It was deep into the night again.
Wrapped in a pinkish-white winter cotton dress and a thick cloak, Heith arrived at the Central Park beneath Babel. From a distance, she could already see the young man and the girls waiting for her at the entrance to the Dungeon.
She didn't understand why Isagi chose the dead of night every time they set out for a Dungeon adventure.
Could it be to make it easier for him to sneak out?!
He's surprisingly gentle that way—
No, wait, that kind of gentleness is completely unnecessary! If anything, it gives off a strange feeling of being overly deliberate!!
Besides, there was no need to sneak out anymore.
"I leave it to you, Heith."
That is what Goddess Freya had said, telling her to keep a close watch on the boy to prevent him from being snatched away by the folks from the Loki Familia.
Although she didn't quite understand the reasoning, as a warrior of the Goddess of Beauty, she would certainly not fail the Goddess's expectations!
She didn't even need to participate in the upcoming Familia expedition because of this.
Heith had originally harbored some concerns, seeing as she was the captain of the Familia's healer squad. But in the end, that guy Hedin actually said something like, "Whether you're here or not, do you think the Familia ceases to function without you? Don't get ahead of yourself, you fool!"
She knew he would say something like that. What a truly detestable Elf!
"Hmph!"
Patting her small face, Heith shook the messy thoughts out of her mind. Next, she had to properly fulfill the Goddess's expectations, and also do this for the sake of improving herself!
Work seriously, Heith!
That's right.
This was just ordinary, "daily work (Dungeon exploration)" performed with another Familia; nothing special about it.
Steeling her heart with such thoughts, she approached the adventure party ahead. Yet, for some reason, as she got closer, the woman's gaze kept intentionally avoiding the young man within the crowd...
Specks of fine snow began to drift down.
Before anyone realized it, winter had finally begun to reveal its unique appearance.
The biting night wind blew gently, brushing past the blue and white Familia uniforms worn by the boy and the girls. Hand-sewn by Cecil and the Goddess, the uniforms featured clear lines and a tailored fit, resembling military attire, complete with long boots and leather gloves—even Tiona was wearing one.
The Amazon girl, who always dressed scantily, was rarely wrapped up so tightly.
Apart from Lefiya, who wore a long skirt, everyone else wore trousers. This was because the Elf girl's uniform belonged to a specially made "Mage Dress," which was said to have cost millions of Valis.
Aside from that, everyone wore thick cloaks.
However, they all had their own unique characteristics.
Isagi's was black as always, Ryuu-senpai's was green, and Lefiya's was white.
Tiona was wrapped in something quite characteristic of an Amazon, looking like a rug with a brownish-gray base embroidered with colorful flowers and grass. For some reason, Isagi always felt it looked a bit like the skirt she used to wear.
At a glance, Ais was the simplest and plainest.
The golden-haired girl still wore her half-body silver armor and daily pure white underclothes, but she had a long brownish-red cotton coat wrapped over the outside. It looked somewhat ill-fitting; in fact, it was indeed something Mother Riveria had forced her to wear when she left the house.
Looking a bit out of place, the somewhat airheaded girl seemed to sense it herself, blinking her eyes and wondering about something.
"Let's head out."
Everyone had arrived.
Isagi looked at the girls beside him. Including himself, the six-person adventure party had a vanguard, a mid-guard, a mage, and a healer. It could be called a fairly comprehensive configuration.
Why was there an inexplicable sense of joy, like having filled up a collector's encyclopedia?!
But Isagi felt it was still lacking.
Never mind that Ais and Heith hadn't been poached over yet; even if the poaching plan succeeded, adding Cecil would only make seven people. That definitely wouldn't be enough to revitalize the Astrea Familia.
He had to continue recruiting. Though, going forward, he wouldn't necessarily need to look for adventurers. Or rather, "combat power" was no longer the first priority, but various other abilities.
Like Miss Asfi, for example.
Hmm...
Lost in his thoughts, Isagi took the lead and entered the Dungeon.
The group's goal was clear: to head to the "Middle Floors" area located on the 13th Floor, past the [Goblin Kingdom].
After the Dungeon's modification, what kind of place would it have turned into?
Isagi was also very curious—
Before long, Isagi and the girls dismounted from the somewhat crowded little mare. Fortunately, Miss Ais could fly, and Ryuu-senpai ran fast, so they didn't all have to squeeze together.
