POV Clyde

  Standing here Watching little Hector I can't help but think there is something special about him. I know every parent thinks their child is special, but Hectar seems to have an almost unhealthy obsession with watching me and his mother train. Not to mention the fact that he's been carrying around that wooden 'sword' since before he could walk. According to Cragle Hectar is born for combat. I'm not so sure I believe that, but I prefer that over Lily thinking it's somehow her fault for insisting we continue delving as long as possible while she was pregnant. Either way it does seem pretty obvious he's destined to be a fighter like his old man.

  Turning my attention to Lily I catch the tell end of her lecture about not letting Hectar hold any actual weapons no matter how much he whines. Looking at Luna it's clear she tuned out ages ago having heard this speech countless times before. Deciding to show mercy and spare her further lectors I remind Lily that the others are waiting for use. This causes the room to go quiet. Nobody says anything but we both know what the other is thinking. Even Luna knows though she doesn't try to stop us.

  Becoming officially recognized as an obsidian rank party involved a lot less ceremony than I would have thought. I guess in the grand scheme of things obsidian rank isn't all that rare after all. It's rare in Ulgai sure but the dungeoneers guild has thousands if not tens or even hundreds of thousands of obsidian rank parties around the world. At least that was the impression I got from the person sent to verify our ranks.

  Today is the day we face the fourth-floor boss. While we are both certain of victory, we are also all too aware that nothing is guaranteed. I know that better than most having received between one and six death notices every day. Still a relatively small number considering all the people that delve every day. In fact, most of these deaths are from the people that arrived after the dungeon was officially recognized as obsidian rank. Even the kingdoms soldiers have started to delve whenever they get enough time off to make the trip here.

  Ideally, I'd like to gain another level before attempting the boss but the amount of experience you can get from fighting weaker enemies is miniscule. Especially when you consider the difference in rank. Enemies on the first two floor give almost no experience at all. Even on the fourth floor being a rank higher than almost everything else means we are getting significantly less experience than we were just two level ago. In fact, if it wasn't for the number of enemies at level 20 thus obsidian rank themselves, we would probably still be stuck at level 20. While I'm sure we could eventually reach level 22 I'm also curious about the next floor. Besides every day we stay stuck on the fourth floor is another day closer to other parties catching up.

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  After one last check of our gear, we leave the house trusting Luna to take care of Hectar while we're in the dungeon. We can't afford to let our guard down after all. Especially if we intend to make it to the boss with as little effort as possible. Lily is a little annoyed to see that the others were not in fact waiting for us at the dungeon entrance. It doesn't take long for the others to begin arriving though. Darrel surprisingly is the first to arrive., followed closely by Chandra. A Few minutes later Cole arrives, and we head into the dungeon.

  As expected, the first two floors offer no challenge at all. We still do a full clear though because coin is coin. Even the gear is still selling quite well. At least according to the merchant. On the third floor we actually have to try, though only just a little. Finally, though we make it to the fourth floor. Most of the rooms offer very little resistance. We aren't dumb enough to let our guard down though we aren't exactly trying our best either. The treasure rooms do still offer a bit of actual challenge. Chandra even managed to level up making everyone in the party the same level for the first time ever, even if I'm sure that won't last long.

  Now here we stand in front of the door leading to the boss chamber. Before we go in, I decide to do a quick check of our inventory. After all, once inside either the boss dies, or we do. That's the assumption anyway based on the fact that the door closes behind you when you enter a boss chamber. It's not like we've spoken to people that lost the boss fight. Even if people have died during boss fights the party technically won.

  So far, we've only used two minor health potions. Admittedly Lily could have healed them but as the party leader I decided that it would be best if Lily saves her mana for the boss fight and the floor after that. Not that we don't have mana potions, but I want to be able to spend some time on the fifth floor. For now, I remind everyone to check their gear and make sure they're ready for the boss. Once I'm certain that everyone is ready, I give the order, and we make our way into the boss chamber.

  I'm not really sure what I was expecting but a golem made of pure iron wasn't it. Fortunately, we've had plenty of experience fighting golems. The fact that its metal presents a unique challenge. After all metal is much harder to pierce than stone. Even knowing where the weak point is doesn't help much. We still have to actually get to the weak point to damage it.