Riveria, cautious by nature, immediately voiced her objection.
Ryou raised an eyebrow and confidently said, "The dishes we just ate include several that increase magic resistance and fire resistance. Combined with Miss Riveria's defensive magic, we should be able to withstand three or four direct attacks from the dragon cannon."
"Doing so is too risky. It's safer and more prudent to proceed step by step," Riveria maintained her disagreement.
Facing the differing opinions, Finn showed a moment of hesitation. As the leader, he naturally wanted to play it safe, but Ryou's proposal was quite tempting. After all, the attribute-enhancing effects of the food they consumed were time-limited. Wasting too much time now might lead to unforeseen complications later.
"Additionally, I can cast several more layers of defensive magic. I believe this can increase our ability to withstand the cannon dragon's attacks to five or six times," Ryou added another weight to his argument, glancing at Finn with a knowing look.
"And with the skills of the Loki Familia, you wouldn't just stand there as targets, would you?"
Finn's small frame shivered slightly. The ability to withstand five or six attacks, combined with his team's ability to counteract the attacks, significantly increased their chances of success. This risk was worth taking!
Riveria wanted to say more, but Finn raised his hand to stop her. With a serious expression, he declared, "I have decided to accept Mr. Gudao's proposal. Everyone, prepare for a rapid descent!"
He then turned to Ryou, "We'll need your defensive magic."
Ryou nodded and immediately began tracing patterns in the air with his fingers. Colorful lights appeared and enveloped each member of the team.
The team members then checked their weapons and potions for any signs of loosening.
Once fully prepared, Finn waved his hand with great enthusiasm.
"Move out!"
The team immediately marched resolutely into the labyrinth.
Entering the 51st floor, they encountered Rhino men. These creatures, aside from their thick hides, great strength, and bulky bodies, had few advantages.
They might pose a challenge to average adventurers, but against the elite of the Loki Familia, they were easily dispatched.
Ryou found it curious, wondering if these Rhino men were the builders of the labyrinth. It seemed their family hobby was building mazes!
The 51st floor was breached quickly.
Ryou, who had barely had to intervene, nodded in approval at the Loki Familia's efficient combat methods.
Indeed, the Loki Familia, known for their dungeon-conquering prowess, excelled in teamwork and monster clearing, unlike the Freya Familia, which emphasized individual strength.
Before entering the 52nd floor, the group took a brief rest.
"Although we'll be using the cannon dragon's hole for a rapid descent to the 58th floor, everyone must still be cautious," Finn warned.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Gareth, you'll jump into the passage first with dual shields. Riveria and I will follow. As we approach the 58th floor, Riveria will start chanting a large-scale spell. Everyone else will follow closely. Ais, you cover the rear," Finn issued a series of orders.
The team moved like a well-oiled machine, entering the 52nd floor.
After only a few steps, Ryou suddenly felt a wave of malice emanating from deep beneath the floor.
"Spread out!"
Finn immediately shouted a warning.
The others sensed it too and instinctively moved away from their positions.
Boom!
Just as they left, the hard obsidian floor bulged as if a volcano had erupted beneath it, followed by a massive pillar of flame shooting into the sky.
The sight was both spectacular and dangerous, filling everyone with both tension and excitement.
Ryou looked down at the giant hole that had been blasted open. The bottom of the seemingly endless passage appeared to have an exit the size of a billiard ball.
Ryou knew this was a visual illusion caused by the distance.
The long passage had turned crimson, its edges transformed into molten lava, making the entire corridor appear as though it led straight to hell. Such was the power of the cannon dragon's breath!
"Gareth!"
Finn called out.
"I know!"
Gareth, fully armed like a small tank, sheathed his two giant axes onto his back, then combined two tower shields into one and held them in front of him. Without hesitation, he jumped down!
Finn and Riveria followed suit, leaping into the passage one after another.
As the others jumped in one by one, an unexpected event occurred when only Lefiya, Ryou, and Ais were left at the top.
Thud! Thud!
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed as a dozen Rhino men suddenly charged around the corner of the labyrinth. Caught off guard, Ais and Ryou managed to miss one of them.
Unfortunately, this Rhino men headed straight for Lefiya, who was preparing to jump into the passage. Lefiya's lack of combat experience was glaringly obvious. Instead of counterattacking or dodging to buy time for others to help, she stood there, frozen in fear.
Bang!
