"Take...THIS!!!" Bellowed Brid, swinging his warhammer down and slamming it onto the top of a Giant Ant's head.

A loud crunch rang out as he smashed its exoskeleton in and crushed its head against the ground, the Monster's body going limp and slumping down as a thick green goo splattered across the ground, along with small broken bits of its exoskeleton.

"[V-Vertical Barrier S-Slate]," Chanted Iqra, as a Giant Ant leapt towards me.

A barrier formed in front of me, positioned ninety degrees across from the usual orientation of a barrier, the edges facing me and the Monster.

The Giant Ant sprang right onto the narrow edge of the barrier, getting sliced clean in half before it could react, the severed halves of its body landing on the ground on either side of me and sliding past me.

Nicely done, I'm impressed.

She's been handling herself really well, a lot better than I expected. Despite how nervous and timid she is, she's been staying calm and composed, and the timing of her casting her barriers have been pretty much perfect.

Brid's been doing a solid job too, he's been one-shotting the Giant Ants with ease, and hasn't so much as been scratched so far.

I mean, sure, he's physically at the level of an Ace, close to the peak of Ace Level when he uses those temporary boosts that double his strength, and these are just Low Level Monsters.

Even so, he's shown no signs of nervousness or hesitation, he's been mowing them down without a problem.

His combat skills have improved a lot since he joined the Sinners Guild, in what's been less than two months, he's been working hard on refining his techniques, and it's paid off.

Despite the fact that these Monsters don't pose any real threat, this should give him a lot of confidence going forward.

And he hasn't been careless at all, it doesn't look like he's letting it get to his head, so I don't think we need to worry about him getting cocky and overconfident.

Anyway, looks like the last of the Monsters on this floor have been dealt with.

We're up to the thirtieth floor now, and it's been almost concerningly easy so far.

We've run into nothing but Low Levels, it's been a steadily increasing number of Giant Ants over these first thirty floors, no sign of anything stronger yet.

We've run into groups of around twenty-five to thirty of them over the last five floors, and with each passing floor, the rest of the party has steadily gotten increasingly efficient at wiping them out.

Iqra uses her barriers to intercept them if they get too close, the Attack Mages launch attacks to scatter them, and also wipe out a good number of them in the process, and Brid's been rushing forward and attacking at close-range.

The Enchanter's been keeping everyone fresh and topped up on Mana, and the Detector's been, well...detecting.

As for Aria and I...we've barely had to do anything.

We've cleared nearly a third of this Critical Level Dungeon, and frankly, it's been way too easy.

We're all but certain to run into a Calamity Level Boss at the top of the Dungeon, this is definitely a deviation from the standard patterns.

If that happens, we'll have the others retreat to a lower floor while Aria and I deal with the Dungeon Boss ourselves.

We'll play it safe against any Critical Levels we may run into too, I'll summon Acedia and have him hang back to intervene if any of the others end up in danger.

"I know these are weak Monsters and all, but I can't help but feel good about myself...I only went on a couple of raids as a student, before they stopped issuing Dungeon raids for the Practical Training Exams.

Both were Low Level Dungeons with around twenty floors, so I've never been in a Dungeon for this long before," Grinned Brid, stretching his arms up as we continued making our way forward.

"Just be careful not to let it get to your head. The disparity between Threat Levels is pretty wide, Mid Levels are a lot stronger than Low Levels, and in turn, High Levels are a lot stronger than Mid Levels," Aria advised him with a smile.

"Yeah, I know...don't worry, I'll be careful. No way I'm letting arrogance be the death of me," He responded with a determined look on his face.

The entrance to the tunnel leading up to the next floor soon came into sight, before we headed up the steep, winding path, stepping out onto the next level of Dungeon.

As we made our way through the thirty-first floor at a steady pace, it wasn't long before...

"Wait, I sense four Monsters, all Mid Level," The Detector informed us.

"Hey, could we keep the same formation? I can handle Mid Level Monsters," Remarked Brid hopefully.

"After seeing you in action so far, I'm inclined to agree. Alright, then...so long as there are less than ten of them, we'll maintain the current formation.

But once their numbers go above ten, we'll go back to the original formation," I decided, after taking a moment to think it over.

"Yeah, that sounds fine to me," Nodded Aria in agreement.

"Sweet! I won't let you down!" Grinned Brid, as he slammed his fists together.

"You alright with sticking with this formation too?" I asked Iqra, as I glanced back at her.

"Y-Yes, no problem," She nodded in response.

It really is hard to tell how assured she is with her stuttering, but I see a glimmer of confidence in her eyes, plus my passive lie detection didn't go off, so I'll take her at her word.

"What about the rest of you guys?" I inquired, glancing between each of them.

"I mean, we're in the same positions either way, so it doesn't really make much of a difference to us," Pointed out the Ice Mage with a wry smile, the other three nodding in agreement.

Yeah, that's true.

"Okay, then, I think we should be good to keep going," Remarked Aria, as everyone agreed to sticking with the current formation.

"Mhm, yeah. Let's continue on."

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