Goliath.

In a large room located at the end of the 17th floor, right before the descent to 18, a teenager had been sitting for several hours. In front of him stood the Big Wall of Sorrow, a single crystal monolith from which the first monster rex of the dungeon is born. Behind him lay a bag of magic stones, reflecting a red glow on his back. An important conversation was taking place in his mind.

- Iblis, consider the contract completed, there is only a couple of percent left.

- No no and one more time no! That's not how things are done! As you say, there is not much left, finish it and we both won't have to do more things than we should.

- I will agree to fulfill one of your requests.

- A request? Not a clause in the contract?

- Yes, and I will do my best. Of course, I do not agree to go against my principles.

- Hmm... You know, no promises are needed. You have a core and you don't lose yourself in moments of despair. I like you! *clap*

Iblis - contract fullfiled.

Consider it as a gift.

......

With this, all points except one were completed. Goliath was the final challenge.

Of course, Shichika has been here more than once over the past year and a half, but he never had the chance to duel with the boss of the floor. Most often, the guild composed expedition letters so that one of the powerful families would destroy the alien as soon as it rejoices; otherwise, this would be done by adventurers from Rivira or by random first-ranked representatives of the profession.

- Let's do it already, if we're doing this for the first time. Besides, each of us has raised the level, it will be as easy as shelling peas, - Alise Lovell appeared from the passage, followed by the rest of the girls of the Astraea family. Carried away by the conversation, only when they came closer they noticed a teenager sitting cross-legged.

- Shichika?! What are you doing here? And why didn't we see you at the funeral?! Was everything you two experienced a lie? - as Ardee's best friend, Ryuu was angry at this attitude towards the memory of the deceased.

- Lion. Don't you dare say such things. Everyone knows why funerals of adventurers are held. I can visit her body later, now I must do everything to become strong enough to avenge her, - for the first time, the adventurer's emotions were expressed so clearly in front of those present.

- But revenge is not the answer! - the elf still did not let up, her aspirations and concepts of justice, even in the opinion of some of her own family members, were too idealized.

- Of course not. No amount of death at my hands will bring her back, no amount of my grief will subside. Only anger will go away. And people who are capable of evil. For this I need Goliath.

- We cannot allow this, you will simply die in this battle. 

In a gust of wind, Shichika found himself right in front of the speaking Alise, only adventurers who had raised level 4 were able to notice his movements. In surprise, everyone grabbed their weapons.

- You were her close friends, and for me you are old acquaintances too, in any case, I will not fight with you. So please give me the opportunity. You can stand at the beginning of the room and intervene if you are sure that I will die.

- Okay, risk your life, we'll watch, especially since you came here first, - an unexpectedly positive answer came from Kaguya.

- What are you talking about, obviously he can't handle it alone! - dislike for the boy did not stop Ryuu from insisting on his "salvation"

- Fool! Can't you see that red light on his back? Even if we refuse, he will still attack Goliath.

- Thank you, Kaguya.

- Who needs your gratitude? Girls, let's go to the entrance, there's not much time left.

Indeed, after five minutes of waiting, a silhouette appeared in the crystal wall, bursting out, simultaneously scattering pieces of the wall across the floor.

The time for Goliath to appear has arrived. Once every two weeks, this seven-meter monster is born in the same place. Gray skin and black hair, the floor boss had a humanoid body with no sexual characteristics. Level 4 was assigned to him for his durable skin and unimaginable strength; moreover, the giant's speed was extremely high for his size.

To defeat such enemy, at a minimum, a well-coordinated squad consisting of several adventurers of the same level as the boss or one level less was required. In addition, several support people are needed.

But now only one second-level person had to fight. From the point of view of an outside observer, the chances are zero. If one red-haired goddess looks at this, then taking into account the overflow of the falna and the accumulated stat points, victory is likely in 50 cases out of 100.

 A roar that shake the walls was heard. The battle has begun.

The smaller of the two fighters rushed forward in a zigzag pattern. Due to its size, Goliath's field of vision was high enough to see Shichika's main body when using the illusion-forming movement technique. Therefore, the monster will fall for such a trick only once, or at best twice. To do so now would be too wasteful.

The first blow was struck by the monster rex, the blow with his right hand looked like an attempt to sweep away crumbs from the table; along the way, the giant's palm destroyed part of the floor, scattering the stone in all directions.

