A deal worth 10 million ended unhappily.
Finn, being on an expedition, naturally couldn't carry that much Faris on him.
More importantly, he recognized Dix.
In order to become a Hero and be the glory of the Dwarf race, Finn had always paid attention to the strong individuals within Orario.
As the captain of the Ikelos Familia, Dix, who possessed LV4 strength, was also one of his targets of interest.
"Riveria, have you been paying attention to the Ikelos Familia recently?"
"No, I haven't heard anything about that Familia for a long time."
Riveria replied.
She was not unfamiliar with the Ikelos Familia.
During the period when the Dark Faction was rampant, the Ikelos Familia was a Familia operating in the gray area.
Riveria could list a whole catalog of negative rumors about them just by recalling them.
However, ever since the god of the Dark Faction was sent back to the heavens and the Evilus disappeared, the Ikelos Familia had become quiet and rarely appeared in public.
"I thought they had just settled down, but now it seems they are hiding together with the Evilus."
"Yeah, they are truly a troublesome bunch."
After negotiating with Lynn a few days ago, Finn had already learned about the Artificial Labyrinth and the Evilus.
Although Lynn and the other person hadn't said anything just now, he could still guess the general situation.
If nothing unexpected happened, Lynn and Ottar should be investigating the Evilus, which is why they captured Dix.
"Let's go, let's rest in the forest for a while."
Glancing at his unimpressed thumb, Finn called out to Riveria and the others to leave.
"Let's temporarily leave the matters on the surface to Lynn. With him and the Freya Familia here, nothing should go wrong."
"Yeah, going back now isn't realistic either."
"Let's go, Aiz. Stop spacing out."
The members of the Loki Familia walked towards the forest.
A moment later, sword marks that pierced the forest and were slowly being repaired under the power of the Dungeon came into view.
...Boom—!
A dull impact sound echoed across the plain. Bell flew out, rolling dozens of times on the ground.
Intense pain surged from his abdomen. He felt as if his body was falling apart, trembling uncontrollably.
"Counter-hand is powerless, my dominant hand lacks spirit, my feet are unsteady, my reactions are slow—not a single move is decent. You still want to become a strong person? You're completely dreaming!"
A cold evaluation sounded above his head, piercing Bell's young heart like a sharp blade.
Since joining the Soma Familia, his luck had been very good, and he had even truly believed he could become a strong person.
But at this moment, he was struck back to reality by Hedin.
"Get up! Since you were noticed by Lady Freya, you must show the corresponding spirit!"
"Yes!"
Huh? Isn't something off?
Struggling to get up from the ground, a trace of confusion flashed in Bell's eyes.
What was going on with Goddess Freya? Shouldn't it be God Suma and Mr. Lynn?
Boom—!
"Don't get distracted during a fight!"
Hedin suppressed his strength and kicked the foolish rabbit in front of him down, using only LV2 physical conditioning.
"If you zone out again next time, I'll kill you!"
"Yes!"
Bell cleared all the distracting thoughts from his mind.
For Mr. Lynn's magic book, for the encounter Mr. Lynn mentioned, he absolutely had to become stronger.
"..."
It brightened again.
At the edge of the battlefield, Freya casually adjusted a strand of hair behind her ear, the corner of her mouth involuntarily curving upwards.
The boy's soul was gradually brightening.
Faced with the absolute gap in strength, he did not feel fear or panic.
Instead, like a qualified warrior, he got up from the ground again and again.
If this could continue...
"Yo~ Goddess Freya, you're here."
The annoying guy had arrived.
Freya sighed inwardly.
He clearly had good looks, and his soul was of an unprecedented shape, so why did she instinctively resist him?
Looking at the black-haired youth walking towards her, four words surfaced in Freya's mind—like repels like.
"Weren't you and Ottar heading to the Dungeon?"
"Yeah, but we had an unexpected gain halfway through training, so I brought him back for you to take a look."
Lynn waved his hand: "Come, Ottar. Perform for Goddess Freya... Cough, wrong scene, bring the person up."
"..."
Ottar walked over silently and threw Dix onto the ground.
After that, he took out a black notebook from his embrace, handed it to Freya, and briefly explained the situation.
"A descendant of Daedalus?"
It seemed he wasn't here to harass her for no reason.
Opening the black notebook to take a look, Freya's gaze returned to Lynn.
"What are you planning to do?"
