Chapter 75

The expedition had finally begun, and our plan was to take it slow and steady. We would farm monsters on the upper floors, allowing my familia members to gain experience. Although they were somewhat used to the upper floor, this was intended as a warm-up before a team fight against a level 2 monster.

Accompanied by several level 3s and 4s from the Astraea familia, we could create more risky scenarios without any problems, except for the unlikely event of high-level adventurers deciding to ambush us. It seemed impossible, right?

"Draco!!! Stop spacing out and focus!" Kaguya exclaimed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Clang!

Fwoosh!

"Vasileios to the right!" Vasiliki yelled after casting her spell.

"Sheesh, on it already," Vasileios replied, moving to the right to block the newly spawned killer ants.

Currently on the 8th floor grinding, I mostly watched by keeping my wind tracking spell active. By controlling the flow of monsters, I could exert the right pressure on my familia members to farm good excelia.

"Michalis, Dimitra, focus!" I yelled, noticing that they were both acting weird. They seemed elated at gaining magic, but now wasn't the time to use it. We still had 11 more floors to go.

"Yes," they replied and started fighting like normal.

"Wow, they are quite good," Ryuu said.

"Yeah, they trained a lot back home," I replied. Ryuu suddenly looked sad, and I had a guess as to why.

"Do you miss home?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What are you two sneakily talking about?" Lyra jumped into the conversation.

"Nothing much," Ryuu replied.

"Hmmf," Lyra huffed and turned back to sit next to Asta.

My familia continued fighting for hours on each floor, taking breaks after each long battle. Time passed, and finally, we reached the 11th floor.

Things were getting tougher for them, but it would become much worse when we reached the 17th floor.

"Huff, Huff, Huff," Vasileios panted in exhaustion. It was time to rest; he had taken the most damage for the others.

"You okay?" Nikolaos asked as he approached Vasileios.

"Yeah, I'll live," Vasileios replied.

They remained silent for a while before Nikolaos whispered into Vasileios' ear. With my enhanced senses, I heard what he asked.

"So, which girl from the Astraea familia do you fancy? I've noticed you've been staring at them for a while," Nikolaos asked.

"Ahem, you shouldn't be thinking of such things in the dungeon. Why don't you go bother Michalis about this?" Vasileios replied.

"Tsk, boring. You know Michalis is still not over Clair, and you want me to bring it up," Nikolaos replied.

"So, which one?" Nikolaos pressured.

"Fine, uhm, it's Neze," Vasileios muttered.

"Seriously?" Nikolaos exclaimed.

"Hoho, so you fancy my Neze," Kaguya said, suddenly appearing behind them. Seriously, did they not know that the higher your level, the stronger your senses became?

"Aaaah!!" both Nikolaos and Vasileios jumped in shock as they were surprised by the sudden appearance of Kaguya.

"So are you serious about what you said?" Kaguya teasingly inquired. I wanted to bail them out, but well, it was quite amusing to watch.

"Kaguya, don't bully them too much," I said.

"Neze, it seems you have a suitor. What do you think? I think he is quite cute, you know," Lyra, who was resting beside Asta, teased Neze, who just stood there in shock. The rest of the Astraea familia joined in the discussion along with my sisters.

The epic dungeon expedition that I envisioned in my head was now starting to look like a sitcom show. I couldn't let things get too far.

Clap!

With a loud clap of my hand, I drew everyone's attention towards me.

"If everyone is all rested up, we should get moving," I said.

"Tsk, boring," Asta exclaimed. Soon, everyone was geared up and ready to continue.

Soon, we resumed our journey. "Please don't confess in the dungeon and set up a death flag, ok?" I whispered into Vasileios' ear.

He blushed before his face turned to confusion.

"Flag?" He questioned, but I wasn't going to explain further and focused on maintaining my wind tracking spell.

10 hours later...

"Mooo!! Kiiii!!"

The screams of a Minotaur and dungeon worms echoed through the halls of the 15th floor. I and the Astraea familia had taken the lead in fights since the 12th floor. It took us this long because my familia members took longer in fighting each monster group that came their way on each floor we went.

Splat!

I slashed a Minotaur's throat with my claws while my familia stayed behind and watched the supplies.

"All done here," Celty said after finishing up her side.

"Only one Minotaur left, as you requested," Iska said to me.

"Thanks," I replied. Now it was time for my familia to face this Minotaur by themselves, of course, under our supervision. We wouldn't want any of them seriously injured.

I then gathered my familia members and told them their objective. I had decided to go with the quality of excelia over the quantity.

"You will face this Minotaur now as a team and every day after we arrive on the 18th floor," I said, pausing and letting them take it in before I continued.

"Depending on your performance, that may increase, but I believe you all can do it," I added.

"Draco, isn't that a bit too much?" Kaguya asked.

"No, we are trying to speed level them. This much is necessary. We will be there to watch them each time too. Additionally, if this works, we would have discovered a speed levelling method for adventurers known between our familia's," I replied.

"Sigh, just don't push them too much," Kaguya said before returning to watch the perimeter.

"Now go," I said to my familia members as Iska let the exhausted Minotaur go.

Everyone went into their positions for the fight. Vasileios went in front to pull aggro with his shield. Lili, Eleni, and Nikolaos weren't far behind him, while Michalis stealthily kept out of the Minotaur's sight range. Dimitra and Vasiliki kept their distance and started chanting.

The Minotaur exhaled a thunderous breath, beads of sweat trickling down its fur-covered face as it recovered from the fierce encounter with Iska. Though exhaustion weighed heavily upon it, the Minotaur knew that protecting the dungeon was its solemn duty.

With a resolute scrape of its hooves against the worn dungeon floor, the Minotaur prepared to charge at Vasileios, who stood defiantly before the towering creature. Their eyes locked in a battle of wills, the tension crackled in the air, filling the dungeon with an electric energy.

Meanwhile, Dimitra and Vasiliki, focused intently. Immersed in their spell chants, the power of sorcery resonated around them, lighting up the chamber with flickering hues of magic. I watched them with a touch of concern, aware of the potential interference their spells might cause, but knowing that this was a lesson they had to learn through experience.

The adventure reached a crescendo as the Minotaur's muscles tensed, preparing to unleash its formidable strength, while Dimitra and Vasiliki neared the completion of their chants. Time seemed to slow in the face of this thrilling confrontation, as the clash of wills and forces threatened to change the course of destiny.