Upon hearing that, Raul gasped sharply, and when he looked into the darkness ahead, a chill ran down his spine.
--------------------------------
Fron had a rough idea of the situation, but Finn reached his conclusion using his terrifying insight and his sharp mind.
By observing the height and width of the passage, the way the route branched, and the positions of the secret passage's entrances and exits, by comparing the junctions they had passed before and the heavy metal doors beneath the city's sprawling underground drainage, and by using various sensed data together with the depth they had descended so far to reason backward…
"We should now be located roughly between the first and second layers of the dungeon, and… since this place adjoins the dungeon, there's a very good chance this spot contains a second entrance besides the 'Babel Tower.'"
Fron looked at Finn with admiration and nodded discreetly.
"Let's call this artificial maze for now… or simply the artificial dungeon. If we treat this place as the dungeon's second entrance, that wouldn't be wrong, the scent of these Violas from these passages proves that point."
"How deep do you think this artificial dungeon goes?"
Finn lowered his head and looked at the neatly laid stone slabs under his feet as he asked Fron.
"…I estimate it will exceed what we imagine. From the old cracks on the passage we came through and from the enormous scale, you can almost deduce that this thing wasn't built in just a few years. That level of corrosion takes at least a hundred years, a conservative estimate."
"A hundred years??? Hey hey hey! Fron, don't say nonsense, if this place has existed for a hundred years, how could the Guild not know!" Raul cried out in alarm; he didn't want to believe such an exaggerated fact.
Fron crooked his mouth in a smile at Raul's refusal to accept it.
"If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do, but… from my knowledge as a item-maker and a smith, calculating from the decay on those super-hard metals and the monster-repelling-stone-lined passage, time is more likely to be more than less, that is… at the very least a hundred years."
"As for why the Guild doesn't know? That question… is not something I can answer."
Finn licked his thumb and his eyes deepened.
'A hundred years or even more than that… yet beneath Orario there exists such a colossal thing, built under the noses of so many clans and guilds… such secrecy is unbelievable. I wonder… across such a long span of time, how large could this construct be? This unknown feeling is really unsettling.'
As they walked and thought, the passage gradually broadened… no, their field of view opened up.
They arrived at a checkpoint and, in that oppressive environment, everyone felt suddenly relieved.
A huge square chamber, like a cavern, whether in length or width, it easily exceeded fifty meters: an enormous, spacious room.
With terrain like this, forget about Fron and the dozen or so people, even thousands could easily be held in the room.
Likewise, on the front, back, left and right directions there was a tightly closed metal door; needless to say… it was made of Orichalcum.
"....."
Bete suddenly tensed, his ears twitching.
In the strange, silent environment, his sudden change immediately alerted the others.
Then, within a few seconds' delay, everyone including Anakitty instinctively bristled.
Fron squinted and thought: the main character has arrived.
"Finnnn~~~~~~~~~n~~~~~~~"
"..." Mocking, expectant, excited!
With just a word, the voice immediately poured out a heavy mix of emotions.
Along with the voice came light, quick footfalls.
Everyone's eyes hardened; they raised their weapons and assumed battle stances, watching warily as a figure slowly materialized from the passage ahead.
To their surprise, when she appeared she completely ignored Fron and the others; anyone not an idiot could clearly see that her gaze was fixed solely on Finn.
Yes, Finn alone.
She stood on a high platform looking down at Finn, her face carrying suppressed pressure.
Then the next sentence dropped and made everyone's jaws fall!
"I, I, miss, you, so, much!"
"Finnnnn!"
Seeing her, Finn's expression did not change at all.
Fron glanced at Finn, then looked at the crazed-looking adventurer.
It seemed Finn had anticipated the other's presence beforehand.
"Of course, you're still alive… Valetta."
Facing the pink-haired, clearly somewhat unhinged female adventurer obsessed with him, Finn narrowed his eyes.
The others also eyed this sudden opponent.
This slightly unhinged woman wore a fashionable fur coat; her hair and outfit were a bit like those non-mainstream styles of her previous life , uniformly purple.
Especially Raul, Anakitty and the others, when Finn shouted her name, they visibly tightened, their faces full of horror.
"Hahaha, I'm still alive? Oh my, my hero, that's hilarious. Compared to your fish-like memory, I've never forgotten your cold face, tsk tsk tsk… but, you remembering me really surprised me, I almost thought I misheard!"
As she spoke, Valetta's manic laughter abruptly stopped, then she viciously spat curses:
"But if you dare to fucking forget me, I'll butcher you a thousand times, then kill you cruelly! No, no, a thousand cuts are far too cheap for you, I'll pull out all your organs and turn them into skewers, serve them up to the public for show!"
Remembering that she almost died at Finn's hands five years ago, and his aloof, cruel face, Valetta had gone completely mad.
"The barking of a dog."
Fron snorted derisively, not taking Valetta seriously at all.
Just a measly Lv5 , what right did she have to be so arrogant in front of him?
"Dog??? "
The woman's eyes flashed with ferocity and cruelty as she stared intently at the young man who watched her with amused curiosity.
"Heh, heh, heh heh heh, isn't this the famous Night Weaver? Your reputation precedes you, in just two years you've achieved what you have, remarkable, truly remarkable. But…"
"But if you haven't seen darkness and chaos like mine, this time… I'll let you, the newbie, properly feel what cruelty is!"
Fron couldn't be bothered with this madwoman; he grinned and elbowed Bete.
"Bete, have you noticed? Women who're obsessed with Finn all go a bit crazy; is that… some kind of strange attraction?"