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

However, she found out anyway. Through her adventures, she learned what kind of people they were.

Although Lily is meticulous, she is a little person (Palum) who cares about her companions.

Although Welf is a craftsman responsible for taking care of weapons, he prioritizes protecting his teammates and is a handsome smith.

Sakura, Chigusa, and Mikoto all embody the sentimental and loyal spirit of people from the Far East, and are worthy of her respect.

Chunji was kind-hearted and had a personality similar to hers, so Cassandra became very good friends with her.

Cassandra was a little afraid of Aisha, but Aisha was a reliable older sister figure whom Cassandra trusted.

And Bell... is a "special" existence in many ways.

"Miss Cassandra... are you alright?"

Cassandra was aware that her gaze was slowly shifting as she watched him grow stronger and more robust.

The boy's continued concern about his health made her want to cry uncontrollably.

Cassandra could no longer abandon them.

(Now that things have come to this, there's nothing we can do but...)

Cassandra looked at Daphne and the others with weak eyes.

Finally, he looked at the white-haired boy.

"...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said such a selfish thing...I want to go too."

Even with lingering surprise, this one sentence rekindled the morale of the team, which had been somewhat disappointed.

After final confirmation, the group set off from town to meet up with the other adventurers.

As the team marched forward, Cassandra silently made a tragic decision.

She wanted to walk alongside this march toward destruction and save them from their most tragic fate.

The prophet, misunderstood by everyone, began his "rebellion" alone.

He began his solitary battle against destruction.

*

Approximately three hours passed after the decision was made to defeat [Swift Wind]. The adventurers prepared themselves and set off from the 18th floor.

The expedition team consisted of nearly half the residents of Rivera Town, as well as adventurers who happened to be passing through the town. Few were driven by a sense of justice; almost all were hot-blooded individuals eager to take down the infamous bounty target, Gale, and make a name for themselves.

"If the intelligence at the time was correct, [Gale] is Lv.4! And without a doubt, she's the pinnacle of Lv.4! It all depends on your performance, [White Rabbit's Foot] and [Antianeira]! I have to say, without the two of you who are also Lv.4, I can't think of a way to suppress her!!"

“Ah, yes…”

"They really have the nerve to delegate the work to others..."

At Perseus's urging, Bell and the rest of the Hestia Familia were practically forced to participate. Before setting off, Bell stood under the central tree leading to the 19th floor, listening to his confident words, and couldn't help but break out in a sweat; Lily, meanwhile, glared at him with half-open eyes.

But for Bell and the others, this is just right.

Since the goal is to make contact with Ryū first, staying in the core position of the expedition team makes it easier to obtain intelligence.

The group asked Ruvis, Dorumur, and the other members of the Modi Familia and Manny Familia to stay at the Rivera inn. They had stayed in the "lower levels" longer than the Hestia Familia, who would later embark on the "expedition," and their prolonged exposure to the attacks of the "enhanced species (moss giants)" had left them far more fatigued than Bell and the others. This included mental exhaustion. Their non-participation in this operation was a logical conclusion.

"I'm going! Dwarves won't be discouraged by such a small thing!"

Even so, it wouldn't be surprising if Dorumur and his group, the Mani Familia, followed them.

Not limited to [Swift Wind], it is a difficult task to track down the seeker in the vast dungeon.

Moreover, the scale of the floors below the 19th floor is incomparable to that of the "upper floors".

Requests from adventurers to help find missing persons are countless; in fact, the difficulty of finding even belongings, let alone bodies, is a prime example. Not to mention, the purpose and destination of this search are unknown. Based on this, it's estimated that this operation will take several days. Needless to say, manpower has been deployed, and a large amount of the town's food reserves have been used.

"I don't need to tell you what to do, but don't miss any suspicious traces! If you encounter other adventurers, get information from them! Now is your chance to shine, orcs, so make full use of your prized noses!"

Perth, in command, dispatched people from the 19th floor to investigate each floor as thoroughly as possible, and then ordered guards to watch the passageways between the floors. As long as the only route to the upper floors was kept under close watch, even if something was missed, the target would definitely be caught. While leaving behind enough combat power that even Lv.4 would not be able to easily defeat, the main team of the subjugation party, which included many second-level adventurers, entered the lower floors.

"After searching every floor, we sent people to guard the entrances and exits... Well, if you're looking for someone in a massive underground city, this is indeed a common practice."

