Chapter 267

"Mr. Helmios, you are late."

"Oh, good morning."

Helmios came dizzying down from the second floor.

"It's too late. We've already started breakfast."

(Sleepyhead.)

"Allen, do you have a human heart?'

At the base, Helmios woke up a little late, as we usually had breakfast together.

His head was apparently hurting, so I used C-rank Grass' awakening skill [Flavored Vegetables] to help him recover from his condition.

In response to my matter-of-fact statement, Helmios revealed the cries of his heart.

My party and Helmios' party let out a small sigh because they couldn't do anything about the fact that they didn't have a choice.

I provided most of the information I had found about the S-class dungeon to the Adventurers' Guild.

It ranged from how to protect yourself from Floor Bosses and Death Zones to how to earn money.

They were all in the name of Helmios and published by the Adventurers' Guild.

The most affected by the information I had found were the beastmen who operated on the 2nd floor.

They were the ones most affected by Beebe.

The information, which provided the approximate location of Beebe and how close they could get before getting spotted by Beebe, saved many beastmen.

As a result, the beastmen returning to the Beast Kingdom after completing the one-year term of dungeon attack decided by the Crown Prince Bek, began to thank Helmios.

Although Helmios was a Noble of the Giamut Empire, the beastmen still expressed their gratitude for their lives that were saved.

It seemed that there were frequent consultations around Prince Zew not too long ago about whether or not to thank Helmios.

Prince Zew knew that I was the one who found the information, but he made it widely known that the beastmen could thank Helmios.

It was good up to that point.

Helmios had no trouble with this.

However, the announcement last month of an overall map of the Death Zone and evacuation routes sent tremors through the dwarves.

There was a way to save yourself from that Death Zone with a high probability, although it was not a sure thing.

Many of the dwarves were grateful.

There was a reason why the dwarves were especially grateful.

There was a low chance of a hidden cube sending anyone to the Death Zone, but most of the ones sent there were the dwarves.

The hidden cubes were biased toward "Stone Slabs" rewards and exchanges, and the temple bought the unwanted Stone Slabs at a discount.

Inevitably, most of the people approaching the hidden cubes were Golem-using dwarves who needed the Stone Slabs.

In such a situation, Helmios provided information that could be seen as dwarf salvation.

The dwarves were greatly appreciative.

There were many dwarves who wept in front of the Adventurers' Guild bulletin board.

And the dwarves' way of thanks was always, 'Let me buy you a drink'.

Naturally, it meant a round of drinks, but for dwarves, it was their best way of showing their gratitude.

So, everytime Helmios walked down the street, he would get at least 'Let me buy you a drink'.

I didn't mean inside a bar or restaurant.

I literally meant it even when walking down the street.

When Helmios was walking down the street, he found himself in a situation where dwarves came out like zombies with wooden mugs, wallowing from the bars and other places on the street.

Helmios said that never before had he been so grateful for his high status (not political status).

Using his [Agility] and all of his senses, he had been rejecting the advances of the dwarves, but last night he was caught off guard and dragged into the bar by the dwarves.

He was finally released in the middle of the night and his hangover continued into the morning.

"Well, we're defeating Beebe today."

With tears in Helmios' eyes, I spoke of my plans for the day.

"..."

In response to Allen's statement, Admiral Galara silently drank his breakfast soup.

He didn't stop or offer advice to us.

Admiral Galara had been staying at our base for over a month.

My friends and I had decided to defeat Beebe.

It was because my friends had changed their Talents and their skills had leveled up.

However, their skills after the Talent changes, with the exception of Sophie and Merle, was still around 5 and had not yet reached the maximum.

Sophie still had one last Talent change left, so we were talking about concentrating on raising her Skill Level for a month or so if it looked too tough.

We decided that it would be inefficient to ignore the Floor Bosses that we could defeat in a situation where we did not know what the Divine Artifact would be used for.

If we could analyze the characteristics and find weaknesses of the Floor Bosses and report it to the Adventurers' Guild, it would further reduce the number of dead adventurers.

Those were some of my objectives.

We went to the temple and then went to the 2nd Floor.

We found where Beebe was with the help of E-rank Bird and went there on the B-rank Birds.

We were just 1 kilometer above Beebe.

"Well then, Dr. Merle, please."

"Mm, you got it."

Merle responded to my joke.

Merle fiddled with her chin with one hand while holding up the Magic Board with the other.

"I'm off!"

Merle exclaimed, and without hesitation, jumped off the top of the B-rank Bird.

Then, a Mithril Golem, which reached 50 meters in height, was falling.

We had practiced such aerial attacks.

