I threw some useless items and tested their attack power. Unfortunately, the items weren’t as strong as I thought. The troll’s bones I obtained on the 51st floor became dust the moment it touched the Orc Lords’ weapons.

…If I get hit even once, I’ll die! I’ll definitely die!

Orc Lords suddenly began to appear from all the pathways. Once I was surrounded, it would be the end. I realized I had started off wrong and that I should have killed them the moment I saw them. This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t run away!

“Kuaaaaang!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, you bastards! Eat this!”

An Orc Lord appeared in the path I was trying to charge through, so I threw out a Heroic Strike. Although I managed to kill him, five more Orc Lords appeared behind him. Now that it had come to this, there was no other choice!

“Uwaaaaaaaaak!”

[You have used Crimson Roar. Everything blazes as flames.]

I had not thought much about it, but the flames that began to burn everything continued to get stronger. Apparently, the reflective property of the dungeon’s walls had strengthened them. Since the flames were created by Crimson Roar, they did not harm me, while they served as poison for the Orc Lords.

“Kuaaang!”

“Hu, Humaaaaaan!”

Crimson Roar could be said to be my strongest area of effect skill, but a few Orc Lords were still alive after it passed. By that, I knew that these Orc Lords were not the same as the one on the fifth floor as that one would not be able to survive through that. In addition, their physical defenses were also much higher.

Despite that, Crimson Roar was still a powerful skill. After inhaling the smoke, the few that survived the flames staggered and were easily killed by Peika’s Thunder Spears. Each of them dropped 1,000 gold, which was the same amount that the 5th floor’s Orc Lord gave. Even though the Beyond’s Orc Lords were much stronger, they still only rewarded 1,000 gold. It was very infuriating.

“Huff, huff… It’s been a while since I ran so hard. I didn’t even have my elementals summoned… Peika, Ruyue!”

[Ugh, it smells burnt.]

[Meat? Are you eating that?]

“You’ll get sick if you do, Ruyue. First, materialize.”

[Okay!]

After reminding Ruyue not to eat the Orc Lords again, I checked the corpses of the Orc Lords, which were disappearing into particles of light. After giving me gold, they disappeared completely. I gritted my teeth at the sight.

I could only use Crimson Roar once per day. Since it had the same restriction as Floor Master skills, I had to come up with a way that relied on my own strength only. No matter how confident I was in my spearmanship, I couldn’t continue to attack and retreat repeatedly against the Orc Lords. I could toy with just one or two Orc Lords, but since more Orc Lords always arrived when I found one, doing so would be foolish.

I sighed. “No choice then. I have to use my crossbow.”

I had obtained the Silver Bone Crossbow on the 30th floor. I thought that I was too strong to use it now, but any weapon would become powerful with Spirit Aura regardless of its quality. Plus, I could use the 51st floor’s troll bones as crossbow bolts for additional damage. It would be nice if I could use the Flame Cartridge as well, but it only added the flame attribute and small explosions. As Peika’s ability was much stronger, it wasn’t useful anymore.

“It would be ideal to shoot crossbow bolts at their mouths, so they can’t use warcry…” I muttered.

[I can bait them!]

Peika shouted with confidence. With Spirit Aura’s increased level, she could now control the trajectory of projectiles as well. I patted her head to thank her for letting me know. With this, I may have found a way out.

“Kuaaaang!”

“I’ve already killed dozens of them…Just how many of them are there? Alright. Ruyue, Peika, let’s go!”

[Okay!]

[Run? Do I run?]

“Yeah, run!”

[Auuuuuuuu!]

Ruyue kicked off the ground. After quickly chugging down a potion, I raised my crossbow.

“Peika, I’ll give you as much mana as you need, so put lightning into the bolts like they’re Thunder Spears.”

[Huhu, okay! I really like Master lately. It feels like Master is filled with lightning from head to toe!]

[No! Every strand of hair on Shin is ice cold!]

That’s a compliment right? You were trying to compliment me, right? As my affinity to different elements increased, my elementals began thinking of me in stranger ways. After breaking through the pathway, I shot a bolt at an Orc Lord’s head.

“Kuak!”

“Nice, Peika!”

The bolt went directly into the mouth of the Orc Lord as it flickered with lightning. There was no need to doubt Peika’s ability. Now, all I had to do was raise my reaction speed so that I could attack the Orc Lords the moment they appeared.

“Kuaakuk!”

“Kuaaaakak!”

I yelled, “I won’t stop shooting until you guys shut up!”

Ruyue continued to run. Once they used Warcry, they would continue running regardless of whether I shot a bolt in their mouth or up their ass. If I got them before they used Warcry, they wouldn’t have the ability to withstand the pain and activate their skill.

When other Orc Lords didn’t appear, I simply used Elemental Blade to cut them down. If they did, I just had to shoot bolts into their mouths too.

“Kuaaagaaaga!”

“Elemental Blade! Can you stop making those weird noises!?” I shouted in annoyance.

[Critical Hit!]

Shooting, slashing, shooting, shooting, slashing. The rotation was simple, but I had to make sure the bolts I shot did not miss their targets. If one accidentally hit the wall, it would change trajectory and fly back. If it hit me, I would even feel pain.

[Twenty-two up ahead!]

I cursed, “Damn, there sure are a lot of them.”

Beyond’s maze had a completely different structure than the First Dungeon’s. Unlike the First Dungeon, where I could just hunt monsters and move forward, Beyond had multiple pathways that twisted and turned. Monsters appeared in the passages, but there were also spacious areas where a large number of monsters were gathered. The worst part was that they respawned rather quickly. In other words, if I got lost and went back to where I was, the monsters I had defeated would have respawned. Fortunately, my upgraded intelligence prevented that from happening.

