On the eighth-floor corridor, a figure like a rushing gale darted through the passageways, moving so swiftly it seemed to melt into the darkness itself.
"Where exactly are those bastards hiding…?"
Cold intent shone in those jade-green eyes, while a stormlike killing aura seemed to stir around her.
The surviving remnants of the Rudra Familia.
They were in hiding, and she had been tracking them for more than a month without finding any real leads.
Only yesterday had she finally made some progress. She had traced signs of the Rudra Familia's survivors appearing in the upper floors.
They were hiding inside the Dungeon, too afraid to show themselves, fearing that the blade of Justice would fall upon them.
Her icy gaze fixed on the long corridor ahead. She knew those people were hiding around the eighteenth floor or perhaps even deeper.
Just as Ryuu was hurrying forward at full speed, her steps stopped abruptly, and her brows drew together slightly.
"A monster feast?"
Clearly, she had already heard the riotous howls of monsters.
Even if this was only the eighth floor of the upper levels, the adventurers who usually lingered here were mostly newcomers. Even Level 2 adventurers would struggle to handle a monster feast.
Even now, with her heart filled to the brim with hatred, the wings of justice in her soul had not completely vanished.
If she came across adventurers in danger, then as Lady Astraea's Sword of Justice, she had no reason to stand by and do nothing.
Ryuu knew she was already stained by filth and unworthy of calling herself a member of the Astraea Familia any longer—but that belief itself had never wavered.
And yet, when she arrived, she froze.
The floor was covered in shattered magic stones, and in the middle of the chamber stood a black-haired boy calmly collecting them.
Wait…
He was an elf.
Instinctively, Ryuu swept her gaze across the surroundings.
The traces of residual magic had not yet faded. Ice and fire still lingered together across the ground.
At last, Ryuu's eyes settled on Isis.
"Level 1?"
With a single glance, she judged the strength of the young elf before her. What she had not expected, however, was that the person swept up in a monster feast stirred by the Rudra Familia's surviving members would be a Level 1 adventurer.
And by the look of it… a newcomer.
A child, at that.
At the same time, Isis, who had been leisurely picking up magic stones, noticed her gaze and turned to meet her eyes.
"Hm?"
"Can't see clearly…"
A wary look flashed across Isis's face. Her appearance was completely hidden beneath her cloak; all he could make out were the twin blades at her waist and a pair of long, slender legs.
At the same time, he instantly sensed something unusual about her.
In that moment alone, he judged that this person was far stronger than he was.
A high-level adventurer?
Why had one suddenly appeared here and approached him?
Robbery?
Murder for loot?
Isis's mind started spinning at once, while magic power quietly began circulating through his body.
When you were out in the world, having a name to rely on was always best—but he had no idea whether bringing up his identity as a member of the Loki Familia and Riveria's nephew would actually work.
What if this person happened to be an enemy of the Loki Familia?
So… better to rely on himself than anyone else.
Isis quickly surveyed the nearby passages. He needed to burst away at full speed and retreat immediately.
Even if he knew her level and ability values far exceeded his own, once he made it back to the surface, everything would become easier to deal with.
Ryuu, meanwhile, had already noticed his eyes and subtle movements.
He was trying to be discreet, but to someone like Ryuu—who had lived through the dark days of the Great Feud—it was impossible to hide.
At the same time, Ryuu realized how bad this looked.
After all, from the perspective of a Level 1 adventurer, a high-level adventurer had suddenly appeared nearby just after he had single-handedly dealt with a monster feast, with a backpack full of magic stones on top of that.
It would have been strange not to get the wrong idea.
"I mean no harm…"
Ryuu spoke softly.
Her calm, cool voice echoed through the chamber and reached Isis's ears.
"Eh?"
Isis stopped his little preparations and let out a helpless laugh.
As expected, tricks like that were completely useless in front of a high-level adventurer.
At that moment, Ryuu finally got a good look at the young elf before her and could not help being briefly taken aback.
He looked strangely familiar somehow, and he was remarkably beautiful. If he grew his hair out, Ryuu felt she might have mistaken him for a girl at first glance.
"Get back to the surface as soon as you can. After a monster feast, abnormal situations often follow, along with newly spawned monsters. In your current state, dealing with them would be too much."
After a brief silence, Ryuu gave him that warning.
She was deeply surprised that a Level 1 beginner could possess the strength to handle a monster feast of this scale.
But surprise was one thing. She had no intention of dragging this child into trouble—especially not when she still had to continue tracing the Rudra Familia remnants.
"Thank you, Senpai."
Isis nodded, but his expression did not truly relax.
Perhaps because they were of the same race—and perhaps because Isis's eyes were so clear and clean—Ryuu did not feel much instinctive rejection toward him.
Her gaze paused briefly on him.
His stance was steady, but his breathing pattern was off—shallower than normal, the natural result of a body automatically adjusting after expending a large amount of magic power.
She did not point it out.
Instead, she took a potion from inside her cloak and tossed it to him.
Instinctively, Isis caught it. When he realized it was a high-grade magic recovery potion, he froze.
A Dian Cecht Familia product.
One bottle: 100,000 valis.
And she had just casually thrown it to him.
"This…"
Isis stared at it in disbelief.
He certainly did not think it was poisoned. That would have been absurd for a potion worth a full hundred thousand valis.
More importantly, he could sense no malice from her at all.
If she had harbored ill intent, he would not still be standing here unharmed.
Isis understood that she had already seen through his overextended magical state.
"Take it."
Ryuu looked at him with calm eyes, giving him no room to refuse, then turned and left.
As she turned away, Isis caught sight of a single strand of golden hair.
Coming back to himself, he hurriedly called out,
"Senpai—my name is Isis. I'm a new member of the Loki Familia."
"I'll pay you back later. Please tell me how I can contact you."
Isis did not like owing people favors.
And besides, he wanted to get to know this kind-hearted elf senior.
Ryuu paused for a moment, clearly not having considered repayment at all.
"If we meet again, then."
She did not look back. Her voice was flat, so flat that it sounded like she was speaking of something even she did not know would ever happen.
Then her figure disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.
Ryuu's heart was filled with a death wish. For the sake of revenge, she no longer cared about her own life, so Isis's intention to repay her meant little to her.
Watching her vanish from sight, Isis blinked in surprise.
That elf senior really did have a rather unusual personality.
Still, he did not dwell on it.
After drinking the magic potion and feeling his strength recover, he tidied up the battlefield a bit more and then set off on the return journey.
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