Alfia was very interested in Isagi's distinctive dungeon, just as Isagi was very interested in her——
Mm.
Of course, that meant her past.
As an adventurer of the Hera Familia, she had taken part in the subjugation of Leviathan, and had even expeditioned into the deep levels beyond Floor 70… these facts alone were enough to make anyone want to learn more about her.
And so.
The nearly week-long holiday passed quickly.
Isagi and the girls encountered no more strange happenings. Most of the time, they fished aboard the cruise ship, rested along the paths lined with the Western mansion and hot springs, watched the winter snow fall cold and silent, and dozed off lazily before the fireplace amid the sweet, cloying scent of liquor.
Day and night reversed, until it almost felt as though they had forgotten the passage of time itself.
Until, at last, they returned to Orario and began preparations for venturing into the Dungeon.
The winter days were cold.
On a certain gray, overcast morning, Isagi, together with the girls, looked at the equally fully-armed members of the Loki Familia and Freya Familia beside him——including Alfia, clad in a black robe, following far behind the group, clearly trying to conceal her whereabouts.
The lineup was a little too powerful; even if someone said they were setting out on an expedition into the Dungeon, no one would doubt it.
On the Loki Familia's side.
Apart from Finn, Gareth, and Riveria, there were also Tione, Alicia, Bete, and other younger-generation adventurers who had already leveled up to Lv.5.
And the Freya Familia's side was even more outrageous.
It was just Ottar, Allen Fromel, Hogni, and Hedin—four of them—who hadn't even brought along the Lv.5 Gulliver Brothers.
It seemed they considered them a hindrance.
In fact, ever since arriving here, Hedin had on more than one occasion expressed, with that acid tongue of his, that Riveria and the others shouldn't bring Bete and Tione along.
"According to the boy's reasoning, Lv.5 fellows tagging along would only get in the way, and might even put you, my lady, in danger."
Though he was a champion of the [Goddess of Beauty],
as an Elf, Hedin still held deep respect for Riveria, a member of royalty.
As for that,
Finn and the others naturally understood as well, so after pondering it for a long while, they chose to send Bete and the others back after all, and thus the Loki Familia's side became a trio.
The party soon set out from within Daedalus Street, at the original entrance to the Artificial Labyrinth.
Riding the [Elevator] the Guild had already built, they descended straight to the safe floor located on Floor 18—namely, Rivira in the Under Resort.
At this moment, the entire floor was still just as it had been before.
The adventurers' town floating in midair, the perfectly symmetrical "Holy City" above and below it, and those towering spires joined together as one.
The entrance and exit of the Artificial Labyrinth lay among the impossibly smooth mirror-like surfaces along one side of the cliff face, below which was a "precipice" at least dozens of meters high.
Gareth, Ottar, and the others leapt straight down without the slightest hesitation.
For Lv.6 adventurers, this much height was utterly inconsequential. In fact, Isagi had earlier heard an utterly absurd "story" from Alfia.
Deep within the Dungeon, Floors 52 through 59 were a region called the [Dragon's Crucible].
There existed there a very special kind of monster, called the "Cannon Dragon." This monster only existed on Floor 59, yet it could lock onto adventurers located on the upper floors and launch attacks at them.
In short:
when you walked through the region of Floors 52 to 57, at any time and any place, the ground beneath your feet might suffer "bombardment" from the monsters on Floor 59.
It was like a landmine, and also like some sort of long-range artillery.
For an adventurer party, this was of course an enormous headache—after all, there was no warning whatsoever, and one could be ambushed mid-battle.
And the solution was very simple too.
That was:
to leap straight down through the blasted-open floor before the Dungeon could repair it, dropping from Floor 52 all the way down to Floor 59—the deepest part of the [Dragon's Crucible]—and then wipe out all the "Cannon Dragons."
That way, the main force following behind could be covered to pass safely through the entire [Dragon's Crucible] region.
When Isagi first heard this story, he just thought it was absurd!
Jumping from Floor 52 to Floor 59?
That had to be at least several hundred meters, maybe even more?
Although Alfia also said that one had to be at least Lv.6, and had to be a fellow with high [Endurance], to do such a thing, it was genuinely hard to know what to make of it.
Most of all, Isagi thought, before he'd even realized it, had he himself already become such an "absurd" existence?
