“We’ll look into the guild’s negligence when we get back. Now that we’re here, we might as well charge straight to the Dungeon Lord’s lair. Take it down, and even if a dungeon outbreak is imminent, it won’t happen anytime soon.”

“Hm……”

Lucien thought it over, then nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough. With you on our side, clearing this dungeon should be a walk in the park.”

“HELP——!!!”

Just then, Russell’s terrified scream echoed from the distance.

Everyone’s gaze snapped toward the sound—and there was Russell, sprinting out of a stand of trees, his face ashen with fear, glancing frantically over his shoulder.

“Russell! What’s wrong?!”

Eileen called out, her voice tight with worry.

But her expression froze the next instant.

For behind Russell, a massive black cloud was swarming out of the trees—

“It’s Swamp Demon Mosquitoes! Run!”

Lucien and the others were about to flee when they spun around—and their blood ran cold. Another huge swarm was closing in from behind.

In fact, they were surrounded. Black clouds of mosquitoes were converging on them from all sides, closing in fast.

“How could there be so many?!”

Lucien’s face paled with shock. He yelled urgently, “Eileen! Hurry!”

“I’m on it!”

Eileen began casting a spell at once, trying to conjure a shelter beneath the ground to hide in.

“Wait a second! Save me first! Please!”

Russell shrieked. The mosquito swarm was almost on his heels. With numbers this massive, anyone caught would be drained dry in seconds.

“Russell——!”

The others watched in helpless panic. Even if they rushed to his aid, they’d only get themselves killed too.

It looked like Russell was as good as dead.

BOOM——!

A colossal Fire Serpent blazed to life behind Russell, incinerating the oncoming mosquito swarm in an instant.

But the flames didn’t die out. Instead, they coiled around the group, forming a blazing ring of fire.

Rumble rumble……

The ring of fire spun faster and faster, expanding outward until it erupted into a Giant Flame Tempest, surging across the entire swamp in the blink of an eye.

Lucien and the others stared dumbfounded at the scene of utter destruction, their mouths hanging open, unable to utter a single word……

Minutes passed before the colossal flame tempest finally died down.

Stolen from NovelBin, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As the last of the flames vanished, the world around them seemed to have been washed clean. The air was bright and clear, the mist that had shrouded the swamp completely gone. The murky muck had been evaporated into thin air, and the ground beneath their feet had been baked into solid, hard stone.

As far as the eye could see, the swamp was nothing but a barren wasteland—not a single trace of the original vegetation remained, not even a root left behind.

“It’s done. Let’s head to the next floor.”

Hulim lowered her wand and said casually.

“……”

Everyone stared at her in dead silence.

“What’s wrong with you all?”

Hulim tilted her head in confusion.

“Hulim… never mind. Let’s keep moving.”

Lucien replied weakly. He’d thought he had a grasp of Hulim’s strength—but it turned out he’d barely scratched the surface……

After the close call with the mosquito swarms, Hulim stopped holding back entirely. She bulldozed through every subsequent floor without breaking a sweat.

If she hadn’t held back to avoid excessive damage to the dungeon environment—which would take years to recover from—she could have cleared the floors even faster.

“The entrance to the final floor is up ahead.”

Frots returned from scouting, his tone flat as always.

“We’re already at the final floor? That was way too fast—I feel like I didn’t even do anything!”

“That’s because Hulim’s way too strong.”

“Damn it! My chance to show off got stolen!”

“Russell…… You idiot. Did you already forget who almost got eaten by mosquitoes earlier?”

Before long, a dilapidated ruin loomed into view.

At the center of the ruin, a spiral stone staircase descended into the depths. The interior was so dark that the bottom of the stairs was invisible.

“Let’s get down there and finish off that boss quickly! We can go back and get drunk tonight~!”

Russell cracked his knuckles, looking eager to fight.

But as Lucien stared at the pitch-black passage below, a flicker of doubt crossed his face.

Why is it so dark down there……

Without lingering at the floor entrance, the six of them descended the stone staircase.

They walked for what felt like an eternity before the ground finally leveled out again.

“Huh? Are we here already? Why is it so dark?”

Russell couldn’t help but voice his confusion at the pitch-black void stretching out before them.

Monster dungeons were usually deep underground, but each floor was specially designed to mimic the surface environment—not just the climate and temperature, but also the cycle of day and night, just like the world above.

The Black Marsh Dungeon was a swamp environment—normally, the light might be dim, but it should never be this dark. It wasn’t even nighttime yet.

“Something’s off…… Frots, can you scout ahead?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

Frots replied, then vanished from the group in the blink of an eye.

They’d expected Frots to take a while to return—but to their surprise, he was back in less than two minutes.

“It’s Black Mist,”

Frots said, his tone grim.

“The entire final floor is covered in it.”

“What?! ”

Everyone gasped in shock.

“Hey, Frots—you can’t be serious! The entire floor is shrouded in Black Mist? That’s impossible!”

Russell exclaimed, unable to believe his ears.

“No,” Lucien shook his head firmly. “Frots’s judgment is never wrong.”

“But this is a huge problem……”

“Why would something like this happen? We can’t even go in! Eileen——”

“I’m here.”

“Can you erect a barrier to protect us as we move forward?”

“Hm……”

Eileen looked troubled.

“I can do it for a short while, but I can’t hold it for long. And in this kind of environment—we can’t see anything around us. It’ll be way too dangerous, won’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Are we really going to have to turn back after getting this far……”

Just as the group was stuck for a plan,

Hulim spoke up suddenly: “Well, we just need to get rid of the Black Mist, right?”

“Get rid of the Black Mist?”

Lucien looked confused by her question, but nodded anyway.

“Theoretically, yes. But the mist covers the entire floor—there’s no way to dispel something that massive. We’ll have to report this to the guild when we get back and let them——”

“I think I can give it a try.”

“—handle it. Wait. What did you just say?!”

“I said I can try to dispel the Black Mist.”

Hulim replied, then strode toward the entrance of the floor without another word.

“D-Dispel it? Sure, some magic can dispel mist—but this is an entire floor we’re talking about! It’s impossible to——”

Lucien’s words trailed off mid-sentence as he watched Hulim raise her wand.

Then—

Hum——!

A blinding burst of light erupted from the tip of her wand, so brilliant it felt like a second sun had risen.

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding darkness was banished completely.

The Silver Party stared in stunned silence, their eyes wide with disbelief.

“Y-You……”

Russell stared at Hulim, his voice trembling with shock.

“You can use Light Magic too?!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep