After spending about half an hour at the pool's edge, Leo and Ais finished this remembrance that held meaning only for the two of them, composed themselves, and returned to the expedition force.
By the time they got back to the expedition force, the rest period had just ended.
What awaited Loki Familia's expedition force next was a forced march.
Just as Finn had said, after regrouping on the eighteenth floor, they would press straight to the fiftieth floor in one go, with no stops along the way apart from necessary rests and making camp.
The fiftieth floor of the Dungeon was also a safe floor, and at the same time it was the last safe floor before the fifty-ninth, Loki Familia's goal for this expedition.
So the expedition force would head straight there, build a stronghold, then begin planning the push to the fifty-ninth floor and launch a proper assault on the floors no one had yet reached.
Thanks to all this, Leo, marching along with the expedition force, saw on the way scenery of the underground labyrinth he had never seen or reached before.
The first thing he saw was the region of floors 19 through 24, the Large Tree Labyrinth.
If the Cave Labyrinth of floors 13 through 17 was a closed region formed of rock and caverns, then the Large Tree Labyrinth of floors 19 through 24 was an otherworld formed of bark, moss, and plants.
Here the ceiling, walls, and ground were all formed of bark, and the moss growing lushly along the passages gave off a blue or green glow, shaping a landscape like some hidden realm, with leaves of every shape and mysterious flowers dripping silver droplets visible everywhere, and plants you'd never see aboveground were everywhere here too, in some sense even more spectacular than the eighteenth floor that earned the name "crystal labyrinth."
But the danger hidden behind this marvelous scenery was more terrifying than any floor before it.
The most common things here were insect-type and fungus-type monsters, and what they did best was unleash poison-kill attacks with an enormous area of effect, their toxins far more potent than the Purple Moths that appeared in the Upper Floor region. Even an adventurer with the Abnormal Resistance Development Ability would find it hard to hold out against such virulent poison if the ability's level was too low.
Bugbears and firebirds and other troublesome monsters also appeared here, the former more troublesome than even a Minotaur, the latter's fire-breathing attacks more threatening than a Hellhound's, especially in an environment overgrown with plants like this, where the smallest spark could ignite a whole sea of fire. It forced Finn to order all members to put on "Salamander Wool" capable of withstanding flame attacks, and to put the members with high-level Abnormal Resistance ability at the front as vanguards to clear the way.
People like Leo who hadn't acquired the Abnormal Resistance Development Ability were placed directly at the rear by Finn, under the protection of the middle guards. But because the cloak of his Giant's Battle Garb had fireproofing properties, Leo didn't have to put on the Salamander Wool and only had to release magic in coordination with the vanguard.
In the Large Tree Labyrinth, the fully integrated expedition force had to act strictly according to the prearranged plan, and Leo, designated as a rearguard Mage, could no longer just charge out and draw his sword to hack away as before. Instead, together with Lefiya beside him, under Riveria's lead, he used magic to cover and support the team, and when necessary had to go all out, unleashing his full firepower to clear the battlefield.
It was also from here that the excessive firepower of Leo and Lefiya finally found a place to be put to use. A single casual blast of magic could sweep away a great swath of monsters and scorch the battlefield, and that firepower made countless people turn their heads.
Leo especially. His magic wasn't just high-powered, it could also freely adjust the number of attacks. Sometimes he fired off a single meteor, vaporizing every monster in its path; sometimes he opened a magic circle above the battlefield and rained down countless meteors in a bombardment; he could even play tricks with the meteors, casually steering their courses, sending them dancing all over the battlefield to pick off monsters one by one, and that scene, like a grand magic performance, left who knows how many people stunned.
After Riveria's instruction, Leo's ability with magic really had improved by leaps and bounds. He no longer just took it and used it, giving the impression of an entirely different person.
"Looks like this expedition's going to be a bit easier."
Gareth even offered an assessment like that, making no small number of Loki Familia members look at this newly minted Lv.3 with fresh respect.
"What's so impressive about that..."
Lefiya, though, got sulky and competitive, unwilling to concede and pitting herself against Leo.
Clearly she didn't want to lose to Leo, so when she chanted her magic she became especially diligent too, as if competing with him, unleashing one gorgeous spell after another.
Where Lefiya was stronger than Leo was that her quantity of magic far surpassed his.
