In darkness deeper than the Dungeon itself, hidden lay an insult to the will of the gods: Knossos.
Not a natural labyrinth formed by the earth, Knossos was an Artificial Dungeon—a massive underground fortress built with mad obsession over hundreds of years by the architect Daedalus and his descendants.
*TAP-TAP-TAP!*
Footsteps echoed in stone corridors too symmetrical and precise, creating a confusing illusion of endless space. Behind every sharp corner, deadly traps lurked—not born from monster instinct or Dungeon oddities, but from the cunning and hate-filled design of a genius architect who had lost his sanity, Daedalus.
If the Dungeon was a living, breathing organism, Knossos was a cold and calculated killing machine.
This wasn't a place to seek glory. This was a nest for those rejected by sunlight; a place where Evilus whispered about destruction and where the scent of fresh blood mixed with the smell of machine oil and stone dust. Here, far beneath the feet of Orario's completely unsuspecting residents, hid an Evil God.
Unlike the majority of other gods who sought entertainment, sensation, or hedonism in the Lower World, Evil Gods found the highest entertainment in humanity's despair, fear, and suffering. They wanted to witness the destruction of societal order.
They bestowed blessings (Falna) upon individuals with violent tendencies, psychopaths, or those whose hearts had been distorted by the world, to form Familias that acted as criminal groups or cold-blooded killers.
And the Evil God hiding in the depths of Knossos was a figure who had deceived all of Orario with his perfect mask, pretending to be a good and harmless god, when in fact he was the mastermind behind many major events threatening the city's total destruction.
His name was Enyo.
As a naturally deviant God, his favorite and greatest pleasure was watching people filled with despair, pure fear, and unbearable pain as they screamed, wailed, and ran to save their worthless lives. To him, that was the most beautiful symphony of madness.
"This is becoming a bit troublesome. It turns out the Sword Princess of Loki Familia has formed a hidden romantic relationship with Solo Leveling."
On the walls of his gloomy study, filled with photos and sketches of many important individuals in Orario. Among those faces, two photos were circled with glowing red X marks: Charlie with his calm expression, and Ais with her emotionless expression.
"They both hide their relationship quite well. Who would have thought, the Sword Princess who's so obsessed with becoming stronger could actually fall in love with someone else." Enyo said with a thin smile full of meaning. "If that chatty and possessive Loki knew this secret, she would surely go berserk, wouldn't she?"
Thinking about that possibility, for a moment Enyo considered 'coincidentally' leaking this information to Loki's ears. The chaos it would cause would benefit him.
"But, better forget that idea." Enyo shook his head. "Even if Loki lost her sanity and challenged Hera Familia to a War Game because of her anger, Loki Familia's high executives like Riveria and Finn definitely wouldn't agree. That's too risky. Moreover, it could actually provoke the remaining members of Hera Familia to return to Orario to attend that War Game."
Enyo didn't want ghosts of the past to return, he quickly dismissed that plan.
Currently, when Orario residents mention the strongest Familia, they would name Loki Familia and Freya Familia.
However, in reality, these two top-tier Familias only rose to fame and occupied the top position about fifteen years ago.
Before their era, two other legendary Familias had ruled completely, unmatched since the earliest times when the gods first descended to the Lower World.
They had controlled Orario's peak with an iron grip for centuries, becoming symbols of absolute power, until finally losing their throne and glory after a major campaign that ended in disaster at Dragon Valley fifteen years ago.
Only then, in that power vacuum, did Loki Familia and Freya Familia rise to replace their positions.
Hera Familia and Zeus Familia—they once held the title of King and Queen of all Familias, as the strongest for nearly a thousand years.
Although Loki Familia and Freya Familia succeeded in 'expelling' them from the throne or more precisely, replacing them after their destruction, Enyo who knew the true history understood well that compared to those ancient Familias, current Familias' strength still fell far behind.
Why?
The reason was simple.
At its peak glory, the strongest adventurer from Zeus Familia, the Captain, had reached the almost mythical Level 8. While the strongest adventurer from Hera Familia, the Empress, had even touched Level 9—a level considered legendary even among legends.
In other words, at Orario's peak glory fifteen years ago, the highest level wasn't Level 7 at all. This fact meant that Level 7 adventurers like Ottar from Freya Familia, now considered the strongest, would appear 'just ordinary' or at least not the most outstanding during that golden age.
Therefore, although Loki Familia and Freya Familia are now the strongest in Orario, Enyo who knew this history understood how far they still had to climb to truly catch up with Zeus and Hera's children of the past.
"If Solo Leveling maintains his abnormal leveling speed, in a short time he'll catch up and even surpass the King (Ottar). It's not impossible he'll someday become equal to the Empress of the past."
"And that... is very undesirable."
Enyo stared at Charlie's photo with a sharp gaze full of hatred.
"Solo Leveling must not be allowed to grow further! He will surely become a major obstacle to my plans! Moreover, his romantic relationship with the Sword Princess automatically guarantees he'll become my enemy in the future!"
Enyo was very obsessed with Ais. He regarded her not merely as a strong adventurer, but as the perfect vessel, or important 'key', to awaken and control the hybrid monsters (Corrupted Spirits) from his mad experiments—the ultimate weapon to destroy Orario and the world.
Therefore, Ais was a vital asset and target whose success must not be disturbed.
"Before I deal with Loki Familia directly, handling Solo Leveling first is a must. He's an unpredictable variable, a threat that must be neutralized before becoming too big."
In Knossos's cold silence, Enyo began devising dark schemes and conspiracies to eliminate Charlie from Orario's chessboard before the hero became too powerful to stop.
If you've been enjoying my work, I would like to invite you to join my Ko-fi community. Supporting me through the paid version isn't just a donation—it is a way to keep this project alive and thriving. Your support directly helps me manage the costs and the effort put into every single chapter.
✨ Benefits:
- Access to more chapters
- Read ahead of the public release
☕ Support here:
Ko-fi: ko-fi.c*m/lovefanfiction
or
bit.ly/4sbFiOM