"Phew…"

Azel wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand, leaving a smear of dirt across his forehead.

The whole concept of relaxing in a clearing like this had taken far more work than he'd initially anticipated. In the end, he had shared his full plan for the Triple-Layer Pitfall Trap with the exhausted elves, breaking it down step by step until even the most stubborn among them understood their roles.

First, they would carve out huge holes approximately ten meters deep and wide enough to hold dozens of monsters at once.

These holes would have nets woven from enchanted wood fibers that would wrap around the monsters the moment they fell, preventing any possibility of escape.

Originally, Azel was supposed to descend into each hole personally and kill the trapped monsters himself.

But he felt immensely lazy about that prospect.

So instead, he settled for using Conditional Runes alongside Explosion runes and set off that the Explosion Runes would activate the moment the monsters crossed a certain threshold within each hole.

It was automated extermination and he liked it.

'These elves really work fast when properly motivated,' Azel thought with satisfaction.

He was currently perched on a high branch overlooking the clearing, his crimson eyes surveying the fruits of their labor.

Spread all across the ground below were different holes, amounting to twenty of them in total, each one positioned strategically across the dungeon landscape.

Azel didn't know exactly how long they had been trapped in this dungeon. The artificial sky and unchanging environment completely ruined his sense of time.

But at most, he estimated it had been two days, maybe three but all of that was going to end today.

He had graciously allowed the elves to get about three hours of sleep before waking them up with loud clapping and forcing them back to work.

The complaints had been numerous, but a few broken fingers quickly silenced the most vocal protesters.

And finally, after what felt like an eternity of backbreaking labor, they were done with all the traps even Sylvia had been forced to pitch in, much to her carefully concealed annoyance.

Each trap was positioned wide apart, courtesy of Alvinar who had burst open the ground with devastating applications of his Star Element.

Despite his injuries and obvious hatred, the Seatra heir had worked with frightening efficiency.

After Alvinar created the initial explosions that shattered the earth, Elvira and Feliora's fiancée would step in with their Earth affinities, carefully parting the soil and shaping the holes into perfect cylindrical pits.

Once the ground was properly excavated, they used wood and life magic to create intricate nets underneath each hole.

These nets were designed to roll across and entangle any monsters that fell through, binding them in place like flies in a spider's web.

And then Azel had manually projected runes into each hole, his hands glowing with blue light as he inscribed the complex magical formulas into the stone walls.

It was the same setup for all twenty holes.

Now came the easiest part…. covering the traps.

Feliora was positioned at the base of Azel's tree, her hands already glowing with Lunar mana as she prepared her illusions.

The massive sound of hundreds of feet moving in unison soon alerted her, and Azel cleared his throat from above.

"Cover the traps!" he exclaimed, his voice carrying clearly across the clearing.

Feliora did exactly as she was told.

Her Lunar magic spread outward like invisible silk, projecting perfect illusions of solid ground onto each trap.

From any distance, they would look like completely regular land, indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain.

"Covered!" she called back.

"Good." Azel grinned, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

From his elevated position, he could see the elves emerging from the distant treeline, sprinting at full speed with absolutely massive hordes of monsters following directly behind them.

The monsters moved like a living tsunami of claws, fangs, and burning eyes, their collective roars shaking the air itself.

As for why the monsters were following the elves like rabid wolves desperate for blood?

That part was pretty easy.

All of the elves were currently rubbed head-to-toe with Monster Bait, a consumable item Azel had purchased from the System Shop for an absurdly cheap price.

Then, for good measure, he had used Aurum Hand on the bait itself, enhancing its potency until it became irresistible to every creature within a five-kilometer radius.

The scent drove monsters into an absolute frenzy.

Now the elves' job was simple in concept but terrifying in execution.

Run in the direction of the traps at maximum speed, then leap over them at the last possible second to completely trap the pursuing monsters.

This was why Azel had not only forced them to dig the traps but had also made absolutely certain they memorized the exact locations of each hole.

One mistake, one misstep, and they would fall into their own trap and Azel would not be rescuing them.

Sylvia was the first to arrive.

She moved with elegant precision, her wind magic carrying her forward in graceful bounds.

The moment she reached the base of her designated trap, she released a concentrated burst of wind beneath her feet and launched herself high into the air.

She soared over the hole effortlessly, landing smoothly on the opposite side.

