Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

"What is this?"

"It looks like an old-fashioned... underground sewer system."

Loki could barely make out the blurry writing on the metal plate mounted on the wall. It seemed that this place had been abandoned long ago due to the reconstruction of the waterways.

But they really did build a strange door. She shrugged the engineers' minds as she held the light close to the door.

The dimly lit area showed signs of use on the large, black padlock of the closed door—marks that it had been opened and locked several times by hand.

"That's a bit suspicious..."

Loki slightly opened his narrow eyes and whispered.

It could be explained that the guild managing the city went in to handle business, but at least Loki began to take an interest in what was behind the door.

After being winked at by Loki, Bert lazily grabbed the lock with both hands, making it creak. In no time, he easily broke the lock, and a crisp sound followed.

He threw away the heavy iron block that had broken in two and then opened the door directly.

It should be an old waterway that no one uses, but magic stone lamps are installed on the top of the wall, making it glow with phosphorescence.

"Hey, it's all soaked!"

The steps in front of the door, including the passageway and waterway, were all flooded. Looking at the dark, rippling water, like a river in the dead of night, Bert's lips twisted in a grimace.

Loki shone the magic stone lamp on the water to make sure it was about the same depth as the shallows, then turned to look at the lovely members of his clan.

"Bert, carry me?"

"what?"

"I don't want to get my shoes wet! So, carry me!"

"Stop joking! It's not that deep, walk away yourself!"

"No way—! I want to be carried, I want to be carried, I want to be carried! I won't walk unless you carry me—!!"

Seeing the screaming goddess was more troublesome than a noisy child. "That stinky woman..." Bert's tail wagged incessantly. The noisy shouting made his beast ears flatten against his head, then he yelled, "Shut up, I know!" and immediately crouched down. Seeing the broad back lowered before him, Loki grinned and happily pounced with a "Hoo!" "Alright, charge, Bert! I'm quite particular about riding comfort!"

"If you're serious, I'll let you drown."

Bert, carrying Loki on his back, exuded intense dissatisfaction and stood up with ease.

"Whoa—!" The goddess, whose vision suddenly rose higher, let out a cheer. Her innocent voice was really not worthy of the figure that transcendent being (Deus·Dea) should have.

At the height of her excitement, she shouted and laughed on Bert's back as he walked towards the water.

"Hehehe! Did you think you were carrying a cute girl? Sorry, it's actually me!"

"It's so noisy."

"Hey, how are you feeling right now!? You're carrying me instead of Ais, how are you feeling now!?"

"Believe it or not, I'll throw you off...?"

Loki kept popping his head out from both shoulders, asking questions incessantly, making Bert's lips twitch. The werewolf youth had a spasmodic smile on his face, veins bulging, wishing he could throw away the god with the lewd smile on his back.

As Loki continued his rant, Bert walked across the water, making splashing sounds. The water level reached his calves, submerging half of his metal boots. The old-fashioned underground sewers, crisscrossing with various waterways, were even more complex and labyrinthine than the current sewers they had just visited.

"Did the guild investigate this area after the celebration?"

"There's still a human scent. It's just diluted by the water, so you can barely smell it..."

Loki, perched on Bert's back, cautiously peered around and said this, as Bert sniffed the air.

Using his werewolf's excellent sense of smell, he detected that people had been coming and going through this old underground sewer until recently. "However, the lingering scent is almost gone, so we can't tell the exact number," Bert added, his nose pointing in all directions. Loki let out a soft "Oh," wrapped his left arm around Bert's neck, and held up the magic stone lamp with his right hand, illuminating the various dark corners.

As if swimming upstream along the water for a while, Loki swung his thin legs... Before long, the "cave" came into view.

"...The destruction is outrageous."

The stone walls of the waterway have cracked and collapsed, suffering severe damage. Water appears to originate from here and meander through the old underground sewers.

The large hole, as if something had burst through a wall, made Loki tilt his head.

"So, did I guess correctly...?"

Feeling he was getting closer and closer to "what he wanted to find out," Loki murmured, and then...

Bert's ears perked up sharply, like a wild beast raising its head.

"Get out of here."

Hearing these unequivocal words, Loki stared at his profile and then obediently listened.