"I want to take a stroll in the Daedalus Labyrinth first, using this guy's identity."
"...Do you know transformation magic?"
"Yeah... you could consider it transformation magic, but it's actually more effective in practice than transformation magic."
Lynn didn't explain too much.
Super-speed Regeneration could still be explained by magic, but Flesh Mimicry could not.
Looking at the process of its use, it was no different from a monster transforming. Anyone who saw it would misunderstand.
After glossing over it with a few words, Lynn walked over and slapped Dix twice across the face.
"Huh? Where is this..."
Dix opened his eyes somewhat dazed.
But before he could react to what happened, Lynn stepped back two paces, yielding his position.
"Goddess Freya, for the sake of peace in Orario, use your invincible charm on him!"
"..."
This guy talks too much.
She needed to think of a way to have Ottar teach him a lesson.
"It's 9 to 0. I'm going to explore the Artificial Labyrinth now, so I won't have time to manage Bell. I'll temporarily leave him to Hedin. We are allies, you shouldn't charge me money, right?"
"...I won't."
No, she couldn't laugh right now.
Suppressing the slowly rising corner of her mouth, Freya shifted her attention to Dix.
To drive away Lynn, this obvious third wheel, she might as well cooperate with his plan a little.
..."Dix is missing?"
A question mark rose above Valetta's head.
She was not unfamiliar with Dix, as he was practically half the master of the Artificial Labyrinth.
In the past, when he handled matters concerning the Xenos, she had participated a few times out of boredom.
But... wasn't Dix LV5?
How could a perfectly fine LV5 go missing?
"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics either."
Sensing Valetta's confusion, Thanatos let out a sigh: "Not long ago, an anomaly occurred on the Eighteenth Floor, so I sent my brother Dix over to investigate the situation."
"I thought he would be back soon, but after he left, he was never seen again."
"What happened after that? Did you not send anyone to investigate?"
"We investigated, but we didn't find Dix. Instead, we found the Loki Familia setting up camp and resting."
"The Loki Familia?"
"Yes, they seemed to be on an expedition, a large group gathered there, so it wasn't convenient for me to send too many people."
Thanatos briefly explained the sequence of events.
To be honest, he hadn't expected Dix to go missing.
He was LV5 after all, and his personality was cautious. Even if he encountered an LV6 or LV7, he should be able to hold his own.
Unless his identity was exposed, being ambushed and severely injured without any defense, there was no reason for him to vanish so cleanly.
"Sister Valetta, can you help investigate?"
"Tch, you useless god, you always find trouble for me."
Valetta curled her lip: "What about the Hestia Familia? Are we not continuing the investigation there?"
"Let's put that aside for now. After all, Dix also has the Labyrinth Key, and even the Labyrinth Map on him."
"Huh? The key is one thing, but why is the map on him too? Shouldn't that kind of thing be held by Barca?"
"You know Barca's personality. He couldn't stop Dix-kun if he wanted to do something."
"Tch, fine."
Valetta accepted the task.
Losing the labyrinth key was still acceptable.
After all, the Artificial Labyrinth was designed with numerous traps. Even a LV6 or LV7 wouldn't be able to withstand a frontal assault.
But the labyrinth map was a different matter.
If that thing fell into the Guild's hands, Orario would dispatch a large army to subjugate the Evilus within six months.
...
After asking Thanatos for some details, Valetta led her people towards the direction of the Eighteenth Floor.
Half a day had passed. The Loki Familia, who had been camping and resting, had long since departed for the deeper floors.
With the interference gone, she could finally go investigate the place where Dix had disappeared to see if any clues were left behind.
"Lady Valetta."
"What is it??"
"I think I see Lord Dix."
"Huh?"
Valetta abruptly stopped walking.
Following her subordinate's direction, she looked towards another corridor not far away.
At the same moment, a figure wearing goggles and carrying a long spear flashed through her line of sight.
Damn! It really is Dix!
A twitch ran through the corner of Valetta's eye, and she immediately ran over.
"Dix! You stop right there!"
"..."
Was someone calling him?
Lynn took a few more steps before realizing he was currently wearing Dix's identity.
He stopped and looked back at the woman chasing after him.
[Slaughter Emperor] Valetta Gretel.
Having done his homework at the Guild beforehand, Lynn confirmed her identity with just a single glance.
Though her title sounded ridiculously impressive, in reality she was only LV5. Dealing with her wouldn't be difficult.
