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Noah and Iris rested for a bit over the sand, as having killed the Hidden Boss seemed to have stopped the monsters from appearing at least for a small window of time.

However, they were sure that new monsters would emerge, so both of them quickly stood up and began to collect all the Cores and Items dropped from the monsters.

"Haahh… We did it…" said Arthur.

"Somehow… It was hard…" said Timassa.

"Yes…" sighed Jon.

"Let's rest for now…" said Big Sis, the overuse of Mana made even Robots feel tired.

"Phew… and the heat is not helping me relax either…" sighed Sakura.

"Aaahh… At least we are done with that thing…" sighed Sugar.

"Good work everyone… Without you, I doubt I would have been able to win by myself. You have proven your worth quite excellently. However, we are not done. It has only been two hours since we entered, and we will be training here until tomorrow morning… We might fight with such a beast at least five more times," said Noah.

As Noah's words dropped, everyone almost fainted!

Fight that giant creature… FIVE MORE TIMES?!

It was indeed insane to think about!

Arthur, Timassa, Jon, Big Sis, Sakura, Sugar, and Iris were all falling into the ground in disbelief!

"I-I should have expected such words coming from you, Noah-sama…." Sighed Arthur, almost as if his soul were about to fly out of his body.

"I-Indeed… your willpower is… quite mighty… My lord…." Sighed Timassa.

"F-Five… more… times… I… I have… No… It is fine… for Master… a-anything…" said Jon, he was doubting himself a bit but found the resolve as he glanced at his tiny and delicate hands.

"Oh my… You're really working us out, aren't you?" sighed Big Sis.

"That's… Ugh…" said Sakura, falling into the dunes and resting.

"Y-You're really insane…" said Sugar.

"N-Noah… A-Are you serious?" asked Iris.

"I am, Iris. We must keep fighting. But for now, let's rest and eat and drink something," said Noah with a mild smile, as his subordinates were instantly charmed by the smile that he barely shows, nodding in affirmation to their Progenitor's kindness.

After all, Noah desired for all of them to grow stronger at his side.

He was not giving them any help, he was letting them grow by themselves, he only gave them the power to do it, but all the effort, resources, and more need to be found by themselves.

Although he already felt very grateful for them, as they helped him a lot in the battles.

As time went by, the group drank cold drinks, washed a few of their bodies, change clothes, and even ate to their heart's content.

It was a good window of around 30 minutes, but right after that time, more and more monsters emerged.

Noah knew that these were the challenges he and his group needed.

To keep breaking their limits, to keep improving themselves.

The first two hours were already constant and hellish fights… and more than 10 hours were waiting for them…

Noah and his group began to smile more and more, greedily, and rather wickedly.

All of them were already no humans anymore, both physically and mentally…

No human, even Hunters, would be able to go through such an immense amount of stress as them.

Slashing through endless armies of giant and deadly insects, bathing in their oozy green blood, having their bodies filled with enormous and deadly wounds that would kill anyone except Vampires, and more…

Battle after battle.

Before a scorching sun that seemed to never fade away…

Hours after hours of making their muscles burst due to overuse, their bones crack, entire limbs torn apart, life and death situations over and over again.

Hidden Bosses emerging, and more deadly battles filled with desperation and burning exhilaration.

After some hours, the entire group seemed to have entered in some kind of trance…

It was as if their most primal instincts have taken over their bodies, as they only knew about working together to kill everything else than themselves.

Constantly fighting, surpassing their limits, and breaking apart their bodies just to regenerate them back.

However, they knew that this was the only way to survive in this world, to grow stronger, to reach even higher ranks, to reach the top.

Blood, sun, and sand.

Behemoths fell.

And new ones raised from the dunes…

Enormously roars resonated through the vast ash gray deserts, only for these titans to fall while the Vampires reigned over them, barely surviving each time…

Their bonds strengthened with each fight, their coordination became sharper, their senses began to evolve.

Cores and Items fell to the sands, as they grabbed them and resumed the fight…

They had already lost the concept of time.

Without realizing it, they had been fighting for way more than they had previously imagined.

At some point, the monsters began to slowly appear smaller and weaker.

