Before Asfi set out, she'd naturally learned from Lulune about the attack that had happened in Rivira last time.
She knew that if this request was connected to that time, or was even a continuation of that incident, then the enemy was definitely not something a mere Hermes Familia could handle.
Setting everything else aside, just those Viola monsters that had turned all of Rivira upside down were enough to give the entire Hermes Familia a rough time of it.
And the mastermind behind all of it was a figure that even Loki Familia's first-class adventurers had to take seriously.
Until now, Asfi had been under considerable pressure.
Against an enemy even the Sword Princess couldn't beat, her Familia wouldn't last a single exchange, hidden Levels and true strength and all.
Asfi really did worry that this operation might get the entire Familia wiped out.
Learning that Leo and Ais were the reinforcements allowed Asfi to breathe a genuine sigh of relief.
"No time to lose. Let's talk over the plan from here."
Asfi called Leo and Ais over to sit down together.
She took out a map of Floor 24.
"Monster numbers have surged abnormally on Floor 24, causing enormous disruption across the entire floor. Adventurers exploring it have become trapped or suffered heavy casualties, and even the ecosystem appears to be malfunctioning." Asfi pointed to a corner of the map. "Our purpose is to discover and eliminate the cause. Based on our investigation and the black-robed figure's intelligence, we're fairly certain the source lies in the Pantry at the deepest part of the floor."
The so-called Pantry referred to the place where the Dungeon provided nourishment for its monsters.
The Dungeon's monsters hunted adventurers for food, and some even preyed on one another, but most fed on nutrient fluid provided by the Dungeon itself.
Just as Cadmus drank from its spring and the Bugbears Leo had encountered in this floor's forest picked fruit from trees, most monsters headed to the Pantry for nutrient fluid when no prey appeared.
Such Pantries existed on almost every floor, with only a few special-case floors being exceptions.
"The black-robed figure told us that Ganesha Familia's Hashana Dorlia discovered an anomaly in the Pantry on Floor 30 and brought back the green orb," Asfi said gravely. "So we have reason to suspect that this similar incident also originated in a Pantry."
That being so, there was only one thing they had to do next.
Charge into Floor 24 as a group, head all the way to the Pantry, and get to the bottom of the problem there.
"There are fifteen of us from Hermes Familia, including me. Most are Lv.3, and I'm Lv.4, so we shouldn't slow you down," Asfi said seriously. "Of course, judging by the previous attack, our forces probably can't handle this alone. You two will have to serve as the main fighting force, and we'll support you throughout the operation."
Asfi had prepared very thoroughly for this. She'd not only bought a large quantity of potions, tools, and backup weapons, but also brought quite a few magic items of her own invention.
She also told Leo and Ais the detailed information on her side's members and the situation regarding formations and deployment.
"It's only temporary, and we're certainly no match for the team you're used to in the city's strongest Familia, but please join our party until this request is complete." Having laid everything out with swift efficiency, Asfi extended her hand again. "Trust us to guard your backs, and we'll place our full trust in you."
At Asfi's declaration, the surrounding Hermes Familia members silently readied their weapons and smiled.
Even Lulune gave the two of them a smile, waving the weapon in her hand, as if to say she'd never drag them down like last time.
Leo and Ais exchanged a glance, then both clasped the hand Asfi held out.
"Looking forward to working with you."
Ais was brief and to the point.
"Let's move out."
Leo was even more swiftly decisive than Asfi.
The group left the tavern and headed quickly toward the great tree at the floor's center.
They would cross Floors 19 through 23 as quickly as possible and reach the source of the anomaly on Floor 24.
The Dungeon, Floor 24.
This was the last floor of the region known as the Large Tree Labyrinth, and also the last floor of the Middle Floor region.
Below this floor lay the Lower Floors, a place only Lv.3 could set foot in.
As the floor closest to the Lower Floors, Floor 24 normally required upper-class adventurers in the latter half of Lv.2. Now it had become a deathtrap that even Lv.3 second-class adventurers hesitated to enter.
All because the monster numbers here had abnormally exploded, forming a danger zone far worse than before.
Roars and cries from countless monsters filled the entire bark-covered floor, carrying through every one of the moss-lit passages glowing with countless points of light.
The Dungeon grew broader with depth. Floor 24 was nowhere near the scale of Floor 37, which Leo and Ais had spent a week clearing and which nearly rivaled Orario in area, but its passages were still wide enough for the entire group to move and fight freely.
Because of this, when a great mass of monsters appeared before the group, the group met them head-on without the slightest hesitation.
Amid the chaotic roars, countless monsters appeared one after another up ahead in the passage, surging toward them.
Among them were Deadly Hornets with terrifying huge tail stingers, Lizardmen with builds no smaller than the Deep Floors' Barbarians, Sword Stags magnificent to the point of not looking like animals, and Dark Fungus carrying toxins, all of them monsters that enjoyed the highest ability values in the Middle Floor region.
Facing this pack of monsters, Leo and Ais, needless to say, showed exactly what it meant to charge into the fray.
The two drew their weapons at once, lowered their stances, and kicked off the ground. They became two gusts of wind that tore into the monster pack.
Ais's high-speed slashes came first. Her blade flashed before she reached the pack, pouring into the crowded monsters like a rainstorm, severing countless limbs in a spray of blood.
Leo, meanwhile, gripped the black longsword he'd drawn from its sheath tightly, feeling the weight in his palm, watching the monster pack drawing closer and closer, a cold glint rising in his eyes.
The black longsword in his hand, unlike Ais's silver saber, looked abnormally rough on the surface, like a black sword of iron and stone, making one seriously doubt whether it could even cut into a monster's body at all.
Yet when Leo swung it and traced streaks of black light, its sharpness would have shocked any observer.
The black sword-light, like a pitch-black crescent moon blooming across the ground, cut through the monster pack and dragged up a great swath of blood at once.
The great slash severed every monster in the pitch-black crescent's path at the waist. It even split their magic stones, silencing their cries and dropping them dead to the ground.
Leo didn't unleash rapid slashes like Ais. Instead he slowed down, testing and adjusting as he cut through the surrounding monsters one blow at a time.
Each time he swung a slash, a thoughtful look would surface in Leo's eyes, and then the trajectory of his slashes would begin to change. His slashes too grew faster, more accurate, sharper, until every monster that came within three feet of him was like something meeting a meat grinder, turning into a heap of minced flesh and blood the moment it entered, never able to get back out.
His figure, footwork, posture, way of moving, and the direction of his motions all slowly changed too, growing more and more fluid, more and more natural.
Leo used the monsters to adjust his fighting style until his kill count and efficiency began catching up with Ais in full slaughter mode.
"Those two..."
Asfi directed her troops into formation against attacks from every direction, but her eyes widened behind her glasses as she watched the pair.
She had seen first-class adventurers fight before, but these two were far beyond what she knew.
That storm-like way of grinding down the enemy, that sword dance like a tempest, formed a play of black and white blade-light, and the monsters wherever they passed were, without exception, cut down on the spot, not one body left intact.
Blood sprayed at an alarming rate, staining the green surroundings a harsh red.
"So this is a Loki Familia first-class adventurer?"
Or were these two exceptional even within Loki Familia?
Asfi could only click her tongue.
"They really are a pair of monsters..."
That was the most direct impression in her heart.
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