Leaving the second-story loft, Lynn took Gran to the sewers of Daedalus Street.
As the legendary genius designer, Daedalus knew how forbidden the Artificial Labyrinth was.
To facilitate entry and exit from the Artificial Labyrinth and to obtain funds and raw materials from Orario and even around the world, he paid particular attention to the design of the first floor, preparing many entrances.
And the two-story loft Lynn used to house the Xenos was very close to one of these entrances.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
The five-meter-high gate, made of the hardest metal, Orichalcum, slowly lifted upwards, emitting a dull sound.
Entering the Artificial Labyrinth through the entrance, Lynn led Gran deeper into the labyrinth.
With the design blueprint of the Artificial Labyrinth and his personal exploration a few days prior, he was familiar with most areas of the labyrinth and knew the fastest way to reach the Eighteenth Floor.
How to traverse the first few floors didn't matter much; the number of traps was moderate, and there weren't too many dangerous monsters.
The real areas requiring attention were the Eighth to Tenth Floors.
The Ninth Floor was the main base of the Evilus, and Thanatos often operated on the Ninth Floor and its surrounding areas.
Gods have the power to see through lies.
To avoid exposing his identity, Lynn deliberately avoided these floors when exploring the Artificial Labyrinth, always staying on the edges of the floors.
After letting Gran move freely, Lynn activated his lightning field to scout the surroundings, just as he had done a few days ago.
After ensuring Thanatos was not present, he took a shortcut directly to the Tenth Floor of the Dungeon.
Dull footsteps echoed in the steel corridor as Lynn walked step by step towards the Eleventh-Floor passage.
However, just then, a click sounded.
The room door on the right side of the corridor opened to both sides, and a red-haired figure emerged from within.
"Hmm? It's you."
Revis glanced at Lynn.
She was not unfamiliar with this descendant of Daedalus, having met him several times before for cooperative matters.
"The rooms in this corridor have been requisitioned by me. Don't come here unless it's important."
"Hoh~ How domineering."
Lynn whistled, a playful smile appearing on his face: "Are you making those monster breeding beds again?"
"No, this time it's an Immortal spirit embryo."
Revis did not hide it and replied truthfully.
To cultivate the Immortal spirit embryo to blow up Orario, the power of the Artificial Labyrinth was indispensable.
In order for the plan to proceed smoothly, it was necessary to appropriately reveal some information to Daedalus's descendant.
"By the way, did you break through to LV6?"
"LV6? No."
"Didn't break through?"
A look of confusion appeared on Revis's face.
The reason she walked out of the room was because she suddenly felt a powerful aura approaching.
If Dix hadn't broken through, what was that faint sense of danger emanating from him?
"Improving strength doesn't necessarily mean breaking through a level. I recently awakened new skills and magic."
As if sensing Revis's confusion, Lynn explained briefly before his gaze shifted to the room behind her.
"Can I go in and take a look?"
"No, the Immortal spirit embryos are still in the cultivation stage. Outsiders approaching might easily stimulate them."
"I see. Then let's wait until they are fully cultivated."
Lynn shrugged and walked towards the tunnel ahead.
"..."
He's leaving just like that?
After watching Lynn gradually move farther away, a look of doubt appeared on Revis's face.
In her impression, Dix was a lunatic driven mad by a bloodline curse.
If it were before, once Dix knew about the Immortal spirit embryos, he would definitely try every means to enter the room to investigate the truth, and then ask a couple of times if he could play with them.
To end the topic so casually and leave was truly unlike his style.
Recalling the threat she felt from Dix just now, Revis suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if she had overlooked some important information.
"Waaaaahhhhhh!!!"
Just then, a cry rang out from the room, like a newborn infant demanding food.
And as the first cry sounded, several other distinct cries followed from within the room, the multitude of cries intertwining like deafening demonic music.
"Tch, such a hassle."
Revis's thoughts were interrupted.
"Forget it, he's just a minor figure anyway."
Giving up her contemplation about Dix, Revis turned and walked toward the room behind her.
The immediate priority was cultivating the Immortal spirit embryos; that was more important.
Calculating the time, the first Immortal spirit embryo was almost formed. She would test its effect in the granary in a few days.
...
"Looks like I have to avoid this path."
On the other side, after leaving the Tenth Floor and arriving at the Eleventh Floor, Lynn marked the path he had just taken as forbidden.
He wasn't afraid of fighting Revis head-on; after all, she hadn't developed yet and was only at the LV6 level.
But in Lynn's view, exposing his identity to kill Revis offered him no benefit; instead, it would bring trouble.
At this particular point in time, the disguise of Dix still served a significant purpose.
"I'll take the small path to the west from now on."
After re-planning the route in his mind, Lynn continued to advance toward the lower floors.
Having passed the Tenth Floor, the path ahead immediately became smoother, and he quickly arrived at the Eighteenth Floor.
Opening the large door to the forest on the Eighteenth Floor, Lynn did not linger on this safe floor and continued rushing toward the lower levels.
The Nineteenth Floor, the Twentieth Floor, the Twenty-first Floor...
