When Ren got to the seventeenth floor, what greeted him were three of the steel golems, Lara and Hilda had difficulty defeating.
"[Wind Slice]" The moment Ren invoked his spell, a huge blade of wind, darted towards the charging steel golems, and sliced them in half. Ren's [wind slice] was incomparable to Lara's, in both strength and size. The sheer amount of mana used was already incredibly different.
Ren didn't bother with the fading steel golems as he walked onwards. When he got a bit further ahead Ren saw hundreds more of the steel golems and other different types of monsters. There were some that looked like gigantic lion like creatures walking on two feet. Others were a mixture of a snake and a bird, and other different varieties of monsters.
The moment Ren saw this grand spectacle in such a tight space underground no less, he couldn't help but show a smile on his face. Ren then started cracking his joints.
"Now time for a little warm up."
...
An hour after Ren left the two ladies, Hilda had finally got enough stamina to move and fight. She wanted to immediately follow Ren and help him out, but she couldn't. Lara was still fast asleep, it would seem that the last battle took quite a toll on her.
Hilda had the choice to simply leave her here, since monsters don't usually revive on the day they died. It takes the dungeon core around two days for them to revive. Still there are many mysteries regarding the Dungeons, that there might actually be a possibility that the monsters would suddenly reappear.
So leaving Lara wasn't an option, but waiting for her to wake up also wasn't an option. Left with no other option Hilda carried lara on her shoulders, and ran to the next floor. When she got to the next floor, it was devoid of any noise, there weren't even any signs that a battle took place.
As Hilda walked onwards the whole seventeenth floor was empty. That would mean Ren was able to beat monsters stronger than the steel golem by himself, and in under less than hour.
Still as Ren goes deeper the monsters get stronger, and no matter how strong Ren was if he fought continuously by himself he might make a fatal mistake. Hilda sped up and headed to the next floor immediately.
When Hilda reached the eighteenth it was similar to the floor above, in that it was empty. There was nothing in here. It was so eerily quiet Hilda thought that something might suddenly pop out to scare her. Yet no matter how far she got into the floor she found no signs of either Ren or any monsters.
Hilda continued onwards and as expect the nineteenth floor was empty. The twentieth floor where the previous Guild Master was said to have fled was also empty. So the Guardian Monster of the twentieth floor wasn't the Dungeon Master.
It was as this point Hilda finally realized how much she underestimated Ren.
'So he wasn't just an arrogant fool, but he was an arrogant guy for a reason. Still it doesn't change how arrogant and overconfident he was, this showing simply puts a reason as to why he was like that.'
When Hilda continued onwards and saw the stairs leading to the next floor, she heard a menacing roar coming from the floor below. Ren was most probably at the floor below fighting something. It was at this point Hilda needed to make an important decision.
Either leave Lara on this floor and head downwards to help Ren, or wait for Ren to finish his fight, since she might not be able to help him or worse she might get in his way. Still she was the proctor of this test, and had a job to do. Hilda gritted her teeth and decided to leave Lara near the stairs as she continued onward.
...
Half an hour before Hilda heard the roar, Ren had just finished the Twentieth floor guardian.
'So the twentieth floor monster wasn't the Dungeon Master. Still that was a tricky opponent to face, I can see why the former Guild Master had difficulty fighting it. Showing the form of someone you have lost. Heh it was clever, giving the enemy psychological damage and attacking with words before delivering a killing blow. If she was as strong as the original my current strength wouldn't be able to do anything. Still it was amazing how much that monster looked like her, and acted like her. I would've been fooled if her mana flow was the same as well. Well that did take me awhile to kill, since I was amazed at first, and I wanted to hear her sarcastic voice for the nostalgia.'
Ren immersed himself in nostalgia for awhile. Once he was done, he continued onward to the next floor.
The next floor was different from all the other floors simply because it was just one huge underground area. The whole floor looked bigger than the town of Grenton. When Ren looked upwards he could barely see the ceiling even with his eyesight enhanced by mana.
When Ren saw how different this floor was he got excited. This might mean the Dungeon Master was on this floor. Ren slowly walked forward and from beyond the other end of this one room in the twenty first floor he saw a huge body moving about.
The body of this beast looked to be twenty meters long, not including its tail that looked to be at around eight meters long. When it moved its legs the ground shook, and when it opened the wings that were in its back a torrent of wind assaulted Ren. Its snake like eyes had locked on to Ren.
When Ren saw this monstrosity instead of getting even more excited he felt a bit disappointed. It wasn't that the monster in front of him wasn't strong. In actual fact it was the strongest being Ren had seen in this new world of his, well excluding Nezard who seem to be hiding his true strength.
"What a let down. I was expecting a dragon, but all I get is a King Drake." The king Drake was a pseudo dragon. It was the largest Drake in existence but it was still a step below a real dragon. Wether it be its strength or intelligence, even the size of their bodies were drastically different.
The King Drake had understood that it had been insulted roared again in anger. It lifted one of its claws and swiped downwards trying to cleave Ren, who evaded by jumping backward.
"Getting angry? I wasn't really insulting you. I was just a bit disappointed." The King Drake followed up its attack with a fire breath. Ren started running to the side, evading the fire breath heading towards him.
Even though Ren insulted the King Drake and was disappointed. The truth of the matter is he was no match for the King Drake with his current strength. The current Ren was so much weaker than the King Drake, yet to him that didn't matter.
"Silika are you ready for our first true battle?" The moment Ren asked this question he showed a vicious smile as the voice of a woman sounded in his head.
"You're finally going to use me Master? Well then let's show this overgrown lizard what we can do."