"Beware their self-destruction!" Riveria shouted.
The first-class adventurer's commanding warning sent waves of tension through the Dionysus Familia members accompanying them.
The thunderous explosions of firestones echoed continuously as black-cloaked figures rushed forward one after another to meet their deaths. Limbs and entrails flew amidst the roaring flames, turning many faces pale with nausea.
"—Purge the enemies, Sacred Staff of Evil's Bane! Divine Rod of Dionysus!"
Holy lightning erupted from the magic staff, snaking through several black cloaks and reducing them to charred remains.
Filvis moved gracefully through the crowd, wielding both wand and sword with deadly efficiency as she carved a path through the enemies.
"Arc Ray!"
Lefiya cried out as her chant concluded. A massive golden flash shot forth like cannon fire, obliterating the crystal spiders swarming from the side passage.
"Amazing, Lefiya!"
"Miss Filvis is the impressive one with that parallel chanting!"
The two elven girls exchanged glances, their faces lighting up with joyful smiles.
"Hmph."
The vice-captain of Dionysus Familia standing nearby gave Filvis a cold glance.
The smile slowly faded from Filvis's face as her expression darkened.
"Pick up the pace!" Riveria kept urging the team forward.
"Don't be afraid! Those black cloaks are just ordinary adventurers—weak in strength. As long as you watch for their self-destruct tactics and curses, you can handle them easily!"
Encouraged by the elven royalty, some adventurers found their courage and began cutting down the attacking black cloaks.
"Ah!"
Suddenly someone screamed and collapsed.
"Magic weapons!" Narvi cried out, immediately putting everyone on edge.
"Quick, use that!" Alicia urged from the side.
"Right, right!"
Narvi pulled a red potion from her backpack and sprinkled it over the fallen adventurer.
A sizzling sound followed as black smoke dissipated from their body. With the help of healing potions, they soon stood back up.
"It really works!" Narvi exclaimed in delight.
"Of course it does—it was personally prepared by Airmid!" Alicia rolled her eyes playfully. "Stay alert around the perimeter! Don't let your guard down!"
The magic weapons crafted by Barca possessed terrifying power that even Exilers couldn't cure. Finn had scoured all of Orario before discovering that only Airmid possessed the ability to break these curses.
The strongest doctor in Orario had personally intervened, producing specialized antidotes within just ten days to counteract this particular curse.
"But the cost seems heavy..." Riveria thought privately.
When collecting the supplies, she'd noticed Airmid looking deathly pale—so anemic she could barely stand. These potions might well have been made with Airmid's own blood, making them extraordinarily precious.
After entering the dungeon through the surface entrance, the team immediately located descending stairs and began pushing steadily toward the middle levels.
This wasn't the only team advancing with purpose. Shakti, Tsubaki, and others all carried copies of Narvi's maps as they marched determinedly toward the middle floors.
The black-cloaked enemies along the way were easily defeated by the prepared adventurers, the cursed weapons proved ineffective against their potions, and even the troublesome crystal spiders had drastically reduced in number after Eiji's lightning strike last time burned down most of their makeshift nurseries.
The greatest obstacle—the labyrinth itself—became trivial before the key held by Loki Familia.
The adventurers advanced fiercely, conquering multiple floors without losing a single soldier, charging straight into the fifth and sixth layers.
"Our target is the ninth floor!"
Finn's voice echoed through all the eye crystals.
"The enemy's stronghold is on the ninth floor! All squads, march there at full speed—but do not approach the tenth floor!"
Under his command, the six squads advanced toward the ninth floor in perfect order!
"I'm amazed you managed to pinpoint their base so quickly!"
Tsubaki clicked her tongue in admiration.
Behind her, a group of muscular men swung their hammers, smashing down any enemies that dared approach.
"Heh, blame them for not being united!"
Gareth laughed heartily.
"I see… But what's on the tenth floor?"
Noticing Gareth's hesitation, she leaned in and whispered.
"I did go with you guys to the 59th floor, so I'm involved in this, right? Plus, I'm your personal blacksmith—cut me some slack!"
Most high-ranking adventurers had exclusive contracts with high-ranking blacksmiths. As fellow dwarves, Gareth and Tsubaki got along well, so they had long since formed a contract.
"It's corrupted spirits."
Gareth sighed, his expression grim.
"And there are six of them!"
"I'm outta here!"
Tsubaki nearly dropped her weapon in fright and immediately turned to flee.
"Too late—you don't get to decide that now!"
Gareth bared his teeth in a ferocious grin. "You think I'd let you run off with this secret?"
"Aren't dwarves supposed to be honest and simple?!"
"Ask yourself that!"
The two hurled insults at each other while roaring as they charged into the next floor.
...
"Tch, these guys are pushing forward way too aggressively!"
On the eighth floor's passageway, Valletta trudged up the stairs with a look of utter despair.
"Thanatos must be joking. No matter how we rearrange our forces now, there's no stopping them. He sent us out here just to get us killed, didn't he?"
The labyrinth, traps, self-destructs, curses, crystal spiders—every trick had been dismantled one by one.
After just one defeat, they had accounted for every possible enemy tactic and devised countermeasures.
"Finn is the kind of man who strikes like thunder the moment he moves."
Bete walked up behind her, his gaze icy.
"Finn…!"
Valletta's face twisted instantly.
Without a doubt, Finn, as the commander, was the core of the enemy forces. It was his meticulous calculations that had cracked the labyrinth's defenses—without him, the dungeon wouldn't have been conquered so quickly.
"Ugh, but there's no winning now… Hey, wolfman, what if just the two of us make a run for it?"
Valletta quickly slumped back into defeatism.
"Run?"
Bete paused mid-step, as if hesitating.
"This fight's already pointless."
Valletta lightly tapped the black greatsword, her face filled with resentment.
"Unless we awaken all the corrupted spirit clones, Evilus is doomed to lose. But that bitch Revis insists these clones have other purposes in Enyo's plans and forbids us from touching them again."
"I don't fight meaningless battles. Isn't there an Eastern saying about keeping the green hills to gather firewood later? Let's escape now, hide ourselves, and assassinate Loki Familia members one by one. How does that sound?"
Valletta happily envisioned her future battle plans.