CHAPTER 2 DUNGEON TRAP
Ka-chunk. Ka-chunk.
The sound of dirt being carved away echoed throughout the darkness.
First came the swing of a hammer, followed by the pounding of a nail. Again and again, for long hours, the work continued in that dark tunnel.
“You don’t suppose you could help us with a little something, do you, Barca dear?”
“…Leave me be, Thanatos.”
The light from Thanatos’s lantern flickered off the shadowy walls as he stood behind the busily digging figure to accost him. The man in question—a human named Barca—neither turned around nor halted in his work. A dark bag sagged beneath the one eye not hidden by his long bangs, making him a dead ringer for the man Aiz and the others were currently hunting.
“There’s no time. Even talking to you now is costing me precious moments…You must understand our suffering. The plight of those not blessed with eternal life. Our masterpiece is not yet complete…”
“Yes, well, it would seem Loki Familia is finally on their way here…”
Though Barca had complained, his soft voice so lifeless one might think he was dead, his hand stilled instantly.
Thanatos watched him for a moment, a smile playing across his lips, before continuing. “They’re trouble enough with their constant sniffing around, but if we don’t do something about them now, it may make fund-raising more difficult…perhaps. My thoughts were to invite them down here for a bit and have the darkness simply…swallow them up,” the god explained to the silent back of his companion. “After all, with them in the way, you wouldn’t be able to finish your ancestor’s dear labyrinth, now, would you?”
Barca’s hands fell limply away from the wall. Finally turning around, ever so slowly, he focused his dark eyes on Thanatos.
“What would you have me do…?”
“There was a certain gadget I thought about using, but…my, my, only you and your ilk are able to control it, yes? Or at least that’s what I heard a short while ago.”
“…You aim to use our masterpiece to inflict harm, Thanatos?”
“You say that as if we wouldn’t lose everything if they were to round us up all at once! Besides, isn’t this sort of purpose the exact reason you prepared it in the first place? Or am I wrong?”
“…”
“There’s a good boy. I’m counting on you, now.”
Thanatos finished talking, his eyes crinkling in mirth.
Barca averted his gaze. “…Let me know when you need me,” he finally agreed, nodding with a begrudging jerk of his head.
And then he was back to work. Thanatos let out a chuckle (“Still stubborn as ever”) and turned on his heels, leaving his follower behind.
Finn and his group had discovered a door within the city’s sewers.
The news was relayed to Aiz and the other women of the fruitless Daedalus Street investigation upon their return to Loki Familia’s home, and it was decided they would concentrate their efforts on the new lead.
The next morning, the members of Loki Familia (goddess included) gathered in the secret passage leading down to the door in question.
“Damn! So this is that orichalcum door, huh? It’s huge!”
“Yeah, and if there’s such a wacky-lookin’ door here, it’s gotta mean we hit the jackpot, right? Their top-secret base.”
Tiona reacted with awe, balancing her Urga on her shoulder as she gazed up at the monstrous slab of metal, and Loki sounded completely certain as she murmured to herself.
Just like my Desperate…Aiz thought, and one hand went instinctively to the trusted sword hanging at her waist as she eyed the door from among her circle of peers.
Orichalcum.
The master ingot, integral in the creation of the Durandal from which Superior-grade weapons, like Aiz’s Desperate, were forged, stronger even than the adamantite mined in the Dungeon, and easily the highest-grade material in the entire world. It was said that the ingot’s method of manufacture, similar to that of mythril, was first established back during the Ancient Times when monsters encroaching on the surface forced all the various races to unite. Long, long ago, before smithing abilities and the blessing of the gods.
Orichalcum was a crystallization of that bygone era as well as the limitless potential of the mortal realm—their wisdom, imbued with the techniques of humans and demi-humans alike.
Making even a dent in this door of orichalcum would be impossible.
Loki was right: If someone had erected a door like this, something must be on the other side. At long last, they’d found their enemy’s hideout.
“Even comparing this with the map, there’s no question about it: This secret passage must connect with Daedalus Street. It’s exactly as Loki predicted.”
