Behind her, Kashima Ouka and Hitachi Chigusa followed her out as well.
Ouka scratched at the back of his head, expression a little stiff and self-conscious, though he stood ramrod-straight.
"Back on Floor 13, we were beholden to all of you for your kindness."
"That hauling-pay you gave us solved a fire right under our feet — we even got to send a bit extra back home to the Far East. Just now we were on the floors above and heard a huge commotion down here. Came down to take a look... and figured maybe all of you could use a hand."
Onigawara Rin let her hand rest on the hilt of her tachi.
"You're not afraid of us?"
The name of [Haimer Familia] by now had spread across the surface in raucous, breathless gossip.
Mikoto shook her head, spine straight.
"A debt is a debt. Takemikazuchi-sama taught us — one must never turn one's back on a kindness received."
Ouka stepped forward, taking in the densely scattered Magic Stones and that single, enormous mammoth tusk, his footsteps faltering visibly.
"This... all of this is what you just took down?"
Ouka's voice had gone a touch dry.
Amou Kirukiru stood off to the side, paying them no mind whatsoever, just using the tip of her toe to kick a fist-sized Magic Stone into the pile.
Kikakujou Mary nodded.
"Our luck wasn't great just now — we ran into a Monster Feast. This Mammoth was just polished off in passing."
"Monster Feas—..."
Chigusa, following along behind Mikoto, heard those four characters and her hands unconsciously clenched at the hem of her clothing at her waist.
As a Supporter who had also rolled around in the dirt of the Dungeon, she understood perfectly well what those four characters meant.
It was practically a synonym for death.
Yet these girls in front of her — who looked about her age, some of them even younger — had not only survived a Monster Feast, but didn't show so much as a single visible wound between them.
Their clothes were stained here and there with blood, sure, but their breathing was steady, and their spirits were unnervingly vigorous.
"Well, since you're willing to help, that works out wonderfully."
Onigawara Rin pointed at that huge mammoth tusk on the ground.
"This thing's too long — it's not exactly convenient for the few of us to carry it. We'll trouble you. Pay's the same as last time — Guild top-tier rate plus thirty percent."
"No, no, no."
Ouka waved his hands frantically.
"How could we? You all paid more than enough last time! This time we just came to return a favor — we absolutely can't accept money on top of that!"
"Take it if you're being given it."
Amou Kirukiru turned her head, her tone flat and unyielding.
"There's no rule in this world that says people work for free."
Ouka opened his mouth, still wanting to say more.
Mikoto reached out, and pressed a hand on Ouka's arm.
"Then — many thanks."
Mikoto walked toward the mammoth tusk.
This particular mammoth tusk was several meters long, the base as thick as a grown man's thigh, with fine intricate texturing across its surface.
Mikoto bent down, wrapped both arms around the middle of the tusk, and forced her strength out in a sudden burst.
"Up!"
The muscles in both her arms snapped taut in an instant, the kimono sleeves stretching to fit.
One end of the tusk slowly came up off the ground — but the other end remained dead-set pressed against the wooden floor.
"So heavy..."
Mikoto gritted her teeth, a fine layer of sweat beading instantly across her forehead.
As a Lv.2 adventurer, her strength was absolutely nothing to scoff at — but the sheer weight of this mammoth tusk was still wildly beyond her expectations.
Seeing this, Ouka quickly ran over and threw his arms around the other end of the tusk.
With the two of them working together, they barely managed to hoist the enormous tusk up and balance it across their shoulders.
Aihara Enju watched the two of them straining away, and scratched at the red hair on top of her head.
She walked over to the largest pile of Magic Stones, plus a mountain-sized heap of monster materials.
These were the intact pelts that had dropped from over a dozen Bear Goblins moments ago.
Stacked together, the bundle was bigger than she was.
Aihara Enju grabbed hold of the rope knot at the bottom of the bundle, jerked it up one-handed, and tossed the giant bundle straight onto her own dainty little shoulder.
"Alright, let's get going!"
Aihara Enju casually shifted the bundle into a better position, her tone breezy and cheerful — her breathing didn't show the slightest shift.
Hiruko Kohina, too, stepped forward, gripping two huge bundles each in her left and right hands, that sickly little face wearing a smile.
Ouka and Mikoto — straining under the mammoth tusk — looked at these two little girls who didn't even come up to their chests.
The motions of both of them under their shouldered load went visibly stiff for a beat. They exchanged a glance with each other.
Chigusa, too, holding a pile of Magic Stones, let her jaw drift slightly open — and didn't close it again for a long while.
Just what kind of monstrous strength was this?
"Let's move."
Onigawara Rin paid no mind to their astonishment, turning to take the lead up the passageway.
The group began climbing back up along the ascending corridor.
Along the way.
Mikoto carried her end of the tusk, walking beside Kikakujou Mary.
The crushing weight bearing down on her shoulder forced her to adjust her breathing rhythm.
"Speaking of which — a Monster Feast makes a hell of a commotion."
"We didn't hear a thing about it back on the floors above."
"Did you really survive a Monster Feast on the twenties floors?"
