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

The route converged with the paths they had already taken several times as Ais and the others explored the complex maze.

The map gradually filled in smoothly, and Lulu didn't forget to throw down crystal shards she got from the 18th floor along the way to mark the path she had taken.

"But then again... it seems like we won't need the flesh and camouflage cloth we bought in Rivera Town."

"It seems so... huh?"

Not only did they not encounter any monsters in the Green Wall Maze, but it was also unusually quiet, just as the group members began to feel a chill down their spines.

In the middle of the passageway, they found dust scattered unnaturally on the ground.

"Is it the remains of a monster?"

"Hmm, it seems there's no mistake."

Although Asphie didn't see the "magic stone" in the scattered dust, she did find the "dropped items".

"How could there be monster carcasses in a place like this?" As Lulu looked uneasy, Asphy continued.

At the same time, he quietly drew his short sword.

"It's probably a few monsters that were able to break through that 'door' that invaded the Green Wall and came here... and then, were killed by something."

Starting with Asifi's speech, the atmosphere in the team became tense. Those with quick reflexes, including Ais, immediately armed themselves and remained vigilant.

The monsters, whose individual abilities were formidable and capable of breaking through the barrier that blocked the road to the granary, were devoured in a chaotic mess, leaving large amounts of corpses (dust) scattered all over Zhou Garden.

Asifi and others reorganized the formation to protect the defenders, their nerves on edge.

Several dark, open caverns, in front of and behind the passageways.

The adventurers keenly observed their surroundings.

Only Ais was looking up.

"--above."

Asifi and the others shuddered and looked up.

Guided by Ais's whispers, their gazes rose upwards, where they saw several long, slender figures writhing in the dim light.

Monsters crawled slowly across the high-pitched sky, dripping sticky fluid from the colorful petals.

With its mouth wide open and filled with sharp teeth, the monster—a large group of man-eating plants—fell from the sky in an instant.

"Roar!!"

Facing the enemy who was advancing with a loud, broken roar, Asifi shouted:

"Everyone, prepare to fight!"

Dodging the horde of descending giant beasts, Ais and the others wielded their swords to meet the enemy.

■

"Ravis, someone has intruded."

In the eerie, hollow space illuminated by red light, the man issued a warning.

"A monster?"

"No, they are adventurers."

When the red-haired woman, Revis, asked, the man dressed in all white replied with disgust, "As expected, you've come."

Around the two men, a group of people dressed in robes panicked. The presence of the intruders seemed to make them quite uneasy; they shouted at each other and ran around in a frantic manner.

Rives seemed utterly bored and glanced at the scene.

"The opposing team is a medium-sized squad... and everyone seems to be highly skilled."

On one side of the fleshy wall, a pale film of water, resembling the surface of the moon, reflected the group of stomach monsters battling the man-eating flowers.

Rives initially seemed uninterested—but her expression changed when the beautiful blonde girl with golden eyes appeared in the water film.

She quickly stood up from where she was sitting.

"It's 'Arya'."

"What?"

Hearing her whisper, the man reacted.

When he noticed that Rives's green eyes were fixed on Ais, his lips twisted in disbelief.

"You're saying 'Fiora' is 'Arya'...? I can't believe it."

"It can't be wrong."

The red-haired woman's brief answer gave a completely different impression from before.

Like a hunter chasing its prey, or a messenger of hell bringing disaster, it exudes a cold and oppressive aura.

Her narrowed eyes were fixed on the girl reflected in the water film.

"Damn it, pull 'Arya' away from the others."

"……knew."

Without waiting for the man's reply, the woman turned around and left the large void.

A blood-red light illuminated her ominous figure.

■

A pale flower bloomed near the zenith, overlooking a corner of the passage where a fierce battle was taking place.

The vanguard's shield blocked the monster's fatal charge, while the center-guard warrior deflected countless whistling tentacles (whips). The monster recklessly charged towards the rear-guard mage who was chanting, its erratic movements plunging everyone into a fierce battle. The man-eating flower monster and the Hermes Familia continued their back-and-forth offensive and defensive maneuvers.

"Lulu, where is the opponent's 'Magic Stone'!?"

When the team members faced a new opponent and struggled to attack, it was Asifi who was the first to adapt to the situation.

With her short sword, she severed all the tentacles that attacked from various angles, and made deep and sharp cuts into her opponent's long body.

A series of agonizing screams, like the cracking of a scythe, rang out. Ignoring the man-eating flower's heightened alert level, she used large, high-speed movements to disrupt the enemy and create a diversion. "Ah, I remember it was in her mouth!"

Lulu, who also used a dagger to fight off the tentacles, shouted out the information she had obtained during the attack on Rivera Town.

"In your mouth, huh?" Asphie stared at the man-eating flower's chin, used her special cloak to deflect the whip that came from above, and took out a small bottle filled with red liquid from the leather watch on her belt.

The small bottle was immediately thrown into the carnivorous plant's mouth—and it exploded.

"--------ah!?"

The explosion from its mouth forced the man-eating plant to stop even its screams, destroyed the "magic stone," and turned the man-eating plant into dust.

This is a grenade meticulously crafted by a magical artifact maker, containing explosive oil. It's a liquid explosive produced by Asphie using volcanic flowers sprouting near a volcano in the northern part of the continent—a resource found outside the city. This scarlet explosive liquid, which only she can create, can kill a mid-level monster with just a small bottle.

Using her special high-powered items, Asphie defeats monsters one after another.

The team members seemed to have figured out their opponents' moves, and in one fell swoop, they switched from defense to offense and began to wreak havoc.

"Are you okay?"

"I...I'm fine!?"

