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

"Stop it!?"

This was the first time I had heard her voice so calm and collected.

Miss Liu actually let out a frantic scream.

"—Let's do it, Tucker."

The man ruthlessly ignored the scream.

"Huff, huff, huff...!!"

As the man ran through the maze, he tore open his companion's backpack and threw it away, scattering the large red gems inside throughout the passage.

The werewolf man and his gang were being chased by a monster, but they ignored it and kept running while dropping red gems.

"Very good... Time to light the fire! I'm going to get started!?"

After scattering all the red gems, the man and his group leaped into cover and retrieved the "Demon Sword".

Before their trembling eyes lay a large, red gem on the floor of the passageway—the "Flame Stone."

This is a "drop item" that can be obtained from the deep-level monster "Flame Demon Rock". Even without processing, it has strong self-ignition and explosive properties.

"Shoot!"

In the 25th floor passage, which was crowded with monsters, Tucker and the others aimed at the red gem and swung the "Demon Sword" down.

Flames shot out, and the "Flame Stone" was ignited and began to glow.

Then came a huge explosion.

'────────────────────────────────Ahhh!?'

The monster that had been chasing Tucker and the others was swallowed up in the explosion's flames.

It’s more than that.

The "Flame Stones" that the group ran around and threw around in the passage acted like a fuse, repeatedly exploding and igniting, shattering every passageway.

The monsters engulfed in flames, along with the melting crystal pillars, were gradually cleansed by the destructive vortex.

「!?」

"What's wrong!?"

The force of the impact also reached Aisha, Welf, and the others who were on the same floor.

"Perseus!?"

"What's going on? What's the situation now?!"

The deafening roar, which spanned two floors, also reached the adventurers on the 27th floor.

The crystal wall was blown away, the ground exploded, the ceiling collapsed, and the water flow became disordered and caused a flood.

The 25th floor, which has a multi-layered structure, has a portion of it gradually collapsing as if it had lost its support.

"The ground collapsed...!?"

"Run! Run!?"

Welf and the others rushed away from the scene to avoid being swept away by the collapsing building.

Within the vast void, the "Giant Azure Waterfall" spews out countless crystal rubble and monster corpses like a raging torrent, groaning as it does so.

The maze was filled with constant screams.

The "explosion" is still ongoing.

With the force of the impact, the crystal in the cave vibrated and trembled up and down. In the flickering light, the man continued to laugh in front of me.

"I knew you'd chase me like a madman! So I acted as 'bait'! After basically 'destroying' the 27th floor, I let Tucker and the others on the 25th floor take over!"

The man cheered as he was bathed in the crystal rain pouring down from the sky.

"So, while you were desperately chasing me, my men cleverly activated all the fire stones (bombs)! How about that, feeling good about falling into their trap!?"

The fact that the man could still laugh in that situation sent chills down my spine. I had no time to comprehend what was going on.

Firestone (bomb)?

Destroy the 25th floor?

What exactly are these people trying to do?!

"See how careless you were when I threw away the Flame Stone (bomb)? Right, Leon!? Hahahaha! I fooled you!"

All of a sudden.

Miss Liu, who had been staring blankly upwards, suddenly became furious and lunged at the man.

"Jarra────!?"

She grabbed his shirt and forced him to the ground.

"Do you even know what you've done, what a terrible thing you've done?!"

His tightly clenched fist trembled violently, as if trying to crush his composure.

Although the man's back slammed hard into the ground, he continued to chuckle and shout loudly without answering her.

"For the past five years since you brutally slaughtered me, do you think I've done nothing?! I've been investigating!! Investigating where and how to bring forth that 'despair'!"

"!!"

"I've been thinking about how to smash your pretty face!"

"Aa ...

Immediately afterwards, losing her mind, Miss Ryu drew her katana and tried to stab the man.

I quickly stopped her.

"No, Miss Ryu!?"

"Let go of me! Let go of me!"

I grabbed her from behind, trying to break free with surprising strength.

The man slowly sat up, chuckling to himself.

How is this going?

We should be the ones driving our opponents into a corner, not the ones who are left with no way out!

then……

「!?」

Just like the final kick in a goal, an exceptionally huge explosion occurred, and in the next instant...

The dungeon cried out.

"──"

It's not the cracking sound when monsters are created.

It is not an earthquake (precursor) that causes abnormal conditions.

It's not a metaphor; it's truly crying out.

It is an extraordinary inorganic high-frequency range.

It was like slicing a knife across a taut silver string, creating a sharp, piercing sound that went right through the eardrum.

If a woman were to grow large enough to rival the entire world, she might be able to produce a voice in this vocal range (soprano).

That was indeed the "cry" emanating from an illogical maze (something), enough to make one's instincts flash red.

"Ah... Ahhh...!?"

Just as I forgot to cover my ears and my whole body stiffened, the body of Miss Ryu that I was holding lost its strength.

"Same as back then... that... again... ahh, Alexie...!"

"Miss Ryu? Miss Ryu!?"

I quickly helped her slender body up as she nearly collapsed to the ground.

Seeing that Miss Liu's face was no longer ashen but deathly pale, I was greatly shaken and desperately called out to her.

I didn't know, I didn't know that Miss Ryu had this side to her.

Never having seen her is like having your psychological trauma exposed, revealing an empty look in your eyes!

"Run! Run!"

"...!?"

Just as I was thinking this, Miss Liu suddenly raised her face and screamed at me in a heart-wrenching voice.

With our foreheads almost touching, she gripped my clothes tightly and cried out.

"Get out of here quickly! Even if you're alone, run—hurry!!"

Unfortunately, I came to understand this at that time.

When I first met her on this floor.

Miss Liu kept me at arm's length, demanding that I "leave".

It's because she's afraid of "something" that's going to happen next.

"It's too late!"

The man stood up and yelled.

He stretched out his missing arm and looked up at the sky.

"Me too, and you too, we're all already in 'despair'!"

That twitching smiling face—the man himself also wore a livid smile as he shouted:

"Okay, come on!"

It's like risking your life for a once-in-a-lifetime gamble.

"Show yourself!"

The man let out a scream of ecstatic joy.

"Once again—appearing before us!!"

*

"──────"

At that moment, the prophet of tragedy knelt down on the ground.

"Cassandra!?"

"Lady Cassandra!"

She couldn't hear Daphne's voice, nor could she see Chunji and the others rushing to her side.

A flash of light shot through the girl's mind, and she knew "that moment" had arrived.

"Ah... Ahh."

The cries from this labyrinth are [lamentations].

At the same moment, the girl's face was as pale as the elf's, she grabbed her head with both hands, her whole body froze, and her lips uttered a "declaration".

"[Calamity]...is coming."

*

Crack!

The large cavity on the 27th floor developed cracks.

The crack was wide, long, and deep.

It bursts forth vertically and rapidly, much like a waterfall.

What gushed out of the crack was initially liquid.

Steam rose from the high temperature, and a purple liquid, like blood, sprayed out, gradually polluting the blue-green water like sludge.