...

'The plaza before the entrance to the Dungeon was rather empty compared to other days.

Movement was also rather low, I could only see a few groups going into the Dungeon'

"Are you going to the Dungeon?... What a silly question to ask, of course, you are with all that armor and sword."

I looked to the side to see another adventurer, although he seemed to be waiting for his companions since he was resting on a bench.

"Are you sure you are fine being alone? Going to the Dungeon is dangerous right now."

"Why do you say so?"

"Is this your first year in Orario?"

"In a sense, yes."

"Then that's explained. You see, every new year, the Dungeon will get quite dangerous around this time."

"And the reason for that? Sorry for being rude…"

"Relax men, it's fine. It's simple in fact."

"Since last week, the number of adventures going into the Dungeon has steadily declined since most of them have gone into a vacation."

"And this peaked yesterday, pretty much no one went to the Dungeon that day. Me included."

"Now, the Upper and Middle floors are filled with monsters. Increasing the chances of a monster wave."

"A Monster wave? Really? Are you talking about that rare event?"

"Yup. When there are too many monsters on one floor, a monster wave will happen. All of the monsters will condense in a single area and they will start to kill each other."

"And this is one of the many ways the Dungeon uses to control monster density. Although it's one of the more extreme ones."

"As you know, every floor has a limit to the number of monsters. If the number reaches that limit, the Dungeon stops creating more unless it's a special situation."

"But this doesn't happen in the Upper and Middle floors, the Dungeon will create monsters 24 hours in order to cope with the constant killing of monsters by adventurers."

"During normal days, we never reach that limit since dozens of teams of adventurers will be there hunting. But since no one hunted…"

"The floors are filled with creatures. Replied Mellios"

"Yup… Normally, high-Class adventures will slowly clean those floors until it's safe again for the newer adventurers. "

"Looking at your armor, you don't seem like a low-Class adventurer. But I still recommend you to stay on the upper floors, even if you have a team."

"After all, I heard that very early today the Guild received a report that a Dungeon wave happened on the 15Th floor, scary stuff. Imagine seeing dozens of minotaurs running at you?"

"Leave the cleaning of the Hellhole that is the middle floors to the bigger Familias."

He didn't even talk about the deeper floors… That makes sense, it's something too far away for normal adventurers.

"I see, thank you, friend, I will make sure to be careful. " Replied Silver

"It's nothing! Good luck, friend!"

"You too."

…

'After Silver left, the two started to chuckle, almost on the verge of laughing

"Boss you are so cool! You just sent that guy to die as if it was nothing!"

"Pffft! Did you hear his voice? He sounded so thankful to me! HAHAHA!"

"But being serious. How did he fall for such a lie? Doesn't everyone…"

"That's wrong, to know about this event one must live in Orario for at least a year. Did you even hear about this event in the past year?"

"No…"

"That's right. People only talk about this when it's right around the corner for some reason. It's a tradition at this point. Who knows, if we are lucky we may be able to get that guy's armor when he dies down there!"

"HAHAHA X2…"

(We have seen a lot of good characters recently, it was time for some good ol baddies to come back right?)

…

'Somewhere not really far from Babel, a blond"haired man was drinking some tea with a blue"haired woman'

'The blond man suddenly stopped drinking his tea and looked at the window. The window led directly towards the Plaza around Babel'

"Hummm…"

"What is it Hermes-Sama?"

"I have this strange feeling, I don't know how to express it…"

"Are you going to cause trouble again? Every time you say this you cause trouble."

"What?... Is that how you see me Asfi-Chan~..."

"Sigh. It's just that every time you cause trouble the one who has to clean everything is me."

"Oh~ Come on, don't be like that!"

'He went to her side and placed his arm around her shoulder.

The girl didn't seem embarrassed in the least, in fact, she looked rather annoyed.'

When he is like this it means he wants me to do something… Thought Asfi

"As-Fi-Chan! Do me a favor and go to the Dungeon today!"

"... HUH?!

First, he brought me to this coffee shop out of nowhere saying we came to relax and now he wants me to go do some extra work?!

"I am already filled with…"

'Like a boss, the blond"haired man just placed his finger on her lips'

"I am being serious this time."

"..."

"FINE! But I don't want any work for the rest of the week!"

"Granted!"

'And so, the blond man left, he had a sly smile on his face as he covered his eyes with his hat.'

"More work…"

'She suddenly noticed the bill on the table'

"##!!

"URG! He didn't even pay!"

'After paying for the tea, the blue"haired girl made her way to the Dungeon.

She didn't know what she was looking for, but she hoped that whatever it is, she will find it soon since she has a lot of things to do.'

...

'While Silver went down the stair to the first floor he thought about the adventurer words'

HA!... Those fuckers.

Do they think I am dumb or something? Of course, I knew what kind of day today was.