Catching cannonballs with his face and the like—was that just around the corner now?
Amid such strange and bizarre musings, everyone quickly leapt straight down.
A height of a few dozen meters was no problem at all, even for a mage like Riveria.
As for Isagi's side.
Those who couldn't jump down on their own, like Haruhime, were carried down by Ais and himself as they flew.
Everyone moved quickly.
Before long, they arrived in the [Holy City] below.
Then.
Isagi smashed open the ground, returned to the "dark region" further below, and immediately headed downward.
The whole way, they were silent.
They descended continuously among the lush, leafy great trees. Although there were no longer any monsters here now, all sorts of traps still existed.
At first, the Freya Familia's executives had been somewhat dismissive, but they soon discovered the special parts.
Regions ablaze with flames, regions blanketed entirely in heavy snow, regions thick with some kind of poisonous mist——
The mechanisms of all these places had already been cracked by Isagi.
But one could imagine how much trouble it must have been to make one's way up through these places before.
As for that,
Finn and Riveria were fine, since Gareth had prior experience—this dwarf uncle had once brought Alicia and Bete along to "grind levels" in the Goblin Kingdom for a while, so he knew quite well just what Isagi's distinctive dungeon really looked like.
Until they reached the very bottom of this pilgrimage road.
Crossing the impossibly beautiful grasslands and flower fields, they came before the familiar outpost camp the Goblins had built.
They entered its interior, passed through it, and came out the other side.
Isagi then had the adventurers of the Loki and Freya Familia keep close behind him—as well as Alfia, who had been trailing far behind at the very rear the entire way.
Then.
He took out the lantern he had earlier obtained from Marie the mermaid.
The pure white light dispelled the surrounding darkness.
Following the fortress's ramparts, Isagi took the lead, heading in the direction he remembered.
And so, very soon, everyone discovered that everything seemed to be submerged in pitch blackness, with neither an end nor an origin.
It even gave rise to a certain sense of panic within their hearts.
They worried about just where the destination was and whether they could reach it, and also worried about whether they would be able to return from this journey, back to the surface.
Until,
from within the darkness came a rustling sound of water.
Only then did everyone realize that they now seemed to be walking along some kind of slope, which made for an even more heart-pounding sense of dread—as though they were at this very moment walking toward a pitch-black, gaping maw.
Until the ground beneath their feet gradually grew level.
A faint blue light all at once dispelled the darkness, and accompanied by the ever-clearer sound of water, almost visible to the naked eye, before their very eyes something seemed to suddenly appear in midair and then vanish.
It was fish.
Fish floating in midair.
No—everything before them took on a faint blue glow, which meant that at this moment everyone was within water.
Everyone present was quite familiar with the [Great Waterfall] region they had now reached.
This place was essentially a vertical, gigantic cavern.
It could also be seen as a "canyon," or a structure resembling a "water well."
The enormous waterfall at the center poured down, surrounded by mountain paths encircling it, and within the rock walls, a network of interconnected, crisscrossing caverns.
The terrain here was complex if you wanted to call it complex, and ordinary if you wanted to call it ordinary.
There was actually only one main thoroughfare; as long as you followed the slopes around the Great Waterfall and kept going down, you could reach the very bottom.
The complicated part was this:
once you were attacked by monsters—especially something troublesome like a "Monster Feast"—and entered the caverns within the rock walls, it was very easy to walk into a dead end and be cornered by monsters inside some grotto.
And now,
everyone needed to cast the Dungeon they had remembered before entirely out of their minds, because from here on, this was a brand-new and unfamiliar Dungeon——
The fish swimming about in midair posed no danger.
They themselves also gave off little flickers of light, like moving beacons or lamps, illuminating the enormous grotto before them.
There was no longer anywhere to set foot beneath them at all.
Everyone discovered, to their astonishment,
that at this moment, everyone seemed to be flying through the air, able to move freely up, down, left, and right—but they were definitely not underwater right now, otherwise Ais, that landlubber who couldn't swim, would have started making a fuss long ago.
Isagi didn't know what the situation before him was either.
Last time he had only passed through here, with a hurried glance, so he didn't know the mechanism of this [Great Waterfall].
For now,
the only information everyone had obtained was a few large characters that surfaced from the depths of their hearts the instant they arrived here——
[Hunting Ground · Crossroads].
