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

Many speculations about the nature of the underground gatekeeper, this enemy, flashed through my mind.

However, who cares! Lefia glared fiercely, determined to take down her opponent by force.

The artillery fire was evenly matched with the monster, spraying out droplets of light.

The enemy's yellowish-green skin, damaged by the "magic," was burned, and the monster's screams were drowned out by the flashing roar. The magic gem at the tip of the straight-reaching "Forest Tear" emitted a blue-white glow, resonating with the spiritual power infused by the spirit.

Just as Lefia was about to increase the power of her artillery fire, the huge single eye, burned by the aftershocks of the flash, glared at her as if filled with resentment.

Immediately afterwards, the entire vertical cave resonated.

"What……!?"

The flesh wall bulged.

It was as if tumors were growing one after another. The four walls expanded with a strange popping sound, pressing towards Lefia who was standing in the center. The dissolving liquid that filled the bottom of the cave surged up and rushed to her feet.

—You want to crush us?!

The monster realized that defeat was only a matter of time, so it caused its internal organs to go out of control, intending to take the two of them with it.

It will collapse along with the vertical shaft, crushing the two people to death.

Lefia sensed her opponent's intentions and her whole body grew hot with anxiety. She mustered all her strength to try and pierce the enemy with "magic," but the monster roared in destructive fury, deflecting the great flash of light.

The fleshy walls pressed in, gradually engulfing the adventurer's remains.

Rafia's face contorted as if cracks had appeared.

At this time.

Ring, ring.

“—Huh?”

The chime, misplaced, reached Lefia's ears.

She turned her head as if drawn by something and saw the injured boy trying to stand up.

At the same time, his right hand was gathering pure white light particles.

"...!!"

He dragged his body, which had been knocked away by the monster, across the knee-deep dissolving liquid, and walked toward the stunned Lefia.

He stood beside the girl who was still firing cannons, and stretched his right hand, which was wrapped in light particles, towards the sky.

"I'm about to make my move...!"

He gritted his teeth and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand.

Seeing that Bell had secured the cannon, Lefia's eyes widened, and she looked up.

She and the boy stared intently at the enemy—never admitting defeat—unleashing their full "magic."

The girl's large flashlight shone even brighter.

The boy's white light continued to converge.

Twenty seconds of sound bell.

Then, the boy pulled the trigger.

"【Flame and Lightning】".

A pure white roar was unleashed.

"———————————————————————————"

The Great Flame Thunder with white light particles as trim.

The second artillery strike, which liberated the girl alongside her, turned the underground gatekeeper's entire body white.

The moment the fiery lightning strike, overlapping with the flash, exploded on its body, the monster, along with the tightly closed lid of its cave, shattered.

The firepower obliterated the monster, leaving no trace.

"!"

The roar of the cannon fire annihilated even the dying screams of the monsters, and pillars of light and lightning pierced the sky.

Its power shattered the ground and even pierced through the forest rooftops, the crystal night sky bursting into Lefia's view. The exit was open.

At the same time, having lost the vertical caves that were parasitizing the earth, the rock bed collapsed all at once.

Holding the boy's body, who had finally exhausted all his strength, Lefia suddenly crouched down and jumped high into the air.

With her Lv.3 leg strength, she leaped high into the air, kicked away a collapsing rock, and escaped back to "Maze Park".

✿

"Hey! What's that?!"

"Artillery magic!?"

The sudden surge of light startled everyone on the 18th floor.

A brilliant beam of light pierced the sky, visible from the vast grasslands where the central tree towers, the inn town on the lakeside island, and the Loki Familia's campsite.

After finishing their dinner, the members of the Loki Familia leaped into the air, with Tiona and Tione leading the way, jumping onto the trees and shouting.

Intertwined flashes of light and white light exploded in a corner of the crystal ceiling directly above, creating an explosive sound, followed by the echoing cacophony of a monster's roar.

"Deep in the forest...to the east of the building? How could such a place be..."

"Eh, could it be... Lefia?"

Hearing Tiony's whisper, Tiona looked down from the tree.

Finn and other faction leaders, who had stepped out of their tents, squinted at the pillar of light. The lower-ranking members whispered amongst themselves, while Hestia and the others remained silent. Lefia was nowhere to be seen in any of the scenes at the campsite.

Her astonishing artillery output also evokes the image of her "magic".

The first person Tiona and the others thought of was the younger elf who had disappeared with the white-haired boy earlier.

"!"

During this time, Ais rushed out of the campsite alone.

"Ah! Ais—!?"

She instantly ignored the calls of Tiona and the others.

The pillar of light had vanished, replaced by crystal fragments that scatter blue light as they fell down.

Ai, sword in hand, rushed toward the spot where the crystal shards fell like ice crystals—the east end of the floor.

✉

A huge cloud of smoke filled the surroundings.

