The entire group stepped into the boss room with Thomas taking the lead. As the door to the room closed, torches lining the wall all ignited and provided light. Standing in the center of the room and surrounded by pillars was a monster standing at around four and a half meters tall. The giant had rough crag-like dark earth-brown skin covering over-sized impractical looking muscles. It wore nothing but a loincloth and carried a small tree as a club. As the group approached it turned to glare at them with beady black eyes that looked far too small for its head.

The women and Snowlily stayed back near the door while Thomas approached the giant alone. He placed his right hand on the handle of the katana hanging on the left side of his waist. He might mess around with other swords but he would never misuse a katana by wearing it in a weird spot. He approached the giant with a confident gait that only seemed to piss the monster off. As soon as he crossed between a pair of the pillars surrounding it, the giant let out a roar and attacked Thomas. It violently swung its tree-club at Thomas's head and clearly wasn't holding back in the least.

Thomas jumped toward the giant and rolled beneath the swing. As he rolled to his feet he unsheathed his katana while stepping foreword and slashing horizontally at the giant's leg. Mana flowed through the sword and turned the silvery blade pitch-black enhancing its durability and sharpness. The blade whipped through the air and sliced cleanly through the giant's thigh. Red blood gushed from the deep slice into the monster's muscle. The monster didn't seem bothered by the wound at all, instead, it brought its leg back before kicking at Thomas.

In response, Thomas rotated to his left and spun around the giants kick. He crouched and dashed back toward the right while slashing with his sword. He was aiming for the Achilles tendon on the giant's left leg. As he moved toward his target the giant spun around and swung its tree-club at him. Thomas was forced to back off to avoid getting smashed. As he retreated, the giant turned to face him and lifted its club aggressively. Clearly it didn't like being sliced as it looked even angrier than it had a moment ago. It gripped its tree-club in both hands and lifted it above its head.

Thomas saw it as an opening. He lifted his right hand and channeled his mana into a ball right in front of the giant's face. Just as the giant started to bring its club down, the ball of mana erupted into a blindingly bright light right in front of the giant's eyes. The bright flash of light blinded the giant and hurt its eyes. It screamed and let go of its tree-club dropping it to the ground while covering its eyes with its hands. Thomas took advantage of the situation and charged at the giant's legs once again. He ran right between them and spun around, his sword flashing out twice to slice through the tendons on both of the giant's legs.

With an angry scream, the giant collapsed to the ground as its legs could no longer support its massive weight. Its collapse caused the ground to tremble and dust to fall from the ceiling. Thomas quickly retreated away from the giant while it flopped on the ground and tried to find a way to stand back up. Once he had a good distance, he started to pour mana into the sword to enhance it as far as he could. He wanted this next blow to be as deadly as possible. As more mana was channeled into the blade it grew darker and darker.

While Thomas was busy channeling his mana into the sword, the giant managed to flip itself around and climb up into a sitting position. With the tendons severed in both of its legs, standing up was impossible. It looked around and quickly located its tree-club. It dragged itself over to the club and grabbed it. Now 'properly' armed, the giant turned its attention to the small pest giving it so much trouble.

As the giant turned to face Thomas, Thomas lifted his katana vertically. The blade glimmered as Thomas swung the sword down, "Crescent Moon!"

As his sword sliced through the air it released a stream of metal mana in the shape of a crescent moon that followed the trail of his swing. Silver-colored mana moved through the air in an arc at a speed that was hard to follow. The giant had its club angled across its body but it did little good. The metal mana flashed through the air and for a moment it appeared like he might have missed. An instant later the club the giant was holding split in half followed by blood gushing into the air. The attack had sliced cleanly through the club and deep into the giant.

Despite the power behind the attack, it did not slice cleanly through the giant. The giant roared in agony and clasped at the wound the stretched from its shoulder to its pelvis. The blow had been off-center making it far less fatal than it could have potentially been. As the giant writhed in agony from the attack, Thomas started running toward it. Mana flowed through his legs into his greaves generating temporary platforms of air that could support his weight. With each subsequent step, he moved higher into the air. To the outside observer, he looked as if he was running on the air with nothing to support him.

Though the support of the air platforms worked, it didn't feel solid and made movement feel a little awkward. Until he got used to it, his top speed would be negatively affected. Despite that, he quickly closed the distance and readied his next attack. As he got close to the defenseless giant, he held his katana in a horizontal position and slashed from the left to the right. The sword flashed through the air and sliced clean through the giant's throat as Thomas ran past it. The giant's mouth opened as it tried to roar in pain, however, all it did was cause blood to bubble and gurgle from the open wound.

Thomas landed on the ground and turned around to check on the giant. It grabbed its throat and tried to stem the loss of blood. It was hard to tell with the color of the giant's skin tone, but he thought it looked paler. Despite that, the giant still looked like it could go for a few rounds. Its vitality was astounding. Thomas studied the giant for a moment before slowly sheathing his still spotless katana back on his hip. He pulled his Spell Cannon from his inventory and aimed at the giant's head. He was done playing with his new toys. He swapped the shell in the Spell Cannon to the water bomb shell.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He didn't hold back and fired off half a dozen shots in quick succession as he circled around it from the back to the front. When he had a good view of the front of the giant, he aimed exclusively for the open wound on its chest. The balls of compressed water burst every time they touched the giant. It roared in pain and thrashed around trying to avoid the damage and pain that Thomas was inflicting on it. Each time one of the water bombs hit its chest the grisly wound opened further and more blood flowed.

