Chapter 171
Ais felt like she was in a dream.
No—she was dreaming.
A warm, quiet scene unfolded before her, distant and unfamiliar yet achingly comforting.
Her father and mother were there.
Alive and smiling.
They were speaking with her, their voices light and gentle as if nothing in the world had ever gone wrong. As if war, loss, and the Dungeon had never taken anything from her at all.
In this dream, they lived a normal life.
And for the first time in a long while, Ais did not feel the weight she usually carried.
But the next thing she knew, they were gone.
The warmth shattered like glass.
Her father was the first to disappear.
But in a flash of memory she could never escape—the image of him being defeated by the One-Eyed Black Dragon, swallowed by overwhelming terror and inevitability.
Then her mother followed.
Fading just as quickly, taken by the same cruel emptiness that had stolen everything else from her life.
Ais stood there, frozen, as the world around her dimmed.
And when the silence settled, there was nothing left.
She was alone again.
Orphaned once more.
Then the next thing she knew, she was in the Dungeon.
The warmth was gone. The light was gone.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, suffocating and familiar in the worst way.
Ais stood alone in the endless cavern, her breath trembling in the freezing air. The ground beneath her shimmered with frost, and the very space around her seemed to reject warmth itself.
She recognized this place.
She remembered this feeling.
Her body began to slow.
Numbness crept into her limbs as the cold reached deeper, crawling into her bones, trying to steal even the last remnants of her strength.
Then nothing.
And then—
She woke up.
A sharp breath escaped her lips as reality snapped back into place. The suffocating cold was gone. The darkness was gone.
The first thing she saw was light.
Bright golden hair and matching eyes that enchanted her.
"Finally awake?" the man said.
A faint smirk formed on his face.
"Sleeping beauty."
Leon.
"Where… am I?" she spoke.
Her eyes darted around, still adjusting to the light. The lingering fragments of the dream clung to her mind, making reality feel distant, almost unreal.
Then memory rushed back in pieces.
Her eyes widened.
Panic flashed across her face as she suddenly sat up, gaze darting around the surroundings as she sat up. Her breathing quickened as instinct took over, searching for threats that might still be there.
"Th-the monsters…"
"Everything's okay now," Leon said gently. "Look around. We're in the church now."
Before she could reply—
"Ais!!!"
"Lady Ais!"
"Ais!"
Voices suddenly broke through the quiet.
The doors swung open, and Mira, Grokk, and Hestia rushed inside, their footsteps hurried and disordered as they made their way toward her.
Relief was written all over their faces.
They stopped only when they reached her side.
"We are so glad you are okay," Hestia said softly, her voice trembling slightly with relief.
Ais looked flustered.
For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
To be honest, she was still somewhat shy around Lady Hestia. Their relationship had always been… complicated. Especially with Loki.
Her former goddess.
And now, instead of standing under Loki's familia, she was here—under Hestia's care, or rather Leon's protection.
That thought alone made her chest tighten.
Especially now that she had left Loki's familia for Hestia—no, for Leon.
Ais lowered her gaze slightly, unsure where to look or what to say, her usual composure shaken by the sudden warmth and attention surrounding her.
"I'm… sorry," she said.
Hestia blinked at her, for a second, silence hung in the air.
"Hey." Hestia's voice turned firm. Not angry, but stern.
She stepped closer and gently flicked Ais's forehead.
"You don't need to apologize for something like that."
Ais flinched slightly, more from surprise than pain.
"You're my familia now," Hestia continued, crossing her arms. "So of course I'm going to worry about you. That's what family does."
Her expression softened just a little afterward.
"So don't go saying sorry like you did something wrong, okay?"
Ais slowly lifted her gaze, then she turned to Leon.
"…What happened?"
Leon put a hand on his chin. "To be honest I was not sure. I think it was some kind of monster drawn to you."
"Drawn to Ais?" Hestia repeated, frowning. "Why would it be drawn to her?"
Leon rested a hand lightly against his chin again, as if considering the question.
"I think… perhaps it was due to Ais's bloodline,"
The moment the words left his mouth, Ais stiffened.
Her expression faltered almost instantly.
"…My bloodline?"
A subtle unease crept into her voice. She wasn't used to hearing it spoken about so openly.
Her eyes shifted toward Leon.
Did he know?
Leon met Ais's gaze directly then he smiled.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. The monster's gone."
"But what if another monster targets Ais?" Mira suddenly spoke, worry slipping into her voice.
"Then that's all the more reason for the three of you to train in the Dungeon."
"Eek!" Mira shrieked immediately, stepping back. "That sounds way worse when you say it like that!"
The tension broke almost instantly.
Ais let out a small laugh
All four of them turned toward her at once, surprised.
She rarely laughed like that, nor rather it was the first time they heard her laugh like that.
A small silence followed.
"…Thank you for saving me." She finally said the words she wanted to say ever since she woke up.
Leon's smile lingered for a moment before he casually turned his gaze away, as if what had happened was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
"Of course."
For the first time since joining this familia, she truly felt it.
That she belonged.
That she was home.
—o—
The 60th Floor.
The 60th Floor lay in eerie silence.
A cloaked man stood at the edge of a massive crater, his gaze slowly sweeping across the ruined landscape.
His eyes traced the devastation—fractured ground, scorched stone, and remnants of a battle that had torn through the floor itself.
But there was nothing left.
The spirit was gone.
The cloaked man narrowed his eyes slightly.
He could no longer feel its presence anywhere within the Dungeon.
He clicked his tongue.
"So it's dead."
After all, it was the only conclusion he could reach.
Not even the monsters remained. Not even a trace of its children lingered on this floor.
And that, more than anything, confirmed it.
Because even when the corrupted spirit moved through other floors, it always left something behind.
A faint thought crossed his mind.
Which adventurer had managed to kill the spirit?
And, judging by the scale of destruction left behind…
It hadn't been a prolonged battle.
It looked almost effortless.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the implications. A being like that—one that had survived and grown by consuming countless others within the Dungeon—should not have fallen easily. Even less so without leaving behind any remnants of its swarm.
And yet, the result before him suggested exactly that.
"…Interesting," he murmured under his breath.
But the death of the corrupted spirit had managed to interrupt his plans.
That much was certain.
The cloaked man stood motionless at the edge of the crater, his gaze lingering on the empty expanse where the spirit's presence had once dominated.
A calculated piece—removed from the board far earlier than expected.
It was inconvenient, but not catastrophic.
The cloaked man clicked his tongue softly again, more out of habit than frustration.
"…Tch. This changes the timing."
If the corrupted spirit had fallen this early, then certain developments within the Dungeon would accelerate or destabilize. Plans that relied on its growth would no longer proceed as intended.
Still…
A faint glint passed through his narrowed eyes.
It was not a complete loss.
If anything, it meant something else had stepped forward sooner than expected.
An unknown factor.
And unknown factors… were either problems to eliminate—
—or tools to exploit.
He turned away from the crater at last, cloak trailing behind him as he began to walk.
"Let's find what did this," he murmured.
Then he disappeared into the dim depths of the 60th Floor.