Shortly after the message popped up, Nova got up from his kneeling position. He looked through the large open doors, seeing Anny disappearing down to the next floor.

'I knew it. She's scared of confronting what just happened. And I don't blame her—she must still be trying to suppress those emotions. Being forced to kiss me like that…'

It wasn't his first kiss—far from it. Plenty of women had tried to ignite his heart in past lives. But this felt different. The spark that charged through him when their lips met was unlike anything he'd experienced before.

He stood motionless for a moment, absently touching his lips. The chamber's blue light cast strange shadows across the stone floor, reflecting his conflicted thoughts. His mind felt strangely clouded.

Despite knowing that time was of the essence, it still took him another moment before he started moving after her.

'Hmm… Maybe I'm doing the same thing—avoiding the confrontation. Is that the right course of action? We're in a hurry, of course, but… I'll hear what she has to say. Once we get to the next floor, we can talk again.'

The stairway was longer this time, winding downward in a tight spiral. His footsteps echoed against the ancient stone as he descended. The air grew cooler with each step, carrying the faint mineral scent that seemed to appear near every floor change.

At the bottom of the stairs, Anny stood right beyond the blue separator, facing the other way. Her silhouette was rigid, shoulders set in a tense line. She seemed to be staring into the distance, lost in her own thoughts.

Nova paused, studying her posture. Even from behind, he could read the tension in her stance. Her fingers flexed and relaxed at her sides.

'This feels like a signal not to talk about it. Hmm… How are we this awkward around anything romantic? I feel like a young, inexperienced man again…'

He stepped through the blue membrane, feeling a sudden rush of sounds he usually never noticed hitting him all at once. His heartbeat, the blood in his ears, the echoes of his footsteps—it was like surfacing from a pool, but much more noticeable. The silence of the previous floor had been more disorienting than he'd realized.

He blinked, adjusting to the new sensory input, then looked briefly at the screen next to the wall.

[Floor 3 - Special Effect: Reverse gravity for divers only.]

[Objective: Defeat the Floor Guardian.]

[Party Size: 2]

[Note: All loot is shared evenly among party members]

"Hey," he said, breaking the silence between them. His voice sounded strangely loud after the soundless floor above.

"Hello." Anny didn't turn around. Her voice was measured, carefully neutral.

"...Should we skip the talk and continue diving?" Nova offered, giving her an easy way out of the conversation if she wanted it. Part of him hoped she would take it, while another part wanted to understand what she was feeling.

"Yeah."

The single syllable carried a finality that should have ended the matter.

Nova studied the back of her head, the way her dark hair fell across her shoulders. Something wasn't right. "...Can you at least look at me so I know you're fine?"

Anny turned to him, looking perfectly normal—shockingly so, even. Like the weather was nice, and they were taking a stroll through a street. Not a hint of panic, embarrassment, hurry, or anything.

"I'm fine." Her eyes met his, unwavering. Not a flicker of emotion.

"You're scaring me." Nova's admission came out softer than he intended.

"Why is that?" Her expression didn't change, remaining pleasantly neutral. It was like looking at a painting rather than Anny herself.

"Because if you have to work that hard to hide your emotions, they're probably very imposing." He took a step closer, searching her face for any crack in the façade.

A flash of something—irritation, perhaps—crossed her features before the mask slipped back into place. "Do you want to rescue Millie, or do you want to talk about my emotions?"

Nova sighed, recognizing the deflection for what it was. "Fine, fine. Let's go."

She wasn't ready to talk, and pushing would only make things worse. Millie's safety had to come first, anyway.

The following floors went by quickly. Despite the Soul Power of the monsters increasing by threefold each time, the duo was so much stronger that it made little difference in their progress.

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The third floor featured reversed gravity, which meant they spent most of their time walking on the ceiling. The sensation was disorienting at first, but they adapted soon enough. Water dripped upward from shallow puddles, forming unusual stalactites on what was usually the floor.

A range of enemies populated this inverted world, from two-legged wolves with matted fur to translucent slime-creatures that crawled along the ceiling. The wolves moved in packs, communicating through low growls as they coordinated their attacks. Their claws had adapted to grip the stone ceiling, leaving scratch marks wherever they went.

The slimes were more solitary, shooting globs of acidic material that fell upward toward the actual floor, raining down on their enemies.

Anny went ahead, crushing everything before Nova had a chance to ask. Her movements were fluid and aggressive—almost reckless. She caught a wolf mid-leap, twisting its body until bones cracked. Another she slammed against a wall with enough force to splatter it into unrecognizable remains. Her fists shredded through slimes, scattering their gelatinous bodies in all directions.

