Chapter 656

"I can only deduce this much; of course, the reason half the adventurers in Orario are stuck at their levels is because they don't dare to adventure, but a situation like yours... I haven't seen one before up until now."

Facing Broly's inquiry, Hephaestus spoke the truth.

"Then, Lady Hestia, do you want me to level up?"

Broly asked Hestia again.

"I do, but I also don't want you to take risks."

Hestia's expression was somewhat complex; which god doesn't want to possess high-level Familia children? Although level doesn't completely represent strength, this thing is just like face.

Having a child who got into Tsinghua or Peking University, and having a child who only graduated elementary school, can those be the same?

But Hestia is also that kind of goddess who doesn't want to see her children suffer; however, if he doesn't level up, Broly's terrifying talent would be wasted.

With his level capped and his ability values unable to rise further, the divine blessing ceased to function in less than three days.

Thinking about it, Hestia felt she had given the boy too little, while the boy had given her too much.

"Lady Hestia, then can I enter the deep floors today?"

"I don't know, but I am willing to respect your decision; I won't become your obstacle..."

The Loli Goddess pinched the boy's sleeve, really wanting to say words refusing Broly, but she also knew this kind of matter couldn't be decided entirely by her own temperament; Broly was her Familia child, but not her private property; the boy also had the right to choose his own life.

"Alright, I understand; then, Lady Hestia, I'm going to the Labyrinth to attempt to level up."

"Broly, you must return safely!"

"I will; I guarantee I'll return safely."

At the entrance of the Hephaestus Familia base, the one person and one god of the Hestia Familia were enacting a scene of setting up a flag.

If this were a story full of drama, Broly might die in the adventure of attempting to level up, but unfortunately, Broly's adventure story in this world is not dramatic at all.

He donned a black robe and, taking the unconventional route, smashed into the Dungeon ground faster than free fall, penetrating deep into the Labyrinth at extreme speed, searching for an opponent capable of giving him a bitter struggle against adversity.

17, 27, 37; but even upon reaching the deep floors, he still hadn't found an opponent to fight; Broly was like a speeding airborne truck, crashing to death the monsters he encountered as if they were speed bumps, and even today's purpose was just to level up, so Magic Stones and drop items were all ignored by him.

41, 42... Broly advanced unimpeded all the way to the 52nd Floor Labyrinth; with a boom, the ground exploded into a massive pillar of flame — a sniper shot from the Dungeon 58th Floor 【Dragon Vase】 Cannon Dragon — which only made his figure pause for a moment.

But soon, Broly followed the blasted passage downward toward the 58th Floor; this floor was filled with a large number of Dragon Species monsters.

Like the Wyverns Broly had dealt with since coming to Orario, and the Cannon Dragons that spew flame pillars, densely packed, both in the sky and on the ground, they surrounded the falling Saiyan.

【Heavy Pressure Domain】

An invisible force field deployed directly; this group of Dragon Species monsters were all pressed down and fell, dying because the Magic Stones in their bodies couldn't withstand the pressure and shattered.

"Roar—"

Only one, with a comparatively massive build, looking a bit like a Floor Boss, a fiery red Cannon Dragon, hadn't died yet; it condensed firelight in its mouth, raised its dragon head, and sprayed a massive flame pillar at Broly; the air was roasted until it twisted, the ground seemingly about to turn into magma.

However, right in front of Broly, the Qi barrier on the boy's body became a transparent wall that the massive fire pillar could not surpass, splitting the flame stream in two like a boulder.

"Increase weight."

Broly raised his hand; an even more powerful heavy pressure enveloped the entire 58th Floor Labyrinth; the massive Cannon Dragon's body began to rupture, and along with it, the 58th Floor Labyrinth's own ground also ruptured.

"Bang—"

The ground collapsed; the Dungeon trembled; the floor structure suffered large-scale destruction, causing an anomaly in the Dungeon.

