Level seventeen was the first truly challenging level. It was a cold level again, taking advantage of the fact that we were wet from the water. We went back up to the dry area of level sixteen and I had everyone change into warmer clothing before we headed back down.
There were ice golems and giant seals that we had to fight. Compared to the previous floors, these battles were actually genuinely challenging. In fact, other than bosses and power leveling, these were the most intense fights yet. I found myself needing to heal the girls after almost every encounter that involved more than one enemy.
This wasn’t the first time we had been on a level 17 floor. In fact, by all accounts, Celeste and I had tackled a level 17 by ourselves when we were tackling Karr’s dungeon. However, that was the difference between ghosts and other enemies. Ghosts are immune to physical attacks. The trade-off was that they were relatively weak enemies. On top of that, I took advantage of some pretty powerful spells and items to compensate. I was able to perform at a level many times greater than normal as a result.
Now, we were fighting enemies on the same playing field. There might be a full team of 6, but we had no unusual advantages or strengths beyond a well-rounded party. The result was that the battles were tough.
For the first time, I was starting to see the limits of the party. Of course, had Raissa been here, she’d definitely be slapping her face. Even at this level, we were moving fairly casually. Most Dungeon Divers would look at us with their mouths open in shock at our somewhat easy-going nature.
I didn’t know it, but what I considered tough was what other Dungeon Divers considered impossible. Dungeon Diving was a field where you risked your life for rewards. By all accounts, we weren’t at a state where anyone in the party was at risk. Even if we made mistakes, there was more than enough precautions to keep us safe. It wouldn’t be until after we passed level 20 that we’d experience something completely new to us. A level of difficulty that normal dungeon divers had to deal with every day of their normal careers.
Well, I would have experienced this if it wasn’t for one thing, the fact that my girls were leveling at a rate of 2 X on 2 jobs while I leveled at 10 X on three jobs. Leveling at nearly thirty times the rate of a normal person from this world, any Dungeon Diver who fought tooth and nail for his income would cry if he heard of such a thing. At the very least, he would pray that I was using my boons responsibly so that I leveled up an important job to help the survival of my party.
[Pervert has increased to level 12.}
“Hah… Hah… this is much harder than I anticipated.” I gasped.
The girls all looked down at a certain hard thing and nodded.
“I’ll take care of this one.” Celeste happily ran forward and moved to her knees.
“I think I’m going to train something else. At this rate we have to stop after every battle so one of you can… ease the pressure.”
“N-no!” Lydia denied it. “You can’t give up now!”
“Every job is important to level!” Shao declared.
“After every fight, it’s like one of us gets a treat!” Celeste says while opening her mouth and enjoying her treat.
As I let the pervert inside me loose on Celeste’s mouth, I decide not to think about it to much. This is just a necessary part of Dungeon Diving.
If any other Dungeon Diver heard that, they’d cry tears of blood.