As Loki stepped into the water, Bert's eyes sharpened as he stared intently into the depths of a dark cave.

"Where exactly did those two Amazons go to investigate?"

He cursed as he walked into the hole.

Loki followed immediately, saying with a dangerous air of disdain:

"Isn't the original thing left here?"

Led by Bert, Loki strode deeper into the waterway. Cave-like passages—as if traces of some enormous object had passed through—penetrated the waterway walls several times, leading the two through several intersections. Bert, without fear or hesitation, traversed the dimly lit underground waterways and ascended the wide staircase that appeared before him.

The sensation of cold water disappeared, and the two walked on the hard floor. The one-way waterway soon opened up into a wide space.

"Is this... a water storage tank?"

Loki held up the magic stone lamp and looked around the spacious area.

The rectangular hall was lined with thick, columned pillars like a colonnade. Countless stone pillars, spaced at equal intervals, supported the ceiling overhead. The height was probably over ten meters. The vast space, dominated by darkness, was indeed aptly described as a great water tank.

Judging from the city's underground labyrinthine structure (dungeon), and considering the drainage issues of the brackish lake, this place is likely located underground in the southwest of the city, far from the central plaza. Due to the lack of water storage for a long time, the interior resembles a dried-up water channel, with watermarks remaining on the walls and pillars. The magic stone lamp in this large water tank is still barely lit.

Loki observed his surroundings. Soon, he heard the sound of something being dragged.

She was startled and turned her gaze back to the front, where she saw Bert standing with his back to her, and in the dim depths, a huge object was lurking.

The object quickly broke through the darkness, revealing its yellowish-green skin.

Several man-eating flower monsters appeared, their long, large bodies twisting and intertwining.

Perhaps sensing Loki and Bert's presence, they emerged from the depths of the hall like giant snakes, wriggling and trembling before their tips began to bloom, trailing a trail of slime.

The monster opened its bright, dazzling petals to reveal a hideous mouth full of sharp teeth, then raised its body and looked down at Loki and the others from above.

"Loki, don't come any closer."

Bert, who was already in a fighting stance, said this without turning his head.

His sharp, amber eyes were fixed on the monsters. He leaned forward slightly and charged forward as the enemies roared.

*

"Roar! Ro ...

Accompanied by a jarring, gong-like cry, the man-eating flower monster charged forward with murderous intent.

Facing three streams of yellow-green turbidity rushing towards him, Bert, who was also charging forward, slammed his left foot heavily onto the stone ground.

He took a step forward, aiming at the first frontal individual he encountered, and raised his long right foot.

"You guys stink!"

「!?」

He kicked the monster's face upwards like a ball. The long, large body exploded with a loud, heavy sound, and then flew backwards into the air.

A direct, no-nonsense kick. Compared to the monster's massive body, the leg was negligible, but Bert used only his long leg to powerfully bounce back and slam into the enemy's body. The metal boot on his right foot shattered one of the backward-leaning monster's teeth with its power.

The monster launched a pincer attack from the left and right, but he easily dodged it and counterattacked as it passed by, knocking the enemies aside and preventing them from getting close to Loki behind him.

His strength goes without saying, and his agility, with his gray fur dancing in the wind, is even more remarkable. Known as the fastest runner in the Loki Familia, he always gains the upper hand over his enemies. Monsters are always two or three steps behind Bert, completely outmaneuvered by him.

This brutal fighting style, which involves swift and sharp attacks to dismember the enemy and devour them alive in the blink of an eye, earned him the nickname "Vanargand" (The Wolf).

Bert leaped toward a monster that had rolled to his right and unleashed a powerful kick, like a guillotine, at the exposed flower stem, intending to end his opponent's life.

“Ah?”

However, the fatal blow from the air failed to achieve its intended effect.

The left foot blade, which was meant to sever the opponent's head, failed to cut through the monster's skin, only knocking off a petal with its impact.

Bert couldn't help but groan softly, the vibrations transmitted through his boots and the hard texture of his enemy's flesh sending a chill down his spine. The man-eating flower monster, kicked, shook its head, roared as if enraged, and began to attack.

"What's wrong with you? Your body is so stiff..."

Bert was furious, and the remaining two monsters joined him, launching an attack on him simultaneously.

