'It went as planned. The path the other team is taking will take at least 3 hours. In contrast, this path only takes 30 minutes to reach the boss room.'
The path that takes longer has monsters of lower difficulty.
The path they were walking on was shorter but had monsters of very high difficulty.
'Each one is at least as strong as a mid-boss.'
The excitement he felt before the battle.
Although the sound of the fairy cursing inside the black pearl could be heard, Rune stood in front of seven giant zombie jellyfish, 'Evil Zombie Jelly Fish.'
The reason they split into teams was for Dullahan and Rune to take the path where powerful monsters swarmed.
The bird, which understood his words, flapped its wings quickly.
The zombie jellyfish wrapped its tentacles around the dungeon floor's rocks, corroding and breaking them, and swam freely with a body over five meters long.
Then it launched another tentacle at Rune at high speed.
Suddenly, Rune held the 'Shield that Blocks Anything,' the grand prize from the blacksmithing competition, in his hand, deflecting the tentacle.
"Dullahan, time is money. Let's finish this quickly."
Dullahan, who had assumed a battle stance, rushed forward and collided with the giant jellyfish's tentacles, diverting its attention.
The tentacles, which would corrode and melt armor upon contact, did not even scratch the shield.
"Dullahan. Send that one over here."
Following Rune's instructions, Dullahan scanned the area and pushed the jellyfish, which was pouring corrosive liquid, into the shield.
It was exactly where Rune wanted it.
'Need to be careful of the corrosive liquid. The hatchling's scales are too weak.'
Despite his cautious thoughts, his movements were bold.
Rune gathered energy in his hand and used the Water Seal to draw water from the surroundings.
The rushing water, following Rune's will, surged like a tidal wave toward the jellyfish.
The water immediately enveloped the jellyfish and began to swirl as if washing clothes.
'Perfect for practice. Should I fight in my true form?'
Rune's hand movements caused the jellyfish to collide and rub against each other, creating a bizarre scene where they corroded each other.
The sound of flesh tearing was grotesquely audible.
Soon, the seven giant jellyfish were clumped together in the whirlpool.
Their flesh was torn and melted, quickly turning into a mush.
'I can't show this scene to the kids.'
Rune looked down at the remains of the monsters he had killed with a calm face.
'If only the amount of loot and monster materials didn't decrease, I could have let the darkness consume them cleanly.'
Rune, who had been feeling stifled in Christina's lair, now had a refreshed expression.
He shook his tail slightly and sent a telepathic message with a more cheerful tone.
Using the Clean spell to remove the traces of battle from his body, he put on the human polymorph bracelet again.
As he stepped out of the exit, Ferdikion ran toward him as if waiting.
"Rune! Are you alright? Nothing happened, right?"
"Yeah. It wasn't that difficult. What about you, bro?"
Rune smiled casually, and Ferdikion nodded.
"Right. The monsters were not as strong as I thought. Thanks to that, Black Beauty performed well. It seems those we fought together were the mid-bosses of this dungeon."
It went according to Rune's plan.
Through the fairy, he designed the dungeon so that only the path he took would have the strong monsters.
They went out the entrance and came back in several times, each time when a new mid-boss level monster appeared, and killed them.
Thanks to this, they were able to clear all the powerful monsters in the <Cursed Dungeon>.
'Since the <Cursed Dungeon> will be purified and revert to the original <Dungeon of Waves>, there's no way to check the original difficulty.'
The faster they cleared the monsters, the better the spoils and rewards from the mid-bosses.
Rune thought about his bag, now full of hard-to-find materials, and smiled inwardly.
"Black Beauty fought hard too! Because she wanted to help you, Rune-sama."
"Yeah, thanks to that, you must have earned a lot of contribution points. Well done."
'Her charm ability must have improved a lot too.'
Black Beauty, whose ears drooped and who smiled bashfully, was patted on the head by Rune.
'Still... Amelia and Ferdikion are surprisingly quiet.'
Ferdikion, of course, and Amelia stood a bit behind, quietly smiling with Lamel.
"Did you and Amelia get along well?"
Though he asked if they got along well, he was actually checking if there had been any fights between them.
