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「Hmm, Dark Knights are starting to fall off here.」

The seventh floor was ranked A in difficulty, so the skeletons that spawned there also took longer to be defeated, and Mira had already lost multiple Dark Knights.

Now she had up to four Dark Knights at the same time, overwhelming the enemy with numbers, but that would not keep working the entire time. The further she went, the more skeletons appeared, forming large groups.

Stronger monsters also meant bigger Magic Stones though, making that a really good place to earn more money. On top, unlike during the game days, there was no competition from other adventurers, so if she wanted she could easily earn a million or two in a day.

But she did not have the time to spare for that, she had a different goal.

(I’m trying to speedrun here. I’ll just have to blast through.)

This valuable hunting ground was left all to herself. Getting that far in the Ancient Underground City took a long time, and the skeletons there had a very small chance of dropping an item known as a White Magic Crystal. It was a valuable material when manufacturing various Magic Wares, as well as Refining properties.

It was the best material Mira could use to build the strengthening Refined Equipment for new summoners.

But the drop rates were incredibly low, so even if she spent the entire day hunting she would get two, or three if she got lucky.

Considering how close to Soul Howl she was, she could not afford to spend time doing that.

Mira reluctantly let go of that idea and focused on her mission. She stacked two Rosario Summoning Circles and brought the Valkyrie Sisters there.

「We seven sisters have heard your call and have arrived.」

Alfina’s clear voice rang as she appeared through the magic circle, kneeling in front of Mira. But the corridor was too narrow for all of seven sisters to form a file, so they began shifting nervously side to side behind Alfina.

「I think we’re supposed to form two rows in this case, right?」
「Didn’t we decide to form a triangle instead? I don’t remember changing that.」
「We could just form a cross when it’s this narrow though.」
「With Alfina there we can’t really form an Eye of the Sun I guess…」
「Okay whatever, let’s just stand somewhere at least.」
「But sister… you’re the one delaying things!」

The sisters kept arguing in low whispers while constantly changing positions. Eventually Alfina had enough, so after a respectful bow she stood up and turned around.

「Why are you behaving like that in front of our master! Cut it already!」

All the arguing sisters instantly stopped. Alfina was facing away from Mira, but Mira could easily guess how her face looked just from the angered tone of her voice.

「Eletina, we agreed we would form a ring with you in the center in this case.」

Alfina lowered her voice, her anger still showing through her cold demeanor. At the same time Eletina, the only archer in the group, went pale with a whimper, recalling the agreement.

「Ring Formation!」

Their arguing took a while, but now that they knew what to do they were swift. They all followed Alfina’s command and took formation to kneel in front of Mira. Seeing that, Alfina also knelt again.

「I’m sorry you had to see that embarrassing episode, I apologize for our lack of training.」

Alfina lowered her head even more as she apologized. But Mira did not mind that one bit.

「Don’t worry, that’s alright. I can feel your loyalty and I appreciate that.」

Mira voiced her true emotions seeing the sisters kneeling in front of her. Their loyalty had not wavered even after the thirty years of absence, and were just as willing to help her now as before. It did not matter if their cohesion as a group had fallen off.

「I truly appreciate your leniency!」

Somehow Alfina took Mira’s appreciation as mere leniency. But at the same time she appreciated the way Mira appreciated her sisters, so she vowed to train them even better to make their master proud.

But all the younger sisters felt a cold chill that instant, trembling slightly.

The monsters that spawned in the dungeon were limited to undead ones from the fourth floor onwards. They were the strongest in the seventh floor, but the blades of light brandished by the Valkyrie Sisters easily cut through them.

Each of them was far more powerful than a Dark Knight as well, and they also had an elemental advantage, so now the only thing that could stop them was the final boss, Machina Guardian.

Mira’s speed at going through the floor also jumped up, reaching the middle level of the floor in just a few hours.

「Things really change in the last floor meow. These items are quite good.」

The number of skeletons spawning had increased ever since they entered the middle level, and the seven sisters also moved faster, leaving a trail of countless Magic Stones, too many for Mira to pick up alone. She could ask the sisters for help picking them up, but that would slow them down.

But leaving them behind also made Mira feel bad, so she decided it was time to bring Cait Sith back.

「And so he delved deeper with the help of his friends, encountering countless monsters full of malice… meow.」

Cait Sith had been called to pick up the Magic Stones, but he still appeared excited to run around, acting like he was in a major battlefield. He started dashing all over the place, carrying the sign that read ‘Dirty work like looting bodies is also part of life.’

「My sisters in battle, a battalion lurks ahead meow.」

Cait Sith was doing more than just picking up Magic Stones though. His keen senses also allowed him to discern the location of enemies, which he would then relay to Alfina and the rest. Once they defeated the skeletons, he would rush in their place and collect all the Magic Stones.

But Cait Sith focused a bit too much on defeating monsters, so sometimes he would deviate from the fastest path. Whenever that happened the sign would change to ‘Being thorough shows mastery’, while he tried to gloss over the fact saying 「I’m securing our return path, meow!」

(Though well, at least I got a White Magic Crystal that way.)

Even if they were advancing a bit slowly, the seven sisters’ fierce skills more than made up for it. On top of that, Cait Sith’s senses allowed them to hit first, speeding up things even more. Not to mention that collecting Magic Stones had become Cait Sith’s latest obsession, so he kept trying his best to do it faster. Overall Mira’s speed through the floor was still similar to the fastest possible, and she was earning more money at the same time, so she had no reason to complain.

All Mira did was use Life Sensing to make sure she did not pass Soul Howl somewhere, as he was likely going through the main route. Still, she could not stop grinning thinking of all the money she was making.

After going through various blocks on the floor, they finally reached the last one. Now that things were nearing the end, Mira noticed they were moving much faster.

「No need to worry, meow! There’s no meownsters ahead.」

Cait Sith sat on the youngest sister Christina’s shoulder, and pointed straight ahead. There were no monsters in the last block, so they could move without worry.

Everyone moved ahead, not needing to fight anything. According to Cait Sith there were no enemies in other corridors either. But they could hear strange echoes from far away, almost like groans, which were uncommon for the seventh floor.

Mira started to think of a possibility. It involved the person who passed through there before her, and she became more certain the more they advanced.

She checked her map just in case, and as they moved further, the weird echoes also became clearer.

「He’s fighting after all.」

Those loud sounds came from explosions and heavy collisions. Only one corridor remained in front of them, which led to the last room where Machina Guardian lurked. All the noise came from that room, where someone was fighting the boss.

She also felt certain that whoever was there was the person she was looking for.

Relief washed over her knowing she had finally caught up to him, but she also got worried for his safety if he was fighting Machina Guardian, so she started running ahead.

The last room in the seventh floor was like a large hangar, five hundred meters long and wide, and right now it had been turned to a battlefield.

There were forts with cannons on top there, blasting fire with explosive sounds. Around them was a large group of skeletons that stood like an army, and behind them were multiple golems around four meters tall.

All the skeletons from the block were there, which was something Mira had been assuming was the case.