It was just a slightly unusual three-meter chicken that spits poison and has two poisonous claws.
"Slightly?"
"Well, the danger level is vastly different, but they're easier to handle since they're stupid."
And so, they discussed the giant chicken luring strategy through written notes.
With the strategy meeting concluded, they immediately began to take action.
First, Leah took out her staff sling and set up a grenade inscribed with a mixed magic circle of small-scale explosion and light magic that was just flashy with sound and light.
Then Tatsuro and the magical beings like Cardina prepared a mixture of magic bullets with their specialty magic.
Ai positioned all of Gundari Myoo's hands for bow and arrow output, nocking and aiming a giant arrow.
After confirming each other's readiness through eye contact, Leah checked that the giant chickens weren't looking this way, then swung her staff sling to launch it about 170 meters away.
Leah immediately retracted the staff sling that had emerged from the fake wall and crouched back down.The grenade that fell in an empty space exploded with flashy sound and light, and all the giant chickens turned that way at once.
They discovered light orbs floating in the air, crackling like fireworks.
Not knowing what they were, the chickens became completely fixated on them and rushed toward the light while clucking "cock-a-doodle-doo" trying to get there first.
"As expected, they're stupid."
"But this could work on other monsters too, right?"
"Yeah. Leah's grenades are convenient since they don't emit magical power until right before activation, unlike magic."
Tatsuro and Ai exchanged such thoughts telepathically while waiting for the chickens to fully cluster together.
Then as the light began to fade, a large number of chickens had finished gathering in one place.
At that point, Tatsuro slightly raised his right hand, and as he swung it down, he collapsed the fake wall.
Some chickens that sensed the sound of collapse turned this way, but it was too late.
A composite attribute magic bullet constructed with five people's worth of output for what normally could only be done by one person and three shots of arrows with enormous size and power were mercilessly fired at the flock.
"Let's go!"
With Tatsuro's voice, everyone headed toward the location with the central button, while only Cardina, who had the best flying ability, flew straight toward the red button as planned.
After that, they just had to protect Cardina until she pressed the button, then retreat.
And then just move on to the next room.
As masses of chickens died, black vortexes began welling up from the surroundings.
And from there, additional giant chickens came leisurely clucking "cock-a-doodle-doo" and charged at Tatsuro and the others.
"Please handle the ones that come close. I'll target the monsters on the perimeter while supporting Cardina."
Tatsuro raised the staff in his right hand and began preparing a laser.
While it seemed that side didn't have the actual flying ability like chickens, they apparently could glide after jumping high with spread wings, and they were chasing after Cardina who was flying toward the button while swinging their two single-fingered arms attached around their chest area.
"I understand our Cardina is cute, but stalking is not allowed, you idiots!"
Shouting that, he fired lasers equal to the number of giant chickens chasing Cardina's rear, accurately piercing through their back heads.
And furthermore, after piercing through, the lasers curved downward in a trajectory that seemed to slide along the ground and mowed down those who were trying to jump up.
Now due to stats boosted by levels and titles, the lasers could be controlled for a while after firing rather than just being one-shot attacks.
As for Ai...
When she tried to let go of Gundari Myoo's main body to defeat those that came close, for some reason the robot hand started moving on its own.
While Ai tilted her head for a moment wondering what was going on, it grabbed her arm and made her take an upward-angled archery stance.
Ai obediently followed that hand's guidance, thinking it must have some plan, and nocked an arrow to prepare for shooting. The eight hands held their palms up along the line of fire, gathering energy that would normally be spears of willpower into one place to create a large spherical mass of willpower energy that swelled up like a balloon.
If Ai released the nocked arrow now, it would pierce through that mass.
And Ai felt that Gundari Myoo was telling her to shoot it.
So Ai shot without hesitation.
Just as Ai expected, after piercing the willpower balloon in the line of fire, the arrow flew diagonally toward the ceiling direction where there was no one and nothing, with the mass still stuck on its tip.