Mikoto kept her breathing as steady as she could and turned her head to look at Mary.
"Mm."
Kikakujou Mary reached out and brushed aside a hanging vine obstructing the path.
"We'd just finished off the Mammoth, when suddenly the walls, the ceiling, even the floor under our feet all split open at once. Several hundred monsters came pouring out at the same time — every type you could think of."
"And then we were surrounded."
Kikakujou Mary's tone was utterly flat, but the contents of what she was saying were heart-stopping.
Ouka, hoisting the other end of the tusk, heard the number 'several hundred monsters' — and his foot, coming down on a raised wooden root, very nearly sent him stumbling.
'Surrounded by several hundred monsters in terrain that cramped...'
As the team captain, he naturally understood the terrain characteristics of every part of the Dungeon.
In the Great Tree Labyrinth, even if [Takemikazuchi Familia] turned out their full strength — caught in restricted terrain with no escape route in the face of a Monster Feast of that scale — the outcome would absolutely be a total wipe.
"How did you break out?"
Mikoto's voice carried an intense focus, her footsteps slowing slightly as she asked.
"Break out?"
Amou Kirukiru was walking up ahead. Hearing Mikoto's question, she turned her head, those piercing eyes sweeping across Mikoto's face.
"Why would we break out?"
"Since they delivered themselves to our door, naturally we killed every last one of them."
Amou Kirukiru turned back around.
"Just a pack of brutes ramming around on pure instinct. No matter how many of them there are, it just takes a bit more time, that's all."
Right.
No point in even asking.
The three members of [Takemikazuchi Familia] exchanged an awkward glance with one another, then asked nothing further — just conserved their strength and pressed on in silence.
All that was left in the passageway was the assorted rhythms of their heavy footsteps.
As the group climbed steadily upward.
Occasionally adventurers from other parties would pass by them in the corridor.
The moment those adventurers caught sight of the massive mammoth tusk that Ouka and Mikoto were hauling along behind the girls of [Haimer Familia] —
All of them, with one unspoken accord, would stop in their tracks, pressing themselves tightly against the rock wall, leaving the entire passageway clear.
Not a single person spoke up to ask.
Nor did anyone dare spare them more than a single glance.
It wasn't until the [Haimer Familia] procession had passed completely, rounded the corner, and vanished from sight, that they finally dared to let out a long breath and start walking again.
Several hours later.
The group finally walked out through the Dungeon's exit.
And stepped onto the flagstone floor of Babel Tower's ground level.
The moment the girls emerged, a clearing immediately opened up around the exit.
The surrounding crowd parted in waves, leaving a corridor several meters wide that ran straight to the main gates.
At that very moment.
Beside one of the massive white stone pillars.
A female Elf was leaning against the column. She wore a green maid's outfit, with shoulder-length green hair and sky-blue eyes.
Her hands were folded in front of her apron.
Hearing the noise of the crowd parting and the shuffling footsteps, she dipped her head slightly.
Her gaze swept rapidly through the crowd.
When she caught sight of Onigawara Rin, the Holy Emperor, and the others — and the conspicuous tusk in the rear — Ryu immediately stood up straight, hastily smoothing out the tiny wrinkles in her clothes, and walked briskly over.
"All of you."
Ryu came up in front of the procession and blocked their way.
Onigawara Rin stopped, and looked surprised to see Ryu.
"Miss Elf? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working at the tavern tonight?"
"Kami-sama asked me to come here and wait for all of you."
Ryu folded both hands in front of her.
"Kami-sama has a message he wanted me to pass along."
Hearing it was a message from their Kami-sama.
Holy Emperor took a step forward, looking at Ryu earnestly.
Amou Kirukiru also stopped in her tracks.
"What did Kami-sama say?"
"Kami-sama said he's spending the night over at [Hephaestus Familia] tonight — he has some prepared equipment to handle, so he won't be coming home."
"He said for all of you to finish up here, hand things over at the Guild, then head back to the manor early and rest."
Ryu relayed Haimer's words just as they had been given to her.
At those words.
Haimer Familia's girls reacted in varying ways.
"Not coming home?"
Amou Kirukiru's brow knit immediately.
"What's so great about that red-haired goddess's place anyway."
Holy Emperor folded her hands together in front of her chest.
"Since Kami-sama is busying himself with our equipment, we ought to follow Kami-sama's arrangements and rest properly."
Kikakujou Mary, meanwhile, glanced at Ryu.
"Oh, that's right — Miss Elf, were you waiting up here for us this whole time? How long have you been waiting?"
Ryu shook her head.
"Not long. I only got here a little while ago myself."
"That said..."
Ryu's gaze shifted from Onigawara Rin back to the massive mammoth tusk slung across Ouka and Mikoto's shoulders.
Having once been a frontline member of [Astraea Familia], Ryu knew the monster distribution of the Dungeon like the back of her hand.
"A mammoth tusk?"
A flicker of confusion passed through the depths of Ryu's eyes, her delicate brows knitting slightly.
"The Mammoth is a large monster that only appears between Floors 21 and 24."