The monsters chasing her had no such luxury.

They went tumbling into the trap by the dozens, their momentum carrying them directly into the concealed pit.

There were so many of them that they easily crossed the halfway mark before being entrapped by the wooden net underneath.

The Conditional Runes activated instantly.

A brilliant flash of light erupted from the hole, followed by a deafening explosion that towered into the sky like a pillar of fire and destruction.

Every monster within the trap was completely eviscerating in a single instant, their bodies reduced to ash and scattered cores.

Sylvia glanced back at the destruction with satisfaction, then looked around. Similar explosions were erupting all across the clearing.

One after another, the traps were triggered as elves successfully cleared their jumps and monsters fell to their doom.

The Arclight daughter landed beside her trap, breathing heavily but grinning as her explosion went off.

Elvira stumbled slightly on her landing but recovered quickly, watching as her trap consumed an entire pack of wolf-like creatures.

Feliora's fiancée actually tripped and nearly fell into his own trap, but caught himself at the last second with a desperate application of Earth magic that created a small platform mid-air.

The explosions continued, creating a symphony of destruction that echoed across the dungeon.

Well… except for Alvinar.

He was still running.

The hole Azel had assigned him was much farther than everyone else's, positioned at the very edge of the clearing nearly a hundred meters beyond the others.

'Petty revenge,' Alvinar thought bitterly as his lungs burned with exhaustion.

His injuries from earlier hadn't fully healed yet. His mana pathways still ached with every circulation of energy and his legs felt like they were made of lead.

But he couldn't stop.

He couldn't bring the Seatra clan to shame so he continued running, pushing his body far beyond its limits as the monsters closed the distance behind him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he reached his designated hole.

Without hesitation, Alvinar leaped forward with everything he had left.

For one horrible moment, he wasn't sure he would clear it.

His body arced through the air, the edge of the pit passing directly beneath his feet as gravity pulled him downward.

The monsters following him had no such concerns. They leaped collectively after their prey, dozens of bodies tumbling into the hole in a chaotic mass of limbs and teeth.

At the last possible second, Alvinar released a desperate burst of starlight from his legs, flipping his trajectory upward just enough to grab the far edge of the pit.

He hauled himself out with trembling arms, collapsing onto solid ground as he managed deep, ragged breaths.

Behind him, the hole's Explosion Runes activated.

The blast was enormous, far larger than the others, as if the dungeon itself had concentrated all its fury into this single trap.

Alvinar closed his eyes, allowing himself one moment of relief but then he heard it.

A low growl. His eyes snapped open and he saw that one of tne monsters had survived.

It had been thrown clear of the explosion by sheer chance, its body burning with residual flames but still very much alive. Its eyes locked onto Alvinar with singular, hateful focus.

It seemed determined to spend its final moments trying to feast on the elf who had orchestrated its doom.

The burning creature lunged forward with terrifying speed.

Alvinar tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond… He was completely spent.

'This is it,' he thought distantly. 'Killed by a half-dead monster because I was too exhausted to dodge.'

A sword shot through the air.

It moved faster than Alvinar's eyes could track, a streak of golden light that lodged itself perfectly in the monster's skull mid-leap.

The creature's momentum carried it forward for another meter before it collapsed, sliding to a stop mere inches from Alvinar's face.

Dead.

Azel landed gracefully from the branch where he had been observing, casually walking over to retrieve his sword.

"Amazing work," Azel said, pulling the blade free with a wet sound.

He wiped it clean on the monster's fur, then turned to address the exhausted elves scattered across the clearing.

They all looked up at the scoreboard hovering in the air.

Azel and Sylvia were leading it with a staggering gap of two hundred and forty kills ahead of everyone else.

The numbers were so lopsided it was almost comical.

"Take a break," Azel announced, sheathing his sword. "Then we'll go find the Boss."

…

"Darling, what are you doing…?"

Sylvia's voice was soft and curious as she approached, watching Azel fiddle with something large and metallic that he had pulled from his storage ring.

It was a cannon.

An actual, full-sized magical cannon with intricate runes carved along its barrel and a mana-focusing crystal embedded at its base. It was the same cannon he had used back in Lycas.

"I'm preparing for the fight against the Rank Two," Azel replied without looking up, his hands moving deftly as he adjusted the targeting mechanisms. "We move in an hour… you should get some rest as well."