Leo, after all, had only the one Magic, while Lefiya was different. Not only were all three of her magic slots full, she could also cast other types of magic through her special third Magic.
The alias Thousand Elf hadn't come to her for nothing. By sheer number of spells she could use, Lefiya had more even than Riveria, who was hailed as Nine Hell.
So while Leo played with technique, Lefiya started up a true feast of magic, releasing a dazzling array of countless spells that left no small number of people gaping again.
But thanks to this, the expedition force's progress started to grow easier, and they soon walked out of the Large Tree Labyrinth and entered the twenty-fifth floor.
From this floor on, the monsters that emerged in the Dungeon, both in strength and in number, grew tougher by a whole tier.
Because from this floor on, it was already the Dungeon's Lower Floor region.
At present, the Dungeon was divided into four difficulties in total.
Floors 1 through 12 were the Upper Floors, which Lv.1 adventurers could conquer.
Floors 13 through 24 were the Middle Floors, which Lv.2 adventurers could conquer.
Floors 25 through 36 were the Lower Floors, which Lv.3 adventurers could conquer.
And the floors below the thirty-seventh were the Deep Floors, which only adventurers who'd reached at least Lv.4 could attempt to conquer.
Just as the danger level spiked sharply going from the Upper Floors into the Middle Floors, going from the Middle Floors into the Lower Floors, the Dungeon's danger level and difficulty of conquest likewise spiked sharply.
So this place was also hailed as the Dungeon's second death line, and some troublemakers even called it the New World.
This also proved that the floors from the twenty-fifth on had scenery even more peculiar than the floors above.
Floors 25 through 27 were a region connected by one magnificent great waterfall, the Water City.
There were no forests here, only valleys or cliffs formed of crystal peaks, and a waterfall about four hundred meters wide and at least twice that in height. Because of how the light reflected, the water cascading down appeared a blue jade color, so beautiful it drew the soul, beautiful enough to make you forget this was the danger-ridden Dungeon. The waterfall sat thundering here amid spray that scattered like mist, flowing down to the floors below through a great hollow and running through all three floors.
Half-human, half-bird Harpies and the singer-birds, Sirens, soared in the air, their high cries ringing out clear and bright, presenting this vast water paradise before everyone like some idyllic haven.
"Full speed ahead!"
Pity, in the face of such an idyllic haven the Pallum captain had only this one short order, sending everyone crossing over as fast as they could.
This too was to lower the difficulty of conquering this expedition.
"While the Floor Boss, Amphisbaena, still hasn't reached its respawn period, let's hurry across the Water City and get to the twenty-ninth floor!"
Gareth shouted as much too.
This expedition was, for Loki Familia, on the lower end of difficulty.
The reason was simple. The four Floor Bosses the Dungeon set up specifically as the strongest gatekeepers against intruders, jokingly dubbed the Four Heavenly Kings by the gods, were all currently in a state where their respawn intervals hadn't finished counting down.
The seventeenth floor's Floor Boss, the giant Goliath, had been struck down by Leo several days ago, and its respawn interval was two weeks, so when Loki Familia's expedition reached the seventeenth floor this time, Goliath hadn't finished respawning and couldn't obstruct Loki Familia's advance.
The twenty-seventh floor's Floor Boss, the Amphisbaena known as the two-headed dragon, had been confirmed defeated about half a month ago, and its respawn interval was one month, so it hadn't respawned yet either.
The thirty-seventh floor's Floor Boss, the skeletal monster Udaeus, had a respawn interval of three months, and when Loki Familia made an expedition there a little over a month ago they'd thrown in their full strength and struck it down, so it was likewise currently in a period before respawning.
As for the forty-ninth floor's Floor Boss, the one-eyed giant Balor, its respawn interval was a full nine months, and about three months ago it was beaten half to death by Ottar, the King, then finished off by Freya Familia, which led to that Familia's upper echelons falling into infighting and coming to blows. This was the one.
In other words, this strongest Floor Boss, with a classification as high as Lv.7, was likewise not yet respawned.
All four Floor Bosses were in their respawn cooldown, and an opportunity this rare in a thousand years was naturally one Loki Familia wouldn't let slip.
So Loki Familia's expedition force sped across the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh floors, cleared the Water City, and arrived at the twenty-eighth floor, the Labyrinth Garden.
