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Afterward, Finn reported the information about the red-haired woman to the Guild.
He originally intended to find out the woman's name and Familia through the Guild and have her punished, but even after the Guild staff thoroughly combed through their records, they couldn't find a single Level 5 adventurer who matched her description exactly.
Perhaps she came from outside Orario, or maybe she had hidden her level from the Guild.
Whatever the reason, one thing was certain: they couldn't identify her for now. Although the Guild, at the strong request of the Ganesha Familia, added her to the wanted list and circulated her information among top-tier adventurers, and the Guild continued investigating, in the end… nothing came of it.
Ais felt a little disheartened.
She had finally gotten a lead on "Aria," but once again, it had hit a dead end.
And she also felt a little… unwilling.
On the 18th Floor, she had actually been inferior to that red-haired woman in combat. Even though she'd used the footwork Ryoji had taught her, and her sword techniques had improved under his guidance, in the end, she was still at a disadvantage overall.
If Ryoji hadn't helped her cover the rear at the critical moment, she might've been defeated by that woman.
For someone like Ais, who yearned to become stronger, that outcome left her deeply dissatisfied.
She held that frustration inside.
And during the leveling in the deep floors, she unleashed it all.
37th Floor
This floor was also known as the "White Palace."
It earned this name due to the snow-white walls and ceilings. This massive floor rivaled Orario in scale. Whether in the hallways or rooms, everything was extremely spacious and grand, with corridors at least ten meters wide.
Its structure resembled a coliseum, circular tiers shaped like a fortress, built from five levels of giant ringed walls. Adventurers had to find the correct path through the circular structure to reach the central chamber and advance to the next floor.
As the first floor of the deep floors, this was where Level 4 monsters began to appear commonly.
"Sure enough, Ais has gotten kind of scary ever since the 18th Floor incident!"
Tione supported her chest with both hands, her new curved blade crafted by the Goibniu Familia resting on her hip, and clicked her tongue as she looked ahead at Ais.
While traversing this floor, they had been ambushed by a group of over twenty monsters.
As the vanguard, Ais had charged in immediately, diving straight into the swarm of monsters.
Her eyes burned with intense fighting spirit, her entire body radiating a thirst for battle. With one circular slash after another, she shattered every monster that came at her. Her imposing manner was downright terrifying.
"That side is pretty incredible too... It's the first time I've seen him fight with a sword. I didn't expect him to be so skillful..."
Riveria, standing ten meters away, watched the boy fighting alongside Ais with admiration in her eyes.
He was surrounded by warrior-type monsters of the 37th Floor, Barbarians with the build of a raging bull, Obsidian Soldiers with bodies like black crystal, and elite Lizardmen.
Ryoji's footwork constantly shifted. He used the Tai Chi Sword to redirect a Barbarian's punch into the ground, then quickly spun around and launched a Devil Light Flowing Blade to send a Lizardman flying.
Taking advantage of the chaotic enemy formation and relying on his agility, Ryoji always kept himself in a one-on-one situation, never allowing himself to be surrounded. In just three minutes, he picked off all three monsters one by one.
At the same time as he killed his three, Ais had finished off all twenty.
"How should I put this… Ais's battles are more visually impressive, but Ryoji's battles really make you break out in cold sweat."
Finn commented with great interest.
Ais utterly outclassed the Level 3 and Level 4 monsters, so her kills looked elegant and effortless, like flowing water.
Ryoji, on the other hand, was actually on par, or slightly inferior, to the monsters in raw power, but through overwhelmingly superior technique, he managed to bring them down. The whole process was full of tension and thrill.
People who don't understand martial arts would probably think Ais's fighting looked more beautiful, but Finn was actually more frightened by Ryoji's technique.
"Good work, vanguards. Let's head to the center of this floor next."
As Tiona eagerly went up to offer food and potions, Finn issued the next command.
It had taken them five days to travel from the 18th Floor to here.
During that time, it was always Ais and Ryoji acting as the vanguard. The two of them seemed to have no concept of fatigue, completely immersed in the leveling process. When they were hungry, they just wolfed down food; when they were tired, they drank stamina potions, they pushed forward all the way to this point, their actions and demeanor like peas in a pod.
Riveria watched the two of them with increasingly gentle eyes, and the auntie-like smile at the corners of her mouth hadn't disappeared once.
These two were really a perfect match.
"Tione, how much money have we made in total?"
While the two Level 3 supporters went forward to harvest the monsters' magic stones, Finn asked Tione, who followed him around like a secretary.
"Yes, Captain! Roughly thirty million!"
"Still a bit low…" Finn sighed in dissatisfaction.
This figure would be astronomical for an average adventurer, but for top-class adventurers like them, it was fairly average. Each of them had tens of millions in funds.
…Well, except Tiona.
She had taken out a loan to have Goibniu Familia forge her second-generation double-bladed sword, and was now bankrupt, her funds were in the negative.
As they continued advancing, they also fought off monsters along the way.
Finn had long since memorized the map of the Dungeon's deep/deep floors. Under his guidance, the group did not explore unknown paths but instead steadily approached the central zone via established routes.
On the 37th Floor, close to the central area, there was a massive white room.
This room had a particularly terrifying characteristic: it would continuously spawn monsters up to a fixed number.
Every time a monster was killed, the Dungeon would instantly generate another to keep the count stable.
For adventurers trying to go deeper, this was like a bolt from the blue, but for those wanting to level up, this was paradise.
"Spartoi, about ten of them."
At the entrance to the room, Ais gripped her beloved sword, her gaze on the monsters as sharp and focused as if eyeing prey.
The Spartoi, like Barbarians and Obsidian Soldiers, were one of the warrior-type monsters born from this floor.
However, unlike the others, Spartoi were the strongest monsters on the 37th Floor, each one's threat level was equivalent to Level 4.
They had no flesh or skin, only skeleton bodies. Their pale ribs and bones were completely exposed, and their whole body was covered in armor-like bone spikes. They wielded bone swords, bone axes, bone shields, and similar weapons.
"How many do you want?"
"I'll take two."
"I'll handle the rest."
With just a few quick words, the two divided up their prey.
Moments later, the two charged forward side by side, cutting the monster group in half like a gust of wind, each one taking on a batch. For a time, blades and swords danced in a dazzling flurry.
"This entire expedition feels like it was organized just for those two…"
Tione muttered in the back, full of complaints.
(End of Chapter)