“And to think it was Bete and those other lunkheads who found it first! Well, I’m less upset about the captain and Gareth, but…Anyway, it feels like a kick in the butt…”
Indeed, the small, hidden passage veering off from their current spot in the Old Sewerway seemed to perfectly line up with the city’s third district, sandwiched neatly between the eastern and southeastern main streets. Riveria could clearly see the link to the labyrinthine district, but next to her, Tione let out a despondent groan.
Certainly, the familia’s women were ashamed after spending the previous night combing Daedalus Street only to come up empty-handed, though Loki Familia’s men didn’t share the same feeling.
“There’s no reason to feel bad. We only discovered this by chance, almost as if we were lured here on purpose.”
“Aye, the old hole was already open and waitin’ for us. It was practically askin’ us to find it! The reek of monster scum was a bonus.”
The girls threw glances at Finn and Gareth.
The others gazed with tense expressions at the door in question.
“Then…you think it’s a trap?” Lefiya croaked, her voice echoing off the surrounding stone.
Almost as if affirming her suspicions, the door gave a sudden creak before sliding open.
“!!”
Slowly, slowly, the orichalcum door rolled upward into the rock.
Aiz and the others watched in bewildered shock as the way before them was opened to the dense blackness of the passage beyond. Magic-stone lanterns illuminated the path with blue light, trembling like will-o’-the-wisps in the shadow.
“Finn…” Gareth whispered.
“Yes, I saw it, too,” Finn replied, his eyes narrowing. “It’s our masked friend…no doubt about it. The one who opened the door is that ‘creature.’”
The instant before the door had opened, Finn’s green eyes had caught a trace of a figure just before it had disappeared into the darkness—a bluish-purple robe and bizarrely patterned mask. He knew them all too well from the fights they’d had with the creature down in the twenty-fourth-floor pantry and during their expedition to the fifty-third floor.
Their enemy was welcoming them.
“Whew, you saw all that in an instant? Man, you’ve got good eyes! I didn’t see nothin’!” Loki exclaimed, one hand shielding her eyes as she frowned.
“Our senses were amplified thanks to your blessing, after all. Don’t group us together with the rest of the common folk. Besides, prums are already known for their sense of perception even among us demi-humans,” Riveria countered with exasperation.
Next to her, the prum in question began issuing orders. “Bete. Cruz. Scout out the path up ahead but don’t go too far. I want you back here ASAP,” he instructed the first-tier and second-tier adventurers. Heeding his urge for caution, the Level-6 werewolf and Level-4 chienthrope darted off noiselessly down the dark hallway.
They returned minutes later.
“Nothing in the direct vicinity of the entrance, sir. No people, no monsters—not a soul! However, the tunnel quickly branches off in multiple directions, almost like a maze…or, I suppose, like the Dungeon.”
The normally reticent Cruz relayed their findings in place of Bete.
Hearing him, everyone there imagined soldiers besieging a fortress.
As Finn quieted in thought, the rest of the members behind him began exchanging thoughts of their own.
“Wh-what do you…think we should do, huh?”
“We saved time tryin’ to get that door open, didn’t we? Let’s check it out!”
“But it’s gotta be a trap, right?”
“No harm in accepting an invitation, if you ask me. We’ll just plow our way through any traps we find!”
“Certainly, we’d be remiss to just stand here twiddling our thumbs after coming all this way…”
At Raul’s question, Tiona, Aki, Tione, and the elven Alicia all offered their own opinions.
Riveria turned to the group. “Realistically speaking, we have no choice but to move forward. Considering our enemy’s goal is to summon the demi-spirit aboveground, we have to move quickly. If even one of those things was to appear on the surface, Orario would quickly become a sea of fire.”
The high elf’s words rang true.
Even Finn, his arms folded across his chest as he brooded, found himself nodding in agreement.
They could either take the enemy head-on now or bide their time until the demi-spirit made its way to the surface. The choice was clear.
Loki Familia would give chase now, no question about it. Even if this was a trap, delaying their attack would only make matters worse.
And yet…my thumb is throbbing something awful, Finn thought, dropping his gaze toward his right hand. The digit was sending up tiny pinpricks of pain—a warning of what was to come. It was not dissimilar to the stinging sensation that developed whenever they made their way into the Dungeon’s lower depths.
