Time pressed on and clearing the floors remained the top priority for the Asteries.

As they progressed, the floors grew increasingly larger and by the time they reached the 15th floor, it took them multiple hours just to locate the boss.

In the end, it took them three days to clear the 20th-floor objective.

The floors from the 20th to the 30th featured an oceanic setting. Thanks to their prior experience hunting in water, the group adapted quickly and cleared the entire section within a week.

It was only upon reaching the 31st floor that they encountered solid, layered terrain once again.

With a massive cave network and ever-increasing tiers of monsters, clearing floors became progressively harder and slower.

Finally, after a week and a half, they reached the 40th floor.

***

[Master, I’ve located the boss.] Dhruv heard Aurora’s voice through the connection.

[Huh! Finally... we found the bastard. How long are we searching for it again.]

[Two days, Master. We’ve been searching for a total of two days.]

’Motherfucker... hiding in the deepest part of the cave,’ Dhruv thought, cursing the monster.

Observing the timing, he was sure that a single floor spans more than 100km.

’Let’s see where are you.’ Thinking he looked at the shared coordinates and began moving toward it.

It still took Dhruv an hour to reach the boss, even after taking the shortest path possible.

"Just you and Alaric? Nobody else has arrived yet?" he asked, looking at the duo.

Alaric shakes his head.

"Are they on their way?"

"No, Master. The others were too far away, so they just went back to the first floor. Should I call them here?" Alaric asked, bowing his head. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"There’s no need for that," Dhruv replied.

After thinking for a moment, he turned to Aurora and asked, "So where is it?"

"Just a hundred meters to the right... there’s an open area about a kilometer wide. It’s there, sleeping or doing something like that," Aurora explained.

"Has it seen you?" Dhruv asked.

"No... I don’t think so," Aurora replied confidently being confident in her mana-masking ability.

"How strong is it?"

"Early to mid-Unique Tier V."

With every ten floors, the tier of the monsters was increasing. From floors 10 to 20, they encountered Unique Tier III monsters.

Reaching the twenties brought them face-to-face with Tier IV monsters. Now, here on the thirties floor, they were dealing with Tier V monsters.

This linear increase in tiers made the group uneasy, but Aurora had assured them there was no way anything above Tier VIII would appear here.

Even the strongest of planets only encountered a maximum of Tier VII monsters in the quest rounds.

This brought some peace of mind to Dhruv, but he still had doubts. These doubts pushed him to double down on clearing the floor and check the fortieth floor.

Before anything else, Dhruv wanted to confirm whether Tier VI bosses would appear there or not.

"We can still use our early strategy with it, right?" he asked.

"I’m not so sure, Master. There aren’t many who can defeat Tier V monsters, so there’s no point in studying its moves. And fighting a Tier V with your hands bound doesn’t sound like a good idea to me," Aurora replied.

"I was even thinking of helping you... but I’m sure you can handle it alone," Alaric added.

Nodding his head, Dhruv began moving. As he closed the distance, the mana leaking from the core began to get clearer and clearer.

To show its dominance, the boss isn’t even trying to hide its mana. It is letting anyone brave enough to approach know what they are dealing with beforehand.

’It’s definitely Tier V,’ he confirmed to himself.

Ensuring his core was full of mana, Dhruv moved hastily.

Within minutes he was in front of the boss.

"It’s a massive one, isn’t it?" Aurora’s voice came from beside him.

He had encountered multiple Tier V monsters by now, but none of them compared to the one before him.

In front of him lay a giant crystalline monster with ten octopus-like arms. Its massive body was mostly composed of these arms, with a ten-meter-wide head attached to it.

A pure star-like structure protecting its powerful core.

"It sure is..." Smirking, Dhruv removed his invisibility and whispered, "We should wake him from his sleep, shall we?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the monster sensed an unfamiliar presence in its lair.

Both of their eyes met for a split second, as they read each other’s intentions like a plain book.

The darkness within its body faded as it began to shine with a vibrant blue hue. Lifting one of its arms it plunged it deep into the ground.

Shake!..

Rumble!..

Rumble!..

Mana rippled through the cave as the ground began to quake violently.

Dhruv pulled out his staff while crystals started sprouting from the ground. Jumping into the air, he charged up [Pierce] and aimed at the rapidly growing crystals around him.

The heat from his attack cut straight through the crystals, halting their growth. Powering up the enchantment again, Dhruv fired it directly at the monster.

Instead of taking a defensive stance, the monster opened its massive jaws.

Mana gathers in an instant as a beam of energy shot toward Dhruv, blasting straight through his fire.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Tens of mana shields broke, buying Dhruv enough time to evade the beam. The beam slammed into the cave walls, sending massive chunks of rock crashing down.

Wings materialized from Dhruv’s back as he flew into the air.

With a swift motion, tens of molten spears materialized around him. Enhancing them to their limit, he launched the spears toward the monster’s core.

The boss immediately went on the defensive—crystalline structures rapidly grew, trying to add an extra layer of shield around the core.

"STOP!"

A loud voice echoed throughout the cave, and the crystals stopped growing.

Molten spears struck the monster, carving a sizable chunk out of its body.

’Shit...’

Faced with the growing backlash, Dhruv quickly discharged the Authority spell and looked at the monster.

’Not even a second...’