"This is a human wave tactic that requires a large number of people to use, but Lily thinks Lord Perth's judgment is correct."

"So, the title of 'Rogue Town' leader isn't just for show."

We are currently on the 21st floor, the "Great Tree Maze".

As the adventurers rested briefly in the spacious "cave," Aisha, Lily, Sakura, and the others checked their weapons and items while chatting amongst themselves. The Hestia Familia gathered together and sat on the floor in a flowerbed, somewhat centrally located in the cave—a spot less vulnerable to monster attacks.

"Even if the method is passable, honestly, with such a large group moving together, do you really think we can find [Swift Wind]? Although we split into small teams when searching separately, I think before we even make a move, these people will start fighting among themselves and fall apart, right?"

The more adventurers there are, the higher the chance of encountering monsters. If it's just a few acquaintances, it's fine, but as expected, high-level adventurers confident in their abilities don't team up at all; they fight however they want. They often hurl insults at each other, and their supporters go so far as to pull out spare weapons from their backpacks and start selling them—bartering for "magic stones" or "dropped items."

Even now, Daphne watched from afar as some people quarreled over the spring water gushing from the cave, deftly twirling her short sword, which resembled a conductor's baton, and sighed.

"But as long as it makes our movements easier, there's nothing wrong with it. Speaking of which... just how deep did that tavern elf burrow into?"

"So far, we haven't found any trace of Lord Ryu..."

"She seems to be chasing someone... but with her Lv.4 abilities, she should be able to reach the 'lower levels'..."

Life and a thousand grasses answered Welf's question.

Half a day had passed since the expedition began. Lily checked the pocket watch hanging around her neck and shrugged her small shoulders, saying, "Let's not take on adventurer quests that involve finding people in dungeons anymore, it's not worth it." This made Bell and Haruhime give her wry smiles.

"..."

Within the circle formed by the group, only Cassandra stood out, her face tense.

Despite it being precious time to rest, she couldn't relax and instead fell into deep thought.

(A precognitive dream (dream) is the most tragic ending... It can be assumed that once the "prophecy" comes true, we (the team) will all perish... To avoid this ending, I must carefully interpret the meaning of the "oracle"...!)

She repeatedly speculated and examined the content of the prophecy.

In the past, the girl would have given up hope because no one believed her, or she would have only lamented the inevitable future; but now she is desperately trying to find a way to break through the status quo.

(【Great Calamity】and 【Incarnation of Destruction】, then 【Mother's Lament】will summon 【Disaster】...Calamity, Incarnation of Destruction and Disaster should mean the same thing...)

Cassandra's "prophetic dreams" usually begin with a brief outline of the future in the first section.

And this section of the poem always depicts things that Cassandra cannot interfere with or avoid.

(The "Mother" must represent... this dungeon. "The labyrinth is the mother of monsters," this is a well-known saying in Orario. Therefore, the "calamity" summoned by the Mother (dungeon) is... thinking about it together with the word "fallen to earth"... it's the newborn monster.)

Cassandra gripped the battle cloth tightly against her chest.

(From the moment of [birth from despair], tragedy will ensue... [Heavy weeping], [sacrifice], [a path of mountains of corpses and seas of blood], [a river of blood]... Based on my experience with precognitive dreams so far, these bloody words are almost certainly hinting at "death"... Will we, the adventurers who pursue the [promise to become the fairies who lead the destruction], be the ones who perish?)

In other words, powerful monsters will emerge from the dungeon, causing multiple deaths.

That's probably it, there's no mistake.

Then, so far, it's still easy to speculate.

(But what kind of powerful monster could it be? A monster even more troublesome than that "Enhanced Species (Moss Giant)" would appear in the dungeon? And strong enough to wipe us all out... the second-level adventurers (Miss Aisha) and the others?)

【The Squirrel Blooms a Flower of Flesh and Blood】—In the “dream,” Lily died with her intestines spilling out.

【The fox is shattered and the pearl sinks】—Hsun-hime was torn into pieces and lay in a sea of ​​blood.

[The hammer shattered into pieces] -- Welf died tragically, losing his limbs.

[The lives of foreign warriors are being toyed with]—The remains of Mikoto, Chigusa, and Sakura are piled on top of each other.

[The bloodstained prostitute takes away the fox's belongings, but is humiliated by countless sharp teeth and claws, and left to mourn]—Aisha, holding the fox-man's (renart) remains, uses all her strength, only to be swarmed by several monsters who devour her.