Until they had completely exhausted them…

Nothing began to emerge after many minutes…

It was done.

The entire group fell into the sand.

A sea of Cores and Items greeted their sight.

How long… have they been battling?

Ruthlessly slaying monsters and taking over many hits and wounds?

How much blood have they spilled and taken back from monsters?

Noah suddenly opened his crimson eyes, as he saw that the sun had disappeared.

It was now replaced by a beautiful moon, and a gentle and cold wind bathed his body.

He glanced at his surroundings, countless cores all around, and all of his subordinates sleeping.

"Did I fall asleep inside a Dungeon? How long… did we fight?" thought Noah, as he began to recap all of his memories.

"Ah…?! At some point, my mind blacked out, yet I kept fighting like a beast… The same happened with everyone here… Hm. Perhaps I might have overexerted things…" sighed Noah.

Noah quickly gathered all the cores he could find for some minutes, and then gave mana to the robots, who had completely run out of energy, and woke them up from their sleep to save battery.

After that, he carried the rest of his unconscious party out of the Dungeon, as he noticed that it was still night…

"War Machine, what day and hour is it?" asked Noah.

"It is… Tuesday, 3 AM! We have been fighting there for… more than a day…" said Big Sis.

"T-That was insane… did we really do that much?!" asked Sakura.

"Amazing… At some point, we all entered in Automatic Mode… Did Noah-sama and the rest too?" asked Sugar.

"It seems so. So we already skipped a day of classes… Well, not like I care… hm?"

Noah was then asked by a guard near the Dungeon how he felt.

"Y-You… You are alive? We had given your group for dead… You have not come back for over a day! …But you seem to be… completely fine?" asked the Guard, glaring at Noah's body, he was completely healthy, and no open wounds were visible, only countless scars.

"Fear not, all of my group is fine. We have a very good healer… Arthur is sleeping for now. We were simply… doing our routine of training. We have completed the dungeon. Thank you very much for taking care of the Gate," said Noah politely, as he walked away with the robots at his side.

"Eh? They came with robots?!" thought the guard, as he saw the group walk away.

Noah and his group walked back to Arthur's residence as they entered their manor.

Big Sis, Sakura, and Sugar put each of the members in their respective rooms, as Noah carried the sleeping Iris to their bed so she could sleep more comfortably.

He glanced at her sleepy and adorable face with a mild smile.

"Good work…" he said, as he was just as exhausted, sleeping at her side.

Noah opened his eyes as he was greeted by the light of the sun crossing through the red curtains of the large window of the manor, he stretched his arms a bit as he found Iris peacefully sleeping while resting her face over his chest.

Noah, cold and calculative as he was, could not help but be a bit moved by her adorableness, as he petted her crimson hair and kissed her forehead.

Iris slowly opened her glowing crimson eyes as she greeted Noah.

"Hm? …Eh? Where… Oh? Are we back? How?" she asked.

"All of you fell unconscious while we fought, so I brought you back with the robots. Fear not, we did a splendid job," said Noah.

"Sigh… I am glad… Aw… I am so tired…" sighed Iris.

"Are you hungry?" asked Noah, standing up from bed.

"Eh? Yeah…" said Iris.

"I will bring you breakfast. Anything you prefer?" asked Noah.

"E-Eh? B-Breakfast? To my bed?" asked Iris.

"Yes," said Noah expressionlessly.

"I-I… I would like some toasts with… jam…" said Iris while blushing.

"Very well," said Noah, walking out of the room.

Iris could not believe that her progenitor was about to serve her breakfast on her bed!

It seemed that Noah was very happy with her efforts, and wanted to compensate her.

However, each time Iris tried to remember what had happened in the Dungeon, her mind got dizzy…

"Uegh… We really went ham there… how much did we even fight? Did it felt like hours… maybe over a day? Wait, what hour is it?" wondered Iris, as she checked the clock.

It was Wednesday at 7 AM!

"Wednesday… And we went inside the Dungeon on Sunday… Oh… Wait… EH?! We were there for over a day!" thought Iris, as she realized the amount of inhumane training she went through with Noah and the rest.

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