"Young friend Valetta, what brings you to seek me?"
"Young friend?"
What kind of inexplicable address was that?
A look of confusion flashed across Valetta's face, but she quickly steered the conversation back to business.
"Thanatos said you went to investigate the anomaly on the Eighteenth Floor and went missing not long ago. What are you doing here?"
"I finished the investigation and came back."
Lynn rolled his eyes. "Just because I took a little extra time, you all treat it as a disappearance. You really look down on people."
"And the investigation results? I heard someone was fighting on the Eighteenth Floor, nearly collapsing the entire floor."
"It wasn't that exaggerated."
"Huh?"
"I mean it wasn't enough to collapse the floor."
As a safe floor, the Eighteenth Floor of the Dungeon had a significant thickness separating it from the Nineteenth Floor.
Unless Lynn and Ottar fought for three days and three nights, with an intensity surpassing the Dungeon's self-repair speed,
the floor wouldn't collapse in a short period.
"Anything else? I'm leaving if not."
"Hold on a moment."
Valetta reached out to stop him.
For some reason, she felt today's Dix was somewhat different from the usual Dix.
"You haven't told me the investigation results yet. Who was fighting on the Eighteenth Floor this morning, causing such a huge commotion?"
"Ottar and Lynn."
"Lynn?"
"The one from the Hestia Familia. He fought in the War Game recently, quite handsome. Don't you remember?"
"Of course, I remember."
After these past few days of investigation, Valetta had learned a lot about the Hestia Familia and Lynn.
"Wasn't that guy LV3? Even if his leveling speed is abnormal, there's no way he could make Ottar get serious."
"LV3 is fake, a lie spread by the Guild."
"A lie?"
"That's right. Weren't you suspicious about why I came back so late? Actually, I infiltrated the Guild not long ago. Through my investigation, I learned about the God-Making Plan."
"And what's that?"
Valetta was getting more and more confused.
"The God-Making Plan means exactly what it says: artificially creating a god-like adventurer to boost morale."
Lynn's brain began to spin wildly, countless terrible Another World works from his past life surfacing in his mind.
"You know about the Hera Familia and Zeus Familia's failure to defeat the Black Dragon. Since then, people in Orario and the outside world have been waiting for a new hero to step forward."
"And not long ago, Lynn, a secret weapon cultivated by the School District with top-tier LV6 strength, arrived in Orario and began the God-Making Plan with the Guild."
"The plan details are too long to explain, but basically it's using various methods to elevate Lynn to godhood, crafting an image of someone who can defeat LV2 at LV1, suppress LV3 at LV2, to inspire people."
"Earlier, Lynn and Ottar fought on the Eighteenth Floor. Actually, it was Lynn learning [Fading Light Slash], a sure-kill technique that allows one to fight above their level. It's part of the God-Making Plan."
"I see."
Valetta felt she understood everything.
Though she had been staying inside the Artificial Labyrinth, she still had some understanding of the outside situation.
In recent years, the Dragon Valley problem had gradually worsened, with more and more dragonkin escaping the seal.
The so-called God-Making Plan was essentially about creating a rapidly rising hero image to inspire the masses, making those ignorant commoners believe Orario had the power to defeat the Black Dragon.
"How laughable."
"What do you mean?"
"Of course, I mean the subjugation of the Black Dragon. Even the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia failed. It's already over."
Even Valetta had to admit how powerful that batch of heroes from over a decade ago was.
They were the embodiment of a thousand years of hope in the lower world, each possessing power that defied common sense.
Even those monsters failed to defeat the Black Dragon. The lower world lost its hope over a decade ago.
As for the current Loki Familia and Freya Familia, in her eyes, they were merely clinging to life.
The so-called God-Making Plan was just a petty trick the Guild came up with to deceive the foolish commoners.
"By the way, you went through all that trouble to infiltrate the Guild. Did you find out anything else besides this God-Making Plan?"
"No."
"Tch, useless."
"If you're so capable, you do it. Otherwise, shut up."
"..."
Did this guy eat gunpowder today?
Looking at Dix's impatient face, Valetta curled her lip.
"Forget it. Though the God-Making Plan is somewhat laughable, you still brought me useful intel."
"Lynn is LV6... Looks like I need to be more cautious when investigating the Hestia Familia from now on."
"Huh?"
Lynn, who was about to continue on his way, stopped.
Which Familia are you going to investigate?
...