At the same time, deep in the Dungeon far below the surface, in a wide cavern in the deepest reaches of Floor 24, a conversation was taking place.
The place was damp and reeked, the stench of rotting corpses filling the entire space. Though it was a corner of the Dungeon, no monster roars could be heard here, as if it had been carved off from the Dungeon entirely, made into a place separate from the labyrinth itself.
In that dark, silent environment, the footsteps of a crowd shifting endlessly would sound from time to time, along with restless, agitated talk, and beyond that, low, cracked cries like a broken gong, staining the atmosphere until the place felt like a demon's den, unsettling to the mind.
In just such a gloomy space, a blood-red glow faintly lit up a face with sharp eyes, green pupils, and hair as red as the weak light around it.
The owner of that face was striking to look at, her limbs beautiful, her figure full, yet her expression was cold enough that it gave off a kind of ferocity, and paired with a way of sitting far too bold for a human woman, however you looked at her, she didn't belong among ordinary Humans.
If Leo and Ais had been here to see this person, they would surely have recognized who she was.
She was the mysterious woman who had once appeared in Rivira on Floor 18, attacked Leo and his group, tried to carry off the jeweled fetus, summoned the Violas, and in the end fled after coming up just short.
"Revis."
At one moment, a figure stepped out from the darkness and called the woman's name.
It was a name only these people knew, one no outsider had ever heard.
The one who had called out her name was clad head to toe in white, wearing a helmet made from monster bone, his features impossible to make out, his tall frame carrying no weapon at all, a man who left a bleak, dreadful impression. Yet the mysterious woman, Revis, took no notice of him at all.
Not until he spoke his next words.
"There are intruders."
At that, Revis finally reacted.
She spoke without expression.
"Adventurers."
"And adventurers of considerable standing, at that." The man in white gave a cold, sneering reply.
The moment he said it, before the mysterious woman Revis could respond, the crowd of robed figures around them was already thrown into a panic.
"How could there be intruders?"
"Weren't the adventurers' paths supposed to be blocked by the migrating monsters?"
"Damn it! We were found in the end!"
"We were so close...!"
Deeply uneasy, they shouted at one another and scrambled about in every direction, drawing a scornful look from Revis.
"It's a pack of adventurers. What could they possibly amount to?" Revis said, uninterested. "Handle it yourselves. I'll stay here and guard, so nothing gets stolen like last time."
The red-haired woman seemed to look down on all adventurers equally, and these so-called intruders left her uninterested as well.
She cared only about the thing kept here, and had no wish to see a repeat of what happened last time.
Only, she didn't want to move, and the man in white seemed to want her to.
"You'd better take a look at who the intruders are before you say that."
As he spoke, the man in white raised a hand and pointed in a direction.
There, was a flesh wall.
On the flesh wall, a patch had formed a pale film of water like the surface of the moon, reflecting the figures of an adventurer group locked in battle with the Violas.
Revis, uninterested a moment ago, shot to her feet the instant she saw that adventurer group.
Her green eyes fixed hard on two people in the group, one wielding a black longsword, the other a silver saber, cutting down the roaring, charging Violas with unstoppable force, showing skill in battle that surpassed the rest of the group.
Naturally, Revis knew this man and woman.
This man and woman, one was someone she had sworn to kill, the other the target she had been searching for all along.
In this moment, the red-haired woman felt like a different person from before.
Like a hunter who had run down its prey and caught sight of its back, she gave off a staggering killing intent.
The man in white was also watching the man and woman reflected in the water film, and clicked his tongue.
"What rotten luck. So we've drawn in Loki Familia, and it's the Sword Princess and that rumored Monster Rookie who've come. Looks like things have gotten a bit tricky."
Clearly, unlike Revis, who had only a half-baked understanding of the intelligence on Leo and the others and seemed never to have touched the mundane world, the man in white knew about the information up on the surface, and seemed even quite familiar with it.
Of course, that didn't matter.
At least, to Revis, who those two were, what their standing was, didn't matter in the slightest.
She only knew that her prey had appeared.
"They're mine." Revis said without a second thought. "You take care of the rest."
Leaving those words behind, Revis went off on her own, paying no mind at all to the man in white or the others.
"So she does need someone to work with after all?"
The man in white gave an unbothered snort, then turned to face the crowd of panicked robed figures.
"The Hermes Familia lot are yours to handle. I'll send the Violas along with you."
