She felt… they weren't merely dragged into troublesome currents. The relentless questions before her made it seem as though nothing ahead was clear at all.
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18th floor, Rivira Town.
Bete, Lefiya, and Filvis, this strange trio, were walking down the main street.
The town, still under reconstruction, looked somewhat busy.
"Mr. Bete, may I ask where we're going?"
Bete clicked his tongue. Though he seemed impatient, he still answered Lefiya.
"Ais and Fron, those two... Since the request they accepted was to investigate the monster outbreak, they'll definitely show up on the 18th floor. Even if they don't need to restock or repair equipment, they still need to buy food, right? And water. As long as we find the local boss here, it'll be easy to get information."
As adventurers of the Loki Familia, there was no need to say how eye-catching they were. Besides, neither Fron nor Ais had bothered to hide their presence, many people in the tavern had already seen them.
"Local boss?"
"Hmph, that's right. Over here."
Bors ran a weapon and equipment shop in Rivira. Although the items weren't anything great, they were more than enough for Lv.2 and Lv.3 adventurers.
The most eye-catching was the armor displayed in front, newly added after the monster invasion.
That armor, Bors had picked it up after the invasion. At the time, Revis had stripped off her disguise and thrown the armor on the ground.
Fron had collapsed, Ais had all her attention on him, Lulune had been scared witless, and naturally no one bothered to pick up the set scattered there.
Another item bore the Loki Familia's crest on white cloth, clearly belonging to one of its adventurers.
"Welcome, hm? You guys again? Damn Loki Familia."
"Hey, I'm asking you something. You saw those guys, Ais and Fron, right?"
Bete leaned an arm on the counter, his tone unfriendly as he questioned Bors.
"Hm? The Sword Princess and Flame Demon?"
Remembering the glimpse he had caught of the two earlier that morning in the tavern, Bors rubbed his fingers together.
"I know, sure. But you know how it is , information like that doesn't come free. We're all adventurers, right?"
"..."
Seeing Bors's greedy look, Lefiya gave an awkward smile.
As for Bete,
Crack.
He grabbed Bors by the neck and lifted him up.
"Cough, cough! I'll, I'll talk! Put me down, I'm gonna die, gonna die!!!"
"..."
If there was ever an example of bullying the weak but fearing the strong, Bors was showing it vividly.
"Cough, They went down."
"Cut the crap and say it."
"Ah, ah, no need to rush! Look, you noticed on your way here, right? Injured adventurers everywhere."
"Hm? What happened."
Clearly, Loki hadn't had the time to explain to them why Fron and Ais had gone to investigate the 24th floor.
"Yesterday, a monster riot broke out on the 24th floor. Those people you saw are adventurers who escaped with their lives."
"The 24th floor... the pantry..."
"Let's go, you idiot."
Truth be told, as Rivira's ringleader, Bors' information network was sharper than even the Guild's.
After all, whatever happened, Rivira on the 18th floor was always the first to know, often the very center of the storm. The state of the adventurers in town said it all.
"Damn it, Loki Familia again! Always Loki Familia!"
"Finn, that damned royal elf, the Sword Princess, the Flame Demon, all the same! So arrogant!"
"Hey, I'll pay you. Help me get back at that damn werewolf, won't you?"
Lefiya's little face was full of confusion. What the heck is even happening???
"Heh... no, no way."
"Right, this thing... it belongs to our Familia?"
Lefiya's eyes were drawn to the Familia crest nearby.
"Ah, that? The Sword Princess left it here for safekeeping. Of course, safekeeping, Wait, hold on. Hey, elf, you're not teamed up with her, are you?"
"Eh? Do you mean Miss Filvis?"
Bors, who had been fuming, suddenly calmed down. He rubbed the counter with his palm and looked at Lefiya seriously.
"As someone who's been around, let me give you advice. You'd better not team up with her. Otherwise..."
"Eh?"
Outside the shop, Filvis stood alone on the street. Her hollow eyes gazed at the cavern's ceiling, and no one knew what she was thinking.
Not far from Rivira, in the forest of the 19th floor...
A figure wearing a purple hooded cloak and a patterned mask suddenly appeared.
It did nothing, only stood silently, as if waiting for something.
...
In a narrow passage separated by green walls, red hair and silver hair clashed violently.
A thin silver rapier and a strange great sword clashed nonstop, each strike filled with technique and experience, powerful enough to tear the air and cause serious wounds instantly.
The clear ringing of steel echoed through the chamber. With her unusual body, Revis always managed to surprise Ais with unexpected tactics, mixing punches and kicks into her swordplay.
At first, Ais had suffered some small losses, but she quickly adjusted, using her agility and finesse to stay on her opponent, and then striking back with her beloved sword.
With a sharp clang, Ais once again deflected the great sword. Taking advantage of the brief gap, she counterthrust with her rapier, forcing the enemy back in an instant.
"Lv.5, no... Lv.6, is it? Last time I saw you, you didn't have this much strength."
Pulling back, Revis narrowed her eyes, staring fixedly at Ais.
"And why don't you use the wind, Aria?"
Ais' cold face shifted slightly. She raised her voice a little.
"Don't call me that. My name is Ais Wallenstein. Aria is my mother."
With a heavy thud, Revis came at her again, gripping her great sword with both hands and swinging hard.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang...
In an instant, they exchanged more than ten blows, their movements so fast they left afterimages.
"Don't make me laugh. Aria could never have a child."
Meeting her gaze, Ais saw in Revis' eyes a twisted obsession.
With a sharp whoosh, Revis slashed again, but Ais ducked slightly, easily avoiding the blow that had been carefully prepared.
"Ahhh, damn it!"
Swinging her great sword wildly, Revis grew more and more agitated.
"The one who must settle the score for Fron's wounds is me!"