That was exactly why I came running to this place as soon as I finished my other things.

Collecting information is the most basic Trait an adventurer should have.

I might not know everything, but with the combination of my grandparents' teachings and the few books I read so far, I know quite a decent amount of things.

Even though some of the information my grandparents shared with me is outdated...

"If I see them down here, I will make sure to give them a 'nice' welcome… But this only makes things better for me anyway."

The Dungeon is filled to the brim with monsters right now while low in adventurers… Perfect.

"Although… I didn't know that the Dungeon had this limiting factor, well, I only heard about it but never in such detail."

It makes sense, otherwise, the Deep floors, where adventurers rarely go, would already be filled with monsters.

"Or perhaps, it already is… There must be a reason why going to those floors is so hard."

Apart from everything else such as environment and monster complexity.

If only my grandparents had shared more info with me...

"Even though there are a lot of monsters, I wasn't planning on going to the Middle floors anyway."

Today I only wanted to try something different."

Since I always fought using my Plasmids, I wanted to see how I would fare against a normal monster using only my techniques.

My Skill gives me more Exelia the harder the situation is for me. So what is the hardest situation possible?

I can remove my armor, my weapons, and my magic, leaving only my bare body. This is the weakest I can be unless I purposely hurt myself or decrease my fighting capabilities.

"But that's too much."

Furthermore, I can't fight with my bare hands… Not yet. I am not strong enough to kill a monster with my hands.

"Should I just use a knife?... I can do that, right?"

But a knife is still an outside tool... What if I make my own?

Will this work?...

It's settled, heh…

'With a sly smile on his face, Silver continued his way to the first floor of the Dungeon and started to look for a secluded place to change his gear'

…

"This place should be enough, let me remove this heavy armor first…"

/Swush!/

'While Mellios was removing his armor, a large tongue suddenly came from behind him'

"What a bother…"

'Mellios easily evaded to the side and finished the transfer of his armor and sword back into his inventory.'

"You are a good lab rat… Let me see if this works…"

/Swush!/

'The frog shooter wasn't going to stop attacking of course. Although, because of its limited intellect, it decided to just stay in place launching its tongue at Silver.'

'Only for him to easily evade each time'

"Hum… Although it was little, its tongue does seem a little slower than before…

Leveling up does increase your strength a little.

"Enough testing, let me try creating that.

'Silver's hand started to glow blue as cold air started to condense around his hands. Soon enough, several ice spikes started to grow from beneath his skin.'

'The cold air slowly fused and condensed, becoming a large ice cone'

"This isn't it… I missed the shape."

/Swush!/

"Sheesh this frog… Isn't it tiring to move his tongue like that?"

'The ice cone fragmented as cold gas started to condense yet again in Mellios hands'

'Finally, it formed into a proper long spear.'

"It's a little crooked but… This should be enough."

"I guess this is the best I can do with all of my abilities… I can't create metal right now and manipulating the stone in the Dungeon is too hard."

It takes too much Mind and it's a rather lengthy process.

'Mellios raised his right hand and aimed forward. He gripped the ice spear with strength and threw it forward right when the frog opened its mouth!'

/Pierce!/

'The spear lodged itself right in the frog's large mouth, killing it instantly.'

"I think it works."

This was my solution to create the hardest situation possible… Within my control…

I don't have any plans to hurt myself or go barehanded.

So the best situation is to use my Plasmids as little as I can. So I made a spear.

This spear isn't that durable nor is it incredibly sharp, it's rather weak for my Level… But it's better than my bare hands.

"I only need to make it again if it breaks, and this serves as Magic training and combat training since it isn't that easy to maintain this."

(I say magic because mechanic wise, his Plasmids are being powered by Mind, and this is the stats for Magic)

At least until I think of a better way of hunting monsters…

"Sorry Hestia, I am putting myself in unnecessary danger. But what can I do, this is me. I want to move forward..."

/Step step step/

/Growl.../

'From deeper in the caverns, a pack of 5 Kobolds appeared'

"Wow… 5 at once? Right after this one? The information wasn't wrong, there are indeed more monsters than normal."

"Show me what you got!"

…

'Following his fight with the Frog shooter Mellios fought against multiple groups of enemies, but none of them were enough to invoke within him a sense of danger.

They were too stupid and predictable, so much so Silver believed he could kill most of them with only a stone.

Although that is arrogant, Mellios isn't technically wrong as his techniques have long surpassed what these monsters are capable of fighting against.

The only reason why he isn't using a stone is that he has to block attacks from time to time when multiple enemies appear at once, and if he were to use a stone he was bound to lose one of his hands.

Silver is strong but he knows very well that a single hit from those monsters might cut one of his hands off if it hits him at a bad angle.'

'During his many fights, his spear broke more than once, so he had to recreate it several times, becoming more and more proficient with each time he repeated this process.

Stronger, sharper, simpler...

