In the blink of an eye, awo months had swiftly drifted by.

  The chill of winter was beginning to envelop the vibrant city of Orario, repg the warm hues of autumn with a crisp, biting air.

  The Bahamut familia had made endable progress during this time, honing their skills and pushing their limits.

  Despite the straints imposed on their growth, Draco found himself once again approag the threshold for a level-up.

  He had almost pleted his first grimoire, however seemed to be stuck at the st part, his mystery skill not giving a favorable rea.

  Meanwhile, his panions were a little over the halfway mark towards their levels.

  The looming threat of assassination from unknown adversaries and the increasing activities of the Evilus withiy had pelled Draain close to his familia members, especially during their dungeon explorations.

  While he was fident in their abilities to hahe monsters lurkiweeh and 16th floors, he khat they were still young and cked his heightened sensory capabilities.

  The painful memory of losing more than half of his family weighed heavily on him, fuelling his paranarding the safety of those who remained.

  Though they had grown strohe Bahamut familia was still retively new and small, sisting of one peak level 3 adventurer and seven mid level 2 adventurers.

  It was a bittersweet reality that Draco had to fabsp;

  He had anticipated a surge of new adventurers seeking to join their familia three months prior, but the expected influx never materialized.

  The ck of applicatio him feeling disappointed and angry, as it seemed that external forces were suppressing their growth.

  Yet, there art of him that felt a sense of relief.

  With fewer newers to manage, he could focus on preparing for the impending Evilus attack that threateheir city.

  It was also uandable that adventurers, both new and experienced, would hesitate to join a new familia led by a group of young children.

  Their only notable achievement was their rapid level-ups, and little was known about their true capabilities, at least publicly.

  Additionally, Draco's dispy at the guild had likely left a ive impression, making their current situation somewhat uandable.

  He couldn’t shake the feeling that there might be a deeper plot at py orchestrated by another or multiple familia’s, but without evide remained a mere suspi.

  Over the past two months, Draco had also begun to covertly sell off some of the items he had obtained from the bandit fortress months earlier.

  He had stashed these treasures in a secret location outside Orario to avoid suspi wheering the city.

  Now, as the need for funds grew, he had made tact with the city's bck market.

  This was a necessary step to ehe safety and stability of his familia, especially after the financial strain caused by the ission he had made to Hephaestus.

  Hephaestus had gone above and beyond in crafting the fi items from Draco's old horns, utilizing an array of expeerials as enhas.

  The results were astonishing: with the unique properties and size of Draco’s horns, Hephaestus was able to create two magical items: a dagger and a spear.

  The dagger erma magical item, perhaps the first of its kind, crafted primarily from his horn.

  The spear, however, had a limit on its uses; only the spearhead was made from his horn, while the shaft was structed from a bination of Damascus steel and Mithril.

  The dagger boasted an ability called "Echo Strike," which allowed it to create a deyed duplicate of any attack made by the user.

  While the spear possessed the ability known as "Elemental Shift," enabling it to ge elemental damage types based on the enemy's weaknesses.

  However, it could only switch between the four basic elements.

  These newly fed items exceeded Draco’s expectations, yet their immense value posed a dilemma.

  The dagger and spear were far too precious for the current Bahamut familia, leading him to decide to keep them hidden until their true need arose.

  The price tag of over 60 million Valis nearly made him keel over; even with Hephaestus’s generous dist, the sum was staggering.

  In hindsight, he slightly regretted not accepting the items for free, but he justified the expense as a necessary iment in a retionship with one of the greatest smithing goddesses in Orario.

  ……………………………………………….

  “Draii, do we really have to go deeper now?” Michalis pined, his voice tinged with reluce.

  Michalis wasn’t the only one who felt like this.

  They had just gotten fortable in farming the 13th through 16th floors, yet Draco was about to put them through hell on the deeper floors.

  “Yes, you all have been having it way too easy for a while now,” Draco replied.

  Currently, the Bahamut Familia was making their way to the 19th floor of the dungeon.

  Draco had been putting off this dest for some time, worried about the current state of the 18th floor and it’s inhabitants.

  The 18th floor was home to a city called Rivira, a popur stop for adventurers wanting to desd deeper into the dungeon.

  Where many adventurers gathered, trouble was sure to follow, however this wasn’t his biggest .

  When he had scouted ahead weeks earlier, Draco had noticed an increase in the number of shady dealings and fli the 18th floor.

  Casualties from the 19th floor doeirdly increasing, putting Dra edge.

  There was something brewing, and Draco believed that it had something to do with the evilus.

  Even though he was strong, Draco wasn’t fident in his ability to protect his familia from any group of level 5 adventurers or above.

  He uood that the rapid progress of the Bahamut Familia irritated various forces, and he was certain that the evilus was no exception.

  Thus, he had to make preparations.

  During the months since his st level-up, Draco had discovered annifit fw in his "Raging Assion" skill.

  It only boosted his current stats by a pertage rather than sg with his level.

  For instance, if his strength stat was 300, the first stage of the skill, which provided a 50% boost, would only increase his stats by 50% of 300—a mere 150.

  This meant that the lower his stats were for each level, the smaller the boost provided by the skill.

  To utilize the skill at its maximum potential, he o wait until his stats approached the limit of his current level, but that came with its ow of plications.

  heless, it remained a useful trump card in dire situations.

  Before long, the Bahamut Familia arrived at the 17th floor, which was characterized by a vast room.

  To the left stood a colossal wall known as the Wall of Grief, the spawning ground for the monster Rex, Goliath.

  The sight was rather intimidating, as one could easily imagihe size and strength of the Goliath simply by looking at the wall.

  “Draii, are you sure it won’t spawn?” Eleni asked, stepping closer to him, her voice tinged with .

  “It won’t, not for awo weeks. Even if it did spawn, I ha,” Draco reassured her, trying to instill fiden his familia.

  “Scaredy cat,” Michalis muttered, only to receive a swift smack to the head from Eleni.

  “What did you do that for?” Michalis pined, rubbing his head, but Eleni ignored him, her focus solely on Draco.

  Draco sighed inwardly, wishing Michalis could just aal sometimes.

  He felt slightly relieved that he hadn’t given Michalis the magic dagger yet.

  Cir, the exge, shook her head, lost in thought about something.

  In a few mihe Bahamut Familia reached the entrance leading to the 18th floor, and as they ehey were captivated by the surreal sight before them………