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

"Shut up!"

Reed and his two companions, the three monsters, side by side, began running up the stairs with "Heretic."

On the other hand, at this time...

Among the annihilated Ikeros Familia, one man quietly disappeared.

He crawled on the stone slabs to avoid being caught by the "heretics" and rolled down the stone steps.

"Dix...where have you been...save me...you wretched monsters...I'll never forgive you..."

He held a refined metal ingot in his right hand and the severed, blood-red spearhead in his left.

The burly human, who had lost half his face and his left eye, went insane, crawling through the maze while uttering nightmarish words.

*

The crimson water droplets made a sound as they dripped down.

Leaving traces of blood behind him, the man moves forward in the dimly lit, man-made labyrinth (Knossos).

"Ouch, you bastard, it hurts so much...!"

Dix pressed down on the bleeding body, his face contorted like a beast, cursing as he kicked and smashed the exquisite statue in the corner of the passageway.

Dix, who can move freely in the artificial labyrinth (Knossos) using the "Eye of Daedalus," has been constantly moving around since escaping the hall. He has been forced to read the "Daedalus Manuscript" containing the "blueprints" countless times, so it is impossible for him to get lost in this complex and strange area.

He wanted to find a place to rest and treat his wounds first, and was about to head to the faction's (familia's) underground headquarters, which was well-equipped with treatment tools.

"Those monsters, and that brat...! I'm going to kill them all...!"

The entire Ikelos Familia was wiped out except for him. The captured "heretics" were also taken back.

Dix vowed to repay this disgrace and humiliation tenfold, panting heavily as he stared into the darkness ahead with his bloodshot eyes.

"...?"

Suddenly, Dix stopped moving.

He felt that the maze he was used to seemed somewhat different from usual.

It felt as if the air was vibrating, or the silence was issuing a warning, as if one were in a real underground labyrinth (dungeon). The magic stone lights, lit over long distances, flickered like candlelight.

Dix passed through several "doors" made of the hardest metal (ostrichite), paying no attention to the pursuers and only focusing on escaping. It was only then that he felt a chill run down his spine.

No way, what are you thinking? The "door" is closed, it's impossible—

Dix cursed his racing heartbeat, telling himself that the gaze piercing his back was just an illusion. When he came to his senses, he was already running.

He ignored his throbbing limbs, letting his breath catch in his throat, trying to create distance to escape the chills that were washing over him. But he couldn't escape. He noticed the blood dripping from his body and quickly tried to stop it to prevent leaving a bloodstain; but the chills, perhaps coming from the lingering scent of the maze, always maintained a certain distance that Dix could sense, never losing track of them.

As Dix closed the "door" he had just passed, he heard the sound of another "door" opening somewhere else. Like a pursuer cornering its prey, the unseen figure of the tracker gradually approached him second by second.

"...!?"

He was following the route he remembered, yet the same scenery kept appearing before his eyes. A vortex of illusion and confusion tainted Dick's consciousness with anxiety and fear, eroding him.

Daedalus's unwavering delusion, the chaotic world envisioned in the mind of the master craftsman, reveals its true nature. An artificial labyrinth, equally confusing to all, drags a man into an endless nightmare. Whether the pursuers are approaching from behind or from the front, Dix can no longer tell.

Dix had long since lost his composure.

The naive notion that he could defeat any obstacle with his own "curse" was utterly shattered. The current situation—something so close to him—was so extraordinary that it sent alarm bells blazing through his mind.

Dix abandoned his pride and dignity and kept running wildly.

then.

"————"

Dix stopped walking.

Ahead lay an ordinary, straight passage, forcing him to stop.

The cold, dark stone passageway obscured the view ahead.

That darkness flickered.

Dix's exposed crimson eyes froze.

That was like the king of the labyrinth, waiting for a sacrifice in the deepest part of the abyss.

A jet-black "monster"—a dark, powerful bull—tears through the darkness and appears before Dix.

"...Hey...Are you kidding me?"

Dix's failure lay in losing his composure due to anger and hatred.

He forgot that the enemy might have the "key".

Most importantly, his only miscalculation was that he didn't know that "it" existed.

The heavy, labored breathing of Dix struck his ears.

Step by step, the shadowy figure drew closer with the sound of destruction, but Dix's legs were unable to move.

His rock-like left hand gripped the bloodstained double-edged axe tightly, emitting a menacing cold light.

"How come I've never heard of such a monster?!?!"

Dix raised his arm as he let out a near-scream of anger, and a dark figure covered him.

Then—"Boom!"

This is the end.

Without a chance to use the "curse," the man became a ghost under the guillotine in the blink of an eye.

The death of this brutal man was so tragic and simple.

Passing by splattered blood and shattered chunks of flesh, the "monster" continued forward.

It was as if they wanted to rush to their compatriots' side.

It's like a thirst for endless struggle (for something).

*

"Bell Craney!"

