――10 years had passed since I left the ≪Sword of Glory≫.
The scenery beyond the 21st floor consisted of a sweltering, dense jungle. This was known as the "Jungle Floor."
The monsters that appeared were mainly insect-type monsters, but there was a wide variety of other types as well, including mammalian monsters like "Wild Apes," reptilian monsters like "Chameleon Basilisks," and even humanoid monsters like "Lizardmen."
The jungle terrain made it difficult to explore in the first place, but the monsters that attacked were all the more troublesome because they could camouflage, ambush, coordinate, and set traps.
So, I decided to rush through this floor as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, it seemed that I had grown strong enough to handle it, and although I never wanted to explore it again, I managed to get through it somehow.
The guardian of the 25th floor was a giant gorilla monster called "Great Ape" that led a pack of Wild Apes into battle. It was another troublesome monster, but it didn't have many special abilities, and the Great Ape itself was a relatively easy enemy to defeat.
And so, I moved on to the 26th floor and beyond.
The 26th floor and beyond consisted of a majestic underground temple-like area known as the "Underworld Floor."
As expected, the monsters that appeared were almost exclusively undead, and there was nothing I could do if I didn't have a way to attack monsters that didn't have a physical body, like wraiths.
However, fortunately, magical energy attacks like [Slash] worked normally on spirit-type monsters.
In other words, as long as it wasn't magic, skill-based attacks were usually effective.
However, normally, there are few explorers who use skills all the time like me. This is because skills are considered to be "ultimate moves," "big moves," or "secret weapons." However, in my case, I can unleash [Slash] with minimal magical energy consumption, so I can spam skills without any problems.
Recently, the depletion of magical energy had become quite rare.
I had cleared this floor in about half a year, but I encountered a strange woman while exploring it.
She was a red-haired Swordswoman with long hair tied in a ponytail, and she looked to be around 20 years old (by the way, I was 25 years old at the time). She was a beautiful woman with a sharp, spirited expression, but to be honest, she was a bit off her rocker.
That's because she was a solo adventurer.
The idea of exploring this dangerous dungeon alone, especially in the lower levels called the 26th floor and below, was simply not sane.
Hey, hey, wait a minute, you're a solo adventurer too, you might say.
Well, I have my reasons.
Because of the "Basic Limit Mark" that appeared on the back of my left hand, I couldn't get other explorers to form a party with me.
Well, I think I could get into a party now that I'm stronger, but I'm not struggling or anything. And forming a party might actually reduce my earnings.
On top of that, I actually tried to form a new party once.
It was around the time I cleared the 10th floor, I think, but I joined an Adventurer Party once. They were all Intermediate Jobs, but to be honest, they were less skilled than me.
It was because they were still young and inexperienced.
For these reasons, I can say with confidence that I did more than enough in my explorations with them.
But when we finished exploring and sold off the magic stones and materials, it happened.
They reduced my share because I was a Basic Job.
Of course, I complained. I thought I had done well in the exploration, and I asked them to at least split the profits evenly.
To that, they said...
"What? Are you kidding me? I'm the one who brought you into the party with Basic Jobs, so you should be grateful instead. You should be thankful that I'm even sharing the rewards."
"Hey, old man, you're being too greedy, seriously."
"Seriously asking for a split? No way. No way, man."
They were all 17-year-old boys.
As for me, I was 21 at the time.
As an adult, I thought I should show some tolerance, so I tried to hold back.
No matter how impudent those brats were, resorting to violence was wrong. I thought I would change their minds with logical persuasion like an adult.
But――but.
There was just one thing. Yes, just one thing that even I, the kind and gentle peace-loving me, couldn't forgive.
"Daaammmmiittt!! Who the hell are you calling an old man, you little brats!!"
I snapped.
Even though it was the explorer guild lobby, I didn't care and lunged at the brats.
Explorer and guild staff members nearby immediately intervened, but I rampaged with all my might.
I'm definitely not old at 21. That was an insult that could never be forgiven.
I was later reprimanded by the guild's bigwigs, but I didn't regret it. I did nothing wrong.
I just got carried away. I still don't regret it.
――Anyway.
For these reasons, I became reluctant to form parties. I also didn't like having my rewards cut short because I was supposedly a "Basic Limit Mark."
Of course, I understood in my head that not all explorers were as rotten as those kids, but it was also true that I had developed a sense of rejection.
As a result, I ended up continuing my solo exploration.
Now, back to the story.
Here's the story of the female Swordsman I met in the "Underworld Floor."
She didn't have the "Basic Limit Mark" floating on the back of her left hand like me, and from what I heard later, she had already evolved her Jobs to "Advanced Swordsman" at that point.
Without a doubt, she was a talented individual, and she would have no trouble finding a party to join.
But, she was exploring the dungeon solo.
The first time we met was on the 27th floor. She had either stepped into a monster house trap or had been surrounded by over 30 skeletons.
While she hadn't suffered any fatal wounds, she had small cuts all over her body, and her movements lacked vigor. She didn't show any signs of using skills, so her magical energy was probably depleted.
I didn't know how strong she was, but she had no chance of winning like this.
Naturally, I stepped in to help.
The group of skeletons gathered around her was a troublesome bunch, including upper-tier species like "Skeleton Soldiers" and "Skeleton Mages."
However, as long as I had enough magical energy, I wouldn't have much trouble taking them down.
I gathered a large amount of magical energy into my wooden sword and slashed through the empty air.
Controlling the aura dispersed around me like mist, I transformed it into countless blades.
My unique sword technique, [Blast Blade], [Continuous Blade]――combined technique [Blast Continuous Blade]
Knife-like blades of aura rained down from above the skeletons.
Skeletons, being all bones, are usually strong against slashing attacks due to their many gaps, but weak against blunt attacks and impacts.