"Ugh...!?"

As she listened to the verses, she recalled the scene from the "dream".

Cassandra quickly covered her mouth.

Although the "dream" was as blurry as a daydream, the appearance of the murdered companions was so gruesome that it was nauseating. The shock of it has not yet subsided.

the most important is……

(Daphne...!)

[A good friend left only with sorrow] - Daphne, covered in blood, breathed her last breath in front of me (Cassandra), her eyes empty.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

But Cassandra held back with all her might.

This has not yet become a reality. Cassandra must fight now to prevent such a tragedy.

I need to calm down and composed myself.

There's no time to cry, and no time to despair.

Cassandra glared at herself, reprimanding herself in this way.

(Judging from the "dream," Miss Aisha and her companions, as well as the adventurers gathered here, will all be killed. Could the monster capable of such a thing be the "Floor Lord"?)

Cassandra regained her composure and looked around the cave again.

The advanced adventurers carried various weapons, and there were roughly seventy of them.

If there were an entity capable of killing so many adventurers, she couldn't think of any other possibility besides the "Monster Rex."

"...Excuse me, Miss Lily? Is the floor master here... about to be born...?"

"You mean 'Amphispina'? Don't underestimate me, Lady Cassandra! To avoid running into it on this 'expedition,' Lily checked its appearance time with the guild! It was last attacked exactly half a month ago, and its production interval is still half a month away!"

"That's true..."

Lily said angrily, "Having to fight the floor master on the first 'expedition'? That's terrible!" Kassandra couldn't help but bow her head and apologize.

"The 'Amphispina' you're talking about, is that the floor master of the 'lower levels'? I remember he appeared on the 27th floor, right?"

"Lady Aisha must have fought against it when she was with the Ishtar Familia, right?"

"I'd say yes. She's definitely stronger than 'Goliath.' The guild's estimated Lv. is set at 6 due to the water terrain, but her actual ability is probably around Lv.5. Even if we encountered her now, with so many high-level adventurers around, she's a worthy opponent."

Hearing what Welf, Fate, and Aisha said, Cassandra could only ponder again.

(Yes, Miss Aisha has already fought the floor master of the "lower level"... Since she said so, the "Lone King of the Labyrinth" is unlikely to trigger the kind of massacre seen in the precognitive dream (dream)...?)

She had a headache and thought: Now she couldn't figure out the true nature of the "calamity" at all.

(Could the true nature of the calamity be that there are actually several monsters? For example, a large-scale "Monster Party"...)

That's a possibility.

But she always felt... something wasn't quite right.

Cassandra pondered for a long time, and finally shook her head.

No matter how hard she tried to find the true nature of the "calamity," it wouldn't work. She figured that continuing to speculate would only lead to nothing, so she decided to focus her mind on thinking about the other verses of the "prophecy."

(The warning in this precognitive dream was only the part about the "resurrected sun"... but the "sun" it mentioned...)

Cassandra's "prophetic dreams" sometimes offer "warnings" to help one avoid prophecy.

"Warnings" are generally abstract and metaphorical, making them difficult to interpret. This is why Cassandra often suffers misfortune, however...

(The sun's symbolism... could it be the sun god (Apollo)? Can items related to that god free you (me) from the coffin? Or does the sun represent "time"? Will something happen during the day? But surface time and underground labyrinths (dungeons) are separate... No, I don't know...!)

Cassandra banged her head on the ground, then suddenly fell into a slump, startling Haruhime and Chigusa.

As for her old friend Daphne, she was already used to it and seemed to find it unbearable.

(【Gathering fragments, offering flames, seeking the light of the sun】...This verse should be connected to the section on the 【sun】, but without knowing the context...)

Cassandra clenched her hands tightly on her knees.

(I roughly know the "location" where the massacre took place... If you weren't there when it happened, you shouldn't be caught up in the "feast of tragedy"...)

The flowers growing in the underground city emitted a unique fragrance, and Cassandra, amidst it, was trying to organize what she could do...

"Um... Miss Cassandra?"

Before she knew it, the white-haired boy sat down in front of her and leaned closer to look at her face.

"W-what!?...Mr. Bell?"

Seeing Cassandra's voice crack with shock, Bell responded with a wry smile.

Then, he seemed a little annoyed at first, before slowly speaking:

"Um... if you have anything on your mind, please talk to me."