He was finally putting his combat talent to good use.'

…

/Pierce!/

/Poof!/

'Silver ended his fight bt piercing the head of a Kobold with his spear'

"Phew… 14 at once was kind of hard. I shouldn't have grouped them together like this… But… I am still fine."

They didn't hit me even once.

"Should I venture deeper? Fight some orcs and Imps?"

But I would miss the monster wave... It's a perfect chance to guarantee that Development ability.

/Kikiki… Kiki!/

'Just like many times, monsters slowly approached Silver from the darker end of the corridor'

"Tsk. My senses are barely enough to make me discover their presence before they see me. Compared to Grandma that could hear me running in the grass outside of her house, I am still trash."

'But Silver noticed something strange'

"Hum?"

These goblins… Are they wielding swords?

"Did they pick it up from adventurers? That's quite unlikely... "

"For an entire group to die and allow these 5 goblins to gather these… It's quite rare to happen on the upper floors."

Don't misunderstand me, someone dying on the upper floors is very common, but for an entire group to do so… That's rather hard. Unless they fuck up really hard.

(This includes meeting a strong enemy like the MC...)

I am not even that deep yet.

Even if a group did die, their weapons would have soon been absorbed by the Dungeon.

And the monsters on the upper floors are too dumb to realize that a sword is better than using their claws.

In most situations of course.

"Although it's not impossible, I did hear an adventurer talking about this a few days ago when I went to eat at the bar."

Monsters can pick up some gear but it's uncommon and almost rare.

"And even if they do… What of it? If picking an item is already unlikely, then using it effectively is another."

"If they fully master a weapon… That wouldn't be a normal monster anymore."

It would be the birth of an Irregular or an enhanced species.

And lo and behold…

Two of the goblins are holding the swords wrong. They are with the blunt side of the blade in the front…

They can't even properly hold the sword, it's clearly too big for them to use like that.

"I will deal with those and make my way down. No need to…"

/Fwush!/

/Crack!/

'From behind Mellios a white rabbit suddenly jumped and tried to pierce him with its horn.

But he easily evaded it and the poor rabbit got stuck in the Dungeon wall.'

"Urg. That almost got me…'

'The rabbit, now stuck on the wall, looked at Silver with a confused expression.'

/Step step step/

'But this cute rabbit was only the start of a larger problem… A very big problem'

"... War shadows, Frog shooters, Kobolds, Purple moths, Dungeon lizards, and a few others…"

"Apart from the killer ants, all monsters of the Upper floors are here…"

"Killer ants are very aggressive and if they were here I would be suspecting this is a Dungeon outbreak."

But since they aren't… So it can only mean one thing, that it finally started.

(N1 Notes)

"The monster wave... And considering the small size of the third floor, I am in right now… This wave will certainly affect the entirety of this floor."

The question is if it only started or if we already have casualties.

'The goblins started to move closer.'

"I think those guys make sense now. They must have gotten those swords from adventurers that either fled or died to this wave."

Sigh, they either thought they were capable enough of handling a few more monsters or they didn't know about today.

But shouldn't the monsters be fighting each other in a wave?

Now that I look at it, some of the monsters are hurt in several areas, perhaps they were fighting, but when they saw me they decided to stop?

/Swush!/

'One of the goblins jumped while slashing his sword at Silver'

"How sluggish…"

'With one move, Mellios parried the sword and penetrated the goblin's chest with his ice spear'

/Poof!/

"One down, sometimes I forget just how easily these monsters die…"

'He looked at his own equipment and came to a conclusion.'

"This should be enough I guess. How many potions do I have in my inventory? 2… 5..."

/Growl! KIKI! RIBBIT! SLSSS!/

'The monsters growled at Silver wanting to tear him apart'

"Let me see how many I can kill before I run out of juice!"

/KIII!/

'So it all started with the scream of one of the goblins...'

…

/FUMMM!/

A loud horn noise reverberated across the entire Babel Plaza.

"The scouts are back! Looks like it's time Boss!"

"Yeah… The monster wave has started! Let's go boys! Time is money today!

"LET'S GO!"

…

/KIII!/

/SPLURGE/

/Bam!/

'Mellios precisely moved between the monsters, killing as many as he could while defending himself. But he was slowly losing ground.'

"Tsk, a spear isn't ideal in this situation."

But I can't switch to a sword, getting too close to those monsters would be a little bit too dangerous.

Should I improvise? Perhaps a scythe? Chains? Halberd?...

Even if I can use it, the first problem is making it.

"Is this the limit? I can't say it's bad."

I fought against many monsters under the heavy disadvantage of wearing no armor, my stats should have risen a little?

'Mellios hand turned dark as he opened his shadow inventory to pick his stronger gear.

But he suddenly stopped when he noticed a particular corridor'

"HA! I have an idea!

Just like in the history books...

