It wasn't the monster adventurer party from before.
The previous guys had all been 'role-played' by the Xenos. According to Marie and the others, it roughly worked out that whenever he entered the Dungeon, 'Mother' would subsequently call them to fall asleep.
Then, at the necessary moments, they would appear inside and play a certain role.
To the Xenos, this truly seemed just like a dream. Even when they were inside, they would temporarily forget who they originally were, subsequently completely immersing themselves into their 'roles'.
And even if they died inside, it didn't matter; it merely meant waking up from the dream.
Therefore, although the monster adventurer party he had encountered previously had all been wiped out, they were actually all still alive.
But the situation before their eyes seemed somewhat different.
Isagi guessed.
The previous monster adventurers were likely just some kind of 'experiment' by the Dungeon. According to the plot it designed itself, it needed such a group to exist, and thus pulled the Xenos over to play the parts.
But now, the Dungeon seemed to have even more new ideas.
For instance, just like what was right before their eyes—
For some unknown reason.
Isagi and the girls beside him all generally felt that the monster adventurer party before them seemed as if they had walked right out of a 'mirror'.
In their line of sight, a cluster of pure white light was approaching from the pitch-black space ahead.
At a certain moment.
Very suddenly, the other party walked out from the darkness, instantly arriving right opposite them. Isagi confirmed that the guys before him were not being played by Xenos, because they didn't look like 'normal monsters'.
The previous monster adventurer party.
To put it bluntly, was actually no different from the Xenos themselves; they were just wearing much more luxurious equipment, and that was all.
They were basically monsters wearing adventurer armor and weapons. At the same time, it wasn't an illusion; even though one could tell what kind of monsters many of the Xenos originally were, they were all much more 'humanoid'.
Or rather, they looked relatively gentle.
This possessed a certain absolutely fundamental difference from monsters—very much like the [Pale King] from before.
For some unknown reason, Isagi thought of this, because that Goblin, over two meters tall and incredibly muscular, absolutely couldn't be called handsome, yet it had a world of difference from an ordinary 'Goblin monster'.
It wasn't just its height and physique; the most important thing was the aura exuding from its entire body.
That was the difference between a 'Beast' and a 'Person'.
The Xenos were the same. Monsters, in the end, could be considered 'Beasts', but they were 'Humans' who possessed wisdom and rationality.
Yet these guys who suddenly appeared before their eyes.
In the eyes of Isagi and the girls, they were absolutely, undoubtedly Beasts, and perhaps even more twisted and frenzied.
As a whole.
At a glance, they were also adventurers.
Presenting humanoid silhouettes, varying in height and weight, they were draped in different dark-colored cloaks, wearing either heavy iron armor, lightweight leather armor, or cotton robes.
The weapons in their hands also had everything from longswords, greataxes, bows and arrows, to magic staffs.
All these 'external' things were complete, but the problem lay with their 'essence'!
Taking a glance.
This adventurer party was composed of pure 'monsters'.
It was as if Minotaurs had been forcefully stuffed into humanoid armor. Not only was it incredibly ill-fitting, but because they were excessively twisted, it even caused their bodies to present an incredibly bizarre posture, and blood was continuously seeping out from the gaps in the armor.
This was still considered fine; at least the 'Minotaur' monster itself was humanoid.
But the rest.
They were entirely spider monsters wearing humanoid leather armor, poking four pairs of blade-like sharp joints out from the sleeves and pant legs. It was simply completely incomprehensible.
There were also butterflies, mantises, maggots—
In comparison to them, a Hellhound wearing a magic robe, standing on all fours, and holding a magic staff in its mouth, was already considered decent.
Just what the hell was all this?!
Isagi blinked his eyes, and subsequently, together with Ais, tentatively launched an attack toward these guys.
Yet the result was...
Unexpectedly weak. No, the 'monster adventurers' that appeared were not BOSSes at all, nor were they any sort of elite monsters, but rather about the same as ordinary monsters.
Their Level was right around Lv.4. As for their strength, they were indeed slightly stronger than regular monsters, but that was about it.
They were no different from the ordinary monsters he and the girls had killed while grinding Ability Scores previously.
What was going on?
When Lefiya excitedly ran over to dig out all the Magic Stones from inside these monster adventurers, watching their existences turn to ash and dissipate, Isagi couldn't even react for a moment.
Because the battle was just too easy.
Moreover, the opponents seemed entirely unaccustomed to their own equipment, causing their combat capability to drop significantly.
For instance.
That Hellhound looking like it was dressed up as a mage, biting down on a magic staff, unexpectedly charged over to engage in close-quarters melee combat with him. It was completely wrong!
Their stats were originally sub-par, and their mechanics seemed even worse than ordinary monsters. What the hell?
Just as Isagi was feeling confused.
In the distance, Ryuu-senpai and Lefiya were the first to notice that another pure white point of light was heading toward their side.
