Before all this chaos, Natalie sprinted across town like a woman on a mission, desperately searching for Mihara, Ryou (Rio). When she finally tracked him down, she practically shouted that Abel and his party were trapped in the dungeon.
The moment Rio heard those words, he didn’t waste time with questions—he immediately conjured an ice cart around Natalie and sped her off to the dungeon entrance like an overworked taxi driver. By the time they arrived, Natalie had already filled in Rudo (one of the adventurers) on the situation. He understood how dire things were, but he couldn’t help wondering how Natalie even knew to look for Rio.
Natalie explained: a few days earlier, Abel had told her that if she was ever in serious trouble and couldn’t reach him, she should find Rio—because, in Abel’s words, Rio is “the most reliable person I know.” (Rio may or may not be blushing at this point, but let’s keep that between us.)
Grateful but short on time, Rio dashed straight for the dungeon gate. The adventurers on guard tried to stop him, but Rio simply walled them off with ice and slipped in—because who has time for bureaucracy when your friends are on the 40th floor? Instead of taking the slow stair route, Rio cut straight through the floors with water jets, essentially speedrunning the dungeon like a pro gamer.
Inside, the Demon Prince made the first move, charging at Rio. Unfortunately for the demon, its speed was less “unstoppable killing machine” and more “laggy NPC.” Rio sidestepped effortlessly and lopped its head off in one swing. Abel and the others were stunned—could it really be that easy?
Of course not. The demon prince simply picked up its severed head and popped it back on, which must have been humiliating—like tripping in front of your crush but way bloodier. Rio sighed, unimpressed by the regeneration trick. To prove his point, he conjured over 200 water jets and shredded the demon’s body into confetti. No chance of respawning after that.
With the threat gone, Abel thanked Rio, but Rio smirked and said, “Save the speeches—if you really want to thank me, dinner’s on you.” (Fable Abel the wallet warrior, here we go.)
Then Arthur, an adviser from the Bureau of Royal Magicians, stepped up to introduce himself and thank Rio, saying they’d all be dead without him. But Rio brushed it off, insisting he just couldn’t stand by while people were in danger—and wishing he had arrived sooner to prevent more casualties. Arthur, sobered, agreed and ordered preparations for collecting the fallen so they could be honored with a proper burial.
Meanwhile, Abel asked Rio to help him gather magic stones from the slain demons. He wanted to use the money to support the families of those who died. Rio agreed immediately, though something nagged at him. When he first dropped through the 39th floor, he’d felt a strange barrier surrounding the 40th—but after defeating the demon prince, that barrier had vanished. Stranger still, when he probed earlier with magic, he’d sensed something unusual near the staircase. And if Rio’s instincts were right… this dungeon was about to get a whole lot weirder.
The group plans to investigate the strange anomaly later, but for now, it’s magic-stone-collection time. Even with all his years as a mage, Arthur admits this is the first time he’s ever seen a devil’s magic stone in person. No surprise, really—records on devils are basically non-existent. Since they appear out of nowhere, some scholars speculate they use space-time magic… but no one’s been able to confirm that theory.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, the hero’s party activates an altar to summon the Demon Lord. A portal opens, and out steps Leonor. The hero immediately points his sword and dramatically declares, “Behold! The Demon Lord!”—which just leaves Leonor standing there confused, like, “Wait, since when did I get a promotion?”
Truth be told, she only showed up because she sensed some weird energy and wanted to check it out. But when she hears this guy is supposed to be a “hero,” she gets excited. Surely, a strong opponent! …Or not. The moment they clash, her sword goes straight through his chest—effortlessly. She wasn’t even trying. Talk about disappointment.
She pulls her blade back and looks at the rest of the party, who are frozen in terror. Leonor isn’t actually fond of killing people, so she teleports behind their mage and tells the group to pack it up, go home, and tend to their friend—since, lucky for him, she avoided all vital organs. If they hurry, he’ll probably survive.
The hero’s party, to their credit, accepts her mercy. They rush to heal their fallen leader while Leonor checks out the altar. The fight may have been a total flop, but the magic gem they used to summon her? Now that’s interesting. She casually yoinks it into her storage, and when the hero yells at her to stop, she sighs and clarifies (again): “I’m not the Demon Lord.”
The party is baffled. If she isn’t the Demon Lord, how could she be so much stronger than him? Leonor shrugs—it’s not her fault they’re weaklings. Still, she tosses them a tiny compliment: if they worked together, they could probably take down the real Demon Lord someday. Probably. But compared to her? No contest.
The hero is devastated at the thought that beings stronger than the Demon Lord even exist. How’s he supposed to compete with that? Leonor, feeling generous, mentions she once fought a human who matched her strength—Mihara, Ryou (Rio). Fighting him was exhilarating, and if she had to power scale, she’d say Rio is about 10,000 times stronger than this so-called hero. With that mic-drop, she teleports away, leaving the party to… well, figure out what to do with their day.