'Mellios made a beeline towards the corridor, avoiding as many monsters as he could.

But when he reached the corridor, it was a dead-end...'

"Perfect!"

/Roar!/

'One of the Kobolds jumped at Silver, but with a kick, he broke the monster's neck without using too much force.'

"As long as I use my strength effectively, killing these Level 1 monsters is easy."

'He turned around, gazing into the narrow passage.'

"The size is just right, this way, only one or two monsters can pass at once, decreasing the number of creatures I have to fight at once."

The monsters on the Upper floors aren't strong enough to cause damage to the Dungeon structure. Meaning they are trapped in this narrow passage.

'He grasped his spear and entered a fighting stance'

"Now I only need a shield and a cool helmet and I can be considered a Spartan right?... Should I remove my shirt and boots and go all in? Ha..."

If anything bad happens…

'A large door appeared behind him'

"I can retreat whenever I want."

/Fwush!/

"Arg!"

'Out of nowhere, from above him, a very tiny and cute spider launched a small nail sized fang at Silver, piercing into his neck'

"Fuck! A Dream Spider!"

It's just normal that in this world, monsters that never appeared in the original work would appear.

This is one of those creatures, a Dream spider. They are pretty much harmless, being cute even.

But they are very, very nasty creatures.

Their only attack involves shooting a nail-size fang that will inject a numbing poison into your body.

You will feel sleepy. And that's all. The poison is pretty weak in fact.

The effect can be easily resisted, but in a fight, losing concentration for even a bit can result in death. And if you fall asleep...

'Mellios quickly picked a potion from his inventory while evading the attack of the War shadow.'

'But after killing the War shadow, he stopped'

"Isn't… isn't this what I wanted?"

"A challenge? Something that will propel my body to evolve?"

In this world, the only way up is through sacrifice. If you are afraid of shedding blood and getting into danger, then you are never going to become stronger.

Even if you have Skills that can break the world itself.

Like Zald and Bell's Aunt.

How many stopped at Level 6? Much less Level 7, even the fabled Level 8…

There is a reason that even after 1000 years of development, only the Zeus and Hera Familias had such High-Level adventurers.

And whatever lies beyond.

(I am talking about Level 8 and above. Although I am not exactly excluding other Familias, this is the Mc perspective after all)

"This is nothing. Fighting multiple enemies while under one debuff… If I can't even do this…"

'No more words were necessary. Even if this was against what his Goddess wanted, and even a little above against his own safety bar. Silver wanted to reach greater heights.'

/Splurge! Poof!/

'Mellios killed another monster, and just like last time, a stone was dropped on the ground.

He killed one and retreated, allowing more monsters to enter the narrow passage.

If they were too big, like the Frog shooter, he would throw his spear and make another.

As time passed, the number of stones and empty potion flasks on the ground started to pile up.'

/Twinkle.../

'It was very small, but if one looked closely, they would be able to see a few brown colored speckles of light glowing behind him.

But our Hero didn't seem to have realized that yet.'

.

.

.

"Small" notes,

I know some of you may think this sort of Plot is forced, and that a smart person wouldn't take such dangers.

Well, I agree. The problem is that, in this world, you can't get stronger by being just "Smart".

The very point of leveling up involves, sometimes, taking risks you didn't predict in the first place.

Fighting a monster above your Level, or simply breaking your thumb by kicking the wall.

To level up, you need to accomplish a feat deemed worthy by the Gods for your current level and maybe, even personality.

That's why some need to kill a certain amount of creatures while others need to descend to Hell to level up.

You cant be like the cautious Hero and train forever in the comfort of your home. Unless you have some sort of Skillset that allows for that. But the time it would take...

Centuries might not be enough.

That's why you need to take risks and descend to the Dungeon. To put yourself in a situation of "To Kill or be Killed".

That was one of the things I tried to pass to you all when I made the Mc fight the Goliath, but I will agree, I didn't do that very well.

The Mc was getting used to what is being an adventurer... Not those pussies that remain at Level 1-2 for 5-10 years. He is aiming to become a Level 8-9.

This means he has to suffer continuously. Just go watch the anime or the light novel.

Although Danmachi is a comedic series, for the most part, it has its fair share of disasters and even gore.

People who leveled up after having their party killed or when they killed a monster but lost their arm...

Bell is constantly suffering in order to progress, this is one of the reasons why he is Leveling up so fast.

A combination of his Skill + higher leveled monsters + Dangers + Injuries and more= to Bell leveling speed.

So, what I want to say is that our Mc will be someone who will most likely seek a challenge and not go away if the situation is clearly to his disadvantage.

Something that many including me don't really like seeing in an Mc.

After all, if the situation is shitty, you should leave, right?

But Hell, we are in Danmachi. a place where you can only improve if you take an arrow to the knee several dozen times.

Tell me your opinions!

.

.

.