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

"Roar!?"

The giant snake monster was blown away by the blast wave and rolled around on the ground.

It failed to burrow into the ground and struggled painfully; Miss Liu seized this opportunity and accelerated with all her might.

"What!?"

Front, left diagonal, side, and then diagonally again.

Seeing Miss Ryu's counterattack after her initial charge, followed by a chain reaction of dashes and a final strike, both the cat-man and I were stunned. Her speed not only didn't decrease, but actually increased, reaching a point where we could see her afterimages.

It's an ultra-high-speed hit-and-run attack. If you looked down from above, you could probably see a pentagram-like trail of wind trapping the monster in the center.

The swift strike was followed by a series of continuous blows, the wooden sword relentlessly striking until the enemy's massive body gradually rose from the ground.

That's for sure—its power increases in tandem with the speed of ascent!

"Drink! Aa ...

The azure flash that adorned the edge of the wooden sword might just be the light of a deadly (skill).

Miss Ryu unleashed her final Kasaya Slash, severely injuring the monster and slamming its enormous body against the wall.

"─────────────────────────────!?"

I suddenly opened my eyes wide. The man's eyes were filled with fear, as if an old illness had relapsed.

It actually sent that colossal, gigantic body flying...?

The monster roared a miserable cry towards the sky above, and after a spasm, its snake head slumped down.

The serpent's long body was buried in the collapsed crystal blocks.

Whether he had stopped breathing or passed out, [Swift Wind] used his weapon to knock away a super-large-scale technique, leaving me speechless instead of cheering.

The cat-man standing there, frozen in place, probably felt the same way I did.

"Jaruo, you're the last one left... It's over."

Miss Liu brandished her wooden sword, traversing the deathly silent cavern, and walked up to the man. After regaining my composure, I followed, quickly replenishing my supplies with high-grade dual-attribute elixirs, and reached her side.

There were no allies, nor any tamed monsters.

With psychological trauma, he was unable to compete with Miss Ryu.

She's right, that's the end of it.

Compared to the elf who was staring at him with sharp eyes, the man trembled with his remaining left hand and lowered his head.

then……

The man, whose eyes were covered by his bangs, slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

*

"Hold on, Vanguard! Only one left!"

Aisha's voice flew over.

Welf and Sakura gritted their teeth and strained to deflect the monster's attack, extending their large shields at an angle. This alone caused their bones to creak and blood to gush from their wounds, but their limbs, enveloped in "Level Ascension" particles, refused to yield. Their shields, crafted from "White Diamond," beautifully withstood the onslaught. Taking advantage of this moment, the healer (Cassandra) immediately cast healing magic upon them.

No matter how many deadly physical collisions were made, the vanguard wall always maintained the battle line with amazing courage and simple yet delicate "skills", causing "Lemton" to let out a confused roar.

The area around that mouth was studded with arrows and other projectile weapons.

There are nine "holes" on each side of the upper part of the mouth, for a total of eighteen.

Centered around these holes, its mouth was covered with arrowheads or kunai, and even wounds from large cleavers.

The "Great Serpent Well" possesses excellent thermal sensing organs.

These are the two holes (pits) arranged side by side above the mouth.

It can still accurately snipe adventurers even while burrowing underground, thanks to these holes. This organ can distinguish its own kind (monsters) from the reactions of the "magic stones," and can also sensitively detect the activation of "magic" or "magic swords," causing monsters to twist their long bodies and escape underground, making these enemies even more difficult to deal with. Just like now, it has burrowed underground several times, causing Lily and the others to waste their "magic sword" bombardment. Unless the activation and starting speed reach the level of "speed-attack magic," it will probably be difficult to hit accurately.

Therefore, Aisha first targeted the hole (that area).

Welf and Sakura truly stepped up to block the enemy's attack. While they were distracted, she and the center-backs attacked together and destroyed the hole.

Guided (navigated) by Lily, the group arrived at a cavern that was not only a dead end but also filled with crystal pillars of varying sizes—truly a "crystal field." While the "Lemton," capable of tunneling through dungeons, was unaffected by the concept of obstacles, it could still be slowed down by the massive crystal field. Seeing that the monster's movement speed had indeed slowed, Mikoto, Chigusa, Lily, and Daphne unleashed a barrage of shots at it.

Just as the monsters repeatedly escaped underground, and the once vast crystal forest cavern was about to be reduced to flat ground except for some areas, there was only one remaining hole.

"Ughh ...

"Now's the time, Lady Chigusa!"

Sakura and the others dodged the monster's path, shouting for their lives as they had already emptied their quivers.

The girl, hidden in the crystal forest, aimed her nocked bow and arrow at the giant serpent monster.

Only her left eye was visible beneath her bangs that covered her eyes.

Chigusa, trained by the God of War (Takemikazuchi), is an all-rounder like Mikoto. Timid and completely unsuitable for the adventurer's path, her only weapon against Mikoto is her bow and arrow.