Broly could sense a Qi condensing; a special lifeform whose entire body was composed of Magic Stone structure gradually emerged from the rocks overhead.

Juggernaut, a type of Dungeon monster that only appears when floors below the middle floors suffer large-scale destruction; the deeper the floor destroyed, the stronger the Juggernaut birthed by the Dungeon specifically to kill invaders.

The powerful enemy Broly wanted to meet seemed to have... well, not appeared at this moment; the powerful slaughter monster 【Juggernaut】 squeezed down from the Dungeon ceiling, only to be pressed immobile by the surrounding extremely terrifying heavy pressure.

Crack crack sounds rang out; as the Heavy Pressure Domain increased to seventy times, the Magic Stone-bodied creature shattered like porcelain, and what shattered along with it was the entire 58th Floor Labyrinth floor's floorboards, which were already showing signs of collapse.

Due to the collapse, the exposed 59th Floor Labyrinth, a lush forest environment; a creature, unknown whether plant or worm, curled up trembling.

Only because from the black-robed figure floating overhead, it smelled a dangerous presence capable of easily plunging it into void and death.

When that person cast their gaze downward, the creature curled inside the flower bud also let out a muffled sound: "Don't... kill me..."

Broly, who originally wanted to continue moving to smash the next floor's monsters with stronger presence, also stopped because of this voice.

"So the monsters in this Dungeon also have intelligent individuals capable of communication?"

Broly pondered for a moment, then floated down.

"Hey, asking you something; are there any powerful guys in this Dungeon?"

Broly inquired for intelligence from the local monster capable of making sound.

"You... are the most powerful; don't... kill me..."

The not yet fully developed Fallen Fairy Spirit Clone was trembling; it instinctively feared the black-robed monster before it that had just crushed the 58th Floor Labyrinth.

"Don't be afraid; I'm a Saiyan, not a demon; if you have intelligence, I won't kill you indiscriminately."

Broly comforted the monster he had scared into trembling; he really didn't continue attacking.

"Sigh, as expected, wanting to find an opponent in a weak Dungeon who can give me a bitter struggle against adversity... I definitely got something wrong."

"Sorry about smashing your floor's ceiling; but this Labyrinth can self-repair, so I imagine your ceiling can regenerate too, right?"

"It can."

"Don't be afraid; you continue living on your floor; I'm leaving now."

Finished speaking, Broly really flew upward; having reached this deep without encountering a single decent opponent, plus the local monsters' strongest evaluation, made him feel continuing deeper would just be wasting time.

Another thing is, if the monsters below can all speak, then his behavior would be a bit inappropriate.

Encountering a monster that could speak, Broly stopped at the 59th Floor of the Dungeon Labyrinth; he soon returned to the Upper Floors.

And due to the Dungeon's bizarre trembling just now, a large number of adventurers who had only entered the Dungeon not long ago were now retreating from the Dungeon.

Not for any other reason; just because when the Dungeon has an anomaly, it might bring terrible disasters, like 6 years ago, the monster sacrifice triggered by the Dark Faction; at that time, only one adventurer who entered the 27th Floor survived.

No one dares to bet on why the Dungeon is acting up; anyway, adventurers who can get out are all evacuating outside the Dungeon.

However, Broly didn't retreat; when he flew up he thought of something, and now he wanted to verify it.

Changing back into leather armor attire, Broly found a Small Dragon, a rare powerful monster in the Upper Floors, on the 10th Floor of the Labyrinth; he then began suppressing his Qi, and after pressing his aura to be much weaker than that Dragon Species monster, he went up wielding a Short Sword.

Without numerical bonuses, Broly fought a fierce battle with the small dragon; after taking a tail strike and getting somewhat injured while in a super-low Qi state, Broly finally defeated his opponent.

【Intentionally lowering one's Qi to get into a hard fight and then win—can that really be called a great feat?】

Broly guessed that a group of green-skinned Beastman monsters were gathering toward this side because of the noise from the fight here.

