"I want to go up to the surface."
It was a thoughtless remark, blurted out before he could think. As if to prove it, Reed hurriedly clapped a hand over his own mouth.
"Sorry. Forget I said that."
He had no intention of ruining the pleasant mood they'd finally managed to create. It had only been his true feelings slipping out unconsciously.
Today had been a good day. A friend had come to visit. A new kindred spirit had appeared.
A day when hope had begun to bloom.
Maybe that was why Reed had unknowingly imagined a happy future.
A future where humans and monsters would find harmony beneath the blue sky.
It was a truly happy future. But by the same token, it was a future that was almost impossible to imagine.
Wasn't that obvious? The blue sky. He had never seen it even once.
It was the unknown. The cause that had driven humans into the Dungeon, and the source of the monsters' ascent to the surface.
Reed, too, was not free from longing for the unknown.
But he also knew how absurd that wish was, and how awkward it would make the listener feel. That was why he had hurriedly covered his mouth and apologized.
Which was why he hadn't expected it.
"Then would you like to go see it?"
"What...?"
He never would have expected that answer.
"Betchi, I'm really, really grateful for the thought. But you don't need to push yourself."
"Push myself? Not at all."
He laughed and answered Reed's worried words, but in truth Reed was right.
Simply going up to the surface was nothing. But the moment the subject was monsters, every part of this became incomparably more dangerous than usual.
More than anything else, a monster that had never once come to the surface since the age of the gods had now come up. Just that alone would surely cause trouble on the scale of the Three Great Quests, if not greater. That much was obvious from experience, and personally, I didn't think the current age would be all that different.
So why take such a reckless action?
"Guess what this is?"
"...That's..."
The item he held out.
At a glance, it looked like a snowflake. But unlike snow, it was a cold blue object engraved with geometric patterns.
And there was even the letter D embedded where the pupil should have been.
It was something I'd heard about from Fels.
"Something Evilus used..."
"The artificial labyrinth. It's the key to Knossos."
Leaving the Dungeon was very easy. But the story changed if you added the condition of sneaking out.
The Dungeon entrance was always guarded by Ganesha Familia in case of emergencies, and through their alliance with the Guild, it was customary for major Familias to rush in and resolve any incident the moment something happened. If you caused a disturbance at the Dungeon's only entrance, there would be no time to buy even a moment.
"But what if the Dungeon didn't have only one entrance?"
"What...?"
The one who was shocked by my words wasn't the Xenos, but Ais.
The Dungeon didn't have only one entrance?
Impossible. Ais truly thought so. If those words hadn't come from Vesta, she wouldn't have even bothered to listen.
In fact, it was well known that the Dungeon did not have only one entrance. A seaside town not too far from Orario. The port city of Melhen. There was an entrance to the Dungeon there, where monsters that disturbed the marine ecosystem came and went.
Strictly speaking, it was true that the Dungeon did not have only one entrance. But at this point, wasn't it effectively one?
The Dungeon's other entrance had already been sealed.
And by the expedition force that included the very person standing before her.
"Ah, I'm not talking about using the entrance that leads to Melhen. That one's sealed up tight, with no gaps at all."
"Th-then the impossible part is..."
"We're going through another entrance."
Vesta wore a mischievous smile that didn't suit him.
"This labyrinth extends all the way to the surface."
"I don't like this."
"What's the problem now, Gross?"
At the gargoyle's grumbling complaint, Rey let out a tired sigh and answered him.
What kind of past life had this gargoyle lived to end up with such a twisted nature?
"Don't call me twisted."
"Then what would you call it? We came all the way here, and now all of a sudden—"
"Going to the surface is fine. But I don't like this place itself."
Unlike the real Dungeon, it had no self-repair function, so the traces of destruction remained everywhere.
As Gross took in the appearance of the artificial labyrinth, his brow furrowed.
Was it monster instinct? No, there was no way. This was disgust. Disgust toward the ones who had built this place, and the ones who had used it.
How much blood had been spilled to build this place? Just thinking about it was irritating, and now that he was in the position of using it, he felt a heaviness in his stomach.
"Still, we have to do it. It'd be a waste to just leave it alone, wouldn't it?"
Perhaps unable to refute that, Gross could only let out a low groan and accept it.
As Gross said, the fact that this had once been Evilus's base was extremely unpleasant, but aside from that, there was no better stronghold to be found.
Even Zeus Familia and Hera Familia had failed to find this base. If it had been an unexplored region, that would be one thing, but the uniqueness of a second Dungeon was not something even a god's omniscient intuition could easily predict.
Besides, since it wasn't the real Dungeon, no monsters would be born here either. It was, quite literally, a place made for heretics. There had never been any other choice but to use it.
"Ugh..."
Knowing that, Gross said nothing further. And as the silence continued and they gradually made their way toward the surface, expectation and exhilaration began to bloom on the heretics' faces.