Carrying three people was fine for himself, but any more and he might have really had to hold them up.
Before them was the corridor leading to the 13th Floor.
The Floor Boss that was originally here had already been taken out. In the mist-filled chamber, only a pitch-black opening remained ahead.
Walking inside, the corridor went straight down, appearing very, very long.
It turned from time to time, giving the illusion that they had reached the end, but in reality, a path continuing downward would appear again.
It was pitch black all around, without a single ray of light.
Isagi felt the light of the Magic Stone lamp in his hand was like a lonely boat drifting on a dark ocean.
"How long have we been walking?"
"I don't know..."
"Let me check—Ah! How has over half an hour passed already?!"
"Normally speaking, it shouldn't be that long."
Heith pursed her lips.
The corridor from the 13th Floor to the 14th Floor normally wasn't that long. Even at a leisurely pace like taking a walk after dinner, it should be finished in about ten minutes.
If they picked up the pace, adventurers could reach the end in a few minutes.
Yet, since just now, the group's speed wasn't actually slow, but they just kept walking down, and down.
Almost for the first time, both Ais and Heith felt a massive sense of terror brought about by the unknown.
This was different from when they first explored the Dungeon. Back then, they were led by Familia seniors and had detailed intelligence provided by the Guild. Therefore, although it was indeed their first time stepping into the Dungeon, they more or less knew what was inside.
But now—
It truly felt like moving forward in a boundless dark ocean. No goal, no direction, not even knowing if an end existed.
It even made one involuntarily have wild thoughts: If we turned back now, could we return to the original place?
Can we still return to the surface?
Will we be stuck in this darkness forever?!
The girls' breathing gradually became heavier, until finally, after experiencing nearly two hours of travel, the path beneath their feet no longer descended but leveled out.
The group stepped into a gigantic pitch-black iron cage.
The unique rumbling sound of steel being stepped on echoed within the massive hollow space.
Around the iron cage, on the bars covered in sharp thorns, spots of dark red bloodstains still remained.
The cage wasn't large.
It looked about the same as a normal elevator. Right now, with the six of them gathered in the center, they could barely keep some distance from the iron bars.
Isagi wondered how the [Pale King] had led the Goblin army on an expedition down here back then.
He pulled the lever on the side.
As expected, the iron cage began to descend further.
Isagi was now incredibly certain that this wasn't the corridor to the 13th Floor at all, but some "Exclusive Entrance" the Dungeon had created for him.
And what the boy didn't know was that, starting today, Orario would gain another "Horror Urban Legend."
"The Non-existent 13th Floor Entrance."
Legend has it that when walking into the corridor leading to the Middle Floors in the middle of the night, there is a chance to enter a pitch-black passage that can never be fully traversed no matter how long you walk.
If you return in time, you'll be fine.
But if you insist on moving forward, eventually, you will arrive at—
Clang.
With the sound of hitting the ground, the gate of the iron cage opened.
The light from the Magic Stone lamp in his hand finally spilled out, illuminating the pile of Goblin heads surrounding them.
"..."
This seemed to be a deep pit.
The densely packed Goblin heads were piled together, looking somewhat heart-stopping.
Walking out of the iron cage and following a small dirt path up the slope to climb out of the deep pit, they walked forward a little further and saw a somewhat familiar fortress standing tall.
[Goblin Kingdom · Expedition Camp (Old)]
By the faint blue light emitted by the moss from all directions, amidst the cold, moon-like glow, they could see that on the pale city walls, Goblin heads were strung up one after another with sky-blue ropes. Like a demonstration of power, they covered the entire wall.
The city gate stood gaping open.
Isagi didn't walk directly inside but glanced at Lefiya.
The Elf girl understood immediately. Raising her staff high, she opened a lightless barrier beneath their feet, then looked into the interior of the fortress.
"No enemies, Isagi."
The Elf girl's vision was pitch black; she couldn't see the existence of any life hiding behind the walls.
"For real?"
"Really!"
"Alright, let's go in then."
Isagi was a bit incredulous, thinking, Did the Dungeon actually not arrange for small mobs to ambush people inside?
He pushed open the dilapidated fortress doors.