Black Beauty answered first.
"Y-yeah, there was no time for that. Black Beauty killed the most, but Amelia and Ferdikion were really, really scary! They said they had to get to you quickly and instantly punished the monsters blocking their way, burned them with fire, and swept them away with water."
She even mimicked grabbing her neck with both hands.
Honestly, he was worried they might have fought when he wasn't looking.
They might have restrained themselves in front of Black Beauty, but their personalities were polar opposites.
'Maybe it was just a worry.'
Seeing Ferdikion's embarrassed face and Amelia's shy expression, Rune vaguely realized something.
'Maybe they were thinking about me.'
It was different from the sense of duty to protect a child.
It was a look of concern and affection for him.
For some reason, it made him feel a bit ticklish inside.
Something he had never felt before, or if he had, considered useless, left a warm sensation.
It was so unfamiliar that he didn't know how to react, and his facial muscles stiffened.
Ferdikion asked, and Amelia tilted her head slightly, looking at him.
He replied casually, suppressing his inner turmoil.
As they walked a bit further, they reached a passage with many black thorns.
Rune, looking around, took a fresh apple from his bag and threw it at the thorny area.
The thorns extended and pierced the apple, which was then crushed and its juice sucked dry, leaving it shriveled.
"What... what is that...?"
Unlike Black Beauty, who was startled and Amelia, who frowned, Ferdikion and Rune looked as if they had expected it.
Ferdikion had experience with dungeons, and Rune was skilled at noticing suspicious signs.
'The end is in sight, though it's far.'
A dark blue color with a faint shimmer.
It must be the final room of the dungeon, where the ultimate boss would be.
Rune took another apple from his bag and, this time, closed his eyes to sense the magical structure of the hall.
The weight in his hand disappeared, and the apple safely landed on the opposite side.
"Is... is teleportation... possible in a dungeon?"
In dungeons, unique magical waves usually prevented teleportation.
This was no different from jumping from a bird in mid-air and landing where you wanted.
"Only I can. It's a bit embarrassing, but I practiced teleportation a lot to try to escape from Christina's lair once."
"Is that... even possible?"
Ferdikion asked in disbelief.
Actually, that wasn't all of it.
It was possible because most of the magic in this dungeon was related to water, darkness, and curses.
A dungeon made of magic he could control.
The sensation he felt when the fairy created or cleared paths.
The result of combining his ability to construct structures through magical threads.
'Being able to combine multiple attributes also helped.'
But explaining all of this would be too cumbersome.
So he dismissed it with a single sentence.
Ferdikion, at a loss for words, looked at him and laughed.
"Amazing, little brother. Honestly, I'm jealous."
He ruffled Rune's hair as if in a fit of pique and slapped his back.
"Can you use that ability to get all of us across?"
"It's too much to do all at once, but I can do it in a few trips."
"Me! Black Beauty wants to go first!"
Black Beauty, holding Byakuya, ran up to Rune.
Amelia also stood cautiously behind Black Beauty, and Ferdikion, though he didn't say anything, looked at Rune with the expectation of being chosen first.
And Rune simply stated the criteria.
"I'll start with the ones who have the least magic and mass."
"Yay! Then Byakuya and Black Beauty are first!"
Unlike the dejected Ferdikion and Amelia, Black Beauty and Byakuya smiled excitedly.
Since he didn't have any particular grudge, he used the teleportation spell without any guilt.
Once everyone had crossed, they stood in a room where water was calmly spread on the floor.
The surroundings were as dark as a night sky painted black.
"Ugh. It smells strange."
Just as Black Beauty, pinching her nose, grumbled,
A slimy sound in the dimly lit pupils.
Everyone looked up simultaneously.
A cephalopod's body, with sparse hair and skin, was attached to the ceiling above the group.
Its dark eyes, embedded in a squid-like head, scanned them with a bizarre gaze, as if looking down at ants.
"It's a Giant Devil Kraken."
Just as Ferdikion was considering his true form and preparing for battle,
Rune spread darkness around them.
It was a spell with excellent concealment, completely hiding everyone in the darkness.