Broly didn't know the answer to his own guess, but it was worth trying; he had no intention of raising his Qi, so he kept his super-low Qi state and actively went toward the Beastman group surrounding him.

"Bang~"

Dodging the horizontal sweep of a white tree trunk—a weapon provided to the monsters by the surrounding terrain—the short sword moved like a swimming snake, slashing at the exposed neck of a monster.

With its neck cut open, the first Beastman monster fell, but soon the Beastmen behind began to fill the gap, continuing their attacks on the boy stepping on the scattered corpses of their kin.

And this fight, which wasn't too high-end, was actually more exciting than Broly's battle with the huge cannon dragon suspected to be a Layer Lord on the 58th Floor.

For example, it was like the contrast between an action movie and a special-effects movie: the special-effects movie didn't have its effects maxed out, but the action movie had its action maxed out.

Intentionally lowering his own Qi, the Saiyan boy deeply trapped among the monsters and being beaten seemed to be in a desperate hard fight; his attacks and dodges had to be clean and swift, or he would be hit by the Beastmen's attacks.

But two fists can't fight four hands, and some attacks were unavoidable; without numerical bonuses, after he killed the entire Beastman squad, Broly had also sustained some injuries—this was what was called a manufactured adversity.

If he couldn't find an opponent above his level, could he not lower his own strength and just take a beating for no reason?

An anomaly occurred in the Dungeon, causing tremors; a large number of Adventurers surged out, and the Guild sent staff, joining hands with the Ganesha Familia to maintain basic order at the entrance.

Half-Elf Eina was one of the Guild staff maintaining order; because of the tremors, the monsters in the Dungeon suddenly became more aggressive, and many Adventurers were injured as a result, while she was responsible for distributing the potions the Guild had mobilized to the injured Adventurers.

And after Broly came out, his blood-stained appearance looked comparatively serious even among the injured Adventurers.

From afar, the Half-Elf saw him in the crowd and ran over with potions; only when she got close did she recognize the boy as the Adventurer she was responsible for.

"Broly, did you go into the Dungeon today too? You're alright, and you came out alive—that's wonderful!"

The Half-Elf lady saw that the boy had no missing arms or leg stumps, sighed in relief, and said.

"This is a wound-healing potion. Where are you injured? Do you need me to pour it for you?"

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Eina, but I'm fine; these are just minor injuries."

On the way back, Broly ran into a group of killer ants; he, who was already creating adversity for himself, immediately began fighting the killer ant swarm.

In the end, he, maintaining a super-low Qi state, managed to break out of the killer ant encirclement in a rather sorry state.

And when leaving the Dungeon, he hadn't noticed his own condition; now it seemed that Miss Eina in front of him was treating him as a severely injured person.

"Even if it's a minor injury, it must be treated seriously, Broly. You need to take better care of your body."

Eina Tulle said, and without further ado uncorked the wound-healing potion, pouring it onto Broly's injured arm and shoulder.

Broly's injuries began to heal at a slow pace; the potions provided by the Guild were not inferior goods just because they were free.

Of course, they weren't very high-grade either; they were a type of Rookie Adventurer Potion.

After finishing pouring the potion in her hand, the Half-Elf lady checked whether the boy had been poisoned; only after confirming he wasn't poisoned did she put her mind at ease.

"Broly, I still have things to do, so I won't keep you company any longer."

"Also, the class tomorrow will probably be postponed for a while."

"The specific time, I'll notify you later."

Because other Adventurers needed attention, Eina soon left this side.

"By the way, what exactly happened?"

Broly was somewhat puzzled, looking at the Square where there seemed to be quite a lot of people.

And when he leaned closer to other Adventurers and listened a bit, Broly learned that the Dungeon had inexplicably trembled, causing a large number of Adventurers entering the Dungeon to evacuate.

"Uh..."

