The light and shadow in front of him peeled away like a torn painting, the weightlessness and faint dizziness lasting only a split second.
When Genichi's boots found solid ground again and a nauseating stench flooded his nose, he knew he had arrived in the Danmachi world.
What he saw made his brow knit instantly.
This was not Orario's bright surface streets. It was not even a normal monster floor of the Dungeon.
The light was so dim it was barely there. Only patches of moss, glowing with weak phosphorescence from cracks in the rock, provided just enough illumination to see.
The air was thick with rot, strong enough to suffocate. It carried blood, mold, and something else he could not name.
And everywhere he looked, bodies.
Piled like small hills.
Some had already become naked bone, shattered and scattered. Some were still in the middle of decaying, skin sloughing off, maggots writhing, dark yellow viscous fluid oozing out. Some looked newly dumped, their faces still twisted in the pain of death, blood at their wounds not yet fully congealed.
A mass grave.
Or rather, one of the filthiest, cruelest corners beneath Orario's polished surface, a hidden dumping ground where the Dark Faction discarded useless corpses and cleaned up failed "products."
According to Danmachi Genichi's memories, after his neck was snapped, he had been treated like trash. They assumed he was dead and tossed him here to rot.
"Tch…"
Genichi swallowed hard, forcing down the nausea and instinctive revulsion.
Even after what he had lived through in the grudge-spirits world and the devil world, seeing death displayed like this in bulk, up close, and unfiltered was still deeply sickening.
The stink clung to him like slime, trying to crawl into every pore.
"What a disgusting place."
He did not linger. He did not even try to pick out familiar faces among the remains.
He swept the area quickly, confirmed there was no living presence, then chose a tunnel that looked slightly drier, one where he could feel the faintest movement of air, and left the death pit at a brisk pace.
The ground was uneven, mixed with gravel, bone fragments, and unknown sticky residue.
The tunnel twisted and forked endlessly. The walls were slick with moss and strange mineral crystals. Sometimes water dripped somewhere deep in the dark, the sound making the place feel even more sinister.
This was clearly a deeply abandoned section of the Dungeon, an area few adventurers ever stepped into. It might not even belong to the normal floor structure anymore.
Genichi moved through the maze using his night vision and heightened senses.
He searched for a path upward, any marker that might indicate floors or connect to higher levels.
Reality hit fast.
He was lost.
Completely lost.
The abandoned passages had no discernible logic. Many were blocked by collapsed rock or led deeper into unknown, more dangerous territory.
He tried leaving marks, but after looping through several turns, he kept returning to places that felt familiar but could not be confirmed.
Half a day passed, and he was still wandering the endless, rotting labyrinth.
"Damn it…"
Genichi leaned against a relatively dry wall to rest, frowning.
The Dungeon's scale was beyond what he had imagined.
From what Danmachi Genichi had known, the deeper you went, the more the area expanded exponentially, and the more the structure outstripped the limits of any map humans could draw.
He could not even tell what floor he was on. It might be a dead branch below the middle levels. Or, because of Dark Faction secret routes, he might have been thrown into something even deeper, a zone that had never been properly explored.
If he could not establish location, he could not find a safe return route.
Charging blindly would only drain his stamina and risk running into something far worse, something that nested in abandoned deep sections.
He was weighing options, even considering whether to brute-force through certain rockfalls to search for a new line of travel, when a sound came through the winding tunnels.
A sound that did not belong in the dead quiet.
Voices.
Metal armor rubbing.
Weapons clinking.
And a steady, disciplined cadence of footsteps.
A lot of people.
Genichi's internal alarms rose. He immediately reined in his presence, pressed into the wall's shadow, and hid himself as cleanly as he could.
In unknown territory, especially where the Dark Faction might be active, caution was the first rule of survival.
The voices drew closer, growing clearer.
"So this expedition's haul isn't as good as the last one, but the materials from that floor boss should still fetch a lot of valis…"
A male voice, lively, with a hint of bragging.
"Tiona, quiet down. This is a transfer corridor on the way back up, but it still isn't a fully cleared area. Stay alert."
A calm female voice followed, carrying undeniable authority.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Ais, are you tired? Do you want to rest a bit?"
Another female voice, gentler, concerned.
"No."
A short answer, cool and clean, yet oddly pleasant to the ear.
Those names made Genichi's attention sharpen.
Tiona.
Ais.
A captain.
His eyes slid through a crack in the rock, carefully toward the tunnel's bend.
A well-equipped party came into view.
Roughly ten adventurers, moving in a standard exploration formation.
At the center walked several figures whose presence was unmistakably stronger than the rest.
A tall elf woman with long green hair, holding a staff, radiating both wisdom and powerful magic. It was Riveria Ljos Alf, the Loki Familia's vice-captain, the Nine Hell.
Slightly ahead of Riveria was a girl in light silver armor, long blonde hair spilling down, her face beautiful enough to feel unreal, her expression faintly blank in a way that could be mistaken for airheaded.
Ais Wallenstein.
The Sword Princess.
The strongest female swordswoman, famous across Orario.
Behind them followed several other Loki Familia members, equipped and sharp-eyed. Some carried the distinct presence of Level 5-class elites.
The whole group looked tired, but disciplined. Their aura was heavy and controlled, a stark contrast to the filth and chaos of these abandoned tunnels.
The Loki Familia.
And not some random squad.
A main force party.
Genichi confirmed it immediately.
From their talk about returning from an expedition and using a transfer corridor to head upward, they had likely just finished a deep expedition and were moving back toward the surface and their headquarters.
It was a gift.
In his current situation, lost and stuck in dangerous territory, running into Orario's top-tier, relatively orderly Familia was the best chance he could ask for.
And if he could connect with the Loki Familia, it might provide unexpected leverage for his later plan to obtain a Falna.
Of course, the risk was obvious too.
If he showed himself, how did he explain a stranger being here?
How did he win the trust of veteran elites who lived and died by suspicion?
In a flash, his mind ran through options.
Call out for help.
Too suspicious.
Keep hiding.
He might not get another chance like this for a long time.
Make noise to draw attention.
Could be read as hostility, or a monster ambush.
In the few seconds he weighed it, the Loki Familia party reached a fork not far from where he was hidden, turning as if to take a different upward route.
He had to decide now.
Genichi's eyes hardened. He took a breath and stepped out of the shadow, intentionally putting weight into his steps so loose stone cracked underfoot with a clear sound.
"Who's there?"
The reaction was instant.
The Loki Familia party snapped into combat formation.
Gareth raised his shield at once. The mage and archer locked the source. Ais's hand went to her weapon immediately. Bete's gaze sharpened like a blade and stabbed toward Genichi's position.
Multiple powerful presences pinned him in place. The pressure was so heavy it reminded him of Rias when she got serious.
Genichi raised both hands immediately, showing he had no weapon and no hostile intent. He forced his expression into tired, roughened sincerity, his voice slightly hoarse with urgency.
"Don't attack. I'm an adventurer. I'm lost. I don't mean to cause trouble."
His eyes swept the party quickly, then settled on the one who looked the most stable, the most clearly in command.
Riveria.
"To the Loki Familia, I had an accident in the Dungeon and ended up in this area. I've been lost for half a day and can't find a path back up. Please, if you can, allow me to follow your party out of here."
He kept his posture low, his tone earnest, and he stated his problem and request cleanly, avoiding unnecessary explanations that could raise misunderstanding.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]