On the contrary, it was precisely because Finn possessed such rich emotions that his deep sense of responsibility forced him to cast those emotions aside and rely on reason when facing difficult choices, so that he could cut his losses in time. But a personality like that was bound to lead him into decisions that others would see as cold, even monstrous, as though he were some emotionless machine. That, more than anything, was why he was so often misunderstood.
Only those who had truly come to know him could understand what lay in his heart. Through their time together, and through old memories gradually stirred awake, Shien had come to understand that much. So when the gods gave Finn the title of Braver, Shien did not think it was exaggerated in the slightest. Whether in terms of potential or character, Finn really did deserve it.
And because of that, Shien was genuinely happy to count him as a friend.
"Then let's begin the final discussion."
After the meal, Shien and the others gathered around Finn at the center and began the last confirmation of their plans going forward.
Circumstances were always changing. A qualified adventurer leader had to constantly revise the plan in response to those changing conditions.
The members of the Loki Familia clearly understood this well. Since their own lives were at stake, they finished cleaning up the pots and dishes, then naturally formed a circle and listened to their captain speak.
"As I told everyone in advance, from the fifty-first floor onward, only the three of us plus Shien will continue the exploration and assault. The remaining personnel will stay here to defend the camp, maintain the supply point, and be ready to receive us when we return..."
That was Finn's final decision: a four-man team for a focused breakthrough.
There were two reasons for this arrangement.
The first was to reduce the burden—both in manpower and in supplies.
From the fifty-first floor onward, even supporters would need a significantly higher minimum standard of self-preservation just to survive. The larger the unit, the more time and effort it would take to direct it. In order to preserve mobility, the territory ahead was a domain only true elites could reach.
The recent Floor Boss battle had already made that clear. Apart from the three leaders and Shien, everyone else's role on this level had been almost negligible. To put it bluntly, at this depth, the others were more burden than help.
The other reason was even more practical: their logistics simply could not sustain a larger group any longer. Even gathering enough food and supplies for the three leaders alone was already difficult, let alone for everyone else.
The second major reason was precaution against the unknown. Beyond this point, the floors ahead were entirely uncharted territory. No one knew what lay waiting for them. In those circumstances, they could not gamble everything. Sending only their strongest members to scout ahead was the best way to reduce the risks as much as possible.
So the responsibility of the rest would be to defend the supply base—their rear camp.
Once everyone gradually understood the reasoning behind the arrangement, Finn continued.
"We estimate we'll find the target and return within two days. If we haven't returned by then, you are to retreat immediately and seek reinforcements..."
Though in truth, if a situation arose that could trap even the four of them, then even if these ordinary members managed to return to the city in time, the number of people capable of rescuing them would be vanishingly small. So that instruction was, more than anything, meant to reassure the others.
Shien sat quietly at the side, listening and learning.
Partly because he felt it was necessary, and partly because he was genuinely interested.
And there was another reason too. More and more, he had begun to realize what his own captain seemed to have in mind. It felt as though they meant to cultivate him into a commander of sorts.
Thinking back to his captain's personality, Shien felt that possibility was very real.
The meeting did not last long. In the end, it broke up with Finn's closing words telling everyone to get some proper rest.
Once they were fully rested, they would press onward into the unexplored domain tomorrow.
In the depths of the labyrinth, where there was neither sunrise nor sunset, only the ticking of the clock informed them that morning had come once more.
With a steady command, the expedition squad under Finn's leadership departed from camp.
The members remaining behind called out their farewells as they descended from the great rock and advanced once more into the gray forest.
Along the way, they discussed strategy—or rather, they chatted and laughed. Especially Gareth: his hearty, straightforward personality made him easy to like whenever he spoke. Shien, for his part, was a good listener, responding here and there as the dwarf talked about everyday things, softening what should have been a tense atmosphere into something almost warm.
"I see... so dwarves really do have traits like that..."
"Yeah. If we get the chance later, I'll definitely take you to try it. It's one of the treasures I've been saving for ages."
"I wouldn't mind, but I'll at least have to wait until I'm an adult. If nothing else, the people at home are still pretty strict about that kind of thing..."
