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

Screams echoed.

The weapon exploded into pieces.

Those who try to flee will never escape.

"Perseus! Help me!? Help me—Gah!?"

"Woo, woooo ...

The feast could not be stopped.

A series of mournful cries were offered, and the crystal maze was paved with a path of corpses and blood.

The Azure Stream has also changed, becoming the Blood River.

The monsters—[Alien Co-existence]—were delighted to see the number of adventurers' corpses increase one by one.

They drank the human blood that stained the water like dew, and devoured the corpses that flowed to the shore as if they were the finest meat.

Someone has blossomed a flower of flesh and blood.

Someone was torn to pieces.

Some people were beaten to a pulp.

Some people's dignity has been violated.

The others desperately tried to escape "that thing," but were overwhelmed by other monsters, who swarmed them and tragically met their end under countless sharp teeth and claws.

Those who left behind their fallen comrades were left only with grief. But that comrade soon followed suit.

The "City of Water" instantly became a capital of slaughter.

"Alas—"

"This is……"

When Chigusa saw that, she was terrified and Sakura was stunned.

The 25th floor, a large void.

Lily and the others arrived at the space where the waterfall played its thunderous sound, looking down at the scene from the cliff near the waterfall's mouth leading to the 26th floor.

The "Giant Waterfall" gradually turned red.

Dyed to a light red color.

It was dyed a fragile and fleeting blood red color.

The waterfall, directly connected to the water flowing through the labyrinthine area, spews forth a river of blood, its original form distorted by the monsters' feast. The waterfall pool on the 27th floor has long forgotten its original blue-emerald hue, transforming into another color.

Some black particles were so small that Lily and the others, far away, could not see them with the naked eye; those floating on the surface were the remains and limbs of monsters that had been devoured. The remnants of weapons that held the regrets of their owners, as well as some objects that once belonged to adventurers, floated on the lowest level of the Water Paradise.

The lower reaches of the River Styx wash away the corpses, slowly returning everything to the Mother (Dungeon).

"Hey...is all of that...blood...?"

"How is that possible! How many adventurers would that be...! No, could it be that all the adventurers who went to the 27th floor...?"

"Please don't joke around!! Lord Bell is still alive! Lord Bell, he...!"

"Ah, ahh...!?"

"...What exactly happened?"

Welf's wavering voice could not hide his trembling, and he fell silent as he thought of a possibility.

Lily rebuked her sharply, while Chunji was even more uneasy and turned pale, and even Aisha was dumbfounded.

As a second-level adventurer, she shifted her gaze away from the red-stained waterfall pool and looked towards the cracks in the wall further away.

She caught sight of the exaggeratedly deep crack and knew that "something" had been born; for a moment, she even forgot to breathe.

"...Let's go to the 27th floor! Even though we don't know what happened, Lily, we have to go save Lord Bell!"

Just above them, on the cliff leading to the 24th floor, some adventurers also discovered the situation and screamed. Lily cried out in alarm.

The group was now in the southeast of the large void, where there was a cave leading to the 26th floor of the labyrinth. Although it was an "unknown" floor for the Hestia Familia, everyone nodded. Welf, Mikoto, and Haruhime showed no hesitation whatsoever.

Accompanied by them, Lily planned to rush into the cave.

At that moment, the girl who had been silent grabbed her hand.

"!? Lady Cassandra! This is not a time for fooling around—"

Lily's voice trailed off.

Because when she looked up, she saw the expression on the face of the girl who was holding her small hands with both of her own.

"Cassan, Della...?"

Daphne, who was calling the girl's name, froze on the spot.

Welf and the others, who had stopped in their tracks, were also speechless.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!"

Cassandra held Lily's hand tightly, refusing to let go, and cried.

Her face was filled with despair, tears streamed down her face, and she lowered her head, apologizing to someone other than Lily and the others.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry...!!"

She thought that countless adventurers would give up or abandon her because they didn't believe in her.

And the boy who was sent to the bottom of the [Calamity].

The girl kept apologizing.

That was a "feast of tragedy".

The dungeon said nothing. It simply accepted the blood-red paint splattered on the walls, as if it were the natural course of events. The once radiant azure crystal was now stained with blood, completely transforming the fantastical landscape that the boy (Bell) and his friends had admired. It had become a painting of hell.