Ais went to protect the mage who was easily targeted, and dismantled the monsters that were attracted by "magic power" one by one.

The little girl blushed and looked up at Ais, while Ais was watching the battle centered around Asphie.

Ais's gaze followed the magical artifact maker, whose pure white cloak billowed in the wind, and she thought to herself that she was indeed very strong. Based on the nature of the carnivorous plant, Ais was worried about the mages' safety and retreated to the rearguard position, but it seemed there was no need for her to intervene. The other members' highly capable responses went without saying, and Asphie's calm analysis and decisive action were particularly outstanding. Watching this reminded Ais of their leader (Finn)'s fighting style.

Asphie, under the cover of the tiger-man, rushed into the enemy's arms and used the longsword thrown to her by her supporters to cut off the head of the man-eating flower.

"It's mostly taken care of..."

Asphie tossed the longsword back to her supporter and looked around.

Just then, Lulu took care of the last one at the back. She retrieved the dart (short sword) that had destroyed the magic stone from the dust pile and returned to Ais and the others with a "whoosh".

"If we stay calm and play slowly, there's still a way to solve it."

"I was worried when the beating didn't work... Oh well, let's not think about it anymore."

The attack on Rivera Town left Luluni with a deep and painful memory of fighting the carnivorous plants, but this time, fighting alongside the team seems to have restored her confidence. Asphie, while concerned about the amount of explosives consumed, is optimistic about the outcome of the battle.

Although the discovery of the colorful magic stone caused a commotion, everyone quickly checked their weapons and equipment, and the team resumed their advance.

"I've heard you mention it before, but is that the new type of monster you were talking about...?"

"It's so hard, so fast... and there's so much of it, I hate it—"

"Sword Maiden, you seem to know a great deal about the nature of that new type of monster. If you know anything else, could you please tell us now?"

"OK."

As Athlete and Luluni talked, Ais shared with them what she knew about the man-eating plant.

Firstly, beatings are not very effective; on the contrary, resistance to slashing is very low.

Furthermore, they will overreact to "magic" and flock to the source of "magic".

The vigilant squad members also listened intently to Ais's silvery voice.

"...Furthermore, they seem to have a habit of attacking other monsters first."

She considered whether to tell them this last point, but ultimately decided to.

The tendency to attack monsters is more accurately described as a characteristic of larval monsters encountered in the "deep layers." The scene of temporarily abandoning Ais and the others to hunt the "Black Rhino" during the emergency evacuation on the 51st floor is still vivid in my mind.

Although this behavior had not yet been observed in the carnivorous plant, Ais spoke up just in case, since both possessed colorful "magic stones".

"You mean these monsters cannibalize each other? That's really strange."

Luluni looked up halfway through drawing the map, "Hmm..." Asif, who was silent beside her, fiddled with the frame of her glasses with her fingertips.

She began to explain her hypothesis to everyone.

"There are basically two possibilities for monsters attacking each other."

Asifi first raised one finger.

"The first type is sudden battles, where monsters are accidentally injured or due to some accident, and in anger, they fight each other. Sometimes it can even be two groups of monsters fighting."

Ais nodded, and Asphie raised her second finger.

"The second possibility is that the monster remembered the taste of the magic stone."

She got to the point and continued.

"Absorbing 'Magic Stones' from other individuals (monsters) can sometimes alter the monster's abilities, just like our 'Ability Values' are updated."

"Enhanced Species..."

"That's right. Monsters that ingest an excessive amount of 'magic stones' will have drastically different abilities."

Asphie confirmed Ais's whisper.

Monsters instinctively know that they are brethren and usually try to avoid killing each other, but sometimes there are individuals that deviate from the norm.

Unlike humans who accumulate experience points to improve their abilities, monsters truly enhance their power according to the law of the jungle.

Monsters, intoxicated by the power and omnipotence granted by the "Magic Stone," will frantically devour the cores of their kin. Those who gain too much power may also become bounty monsters for guilds, turning into targets for extermination.

"The most famous one is the 'Bloody Giant'... This monster killed many of its peers and even repelled an elite squad that went to hunt it down."

"Ah, yes... I remember killing about fifty high-level adventurers?"

"Yes, in the end, it was the Freya Familia that successfully defeated them. I still remember it vividly."

Ais also remembered something; she recalled an event that had caused quite a stir in the world.

While the "Bloody Giant," which was enhanced to a level far exceeding the guild's prediction, is just a special case, information indicates that monsters whose abilities change significantly after consuming five "magic stones" of the same species.

"Does this mean that the new type of monster also attacks other monsters in order to obtain 'magic stones'?"

"That's my opinion. There must be some reason why monsters would eat their own kind. And in the battle just now, several individual monsters were exceptionally powerful."

"What you say makes sense. The abilities of those man-eating plants (monsters) vary greatly. Some can be dealt with easily, while others are quite troublesome... But is it possible that a whole group of monsters would want to steal the 'Magic Stone'? If they are born knowing the benefits of the 'Magic Stone,' that's no joke."

Listening to Luluni and the others' conversation, Ais fell into deep thought.

She felt that Asphie's speculation seemed to be correct. Compared to the monsters in this battle, many of the man-eating plants that clashed with Rivera Town during the Monster Festival were much stronger. Moreover, the differences in their abilities were quite significant and could not be explained by simple individual differences.

What bothered her was that there was no cannibalism among the man-eating plants... Just as Lulu had worried, the monsters with the colored "magic stones" might be different from other monsters. They were not mutated later in life, but were born with the desire to pursue "magic stones".

Having pondered this far, Ais decided to put the problem aside for now and switch her focus.