This was the second safe floor where no monsters were born, after the eighteenth floor's Under Resort.
On this floor, which as its name suggested was a beautiful field of multicolored flowers, the force-marching Loki Familia finally came to a halt, started making camp, ate and rested, kept watch in shifts, and spent the expedition's first night here.
The next day, Loki Familia left this Labyrinth Garden and entered the twenty-ninth floor.
Floors 29 through 32 were a region of vast jungle different from the Large Tree Labyrinth, the Jungle Ravine.
Powerful dinosaur-type monsters, including blood dragons, appeared here, existences that required a Level of at least Lv.3 to subdue.
Of course, for Loki Familia this was still a zone they could cross easily, since even the most powerful dinosaur-type monster was no match for a single ordinary member of the expedition force. Apart from Lv.2 Healers like Line, everyone else could subdue them one-on-one, so it couldn't even be called a close call. They simply crossed straight through and reached the thirty-third floor.
Floors 33 through 36 were a new region, the Sand Land.
As the name implied, this was a boundless great desert zone with no complex labyrinth. As long as you overcame the sand underfoot that sank and made it hard to advance, the monsters that came bursting one after another out of the dust, and the mirage illusions that could disturb an adventurer's senses beyond all reason and mislead them off course, you could reach the thirty-seventh floor.
Loki Familia had long since prepared special equipment for this purpose, and with seasoned adventurers like Finn leading the way, this final region of the Lower Floors was broken through too.
Along the way, Loki Familia stopped for a night in an oasis zone where they could rest, and only on the morning of the expedition's third day did they step into the thirty-seventh floor, the Dungeon's true death line, the Deep Floors.
From this floor on, it was simply impossible for any adventurer who wasn't Lv.4 to conquer it, unless they came along with an elite force like Loki Familia's expedition. Otherwise, for the likes of a Lv.2 or Lv.3 to come here was nothing but a dead end.
Fortunately, the thirty-seventh floor's greatest obstacle, namely its Floor Boss, hadn't respawned, so the expedition force crossed extremely smoothly through this floor that earned the name White Palace, and the vast labyrinth region that followed on the thirty-eighth floor was broken through smoothly as well, bringing them to the thirty-ninth floor that earned the name Ash Bridge.
This too was the Dungeon's third safe floor.
Loki Familia regrouped here for a while, then entered the region after the fortieth floor and began the forced march once more.
Next came the region of floors 40 through 43, the Giant's Graveyard, and the region of floors 44 through 48, the Crimson Mountains.
The former was a hell where giant-type large-category monsters could be seen everywhere, the latter a volcanic zone where many monsters with fierce explosive-flame attacks dwelled, led by the Flame Rock Demons. Once they got here, even Loki Familia had to slow their pace and conquer cautiously, or they too might wipe.
In these two regions Loki Familia spent a full two days to finish conquering, then arrived at the forty-ninth floor, named the Great Wilderness, made up of just one colossal cavern chamber.
The monsters that appeared here could only be safely dealt with when first-class adventurers stepped in, and this wilderness zone was larger than all of Orario. Even without the Floor Boss Balor, it still forced Loki Familia to go all out, conquering with full effort for a whole day before they could reach the passage leading to the fiftieth floor.
All of Loki Familia entered this passage and at last arrived at the final stronghold they'd settled on before this expedition.
The fiftieth floor, the last safe floor where no monsters were born that Orario's adventurers could currently reach, and the last stronghold available to the powerful Familias active on the very front lines of conquering the Dungeon.
This was a great gray forest, everything in sight a thicket dyed gray, woods that looked as if a layer of ash had settled over them covering all the space, all the way to the wall at the far end. Only the rivers flowing in vein-like patterns escaped that dim coloring, giving off a blue radiance, flowing on without cease and continuing through the woods.
Phosphorescent light glowed on the ceiling, not dazzling but close to dusk, enough that you weren't left unable to see.
Loki Familia set up camp on a broad rock platform ten meters high.
Amid a faint stir of noise, tents began to go up one by one, cargo crates were unloaded one after another from the carts, and people ran about all over the camp, busy at their tasks, creating a lively scene of wilderness camping.
"Leo! Over here!"
"Coming!"
At someone's call, Leo, carrying a stack of equipment, mixed in among them and slowly walked into the camp.
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