The scene inside was a bit like the [Border Fortress] everyone was familiar with. It was also very dark, though occasionally, small patches of blue glowing moss covered the walls and ceiling, illuminating the immediate surroundings.
This place had obviously gone through a great battle as well. Bloodstains were everywhere on the ground, and...
"What is that?"
Tiona quickly noticed a corner not far away, where thick, conspicuously colored fungal bodies resembling mushrooms were piled up.
"Why does it feel a bit familiar..."
"Don't go over there."
Ryuu noticed the things were pulsating, beating like hearts, jump by jump, before suddenly bursting apart.
Deep purple slime scattered in all directions.
Several bloated worm-men, looking like white jade, drilled out.
It was as if fat worms had grown human limbs. While emitting a "rustling" sound unique to insects that made one's teeth ache, they pounced blindly towards the group.
"So disgusting!"
Is this job too difficult?!
Heith almost blacked out.
For a girl, the visual impact of the scene before her was simply too intense. It was just—
"Awaken."
The wind blew gently.
In the following instant, the several worm-men before them were sliced into fragments.
Ais, expressionless, flicked off the somewhat filthy deep purple insect blood from her sword blade. She gave off the vibe of a super-brave gap-moe beautiful girl who could hold a toad in her hand without her expression changing.
However.
Whether it was because of the commotion here or not, from the depths of the fortress, in all directions, the sounds of splat splat splat bursting could be heard, accompanied by that increasingly approaching rustling noise.
Visible to the naked eye, many more of the worm-men from just now were running frantically toward them.
"Idiot Lefiya, didn't you say there were no monsters?!"
"I didn't know! I didn't see them just now!!"
Now there were many.
The Elf girl expanded the lightless domain again, and then, she saw densely packed red stick figures surging toward them from all directions.
#@!
The Dungeon is too insidious! Not only does it pile up mobs, but it even learned to use schemes?!
"Rush out first."
Taking out a black briefcase, he then "Transformed"!
Covered in pitch-black armor, Isagi once again drew the greatsword emitting bright moonlight from his mouth.
"I'll take the front, Miss Ais take the rear. Ryuu-senpai cover Lefiya, Tiona cover Miss Heith."
Instantly entering combat mode.
"Kill."
Isagi took the lead.
Like a fully loaded truck, he crushed a bloody path directly through the sea of worms, rampaging inside the fortress. Subsequently, they realized that the camp the Goblins once used for expeditions was truly a bit large.
They circled for a long, long time until they finally used an upward elevator to find its exit.
Isagi looked back, observing the interior of the fortress faintly illuminated by the pale blue moss, sketching the route the group had just taken in his mind.
Beside him, Ryuu had also taken out a sheet of paper and began drawing a rough map of it.
The Elf girl was particularly serious. This was usually something Isagi did, but she had volunteered to take over the task.
"There are a total of four floors inside the fortress, connected by several elevators. There are no stairs. One of the floors has the largest space, and we walked through almost all of it, but we didn't explore the third and fourth floors much..."
The Elf girl spoke, marking the word "Exit" at the third-floor location where the squad was currently at.
"Want to go take a look?"
"Let's talk about it later."
Isagi was actually wondering why the fortress's exit was above.
It's a Dungeon; surely they should be going constantly downward. Moreover, they had just walked downwards for so long, and then took the iron cage down for a long, long time.
The current location couldn't still be on the 13th Floor of the Dungeon, right?
So where is this?
He pushed open the fortress doors before him.
Pale blue brilliance spilled down, illuminating the lush green trees, spreading verdant grass, and clusters of flowers before them.
An endless woodland spread out into the distance. Countless towering trees seemed to have no end, extending straight upwards.
Disorderly yet thick branches formed natural long staircases and roads, connecting everything.
Isagi blinked.
Subsequently, he noticed a small "Grace" floating in the grass not far away. But it wasn't golden; it was a pitch-black color.
The young man walked forward. As a result, unexpected to everyone, the black specks of light converged, transforming into a beautiful maiden clad in a grey robe.
"You have come, adventurer."
The familiar pretty voice rang out again. She smiled gently, just as always.
And this time, she obviously hadn't forgotten what she was supposed to say.
"I am very pleased to see you again. And welcome to..."
"[The Inverted Spiral Road of Pain]."
____
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