With the silent pressure from Raul, Riveria, and the others weighing on him, he glanced at Loki next to him.
“Yeah, I know…I’ve got a reeeal bad feelin’ about this, too. But it does seem like we don’t have much of a choice,” Loki admitted, confirming that she, too, had sensed the air of foreboding.
Finn knew his intuition was correct, and he was already running through battle formations in the back of his mind.
Until.
“Finn. Let’s leave the dead weight behind, yeah?” Bete implored, breaking his silence as he stared long and hard into the darkness behind the open door. His wolf ears were standing straight up on his head, and his nose twitched several times. “Something stinks. We’re not gonna want anything holdin’ us back…Get my drift?”
A sullen mood descended over the lower-level members of the group at his callous comment. Tiona and Tione shot him a set of identical glares.
“Hey! We’re a familia, aren’t we? And familias stick together! So put a cork in it, will ya?”
“Yeah, and just how far do you expect to get without the help of our supporters, huh? This is just like any other time we’ve headed into the Dungeon. I don’t wanna hear you complaining when all our weapons and items are gone!”
Bete answered their defense with a muttered curse. Tiona’s response was typical of her, but Tione’s point carried considerable weight. After all, if there really was a second entrance to the Dungeon lurking up ahead, they’d need all the numbers they could get.
Gareth let out a sigh as he watched his strong-willed fledglings bicker among themselves. Next to him, Finn reached a decision.
“We’ll form up with a front line and a back line, as well as a healing unit. Gareth and I will lead the attack. Riveria will remain here in case of an emergency. Loki and the others will also wait until we know more about the path ahead.”
“Understood.”
Everyone moved immediately to their tasks once Finn had finished giving his orders. The supporters collected all the spare weapons and items they’d brought with them from the manor. Lefiya had been included in the names Finn listed for the advance party, and she got to work readying her cylindrical backpack with all its equipment. She was in the middle of this task when she heard someone call her name.
“Lefiya…You’re…going, too?”
“Miss Filvis…?”
The other elf was still with them after joining the group the night prior. Her crimson eyes were focused directly on Lefiya.
“While I hate to side with that werewolf…I feel it, too. Something’s not right. If something were to…happen…” Filvis’s eyes remained fixated on Lefiya, though her words were vague.
Lefiya couldn’t help the twinge of happiness at the elf’s concern, but she responded concisely all the same. “Yes, I will go. I want to protect everyone…Miss Aiz, too.”
She was a magic user, after all.
“…I see.” Filvis closed her eyes for a moment before bringing a hand to her chest and meeting the eyes of the other elf with a staff in her hands. “Then I shall go, too. To protect you.”
She sounded so much like a knight making a vow that Lefiya found herself at a loss for words as a flush of pink rose to her cheeks. Quickly recovering, she smiled and offered Filvis a word of thanks.
They stayed there briefly, two elves sharing a moment of warmth, while the rest of the group bustled about them in their preparations.
“Oh-ho-ho! Whadda we have here, huh? A forbidden elven romance?! What a treat! This is a good time!”
“Exactly what is a ‘good time’? Good grief…”
As Loki snickered, ogling the two elves from off to the side, Gareth let out a sigh.
“That all right? Gettin’ so close with an elf from another familia?”
“Eh, she did help us out down on the twenty-fourth floor. ’Sides, I may have ever so slightly interrogated her earlier, and it seems like she’s actually workin’ on her own. The smug little bastard Dionysus has nothin’ to do with it,” Loki replied.
“That so?”
I want to protect Lefiya.
Earlier, under the all-seeing eyes of the goddess, Filvis had confessed everything.
“She’s definitely not lyin’. Lefiya’s found herself a real knight in shining armor.” Loki tittered.
“…I’ll never get used to it, I suppose, try as I might. Elves are far too intense! Gives a dwarf like me the willies,” Gareth said, crinkling his eyes and pretending to rub his arms. They watched as the two young elves continued their preparations for the upcoming raid.
“…”
Aiz’s ears caught the conversation between goddess and dwarf, causing her to glance at the two elves in question, a smile forming on her face.
It didn’t last, however, as the expression faded, and she turned around. Surrounded by the harried activity of her peers, she stared long and hard down the yawning corridor leading to their enemy’s hideout.