With that, the man in white ignored those people and left, going his own way.
That left only the robed figures, looking at one another, until the same emotion surfaced in their eyes.
That emotion was called fervor. It was called madness.
An indescribable frenzy spread out from among them, dangerous and terrible.
By this time, the battle between Leo's group and the Violas had entered its white-hot phase.
"These monsters have high resistance to blunt attacks and low resistance to slashing attacks, and they also overreact to magic power, so the rearguard mages had better be careful when they use Magic!"
Just as the group was about to engage the Violas, Leo had loudly relayed the information on the Violas to everyone, so that once the team got past its initial confusion, it immediately mounted the right response.
"Vanguards, block them with your shields! Middle guards, all of you use bladed weapons and harass! Rearguard mages, hold off on Magic for now! Fight them with bows!"
Asfi took the lead with a shortsword in hand, flicking aside several incoming tentacles while giving orders, setting the whole team moving with well-drilled discipline.
Several shield-bearing Beast Humans and Dwarves stepped forward, planted their stances, and stopped the Violas' charge, holding them back beyond their shields, while the Humans and Amazonesses led by Lulune leaped and darted about on nimble feet, dodging the tentacle attacks and swinging their blades into the Violas' bodies. The Elf mages gave up their chants, drew bows, and began nocking arrows, loosing dense volleys that pierced the Violas' heads and sent one rasping shriek after another ringing out.
"What are these monsters? I've never seen this type at all!"
Asfi had observed the Violas for a long while, yet she still couldn't determine where these monsters had come from.
Whether it was the gaudy, multicolored bodies, or the bizarre attack pattern, including that inexplicable trait of chasing magic-power reactions, none of it matched any monster she'd encountered before.
All Asfi could do was note their details calmly as she moved, sweeping through at high speed to break up the enemy, her cape snapping out to flick aside a few tentacles coming at her from the flank.
That cape was clearly custom-made. Whether it was armor or a magic item made by Perseus herself, even when struck like a whip by the heavy tentacles, it still held them firmly off, the impact never reaching Asfi's body at all.
Relying on that cape, Asfi ignored the countless incoming tentacles, and as she charged at a Viola, she took a small vial filled with red liquid from her belt.
"Try this, monster."
As Asfi used a feint to bait a Viola into opening its fangs and biting at empty air, the small vial was thrown into the Viola's mouth and burst apart inside it.
The next second, an explosion. A sudden burst of fire erupted inside the Viola's mouth, not only blasting away its fangs and slime but also shattering the magic stone in its maw, so that the Viola scattered into dust before it could even scream.
"So that's Burst Oil?"
Leo saw this and watched with keen interest.
Burst Oil, as the name suggested, was a potion that exploded, a magic item Perseus produced using the volcano flowers that grew near the crater in the northern part of the continent as raw material. In essence it was a liquid explosive, a combat magic item that only Asfi could make.
This crimson liquid explosive packed no small power. A single small vial was enough to finish off a Middle Floor monster, and used in quantity, its power could even hold its own against a mage's full-power chant, which was why Asfi often carried plenty on her, a favored combat method of hers.
While the rest of Hermes Familia was still struggling, Asfi went on sending vial after vial of Burst Oil into the Violas' mouths, blasting them until their maws spat fire and smoke, so they either toppled over slowly or scattered straight into dust.
That combat power and lethality was already far stronger than most Lv.4s.
"As expected of a master magic-item maker. With magic items of different effects, she can put out strength well beyond her current level."
It couldn't yet be called a match for a first-class adventurer, but thinking of the various miraculous effects of the magic items she was rumored to make, both Leo and Ais had reason to believe that once Perseus fought without holding back, she'd be no worse off than a proper first-class adventurer.
Even as he watched Asfi, Leo's own hands never stopped for a moment. Each flash of the black longsword lopped off a Viola's head, sending its long, massive body crashing to the ground.
Compared to before, back in Rivira on Floor 18, Leo now dealt with these Violas with total ease, so that the number of Violas felled beneath his blade was greater than what all of Hermes Familia had killed.
Of course, it was the same for Ais. Her silver saber turned into cold flashes of blade cutting out without pause, each flash felling a Viola, her formidable strength on full display.
Just as the group was steadily pushing the line forward and cutting down the monsters' numbers, trouble arrived, and fast.
The ceiling suddenly rang with a low, rolling rumble, and the faces of all three, Leo, Ais, and Asfi, abruptly changed.
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