The rhinoman didn't hesitate, lowering its head and lifting her small frame, charging towards the passage. If it weren't for the attribute-enhancing food she had eaten earlier and the pre-applied defensive magic, her small body might have been torn apart by the rhinoman's charge.
Lefiya was only a level 3 mage, no match in close combat. Even now, she was in great pain, hanging on the front of the rampaging rhinoman like a puppet, almost losing consciousness from the jarring ride.
As if things couldn't get worse, when Ryou and Ais were about to help, the rhinoman at the corner was suddenly incinerated by an upward blast of dragon breath.
Though Lefiya was unharmed thanks to the protective magic, she was left dizzy and fell into a newly burned hole.
Now, Lefiya was completely separated from the main group. Judging by the still-molten lava at the hole's edge, the power of the cannon dragon's breath was evident. With her abilities, she would likely be incinerated mid-air before even reaching the bottom.
Ryou didn't have time to think. He abandoned the remaining rhinomen and jumped into the hole where Lefiya had fallen.
Seeing Lefiya below, eyes tightly shut, Ryou silently cursed.
This girl must have put all her skill points into her yuri talent! Even in a critical situation, she wasn't trying to save herself but had her eyes shut in fear.
Do you think closing your eyes will stop the dragon from breathing fire on you?
Despite his inner complaints, Ryou knew he had to save her. He adjusted his posture mid-air to minimize air resistance, positioning himself like a vertical penguin.
He then swam through the air towards Lefiya, reaching for her. When he finally grabbed her and held her in a classic princess carry, Ais, who had dealt with the remaining enemies, followed them down.
Lefiya opened her eyes in surprise and screamed when she saw Ryou holding her.
"You!? Why is it you! Let go of me!"
Ryou suddenly remembered that elves, especially royal elves, had a kind of spiritual purity. They couldn't bear to be touched by anyone other than those they deeply trusted, not even their kin.
But now was not the time for her purity obsessions and spoiled princess tantrums!
Fury surged within Ryou. With a loud smack, he landed a heavy slap on Lefiya's perky butt.
"Eek!!!"
Lefiya jolted, her pointed ears standing straight up in shock.
"Quiet down! Look at the situation we're in. Keep acting up, and I'll spank your little butt raw!"
"You! You jerk! Pervert! Sex fiend!"
Lefiya's eyes welled with tears as she screamed.
Ryou raised his palm in a threatening manner, and Lefiya swallowed the rest of her words, starting to sob quietly instead.
"Stop crying and think of a way to save yourself! Riveria should have taught you her defensive magic, 'Divine Savior's Chalice.' Start chanting the spell! The defensive magic we cast earlier is about to wear off!"
As if to confirm Ryou's words, another blast of dragon breath shot up toward them. Perhaps sensing fewer people on their side, the cannon dragon aimed most of its breath in their direction.
Several blasts later, although the magic and enhanced state from the food held up temporarily, Ryou could already feel a faint heat creeping in.
The initial defensive magic was about to fail!
"How do you know Riveria taught me that spell!?"
Lefiya's face showed a mix of surprise and doubt.
"Wait! I've been tainted by you! I, who am no longer pure, have no right to stand beside Miss Ais anymore. I'd rather die than live like this, boohoo~" Lefiya suddenly burst into tears.
What kind of bizarre brain circuit is this?
Are you a goblin in elf's clothing?
Ryou felt an urge to pry open her head and see what kind of weirdness was inside.
At that moment, Ais caught up to them, aided by wind magic. She flew to their side and started cutting through the dragon breaths aimed at them.
Despite Ais' help, the situation remained dire. Ais' rapier, designed for thrusting and being a light weapon, couldn't shatter the dragon's breaths completely—only reduce the damage.
Ryou tried to persuade Lefiya, but she stubbornly remained in her death-wishing state.
Seeing Ais beside him, Ryou made a sudden decision.
Ryou suddenly said, "If you want to die, go ahead. But Ais has wind magic, and I'm tough. You'll be the only one going to hell, watching us live happily ever after!"
Saying this, Ryou pulled the dazed Ais close and planted a firm kiss on her cheek right in front of Lefiya.
"!"
Lefiya's eyes widened in shock.
"?"
Ais' face showed a confused expression, not yet understanding what was happening.
With Ryou looking like a smug winner, arm wrapped around Ais' shoulders, Lefiya's anger overpowered her shame.
"Miss Ais is mine! You'll never get rid of me!"
Fueled by her anger, Lefiya seemed to have entered a berserk state.