"Guaranteed kill, guaranteed hit—"

Chigusa chanted the God of War's incantation, releasing the bowstring along with her taut concentration.

The arrow "Black Rabbit Horse," meticulously crafted by the master blacksmith (Wilf), let out a low growl and flew straight, piercing the last hole in "Lymton" with perfect accuracy.

"~ ...

"Well done!"

Aisha cheered loudly for Chigusa, switching from a defensive stance to an offensive.

For Lymton, losing their opening is tantamount to losing their "eyes." Aisha's strategy is to make good use of their numerical advantage and terrain. This is all because she trusts her excellent central defensive team, capable of launching highly accurate shooting attacks.

Now, "Lambton" can't even burrow underground. The Amazonian shrew pinned the struggling, raging monster to the front, smoothly executing the "parallel chant," and as she leaped back, slashed her greatsword into the ground.

"【Hel Caios】!"

Aisha used every trick in the book to unleash her "magic".

The slash wave, infused with a massive amount of spiritual energy, transformed into a gigantic guillotine exceeding four meters in size and hurtled away.

The deadly spell released from the enemy's side struck the redstone collar squarely, passing right through it.

The giant serpent monster "Lemton" had its head and magical artifacts cut off, and it died before it could even let out a final scream.

"good!!"

"We have defeated the monsters of the 'Deep Layer'...!"

"Although the vanguard (our side) is badly wounded, we still... succeeded."

"Sakura! Are you alright?"

"Yay, I got the 'dropped item'!"

"You're such a money-grubber, Lily Luca..."

The feat of killing a rare species in the deep zone made Welf clench his fist and cheer, wiping the blood-stained face and breaking into a smile.

Needless to say, Welf, who served as the vanguard and human wall, suffered the most injuries from the monsters' concentrated attacks for a long time, and his great shield was already dented and battered. When Chigusa ran to his side with the potion, Lily not only found a high-purity "magic stone," but also obtained the "Orochi Well's Sharp Fang" and its "skull," and was overjoyed. Daphne looked exhausted from what she had done.

Aisha didn't disgrace her reputation; she closed her eyes and smiled, as if to say that she had finally gotten something done.

"Lady Cassandra, I threw away my backpack along with my items, so could you please cast a healing spell on everyone?... Ugh~, I can't do anything, I'm so sorry..."

Just as Haruhime was feeling ashamed and asked the party's only healer for help...

"...Cassandra, my lord?"

The girl seemed not to have heard anything and stood there motionless.

(This is... [Calamity]?)

In Cassandra's line of sight, she could see Lily and the others, excited by their victory, as well as the monster's corpse, which had long since turned into dust.

(that's all?)

The "precognitive dream" announced to her the existence of the "calamity".

Cassandra once believed that this "deep" monster was the true face of the "prophecy," but now that belief has been completely overturned.

The threat is not significant enough.

The fear wasn't strong enough.

The despair wasn't great enough.

too easy.

To call itself "destruction" is a gross understatement.

"wrong……"

Cassandra concluded so.

Determining this level of accuracy does not mean that the "precognitive dream" has "come true".

Rather, if this is the content of the "prophecy," how much more reassuring it would be for her.

What Cassandra saw in her "dreams" was more cruel, more helpless, and more dangerous.

(This is not a calamity...!)

That's right.

The real despair is only beginning.

*

"Hehe, hehe...yaha ...

The shoulder, now missing an arm, throbbed, and a maniacal laugh escaped from its mouth.

The man bent over as if having an epileptic seizure, and his half-broken cat tail leaped up.

Seeing the man, who should have been driven to the brink of despair, display such madness, I was speechless. Miss Liu's eyes widened.

"It's over? No, it's just beginning!!"

The man laughed heartily, tears welling in his eyes.

"Why did I choose this place as the location for the 'ritual'... Do you want to know, Leon!?"

"What……?"

"This floor area is connected to the 'Water Maze'! This area, pierced by the 'Giant Waterfall,' is essentially a single floor! Damage and everything else are shared! That's the illusion the dungeon creates!"

The man's words struck Miss Liu like a thunderbolt, causing her to tremble all over.

(Damage? Common? Dungeon... Am I hallucinating?)

Just when I was the only one who couldn't keep up, the man's lewd laughter kept echoing.

"In other words, whether the 'explosion' occurs on the 27th floor or the 25th floor... for the dungeon, it's all 'damage' suffered by the same floor!"

Miss Liu's expression changed completely in an instant.

"I've also taken advantage of the 'magic' you unleashed!"

"Could it be...!?"

"Do you really think this level of 'damage' won't cause any problems?!"

The moment the man grinned and sneered.

Boom!

The ceiling of the cave shook.

"The me you chased after so desperately—I was just 'bait'!"

Crystal shards scattered everywhere.

It was as if an "explosion" had occurred on the upper floors.

It was as if it had replaced the "explosions" that had occurred countless times on the 27th floor.

A scream came from the 25th floor.

"Stop it quickly..."

Beside me, who was in shock, Miss Ryu looked up at the sky, her lips trembling.