Arwin did his best to avoid touching the dead Rot Giantling too much as he worked the crumpled helmet off its pulped head. It was largely a fruitless effort, and even washing the helmet off in the lake didn’t manage to completely remove the vile stench engrained within it. Time and the water had taken a heavy toll on the metal. It was covered with a thick layer of rust and the barnacles felt like they’d welded themselves on. Arwin had to use a little bit of energy from [Scourge] just to pry one off, revealing even more rusted scrap. He wasn’t so easily deterred. The metal had withstood several hits from his [Scourge] empowered swings, and even [Shieldbreaker] had needed several blows to properly destroy it. There had to be some redeeming properties to the metal even if it was completely rusted over. “You think this is magical and just has hidden properties?” Arwin asked Lillia, who stood beside him peering into the lake. “I think it smells almost as bad as the corpse behind us. That should count as a magical property in itself. Psychological damage to anyone you fight when they realize you’ve been walking around with that awful thing on you.” “You literally tried to eat it,” Arwin pointed out. “That was experimentation. I wasn’t planning on sticking it on my head and strolling around with it.” Lillia scrunched her nose in distaste, then shrugged. “But, if there is magic, it’s probably covered up by all the buildup of shit.” “Probably,” Arwin agreed. He looked back at the corpse. In the past few minutes, he’d managed to work off the one remaining intact leg of the giantling’s greaves and a chunk of the chest piece. He broke several other pieces off, removing plates of everything that he could until he had a small pile. The rest of the armor was so deeply embedded and fused with the monster’s body that even Arwin couldn’t be bothered to try and remove it. There were some things that even the world’s strongest bath could never fix – and the metal looked warped beyond use by the giantling’s body. “I see that look in your eyes,” Lillia said. “You’re about to ask me if I’m willing to carry some of this crap, aren’t you?” “Can we handle the last room?” Anna asked, her staff tapping against the ground as she walked to join him in staring into the hall. “It’s probably a good bit stronger than the giantling. That could be a little rough.” “The strongest monster in a Journeyman level dungeon might be difficult,” Lillia agreed. “We won’t be able to let Arwin handle the majority of the fight again. It won’t be safe.” “Getting strong never is,” Rodrick said. “I vote we go. There’s no power without risk. That’s how the Mesh works.” Rodrick’s words weren’t wrong. If they wanted to get strong enough to challenge a powerful guild, they couldn’t play things safe – but no amount of power was worth losing another friend. “I think we can handle it,” Lillia said. “I’m in Find your next favorite novel on NovelHub today!” “I am too,” Reya put in. “I know I can’t do too much yet, but I can distract and Find your next favorite novel on NovelHub today! I think we should be able to beat anything that Arwin can hit, so as long as he’s not held down, we should be fine.” “That’s hardly true. I’ve been able to handle the monsters so far, but there can be a big disparity between monsters, even in similar tiers. Don’t forget the Wyrm is only Journeyman 8,” Arwin reminded Reya. “The difference is that it likely has Titles and Achievements that have boosted its growth, while most of these monsters haven’t.” “Do you think that’s likely in this situation?” Anna asked. Arwin shook his head. “I don’t know. There’s no way anything here would be as strong as the Wyrm. If it were, it would have sought a stronger area. The Wyrm we fought could easily hold its own against something a whole tier above it.” “You think it’s as strong as an Adept Tier monster?” Anna swallowed. “And we want to kill it?” “That’ll come when it comes. For now, we focus on us,” Arwin said. He nodded to the door. “I’m willing to push ahead. I think we can handle it.” “Then it’s settled.” Lillia rolled her neck and stepped to the side so Arwin could get past her. “Take the lead?” “How gracious of you,” Arwin said dryly. He stepped past her, dismissing Verdant Blaze as he walked. The hall was too thin to swing the weapon properly and it would be nothing but a hinderance. Everyone fell in behind him as he arrived at the large doors and pressed his hands against their surface. They ground open. Arwin blinked as bright orange light spilled out from the room and into the hallway. Beyond them was a massive stone cavern. Metal braziers full of dancing flame that burned on nothing but air lined the walls. At the far side of the room was a large hole that dropped into the darkness. It was pitch black despite all the light filling the room. Above the hole was a ledge that led to an unlit passageway. “Gee, I wonder where the monster is hiding,” Reya muttered as she stepped into the room behind Arwin. “Definitely not in the giant cavern. Maybe it’s going to drop from above.” Arwin’s eyes flicked up. He could just barely make out the domed ceiling in the distance – it didn’t look like anything was there. Even though he was pretty sure he agreed with Reya’s implied guess that the monster was in the hole, there was no way he wasn’t going to double check after a fate-tempting quip like that. “Don’t make too much fun of the Mesh or it’ll screw with you,” Rodrick warned. “There’s no way it’s actually listening.” “Probably not, but that doesn’t stop everything from going wrong when you tempt fate,” Anna said. She adjusted her grip on her staff and looked around the room. “That’s a pretty big hole, though.” “So it is,” Arwin agreed. “Let’s go see what it’s got hiding in it, shall we?” “You first,” Lillia said, only half joking. “I’ve got your back.” He summoned Verdant Blaze back to his hands and headed out. Every step echoed through the room and reflected back at him. He crossed the middle of the room and drew closer to the hole, slowing as he approached. This thing better pop up soon. I really don’t want to make Lillia go fishing again. A distant rumble shook the ground beneath Arwin’s feet. He froze in place as the tremors grew stronger and small stones rained from the ceiling, shattering as they struck the ground. Purple torches ignited from where they’d been hidden in the darkness all around the room. Arwin lowered into a fighting stance. The second purple room in a dungeon – and almost certainly the last one. This was the strongest monster in the dungeon.