Hundreds upon hundreds of destroyed golem remains lay scattered about.
Sirem's arms trembled; her muscle fatigue was evident.
Vivian was on her knees; she could now control only four golems. She was utterly exhausted, and blood trickled from the corner of her beautiful, alluring lips.
Nearly a hundred golems still stood before the two women.
Margaret watched in silence.
Liam watched as well.
The mist was barely visible; it was on the verge of vanishing completely.
"I can't go on... must I keep fighting?" Sirem was so drained she felt she could barely move.
Even so, she refused to give in to despair and dodged the razor-sharp legs of two Arachnid Golems.
With a trembling hand, Vivian pulled out a mana potion, drank it, and then sent her controlled golems charging at the enemy golems.
Sirem attacked too; she focused a portion of her remaining martial aura into one of her gauntlets and unleashed a powerful aura strike.
Dozens of golems were destroyed by that blow.
Sirem's eyes were beginning to close, but at the last moment, she leaped aside to dodge a strike from a humanoid golem.
Sirem rolled across the ground, but at that moment, the golems controlled by Vivian destroyed many more golems.
Twenty-four golems remained standing, and they attacked Sirem and Vivian without mercy.
Margaret sighed and conjured dozens of purple magic spears, using them to destroy the rest of the golems.
[Mission: Clear C-Rank Dungeon]
[Dungeon Floors: 67/100]
[Play Points Earned: 2,300]
[Play Points: 655]
Liam glanced at the virtual window confirming that the dungeon floor had been conquered.
But shortly after, another virtual window appeared, just as it had on the previous six floors.
[Time remaining to access the next floor: 00 Days | 23 Hours | 59 Minutes]
Liam walked over to Sirem.
"You wicked man..." Her face was pale and battered.
[-100 Play Points]
[Play Points: 555]
"Drink half of this." Liam held the revitalizing potion—a beautiful, glowing light blue—to Sirem's soft, lovely lips.
She swallowed; then he kissed her and told her to rest.
Sirem watched as the wounds on her face healed and much of her fatigue vanished.
Then, he approached Vivian.
She was trembling, racked with chills.
Upon seeing Liam, she embraced him.
"I think I'm going to die."
"Don't talk nonsense; just drink."
Vivian closed her eyes and swallowed with difficulty, but soon felt the worst had passed; her body felt stable again.
"Do you feel better...?"
She kissed him and hugged him tightly.
"Rest and meditate; we have just under twenty-three hours before we head to the next floor."
She nodded at Liam's words.
For his part, he walked alongside the beautiful witch, gathering "vital cores" and "vital core" fragments as they went.
...
Several hours later, Liam was sitting on a rock near the lake.
Vivian was sitting on his lap.
Her delicate arms were wrapped around his neck.
"Have you rested enough?" he asked casually.
"Yes. You won't let me die; you promised."
"That's right," Liam smiled as he replied.
"I almost died."
"But you're alive."
Liam wrapped his arms around her waist and then took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her neck.
"You don't need to worry; I'm keeping an eye on you all while you fight, but I want you to make the most of this opportunity so you can grow stronger."
Liam's hand caressed Vivian's face; she looked into his eyes, kissed him, and then stood up to head to the tent and get some sleep.
Sirem, who had been swimming, emerged from the lake, her beautiful body naked.
"You're worried too," Liam said, smiling with a mix of playfulness and mockery.
"You're a wicked bastard... but don't worry, I'll get stronger."
Liam nodded, then watched Sirem's beautiful figure as she walked away.
...
Almost a week later.
The 70th floor of the dungeon.
Liam had been instructing Sirem; he believed she could still refine her skills—she simply lacked a bit of experience and guidance, and he did not hesitate to provide that instruction.
She put in the effort, demonstrating improvement in her abilities as they advanced to subsequent floors.
Vivian was guided by the beautiful witch; Margaret taught her step by step.
In this way, Vivian learned to manage her mana more effectively, avoiding waste when casting spells.
Since time was short, the guidance provided was concise, yet it was useful enough to keep both women from falling into the kind of excessively grueling and dangerous situation they had faced on the 67th floor.
On the current floor, fog blanketed the surroundings.
The fog appeared right from the first wave.
Hundreds of golems emerged.
They were of various types.
Liam headed toward the lake, where two blue-black golem crabs were located.
Margaret erected magical barriers to partition the area where Liam would face a portion of the golems; in the other section of the field lay the many golems that Vivian and Sirem had to confront, and among them, four crab princes had emerged.
Boom!
In the third round, Liam was wiping away the blood trickling from his forehead into his left eye.
This time, there were three blue-black crabs.
One of them, instead of generating mist or regenerative bubbles, focused on firing rapid, pressurized water bullets at the openings Liam exposed while facing more than ten Crab Princes.
Scattered nearby were the remains of defeated Crab Princes; they were attempting to regenerate little by little, but first, they had to disperse the traces of mana Liam had planted within them.
Liam did not lose his focus despite the unexpected injury.
Instead, he feigned weakness to bait the Crab Princes into an all-out assault—and they took the bait.
Sirem, for her part, was managing to improve her combat rhythm despite the mist.
Meanwhile, Vivian had succeeded in manipulating a Crab Prince after marking each enemy with subtle traces of mana.
Unlike before, these mana marks contained a lower concentration of mana, just as Margaret had advised her.
The golems were falling one after another, but because there were so many of them, the battles raged on endlessly.