Back in the dungeon, Mihara, Ryou and the adventurers finally reach the staircase. Rio shows Arthur the strange anomaly he mentioned earlier. It looks like a magic gem, but Arthur has never seen anything like it before. Not one to leave a mystery behind, he stashes it in a storage bag for later analysis, and the group continues their journey back to the surface.
Everyone eventually makes it back to the surface, where Hugh immediately begins organizing care for the injured adventurers. Meanwhile, Natalie rushes over to check on Abel and the others. Abel gratefully thanks her, pointing out that if she hadn’t dashed off to get Ryou, they’d still be decorating the dungeon floor as skeleton art.
Things are wrapping up nicely—until Hugh suddenly remembers he has unfinished business. He calls out to Ryou and demands to know why he charged past the guards into the dungeon when he knew perfectly well it was off-limits. Ryou, caught off guard, apologizes sheepishly—he honestly didn’t expect Hugh to circle back to that detail.
Before it gets awkward, Arthur jumps in to defend Ryou, insisting that without his reckless dash, none of them would’ve survived. This shocks Hugh, who presses for an explanation. But Arthur, ever the tactician, asks him to step into a private tent before discussing it further.
Once alone, Arthur spills the whole truth: devils, the Demon Prince, near-death battles—it’s basically a horror story. Hugh can barely believe what he’s hearing. The appearance of devils at a time like this is beyond insane, and the fact that they survived is nothing short of miraculous. He naturally assumes Abel must have fought like a legend. While Arthur agrees Abel’s performance was brilliant, he adds that even Abel was completely outclassed by the Demon Prince. It was only when Ryou showed up that things turned around.
Still processing, Hugh admits he knew Ryou was gifted but never imagined he could take on a demon prince solo. That’s when Arthur drops the bomb: “Take on” isn’t even the right phrase—it was a slaughter. Ryou wiped out the prince and his entire squad in seconds. The sheer level of magic he displayed was terrifying.
Because of that, Arthur insists their top priority now must be keeping Ryou on the kingdom’s good side. If he were ever to become their enemy, it would spell disaster. To prevent political idiots from meddling, Arthur asks Hugh to help erase all traces of Ryou’s overwhelming strength from the official report. No need to give the aristocrats any dangerous ideas.
The next morning, Ryou is wandering through town when a mouthwatering aroma leads him to a local restaurant famous for its curry. And what do you know? Sera is already seated inside. She looks just as surprised to see him, though she quickly shrugs—it’s curry, who can resist?
They place their orders, and while waiting, Sera asks Ryou where he’s living. When he mentions the guild dorms, she’s stunned—only rookies usually stay there. But since Ryou technically registered as a rookie (despite being promoted to D-rank right away), it makes sense. Sera admits she’s impressed; promotions like that don’t happen often, but his strength is obvious.
After finishing their meal, the two step outside. Curious, Ryou asks why he never sees her at the guild despite her being an adventurer. She explains it’s simple—she has a long-term contract in the royal capital. In fact, she’s the sword instructor for the Margrave’s Order. Since they’re already talking swords, she grins and asks if he has any plans. Why? Because she’d like nothing more than a friendly spar with him.
A few minutes later, Ryou and Sera find themselves in the training arena, ready to spar. Before they begin, Ryou tilts his head and asks her how she even knew he was a swordsman—after all, everyone assumes he’s just a mage. Sera smirks and explains it was obvious from his movements and stance. Plus, she adds, “It’s not exactly rare for mages to cheat on magic with a shiny blade on the side.”
The match begins. Sera lunges at Ryou with blistering speed—but he reacts in time and counters. That alone makes her light up with excitement; almost nobody ever dodges her opening strike. Ryou, on the other hand, is stunned—he wasn’t expecting Sera to be that fast, and she cheerfully admits she wasn’t even going all out.
“Alright,” she declares, “serious mode: ON.”
Ryou does his best to withstand her relentless flurry of strikes, but it’s like trying to swat a hurricane with a flyswatter. Eventually, he’s overwhelmed. When the match ends, Sera can’t contain her excitement—she hugs Ryou on the spot, praising his talent. After all, very few can last that long against her, especially since she was secretly boosting her speed with wind magic while Ryou wasn’t even using any magic at all. Talk about fighting with one hand tied behind your back!
She’d love to spar more, but unfortunately, she has a tutoring session with the Margrave’s son, so she has to dash. After saying goodbye, Ryou heads home—only to bump into Hugh on the way.
They end up traveling back to the guild together. Hugh asks Ryou to hop in, saying he has something to discuss. Naturally, it’s about that little incident with Ryou (a.k.a. “Dungeon-Crasher Extraordinaire”) sneaking past the guards. But instead of scolding, Hugh reassures him not to be nervous. Arthur already told him how much Ryou contributed to saving the team, and he’s deeply grateful.
Still, rules are rules, and technically Ryou needs to be punished. The punishment? A job. Ryou blinks in confusion—since when is getting free work considered punishment? Hugh, however, just waves it off and tells him not to overthink it. His “punishment” is an escort mission that will take him on a round trip to the city of Whitmash.
Mandatory quest disguised as punishment? Classic guild move.
