"Tomorrow morning, I will come in my true form and express my intention to join your Familia."
"At that time, when you engrave the Falna on me, please leave an extra drop of divine blood on my body."
"I will use this drop of divine blood to reverse-engineer and deduce the exact location of your Familia's children."
"If you agree to this plan, please bend your index finger again."
Demeter had wanted to seek Hestia's help before, but with the Banshee constantly following her, she had been unable to do anything.
Now that there was a chance to break the deadlock, how could she possibly choose to refuse?
She immediately did as instructed.
Seeing this, Hilde secretly exhaled a breath of turbid air. Her activated 'Byakugan' lingered on Filvis's hiding spot for two seconds.
"Then, please wait for good news, Lady Demeter."
On the other side, inside the secret base of the Evils on Daedalus Street.
Looking at the entrance blocked by a gigantic door made of super-hard alloy, Finn could not help but frown.
Riveria opened her mouth at the appropriate moment: "I read in a certain ancient text before that the master craftsman Daedalus, who built the original Babel thousands of years ago, spent the latter half of his life striving to create a Man-made Labyrinth. He even cursed his own descendants for this purpose, forcing them to dedicate their entire lives to it as well."
"At the time, I thought it was just the raving fantasy of some madman. But looking at it now, there is a fair chance it is true."
Hearing this, Finn exhaled a breath of turbid air. "A Man-made Labyrinth? If my prediction is correct, it should be connected to the true Dungeon, right?"
Riveria nodded her head. "There is a not insignificant probability."
To the side, Gareth, also one of the three giants, couldn't be bothered with these hypotheticals. The great axe in his hands struck heavily against the door, yet it only left a very shallow white mark upon it.
"I'm not interested in the history of the Man-made Labyrinth. Right now, I just want to know how we are supposed to open this door?"
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Super-hard alloy was already a core material used in Orario to forge Second-Class and even First-Class armaments.
Especially for a door cast from it; although it could be broken by brute force, the time required would definitely be long, and the number of weapons consumed during the process would certainly be high rather than low.
The Loki Familia's finances had been decent recently, but not to the point where they could waste resources recklessly.
Thinking of this, a bitter smile appeared on Finn's face.
He then turned his head and looked toward the rear of the crowd.
"L... no, Lady Thrud, do you have any method to open this door?"
Called by name, the golden-haired Spirit wearing a hood revealed her form.
She looked at the blocked entrance ahead, thought for a moment, and said, "Could everyone please step aside to the edges?"
The crowd did as asked, clearing the space in front of the door.
Thrud walked forward, raised her right hand, and with a snap, snapped her fingers.
In the next instant, the center of the door—which was cast from super-hard alloy and likely contained special authentication mechanisms inside—suddenly vanished, revealing the scene within the passage behind it.
Meanwhile, the fragment of the door that had been extracted by the girl using 'Space Displaced' magic fell to her side with a heavy thud.
Then, orange-red flames lit up on its surface.
In less than ten seconds, it melted into a pool of molten iron, which was then rapidly cooled by Ice Elements, condensing into a giant metal sphere.
Thrud repeated the process, quickly dismembering the door.
The members of the Loki Familia and Ganesha Familia standing in the back watched in astonishment.
It wasn't until there were no more obstructions ahead that the girl habitually clapped her hands. "Done."
"Also, everyone gets a share. After the operation ends, I will distribute some of the super-hard metal smelted from the door to your two families."
An awkward smile appeared on Finn's face. "Then, thank you, Lady Thrud."
The Vice-Captain of the Ganesha Familia also expressed thanks on behalf of the absent Shakti.
Super-hard metal wasn't exactly priceless, nor was it cheap, but it was an indispensable material for forging Second-Class and even First-Class armaments.
After all, not everyone could be like Levi, directly using Drop Items from Floor Bosses to make weapons or items.
Out of various considerations, one always had to add some ores or alloys to lower the costs.
Only a fool would refuse the chance to obtain super-hard metal.
After simply reaching an agreement, Finn said, "Let us continue forward."
Thrud retreated to the back row and entered a state of invisibility once more.
Because it was a completely unknown territory, the subsequent exploration process was conducted with extreme caution by both the Loki Familia and the Ganesha Familia.
However, should it be said that the Evils were indeed a bunch of insane fellows?
Clearly, through the Soma Familia's self-investigation a while back and the Ganesha Familia's actions, they must have guessed quite a few things.
Yet, not only did they choose not to flee, but they also gathered in the middle and lower layers of Knossos.
That being said, the total number of people from the several Familias added together barely exceeded one hundred.
Among the enemies, the 'King of Slaughter' had been left on the surface by Bete, Ais, and the others; by this moment, the victor had likely already been decided.
The few other Lv.5s, however, did bring some trouble to the Loki Familia and Ganesha Familia.
Especially Dix Perdix of the Ikelos Familia. The Magic he awakened was a Curse of Frenzy. Without the Development Ability 'Abnormal Resistance' or sufficient mental abnormal resistance, once hit by the magic, one would be unable to control the tyranny in their heart and would proceed to indiscriminately attack everyone in their field of view.
Unfortunately for him, leaving aside the fact that the vast majority of Upper-Class Adventurers have a not-insignificant chance of awakening 'Abnormal Resistance' when leveling up to Lv.3 or Lv.4...
Even for those Lv.1s and Lv.2s, with Thrud following the team and watching over them, it was impossible for problems to arise.
One shot of the 6-star Magic 'Mass Improved Mental Purification', and Dix's curse completely lost its effect.
As for the man himself... how could a mere Lv.5 possibly be a match for the three giants of Loki?
The entire encounter took less than ten minutes from start to finish.
During this period, it wasn't that no members of the Evils wanted to play the role of a suicide bomber.
But they were all blocked by the Elemental Shields applied by Thrud—what a joke. With the Development Ability 'Possession' quietly raised to Rank H, allowing for the simultaneous stacking of 'Orion', 'Dress of Heaven', and 'Valkyrie' attributes, let alone the explosive power of a Fire Stone roughly equivalent to a Lv.3 or Lv.4 attack, even a charged strike from a Lv.9 monster could barely be withstood by the Jade Shield derived from the 'Rex Lapis Constellation'.
However, defeating the Evils was easy.
The subsequent handling of them—or more accurately, the handling of the monsters, as well as the many humans and demi-humans they had captured and locked in iron cages—put 'Braver' Finn in a difficult spot.
The humans and demi-humans were fine; since human trafficking was involved, the Guild had relevant regulations to follow.
But regarding the monsters in the cages that clearly displayed intelligence and could even speak human language... holding the mindset of not wanting to cause trouble, Finn actually wanted to dispose of them directly at first, but he was stopped by the Vice-Captain of the Ganesha Familia.
"Please let these Xenos go. It... no, they, are not our enemies."
____
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