The party that forged its way into the sewers’ depths comprised the first-tier adventurers except Riveria, Raul and the rest of the Level-4 second tiers, and the remaining lower-level members, mostly Level 3s. As a last-minute addition, Filvis also tagged along. They plunged through the darkness of the surrounding stone, Gareth and Tiona in the lead.
“Man, I thought we were going into an enemy hideout…Practically feels like the Dungeon in here!” Tione cursed under her breath.
“Yes,” Lefiya agreed. “Admittedly, any sort of stronghold would likely go to great lengths to hinder enemy infiltration…though perhaps this is going above and beyond.”
Almost immediately past the door, the passage split into a multitude of dizzying directions. From forks to four-way crossings, the possible paths were nigh uncountable. It seemed with every passing glance, their numbers grew further still, and the adventurers had no choice but to split up and plow their way through.
While the general makeup of the underground maze was typical enough for a labyrinth, its sheer complexity put even Daedalus Street above it to shame. Their only course of action was to send one or two people to scout ahead at each fork, wait for a report on which paths were dead ends, then scour the remaining passageways until they found the proper path.
The tunnels themselves were wide enough for three dwarves to pass comfortably. And they were so uniform in their construction it seemed almost planned, not liable to come crashing down anytime soon. As for the rocks themselves, they appeared considerably aged, many sporting their fair share of cracks and splits. In fact, it almost seemed as though the maze had been built smack in the middle of a set of ancient ruins.
“You know—Whuuuaah?!”
“What’s wrong, Raul?!”
“Ah, sorry, it was…nothing. Just a statue. Sorry about that…” Raul recovered from his sudden scream with a forced laugh.
Sure enough, flickering in the light of his portable magic-stone lantern was a demon-like statue that had been placed in the middle of the passage. Aki and the other adventurers who had readied for combat made noises of disapproval.
They had seen similar statues situated every so often along the passageway, in addition to reliefs carved into the stone walls. Though they may have been reluctant to admit it, these fake “monsters” quickly filled their heads with mental images of their very real cousins—namely, the violas.
The bluish glow from the magic-stone lanterns in the walls illuminated the tension in their faces, and their footsteps, normally the last thing on any of their minds, began to feel especially loud. The echoing clack-clack-clack of their feet on the stone passageways, impossible to ignore, made their very ears tremble.
“Is it just me, or…does it somehow feel even colder in here than the actual Dungeon?” The uneasy murmur came from Leene, one of the healers who’d been brought along for support.
The Dungeon was “alive,” after all—a fact that was common knowledge. The prevalence of Irregulars that so often assaulted them (much to their chagrin) felt more like the abuse of a single living organism than anything else.
This man-made labyrinth, however, was different. They couldn’t feel it “breathe.”
And this undeniable disparity felt like something inhospitable wrapping itself around them.
Yes…an ever-so-slight chill.
An unsettling quietude. A heavy sense of gloom and obscurity weighing down on top of them.
This wordless, man-made stone labyrinth was slowly enveloping them in inexplicable claustrophobia and hopelessness.
“I know the Unknown Frontier was like this, too, but…I always feel a little anxious in places that haven’t been fully mapped out. What happens if we get lost, huh? Can’t find our way out. Don’t even know which way to go.” Tiona was trying to keep the stilted conversation going in an attempt to assuage the worry plaguing the group.
“It’s true. Finding yourself in such a situation in the Dungeon would be almost certain death…” Aiz agreed.
“Caves in the mountains were rife with drafts so it was easy to use ’em as guideposts,” Gareth added.
They were already deep in enemy territory by this point. Every one of them was braced for a trap.
“What do you mean by that, Gareth?” Tiona questioned as she puzzled over one passage after another.
“The temperature difference ’tween inside an’ out can create cave breezes…or so I understand. Think of it like all the air gettin’ sucked out the door.” Gareth doubled back on himself, expounding on what he knew of mountain caves. “Basically, ye either follow the wind or run counter to it. That’s how to avoid winding up at a dead end. Although, the wind often says to squeeze through a hole too small for a man.”
“Huh, interesting!”