While wondering what meaning this had, and watching Gundari Myoo who seemed satisfied as it returned behind her waist, Ai switched to her jeweled sword and finally understood its meaning.
The willpower balloon on the arrow tip that Ai had just shot burst after ascending to a certain height.
Simultaneously, numerous arrows appeared from inside the balloon and were all dropped downward.
That location was an area where no allies were present, only monsters.
The arrows flying down from above pierced through them one after another, killing them.
"Interesting~ I didn't know we could do something like this."
As if saying it was no big deal, Gundari Myoo thrust a spear of willpower from its palm into the throat of a chicken that had come close.
Meanwhile, Jeanne and Athena both used [True Form] and split up to move forward.
Jeanne used Wood magic to simultaneously cause rapid growth and enlargement of those Spurac seeds that wrap around feet, which she got from Tatsuro.
Then she threw them to entangle and stop groups of chickens.
The vines, which were originally tough, became even larger and tougher as a result of the Wood magic, and the chickens struggled helplessly as they couldn't do anything against the coiling spring-like plants no matter how much they pecked with their beaks or scratched with their single-fingered hooked claws.
During that time, Jeanne used wind magic to roll them into other individuals and entangle them even more.
It looked almost like collecting trash with an adhesive roller.
Then once a large chicken ball was formed, she pummeled it repeatedly with both fists until they were crushed.
And Athena in [Dragon Armor] lightning mode, along with dragon power smoke similarly scorching everything approaching with electric shocks, operated three scythes with both hands and tail to kill them every time they resurrected by rushing in.
Nana also held one dragon fang in each hand and killed those that escaped from Ai and Gundari Myoo by biting them while mixing in curse magic and [Dragon Absorption].
If anything approached Leah, she would slam sound-only grenades that were so weak they didn't even need safety pins against the ground to make bursting sounds, and when they looked down in surprise, she would strike their heads with a hammer.
For things at medium range, since allies were nearby, she kept them in check with grenades that turned into spiky earth balls upon impact.
They were excellent items that would stick if they hit and become like caltrops even when dropped.
For distant ones, there was no need for Leah to deal with them as Jeanne and Athena were handling them somehow.
Believing that everyone would support her like that, Cardina headed straight for the red button and pressed it as she passed by.
Then they saw a tunnel opening where the small button had been on the wall earlier.
Feeling relieved that it seemed to have been the correct answer, Cardina returned to everyone through the path that Tatsuro was keeping open.
"Alright, Cardina has regrouped! Let's head toward the tunnel while retreating!"
That message reached Jeanne and Athena who were maintaining the frontline at a slight distance, and they began to gradually retreat.
While providing cover fire for that, Tatsuro and the others waited in front of the tunnel, then after regrouping with Jeanne and the others, they all went through there together.
And when they reached room 101 after passing through room 100, there was a space about half the size of the previous room at 500 meters square, and furthermore, in its center, there was a glowing pool that led to the next floor.
And finally, everyone realized that this ordeal was over.
"It's finally over."
"Now we don't have to go back and forth anymore!"
While saying such things as they sat down on the floor, Cardina, Jeanne, Nana, and Athena each brought one giant chicken that was either severely injured or too weakened to move.
"This is our present to Father!"
"You thoughtfully brought them for me, huh. Thanks, everyone."
"Peewee!"
"Neigh!"
"You're welcome."
"No problem~"
"Well then, I'll use [Level Eater] before they die."
Tatsuro said that while thanking Cardina and the others, and started applying the black ball of [Level Eater] starting with the giant chicken that Jeanne brought which looked closest to death.
---------------
Level: 41
Skills: [Poison Fang Lv.5], [Poison Spit Lv.5], [Poison Resistance Lv.7]
[Strong Acid Saliva Lv.1]
---------------
(So this guy's saliva was dangerous too. I should be careful if I encounter them somewhere again. Other than that, just poison-related skills... what an unpleasant chicken.)