Having changed his face using Flesh Control, the unrestrained Lynn advanced at full speed and soon reached the lower area.
A deafening roar echoed as a massive waterfall cascaded from the sky, its mist refracting into a rainbow of light.
"It's as magnificent as ever."
After stopping to admire the scenery of the Water Maze City, Lynn arrived at the edge of the cliff.
Unlike the last time he visited, where he went to the lower pool via the internal maze, Lynn found the right angle and leaped off the cliff edge directly.
The immense rush of wind whistled past his ears. Looking at the pool approaching below, he took out two daggers from his embrace and stabbed them into the adjacent wall.
The azure crystal was pierced, and resistance immediately followed, causing Lynn's descent speed to abruptly decrease.
But bolstered by the kinetic energy accumulated previously, his body still shot downward rapidly, soon arriving above the pool.
"Slightly off target... Forget it, it doesn't make a difference."
Calculating his landing spot, Lynn pulled out the daggers and pushed off the wall with both feet. With a thud, he smashed onto the ground at the edge of the pool, his legs emitting a mournful cry from bearing the weight.
Super-speed Regeneration stepped up to soothe his legs; the damaged muscle tissue quickly regenerated. Lynn stood up as if nothing had happened and patted the dust off his body.
After that, he walked to the edge of the pool and jumped down again using the same method as before.
Going around in a loop, Lynn only took a few minutes to travel from the Twenty-fifth Floor to the Twenty-seventh Floor, the terminus of the City of Water Maze.
Looking at the pool far exceeding those on the previous two floors, he finally stopped his advance.
This was his first stop to test the effect of the Spirit Devouring Barrier—'Fish Blasting'.
...
At the edge of the 27th Floor.
A small team of over a dozen people was clearly divided, hunting monsters while moving forward.
"Strange, why are there fewer and fewer monsters."
The dog-person girl holding a dagger looked around.
As the team's scout, Lulune was the first to notice the reduction in nearby monsters.
"Captain, should we continue moving forward?"
Monsters in the Dungeon do not decrease for no reason.
This situation meant either an adventurer had passed ahead and cleared them out, or an abnormal situation was occurring.
As veteran adventurers, the members of the Hermes Familia all understood this principle and their gazes converged on the blue-haired girl in the center, waiting for her command.
"This is troublesome. Why does this have to happen when I'm collecting materials."
Asfi let out a sigh.
As the Captain of the Hermes Familia, she was responsible for the safety of her team members.
After careful consideration, she looked toward the tiger-person next to her.
"Falgar, you stay here and rest with the others. I'll take Lulune ahead to scout the situation."
"Understood."
"Huh? Why do I have to go too?"
Lulune's ears, atop her head, drooped softly.
"Captain, I want to stay here too. You should go handle this dangerous job alone."
"No, I need your help."
Asfi pulled the dog-person girl and walked forward.
As the saying goes, every trade has its specialist.
Although only LV3, Lulune, being a beastkin, had sharper hearing than the LV4 Asfi.
Furthermore, as the team's scout, Lulune was very skilled at finding clues from subtle traces.
Moving with Lulune was more efficient than moving alone.
As expected, after walking down the passage for just a few minutes, Lulune discovered a clue.
"Captain, there are explosion sounds."
"Explosion sounds?"
"Yes, they are coming from over there."
Lulune raised her hand and pointed to the passage on the right.
"Over there... I remember that's the pool area, right?"
Asfi pondered thoughtfully.
The pool area was the center of the 27th Floor, connecting to the surrounding maze waterways.
If someone caused a commotion near the pool, it would inevitably attract the attention of nearby monsters.
"No wonder there are so few monsters on our side. It seems they all went to the pool area after hearing the explosions."
"Causing such a huge disturbance on the 27th Floor—isn't that too high-profile?" Lulune showed a hint of curiosity.
After confirming that someone was attracting the monsters and not that the Dungeon itself had mutated, her courage increased significantly.
"Captain, should we go take a look?"
"Let me think... According to the Guild records, the last subjugation of Amphisbaena was twenty-two days ago. If it's not the subjugation of the Labyrinth King, we can go take a look."
Asfi took out two helmets from her backpack.
The refresh time for Amphisbaena was one month, and there was still more than a week until the next refresh.
Since it wasn't some Familia subjugating the Labyrinth King, going to take a look wouldn't be an issue.
Handing the invisibility helmet to Lulune to wear, the two concealed their figures and walked toward the passage on the right.
Continuous roaring sounds kept coming. As the distance closed, Asfi also heard the explosions.
"Strange, why are they so frequent."
Asfi frowned slightly.
The explosions were too frequent, happening almost every few seconds.
Lulune: "Captain, do you think the people in the pool area are being besieged and are using magic swords to clear a path?"
"It's possible. Let's speed up."
Life was at stake, so Asfi suddenly increased her pace, bringing Lulune to the end of the tunnel.
However, the moment they burst out of the tunnel, the two abruptly stopped, standing motionless at the tunnel exit.
"... Captain, I kind of regret coming."
"Coincidentally, so do I."
...