When they saw the ghastly pale goat-bone mask on the other party's face, Isagi and the girls all grew alert at the same instant.
[Skeleton Goat Demon].
A troublesome monster he and Ryuu-senpai had once encountered on Floor 37.
It had no physical form, could teleport, and could fire off invisible shockwaves similar to Alfia's "sound magic"—a rather tricky monster.
But the fellow before them was clearly somewhat different.
He wore a filthy and visibly tattered gray robe, and the exposed parts of his thin, slender limbs were all wrapped in white cloth strips—except that the strips were stained with a great deal of dust, leaving them looking very dirty.
Behind the mask, a great mass of messy black hair tumbled down like the plumage of some bird.
At the same time, a longsword hung at his waist—and it was of the Far East style, no less.
Wisps of a bloody scent drifted from him, and on instinct alone Isagi and the girls all realized that this fellow seemed not to be trifled with.
"A pleasure to meet you, adventurer. I am Usaburo, a hunter who serves His Majesty."
[A hunter?]
Everyone grew alert again, but he seemed to have no intention of attacking, and at the same time the cat cries and footsteps behind them once more became clear.
"This is no place to talk. Those hunters who have already lost their minds still wander here. Follow me, adventurers—I have something to say to you."
What followed was a long stretch of story.
Isagi walked at the very front, while the girls behind him still kept their formation; among them, Ais, Miss Heith, and Haruhime kept sizing up Usaburo, who walked at the head, with no small curiosity.
For them.
Although they had seen so-called "NPCs" in the Dungeon before, a fellow like this was still a bit too peculiar.
Lefiya and Tiona, on the other hand, had long since grown used to it.
And Isagi, of course, was even more familiar with it, because what came next was that very common sort of "long story sequence"—the kind where, after you meet a new NPC, the other party explains to you the most basic background and context.
"We come from a sanctuary further below."
Usaburo's first words made Isagi think of the deep levels he had once visited—namely the 37th floor of the Dungeon, that place called [The Abandoned Filthy Land, the Old White Blood Sanctuary].
"His Majesty wished to fulfill the long-cherished desire of the Dark Mother and to open up the road leading to the surface. And so we conquered the [Desert] and the [Dense Jungle], and at last reached a most important [Crossroads]—which is also the [Hunting Ground]."
"His Majesty had wished to find the [Correct Path] here and directly fulfill the Dark Mother's long-cherished desire, but that is now an impossible thing to accomplish."
"Having been able to reach this place, you have surely understood by now—the [Correct Path] does not exist, adventurers."
"And so, what was to be done next was, as before, to keep conquering the fellows further above—but the unexpected occurred."
"The divine miracle here rejected us, and made use of the complexity of the [Crossroads] to create this so-called [Hunting Ground], leaving us to wander here forever."
The vast majority of hunters like Usaburo had "gone mad."
In their drive to become true hunters, they had begun to hunt and kill every living thing visible within their sight.
"So I hope you will do one thing, adventurers."
"The divine miracle here does not hate you, and therefore only you can find the place where it resides."
"Find it, kill it, and liberate all the hunters."
"For so long now, His Highness has not sent anyone to support us. Something must surely have gone wrong at the sanctuary as well, and I must go back to see to it."
"I beg of you."
His words came to an abrupt stop.
Usaburo's figure suddenly vanished, as if he had never existed in the first place.
This fellow, too, could "teleport" after all.
"What on earth did this guy come here to do?"
"To hand out a quest, maybe."
"But where are we even supposed to look for that divine miracle thing..."
"He's talking about the Two-Headed Dragon, isn't he—the original Monster Rex of the [Great Waterfall]."
The girls chattered back and forth, until Ryuu-senpai came to Isagi's side and softly asked.
"Isagi, what do we do next?"
"We go down."
Usaburo had, in fact, already given a hint.
To search for the so-called "divine miracle"—then, if what he meant really was the original Monster Rex, the Two-Headed Dragon Amphisbaena.
Then it must be at the very bottom—and in the great lake at the very bottom, at that.
At the same time.
Isagi had also taken note of the most important reminder.
"The waterfall."
The boy's abrupt words still left everyone a bit puzzled.
"Where did the waterfall go?!"
The [Great Waterfall] was the very symbol of this place; the Dungeon couldn't possibly have completely transformed an entire floor, and so—
Was it that crossroads from before?
Or else...
"Come on—let's go find the waterfall first, and talk after that."
Following the sound of the flowing water.
Finn realized that he had, indeed, found the true "Correct Path."
Gareth walked at the very front, followed by Riveria, and last of all came Finn, gripping his spear.
The three of them had only just reunited as well; the [Correct Path] they had found earlier had turned out, against all expectation, to be a trap, and instead they had run into an even more troublesome enemy—at the time they'd had no teammates and could only handle it alone.
And after the fight there hadn't even been any drops.
"That thing just now—it's the sort that Isagi and the others call a [Red Spirit], isn't it? Adventurers who once died within the Dungeon."
"They might even be heroes from a thousand years ago."
"Ahh—"
Finn and Riveria both couldn't help recalling their own opponents: one was clearly a Pallum knight who had inherited the legacy of the Fianna Knights, and the other was clearly a captain of the guard of elven royalty.
And after defeating them.
Finn and the others had followed the path's guidance, only to end up back at the very first "crossroads."
That is, the vertical-shaft cavern that looked as though it were composed entirely of "flowing water."
It felt for all the world as though they were underwater—free to move up, down, left, and right at will—and yet there was no sensation whatsoever of being submerged.
Finn and the others soon saw Hedin's group appear as well.
The adventurers of the Freya Familia seemed to have chosen the same path; the result being that, after the two sides briefly exchanged information, each once more picked a cavern between the walls and walked into it again.
Only, this time.
Finn had hit upon the "correct answer," and was preparing to begin the search for the all-important [Waterfall].
Following the sound of water onward, the three of them said nothing at this moment, but they already understood: in truth, where they all now stood was within the original [Great Waterfall]—that most complex "cavern region" of passages crisscrossing between the walls.
If one were to liken a single cave chamber to "a single map."
Then everything that had just happened could be explained.
"Isagi was right—the Dungeon cannot change itself, so no matter how absurd it may look, in reality we are at this moment still within the original [Great Waterfall] region, and, in terms of the overall concept, there is no great difference from before."
____
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