It was sudden, but this was their first time going up to the surface. That anticipation was beyond words. And because of that, they failed to reach one simple fact.
But Ais, unlike them, did reach it.
"Why..."
Ais looked at Vesta's back as he led the way and thought to herself.
Why did he seem so rushed?
His energetic movements seemed to say that not even a minute or a second could be spared.
"Something's wrong..."
The doubts that had been piling up finally burst.
Why had he brought her to meet them today?
Why was he taking them up like this today?
It seemed prepared, so it couldn't be entirely impulsive, but it was also too hurried to call it fully planned.
Was there really any reason to rush this much? Even if he hadn't done it this way, he could have taken his time and moved slowly.
Why was he taking risks and acting so urgently?
It was almost as if...
"Ais?"
Before she knew it, Ais had come up beside Vesta and silently looked up at him.
Vesta was smiling as always, but in Ais's eyes he somehow looked as though a faint shadow of sorrow had settled over him.
"It's just my imagination...?"
She forced down the unease rising in her chest and reached out to take Vesta's hand. Vesta looked briefly surprised, but said nothing and simply took her hand in return, smiling.
Ais tried to smile as well, but for some reason, she couldn't quite manage it.
Drdrdr—
As the door opened, another burst of awe escaped him, though he couldn't even count how many times it had been now.
I didn't show it as openly as they did, but I was just as amazed.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's still incredible."
How on earth had someone ever thought to build a facility like this? As someone who was about to use it, I felt a little awkward saying it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that whoever made this place must have been out of their mind.
As an architect, and as a person.
"We should clear this place out too."
I hadn't expected the Xenos to use the artificial labyrinth, but come to think of it, there was probably no one who needed this place more than they did. If they were going to use it, it might be better to clean it up in advance.
Evilus was gone, but their remnants and the evil gods were still out there. Of course, Evilus could already be considered finished... but still, you never knew.
It might be worth setting aside some time to check it over.
- Bell Cranel.
...Because there wasn't much time left.
Grip.
"..."
As if she had sensed my thoughts, the hand I was holding tightened.
Ais was looking at me with an uneasy expression. I thought I'd hidden it well, but had it shown after all?
"Is something wrong?"
"...No."
It didn't look like "no" at all, but I didn't press the matter.
Was this what they called a woman's intuition? I honestly had no idea how she had noticed.
Marveling inwardly, I opened the door once more.
"Amazing. What on earth is the mechanism behind this?"
"Who knows? I'm curious too."
"I've been here before, but I never imagined the environment would be this complex... If all the doors are shut, then getting in without a key would be impossible."
That was true. When I had my full strength in my prime, I could force my way in, but now I couldn't pull off such a stunt.
So I really had gotten weaker. To think the great me would end up in such a state.
"So these are all rare metals... If one thing goes wrong, couldn't you get crushed under all this?"
He was right. That was part of why this place was called an artificial labyrinth.
It wasn't the real Dungeon, but its performance didn't shame the name labyrinth. An attack using [terrain] itself would later prove so vicious that it left one of Orario's two great Familias helpless.
But in the end, it was human power. The one who made this labyrinth, and the one who moved it, was not a god, nor the Dungeon, nor the world itself, but humans.
No natural disasters occurred here. Only human disasters.
That was why I hadn't expected it.
Clang—
"...What?"
It happened in an instant.
The moment we were about to pass through the [Door].
The [Door], which should have remained fixed in place, fell away and became a giant hammer.
My body froze in the shock of the moment. But it wasn't even a true instant.
"Kyah?!"
I immediately threw Ais, whose hand I was holding, backward and reached up with my only arm to catch the falling mass of metal.
"Kkgh?!"
At the same time, the impact slammed through my entire body. Bones, muscles, and joints were all forced under immense strain, and a creaking sensation accompanied by an unpleasant sound escaped me.
But I caught it. The moment I thought that and felt relieved—
"Tch. Monster bastard."
"...!"
With that voice, a sharp slash came flying in.
Startled by the sudden attack, I instinctively twisted my body and avoided both the door and the slash. It grazed me by a hair's breadth, but I managed to evade without any serious injury.
Thud!
The door crashed down, and with tremendous impact, a deafening roar echoed through the space.
Because of that, I was split away from the others, but I had the key...?!
"It's gone...?"
The pouch where I'd kept the key had been cut away. So that was their aim from the beginning!
Then the enemy's objective was...!
"Ais...!"
"It's been a while, Aria."
A calm voice. Indifferent eyes.
Ais knew the person standing before her.
She also knew the name by which that person was calling her.
Which was why she couldn't understand it.
"Who... are you?"
"Revis."
With those words, the red-haired woman drew her sword.
A cold flash of steel swept toward Ais.