In the Adventurer city of Orario, there are two Familias known as the Twin Kings: the Freya Familia and the Loki Familia.
Compared to the relatively low-profile and less active Freya Familia, the Loki Familia's influence is immense, so no one dares to ignore this behemoth.
But on this day, everyone was shocked.
The 'Nine Hell', Orario's strongest mage, Riveria, who hadn't even returned for lunch, was brought back to the Familia by a strange girl, remaining unconscious the entire time.
For a time, the Loki Familia was in an uproar.
However, because several core members of the Familia were not present, the gatekeepers, unable to make a decision, could only let the girl who brought Riveria back leave. Besides, according to her, she was just the owner of an ordinary snack shop.
The girl who brought the unconscious Riveria back to the Familia left immediately after achieving her goal, leaving them with no idea what had happened.
In Riveria's room, the green-haired Elven princess rested quietly.
"Loki, is Mother Riveria okay?"
The dark-skinned Amazon girl said a word that would have made Riveria's veins pop.
Unfortunately, that icy gaze from before was absent; the green-haired Elven royal woman was also showing her weak side in front of her juniors for the first time.
"She's fine. Although we can't find the cause of the coma, her physical condition has stabilized, and there won't be any lingering effects."
The Familia's patron god sitting by the bed, Loki, the goddess of trickery and fire, turned her head slightly.
Her squinting eyes opened for the first time. A chilling coldness that made one's skin crawl swirled in her eye sockets, and the blood-like crimson made Tiona feel somewhat uneasy.
— — — — — —
In the central plaza of Orario, Ritsuka, bearing the burning gazes from the Tower of Babel, walked into the Dungeon.
The snack shop couldn't turn a profit, and the money in her hands was dwindling little by little. Moreover, because she couldn't use official channels to exchange the things in her possession, the rewards she received were always reduced.
Once, she was almost robbed, but she relied on her fists to take back what belonged to her.
"Let's go straight to the fifteenth floor." Ritsuka muttered, opening the map in her hand.
As a non-Adventurer, the Dungeon map she could buy was only purchased from some low-level Adventurers, and it only contained the routes from the first to the tenth floor.
After the tenth floor, the monster respawn interval and appearance probability would change qualitatively, easily discouraging inexperienced rookie Adventurers.
Therefore, maps after the tenth floor could only be purchased at the [Guild] by Lv. 2 Adventurers.
What Ritsuka had was the lowest-tier Dungeon map, and its use for her was limited to wasting less time on the earlier floors. For her, the more suitable floors were the fifteenth to seventeenth; in this area, the number of monsters was high, and their value was not low.
As for deeper levels, she wasn't a professional Adventurer, so going there took too much time.
"Yosh, let's go."
Stepping into the first floor of the Dungeon, Ritsuka walked down the stairs, familiar with the route. She punched a goblin she encountered on the way straight into the wall.
Clean and efficient, without any hesitation.
After pressing nearly twenty monsters into the wall with her bare hands, Ritsuka arrived at the sixteenth floor. Familiar cow-headed monsters, Minotaurs, appeared in groups in her line of sight.
Ritsuka's lips curled up.
The next moment, before she could even use Projection, the monsters all turned and ran.
"Damn it! You guys are monsters, can you have some backbone?!"
A brutal slaughter began. Because she was hunting the unintelligent 12-hour respawning monsters, Ritsuka showed no mercy.
Wherever the sword point went, the Minotaurs' bodies, as hard as metal, were torn apart without resistance. The girl, whose techniques for fighting monsters were becoming increasingly proficient, was especially skilled at fighting Minotaurs.
After all, she had dealt with Minotaurs the most.
The dropped crystals and materials were all thrown into the crystal dice, which had two compartments containing large burlap sacks.
As for the size, stuffing a Minotaur inside wouldn't be a problem.
With a sword-axe forged from temple cornerstone in one hand and a Projection longsword that she could change at any time in the other, Ritsuka began to appear and disappear on the sixteenth floor, with shrill screams ringing out from various places from time to time.
The slaughter-like hunt lasted for nearly five hours.
...
Roar!! On the seventeenth floor, the Dungeon's lone king, Goliath, roared aloud.
Its massive size made its presence extremely intimidating; just by standing upright, its head was already close to the ceiling of the cavern, and its whole body carried an aura of terror.
Its dark red hand smashed down, and several people scattered, easily dodging this simple and brutal attack.
"Lefiya, the main damage output is up to you, good luck."
The short man, who was clearly the leader, gave the order. The girl behind him, a pointed-eared orange-haired Elven girl, subconsciously took a step back.
Just looking straight at that monster made her hair stand on end. How was she supposed to handle this... the girl wailed in her heart.
Their purpose in coming here was to prepare for the upcoming expedition. These three people were the absolute core of the Loki Familia.
Lv. 6 Pallum, 'Brave' Finn Deimne. Lv. 6 Dwarf, 'Gareth' Gareth Landrock. Lv. 3 Elf, 'Thousand Elf' Lefiya Viridis.
Among them, the girl named Lefiya was very weak compared to the other two, but because of her talent and the Elven race itself, her future strength was absolutely promising.
After the older generation grew old, she would become the strongest mage. This was the evaluation of the current strongest mage in Orario, Riveria, and it was recognized by the Loki Familia.
Goliath was definitely no match for Finn and Gareth, but the two of them coming here had another mission: to train Lefiya so that she wouldn't be too scared to fight back when facing powerful enemies.
'But now it seems the training plan is unlikely to happen.' Finn looked at Lefiya, who was already weak in the knees just from making eye contact with Goliath, and his expression was very helpless.
He exchanged a glance with Gareth, preparing to attack together.
"Roar roar roar..." Goliath roared, tearing down the crystal from the top of the cave and throwing it directly in the direction of Finn and Gareth. The heavy crystal had a strong sense of oppression.
Gareth grabbed Lefiya, and the three of them jumped away together.
Boom!! Dust filled the air. Finn flicked his spear, the shaft in his hand vibrating, and he lunged out like a startled dragon.
As one of Orario's top combatants, Finn displayed strength that lived up to his reputation, easily dealing massive damage to Goliath.
After putting Lefiya down, Gareth joined the battle as well. Goliath, a mere Lv. 4 floor boss, was subjected to an onslaught that could only be described as a brutal beatdown.
'No, I can't just watch like this...' Lefiya pressed her lips together tightly.
She wanted to catch up to that person. Currently, she was still too weak. As a Lv. 3 under the protection of the Familia, her actual combat ability was appallingly low.
"Released light arrows, sacred wood bow, I am the master of the bow."
"Intercept! Elf Archer..."
Magic power rose on her body. Lefiya's long skirt fluttered without wind, and the white over-the-knee socks on her legs were eye-catching.
"Lefiya... that's great." Finn smiled slightly.
As a 41-year-old Pallum male, even though he looked like a young boy, he was an elder in the Loki Familia. Seeing Lefiya's actions, he was genuinely happy for her.
However, the situation changed suddenly. Just as the dwarf uncle Gareth swung his battle axe and severed Goliath's arm, this seemingly goofy big floor boss revealed a fierce glare.
Its hard head met Finn's spear, and it forcibly knocked its own arm aside. The giant object, which was several meters long, smashed down towards Lefiya.
Lefiya, whose magic chanting was in its final stage, suddenly panicked, and the magic that was about to be constructed fell short.
The magic power dissipated like bubbles.