--!?
Revis' cold, emotionless face suddenly revealed shock at Ais' words.
"Hah? Revenge? You're just a puppet, yet you talk about that?"
After speaking, the battle between the two flared up again!
...
Dungeon, 24th floor, "Pantry."
This scene, like some demon's lair, made the adventurers tremble uncontrollably. It was hard to imagine what kind of power could alter the dungeon's natural environment like this.
"I've never heard of something like this before…"
Asfi pushed up her glasses, forcing herself to calm down.
"Flame Demon, do you know something…?"
"..."
Truthfully, he always wanted to complain, could she please stop calling him by such a chūnni nickname? But in this atmosphere, he just couldn't say it.
Looking around, the green walls squirmed, the green carpet on the ground clung to their feet, the stench that assaulted them was already overwhelming their senses, and on top of that were those densely packed flower buds…
"I don't know much, but I do know… this might all be connected to that thing." He raised his chin, gesturing toward the most eye-catching creature within sight.
There, in the center of the massive cavity, atop a crystal quartz pillar radiating a mysterious blood-red glow, an enormous, grotesque vine-monster lay dormant.
If one compared it to the Violas, whose bodies already spanned over a dozen meters, then these three monsters were easily more than ten times larger.
Their heads were even more vividly colored than the Violas, resembling the grotesque bloom of evil, twisted plants. From their bodies extended vine-like appendages, like tentacles, crawling densely over the crystal pillar.
Bathed in the blood-red light, those vines expanded and contracted, throbbing like human organs and blood vessels, nauseating to behold.
Under everyone's gaze, with each "pulse" of those vine-like tentacles, something was absorbed, circulated, and repeated.
Stretching further along the monsters' bodies, those nutrient-fed tendrils spread across the ceiling, the walls, the ground, carpeting everything until they formed that suffocating green blanket the adventurers had stepped into.
In other words, the true culprits behind this demon's lair were these three "giant flowers."
Every pulsation of the vines, accompanied by that unsettling "slithering" sound, and the terrifying, distorted scene before them, made everyone's scalps prickle and their backs go cold. The adventurers' minds and bodies began to waver.
"Those vines… could it be…"
Asfi seemed to have realized something. A terrifying thought etched itself deeply in her mind and wouldn't go away.
Her unsteady eyes sought comfort as she turned toward the blond man beside her.
She wanted so badly to hear from Fron's mouth: "No, it's not what you think." But… reality gave her no such relief.
"Yeah, looks like they're absorbing the nutrient fluid from the pantry, converting it into their own sustenance, and then… those densely packed flower buds are the monsters cultivated from it , the Violas."
Fron calmly explained the principle to Asfi.
"You're sure you're not mistaken? Monsters creating other monsters? I've never heard of such a thing! Just what is happening in this dungeon!"
"They're like parasitic creatures, leeching excess nutrients from the dungeon, then growing madly, multiplying, spreading… until, well, here you have it, a demon's lair, or rather, a plant labyrinth."
Of course, besides the enormous, obvious monsters, there were other groups hidden within the vast cavity.
When Fron saw them, at first he thought his eyes were deceiving him…
But on closer look…
What the hell? Don't tell me members of the Evilus are here too…
Again and again, things spiraled beyond expectations. From the moment he arrived in this labyrinth city of Orario, Fron never placed all his hopes in what he remembered.
The world was real. Even if he didn't act, changes would happen anyway. And his own presence only accelerated it.
He had wanted to bide his time, grow slowly, quietly become the strongest before emerging, but the plan kept being disrupted.
Low-profile growth, unnoticed survival, but exposure followed again and again.
Now, a third force had appeared, completely shattering his understanding…
"The way those people are dressed, could it be…"
Because of her Familia's nature, Asfi knew many secrets, like Orario's underworld, like the Evilus…
This third force was a group entirely clad in hooded cloaks and head coverings, concealing most of their bodies.
Clearly, they had secrets they couldn't allow to be seen.
When they saw Hermes' Familia and Fron's party suddenly enter the great cavity, the cloaked group stirred with unrest.
Was it fear? Shock? Or… something else?
And so, beneath the pulsing breath of the monsters, the two sides faced off.
The air grew thick with murderous tension. Just then, Fron quietly reminded Asfi:
"See that thing atop the crystal pillar? That's… the Jewel Fetus."
Lulune's face froze too. Having seen it before alongside Fron, she recalled the twisted abomination once again…
"Damn it, how did they get this far already? What the hell is Olivas doing? Wasn't the Violas supposed to hold them off? And this is all we've got?"
…
"Maybe it's because you lot didn't pull your weight. How could Violas alone stop elite adventurers?"
The one who retorted wore a ram-skull mask, clad in elaborate white robes, his hair white.
Unlike the others, his outfit was completely different, radiating authority. Clearly, his rank was much higher.
"But-"
"Since they've made it here, then it's your turn to act. Protect it until the great work is complete. What awaits us is a brand new world! Isn't that our goal?"
"Hah, you talk big. But fine, our goals align. In killing adventurers, we are united."
Meanwhile, everyone's eyes fixed upon the Jewel Fetus embedded in the crystal pillar.
"T-that thing is…"
Asfi's spirit trembled. Such a twisted existence should not be allowed in this world.
The Jewel Fetus pulsed in rhythm with the giant flowers' breathing, madly absorbing nutrients. The crystal around it was even beginning to crack.
Clearly… the pantry could no longer bear the strain.
It was selfish and greedy, devouring recklessly without concern for consequences. It wanted , to grow.
"Listen, comrades! Not a single adventurer must leave here alive. This place shall be their grave!"
The mysterious group declared their resolve to fight to the death.
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T/N: Bonus chapter on reaching 50 powerstones~