What she previously struggled to perform—Parallel Chanting—now came as easily as eating or drinking.
Long incantations flowed effortlessly from Lefiya's cherry-red lips like a stream.
"In the name of Viesen, I make this wish. Ancestors of the forest, noble kin, heed my voice..."
First, she used her unique magic, the Elf Ring.
This was a special summoning magic that allowed her to use any magic previously used by her kin, provided she knew the spell and its effects.
In simple terms, it was a replication magic specifically for the elven race.
The reason she had to cast this spell first was due to the peculiar rules of this world.
In this world, there was a strange rule: even adventurers blessed with Falna could only have three magic slots, learning a maximum of three spells.
Even inherently magical races like the elves couldn't surpass this limit by much. For instance, Riveria, a top-tier mage, could only use nine spells and was thus titled "Nine Hell."
Ryou maliciously speculated that this might be a method the gods used to limit mortals.
Lefiya's three magic slots were already filled.
But with Elf Ring, she could bypass this restriction and replicate nearly unlimited spells from her kin.
Hence, she was given the beautiful title "Thousand Elf."
At this point, Ryou couldn't help but internally gripe.
It seemed that the creators had a special fondness for the word "Thousand."
Despite having more grandiose options like "Infinite" or "Endless" for nicknames, they chose the modest "Thousand."
While Ryou was lost in his random thoughts, Lefiya's spell was nearing completion.
Through Elf Ring, she summoned Riveria's Divine Savior's Chalice.
A massive white magic shield instantly appeared in front of the trio.
With the protection of the defensive magic, the three were immediately out of danger.
As they neared the passage exit, a terrifying flame covered the ground below. They instantly recognized it as Riveria's signature spell, High Victory Sword.
Terrifying magic flames rose in countless columns, covering nearly the entire fifty-eighth floor.
Under the flames, all were equal. The cannon dragon and the new caterpillar-like monsters were reduced to ashes. The intense heat even burned magic stones and materials into nothing, leaving scorched earth in its wake.
Ryou felt a great sense of relief.
It seemed the main force that had gone ahead had completely turned the tide.
When Ryou and the others landed on the ground, aside from the scorched earth, only a few enhanced cannon dragons, several times the size of regular ones, were still struggling.
"Leave one cannon dragon!"
Seeing the last few enhanced cannon dragons about to be killed, Ryou quickly called out to stop them.
Bete and Tione, who were amid a massacre, instinctively looked at Finn. Seeing him nod, they left one heavily wounded cannon dragon alive and killed the rest.
"Lefiya! Are you alright?"
Lefiya's close friend, Tiona, immediately rushed to her side, looking extremely worried.
"As long as you're not hurt."
Riveria, Lefiya's teacher, also stepped forward to check on her. Her gaze toward Ryou softened as well.
"Thank you, Mr. Gudao!"
Finn looked gratefully at Ryou.
He naturally saw that without Ryou's intervention, they wouldn't have been able to save Lefiya, the promising new member of their familia.
With the replication magic Elf Ring, Lefiya had limitless potential.
The Loki Familia was grooming her as Riveria's successor.
Otherwise, with her rash personality and extreme lack of combat experience, she wouldn't be able to follow the main force.
Ryou waved his hand. Even though he and Lefiya were rivals in love, he couldn't just watch a young girl be burned to ashes.
"Come over and help me out. Get some blood from the dragon. I need it to mix a drink." After saying this, Ryou surprisingly took out various bottles and jars for mixing cocktails and sat down on the ground.
"Mr. Gudao?"
Finn looked puzzled.
Ryou had to stop what he was doing to explain, "This enhanced dragon can even resist Riveria's annihilation magic. Combined with the natural magical resistance of dragon kind, using their blood to mix a cocktail might yield some surprising results."
Finn suddenly understood and quickly commanded the stronger members of the team—Bete, Tiona, and Gareth—to subdue the enhanced dragon, while Tione was responsible for drawing its blood.
A large cup of thick, bubbling fresh blood was placed in front of Ryou.
Ryou first dipped his pinky into the blood and tasted it.
Even though it was just a drop, Ryou felt as if he had swallowed a ball of scorching fire.
It burned from his throat down to his stomach.
Despite the intense and terrifying effect, Ryou was not alarmed but rather pleased. He was more worried about no effect at all. With such an effect, once he mixed it into a cocktail, the resulting drink would be incredibly potent!
