"Ash of War."
Put in plain terms, it refers to Combat Arts that have been sealed away. In Soulslike games, the only way to obtain them is by killing Goblin Guards, Bosses, and the like.
An unexpected reward from fighting with all his strength to slay the Goblin guard.
Ron was still quite satisfied. At the very least, the universal elixir Airmid had given him had not been wasted in this Boss assault.
After all—
With his current combat methods, he was somewhat hard-pressed when placed inside the Dungeon.
As the Ash of War transformed into motes of faint light and dissipated before his eyes, the special effects possessed by this Combat Art gradually surfaced deep within Ron's mind.
"Bloody Slash"
Lowering his stance, he coats the blade with his own blood and unleashes a blood blade that tears through enemies over a wide area.
"Just from the name alone..."
"I feel like it can't be unrelated to the Lord of Blood."
Very abstract.
Especially when paired with the "Combat Art: Seppuku" that he possessed, Ron always felt that the direction of his power growth was gradually heading toward becoming some kind of madman obsessed with death duels.
No need to say much more.
When facing an overwhelmingly powerful Boss he cannot defeat, he would first use Seppuku on himself, then make use of the blood produced by Seppuku to stack the "Bloody Slash" technique.
When he imagined such a scene…
The anticipation he had originally felt was gradually enveloped by a sense of strangeness.
Ron looked around after collecting himself. With the Goblin guard Boss dead, the environmental changes brought about by the Dungeon's abnormality were also gradually disappearing.
The walls that had blocked off the various cave passages gradually sank and vanished into the ground.
As for the items dropped from killing the Floor Boss, none were left behind. After picking them all up, he handed them over to the supporter, Chigusa, for safekeeping.
"It's completely over."
The Floor Boss that had troubled Ron for many days.
At last, after unlocking the "Tarnished" Character Save Slot, he had thoroughly completed the defeat of the Goblin guard in a "two-person happy ending" way—trading life for life.
That feeling was hard to describe.
From a complete newbie adventurer with no experience at all, he gradually stepped out of the beginner's village.
Ron only felt that—every drop of sweat he had paid in the Dungeon, relying on the "Revival" count to push forward through difficult exploration, all of that effort had been worth it.
He looked toward the stairway passage leading to the 2nd floor.
According to Miss Eina's explanation, the monsters distributed across Floors 2–4 were basically all gecko-shaped monsters, mainly Dungeon lizards.
Before they had undergone any mutation, these lizards were already about the size of an adult.
Most crucially, they were extremely sneaky, often roaming along the walls and across the ceiling.
"Why does it feel like I'm happy a little too early?"
Ron inexplicably felt a headache. Who knew what kind of epic enhancements the "Despicable Outsider" effect would bring to these monsters!
And next...
Whether to continue exploring deeper became the problem that troubled him.
So...
He decided to hand the choice over to Mikoto and Chigusa, asking in a relaxed tone, "So, next—do we continue exploring deeper into the Dungeon, or return for now?"
Although the time they had spent as a party was not long, through the battle just now, Ron could still sense the excellent qualities they possessed.
First of all—even when clearly outmatched, Mikoto had still trusted him. Though her personality was somewhat timid, when facing the Goblin guard, she had likewise not retreated.
Perhaps in terms of talent, she truly could not reach the genius level of Orario's Ais or Bell, but talent alone could not obscure the radiance that belonged to their souls!
"How about… we go back first?"
Although his fight with the Goblin guard had only served a restraining role, the scene just now still required time for Mikoto to process. More importantly, there was the Familia companion at her side, Chigusa, who had witnessed the bloody spectacle.
Even though Ron had recovered through incomprehensible means, given Chigusa's current state, she was certainly not suited for further Dungeon exploration.
The most critical reason was that Mikoto also did not know—once Ron entered the area of the 2nd floor, what kind of enhancements those Dungeon lizards would receive!
The girl's tone was relatively tactful.
"There may still be unknown monsters appearing in the Dungeon. With so much stamina already consumed, if we run into a Goblin knight group during withdrawal, it could be very troublesome."
"And also..."
"Wasn't your objective already completed?"
Relying on the Dungeon's high-intensity training, his Soul Shards had already accumulated to nearly fifty. As for the Revival uses he had consumed, replenishing them did not cause him any real heartache.
After all, he was not exploring alone.
Ron felt it was very necessary to take his companions' opinions into account.
With a relaxed smile, he stretched his body briefly, then nodded decisively. "Then let's return to Orario first and convert today's gains into Valis."
"I have a feeling the overall haul will definitely be pretty good."
It was just that the gigantic leg bone dropped by the Goblin guard—how exactly to deal with it was something Ron had no clear idea about for the time being.
Exchanging magic stones for Valis was fine.
The dark-purple peculiarity of the magic stones could be passed off by attributing it to the monster's strength.
But those drop materials that clearly did not belong to ordinary monsters—if they were handed over to the Adventurers' Guild for processing, sooner or later they would trace them back to him.
Ron was troubled.
'Why does it feel like my whole life is walking on thin ice?'
With the next objective decided, the temporary party did not linger any longer in the Dungeon. However, the monsters they encountered on the return route still caught Ron somewhat off guard.
They were still Goblins and Kobolds.
But these Goblins were clearly not the enlarged forms seen after enhancement. They were so small as to resemble dwarfs, standing only about half a meter tall and looking quite frail.
They wore tattered rags, and the stone axes in their hands were extremely primitive.
Compared to the Goblin "elite" and knights that had caused Ron no small amount of trouble before, judged purely in terms of strength, they were nothing more than roadside wild dogs.
"What is going on here?"
No one could give him an answer; he could only rely on his own constant probing.
These ordinary monsters were extremely easy for Ron to deal with. Even the magic stones dropped after killing them had returned to being only fingernail-sized.
He tried hard to recall the details.
When he stood in the Dungeon area leading to the 2nd floor, he could clearly feel that the "hatred of the Dungeon" had never disappeared—on the contrary, it had grown even stronger.
'This can't be like Soulslike games, right…?'
Ron tried to think from a Soulslike perspective, and a bold conjecture arose in his mind.
So-called Soulslike Bosses generally die completely after being defeated and do not revive; only special Bosses like the Night Cavalry reappear repeatedly.
When he had first encountered the Goblin guard, he had merely assisted Lefiya of the Loki Familia in annihilating the Floor Boss.
'So—'
'Does the comprehensive strengthening of Dungeon monsters by the 'Despicable Outsider' gradually return to normal after the layer-guarding Boss is killed?'
When this thought formed, Ron slowed his pace on the return to Orario. Through his repeated encounters with ordinary monsters, the final result he obtained further confirmed his speculation.
This was absolutely good news.
Because the Dungeon abnormality he had caused would not have too great an impact on newbie adventurers.
And most importantly—it meant that when he ventured to deeper floors, he would no longer need to be blocked by Goblin elite or knight groups, and could instead reach new areas with ease.
'Very good.'
'I can't wait—I really can't wait to fight brand-new hellish monsters!'
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