Without a doubt.
When it arrived before them, it was also a 'monster adventurer party' similar to just now.
Their strength was also about the same, just the level of an ordinary monster, and they were still very easily defeated by him and the girls.
Next came the third time, fourth time, fifth time—
Something was clearly wrong.
Was this a special monster-spawning mechanic of the area before them?
Let alone Isagi, even Ais, Ryuu, and the others felt it wasn't that simple.
"How long have we been walking?"
"I don't know..."
"I just feel like there hasn't been any change..."
It was still the 'most experienced' Lefiya who first noticed the most crucial problem.
Because since just now.
The battles weren't very intense, so the Elf girl, who hadn't participated much, had ample time to observe the surrounding situation and ponder the current problem.
This allowed Lefiya, whose mental strength had mostly recovered, to be the first to realize something and say:
"Logically speaking, we should be continuously walking upwards, right?"
Logically speaking.
The area before them should generally be the same as before. In essence, it was composed of many towering massive trees, connected together by branches. It looked incredibly complex, but overall, it was still a path continuously leading upwards.
However, since just now, Lefiya had noticed.
The path everyone was walking on was extremely monotonous, and moreover, it was 'flat'. It neither went up nor down. In other words, just by continuing to walk like this, could they arrive at the 'Inner Side of the Holy City' further up?
The answer was certainly impossible.
It was still the same saying: the Dungeon also couldn't exceed the 'realm of physics'. To reach the areas further up, there had to be a path leading upwards.
"But, this also makes sense!"
Lefiya said again.
"If the place where the Holy City is located is what the monsters consider to be 'Paradise', then it's perfectly normal not to be able to go up from here. Because originally, the end point of this pilgrimage route could never possibly be Paradise."
"That's also why there's nothing inside the Holy City."
"Including the corpses of these bugs; they must be pilgrims. Piling up here simply proves that the end of the pilgrimage absolutely cannot reach Paradise."
Following the Elf girl's analysis.
Previously, the reason he was able to reach the[Inner Side of the Holy City] acting as 'Paradise' was entirely because he could fly, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to get up there at all.
In other words, he had glitched into the new map previously?!
Setting aside whether Lefiya's guess was reasonable or not, were they just going to continue like this right now?
Encountering those bizarre 'monster adventurers' wave after wave—just how long were they going to fight, and when would it end?
However, truth be told.
If they could infinitely respawn, this would actually be quite a nice place to grind Ability Scores, perhaps even more convenient than that Colosseum back in the Goblin Kingdom.
Just as Isagi was thinking this, yet another wave of monster adventurers appeared, and were similarly defeated by the group with relative ease.
But after this time.
Just like Lefiya, Miss Heith, who hadn't needed to participate much in the battles because they were too simple, made a new discovery.
"Have you guys noticed?"
"Huh?"
"Since just now, it seems like the number of these monster adventurers has been fixed at six."
From their initial encounter until now.
The number of monster adventurers that appeared was actually irregular, sometimes more and sometimes less, but overall it maintained between four and ten.
But Heith noticed that starting from the time before last, for three consecutive times, the number of monster adventurer parties that appeared were all exactly six.
Coincidentally.
It perfectly matched the situation of their own party.
And without Heith needing to say anything more, shortly after, when the white point of light in the distance slowly arrived before everyone's eyes once again.
Everyone realized it.
Not only were there still six monster adventurers appearing from within it, but even their 'classes' were completely identical to their side—
A warrior wielding a greatsword and wearing full iron armor;
A flying swordsman holding an odachi;
A mage;
A healer;
A magic swordsman;
And finally—
Looking at that monster erupting with a bloody aura, pulsating like a 'volcano' on the verge of going berserk—let alone Tiona herself, even Isagi felt completely incredulous.
What was going on?!
Was the Dungeon... starting to copy and paste the composition of their party?!
That was a bit too much, wasn't it!
Mainly, the imitation wasn't even accurate. Currently, the opposing monster adventurer party was merely putting on a show, and was still taken out by their side in just a few moves.
However...
At this moment, everyone began to feel a bit worried in their hearts.
That is, if this continued, what exactly would it ultimately turn into?
Furthermore.
Isagi seemed to have already realized that the situation on the current Floor was amiss!
This 'Road of Pain' leading to the pilgrimage of Paradise essentially corresponded to the Middle Levels'[Great Tree Labyrinth], from the 19th to the 24th Floor.
And judging from the present, this place should correspond to the 19th Floor's area.
Then here comes the problem.
Here, right now, there wasn't a single monster.
Then, according to the situation when he fought the Pale King at its prime previously, didn't this mean that the Dungeon had currently withdrawn all the power of this entire Floor, and was then specially 'entertaining' him?!
Thinking of it this way—
Isagi actually became even more excited!
____
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