“Agh, damn it!”

“Kuaaaang!”

[Orc Lord used ‘Warcry’! All orcs are cleansed of negative status effects! All orcs temporarily have become super-armored. Their attack power has increased by 50%!]

If even a single Orc Lord succeeded in using Warcry, like just now, I had to stop using my crossbow to shut them up as they had become super-armored. Then, I had to take out my spear and aim at their vital spots, weaving through them on Ruyue. It was the start of an exciting fight of cat and mouse. That said, if their number went over thirty, I wouldn't be able to handle it

As a result, I had to do what I had not done for a long time.

“Peika, materialize!”

She screamed happily, [I’ve been waiting for this!]

After confirming the number of high-grade mana potions (379) in my possession, I materialized Peika. The elemental magic of a materialized elemental was incomparably stronger compared to when the elemental was unmaterialized. Of course, there were downsides to it as well. When materialized elementals got attacked, they would lose mana, and excessive damage might reverse-summon them.

“Kuaaaaang!”

“An elemental, it’s an elemental!”

After appearing in midair with her elegant dress, Peika did not even have the chance to show off her beauty as she swung around a lightning whip. The Orc Lords charged toward her, but, as she could fly, they were unable to catch her.

“They can’t get paralyzed, so you have to damage them!]

[I know!]

Peika’s whip was strong enough to instantly burn the Orc Lords’ defensive equipment, and it was fast. Her whip condensed her elemental power, and it wove through the Orc Lords, damaging them. Meanwhile, I secured our escape route and knocked down the Orc Lords that stood in the way. This damned area was half made of air and half made of Orc Lords.

[Master, the walls have amplification and reflect enchants!]

“Oh, so those things are called enchants!?”

I pretended to thank Peika for her currently useless piece of info and continued to swing my spear. Then, a strange voice rang out in my ear.

[Alright, with this, I’ll take care of them at once! Thunder Dragon Wave!]

“Mm?”

When I looked up, Peika’s powerful lightning whip shot up past my head diagonally from below. Frightened, I jumped back, and the whip hit the ceiling, bouncing to the ground with greater strength, bouncing again and going through my legs. The lightning whip’s destination was an Orc Lord that was about to strike her.

“Kuaaaak!”

The lightning whip easily tore through the Orc Lord’s head and continued to fly forward. After hitting the wall again, it bounced back and hit another Orc Lord’s arm. The whip continued to bounce around, hitting an Orc Lord’s leg, then hitting Peika’s body. Surprisingly, Peika looked even stronger!

[Whoa, it got more energy!] she shrieked in amazement.

The lightning whip then went through Peika’s body again, becoming even stronger, and burned or detonated the Orc Lords one by one. It didn’t matter that they were super-armored. The whip was being endlessly strengthened, so it pierced through them without ever giving them the chance to counterattack. Sometimes it pierced through Peika’s body, becoming even stronger before continuing on to annihilate the Orc Lords. As for myself, I was frantically dodging Peika’s whip!

After some time, the Orc Lords dwindled until not many remained. Eventually, when I could no longer hear Peika’s spirited shout and the flickers of her lightning whip…

[Done!]

Peika put down her whip refreshingly like she had just finished doing her laundry. The whip that had been bouncing around and struck Peika was completely absorbed by her. Peika’s face was sparkling even brighter than when she first materialized. She looked at me and winked.

[Didn’t I do well, Master!?]

I was shell shocked by what had happened. “Y-Yeah. Since you don’t get injured by your own weapon, you can even do that…Amazing.”

[Huhuhu, right, I’m amazing!]

[Hmph, I can do it too!] Ruyue interjected.

To be honest, I was surprised to see Peika use the environment’s special trait in her attack. Although I knew attacks got stronger when the walls reflected them, I didn’t think to use that property as I needed to calculate the trajectory. It really wasn’t my forte.

After seeing it once, I could understand it more easily. It was just that I had not thought about it before. Now that I did, I understood how to reflect my attacks three or four times to amplify the damage. Any more could be a bit tricky as I would need to dodge the attack and calculate the trajectory again, but it wasn’t impossible if I tried it once or twice. In fact, I already had a few trajectories in mind.

I finally came to an important conclusion. If I didn’t try to use my brain, it wouldn’t be used! I was underestimating my intelligence too much. With all the bonus stats, my intelligence stat was now at 76. If I wanted, such calculations would be a piece of cake.

“Peika, you helped me realize something important. Thanks.”

[Really?]

“Yeah.”

Until now, I thought I had fought rather intelligently. However, that wasn’t the case. I had mistaken using the techniques I learned with my body and my reaction speed with using my brain.

After all, I was able to get by with no problem with my superior ability. Rather than intelligence, technique and strength were more important in my previous fights. However, in Beyond, that was no longer the case. If it wasn’t for Peika, I would have had a lot of trouble fighting them just now.

The hint had been given to me already: the stacking of the Orc Lord’s Warcries and the dungeon wall’s power of reflection and amplification. I had wasted my effort when the answer was already there. To defeat the Orc Lords, I had to do the same thing they were doing: amplify my attacks by using my walls. Luckily, I even had a long-ranged weapon.

“Whew…Good. Time to actually use my brain.”

I felt quite awkward saying it, but I ignored the feeling for now. The priority was to clear Beyond’s 1st floor. It was important to utilize my potential. For a long time, I did not apply my intelligence stat in battles. Now was the time to right that mistake.

Just like that, two weeks passed.

I was still on Beyond’s 1st floor.