The sound of explosions, monster screeches, and roars echoed throughout the 16th Floor of the Dungeon of Beasts.

Alex, Renard, Chuck, and Dim Dim had just descended to this floor, and they were welcomed by a horde of monsters.

It should have been a difficult battle, yet they still stood their ground despite being outnumbered by powerful monsters.

Why? 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

It was because a new helper had joined their team.

Lala’s power revolved around buffs and debuffs. She would buff her allies, increasing their attack, damage, magic, speed, and defense.

To their enemies, she unleashed crippling debuffs like fear, slow, confusion, poison, paralyze, blind, and sleep.

Lala was Reverse Latifa’s fourth Alter, which meant that she was at least Rank 5 in strength.

The more scary thing about her was that she could cast mass buffs and mass debuffs without the need to chant.

On her own, she was considered weak. But when she was part of a team, her true power shone through.

< Level Up! >

"Good job, Papa!" Lala cheered as Alex killed a Giant Killer Bee that had fallen on the ground, paralyzed by her debuffs. "Good job nano!"

She then cast Increase Speed, and Increase Attack at Renard, who was fighting in the distance.

As for Chuck, she gave him Increase Magic Attack, Increase Mana Regeneration, and Increase Casting Rate buff.

Earlier, the three of them wondered how they could go to the lower floors and if they could reach the 20th Floor to fight the Boss Monster.

Now that Lala was around, things had become so much easier.

She and Dim Dim were the MVP’s of their party. Even Renard and Chuck understood that they wouldn’t be able to progress this fast without the little girl’s help.

"Good job, Lala," Alex patted the young lady’s head after all the monsters had been defeated.

"Ehehehe... praise me more nano!" Lala looked very happy. She hugged Alex’s waist, enjoying the attention being given to her.

"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim landed on Alex’s shoulder and patted the little girl’s head as well, making Lala sigh in happiness.

"How long will you stay here, Lala?" Alex asked. "Shouldn’t you return soon?"

"Muuu!" Lala complained. "Latifa said I can play for four days outside. Besides, the gates connecting our world to this world are closed for now. I can’t go back even if I wanted to nano!"

"... You mean, you came here knowing you can’t return for a few days?"

"Right nano!"

Alex didn’t know if he should be happy or be concerned at the fact that Lala could easily cross over to their side whenever she wanted.

From what he knew, the barrier between the two worlds wouldn’t easily allow such a thing to happen, which confused him very much.

In fact, events regarding Reverse Arcana should’ve only started during their second year in the academy.

The advanced occurrence made Alex worry about the butterfly effect of his existence. Was he the reason why certain events were happening so early?

This made him more determined to reach Rank 4 before returning to the academy.

"Alright, rest is over," Alex said. "Let’s go before the monsters start spawning again."

Three hours later, they finally stepped onto the 17th Floor.

Just like the previous floors, dozens of monsters started to charge in their direction.

These battles usually lasted for half an hour before they could take a break. When the last monster finally died under Dim Dim’s wooden sandal, Chuck collapsed on the ground, panting for breath.

"I can’t take it anymore..." Chuck panted. "I can feel myself getting stronger, but this cycle is starting to take a toll on me."

"Don’t worry!" Lala said before pointing her finger in Chuck’s direction. "I got you nano!"

Suddenly, Chuck suddenly felt himself getting drowsy. A moment later, he started to snore, sleeping sideways on the ground.

Lala had cast a sleeping spell on Chuck so he would recover faster.

Alex and Renard stared at the sleeping troublemaker, wishing they could sleep just like him.

But they understood that it wasn’t possible. If one more of them fell asleep, then they would be in big trouble if another group of monsters swarmed them.

After taking a ten-minute break, Alex used his shields to lift Chuck off the ground so they could continue their expedition.

They encountered a few monsters along the way, but they were still manageable. After nearly five grueling hours, they finally arrived at the staircase that led to the 18th Floor of the Dungeon.

Since this part of the dungeon was considered a safe zone, Alex, Renard, Lala, and Dim Dim decided to eat and rest before heading to the next floor.

While they were eating, Chuck finally woke up from his slumber, feeling refreshed and full of energy.

"That was some good sleep," Chuck said. "Thank you, Lala!"

"You’re welcome nano!" Lala replied with a smile.

Since this area was a Safe Zone, Alex took out Dim Dim’s sleeping basket so the little bun could rest and recover its strength.

It only took a few seconds before Dim Dim was sleeping like a baby in its basket.

"Chuck, you’re on guard duty for a while," Alex said. "Lala, please put Renard and I to sleep."

"Okay nano!" Lala clapped her hands once, and both teenagers immediately felt drowsy.

They had already prepared their bed rolls in advance, so they comfortably lay down before the full effect of Lala’s sleep spell took over them.

The little girl moved her own bed roll right beside her Papa. She closed her eyes to sleep, her arm lounging on his stomach.

Sometimes, she wished that her Papa in Reverse Arcana was as kind and gentle as her Papa in this world.

Lala wanted to be spoiled, but she was afraid that instead of a pat on the head, her Papa in Reverse Arcana would kick her out of annoyance.

There were brief moments when she was tempted to kidnap Alex and take him back to her world. But she knew that if she did that, Latifa, Evangeline, and Fran would be very angry with her.

The three of them were already very scary in their best moods, so Lala didn’t dare to take a gamble.

In the end, she decided to just visit this world whenever there was a chance, so she could enjoy hugging the kind version of her Papa and be spoiled by him, something impossible in the world where she was born.