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

Just as Cassandra, who believed it all, was being mocked, "that" happened.

"──"

There was an earthquake in the ground.

No, it's the "shaking" caused by the dungeon.

Welf and the others, who had been annoyed by Cassandra's strange behavior, all stopped what they were doing.

Their hearing didn't miss the sound.

"Hey! That voice...!"

"No way, don't give me that..."

"Impossible, because it will take at least another half month for that to be born...!"

Ignoring the drastic change in the expressions of Sakura, Welf, and Lily, the maze continued its low growl.

--The dungeon has only one thought.

The immune system, "Exterminate the Apostles," had clearly been deployed, yet the adventurer (virus) was still alive. Not only that, the "Child of Calamity" had even left this floor. Despite destroying the mother organism, it remained in the "Water City of Mystery."

And it's not just one or two, but a number that can't be ignored.

We cannot turn a blind eye to this.

Therefore, the dungeon made a choice it shouldn't have made.

It gave birth to "that being" while letting out a low growl.

"This, this is...!"

Lily and the others remember it.

I have an impression of the omens preceding the birth of "something excessively large".

I remember the shaking of the building and the sound of that huge crack bursting open.

"It's coming!"

The instant Aisha screamed, the "Giant Waterfall" on the 27th floor exploded.

An astonishing amount of water sprayed up to the 25th floor, then turned into a torrential downpour, pouring into the large cavity.

The creature that burst through the lowest level of the waterfall, bathed in the underground downpour and shrouded in the white smoke, slowly sank to the bottom of the waterfall pool.

Before long, it began to charge.

Just like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, it swims with astonishing momentum across the raging torrent, swimming upstream against the current to reach the "Giant Cang Waterfall," which is hundreds of meters high.

"──"

Looking down at the eerie giant shadow that stretched from the 27th floor to the 26th floor and then all the way to the 25th floor, Cassandra remembered something.

"Oh, don't worry, the monster won't swim up the waterfall from below."

—"There are some exceptions."

That was a speech given by a female hero a few days ago.

These were the words spoken by Aisha, who now stood beside him, brandishing a large broadsword, her eyes filled with shock.

Cassandra finally understood what she meant by those words.

"Get out of here ASAP!?"

Hearing Welf's shouts, Lily and the others fled from the cliff at the mouth of the waterfall.

Immediately afterwards, the waterfall rim broke into pieces.

Everyone was being swallowed up by the tsunami and swept away to the distant riverbank.

One by one, the group stood up, coughing repeatedly as they looked up with their wet faces, only to see a "dragon" appearing in front of them.

It is a "two-headed dragon" with two heads.

"The 'Lone King of the Labyrinth' on the 27th floor—"

Lily's absent-minded murmur was picked up by Aisha, who said bitterly:

"—'Amphispina'!"

On the 25th floor, in the waterfall pool, the floor master, twisting his body in the middle of the huge lake, looks up at the sky as if responding to his mother's wish.

"Roar! Ro ...

That is the only exception among the confirmed "floor owners".

He violates the rule that the "Lone King of the Maze" guards a specific area and is a "mobile" floor master.

Among her companions, whose faces were contorted as they brandished weapons, Cassandra looked utterly dejected.

This is the dungeon. A melting pot of monsters.

In this infinite labyrinth, the tragic prophet's "rebellion" is nothing more than a trivial matter.

The two-headed white dragon raised high the will of the dungeon and roared repeatedly.

The girl's appearance was frozen in time.

If it can be said that destruction has been avoided.

Then came Cassandra and the others—yes, it was despair.

Volume Thirteen, Chapter Six: And so they wove a cruel fate.

The sound of shattering rock echoed all around.

Accompanied by a rain of rocks, the enormous body plummeted downwards.

First came a violent sound of air being torn apart, followed by a loud crashing sound from the ground.

The impact caused the building to shake.

Behind the swirling dust, a long, blue-white body wriggled in the crater created by the impact.

It is the giant serpent monster "Orochi-i".

"────────Ahhh!?"

A monster known as "Lemton" is wreaking havoc.

Its compound eyes were smashed and bleeding, and it writhed and struggled as if suffering the most incomprehensible pain in the world. It vomited blood-red vomit from its giant jaws while its massive, long body rolled wildly.

It even looks like a child who has accidentally eaten something that would definitely upset their stomach and is very difficult to handle.

The next instant, thud! The monster's long body trembled.

And not just once. Twice, three times, four times.