Realizing it might be a misunderstanding caused by the commotion he made in the deep layers, he was about to find the Guild's person in charge to explain the situation, but stopped on the way there; Broly remembered that he needed to keep a low profile: "If I'm too eye-catching, it will make Lady Hestia feel uneasy. Forget it, anyway it's not a big deal."

Broly turned around and went up to the Second Floor of Babel Tower, rented a Shower Room, washed the dirt off his body clean, and then came out wearing a set of clean new clothes.

He looked at the Leather Armor he had taken off; while in the Dungeon Labyrinth, he only thought about artificially creating adversity to level up, but forgot about the protection of his equipment.

Now, his Leather Armor was tattered, his Arm Guard had a small piece shattered, and even that Short Sword had a rolled blade.

【If he just went back like this, and Lady Hestia saw it, she would probably worry about his experience in the Dungeon today...】

Thinking this, Broly decided that before going back, he would first take this set of Rookie Equipment to get repaired.

"Boss, I want to repair my equipment; do you take repair jobs here?"

Broly went upstairs to find the shop where he bought these pieces of equipment, and directly came to the Counter to ask the dwarf Boss.

"To repair equipment, go to a Weapon Shop or a Blacksmith; I only sell equipment and don't take repair jobs. However, you've used these pieces of equipment to such a state that it's better to buy new ones than to repair them."

The dwarf shop Boss looked at the severely damaged equipment and kindly gave a suggestion.

"Is there equipment of the exact same style?"

Broly thought for a moment and asked directly.

"That will require a search."

Broly's luck was not bad; there were still more sets of the same style available, and he bought another set of brand-new identical ones.

"By the way, Boss, do you have any recommendations for Weapon Shops or Blacksmiths that repair equipment?"

After paying, Broly asked again.

"Didn't you just buy a new set?"

The dwarf Boss looked at him somewhat strangely.

"This is Rookie Equipment bought for me by my goddess."

Broly explained in one sentence.

The dwarf Boss understood, nodded, and said: "If you want a recommendation, the Weapon Shop of the Hephaestus Familia has a renowned repair craft, though it charges quite a lot; but if you're looking for cost-effectiveness, the Blacksmith run by the Gulliver Brothers will be more affordable, considered good quality at a low price. The Arm Guard in your hand was crafted by an artisan from their Blacksmith."

"Does the Blacksmith run by the Gulliver Brothers have a branch on Babel Tower?"

"Hah, that Familia isn't that extravagant; it can't compare to the scale of the Hephaestus Familia. You can go to Northwest Avenue to find their shop."

The dwarf Boss gave Broly an address, and Broly thanked him once before leaving.

"These pieces of equipment are too badly damaged; it's not worth repairing them, better to buy new ones."

"I've already bought new ones; these pieces of equipment are beginner gear given to me by my god."

"Twenty thousand Valis, pick them up in three days; if you can accept that, pay up."

After Broly paid and took the voucher, he went out.

As noon approached, he found a restaurant on the street to eat; when he wanted to return to the Dungeon to battle again, he discovered the Dungeon entrance was temporarily blocked by Guild personnel.

Upon inquiring, he learned the Guild was worried about vibrations in the Dungeon, which might represent unknown danger, so they temporarily prohibited Adventurers from entering, though those coming out were allowed.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, but Broly had no intention of explaining; he prepared to return to the Hephaestus Familia Faction Residence.

However, as he passed an alley, he heard a familiar voice: "Mr. Seth, you took more than fourteen thousand Valis from me, saying you could recommend me to join a Familia, and I believed you, but you can't just end it with one sentence saying I wasn't selected; at least, please let me meet the god once?"

"Hah, wanting to meet Suma-sama with this little money, what do you think you are? Forget it, I might as well tell you this countryside bumpkin, recommending you to join a Familia was all a lie to deceive you; the purpose was your money; now, do you understand?"

Chapter End