He tightened a bolt, then stepped back to examine his work.

Sylvia tilted her head, her golden hair catching the artificial light of the dungeon.

"You're always thinking ahead," she said sweetly, moving closer. "That's one of the things I admire about you."

Azel's jaw tightened slightly.

He didn't know why, but he thought Sylvia was acting very weirdly.

According to the way she had been portrayed in the game, she was a kindhearted woman who was inexplicably hated by the Saintess for reasons that were never fully explained.

She wanted to return the Elf King's kindness for adopting her by becoming the Elf King herself and leading her people with compassion.

But the way she was acting now… It was getting on his nerves especially after what happened in the morning.

"Are you doubting her…?" Gwendolyn's ghostly voice whispered in his ear as she floated beside him.

'Yes. I am most certainly doubting her.' Azel thought back, keeping his expression neutral.

Gwendolyn breathed a sigh of relief.

She had been worried he was completely blind to Sylvia's act.

'Please keep an eye on her for me,' Azel continued mentally.

"Absolutely!" Gwendolyn let out an enthusiastic salute, then floated casually over toward Sylvia.

Meanwhile, Sylvia suddenly fell to her knees beside Azel, cuddling against his side with perfectly practiced affection.

"But I want to stay with you…" she murmured, looking up at him with those wide, innocent eyes. "You did a really good job rounding up the elves."

"Just a day's work." Azel said quickly, standing up abruptly and forcing her to sit up properly.

He turned back to the cannon, making final adjustments.

"I finally have this thing calibrated properly."

And then, without warning, the Elf King's voice echoed across the entire dungeon.

"Congratulations!"

Every elf in the clearing froze, looking upward as if they could see the speaker.

"You have killed all the regular monsters in the dungeon, so you must have seen the trick by now, eh?" The Elf King continued, though it's monotone voice made it sound harsh. "There are just two hundred and ninety-nine monsters in this dungeon excluding the Boss, so even if you managed to kill everyone else, you would still have to face the Boss."

Several elves glanced at each other nervously.

"It seems like the human was the first to realize it…" The Elf King's tone shifted slightly, gaining a note of genuine respect. "You all should be thankful to him."

The elves immediately looked at Azel then at the scoreboard still hovering in the air.

Two hundred and ninety-nine total kills distributed among them all, with Azel and Sylvia holding the overwhelming majority.

The math was undeniable.

Only two hundred and ninety-nine monsters had existed.

If Azel hadn't stopped them from murdering each other, they would have realized the truth far too late, after they had already killed their potential allies and doomed themselves to face the Boss alone.

Gratitude flickered across several faces, though it was mixed with resentment.

"You all will be facing the Boss next…"

A brilliant red light suddenly spread beneath their feet like spilled blood.

Despite the elves immediately protesting that they wanted to rest, that they needed more time to recover, the teleportation circle activated without mercy.

Reality twisted ahe clearing vanished.

When Azel's vision cleared, they stood in a completely different location.

It was a long, wide field of ash that stretched endlessly in all directions. The ground was cracked and blackened, radiating heat that made the air shimmer.

And standing at the far end of the field was the Boss.

It wasn't gigantic like the Rank Two monster Azel had faced back in the winter region with his father and the rest…

This one was different.

It was an ogre, roughly four meters tall, with grotesquely muscular limbs and mottled gray-green skin covered in ritual scars but what made it truly dangerous were its four arms.

Each arm wielded a different weapon: a massive spiked club, a curved sword that glowed with fire, a serrated axe dripping with venom, and a brutal war hammer that crackled with lightning.

The ogre's eyes locked onto the group of exhausted elves, and it grinned revealing rows of sharpened teeth.

Azel didn't hesitate.

He tapped the cannon sharply.

"Fire!"

Mana began spiraling from everywhere, drawn from the ambient energy of the dungeon itself and funneled directly into the cannon's focusing crystal.

The weapon glowed brighter and brighter, vibrating with barely contained power and then it released.

The cannonball shot out with enough force to create a visible shockwave that rippled across the ashen field.

It slammed into the ogre's chest with devastating impact.

The Boss was sent skidding backward, its four arms flailing as it struggled to maintain balance, leaving deep furrows in the ground as it was driven back a dozen meters in an instant.

Azel grinned.

"Jackpot."

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