The guild receptionist had called it a “beginner-friendly low-mid dungeon.”
She had been lying through her teeth.
The moment the heavy stone door sealed behind them, the temperature dropped and the air turned thick with the smell of damp earth and old blood. Bioluminescent moss clung to the walls in uneven patches, painting everything in sickly green light. Somewhere deeper in the tunnels, something heavy dragged itself across stone.
Renji adjusted the cheap short sword the guild had forced him to take as an “F-rank adventurer” and glanced at the two women beside him.
Aya had already summoned her bipedal wolf. The beast stood nearly as tall as she did, dark fur bristling, red eyes scanning the corridor. She kept one hand resting on its shoulder like it was a particularly large, murderous dog. The training clothes the castle had given her still hugged every thick curve, and she looked far more ready for a fight than most of the actual ranked adventurers they’d seen upstairs.
Lira hovered half a step behind Renji, wings faintly glowing under her borrowed cloak. The fairy still looked like a strong breeze could knock her over, but her blue eyes were sharp. Ever since the night she had accepted the “second girlfriend” deal, she had refused to leave more than a few meters from him.
{One thick girlfriend with a murder wolf. One tiny fairy who still isn’t used to existing without the threat of tentacles. And me, the official luggage boy with a delete button. Peak party composition.}
They moved deeper.
The first wave came ten minutes in—six low-rank goblins with rusted knives and the collective intelligence of wet bread. Aya’s wolf lunged forward and tore the throat out of the lead one before it finished its war cry. Aya herself stepped in with a short spear she had borrowed, efficient and brutal, no wasted movement. Lira raised both hands and sent a soft pulse of green light that closed a shallow cut on the wolf’s shoulder almost instantly.
Renji didn’t even bother drawing the practice sword.
He looked at the three goblins trying to flank from the left.
Mana gathered behind his eyes. Cool. Quiet. Heavy.
“Erase.”
The three goblins ceased to exist mid-step. No blood. No bodies. Just empty air and the soft clatter of their knives hitting the floor.
Aya glanced over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised.
“Showing off already?”
“Just keeping the path clean.”
Lira stared at the empty space where the goblins had been, wings giving a tiny nervous flutter. She still hadn’t gotten used to the complete absence Void left behind.
They pushed on.
The dungeon opened into a wider cavern filled with bone piles and the remains of previous parties that had been less lucky. A pack of shadow hounds emerged from the dark, six of them this time, eyes glowing pale white. Aya’s wolf met the first two in a violent tangle of fur and teeth. Aya herself took the third with a clean spear thrust through the eye. Lira stayed close to Renji and raised a translucent green barrier just in time to deflect a lunging hound that had slipped past the others.
The barrier cracked under the impact but held long enough for Renji to lock eyes with the remaining three.
“Erase.”
Gone.
All three at once.
The private window in the back of his mind flickered.
**[Void – Concept Deletion] Level 14**
**Magic: 187**
{Almost there. Keep feeding it.}
Aya dismissed the wolf for a moment to catch her breath, thick chest rising and falling. Sweat made the front of her shirt cling. She looked at Renji with a mixture of exasperation and heat.
“You’re getting faster.”
“Practice.”
Lira stepped closer, still holding the faint green glow of healing magic in her palms even though no one was injured. Her voice was soft.
“The way you remove them… it doesn’t feel like normal magic. It feels like the world just… agrees with you.”
Renji glanced down at her.
“That’s one way to put it.”
They continued.
The deeper floors got meaner. Armored lizardmen. A pair of venom-spitting drakes. A room full of animated armor that refused to stay down until Renji got annoyed and erased the concept of “joint mobility” from every suit at once. They collapsed into useless piles of metal with a series of confused clangs.
Every clear added more numbers.
Magic 203.
Magic 221.
Magic 238.
His physical stats barely moved. Strength 9. Agility 10. Defense 9. The universe apparently still insisted he remain a physically pathetic F-rank on paper.
He didn’t mind.
Around the fourth major chamber, Lira finally stopped just reacting and started coordinating. When a group of six rock-skinned trolls blocked the path, she didn’t wait for orders. She cast a wide, soft slowing field that made their movements lag by half a second—just enough for Aya’s wolf to tear into the nearest one’s knees and for Aya to drive her spear into a soft spot under the arm. Renji erased the back line before they could recover.
Aya actually grinned after that one, sharp and satisfied.
“Okay. She’s useful.”
Lira’s wings fluttered with something like pride. The tips of her ears turned pink.
{Look at that. The pure little outcast fairy is starting to enjoy being part of the murder polycule. Adorable.}
They rested in a side chamber after clearing a mid-boss that looked like someone had crossed a bear with a suit of plate armor. Aya sat heavily against the wall, thick thighs spread, still breathing hard. Lira knelt beside her and healed the bruises and small cuts with quiet focus. Renji stood watch near the entrance, leaning against the stone with his arms crossed.
Aya looked up at him through damp black hair.
“How many was that last group?”
“Eight.”
“And you took four at once.”
“Yeah.”
She studied him for a long moment, eyes dark with something that wasn’t just lust.
“You’re changing faster than the rest of us.”
Renji shrugged.
“Dungeon’s generous today.”
The private window pulsed again as the last of the mid-boss experience settled.
**Level 20**
**Magic: 250**
**Strength: 11**
**Agility: 12**
**Defense: 11**
**New capability unlocked: Multi-Target Concept Deletion**
**Current limit: 5 simultaneous targets**
Renji stared at the text for a few seconds.
Then a slow, quiet smile spread across his face.
{There it is. The real upgrade. Not raw power. Efficiency. I can delete five things at once now. Give it a few more floors and that number’s only going up.}
Aya noticed the expression.
“What?”
“Just hit twenty. Magic’s at two-fifty. And…” He flexed his fingers once. “I can target more than one at a time cleanly now.”
Lira’s eyes widened. Aya’s expression turned considering, then heated.
“So the F-rank luggage boy just became a walking extinction event for anything in groups,” Aya said. “Great. We’re never getting normal quests again.”
Renji pushed off the wall and walked over. He crouched in front of Aya, reached out, and brushed a strand of black hair away from her sweaty cheek with surprising gentleness.
“Still your luggage boy,” he said. “Just a more efficient one.”
Aya caught his wrist and held it.
“Don’t get cocky.”
“Too late.”
Lira watched the exchange quietly, wings folded tight against her back. When Renji glanced at her, she looked down, but there was a small, uncertain smile on her lips.
They stood, prepared, and headed for the next floor.
The dungeon still had several levels left.
Renji’s multi-target limit sat at five and already felt like it was itching to grow.