Ryou then began recalling various cocktail mixing techniques, combining them with the rules he had explored in this world and continuously added various colored liquids into the cup.
He looked like a wizard concocting a potion.
Ten minutes later, Ryou had mixed a cup of gorgeous crimson liquid.
"Is it a success?"
Finn couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know," Ryou replied without turning his head.
He played with the drink in his hand for a while before preparing to drink it.
Suddenly, Ryou paused, put down the cup, took out a small shot glass barely larger than his thumb, poured a little of the drink into it, and then downed it in one go.
Whoosh!
Ryou immediately felt a flame rush from his stomach to his head.
This was not an illusion. When Ryou opened his mouth, he spewed a thin stream of fire, startling everyone around him.
Ryou quickly took out a bottle of healing potion and drank it. After a while, he showed a look of frustration, picked up the cup, and poured the liquid onto the ground.
Sizzle!
As soon as the liquid touched the ground, it spontaneously ignited.
"What is this..."
Finn couldn't help but look puzzled.
"Failure. The dragon blood's effect is too intense," Ryou briefly explained before diving back into his tense mixing work.
After a while, Ryou picked up another cup of liquid, this time blue in color.
Ryou poured another small glass and drank it in one gulp. Everyone watched him nervously, afraid he would spew fire again.
This time, Ryou did not react and just shook his head.
"No effect... or rather, not the effect I wanted."
Seeing the question in Finn's eyes, Ryou explained.
Perhaps due to the previous effect being too strong, he had chosen to suppress the dragon blood's effect. As a result, this time it was overly suppressed, and the dragon blood's effect was completely nullified. Instead, the auxiliary ingredients' effects were highlighted.
Even though it was fire-attribute dragon blood, he ended up mixing a cocktail that enhanced ice-attribute resistance, which made Ryou feel helpless.
Not wanting to waste it, Ryou still had them drink it.
"Mr. Gudao, should we..."
Finn's eyes showed some hesitation.
Ryou naturally knew that Finn was worried about the time it would take to mix the dragon blood cocktail.
"Give me half an hour. If I succeed, it will increase the success rate by 10% to 20%," Ryou promised confidently.
Finn gritted his teeth.
"I'll give you one hour..."
"You won't be disappointed," Ryou replied with a confident smile.
He then ignored everyone and focused completely on his task, entering his bartender mode.
Time ticked by, but he was met with failure after failure.
In the blink of an eye, forty to fifty minutes had passed.
Either the effect of the dragon blood was too strong, or it was overly suppressed, rendering it ineffective.
"Hurry up, will you!"
Bete, who was restraining the dragon, urged impatiently.
To extract the dragon's blood, they had to keep the dragon alive. If it died, its corpse would be absorbed by the dungeon, making all their efforts futile.
As a result, Bete and several other strong team members had to use their strength to forcibly restrain the dragon, which was exhausting over time.
Seeing Ryou busying himself non-stop, even those close to him like Ais, Tiona, and Lefiya couldn't help but show a hint of worry.
Ignoring Bete's urging, Ryou was fully immersed in his world.
At that moment, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.
I've been failing because I've always tried to suppress the effects of the dragon blood to achieve balance. But as the ancient saying goes, "It is better to channel than to block."
Instead of trying to suppress the intense effects of the dragon blood, why not make it gentler and allow it to release its energy slowly?
With this new approach, Ryou immediately changed the formula.
After several experiments, he finally completed it just before the one-hour limit.
"Did it work?"
Finn asked anxiously, as they had already wasted too much time.
Ryou didn't answer but carefully examined the liquid in the glass.
Compared to before, this drink seemed quite ordinary at first glance, except for its crystal-clear, ruby-like appearance.
Ryou picked up the glass and drank it in one gulp. Instantly, he felt like he was sitting in a heated room during a cold winter, enjoying a steaming hot pot, warming him from head to toe.
Whoosh!
A visible red magical aura emanated from his body, though it was very gentle.
After a while, Ryou opened his eyes, unable to contain his joy.
"Success! Not only have my strength, endurance, and magic power greatly increased, but even my magical resistance and fire resistance have improved significantly!"
Even the usually composed Finn couldn't hide his excitement. He quickly urged everyone to drink the cocktail.
"Wow! What a drink! What's it called?"
Finn exhaled deeply.
Ryou thought for a moment, raised his glass towards the light source above, and said, "Let's call it... 'Dragon's Flame'."