Let's Level Up So We Don't Lose to the Muscleheads!

Hannah and I caught our breath. Somehow, I felt relieved to have gotten away from that group.

"All right, here's today's plan. We're going to change it a little."

"Huh? Okay. But why?"

Hannah tilted her head at my words, looking puzzled. Seeing her do that while holding a two-handed mace was a little scary, though... But whatever.

I'd told Hannah today's plan was to gather materials from floors six through nine, just like yesterday, then defeat the boss on floor ten and head back.

But seeing that muscle squad changed my mind.

"Until now, we'd practically had the lower-tier beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeons to ourselves, right? But that muscle squad we just saw will probably pass the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉 test."

"Yeah, so that means we'll have competition, right?"

"Exactly. We're far ahead of them in terms of pace, but we can't afford to take it easy anymore."

Our progress so far had probably been pretty fast by normal standards, but to me, it still felt like I'd been holding back to match Hannah's pace...