"Hahaha, is that so? That's hilarious... You carry yourself so well that I keep forgetting you're still underage..."
Beside them, the royal elf listened in silence, even closing her eyes leisurely, outwardly as composed as ever. Yet whenever Shien casually revealed bits about himself, her pointed ears would quietly perk up.
She seemed to be growing used to this comfortable atmosphere.
It was almost like the old days, when the five of them had adventured together. Somehow, she felt as though she were tasting that kind of joy again.
"...All right. No more chatting from here on. Everyone prepare for battle."
Not long after, the party passed through the gray forest, and a great opening came into view. Finn spoke.
This was the massive tunnel carved into the western wall of the floor—the passage connecting the fiftieth floor to the fifty-first. It descended in a path so steep it might as well have been a cliff.
Looking down that severe slope, they could already see several pairs of monster eyes glowing in the darkness below. It gave the unmistakable feeling that what lay ahead was a plunge into a demon's lair.
Every member of the party silently raised their weapon.
Holding his long spear, Finn said:
"All right, everyone. Time to start killing again. Don't let your guard down—"
Forward.
"Stick to the planned route! Stay alert, and don't let the enemy get close!"
According to the records left behind by the two great Familias, the floors from fifty-one down to the deeper fifty-seventh possessed a rare structure for the Deep Floors.
The black-lead-colored walls and ceilings formed flat planes, while standardized corridors connected chamber to chamber in a tangled maze. Even the shapes seemed measured out brick by brick, as though they had been carved by human hands.
In a way, it almost resembled the Upper Floors, returning to the Dungeon's "basic design," but its scale and breadth were on a completely different level.
Keeping up a rapid pace, the team followed Finn's instructions exactly.
No unnecessary fighting.
No wasting supplies.
Like spies carrying out a covert operation, their mission now was simple: advance as far as possible while consuming as little as possible, reach the designated floor, find the target, and then return immediately.
Their destination: the unexplored sixtieth floor.
And so the party raced deeper through the Dungeon.
"Monsters are about to spawn in the corridor ahead."
"Gareth, ignore them—Shien, take them out."
"Got it!"
The swordsman's sharp instincts had predicted the monsters' appearance just before they emerged, and Finn gave the order at once.
"Everyone, keep up! Hey, pointy-ears, don't fall behind."
"And who exactly do you think you're talking to...?"
Gareth smashed apart a pursuing monster with his axe and shouted over his shoulder as he ran.
The Dungeon itself seemed to roar. All the monsters of the floor were converging, determined to stop these intruding adventurers.
From side passages. From crossroads ahead. From the ceiling. From the walls.
A relentless stream of encounters.The menace of the Deep Floors.
Black rhinoceroses and giant spiders surged in from all directions at a frequency far beyond anything they had seen on previous floors, trying to drown the party in sheer numbers.
The team fought as the monsters came, but never once faltered.
"GROOOAAAHHHH!!"
Unlike Gareth's wide, crushing swings, Shien ran straight at the monsters blocking their path, brushing past them with graceful footwork and severing their heads before they could even react.
Sometimes the world worked in funny ways. Though he had the greatest stamina of anyone there, the way he fought was also the most efficient, the least wasteful in both strength and focus.
The rear was enclosed by the two front-liners. Riveria and Finn ran close together. So long as nothing sudden happened, Riveria only needed to keep pace while Finn protected her.
But that did not mean she had no responsibility. Her emerald eyes had to remain fixed on the surroundings at all times, grasping the battlefield. As the team's heavy firepower, the mage had to trust her companions and be ready to act at any instant.
That moment arrived quickly.
Without anyone noticing at first, the wide corridor ahead became flooded by yellow-green masses.
At a glance, there had to be at least a hundred of them. Their numbers completely swallowed up the field of view.
Their skin was mottled with grotesque colors, and their flat, wide forelimbs resembled the fins of giant manta rays. It was impossible to compare them to any normal living thing. They were ugliness and disgust given form.
The way they writhed forward in a rolling tide made them look like living siege engines.
