The 24th floor of the dungeon.
Inside a secluded cave.
Dix of the Ikelos Familia was leading his team, frantically whipping a Songbird Wiene of the same race as Wiene.
"Sing louder! Who can hear you at this volume!"
Crack! Crack!
Two more wounds, of varying depths, appeared on the Songbird's body.
"Ah!!!" The painful sound transformed into an ear-piercing shriek, spreading from the cave entrance in all directions.
After a while.
"Seriously, will any monsters fall for this?" Seeing that no monsters were taking the bait, a man with an afro hairstyle voiced his doubts.
"Ask Gran, he came up with the idea." Dix, carrying his spear, looked displeased.
He was also getting impatient.
"Um, maybe there aren't any monsters on the 24th floor, how about we go to the 25th floor?" Gran suggested awkwardly.
They had reached this place using a familiar small path.
They had not encountered Lu Yuan and his group.
Or rather, they would change course at the slightest sign of movement.
The Dragon Girl was currently in the joint team, and with her hearing, she could easily attract the joint team.
They had already lost one Dragon Girl, and they didn't want to lose a second valuable monster, nor did they want to clash with the joint army.
They believed that the joint army would take some time to reach the 24th floor.
That's why they initially set up the trap here.
"The 25th floor? That place has a lot of moisture, it's the Water Metropolis, plus the roaring sound of the Great Waterfall, setting up a trap on that floor is a complete waste of time." Dix approached Gran.
Pfft.
He stabbed the Songbird's thigh with his spear, causing her severe injury and making her scream even more shrilly.
"Half an hour, if no monsters take the bait after half an hour, we'll return to the safe area on the 18th floor first."
Dix issued his final command.
"Alright."
The others exchanged glances and nodded.
Half an hour later.
Still, no monster showed up.
Just as Dix and his group were filled with regret and preparing to leave.
Thump, thump, thump.
A series of rapid footsteps suddenly came from afar.
"Oh!? Gran, it seems your plan is somewhat useful, the fish have taken the bait..."
He jumped down from a nearby stone pillar and looked in the direction of the footsteps.
Sure enough.
A large group of monsters, whom they regarded as monsters, had arrived.
"More than I expected, twenty or so monsters? There are even quite a few valuable goods among them, it seems we can make a big profit this time..."
Leading the many adventurers to stand in front of the Songbird, Dix nodded in satisfaction.
As for whether they were a match for these monsters?
Heh!
He, Dix, was at least a Level 5 adventurer!
He couldn't beat Alfia, but could it be that he couldn't even beat monsters?
Don't be ridiculous!
"You damn bastards!! Release my companion!!!"
Looking at the Songbird, who was tied to a stone pillar and covered in wounds, Lanie, the half-human, half-spider monster at the front of the monster group, was furious and shouted sharply.
If Lu Yuan hadn't told her to act well, and if the adventurers on the other side weren't so strong, she would have already lost her temper and attacked.
"Oh? So monsters can get angry too... but that's right, you're even more valuable when you're like this..."
"Then, let the hunt begin..." Dix grinned wickedly and immediately ordered his men to attack the monsters.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In just a short moment, the two forces clashed.
"Monsters like you should just obediently be sold for money! Why are you thinking of resisting?"
Buzz...
The giant longsword dragged along, creating streaks of sparks on the ground.
Wielding the two-meter-long giant sword, Gran swung the sword at a nearby monster who didn't look very valuable.
Just as the giant longsword was about to cut the monster in half.
A magic spell that looked like emerald green suddenly flashed and struck Gran's giant sword, staggering him.
He barely managed to support himself with the giant sword, preventing him from falling.
"Hmm!? Is it a rare monster? Otherwise, how could it have this kind of ability? It's almost comparable to an adventurer."
Looking around.
Gran tried to find the monster that had cast the emerald green magic, but he couldn't find any suspicious monsters after searching for a long time.
On the other hand, the monster that was about to be cut in half by him seized the opportunity while he was distracted and quickly retreated.
The emerald green magic was like a signal.
In an instant.
The situation on the battlefield gradually began to take on a strange style.
The adventurers on Dix's side, when they were about to injure the monsters in battle, would always be blocked by strange attacks.
Sometimes, their attacks would even be blocked by the air, leaving people scratching their heads.
Ten minutes passed.
The monsters that had been attracted actually didn't suffer a single death for the first time ever.
In fact, not to mention deaths, not even a single injury occurred.
At most, some of the weaker monsters were just panting a few breaths because they were too tired from the battle.
"Dix! These monsters are a bit strange!!" Dragging his longsword and ordering everyone to retreat, Gran said in a deep voice.
In this battle, he hadn't killed or even injured a single monster, which was simply unbelievable.
"It's not that these monsters are strange, but that another group of monsters is strange, those monsters hiding in the dark might have found some kind of limited-time item..."
Standing in front of everyone, under his goggles, no one could see the fierce and greedy look in Dix's eyes.
Apart from the Momotaro Rice Ball that was confirmed to have been traded to the Ishtar Familia by the Hestia Familia, the second batch of limited-time items were mostly junk that Lu Yuan had casually made using the Equivalent Exchange Scales.
They didn't have the magical abilities of the first batch of items at all.
The best one was actually an Animal Cracker · Chicken.
This made many adventurers lose a lot of enthusiasm for limited-time items.
But right now...
Looking at the attacks that were being blocked for no reason, Dix had no doubt that this group of monsters definitely had valuable limited-time items in their hands!
Even a super rare limited-time item that could be used on a group.
"I never thought that this trap would have an unexpected harvest."
"Hey! You monsters hiding in the dark, hand over the limited-time items you obtained! And surrender!"
"Otherwise..."
Clang!
In a flash,
Dix's spear had somehow been placed on the neck of the bound Songbird.
Streaks of blood began to slide down the Songbird girl's fair neck...