Soon Beebe's compound eyes spotted the Tam-Tam approaching from above, but it didn't matter.

Tam-Tam landed on Beebe with both its feet, perfectly pushing its weight on Beebe.

A huge crater formed at the place where they landed.

In the center of the crater were Tam-Tam and Beebe.

"Ahhhh!"

"Gashu, gashu, gashu!"

Merle screamed and in the center of the crater, she grabbed the buried Beebe and tried to squeeze it with both hands.

While Tam-Tam was trying to squeeze Beebe, Beebe was using all its strength trying to escape the grip.

The rest of us had already begun our descent on B-rank Bird after Merle had jumped.

(Mm? I guess Beebe is still aggressive.)

"Alipons! Use [Formic Acid]!"

"'Gitchi Gitchi'"

When Beebe was about to break free from Tam-Tam, B-rank Insects used their special skill [Formic Acid] which reduced the target's [Endurance].

Beebe managed to break free, but it got affected by [Formic Acid] in the process.

Just as Beebe was about to get out of the crater, Kurena and Dogora came to attack.

"Kurena, Dogora, don't ever get caught."

"Yeah, I know!"

"Oh!"

The most important part of the operation was to deal with Beebe's [Agility].

If we let it use its [Agility], then Beebe would just make some distance between us and heal itself.

First and foremost, it was important not to get caught, because Beebe sucked its health to regain its own strength.

I had told Merle to target Beebe's wings to make it lose its ability to fly.

But Beebe's wings were covered with a ridiculously strong exoskeleton, and it seemed to be working well even when crushed by an attack from above.

The [Formic Acid] hit their mark, but they still seemed stiff.

(Mmmm, a little too hard exoskeleton. Maybe it's still too early to tell.)

I think it was a perfect combo that changed the terrain.

However, Beebe was flying freely, using its deformed wings at high speed.

Although it wasn't as fast as before, we were still unable to completely block its movements.

We were probably not strong enough to easily defeat S-rank magical beasts.

Kurena and Dogora were equipped with two Rings each that increased their [Agility] by 3000.

My friends and I had opened more than 100 Treasure Chests, and found 20 Rings of all types that increased status by 3000.

It allowed us to change our status according to the situation.

Dogora and Kurena attacked while keeping their distance.

Kurena and Dogora's first priority was to keep Beebe from getting to the rear guards.

I had told them that any attacks were secondary.

Tam-Tam was too big and likely to be targeted.

So, Merle, having decided that she would not be of any use, moved back.

Sophie and Formar used bows and arrows to attack Beebe, against whom magic was ineffective.

I also summoned a B-rank Dragon who used [Fire Breath] from a distance.

Then more than 10 minutes passed.

"I think it's about time. Sophie, can you go?"

"... Yes, Master Allen. Salamander, please."

(Hmm? What was that?)

Sophie also wanted to be called 'Dr. Sophie' apparently as she looked disappointed.

"Auau!"

The Infant Fire Spirit Salamander turned into a huge mass of fire.

Then, using all of Sophie's mana, he plunged towards Beebe.

Kurena and Dogora had just evacuated when a huge mass of fire hit Beebe.

"Gie! Gie!"

It seemed to be a sufficient blow.

Beebe whined on the ground and slowly disappeared.

(Spirit Magic and Magic are different. The skills are different after all.)

Another analysis proceeded in my mind.

"You have defeated 1 Blood-Blast-Beetle. You have acquired 120,000,000 Experience."

(120 million in experience!? Demon Generals didn't give experience but instead 1 Level directly, but magical beasts still give experience.)

I recalled that defeating Demon General Razel raised my Level by one.

A S-rank magic stone and a Bronze Medal with a beetle-like pattern were on the ground.

"My first S-rank magic stone. It's huge."

The huge magic stone, which looked to be 30 centimeters long, just barely fit in the <Inventory>.

"You did it. I didn't get a turn."

Cecile couldn't participate in the fight because of Beebe's high magic resistance.

The Spirit's attacks could get through, but not Cecile's magic.

"Well, you don't always get a turn."

In my opinion, it was important to have a diverse mix of Talents because it allowed us to attack the weakness of the opponent.

"That said, Sophie's a lifesaver."

"Yes, Dogora. It worked."

Dogora was wary after hearing the word "Salamander," but was able to avoid fire without incident.

Sophie had gotten used to the attack so it was highly unlikely that Dogora would get burned.

"Now, next is Scarlet. We're going to take it down today as well."

Allen's next goal was to defeat Scarlet-Sand-Worm, the 3rd Floor Floor Boss.