The members of the Loki Familia landed safely on the metal floor after jumping down into the deeper floor through the pitfall.
"There aren't any monsters or cloaked enemies on this floor?" Alicia nervously scanned the area.
"This move was probably completely outside their expectations," Ryoji explained, letting out a long breath as his tightly wound nerves finally relaxed. "They wouldn't have had time to move their forces here. It makes sense that nobody's around." He looked over the group. "How many of us made it?"
"...Ais-san is missing!" someone cried out from the back.
Ryoji gritted his teeth. "Ais is strong. She'll be fine. Let's find the exit first. It should be close!"
All they could do now was trust her. He couldn't abandon everyone else. With her strength, unless she ran into Revis, she wouldn't be defeated easily. Besides, the metal wall they had just jumped from was dozens of meters high and far too smooth to climb back up.
Leading the group once more, Ryoji continued onward. Unlike before, this floor was almost completely free of enemies, and very few traps were active. The group was able to move through it with surprising ease.
"But how can you be so sure?" Alicia asked, still not understanding.
"If you were the enemy, and you couldn't catch someone inside a completely sealed labyrinth, what would you do?" instead of answering, Ryoji asked a question of his own.
"Haha! I'd definitely do something at the exit!" Gareth was the first to catch on and burst into laughter.
Exactly. If you couldn't catch slippery prey inside a sealed labyrinth, the obvious solution was to block the exit and trap them. That was exactly what the Lord of the Maze was doing. Unable to catch Ryoji's fast-moving group, the enemy could only wait at the exit, lower the gate there, and activate the pitfalls nearby.
"So all those traps earlier appeared because we were close to the exit?"
The group's spirits instantly soared.
"Amazing!"
"You figured all that out?"
"And then you jumped into a pitfall! They'd never expect that. They're probably panicking right now and don't have time to stop us!"
Everyone's confidence continued to grow.
Ryoji, however, kept a serious expression. 'Honestly... I'm just bluffing.'
His feeling that the exit was nearby came purely from instinct. The whole explanation about the enemy setting traps near the exit was simply something he had reasoned out afterward. It wasn't because he was some kind of genius.
"It's here!" Ryoji suddenly stopped in front of one particular passage.
"Hey! Isn't this a dead end?" Bete glared at him suspiciously. There was clearly nothing ahead but a solid wall.
"Don't be so sure." Walking up to it, Ryoji traced a rough circle on the metal wall. "Gareth. Smash through right here."
"You order people around just like Finn," Gareth grumbled, rolling his eyes as he slipped on his gauntlets and stepped forward.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA, !!"
His iron fists flew like a pair of windmills, unleashing overwhelming power against the super-hard metal wall. Powerful gusts exploded outward as the deafening impacts echoed nonstop. As a Level 6 Dwarf warrior who had pushed Strength to its absolute limit, Gareth unleashed dozens of consecutive punches.
Eventually, the metal wall finally began to cave in. Alicia instinctively clutched her stomach, feeling as though everything inside her was being shaken apart. By then, Gareth had already thrown hundreds of punches.
"ORA!!"
With one final earth-shattering blow, the indestructible metal wall finally split open. Gareth's eyes lit up. He kept punching, widening the opening until it was large enough for one person to pass through, then smashed apart the rock beyond it.
"It's light!"
"There's light!"
Once the rock behind the wall crumbled away, a stone tunnel illuminated by the Dungeon's dim phosphorescent glow came into view.
"I know this place! This is the sixteenth floor of the Dungeon!"
"We made it!"
"We're really out!"
Some shouted in excitement while others were brought to tears. One after another, they rushed into the Dungeon passage, like believers finally escaping hell and stepping into paradise.
"It really is the sixteenth floor," Bete said, looking utterly stunned as he casually crushed a worm crawling out of the wall. "So this artificial labyrinth really is connected to the Dungeon. Never thought that would end up saving us."
Gareth finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Gareth. Bete. Take Finn to Airmid." Standing at the opening, Ryoji addressed the two of them.
"What about you?" Gareth's expression shifted slightly as he guessed the answer.
"I'm going back to save the others," Ryoji answered calmly.
"I'm coming with you!" Bete said immediately.
"No," Ryoji rejected him without hesitation. "I'm the only one who can find them. I'm the only one who can locate the exits. You coming with me won't accomplish anything."
"...Damn it!" Bete clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Be careful." Gareth didn't try to stop him; he simply gave him a quiet reminder.
"I will." Ryoji nodded, then turned around and disappeared back into the labyrinth.
Everyone understood what he was about to do. He was carrying the light of hope back to those who had fallen into despair.
"Never thought the fate of the Familia would rest on one person's shoulders... while this old man can do nothing." After standing silently for a while, Gareth ripped off his gauntlets and slammed them onto the ground, revealing fists split open and covered in blood. "Wolf Boy. You, Raul, and the others take Finn back to the surface. Tell Loki everything that's happened at the underground waterway."
"What about you, old man?"
"I'll stay here. No one gets through this passage while I'm standing."
"...Hmph. Suit yourself." Seeing the killing intent radiating from Gareth, Bete simply snorted. "You lot, move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
---
It was a dimly lit chamber, stretching well over a hundred meters in both length and width. Like the rest of the labyrinth, it was built entirely from super-hard metal. Unlike the other rooms, however, a control console stood at its center. It resembled an ancient tree that had stood for a thousand years, so massive that several people would be needed to wrap their arms around it. Weathered by time, it was entwined with countless green vines.
Above the console floated one shimmering sheet of water after another. Within each watery screen was a live image from somewhere inside the labyrinth. One showed Tiona leading her group in a desperate retreat. Another displayed Tione locked in a one-on-one battle against Argana. A third followed Riveria, Lefiya, and Filvis as they raced through the maze.
But there was one thing missing. None of the screens showed the Loki Familia's main force, the group led by Finn.
"Damn it! How are they so damn slippery?!"
Standing before the control console was a gloomy-looking man. He had long hair, with black bangs hanging low enough to nearly cover his eyes, and dark circles were visible beneath them. His wrinkled black clothes made him look thoroughly disheveled.
Etched into the iris of his left eye was a crimson 'Type-D' mark.
(End of Chapter)
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