The long, wide staircase seemed to have no end. The stone steps stretched upwards endlessly, creating the illusion of infinite extension. If calculated in reverse order of the underground city's depth, the staircase was equivalent to seventeen floors; Bell, running upwards, was caught up by Fels, whose black clothes were fluttering in the wind.

"Don't push yourself too hard with your body like that. This has gone beyond overuse."

"F, Fels..."

Bell, who was seriously injured in the battle in the hall, was warned by Fels.

In fact, his body wouldn't obey him, and he was overtaken by Fels, who had started later.

"You can keep running, just wait for me."

Fels reached out his gloved hand and gently placed it on Bell, whose breathing was erratic.

"【The serpent staff of Pius, the mother light of Pione. Let us unite through the power of healing and heal all things】."

A white magic circle unfolded beneath Fels' feet, and the patterns on his gloves glowed like a mage's wand. The "parallel chanting" proceeded effortlessly.

Just as Bell was surprised, Fels, having finished his incantation, unleashed "magic".

"[Dia Panakea]".

A multicolored orb of light embraced Bell, and then all the injuries he had sustained, the broken bones in his fists, and even his fatigue disappeared.

"This is……!"

"Like elixir, it's what's known as healing magic."

The advanced healing magic truly healed my body completely.

"Thank you, Fels!"

Bell regained his energy, thanked Fels, and accelerated in one go.

The boy leaped up eight steps at a time with the speed of a rabbit, leaving Fels behind.

"No way...!"

His astonishing speed prompted Fels to utter the words of the gods. Leaving behind the magician who was muttering, "Can't catch up...!", Bell frantically swung his arms.

"Winnie...!"

Soon after, the sound of the stone breaking could be heard.

The faint glimmer of light in the distance told Bell that the monster had finally reached the surface.

*

The sunlight, gradually approaching the city walls, told people that evening would arrive in a few hours.

Under a still-bright blue sky, the members of the Hestia Familia entered Daedalus Road in the southeastern part of the city. "No, we can't find it at all…!"

"For people unfamiliar with the area, this place is even more like a dungeon than a dungeon."

"Lord Welf, I don't quite understand what you're saying..."

The group moved together on the blackened brick road, looking left and right to observe the scenery. Welf pressed his head with one hand, while Haruhime, dressed in a kimono, was slightly sweating. The three of them chatted amongst themselves.

"Miss Supporter, I don't think asking around will help. I have heard similar things, but there are too many rumors mixed in."

"Although Lily also felt that things wouldn't go so smoothly, she didn't expect..."

Hestia and Lily, who were asking the residents of the labyrinth street for information, put their faces together.

After leaving the Soma Familia, Lily and the others visited Daedalus Road based on the information provided by Chanis. They wanted to thoroughly investigate all the places where monsters might have appeared, but the slum's layout was too difficult to understand, and the group kept getting lost.

The stairs stretched upwards and downwards, with several paths intertwining and weaving. Many houses were built of brick, but the densely packed buildings varied in size and height. It was almost like stumbling upon an optical illusion painting. It was as if an infinite number of passageways and stairs had been sealed off within a limited street block, creating a mesmerizing optical illusion.

"I think Bell probably feels the same way... We don't really have any good memories of Daedalus Road..."

Hestia looked up at the tower as if recalling the past, her blue eyes narrowed.

Each time the group entered a different road, they checked the "road signs (Ariadne)" marked with red lines; Hestia and the others wandered around the neighborhood in this way.

"——!"

"Hey... that was...?"

The first to notice the anomaly were Fate and Welf.

The two turned around sharply; ignoring Hestia who was startled by them, the fox-woman Haruhime's ears perked up instantly, and Lily, a beat slower, was also startled.

Just as Hestia was terrified by the appearance of her followers, countless screams rang out in quick succession.

"!!"

"Let's go!"

"yes!"

As the main god understood the situation, led by Welf and Destiny, the Hestia Familia ran out. The group brushed past the large number of residents who were shouting and fleeing, and rushed towards the center of the commotion.

Then, at the very moment after turning what seemed like the umpteenth corner.

"Varied……!"

"A monster!?"

What burst into Welf and the others' view was a hideous monster that resembled a half-human, half-snake creature.

At the end of the maze-like street, along the wide road surrounding the houses, a corner of the building was damaged. Countless stone fragments were stuck in the monster's white-blue skin and scales, as if to prove how many walls it had smashed through along the way.

Surrounded by billowing smoke, many ordinary people were unable to escape in time.

Of course, the only faction or adventurer present was the [Hestia Familia].

"This must be a monster that escaped from the enemy's hideout (secret base)... so I guessed right?"

"...Please, please wait a moment, that's..."

The monster lay trembling on the road; Welf, alerted by the unusual atmosphere it emitted, drew his greatsword from behind and raised the longsword "Tiger Iron" with a hesitant tone.

She used the [Yata no Kuroku] skill as soon as she heard the commotion; despite having no recollection of it, this skill indicated that she had encountered the monster ahead.

Soon, seeing the monster slowly raise its head from the depths of the smoke, Lily, frozen in place, softly uttered its name:

"...Vivel".

"—!?"