Only the dungeon knows what kind of end they will meet.

—None of them will return alive.

*

Affected by the "explosion" that occurred on the 25th floor, the brilliance of the ceiling crystal was weakened, much like a magic stone lamp that was about to go out.

As the cave grew even darker, a sound brushed past my ears.

"This is……!?"

It was the chaotic howling of a monster.

It was the sound of "something" shaking the dungeon with a loud clang.

There were also sounds mixed in, though faint, that did indeed sound like human voices.

All of this intertwined, forming a melody of uncertainty that stirred up unease, and it reached us all the way here.

What is this sound?

What on earth is causing that noise?!

As I supported Miss Ryu, I couldn't help but call out to the man in front of me:

"You did...you did what!?"

"A ritual!"

In contrast, a joyful smile appeared on the man's face.

"It's a ritual to wake me from my 'nightmare'!"

"A nightmare...!?"

His sunken eyes, with their bright, piercing gaze, even made him look mentally unstable.

No, I can't understand a word this person is saying.

Although this person was smiling gleefully, he was completely uneasy, which made me even more flustered. The monster's loud roar and the shaking of the underground city made me sweat profusely, and my teeth almost wouldn't be able to clench.

It felt as if I myself was heading towards a "death trap"—

What bothers me most is that Ms. Ryu, who is usually calm and composed, is now in such a panicked state.

"Jaruo...!"

Miss Liu left my arms, struggling to regulate her disordered breathing.

However, her body was extremely weak. As if constantly fighting against the fear welling up from within, no, as if bound by the chains of psychological trauma, she trembled incessantly.

She clutched the clothes to her chest, her sharp gaze fixed on the man before her.

"Seeing Leon in such a panicked state, you haven't noticed yet, [White Rabbit's Paws]?"

The cat-man, on the contrary, readily accepted the gaze and laughed at me.

"I've summoned it to the 27th floor!"

"Stop it!!"

Ignoring Miss Liu's attempts to stop him, he spoke loudly.

Then the man's next words left me speechless.

"It means we wiped out all the monsters of the [Asteria Familia]!"

*

"!!"

Uranus rose from his throne.

"What's wrong, Uranus?"

The location is the "Prayer Hall" in the basement of the guild headquarters.

In the stone-built space resembling an underground temple, four torches beside the altar emitted a red glow. At the center of the dimly lit altar, Uranus opened his azure eyes wide.

From the depths of the "Eye Crystal," Fels sensed the aura of the Immovable Old God, who never rose, standing up, and thus sent him a message.

Uranus paused for a moment, then began to speak with a heavy heart:

"That thing has appeared..."

"That thing? What do you mean? What are you talking about, Uranus!"

Perhaps sensing that the old man's atmosphere was unusual, Fels asked impatiently.

Uranus squinted at his feet—looking down at the unfolding underground world (the dungeon) below—and answered the crystal:

"The monster (or beast) that wiped out the Astrea Familia five years ago..."

"...!?"

Facing the speechless Fels, Uranus solemnly declared:

"The 'Calamity' has been resurrected..."

"Five years ago, we, the Rudra Familia, were fighting against the Astrea Familia! I don't know anything about justice or injustice, but those people who were getting in the way of 'evil forces (us)' were just too much of an eyesore, unbearable! So we decided to launch an operation to trap them in the dungeon!"

Bell was startled when he heard the narration echoing in the 27th floor from Jalal.

A memory lingers in my mind, causing a dull ache.

Ryu told him about his past on the 18th floor, which connected to his current situation.

"Just like today, we prepared a huge pile of firestones (bombs) that day! Our plan was to lure Leon and the others over, then blow up the dungeon and bury them alive! But those guys didn't die; they're practically indestructible! Instead, we're the ones who've been cornered!"

As Jaluo recalled the memory, anger and fear resurfaced in his eyes.

But at that moment, the man's emotional turmoil subsided.

Instead, a chilling smile appeared.

"However, at that moment... something unexpected happened that even we didn't expect."

It's like recalling that scene.

Ryu's face contorted drastically.

Jaluo's body trembled violently.

"Unexpected...?"