[Continuous Blade] alone would be difficult to defeat them for sure, but with the explosive power of [Blast Blade], a single small blade could definitely destroy one.
The countless blades collided with the skeletons, and――explosions roared one after another.
The skeletons were literally shattered into pieces, and by the time the explosions stopped, not a single individual was left standing.
The red-haired female swordsman turned to me with a look of astonishment.
This was my first encounter with the female swordsman――Fiona Ackerman.
Of course, I had saved her from a dangerous situation, and while I wasn't asking for excessive gratitude, I thought she might at least say thank you. I mean, that's just common courtesy, right?
But, Fiona's words as she approached me were completely unexpected.
"What are you doing so recklessly?!"
She yelled at me with anger and a fighting spirit.
Well, if she wasn't struggling, I would be the one getting scolded for violating explorer's etiquette. It's a major breach of manners to interfere with prey that other explorers have already claimed.
However, from what I saw, Fiona had no chance of winning, and to be honest, there was no doubt that her life was in danger. In fact, she had countless wounds all over her body, though they were only minor injuries, the exhaustion from the bleeding was far from light.
In such a situation, stepping in to help should not be something to be blamed for.
I was more stunned than angry.
But somehow I managed to regain my composure and insisted that I was just helping. What's the problem with that?
"Hey, I wanted to fight those guys myself! And you don't know if I'll win or not!"
"Well, it looks like you weren't going to win."
"That was just pushing myself! Beyond the Brink of Death Lies the Path to the Strongest!"
"..."
This crazy woman who roams the 27th floor of the [God's Remains Labyrinth] solo, I later learned, had a troublesome habit of throwing herself into battles to the limit to get stronger.
Apparently, she aims to be the Strongest Swordsman.
Isn't she poisoned in the head with that ridiculous idea of Strongest? And to do that, she challenges strong enemies that she can't avoid struggling with, what a muscle-brained woman.
She seemed to have been in a party before, but unable to keep up with Fiona's actions, she was kicked out of her original party.
Since then, she's been diving into the labyrinth solo.
I didn't know about this until later, but at this point I was convinced that "this girl is dangerous" and decided to part ways right there to avoid getting involved.
I don't quite understand why I got yelled at for saving her life, but there's no point in hanging out with a crazy maniac.
So, I thought I'd never see her again, but...
"I found you! Let's have a duel!"
A few days later, while exploring the same floor, I ran into Fiona again and she challenged me to a duel.
The setting was the labyrinth, on the 27th floor. Monsters were swarming all around us, making it a dangerous environment.
There was no way I was going to duel in a place like that. She was crazy.
"Why? No way I'm doing that. See you later."
I tried to ignore her and leave, but...
"No questions asked! Let's go!"
Fiona Ackerman was even crazier than I thought.
She actually drew her sword and lunged at me.
"Huh?! Hey, are you crazy!? Think about where we are!"
"The crazy one is you! I'm called the genius beauty swordsman!"
I couldn't let myself get killed by a 20-year-old who still calls herself a "beauty." And besides, that "genius" label probably has nothing to do with her intelligence.
I reluctantly drew my wooden sword and prepared to fight Fiona.
At this point, Fiona Ackerman was already quite strong. After all, her job was "Advanced Swordsman" and she hadn't even reached her Talent limit yet.
However, defeating Fiona was surprisingly easy.
It's true that her job's bonuses made her physical abilities higher than mine, and she could use a wide variety of sword techniques. But, as is often the case with many Talent-wielding explorers, this type of person tends to rely too heavily on their high physical abilities and high-powered skills.
To put it simply, they lack creativity in their fighting style.
This was especially true the more Talent they had. This is because they can brute force their way through any monster with just their physical abilities and skills, so they don't develop their other techniques.
I could easily predict what kind of attacks Fiona would use. So, it wasn't difficult to dodge her attacks, and it wasn't difficult to land my own attacks in the openings after her moves.
And above all.
The difference in skill level was decisive.
Fiona's Sword Techniques were no match for my [Slash]. I easily sliced through them all.
To begin with, the density of our auras was different. Fiona had probably learned too many skills, but she hadn't had the chance to fully master any of them. As a result, she couldn't even control the amount of magical energy she poured into each skill.
Could this also be considered a drawback of having Talent?
Anyway, I won.
Of course, I didn't kill her or even injure her. I simply knocked her sword away and achieved a complete victory.
I puffed out my chest and addressed Fiona, who had been defeated so one-sidedly that she might as well have been treated like a child.
"Heh, learn from your mistake and don't challenge me again."
What an unbelievable person. Just charging in out of nowhere like that, she must be crazy.
I shook my head in exasperation and bid her farewell. Then, the next day...
"Found you! This time, I'll defeat you!!"
"Are you an idiot!? Seriously, are you an idiot!?"
Once again, she attacked me without warning in the dungeon.
This was the beginning of my twisted fate with Fiona Ackerman.
She challenged me to fights to become stronger, and I always beat her down. This happened not only in the dungeon but also sometimes in the explorer guild's training grounds.
To be honest, I was the victim here. I had done nothing wrong. However, I was constantly glared at by explorers for repeatedly defeating Fiona, who was undeniably beautiful and the epitome of a beauty.
Is life really so full of absurdities?
I despaired. I despaired at this face-value society where good and evil were judged by appearance!
By the way, Fiona Ackerman would awaken her unique Job "Sword Dance Maiden" a year later and become one of the strongest explorers in the world.
I decided to spread the rumor that "that Sword Dance Maiden was my disciple" in my favorite cheap taverns and upscale taverns where beautiful waitresses served me, hoping to at least recoup some of the trouble Fiona had caused me.
"She's...mine to raise! I raised her!"
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