After finishing the interrogation, we continued exploring the dungeon. Meanwhile, I handed out swords, shields, spears, arrows, and darts to each bandit.
Then I turned to Gunther and said, "Gunther, I leave it to you."
"Yeah, just leave it to me," he replied, eyeing the fully armed bandits. He gave a light kick to the back of one who was still sitting and barked, "Come on, hurry up, let's go… you lazy bastard!"
Hearing that, the bandits quickly scrambled to their feet and marched toward the stairs leading out of the dungeon.
After seeing that Gunther and the bandits were far enough away, we turned around—Paul, Kruger, Ranya, and Greta—and made our way back toward the stairs leading down to the next dungeon floor.
6th Floor - Dungeon
Once we reached the 6th floor, I turned to Greta and said, "Just go straight to the next floor."
Greta nodded and replied, "Okay… just keep moving forward." After she pointed out the direction, I took the lead, walking ahead while the others followed closely behind.
As we continued, I intentionally stepped on an arrow trap—my instincts telling me it wasn't dangerous. I quickly raised my shield in front of my body. Suddenly, two arrows launched from the left side in rapid succession.
After the arrows entered my shield's range, I deflected them one after the other to the right — clang clang! They bounced off, and then — stab stab!
I turned my head in surprise.
Just three meters ahead, a medium-sized Monstrous Centipede had suddenly emerged from the shadows — and was now pierced by the two arrows I had just deflected.
It let out a brief screech before collapsing. A moment later, its body shimmered faintly and disintegrated, leaving behind a high-level low-grade magic core.
"…Lucky shot," I muttered, still holding my stance.
As we continued walking, the six-legged robot strapped to my back suddenly activated. It leapt down with a soft mechanical hiss, scuttled over to the magic core, picked it up, and quickly returned. With practiced ease, it climbed back onto my back and entered safe mode, its limbs folding neatly into place.
From below my right waist, a small panel extended forward, presenting the magic core. I took it calmly and placed it into my spatial bag. The robot's legs then retracted and locked into position with a soft click.
Renya, walking beside me and watching the drone in action, chuckled lightly and said, "Seems to be going smoothly, huh?"
I gave a small sigh and replied, "Yeah... but it still can't run fully automatically. I have to give it detailed instructions in my mind every time."
Yes, because all the movements—like a drone flying outside—still needed to be commanded through mental instructions.
"I really need a high-level magic core with top-tier quality... maybe then it could process commands automatically," Paul thought to himself.
As they continued moving deeper, following Greta's lead, a sound suddenly caught Paul's attention—eight legs tapping rapidly across the stone. Not once, but three times.
He instinctively looked to the upper left wall—and there they were.
Three Fangmaw spiders.
Large, swift, and terrifying, each with jagged mandibles and needle-like legs, clinging effortlessly to the wall, their many eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
As they ran toward me, I raised my left hand, fingers outstretched in the shape of a gun. At the same moment, the drone's two front legs lifted, shifting and locking into place. A small barrel extended forward from between them—resting just above my shoulder.
Without hesitation, I aimed at each of the incoming monsters.
"Bang, bang, bang..." I muttered.
Three high-velocity projectiles launched from the robot's electro-coil gun, each shot streaking through the air with pinpoint accuracy.
In the next instant—thunk, thunk, thunk—all three bullets pierced through the heads of the Fangmaws. Their bodies convulsed for a moment before slumping and crashing to the ground.
Three clean kills.
While we were walking and the drone scuttled over to collect the fallen magic core, Greta glanced at it with wide eyes and said, "Hooo... was that made by you, Prince?"
She watched the drone with growing interest, then looked at her own simple bow and added, "Can I have one too? That thing looks stronger than my bow…"
Paul laughed, scratching the back of his head with one hand. "Hahaha... it's just a toy. Besides, your skills aren't really suited for it, even if you had one."
Greta pouted and looked down at her bow with a sigh. "Yeah, that's true…"
When Paul said that, Renya slapped her own forehead and sighed. "Prince, with a weapon like that... you could change the tide of a battlefield."
The others nodded in agreement.
But Paul shrugged, his expression doubtful. "It's not that strong… especially against high-level Gifted."
Hearing that, Renya glanced at the robot now resting in safe mode on Paul's back. "Still, with something like this, you could easily dominate a normal battlefield."
Hearing those words, Paul replied quietly, "For now… we can't. We're not strong enough yet." His voice carried a trace of doubt, weighed down by the events unfolding around them.
Renya looked at him, ready to speak. "But, Prince—"
She was cut off by Paul's firm voice, "Not for now."
Renya paused, then simply nodded. "Okay."
With that, the group continued walking toward the stairs leading to the next floor.
As the group moved toward their destination, they passed through a room where, in the corner, a treasure chest sat enticingly. Paul, instinctively pausing, couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. His hesitation lingered for a moment, but then his instincts kicked in. Without a second thought, he aimed the coil gun and fired at the chest.
Bang!
The chest was pierced, and instead of the expected satisfying clink of treasure, a strange, bloody essence spilled from the impact. The chest writhed for a moment before it died, its form vanishing as if it had never been there. The real drop items appeared in its place:
ChrysopraseRock Crystal
As Paul placed the Rock Crystal into the spatial bag, he remarked, "Looks like we got some extra fuel." He continued walking, his mind already on the next step of their journey.
Ranya, however, dismissed his words with a quick rebuttal, "But we have to process it first into mana crystals." Her tone was pragmatic, as always.
Paul sighed at the reminder. "I hope we can find oil mines," he said, his gaze drifting upward as if imagining the possibilities.
The group continued on, and soon, they arrived at the stairs leading to the next floor of the dungeon. Without further delay, they descended together, ready to face whatever lay ahead.
On the 7th floor of the dungeon,
Paul glanced at Greta, who immediately noticed and pointed toward one of the roads, saying, "Over there…"
The group moved forward, the air tense with anticipation. After walking for a few minutes, they spotted three gnolls charging toward them, one wielding a pickaxe and the other two holding rusty swords, clearly intending to attack.
Greta instinctively reached for her bow, preparing to fire arrows at the approaching creatures. But before she could act, Paul stopped her with a raised hand.
"Wait, let me do it," he said confidently, already starting to sprint toward the gnolls, eager to engage.
Renya, watching Paul's reckless move, sighed in exasperation. "Prince, you are too reckless..." she muttered, slapping her forehead in disbelief.
The rest of the group watched as Paul charged forward, prepared to take on the gnolls himself.