What a coincidence! He and Tiona had the same idea. Bert thought to himself as he fought the three-headed monster. Countless tentacles extended from the enemy's body and attacked from all directions. Bert skillfully used the spacious area—sometimes dodging, sometimes using pillars as walls to withstand the enemy's attacks.

Utilizing his exceptionally strong legs, which even Ais would envy, Bert's battle with the monsters gradually reached a stalemate.

"Yeah, it's so fast I can barely see it."

As for the entrance to the large water tank, Loki hid behind a stone pillar, observing the course of the battle.

First, a gray diagonal line resembling Bert flashed by, followed by the monster being thrown back. This scene was completely beyond the goddess's comprehension. Ignoring the incomprehensible battle for now, her crimson eyes carefully observed the long, slender body of the man-eating flower.

During the monster festival a couple of days ago, the monsters were buried underground, so I couldn't get a full view of them. Now I know that the man-eating flower monster's tail is swollen into a spherical shape like a bulb. Like several root hairs, the tentacles also grow from near the root.

Was that bulb buried underground, absorbing nutrients? Just as Loki was speculating... a shadow approached from above her head.

It slid down the long stone pillar along the ceiling and then extended a tentacle.

Loki's back trembled slightly. Then, as if confirming her intuition, a drop of slime landed on her shoulder.

Oh no! Realizing something was terribly wrong, Loki immediately turned and ran, glancing upwards at the same time.

Sure enough, there was a man-eating flower monster with its ugly mouth wide open.

"Aa ...

"Whoa—!"

A deafening roar came from above. The tentacles, which stretched out like whips in one breath, missed Loki, who had managed to escape a moment earlier.

With a somewhat unnerving scream, the Crimson-haired Goddess made a hasty escape.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa—! Oh no, we're being caught—!?"

She moved nimbly between the pillars with the agility of a thief, but ultimately, she was just an ordinary person with her "divine power" sealed away. How could she possibly outrun a vicious monster that was relentlessly pursuing her?

Loki seems to be able to predict attacks from behind, and he has escaped many times by hiding behind pillars at the perfect moment, but the serpentine man-eating flower's jaws could bite Loki's body at any time.

"Is there one left!?"

It was only then that Bert lost her composure and ended her battle with the monster, intending to rush to Loki's side. However—it was too late. The man-eating plant had already reached behind the goddess and was about to swallow her whole.

Bert's face became expressionless, and his body lowered its center of gravity in preparation for the next moment of maximum acceleration. At this critical moment... Loki put his hand into the bag he was carrying and took out a few crystals, scattering them to the side.

"Hey!"

Scattered on the ground are "magic stones" that emit a blue-purple glow.

Anyone with eyes could see that the countless crystals of extremely high purity caused the man-eating flower monster to drastically change its appearance and direction.

Bert stared in disbelief as the monster suddenly turned ninety degrees behind Loki, his feet nearly knotted in shock before he could stop.

"Pure magic, magic stones, humans... that's roughly the priority order for that monster."

As the monster gradually disappeared into the distance, Loki opened her narrow eyes.

After hearing from Lefia, who was attacked at the Monster Festival, that the monsters reacted to "magic," she put "magic stones" in her bag as bait during her investigation, just in case.

Since it reacts to magic, it should also be interested in magic stones. Although it's a very simple idea, it did successfully distract the monster.

"Bert, it's over—!"

"I can't stand it... I'm completely defeated by her!!"

Hearing his god shout loudly, Bert only sighed formally, then unleashed a right high kick at the monster facing him.

He then swiftly circled behind the enemy and delivered a spinning kick to the enemy's head as it flew upwards with his left foot. The monster, sent flying, traced an arc in the air before crashing into Bert's companion, who had been chasing him, and they both fell to the ground.

"Perfect teamwork, Bo-dai! Absolutely perfect understanding!"

"What does this have to do with me? Don't scare me like that, you stupid woman."

Bert complained to Loki, who was approaching from the front. Seeing the rudeness of her clan member's inability to frankly say "Don't worry me," she couldn't help but chuckle. Displeased, Bert immediately looked away.

"This is so troublesome, those monsters... their attacks aren't very effective."

"Tiona and the others' bare-handed attacks were also deflected by those monsters—I just remembered. They seem to be quite resilient to attacks?"