The little adventurer moved to the left, ending up right behind the enemy's forearm, thus not giving the boss a chance for a quick counter-attack. A strong blow followed using the armor bypass technique. A quiet crunch was heard. Very small cracks appeared on the creature's bones, which hardly changed its combat effectiveness. The giant's body was made in such a way as to distribute the damage it received; crushing blows were ineffective against it.

Before Goliath could strike again, the teenager moved behind him, towards his heels. The target was the Achilles tendon on the right leg. A cut. The teenager's short arms were unable to completely break the biological ropes; the monster, staggering, shifted his body weight to the other leg and turned around with a squeal, striking with his hand.

This time the creature's blow found its target. Fortunately, along a tangential trajectory. After doing a couple of somersaults in the air, the adventurer landed back on his feet, spitting out a small clot of blood.

- Not bad... - Shichika praised the floor boss who was standing on both feet. Only a slight trembling of the foot indicated that the exchange had not been in vain.

This means your physiology resembles that of a human," the teenager disappeared again in a gust of wind. Goliath, able to follow his movements, tried to hammer the adventurer into the ground with a vertical blow, like a hammer on a nail. No one below level 5 can withstand such a blow without protection, and even then it will take a lot of time to recover.

The roar caused by the monster's fist shook the entire room, causing excitement among the girls standing in the aisle.

Miss. The giant's target was already close to him. In the jump, the already hated figure ended up on the giant's right thigh, where she plunged her palms into the ground and began to descend, especially assiduously crushing the living tissue around the knee.

*Clap* An attempt to slam the annoying bug was crowned with success, falling on the bleeding knee, Goliath's gaze went to the crater in the wall.

- Shichika! - Alise, true to her views, showed concern for the teenager who received the blow. After which she prepared to activate her enchantment and rush into battle, her friends intended to do the same.

At that moment, a figure with a red joker emitting light on its back appeared, jumping on one leg from the dust. His appearance was, to put it mildly, not very good. A couple of ribs were sticking out of the chest, the left shin had an open fracture, blood was coming from all the holes in the head, both arms and jaws were dislocated.

- Don't interfere!

- What are you talking about?! Look at yourself, you are closer to a corpse than to a living creature! Girls, go ahead! - Ryuu no longer took into account the requests of a person who, in her opinion, had gone crazy.

- STAND STILL! - the ability that replaced magic for a member of the Loki family was used again. Everyone present froze for a moment. The shock they received from such influence prevented them from moving even after the duration of the order had expired.

- If you kill him, *crunch* then I may not reach the surface, *crunch* I need him to stay alive *crunch* for a few more minutes, - while asking the boy to set his limbs and put the bones in place so that they at least remotely fused in the correct position.

- Then we will completely neutralize it, it will live.

- No, he can't move anymore, and he can't use long-range attacks either. Now he is not a threat. Just stand back.

- 5 minutes. This is all we give you, with such wounds even you won't last much longer.

- I agree.

For a couple of minutes the boy jumped in a circle with a 30-meter radius, the center of which was Goliath.

Within 3 minutes he was limping on both legs, his ribs hidden behind new flesh and skin. The blood stopped gushing from his head. The boss's situation left much to be desired, the wound on his leg did not heal, although the healing factor of monsters and level 4 adventurers was already reaching a serious level, even without special abilities affecting it.

- Regeneration?

- I thought it usually appears among high-level adventurers, - a misunderstanding allowed everyone to avoid unnecessary questions.

In the allotted five minutes, during which Goliath roared continuously, the adventurer completely regained the ability to fight. What happened next cannot be called the second round. Limited mobility did not give the monster the opportunity to defend against subsequent attacks. First, the left arm was destroyed; dozens of successive blows to the elbow completely destroyed the joint. Then the second leg, as if knocking down a centuries-old tree, horizontal cuts brought the limb to the point where it collapsed under its own weight. The only thing left was that a hail of various attacks began to rain down on the giant's head.

The Rex monster left this world, and in its place was a large crystal. However, in two weeks a fight awaits him again in this very room.

- Thank you, although I refused from help with all my might, you were still ready to save my life at any moment. Would it be difficult for you to fulfill my request? In Rivira, find a man named Bors, let him remove the magic stones from this place, - taking the drop from the boss onto his shoulders, Shichika headed upstairs, the family crest on his body no longer glowing.

The remaining members of the Asterei family on the 17th floor did not know what to say.

- He didn't die and even left this place with a victory, that's not bad either. Why are you frozen?Come on, we can't fail the expedition, - Kaguya was the first to come to her senses.