---------------
Level: 41
Skills: [Poison Fang Lv.0], [Poison Spit Lv.0], [Poison Resistance Lv.0]
[Strong Acid Saliva Lv.0]
---------------
After collecting all the skill levels, Nana and Athena finished off the four barely breathing chickens by cutting them in half.
"Alright. We've settled things for now, and since we came here in a rush, you must be tired. Let's rest a bit before heading to the next layer."
"Yeah~ I want to take a nap first."
"Me too."
"Really? Then can you get ice magic to ten?"
"Well, I'm not sure. Current SP is (428), and Ice Magic is level 4. To raise it from 5 to 10 needs um... (540), so even if I take it to the limit... ah, looks like I can still raise it to 9."
"You're almost at all 10 for attribute magic. After that, just need to get all the limit releases, get gravity magic, and space-time magic and... feels both close and far away."
"It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but in terms of SP amount, we're close to the halfway point after getting everything to 10."
While there was a desire to return home, since they could get large amounts of SP here, it wasn't such a distant prospect.
While thinking positively like that, Tatsuro raised ice magic to level 9.
"Now my SP is (8). We were focusing on speed this time so I hadn't been collecting much, but maybe I'll aim for more in the next layer."
"Yeah. That's right."
And so Tatsuro and the others set up two small rooms, and Tatsuro, Ai, and Leah each went into them separately to take naps.
From there on, Tatsuro and the others conquered the dungeon with unstoppable momentum.
In a sense, the seventh floor's quiz layer had been helpful.
Since they had been made to learn thoroughly about the monsters and vegetation inhabiting the dungeon there, dealing with them was easier.
And so while spending days going through floor 10, floor 15, they were currently stopped after finding the point to go to the next floor on floor 19.
This was because that place was a demonic setup where they had to endlessly aim for the summit while entering a mountain stream and dealing with traps and flowing monsters, so currently everyone was soaked and covered in mud.
Thinking there would be various problems going to the next floor like this, they assembled a house on the wide mountaintop.
Then after taking baths to freshen up, leaving the watch to Cardina and others, the human group was lounging on the large sofa in the living room.
"Hey~ What floors can the level 7 dungeon boss door be found between again~?"
When Ai asked that while clinging to him with her face resting on his chest, Tatsuro gently stroked her head while digging up the information he had researched before.
"Let's see. I believe the level 7 dungeon boss door appeared between floors 22 and 29. So we're past halfway."
"Come to think of it, we were told by people from another party before entering here that a dragon would appear as a boss, right?"
"Yeah. Though there are 4 other boss types too, so that's only if we're lucky enough to get it."
"Lucky...? I think normally 'unlucky' would be the correct answer."
"Haha, that's true."
While having such a conversation with Leah who was staring at the ceiling to recover from fatigue diagonally across from them.
Tatsuro remembered the female adventurer who had told them about the dragon boss, who was probably the core member of that party.
(I wonder if those people are still in this dungeon?)
"Hmph. Just now Tatsuro was thinking about women other than me, weren't you?"
"Hmph. How did you know? Could it be that thou can read my mind?"
"Fufuha~ Indeed I can~"
"Really?"
"Just a feeling?"
"That's even more amazing."
While thinking there was no privacy at all, for Tatsuro who felt it didn't matter if Ai knew anything about him when he thought about it, it wasn't really a significant problem.
Rather, this man was completely done for, as it made him feel more endearing that she was watching him so closely.
As she pressed her head against his chest, he lifted her body up and gently embraced her as if saying she was precious, sealing her lips.
Ai also wanted this and more actively clung to his mouth.
And Leah, having seen this scene countless times since entering this dungeon, had come to accept that these two were just this kind of creatures...
She took out a drink from her [Item Box] and took a breather without thinking anything of it.