Nova kept a respectful distance, letting her rampage. He assumed she was getting out some frustration.

They made sure to defeat every monster they spotted, systematically clearing each chamber and corridor, ensuring their reward would be as great as possible. That was why they were originally here, and they might need all the power they could get to rescue Millie.

The Floor Guardian awaited them in a massive inverted chamber at the end of a spiraling corridor. It was a large skeletal creature that hung from the ground above, with bones yellowed by age and a giant crystal embedded in the center of its ribcage. The crystal pulsed with rhythmic light, casting eerie shadows across the chamber. Smaller bones orbited around it, floating in the reversed gravitational field.

As they entered, the crystal's glow intensified. The bones began to assemble into a more coherent form—arms extending, a skull shifting into position at the top of the spinal column. The creature hadn't even finished taking shape when Anny launched herself upward, using a nearby wall to propel her body through the air.

She crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, with her arm pulled back for a strike. Her fist connected with the crystal before the guardian could complete its formation. The impact shattered the jewel with a sound like breaking glass. Fragments scattered upward, caught in the reverse gravity, while the thick bones lost their animation and fell around her in a clattering rain.

Nova just shook his head at the display. 'I hope the dungeon won't punish me for not participating… Well, I can't complain about her speed, at least.'

The fourth floor was another puzzle. The effect here altered perception—colors constantly shifted, and distances seemed to warp unpredictably. A corridor that looked short might take several jumps to cross, while what appeared to be a vast chamber could be traversed in three steps.

Their objective involved gathering a set of small stone tablets, each inscribed with phrases in the local language. These needed to be assembled in the correct order at the final door. The tablets were scattered throughout a labyrinth of constantly shifting passageways, hidden in alcoves or suspended over traps.

Since Nova still couldn't read, Anny was in charge of the assembly. Each time they found a new tablet, she would study it intently, muttering to herself as she worked out its place in the sequence. When Nova asked what the tablets said, she always found an excuse to change the subject.

At the central chamber, they arranged the tablets in their proper order, placing each in a notch on a massive stone door. When Nova tried to peek over her shoulder to see the completed phrase, Anny deliberately blocked his view. She remained adamant about not telling Nova the solved phrase, and he could only guess why.

'Is the dungeon playing matchmaker or what?' Nova thought with a mix of annoyance and amusement. 'First it forces us to kiss, and now it's a phrase she won't tell me… What's next?'

As the final tablet clicked into place, a soft blue glow spread across the inscriptions. The door rumbled open, revealing the passage to the next floor.

The fifth floor was a bit of a challenge, finally forcing the duo to spend some essence. The effect here multiplied the weight of all objects, including their own bodies. Each step required more effort, and even lifting an arm took conscious focus.

Despite the Soul Power of the monsters only being around two thousand on average, the creatures they encountered were all trolls of various sizes. Their greenish-gray skin was thick and warty, stretching over bulging muscles. Crude weapons dragged along the ground as they lumbered forward.

Nova knew trolls were far stronger physically than their Soul Power would indicate. Their regenerative abilities made them particularly troublesome opponents, capable of recovering from almost any wound given enough time.

Nova opted for efficient wind spells that sliced clean through troll necks. The heads tumbled to the ground with expressions of surprise still fixed on their faces. Even with their impressive regeneration, a severed head meant death for these creatures. Their bodies would twitch for a few moments before going still, unable to regenerate such catastrophic damage.

'Adventurers would have struggled a lot here if they didn't bring poison,' Nova thought as he dispatched another troll with a precisely aimed spell. 'This is probably the last floor guildmaster Senna would be able to beat, and she would need a good team.'

They progressed steadily through chambers filled with crude troll dwellings—piles of bones, half-eaten food, and primitive tools scattered around makeshift fire pits. The increased weight slowed their pace slightly, but it wasn't very notable.

After clearing several chambers, they reached a massive circular arena. Unlike the rest of the floor, this space was meticulously constructed, with smooth stone walls and intricate carvings depicting epic battles between trolls and other creatures.

The Floor Guardian awaited them at the center. It was a troll twice the size of the regular ones, standing at least ten meters in height. Its skin was darker than the others, almost black in places, and decorated with ritualistic scars and paint markings. It held a giant mallet of crude steel, easily weighing a few tons.

'Ooh, could this be a son of the Mountina King? Their legendary traits allow them to grow indefinitely as their power increases… I guess I can't get the traits of enemies I defeat here, but we could possibly get the legendary blood if we're lucky.'

"Anny, could you defend me while I prepare a spell?"

She turned to him with an odd expression. "...Can't I just kill it?"

"No, I kind of want to kill this one myself. I might have some history with its family."

Anny studied him for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "...Alright."

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