An entire horde of gigantic larval monsters had appeared before the team.
The familiar shape jolted something in Shien's memory.
He had seen monsters like these before—back in one of the side stories. He couldn't remember everything, but one detail was crystal clear:
their blood was absurdly corrosive.
The moment he realized it, he instantly leapt ahead, his body flashing through the air as he split one of them cleanly in half.
And then the reaction of the Candle-Flame, together with the way the splattered blood ate into the floor and began to smoke, confirmed his suspicion.
"Be careful! Their blood is highly corrosive! Use magic—"
Shien's warning reached everyone at once. Without the slightest hesitation, the royal elf began chanting.
At the same time, the other two exchanged a glance and immediately shifted formation, one on each side of Riveria, shielding her from the front.
As for Shien, the newborn Candle-Flame did not fear that attribute at all. And with his Abundance power ready to support him at any moment, this enemy's troublesome nature was hardly that troublesome to him.
Weapon in hand, Shien leapt straight into the swarm of larvae.
"SKREEEEEEEE?!"
A shrieking, broken howl exploded through the corridor.
The corrosive fluid they spat from their mouths never even reached him, vaporized instead by the sun-fire coiling around his body. Immediately after, one flaming magical sword-wave after another flew from his blade, cutting the surrounding enemies to pieces—and roasting them thoroughly in the process.
Unfortunately, instead of meat, what it produced was only a dense and nauseating stench.
Aware that he was fighting as part of a team, Shien was naturally not just cutting wildly. Every enemy he chose to kill was one threatening the trio behind him.
As long as he kept even a single monster from interfering with them, that was enough.
And just like that, by sheer force, Shien drove back the enemy's advance.
"[Sealed light, frozen earth. Blowing snow, thrice-turned winter—my name is Alf!!]"
"Shien, fall back!"
When someone is focused on a single task, time always seems to pass quickly.
While Shien fought at the front, Riveria's parallel chant had already reached completion in the blink of an eye.
At Finn's call, Shien leapt back to the others in one great bound, and their formation shifted automatically into a firing array.
An emerald magic circle appeared at the center like the barrel of a cannon.
The silver-white staff rose—
the First-Class Magic Weapon, Great Spirit, shone with the radiance of ice and snow.
"[Ecstasy — Fimbulwinter]!!"
Three blizzards shot down the corridor like artillery fire.
Blue-white blasts tore through the tunnel, freezing the monsters and the dungeon itself. The long corridor stretched into an endless world of pale ice.
A few seconds later—
From the larval monsters at the center to the others caught in the attack, everything had been turned into frozen sculptures standing in all directions.
"No matter how many times I see it, a mage is still a mage. Not a trace of messing around."
Shien couldn't help sighing in admiration at the instant transformation into an arctic world before his eyes.
Setting technique aside, magic always had its own unique advantages in certain areas—advantages that made it irresistible. That was one of the reasons he himself had chosen to walk this path.
The frost-coated walls could no longer spawn monsters, even Deep Floor creatures.
Shien and the others advanced over the frozen route, and soon arrived at the stairway leading farther down.
"Let's go."
With Finn's short command, the party continued on toward the fifty-second floor.
Before long, they found themselves once more in a black-lead labyrinth nearly identical to the fifty-first floor. The group maintained the same pace as before.
And yet—
something felt wrong.
A strange sense of familiarity rose in Shien's chest. There was some kind of gimmick on this floor, wasn't there? Some mechanism extremely unfriendly to anyone entering for the first time.
And just as he tried to think it through—
a sound rang out.
It was an ominous roar, as though rising from the depths of the earth itself.
"...A dragon...? Is that the cry of a dragon-type monster somewhere far away?"
The roar of the king of monsters bit into their ears.
That sudden sound sharpened everyone's tension at once, and their pace quickened instinctively.
With breathtaking speed, Shien knocked aside the monsters that appeared in the corridor.
"From where—?!"
No... the roar wasn't coming from around them—
It was coming from below?
In an instant, the scattered pieces of memory in Shien's head linked together.
His face changed at once, and he shouted without hesitation:
"Watch your footing—"
....
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