“You know, you coulda figured that out for yourself if you’d just used that brain of yours for half a second…”
Tiona let out a laugh as she figured it out, while Tione muttered next to her.
Suddenly, Gareth jerked his gaze away to scan the perimeter.
“…Seems the way’s shut,” he pointed out as his eyes spotted another orichalcum door now blocking their way.
His observation was quickly confirmed, too, as multiple scouts came back with word that all their other paths were similarly blockaded.
“What, are we trapped, then? Should be fine, though. We can always just break through a wall, right?” Tiona boasted, never one to be deterred.
Gareth, however, didn’t look so optimistic. “I’m afraid it’s not so simple, lass,” he countered, and Tiona’s eyes widened in puzzlement.
“Huh? Why not?”
The dwarven soldier responded by slamming his fist into the nearest wall. The abrupt cracking sound that resulted was enough to make Lefiya’s and Leene’s shoulders jump.
“No way…Don’t tell me that’s…adamantite?!”
“The very same. Covered in a layer of rock, for sure, but underneath, nothin’ but rare metal. The whole maze is carved from the stuff! The likes o’ you an’ me would barely leave a scratch…which means that option’s right out.”
Tiona’s eyes widened further at the sight of all that steely gray beneath the cracked stone.
Adamantite was only a step below orichalcum in terms of strength. Cracking through the who-knows-how-thick wall would be difficult, to say the least, and even if they could make a dent, carving out a hole wide enough for all of them to pass through would take time they didn’t have.
The group could do nothing but stare in shock at the news that they were going up against not only doors of orichalcum but a labyrinth made entirely of adamantite.
“You realize the money this ridiculous place musta taken to build? What, did these asshats make a killin’ in Meren or somethin’? This is crazy!” Bete exclaimed angrily, echoing the thoughts of the rest of the group.
Neither orichalcum nor adamantite was exactly easy to procure. Collecting this much of both would require labor and funds the likes of which Loki Familia could only dream of.
“Certainly not something done in a few years. A decade, maybe? No, probably more…At any rate, the Evils have certainly been busy with some extraordinary projects. In any event, we’d do well not to underestimate them,” Finn mused candidly before instructing Raul and the others to demarcate the walls of the paths they’d come by with white chalk.
While keeping an eye on the work of the shrewd adventurer, Aiz began thinking.
Orichalcum doors…Adamantite walls…Breaking in and breaking out are both going to be hard.
The fortress in front of them was virtually impregnable.
This thought alone was disconcerting enough, but there was something else, too—a strange malaise she couldn’t quite shake.
What was the point in building such a convoluted maze? Whose idea was it? And this eerie, unsettling sensation from the walls…the feeling of darkness radiating from the maze’s very structure…what was it?
—Was this really constructed merely to protect their enemy’s hideout?
It was a question she couldn’t answer, but setting aside her suspicions for now, she instead turned her attention back to the task at hand—their progress.
Something had finally changed in the corridors.
“There’s a staircase up ahead. Seems it goes farther down.”
“Same in the opposite direction. No sign of any enemies, either.”
—Cruz and Aki returned from their recon duty with the same information. Currently, the group was situated at a T-shaped intersection.
“Plans, Finn?” Gareth asked the prum captain.
“…We’ll split into two groups. No matter the direction we choose, fighting is going to be difficult with such a large party if we come under attack,” Finn replied before acting on his words and dividing the group in two.
Gareth, Aiz, Tiona, and Tione would be going down the right path.
Meanwhile, Finn himself, along with Bete, Lefiya, and Filvis, would take the left.
Gareth’s party would have the greater number of first-tier adventurers in order to balance out the lower-level support members. Naturally, Tione complained about the makeup of the two parties, but the target of her affections himself ultimately persuaded her. Thus, the final two parties, healers included, were evenly split in terms of combat power.
“I’m counting on you, Gareth.”
“Aye…Finn?”
“?”
“Don’t let ’em get the jump on ya, eh?” Gareth offered amiably.
“…Duly noted. I’ll be on my guard,” Finn responded with a smile of his own.
Then the two parties broke away, each traveling down their respective path.
“As strange as this is to say…the fact that nothing’s attacking us is only making this place feel even creepier…” Raul muttered as he looked around to take in their environs.