Each time the "impact" occurred, the monster howled even more violently. Its blue-white skin, as if lit by lamplight, was tinged with a hazy, faint crimson from the inside. The "impact" finally pierced through the monster's skin, bursting forth with "flaming lightning."

Two shots, three shots, and it still hasn't stopped.

The cannons fired from the side of the long, thin body, forming a stunning display of fire and lightning.

The monster's body was burned and pierced from the inside, causing it to lose its strength and collapse to the ground with a thud.

then……

In the center of the long, thin body, a black dagger pierced the skin.

Like a sword growing out of its body, the jet-black blade made the "hieroglyph" engraved on the blade glow, playing a terrifying sound as it cut through muscle, and slowly moved down, down, down, vertically slicing through the skin.

The blade left a vertical cut.

The internal organs, hidden inside the body, overflowed along with sticky red blood.

Immediately afterwards, two hands that appeared from the inside grabbed the wound and forcefully tore it open to the left and right.

"Gua ...

The white-haired boy appeared.

Bell closed his eyes tightly, steam rose from his body, and let out a piercing wail.

He escaped from the monster's body, first leaning forward a few steps, then with a thud, without even turning back, he fell into a pool of blood.

"Ughh ...

Bell's entire body had melted away. His exposed skin was the first to disintegrate, as was part of his adventurer's equipment (shirt), and his snow-white hair was smoking. The only things that remained unharmed were the black scarf wrapped around his left hand and his weapon protected by its sheath.

After being swallowed by the monster, the highly toxic acid in its stomach burned the boy.

He barely managed to escape from his body, but even after coming into contact with the cold outside air, excruciating pain still filled every part of his body.

The boy lay prone as he sank into the monster's blood pool, which contained strong acid. His skin was burned again, and white smoke rose from it.

But soon, Bell used his hands to support himself on the ground and stood up unsteadily.

"Ryu-chan... Miss Ryu────────────────...!?"

Bell forced open one of his tightly closed eyelids, and his vision blurred as he returned to the monster's body.

As he let out a groan that was too painful to hear, he pushed his way through the monster's body with both hands, and after a while, he embraced an elf with his arms, and this time he really left the monster's stomach.

"Ughhhhhhh...!"

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have already become one loving and inseparable, unable to distinguish one from the other inside the snake's belly.

However, the two were advanced adventurers far beyond ordinary people. Having undergone a third level of "capacity" enhancement, they even survived the onslaught of strong stomach acid.

Bell dragged Ryu along in an awkward half-squatting position, avoiding the monster's blood pool before collapsing headfirst into the ground.

Ryu was weak and powerless. Although Bell had held her tightly in his arms to protect her after she was swallowed, her long cloak and battle suit were still beginning to melt. Her delicate elf skin was also covered with ugly, dotted burn scars.

Her eyelids remained closed, as if she were in eternal sleep.

With tears streaming down his face, Belle could only move his body with his bare hands, and he lifted her up on his knees.

"Miss Ryu, Miss Ryu!? Wake up! Wake up, please...!"

Bell gripped Ryu's shoulders with trembling hands and melting finger skin, calling her name again and again.

He called out to her several times, trying to keep her alive.

Perhaps the boy's wish had been conveyed, for his tightly closed eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Miss Ryu...!"

The moment Bell's face lit up with joy.

As if to shatter his hope, the monster's distant howl echoed all around.

"────"

Bell was brought back to reality and slowly raised his head.

It was a vast, boundless cavern. It was so wide and so enormous.

Bell scanned the surrounding space, now dominated by a thin layer of darkness, with trembling eyes, trying to make sure there were no monsters nearby and hoping to relax. He almost did, but couldn't.

—If we get attacked by a monster now, we're doomed.

--No, that's not right.

Where is this place?

--Which floor is this?

The "Great Serpent Well" will move between floors.

Bell was being tossed around in the darkness inside his body, the force of the impact leaving him dizzy and disoriented. He had no way of knowing where the monster lying dead beside him had dug its way to.

It's probably a floor below the 27th floor.

Bell's fingers dug into Ryu's weak shoulders as he held her tightly to protect her while battling his fear and trying to regain control of the situation.

The ground structure is composed of soil and rock.

The same applies to the walls that are vaguely visible in the distance.

The space above was so high that even with Lv.4 vision, the zenith could not be discerned.

The space above was blocked by a vast darkness.

The only light source was the phosphorescence that shone at equal intervals on the wall.