The scene unfolded in a corner of the great forest, resembling the shattering of a landmine.

The crystal pillars, standing like giant stone circles on the grass, were cracked, some leaning and some collapsed, depicting the powerful impact of the explosion. Directly above, the canopy of the forest, covered with branches and leaves, opened up a huge and beautiful circular hole, from which countless fragments of the crystal celestial fins rained down with a crackling sound.

"Haa! Haa...! Hey, are you alright!?"

"...It's...it's alright..."

Bathed in the shimmering, snow-like water chips, Lefia called out to the boy who was leaning against her shoulder.

The two narrowly escaped from the monster's body and knelt on the grass near the collapsed cavern. Compared to Lefia, who was out of breath but still had some strength left, Bell looked utterly exhausted.

As if paying the price for the final bombardment, his body lost its strength. Coupled with the bleeding from his head and the charred skin from the dissolving liquid, his body was already riddled with injuries. Only the shirt-shaped fire essence protective cloth showed no signs of dissolution and remained intact.

Feeling anxious about leaving her bag containing the potion at the campsite, Rafia grabbed Bell's shoulder, wanting to leave.

"What's going on!?"

At that moment, a shout rang out.

Startled, Lefia turned around and saw men running from the cliff at the east end of the building, deep in the forest. They were wearing large robes, headbands, and turbans that covered their mouths—the very remnants of the dark faction that Lefia and her companions had been tracking.

Upon seeing the injured Lefia and Bell in the ravaged Crystal Forest, the two remaining members of the party were horrified.

"The Thousand Spirits... The Loki Familia!?"

"Did she defeat the Venenthes!?"

Upon seeing Lefia's face, the remnants of the dark faction recognized her and immediately realized that the two had been tracking them, had fallen into a trap, and had then defeated the underground gatekeeper.

Even through the face coverings, you could see the men's faces contorted with rage, their teeth clenched in hatred.

"Damn it...!? It summoned the violas!"

The stronger of the two shouted, and the other immediately rushed into the bushes nearby.

Rafia was sweating profusely, realizing something was wrong, and Bell, sensing the gravity of the situation, gritted his teeth. She wanted to escape with Bell, but as if mocking them, it wouldn't be long...

From the depths of the bushes where the man disappeared, long, yellowish-green snakes soon appeared, dragging their bodies toward the two.

"...!"

The metallic clanging of the cages opening rang out one after another, and the man-eating flower monsters appeared one after another. In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded, and Lefia and Bell's faces turned ashen.

There are many of them, probably at least ten.

The serpentine monsters blocked the way with their long bodies and raised their necks.

"Die here, adventurers!"

As the remnants of the dark faction fled the scene to avoid being caught in the crossfire, the monsters' previously tightly closed buds burst open all at once, revealing their vibrant, dazzling petals and hideous jaws.

A large amount of sticky fluid dripped from the fangs and fell drop by drop onto the crystals in the grass.

"Ugh...!?"

After a battle with the underground gatekeeper, Lefia had also exhausted a lot of her strength, and to make matters worse, Bell was also unable to move by her side.

The situation was terrible, at least so bad that the phrase "at the end of the road" flashed through my mind.

Bell was caught in the crossfire for no reason, and she wanted to at least get him out of there.

Lefia was prepared to perish together with the carnivorous plants and planned to deal with them.

Faced with the carnivorous plants poised to pounce on their prey, and the increasingly tight encirclement, Lefia supported Bell and gripped her beloved wand tightly.

"—Ooo ...

And then the broken gong roared loudly.

A gust of wind intervened on the battlefield with astonishing force.

"Gah!?"

“—Huh?”

A carnivorous plant that was about to pounce on Lefia and her companions had its head knocked off and crashed into other carnivorous plants, falling to the ground.

The impact and deafening roar overlapped, leaving Lefia and Bell, who were preparing to fight, dumbfounded. Just then, the Striker, who had delivered a powerful blow to the monster, landed on the grass.

—Miss Ais?

In an instant, Lefia thought of the girl she admired, and what she saw in her eyes was a long cloak swaying in the wind.

"I heard a dangerous commotion and ran over to investigate... Is it a new kind of monster?"

He held a long wooden sword in his right hand and wore only a thin combat suit.

Then there's the face hidden by the hoodie pulled low.

The sight of the adventurers protecting the two with their backs turned filled Lefia's eyes with astonishment.

I remember she was one of the search team members last night—

"—A masked adventurer?"

Lefia stared in disbelief, while Bell beside her murmured in a hoarse voice:

"Ryu, Miss..."

Only one reinforcement arrived, standing in the way of the carnivorous plants.

The wooden sword, capable of slicing through several of the opponent's long bodies in one strike, hummed as it was swung with an intent to annihilate.

"Elf, you stay there with Mr. Crannie."

"Okay, okay!?"