Chapter 354: The Strength of the Silver Party

Everyone stared dumbfounded at the Deep Marsh Giant Crocodile lying motionless on the ground.

“Are you all right?”

It was not until Hulim Heyerar’s voice rang out that Russell shook himself out of his daze.

“W-What just happened?! ”

His eyes bulged in disbelief as he stared at the crocodile split clean in two on the muck.

“I-It’s dead just like that?”

By then, Lucien and the others had snapped back to their senses, crowding around the fallen beast in shock.

“Hulim, you’re incredible! Took it down in one hit!”

“I had no idea you were this strong, Hulim!”

“A one-shot kill... I’ve never seen anything like it......”

While the Silver Party gushed over Hulim’s prowess, Arthur hung back, a look of confusion crossing his face. He stared at the bisected crocodile, deep in thought—

That attack just now... it was wind magic, wasn’t it?

“......It’s not that impressive. The Deep Marsh Giant Crocodile isn’t all that powerful.”

Hulim replied modestly.

In truth, she could have taken down the crocodile the moment it emerged—but she’d held back, wanting to gauge the Silver Party’s true strength first. And what they’d displayed had exceeded her expectations.

The Deep Marsh Giant Crocodile was a Rank B Monster, with tough armor plating, the ability to burrow through swampy earth, and mastery over muck manipulation—making it an extremely tricky foe. An average five-person adventurer party would have struggled to defeat it, and the fight would have dragged on for ages.

Yet the Silver Party had cornered it with ease, leaving it no chance to unleash its full arsenal. If Russell hadn’t been unlucky enough to step into a sinkhole, they would have taken the beast down without a single scratch.

No—come to think of it, Russell might not have gotten hurt even then. Eileen had already cast her magic, ready to alter the ground beneath his feet. Without any mishaps, he would have sunk into the earth just in time to dodge the crocodile’s counterattack.

Among the five, Hulim already knew Arthur’s strength—he’d been top-tier Rank C a year ago, and now, after another year of growth, he was on the verge of breaking through to Rank B.

What had surprised her was the others—their power was on par with Arthur’s. What’s more, both Eileen and the rogue Russell were dual-element mages, while Frots, though a single-element user, wielded the rare dark element.

The most astonishing part was their ages—even Lucien, the Rank B leader, was barely in his early twenties.

This was an extraordinary feat among adventurers.

One could easily imagine that if the Silver Party continued to develop steadily, they would one day become one of the guild’s top-tier teams......

As this thought crossed her mind,

Hulim suddenly recalled the guild clerk’s behavior earlier—how the girl had been clearly annoyed with Russell, yet still stood up for him.

Then it clicked. The reason the Silver Party had remained unscathed despite Russell’s endless troublemaking was likely because the guild recognized their potential—and had been smoothing things over behind the scenes all along......

Lucien expertly sliced open the crocodile’s corpse and retrieved the magic stone, tucking it into the party’s magic stone pouch.

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“We’ll split the loot once we’re out of the dungeon. For now, let’s rest and recover our strength before we press on.”

“Hey, Lucien—what about the rest of it?”

Russell pointed at the crocodile’s massive carcass.

“That armor’s gotta be worth a fortune, right?”

Lucien shook his head.

“The armor’s far too heavy. We’ve only just entered the dungeon—carrying it around would be a hassle. We’d be better off collecting lighter, higher-value items.”

“I guess you’re right......”

During the rest break,

Lucien turned to Hulim, a look of genuine admiration on his face.

“I never imagined you were this strong, Hulim.”

“I originally just wanted an extra pair of hands—but it seems I’ve found myself sheltering under a towering tree instead.”

“......”

Hulim hesitated for a moment, then apologized, “Sorry, Lucien. I held back earlier because I wanted to see how strong you all were. That’s why I didn’t step in right away.”

“It’s perfectly fine,”

Lucien smiled warmly.