Hunting Ground?
What did that mean?
Incomprehensible.
But "Crossroads" was quickly understood by everyone, because very soon, among the cliff walls at the cavern's edge, they spotted "caverns" one after another that likewise gave off a faint blue glow.
Their surfaces were covered by a layer of water, shimmering with light, calling to mind the caves behind a waterfall.
And upon entering their interior, the view would suddenly open wide, leading to "another place."
"Perfect."
Ottar and Finn both thought so.
"In that case, let's split up and act separately from here."
On this adventure, they had never intended to follow along with him in the first place.
"Don't worry about us."
Tossing out those words, the champions of the [Goddess of Beauty] walked straight into the cavern ahead.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Finn, Riveria, and the others gave him a nod as well, then turned and headed toward a cavern on another side.
They had come here to temper themselves, to obtain the [Excelia] for leveling up as well as more ability values. Danger was inevitable, but as high-level adventurers, their resolve was beyond question.
It could even be said
that worrying about them would, on the contrary, be a kind of insult to them.
At the same time, far off, one could also see Alfia, in her gray robe, heading alone toward another cavern.
And Isagi, naturally, quickly called out to the girls accompanying him and continued exploring this "Crossroads."
He wasn't in any rush to be like the others.
Instead, he first made a circuit of the place, and then discovered that this place was itself a "cylindrical" space—you could call it a tall tower, or you could call it a water well.
Aside from those swimming, glowing, oddly-shaped fish,
there were, among the cliff walls, a total of nine caverns.
And at the very bottom, there was a gigantic round door.
It could be pushed straight open.
Doing so would lead further down, to the safe floor called the [Elf Garden].
Back then Isagi had passed through here, but he hadn't entered those caverns among the cliff walls; instead he had continued upward, and then, guided by Marie, returned to the original middle-floor region.
"Could it be that those nine caverns are nine gates, and we have to clear them all?"
"Let's go take a look."
Isagi answered Lefiya's conjecture; in any case, there was nothing else to do at the moment.
On the other hand, Ais was sighing with feeling.
This place was completely different from the Dungeon of a thousand years ago too.
Isagi placed simple markers before the caverns that Finn, Ottar, and Alfia had each already entered.
Then, Isagi finally led the girls into another cavern.
It really was just like passing through a water's surface.
The instant they stepped in, a soft "pop" sounded in their ears.
Then.
The faint blue glow from before vanished without a trace, and ashen-gray daylight all at once poured down from above. Lifting their heads, Isagi and the girls saw a black sun, concealed within thick, gray, hazy clouds.
It radiated light, illuminating the decayed, ruined village before them.
[Hunting Ground · Wrong Path · Fishing Village].
The path they had come by behind them had disappeared.
At this moment, everyone seemed to have come to an independent "little world," and the door from before was already long gone.
Was it because they had come to the [Wrong Path]?
Could it be that, of the nine caverns, one of them was the "correct" one?
Many, many doubts welled up in their minds.
But very soon, the questions received their most basic answer, because right up ahead, a certain ethereal voice came from far away.
[Please find the correct path.]
[Otherwise.]
[Please hunt the "orphans of the fishing village."]
It was just like a "main-line quest" that had suddenly popped up. That voice could not be told as male or female, nor could one tell whether that idiot Marie was making a cameo again.
It only quickly fell silent, and at the same time, inexplicably, everyone firmly etched it into the bottom of their hearts.
In any case,
at this moment, the "labyrinth" unfolded before everyone's eyes.
Isagi and the girls maintained their formation and walked into the ruined, rotting fishing village before them, then quickly discovered that this place was far from as simple as it looked on the surface.
Deformed coral and water weeds entwined the long-decayed, ruined houses, joining together into one mass, even forming some kind of gigantic living entity.
Doors, windows, roads, and coral and planks strewn every which way.
All of these were interwoven together.
Forming a "cave" that looked open but was in fact completely sealed.
The situation was very complicated.
Isagi soon discovered that within the fishing village there were numerous forking paths, but his line of sight was always obstructed, making it utterly impossible to judge where he currently was, or what the target ahead might be.
As a veteran adventurer,
not only the other girls, but even Isagi himself, not long after entering the fishing village, realized this place was far from simple.
Everyone—every single one of them—had gotten lost.
____
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