It took an entire minute of bombarding the giant before it finally collapsed and breathed its last. As the massive body of the giant slowly disintegrated, the women approached Thomas. Selena was the first to speak up, "Impressive. I have so many questions."

Thomas stored his Spell Cannon back in his inventory and looked at the group of women. All four of them clearly had looks of curiosity. Minerva was blatantly staring at his katana. Aria was looking at his feet. Lexiana was looking over most of his gear trying to guess what they did. Selena, she was staring straight into his eyes as if demanding answers from him. Snowlily just trotted over and sat down next to him while wagging her tail, as if she was proud of him. Thomas looked between each of them and slowly sighed. He knew he would have to explain at some point, might as well be now, "The sword is a Katana. When charged with mana it can release a special attack called 'Cresent Moon' that launches an arc of compressed metal mana."

All four women froze, their eyes widened while their jaws dropped. Selena was the first to recover as she practically screamed, "You have a weapon with a skill attached to it?! It has to be at least Epic rarity for that to happen!"

The other women nodded their heads in agreement with her. Thomas looked curious, "Oh? So only Epic and above can have skills attached. Interesting. I'll have to try to make more equipment with skills on it later."

Selena slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't talk like making Epic items is something anyone can do constantly! It requires high-quality materials and a high level of skill! Not everyone is a freak of nature like you!"

Thomas laughed, "Yeah, I guess I'm the only one crazy enough to wear Epic gear from head to toe."

Every single one of them shuddered. Selena glared daggers at him, "Are you saying everything you made over the last few days is Epic rarity?"

Thomas nodded, "Yup. Every. Last. Thing."

Selena just deflated. She couldn't be surprised by the crazy things Thomas could do anymore. The other three women though, were all floored by his revelation and didn't know what to say or do with that information. While the women were dealing with the information Thomas had dumped on them, he walked over to where the giant had died and collected the mana crystal. It was by far the largest one he'd ever seen. He couldn't wait to purify it and see what he would be left with. He turned to look at the women and grinned, "Let's keep moving. You can see more of my gear as we go deeper into the dungeon."

Everyone moved to the door leading out of the dungeon and down to the thirty-first floor. After the excitement of the giant boss, the regular monsters were rather mundane in comparison. The monsters on the thirty-first floor consisted of lizardmen. They had various types within their groups. Some wore thick armor and carried a sword and shield or a greatsword. Others wore light leather and either had a pair of daggers or a bow. The third kind wore loose robs and held a staff in their clawed hands.

The two groups charged at each other. Minerva took the lead and acted like a proper tank. She did her best to get as much attention as she could without having any sort of real taunt skill. Aria and Lexiana both moved swiftly and dealt rapid deadly attacks. Both of them focused on their speed and attacking the enemy's vital points. Over the last two days, they'd gotten better at their teamwork. They constantly pincered a singled out enemy and took it down quickly while Minerva drew its attention.

Selena and Snowlily stayed at the back and cast various spells at the enemy's backline. Selena used whatever element she felt like from the Elements of Life while Snowlily constantly cast Ice element attacks to disable, distract, or finish off enemies. As for Thomas, he just did whatever the hell he felt like doing. Melee, ranged, magic, shooting, his sword, it didn't matter to him what he used to dispatch the monsters. With their teamwork getting better with each group of monsters they slew, they continued moving through the rooms at swift speeds.

Unfortunately, Lexiana hadn't been able to scout any further so their easy path to get deeper was over. They had to explore the dungeon the old fashioned way and essentially take random paths until they could find the steps leading down to the next floor. They spent the rest of the day working their way deeper into the dungeon. By the time they decided to call it a day they had only made it down to the thirty-fifth floor. Their progress had drastically slowed. Before leaving the dungeon, Thomas stripped out of his gear and stored it back inside of his inventory. He didn't plan to wear it in public for the time being.

After they left, the group returned to the inn and sat at a table together to have their dinner. As they were eating, Aria looked at Thomas with a coy, flirtatious look, "So... I was wondering..."

Thomas looked across the table at her and arched an eyebrow. He has a suspicion of what she would ask but he waited for her to speak. She didn't keep him waiting long, "Do you think you could... I don't know... make some stuff for me?"

The way she twisted around and squirmed in her seat was clearly intended to make her look adorable. It did, it just didn't have much of an effect on Thomas. He just smiled at her and shrugged his shoulder, "Sure." He watched as she smiled brightly and leaned toward him before he continued, "For the right price."

Aria immediately deflated and looked devastated. Selena and Minerva laughed at her reaction making her deflate even more. Once they got done teasing Aria and laughing at her expense, Selena spoke up, "In all seriousness, if you'd be willing to make some gear for us, I'd be willing to pay an appropriate price."

Thomas smiled as he nodded, "No problem. We can discuss it once we're done with the dungeon. As long as you don't want anything similar to the Spell Cannon, I'm sure we can work out a deal."

After they talked a bit longer, everyone retired to their rooms. Thomas sat on his bed and opened his status page. He'd saved up a rather large amount of experience at this point. It was time to spend it all and see where he ended up! He grinned like a maniac as he started to spend every last point he'd earned. It would still be a while before he got to his goal, but every day in the dungeon would bring him one step closer!