Endless Leveling Done Right!

"Is Renard going to be fine?" Chuck asked after he finished eating his sandwich.

"He'll be fine," Alex answered as he looked at the projections outside of the dungeon.

He planned to move an hour after the start of the expedition. By his estimation, most of the teams would have gone to the Second Floor by then.

Charles looked calm on the surface, but deep inside, he was very worried.

He understood that the moment he entered the dungeon, a Dungeon Outbreak would be triggered, putting everyone in danger.

In contrast, Alex wasn't too worried.

Each team was escorted by a Professor as well as some elite Third and Fourth Year students.

The moment they realized something was wrong, they would immediately advise everyone to break their teleportation crystals.

Half an hour later, Alex deemed that the time was right and ordered the first team to enter the dungeon.

He and Charles would enter last, after everyone had prepared the stage for their slaughter zone.

"Nessia, Dim Dim, it's all up to you guys," Alex said.

"I know." Nessia nodded.

"Dim!" Dim Dim saluted.

The little bun jumped on top of Chuck's head and accompanied everyone to the dungeon's entrance.

Professor Arabella and Cassandra were quick to follow them. Both were secretly relieved that the members of Endless Horizon had finally decided to participate properly.

Theo had ordered Cassandra to closely monitor Endless Horizon and report everything that they had done during the competition.

Unlike the other teams who had rushed to enter the dungeon, Alex and his friends had prepared a more detailed and thorough strategy.

In fact, they had already secured the map of the First and Second Floors of the Orion Dungeon. On the map they had marked out where they would set up traps for the monsters, who would soon go into a frenzy.

————

Inside the Dungeon…

"Um, what are you doing?" Cassandra asked Nessia, who was sticking some talismans on the walls of a spacious cave from which several paths diverged.

At first, she thought Nessia was simply using a spell to find the way to the Second Floor, where stronger monsters dwelled. After all, it was more practical to defeat one Rank 2 monster than ten Rank 1 monsters for the same amount of points.

However, it didn't take her long to realize that Nessia had no intention of doing that.

Instead, she and the other members of Endless Horizon were all busy sticking the talismans all over the place.

"Dim Dim~"

"Dim Dim~"

"Dim Dim~"

Dim Dim was humming happily as it planted talismans on the cavern's ceiling, which was unreachable by its friends.

According to Nessia's analysis, this space was the perfect spot to turn into a slaughter zone once the Dungeon Outbreak began.

Princess Xenia and Mary were assigned to guard the others just in case some stray monsters spawned near their location.

To the spectating students, this behavior was just strange. But the Professors, who knew better, widened their eyes in shock when they recognized the runes transcribed on the talismans!

"This…"

"Oh, these kids know what they're doing."

"But why are they doing that on the First Floor? Wouldn't it be more effective if they did that on the lower floors instead?"

Many of the Professors started to question why the members of Endless Horizon were doing something wasteful.

Unbeknownst to them, the talismans would only activate when Rank 2 Monsters and above came within their range.

Cassandra suddenly felt her stomach drop. She believed that Alex and his club members would not do something like this without a good reason.

But no matter how much she tried to understand what was happening, she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for their actions.

'I have a bad premonition about this,' Cassandra thought. 'I hope I'm just overthinking things.'

—————

At the Second Floor of the Dungeon…

The students of Solara and Faelarun Academies were doing their best to look for the path that would take them to the Third Floor of the Orion Dungeon.

They had encountered countless monsters along the way, but even these Rank 2 Monsters hadn't stood a chance against the powerhouses of these two factions.

Prince Edward and his team were not far behind, occupied with Rank 2 Zombie Wolves that were hunting in packs.

The Second Floor was a corrupted forest, teeming with Zombie-Type Monsters as strong as their living counterparts.

In the distance, rumbling sounds could be heard as Renard single-handedly obliterated four Zombie Wolves that had tried to ambush him from behind.

The young man naturally impressed those who were watching him, having managed to reach the Second Floor on his own without a team supporting him.

'I don't need anyone's help!' Renard thought as his punch annihilated a Zombie Boar that charged directly at him. 'I'll become strong on my own!'

No Rank 2 Monsters could hold their ground against the young man, who had grown stronger after fighting many strong opponents in the academy for the past month.

However, the person he wanted to fight the most was Alex.

To his immense annoyance, his Club President would say things like "I'm no match against you, Renard" or "Okay, you win" after falling to the ground dramatically.

Clearly, Alex didn't want to fight against Renard.

But the silver-haired young man refused not because he was scared or anything.

Alex just didn't want to create a situation where the two of them would always be at odds with each other. He would always take a step back when Mr. I-Have-Trust-Issues treated him as some kind of rival.

But it was already too late for that.

In Renard's eyes, Alex was already a rival.

A rival that he must surpass no matter what.

'I don't know what you're scheming.' Renard gritted his teeth as he killed a Zombie Monkey that lunged at him from a branch. 'But in the face of absolute strength, all tricks are meaningless!'

The young man knew that Alex was plotting something because he had asked him to cooperate with the rest of Endless Horizon.

But Renard had his own way of doing things and didn't really like to work as a team with anyone.

He was a lone wolf and preferred it that way.

Even now, he was starting to think that he alone could help his team win since he had managed to catch up with the other teams, which were now heading towards the Third Floor.

So far, his time in the dungeon had been smooth sailing.

Nothing on the First and Second Floors could threaten him. He felt almost underwhelmed and looked forward to fighting strong opponents on the lower floors. In fact, he wished to go as deep as he could.

Unbeknownst to him and the rest of the students, a hundred Demon Worshipers had entered the Orion Dungeon a week ago and were now all patiently waiting for them on the Fifth Floor.