“The whole place still reeks of those flowers, though…No question that the ones in the sewer were definitely carried through here.” Bete scowled.
The two of them were both part of Finn’s group. The staircase they descended led to still more of the same winding passageways and mazelike architecture. True to Aki’s scouting report, there was no sign of an ambush. Walking next to them, Lefiya and Filvis were attentively monitoring their surroundings.
…It’s almost similar to the upper levels of the Dungeon, Finn mused, eyes narrowing as he took in the height, width, and branching nature of their current passageway. An orichalcum door in the Old Sewerway…even deeper than the other waterways crossing the city. I’d say we’re easily somewhere between the first and second floors of the Dungeon now, given those stairs we just descended.
In his head, he was already unfolding his mental map of not only the great pit beneath Babel Tower but the first and second floors of the Dungeon, as well. It was enough to convince him that the large-scale labyrinth they were currently navigating was bordering on the Dungeon’s uppermost levels.
Putting aside the matter of how, if someone were to somehow connect these halls with the Dungeon, they could feasibly create a separate entrance in addition to Babel. Perhaps it would be safest to assume this entire maze…no, this man-made “labyrinth” is the second entrance to the Dungeon itself.
Finn’s eyes dropped to the orderly arrangement of stones that made up the path beneath his feet.
The question, then, is just how deep this labyrinth goes…
From the steps they’d taken and time that had passed since their passage through the orichalcum door alone, it was obvious the structure was massive—easily at least as large as the entire sewer system beneath Orario’s streets.
But just how far, and how deep, would it continue?
Violas had been born from the twenty-fourth-floor pantry, and Lefiya had witnessed the remnants of the Evils on the eighteenth floor—if Finn’s hypothesis was correct, and this maze really did travel as deep as the middle levels…that would truly be an astonishing feat.
Much like Aiz, Finn simply couldn’t shake that lingering suspicion gnawing at him.
“…It looks like a room,” Aki suddenly murmured as the path in front of them opened up.
The square-shaped space that appeared before them very much resembled the various rooms of the Dungeon. It was wide enough to comfortably fit ten or so adventurers—perhaps fifty meders across?
Orichalcum doors barred the passages to their left and right, while in front of them and directly across from the stairwell was an open path leading forward.
“…”
It was quiet. Unsettlingly so. Almost as if on cue, Bete’s ears twitched.
Aki mirrored his reaction, as did the rest of the animal people in the group.
Every eye was drawn to the path in front of them, where a set of unhurried footsteps could be heard echoing off the surrounding walls. Soon, they were joined by a decidedly human-shaped shadow emerging from the darkness.
“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!”
The scream erupted from between the woman’s lips the moment she came into view.
It was so loud it was hard to believe it came from a woman, and Raul and the others clapped their hands over their ears.
The source was a human adventurer, looking down at them haughtily.
“Oh, Braver! How I’ve been dying to see you, you little shit!!” she exclaimed wickedly, spittle flecking her lips.
“Huh. Valletta. I had a hunch you were still alive…” Finn responded with a sharpened gaze of his own.
The woman in the overcoat lined with fur was a wild-looking sort.
At the revelation of her name, Raul and Aki reacted with identical looks of apprehension.
“Not a day’s gone by that I’ve been able to wipe that shit-eating, Mister Cool Guy face of yours outta my mind! You remember me, you bastard?! You start actin’ like you forgot and you’re dead!! You hear me? I’ll rip out your guts, tear off your face, and carve up your little body until you never even think about mouthing off to me ever again!”
She didn’t seem to care that they’d been standing in front of each other for barely a moment, forgetting herself and loosing a barrage of obscenities. Her eyes flashed with a devilish light, seeing nothing but Loki Familia’s prum captain.
“…Yo, Finn. You got some kinda crazy-broad-attractin’ disease or somethin’?” Bete scoffed as he directed a look of disgust at the woman in front of them.
“If you’re talking about Tione, Bete, then hold your tongue,” Finn scolded, even as the eyes of the woman in question continued to bore into him. “At the very least, Tione is human, which is more than I can say for this one.” He raised his green eyes to meet her depraved smile.
Those in the group with no recollection of the woman were surprised to see that Finn and the others seemed to know her well.