“When adventurers team up, getting to know each other’s strengths quickly is crucial. If you need to, you can sit back for the next few fights—wait until you’ve fully gotten the hang of our coordination before joining in.”

“Thank you, but there’s no need for that.”

“I already have a good grasp of your abilities. You’re all very strong—strong enough to keep up even if the difficulty ramps up a bit. So from now on, I might start taking things a little more seriously.”

Hulim had no desire to camp out in a place like this—she’d had more than enough of sleeping in the wilderness over the years. She wanted to pick up the pace......

“I see,”

Lucien replied, unaware of the true meaning behind her words. He still smiled and said, “Don’t hold back on our account. For us, the more loot we get, the better. We won’t stop just because things get a bit tougher—feel free to unleash your full power.”

“Then it’s a deal?”

“Lucien——!”

Russell called out, growing restless.

“Can we get going now? We didn’t even break a sweat in that last fight—we don’t really need to rest.”

“Hmm.”

Lucien thought for a moment, then stood up.

“Very well. Prepare to move out.”

......

Half an hour later.

BOOM——!

Within the mist-shrouded swamp, a brilliant beam of light shot diagonally upward, piercing straight through the dungeon’s dome. The mist along its path evaporated instantly, turning the dim, gloomy surroundings bright as day.

At the source of the beam,

a large monster that had blocked their path collapsed stiffly to the ground. It hadn’t even had time to make out what its attacker looked like before it breathed its last.

“......”

A deathly hush fell over the group standing beside the fallen monster.

After a long moment, Hulim turned to glance at the people behind her, a look of mild confusion on her face.

“What’s wrong? The monster’s already dead. Aren’t you going to collect the magic stone?”

“It’s not that......”

Eileen stared at Hulim with an odd expression, her voice trailing off.

“I don’t think that’s the problem right now......”

Hulim tilted her head to the side, blinking in confusion. “?”

“Don’t give me that confused look!”

Russell exploded, unable to contain himself any longer.

“Just who the hell are you?! Some kind of monster that crawled out of the abyss?!”

“That was a Rank B monster! You one-shot it without breaking a sweat! I didn’t even get a chance to draw my weapon!”

“......”

“......Uh, n-not that I’m complaining or anything!”

The moment Russell felt Hulim’s gaze turn cold, his survival instinct kicked into overdrive. He waved his hands frantically, his tone shifting to obsequious flattery in the blink of an eye.

“I-I mean, wow! You’re so amazing! I’m totally blown away! I was just rambling nonsense out of sheer awe! So...... can you pretend you didn’t hear that last part?”

“Russell...... You really do have a death wish, don’t you?”

Eileen sighed, utterly exasperated.

“All right, you two—quit gawking and come help collect the materials.”

On the other side, Lucien had already knelt down and pulled the magic stone from the monster’s corpse.

Russell and the others hurried over to help.

“Another Rank B magic stone in the bag.”

Lucien glanced at the pouch, which was already bulging with stones, and frowned slightly.

“We’re making way too much progress today. We haven’t even reached the middle floors yet......”

“Lucien—do we want the claws?”

Eileen asked, holding up a pair of sharp, serrated monster claws.

“No need,”

Lucien shook his head.

“Just the fangs will do. The claws are too bulky to carry around.”

“Got it.”

“Lucien—something on your mind?”

Hulim noticed his pensive expression and walked over to ask.

“Hmm...... It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Probably just me overthinking things.”

“Overthinking, huh......”

“Speaking of which,”

Lucien smiled, shaking off his doubts and turning to look at Hulim with a mixture of awe and amusement.

“You really did give me a scare, Hulim. You’re absolutely terrifying. You’ve taken down nearly every monster we’ve encountered so far single-handedly. It feels like you could clear this entire dungeon all by yourself without breaking a sweat.”

“Should I clear it, then?”

“Huh?”

Lucien stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Should I clear the entire dungeon?”

Hulim repeated, her tone completely serious.

“......”

Lucien fell silent, his eyes widening slightly.

She really could do it. This person......