I twisted my body across as a Scythe Mantis leapt towards me and drove its right arm forward, the edge of the scythe-like appendage grazing my left bicep and drawing out a trickle of blood, before I swiftly slammed my foot onto the middle of the Monster's abdomen.

Its feet skidded back across the ground as my foot collided against it, before it quickly ducked as I fired a Pulse Bullet at its head, narrowly evading before rapidly lunging forward as it launched itself towards me, and whipped its scythe-arms across at my shins.

I leapt up and over the slash of its arms, before lifting my right foot high up and driving it down at full strength, a sharp crunch ringing out as my heel slammed against the top of the Monster's head, deep cracks spreading out upon impact as it let out a sharp chitter, the bottom of its head getting driven into the ground.

I swiftly sprang off its head as it shakily began to swipe at my calf with its scythe-arms, before it hurriedly got back onto its feet as I landed a couple of meters back.

There were cracks around its exoskeleton over the top of its head, trickles of that green liquid oozing out through the cracks, the Monster letting out a sharp screech before it shot towards me.

I dragged the tip of its right scythe-arm across the ground and whipped it forward as it closed in on me, launching several bits of dirt up towards my eyes.

I swiftly leapt back and raised my right forearm over my eyes, blocking the dirt out, before taking aim and firing out a Pulse Bullet as the Scythe Mantis leapt straight towards me.

It stiffened sharply as the projectile struck the middle of its head, the cracks across its exoskeleton deepening and spreading further as its left eye spasmed, before I lunged forward and sliced off its right arm as it began to raise it, my blade cutting straight through its elbow.

"<Command: Don't Move>," I chanted as it began to drive its other arm straight towards the middle of my chest, before raising my blade as it came to an abrupt halt, frozen in place.

I unfurled a rapid downward slash at the top of its head before it even had a chance to try and break free of the effect of Command, splitting its head in half as my blade sliced through its exoskeleton, green sludge gushing out as its body slumped and began to fall over.

I stepped back as it collapsed and hit the ground with a thud, before glancing across right as Aria finished off the one she'd been fighting, Luxuria already having beaten her opponent too.

Hm, this group was definitely a bit more skilled than the previous encounters, they looked a bit bigger too.

Though, according to the Saber and Luxuria, this lot wasn't fully mature either.

We'd just cleared the penultimate floor of the Dungeon, all that was left ahead now was the Boss Room.

We ran into two Scythe Mantises on the previous floor, and now three again on this one.

That's eight Scythe Mantises total, but while the five on the previous two floors were all more or less on the same level, the three on this floor were a slight step above them, the one I fought managed to land a few scratches on me, though most of the wounds are already about halfway healed...they were all pretty shallow cuts, but no doubt about it, my body's natural healing has definitely grown stronger.

Seems like the Dungeon Boss is likely to be a fully mature Scythe Mantis, there's never been a Dungeon where the Dungeon Boss wasn't the strongest individual Monster in the Dungeon, so it'll definitely be faster and stronger than these ones were.

But neither Aria nor I have used our power boosts so far, and Damien hasn't cast any buffs on us, he's only been using his Spells that restore stamina and Mana.

Since this is a pretty long Dungeon, I decided to have him conserve his Mana and keep his buffs and debuffs in reserve, and instead had him focus solely on using his restoration Spells.

Thanks to that, everyone's been physically fresh, or at least close to it, right throughout the raid.

Well, if nothing else, he's had a lot more to do than Sera has. We haven't had any real injuries to the party, so she's been mostly just spectating.

Well, that was the case until this floor, anyway. It's nothing serious, but Aria and I did get scratched up a bit, and Luxuria took a couple of hits too.

"Want me to resummon you? I've got plenty of Mana to spare, so it won't be a problem," I remarked as she stared at her hand, a stab wound through the middle of her palm.

While she doesn't bleed, she still feels pain when she's injured, and Healing Magic doesn't work on her, so the only way to restore her would be to withdraw and resummon her.

Though, her sense of pain is a bit duller compared to when she was alive, according to her.

"<Nah, it's fine. An injury like this won't even slow me down, Master, so you don't need to waste your Mana>," She responded, as I consumed the corpses of the three Monsters.

"That was definitely more of a challenge, this group was pretty tough," Said Aria, as she stretched her arms up with a sigh.

"Here, I'll heal you. I know they're only minor injuries, but at least I finally get to do something," Chimed in Sera with a wry smile, as she healed the cuts Aria had sustained.

"It's just the Boss Room left to go and we'll be done," Spoke up one of the others, as they approached us.

"The battle may be about to end soon, but the journey is only half over yet...it's just like shopping. It isn't over when you get to the supermarket, but when you get back home," Sighed Damien in response.

"What about if you order delivery?"

"Then you force someone else, the courier, to make the journey. And you're but one of the many destinations on their journey."

"Anyway, uh...let's take a quick break and then push on to the Boss Room and wrap this up, shall we?" I suggested, as I stretched my arms up with a smile...

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