“You—you know this person, Captain?” the hume bunny Rakuta asked in shock.
“I’m afraid I do. She’s known as Valletta Grede, a major player in the Evils’ uprising. She helped them upset the order and give rise to Orario’s dark age, now fifteen years past,” Finn answered without hesitation.
Everyone in the group gasped.
“The captain, Miss Riveria, Mister Gareth…everyone was involved. And not just Loki Familia, either. Even Freya Familia and Ganesha Familia got thrown in the mix,” Aki explained, her voice hardened.
“I always assumed she was long dead by the time they stopped Gale Wind’s rampage that finished off the last of those Evils five years ago. That means, during the Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare…” Raul added, equally as stiff. Loki Familia had naturally been involved in the extermination of the Evils for the past fifteen years. Having joined the familia eight years ago, Raul and Aki were all too familiar with the events that had taken place.
“Yes. She must have merely faked her own death, taking the opportunity to go into hiding,” Finn concluded.
“What a little genius we have here! Pisses me off!” Valletta’s smile grew more depraved still. “Thanks to you and your bloody Guild friends, we Evils lost a lotta muscle on that day six years ago. So you know what we did, huh? We egged on ol’ Olivas and pretended like the whole bunch of us had bought the farm!”
The Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare was a large-scale pass parade instigated by the Evils. They lured in not only every monster on the floor but the floor’s Monster Rex, as well, pitting all of them against the ensnared adventurers sent by the Guild. What resulted was a massive battle with nigh uncountable bodies piling up on both sides. Valletta and the other high-level Evils had taken the opportunity to add their own “dead bodies” to the mix, effectively throwing the Guild off their scent in the process.
Everything, including the sacrifices of their brethren, had been for this day when they could rise again. The true purpose of the “nightmare” had been, in fact, to prolong the life of their decaying organization.
However.
“You know what you are, Finn? Scum. Miserable, disgusting scum, the worst of the worst!! Because you didn’t go! That day, you didn’t try and help on the twenty-seventh floor! Instead, you got intel from somewhere, took Freya’s and Ganesha’s people, and attacked our gods!” Valletta continued, her voice crackling with a violent energy directed straight at Finn.
And it was true. Finn had seen through the plans of Valletta and her peers and, realizing there wasn’t enough time, had simply abandoned the twenty-seventh floor. Instead, he had taken his people and attacked every single location that could possibly house the Evils’ base. He’d even discerned that their garrison was weak. Together with the help of the other gods, he succeeded in sending a frightening number of the so-called “evil gods” back to the heavens, which had tipped the balance of power between the Evils and the Guild.
All of this made Finn, “Braver,” anathema to the remaining Evils.
“Do you even know what it felt like? How terrifying it is to have your god whisked away and your blessing sealed? In the middle of the Dungeon?! I can’t even count the number of times some monster or another almost sank its teeth into me!”
“I don’t doubt your suffering. However, given everything that you and your friends have done, I can’t say I feel any remorse.”
“Take your remorse and shove it! I don’t even care anymore. Not about the Evils, not about what happened. But you? I’ll never forgive you, you pretentious little freak! I promised myself…that I’d pay you back one day for everything you did to me!!” Spit flew from her mouth, and her eyes turned bloodshot as she talked, as if she was reliving the memories of that day. “After I rip off those scrawny little arms and legs, I’m gonna ride you until I’ve had enough and then turn that self-righteous face into mincemeat!! And then…once I’ve had my fill…I’m gonna laugh until I can’t even breathe!!”
“My, my. Inviting me to a one-night stand?” Finn responded airily to the woman’s uncultured taunts. “I dare say, I’m flattered. However, I do apologize. Because of the hopes of my race, I’m only allowed to whisper sweet nothings into the ear of my own kind.”
Seeing their captain behave so cool and collected while engaging in what ended up becoming a rather erotic exchange with the hostile woman was enough to make the female members of the group decidedly red-faced and flushed. After all, Tione wasn’t the only one with feelings for their beloved prum captain.
“I also might add, though I’m loath to say it to a member of the fairer sex…you’ll need to improve your character a bit before asking me out again. At least aim for something along the lines of Riveria’s sophistication, hmm?”
