more Goliaths. Instead, it was trying to use up all his ammo. The Dungeon seemed to think he had a limited number of bullets. If he ran out, he'd be defenseless.

But that was a big mistake.

"Perfect timing," August said. "Let's see how much you can take."

He lifted his hand and called up a weapon much bigger than his usual tank cannons. A massive artillery barrel appeared in the cavern.

An 850mm railway gun.

This wasn't a normal rocket or missile. It was a solid steel shell almost a meter wide. Even for Goliath, an 850mm shell was deadly. Fired at hypersonic speed, the impact was overwhelming.

The massive shell tore through the remnants of Goliath and slammed directly into the tunnel packed with monsters.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The seventeenth floor shook hard. The shockwave was so strong it drowned out all sound, leaving only a high-pitched ringing in the cavern.

The blast wiped out the monster horde in an instant. The explosion cleared the tunnel, and even the Floor Boss was gone with just one shot. He didn't even need a barrage—one shell was enough.

"WE DID IT!" Lili cheered. She hadn't expected a single shot to wipe out the entire threat.

The few monsters left, hurt by the shockwave, were truly afraid. For the first time, they realized that no matter how many of them there were, they couldn't beat this human. He was breaking all the rules.

He finished the fight with a single 850mm shell and didn't even break a sweat. All that was left in the smoking crater was a huge Magic Stone.

"Well," August said, looking at the giant crystal, "I didn't think I'd have to use that one so soon."

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