"Hmm?" Miles was halfway from the spot he killed the Nether Beast to the Dungeon Maintenance Array, when he noticed a light began to intensify from behind him.

"Is this—"

[Soul Shard (Bronzkin Spell) | Rare Alteration Magic Spell]

Sadly, All View ruined the surprise. Though, Miles didn't complain. He was more surprised than anything else as it was rather uncommon for a monster's soul to crystalize like that and leave something behind before heading off to reincarnate; if that was what they did, anyway. Then again, Nether Beasts themselves were beyond uncommon and likely had a higher chance of leaving behind a drop; so to speak.

Unfortunately…

[Personal Talent Discovered]

[Talents:

...

Name: Alteration Magic

Grade: Terrible

Rate Law: 0.125x

Description: Welp, I mean, at least it didn't get rated as Abysmal like Elemental and Phenom Magic, right? It's still pretty bad, though…]

"Well, whatever," Miles sighed as he cleared some things from his Storage Cube and deposited the Soul Shard and Nether Beast corpse in their place. "Maybe Yvette will have better luck and having a defensive Spell will make it harder for people to take her out. If not, I could always sell it for a nice pile of Krilp."

"Ngh..." Yvette was starting to stir awake.

"Nice..." Miles commented as he quickly checked the Dungeon Maintenance Array before rushing to Yvette's side. He had more than ten minutes to decide whether or not to open the Dungeon Core Chamber and leave — which wasn't a valid option given that the B Rank Mage was probably either just outside or nearby expecting the move — or, wait for the Post-Raid battle before the EX Boss.

"Ugh… Miles?" Yvette asked as he was the first thing she saw upon waking up.

"You good?"

"Probably," Yvette sat herself up and nearly fell as she tried to stand, but Miles caught her. Once on her feet thought, the lightheadedness and disorientation she felt quickly faded as she said, "I… I should be fine for now."

"Great," Miles took it upon himself to fall on his back the moment he confirmed Yvette's relatively healthy status. "Please take care of the Post-Raid." He closed his eyes, "The Pre-Raid and Boss battles really drained me..."

"Damn. How long was I out?" Yvette asked. As her eyes trailed up to check his Quick Status, the look she gave Miles indicated she was impressed.

"I don't know, around twenty minutes?" Miles vaguely answered. "Anyways, see if you can use this," Miles withdrew the Soul Shard and extended it towards Yvette.

"Is this," Yvette took the Soul Shard, "a Boss drop?"

"Nether Beast drop," Miles succinctly said.

"This is a recording of E Rank Alteration Magic," Yvette said as she pulled her face from the crystal card. "Unfortunately, I'm only good with Elemental and Phenom Magic," She returned the card.

"Ah, so it's not worth it for you either," Miles accepted the card and stored it in his Storage Cube again. He noticed the Dungeon Maintenance Array begin to operate again and added, "Well, good lu—"

It was over in a matter of milliseconds…

"Level 120 bullshit..." Miles whined as he fought against the ringing in his ears.

Yvette, perhaps tired of being taken out so often, decided to show off a bit of her true power. Power composed of explosive arrows being shot at rates comparable to machine guns with the precision of a laser beam.

'And she calls me overpowered,' Miles rolled his eyes.

"Some Post-Raid that was," Yvette snorted.

"Hey, I probably would have struggled against two Shadow Knights and groups of thirty Shadow Cats and Shadow Shamans."

"Probably?" Yvette felt a vein twitch on her forehead. "If even you were confident against them as a White Mage, they really ought to be fodder trash..."

"I'm E Rank," Miles deadpanned. "Also, I'm not just a White Mage, remember?"

"Oh but of course! You're the Protagonist!" Yvette snickered. She then quickly became serious as she said, "And, speaking of you being a Protagonist, I see you have a new Subclass pending and awaiting assignment."

"Yeah… I'm probably going to end up taking on either a Subclass specializing in Unarmed Combat or Negative Magic. They're the only things aside from Healing and Controller Magic that I'm not Terrible or worse at."

"I'd teach you some Negative Magic Spells," Yvette strained to smile, "But all the ones I know are Innate and require being a Selenaut. As for Unarmed Combat..."

"Relax," Miles said sincerely, "I still have the System Shop to literally buy from hundreds if not thousands of Skills, Spells, and Abilities. The only reason I haven't already gone ahead and bought some is because I want to have some points in reserve in case we're put into another terrible situation. We still have to deal with a Divine Tower after we're done here, after all."

…

About half an hour later, the Dungeon Maintenance Array began moving to spawn the EX Boss.

Miles and Yvette had taken advantage of the period of rest by having a quick meal, composed mostly of fruits and berries. Additionally, as they were outside the stress of a battle, Miles managed to fully restore both himself and Yvette such that all their Health, Stamina, and Magic statuses were at full capacity.

They had regained their full strength a full five minutes prior to the EX Boss' summoning, so they thought they would be prepared for anything. Confident in their vigilance, and Yvette's absurd power relative to the rank of the dungeon more than anything, Miles didn't bother to waste any System Points on gather information on the EX Boss; this despite said information's cost increasing to alarming levels the closer to the point of it spawning it became.

The most he could do was warn Yvette to be absolutely careful as he explained his thoughts and thus, the two agreed to back off and probe whatever monstrosity came after them. When the time for the EX Boss to spawn came…

A heaven piercing roar shook the Dungeon Core Chamber as it accompanied the light associated with a monster's spawning. Yet, even as the roar shook the walls and quaked the floor, it was far from intimidating and more distressed and pained than anything else.

[Nether Queen (Dying, Birthing) | Level ??? (Status Reduced and Rapidly Degenerating at Level 10)]

"Wait!" Miles yelled just before Yvette let go of the arrow trained on the Nether Queen's head.

When she glanced at him from her periphery, she was understandably bemused to see him prepare a Spell of his own. Only, it wasn't a Paralysis Spell or even Double Time to increase his speed and take the killing blow. Rather, he was actually casting Restore on the EX Boss who just spawned…

"What the hell is going on?"

Fortunately, Yvette didn't have to wander in confusion for too long as moments later, the Nether Queen died without being attacked. Miles had casted Restore upon it twice, giving just enough time to lay an egg before it died of exhaustion…

"Dude… If you're the Protagonist, this has got to be your plot bullshit," Yvette whined as she nursed the headache that was rapidly developing by rubbing her forehead.

Instead of facing a battle hardened EX Boss and surviving a hardwon fight, they had been assigned a dying female monster in labor to execute… Instead of mercilessly killing it at the first sight of its weakness, Miles had supported it… Instead of it dying for naught, it left behind a Monster Egg…

"Oh, come on!" Yvette was dangerously close to smashing her head against the cold stone floor as she watched the light of a Soul Shard begin to form atop the Nether Queen's corpse.

This escapade could not get any more insane, right?