“Eeeee!!” A squeal arose from the fan club behind him.
“So he does like Lady Riveria…!!”
“I need to write this down!”
The girls whipped out notebooks from who knows where, completely forgetting their current situation. Meanwhile, the others of the group not completely taken in by Finn’s charm or who were otherwise fearful of Tione’s fury (the men, Aki, and Lefiya, to name a few) merely rubbed their arms in awkward silence. Bete, on the other hand, realizing Finn’s words were solely meant to provoke, wearily hung his head.
“Go to hell, Finn!!” Opposite their group, Valletta’s fury was reaching a peak. As veins popped up along her forehead, she shot Finn a look of pure, unadulterated murder. “Oh yeah! I am definitely going to kill you! Here and now!”
“A bit after-the-fact, though, wouldn’t you say? If I’ve really been plaguing your mind so much these years, surely you could have found a better opportunity to off me than this?”
“Ha! Shit for brains! You still don’t get it! I’ve been waiting for you to come down here, completely oblivious, right into our castle! You marched in all according to plan!!” she crowed with a voracious grin, and this time it was enough to wipe the smile from Finn’s face. Her eyes were glittering, like a bird about to snatch up its prey, and consumed with revenge, she declared:
“This will be your grave! Let yourself be swallowed in the majesty of Knossos…and die!!”
—“Knossos”?
Finn’s eyebrows twitched at this. Was that the name of the labyrinth? But before he could think further, Valletta raised her right arm and, with it, a small globe-shaped object. Wrapped in a layer of ingot, its core appeared to be a round red sphere—with a visible D carved into its surface. The moment the spherical and apparently magical item gave off a crimson flash, the door behind them rumbled closed.
“W-we’re trapped!” Raul cried as, almost instantaneously, the two doors on either side of the room snapped open to reveal identical swarms of violas.
With a smirk at her handiwork, Valetta leaped off the floor and disappeared down the passage behind her.
“Let’s get stuck in, you bastards!” Bete howled.
“Guuuwwwwaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhh!” The violas followed up with a thunderous roar of their own, signaling the battle’s start.
The members of Loki Familia readied their respective weapons before launching themselves at the incoming monsters.
That magic item Valletta used…is it the key to the orichalcum doors?…It certainly seemed like she was showing it to us on purpose. As Finn took his place beside Bete and butchered one viola after another with his gold-tipped long spear, he glanced in the direction Valletta had just disappeared. Bait, then, perhaps? To lure us into the actual trap?…A bait we’ll unfortunately be forced to take.
The violas came in an unceasing flood. And considering their one way out had been effectively cut off, they didn’t have much choice other than to press on.
“Everyone, straight ahead!” he instructed, and the other members of the group were quick to obey. They charged forward in perfect alignment, slipping in and out between the rush of giant flowers and speeding toward the far passage.
The violas, naturally, gave chase.
They barreled into the single tunnel, wide enough to accept the adventurers easily, but not so much the large flowers hurling themselves into it with all the force of an avalanche.
“—Captain! Leave them to Miss Filvis and me!” Lefiya shouted as she eyed the situation behind them. The courageous initiative was enough to startle Raul and the others; Finn, however, simply glanced back from his position in the center of the party, meeting Lefiya’s azure eyes before affirming her request with a nod.
“They’re in your hands, then, Lefiya!”
“Roger!” The trusting smile from her captain gave Lefiya a thrill of excitement as she whirled to face the onrush of violas head-on. “Miss Filvis!”
The elf in question inferred Lefiya’s plan from a single glance. “…Understood. Leave them to me!” Filvis replied, taking a step forward and thrusting her left hand outward. “Shield me, cleansing chalice!”
The spell was complete in an instant.
“Dio Grail!!”
A circular force field was triggered by her short chant. The pure-white light, a symbol of its caster’s nobility, instantly transformed into an ironlike shield to protect them from the violas’ onslaught.
“Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree. You are the master archer—!”
Lefiya’s voice soared with a spell of its own. Now that Filvis’s shield had blocked off the tunnel and the monsters couldn’t take a step, she sped effortlessly through the chant she knew by heart, weaving a cannon of light into existence.
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