"You all today... made it down to the middle stretch of the Great Tree Labyrinth?"
"Mm."
Hanasaka Warabi sat atop Kyoubou's broad back, reaching out to pat Kyoubou's huge head.
"We were planning to go a bit further down, actually — but we ran into a Monster Feast."
"Hundreds of monsters poured out all at once, even cracked the wooden walls."
"Once we'd finished, there was ash everywhere. Too much hassle, so we just came straight back up."
The instant those words left her —
The expression on Ryu's face stiffened slightly.
Those sky-blue eyes widened a fraction.
A Monster Feast.
A Monster Feast in the Great Tree Labyrinth.
Even back in the heyday of [Astraea Familia] — when the entire roster sat at Lv.4, led by Captain Alise —
If they had encountered a large-scale Monster Feast in the environment of the Great Tree Labyrinth.
A single slip would have meant a massive risk of taking casualties.
After all.
Once those thick-hided, tough-fleshed middle-floor monsters formed an encirclement, just the sheer drain on stamina alone could grind an adventurer to death.
And the outcome here...
Ryu's gaze swept across the girls, one by one.
Onigawara Rin, Tendou Kisara, Amou Kirukiru, the Holy Emperor, Aihara Enju, Hiruko Kohina, Inaba Tsukuyo, Hanasaka Warabi.
The clothes of every single one of them were caked with great quantities of black ash and dark-red bloodstains.
But every single one of them had their breathing perfectly steady, with no obvious signs of magical exhaustion or stamina exhaustion whatsoever.
And what's more.
The most important point was — they hadn't merely come out of a Monster Feast without so much as a hair out of place; they even had the surplus strength to haul a mammoth tusk weighing several hundred kilos all the way back to the surface, completely intact.
"You all..."
At that thought, Ryu opened her mouth — only to discover she didn't know what to say.
After all.
Even though Ryu had already witnessed their abnormalities at Haimer-sama's residence.
This kind of performance that defied all common sense was, time and time again, challenging the foundational understanding of Ryu as a seasoned veteran adventurer.
'The potential in these girls is truly terrifying...'
Ryu silently delivered the assessment in her heart.
"Well, since the message has been delivered, I'll be heading back first."
At that thought, Ryu gave a small, perfectly-mannered bow.
"Mama Mia is still waiting for me to get back and help out."
"Thank you for making the trip just for this, Miss Elf."
Holy Emperor responded with a smile and a nod.
Ryu nodded back, turned, and walked briskly out through the gates of Babel Tower, her receding figure quickly vanishing into the night.
...
"Let's go. To the Guild."
At that —
Amou Kirukiru cast a glance at the steadily growing crowd around them and urged the group on, impatient.
And so the procession, in all its grand display, made its way across the plaza, heading for the Guild headquarters on Northwest Street.
The Guild headquarters' main hall was still the same thoroughly bustling scene as always.
Adventurers were lined up in long queues, waiting to hand off quests or exchange Magic Stones.
The moment the procession set foot in the hall.
The queued-up adventurers turned in unison.
The focal point of every gaze, without exception, landed on the several-meter-long mammoth tusk.
And then, following along the tusk, those gazes shifted onto the few girls walking at the very front —
At which point the originally noisy environment, as though throttled in an instant by some invisible giant hand, fell silent.
Even those Guild clerks behind the counters, who had been scribbling away furiously, paused mid-motion.
"...What is that?"
A newly-registered adventurer pointed at the tusk with a trembling finger and muttered under her breath.
"Keep it down."
The veteran beside her immediately smacked her on the back of the head and lowered his voice.
"That's a Mammoth's tusk!"
"A Mammoth?"
The rookie clearly didn't quite follow.
"It's a monster that only appears in the middle-floor Great Tree Labyrinth. A Lv.2 adventurer who runs into one has to detour wide around it."
The veteran swallowed dryly.
"And on top of that — didn't you get a good look at who that bunch walking out front is?"
"[Haimer Familia]."
"That newly-risen Familia — the deity who hauled all those monsters up to the surface out of nowhere..."
Scattered murmurs and whispers spread through every corner of the hall.
Onigawara Rin and the others paid these voices no mind, walking straight on toward the VIP room, where their own dedicated counter awaited them.
Behind the counter.
Eina was sitting on a tall stool, a thick stack of papers in her hand, working through the accounts.
Hearing the footsteps, she lifted her head.
The professional smile she'd been wearing froze somewhat the moment she saw Onigawara Rin and Tendou Kisara approaching — and that massive tusk along with them.
"Thunk——!"
Especially when Ouka and Mikoto walked up to the counter and dropped the mammoth tusk heavily down onto the floor.
The dull impact rang out.
"Miss Eina."
Kikakujou Mary walked up to the counter and set down a small leather pouch she'd been holding.
She undid the cord knot.
Inside were Magic Stones, every single one glittering with light.
"These are today's drops. Would you mind doing an inventory?"
Eina set down the papers in her hand in a daze.
She stood up, both hands braced on the edge of the counter, body leaning slightly forward.
Her gaze was locked, dead-set, on the mammoth tusk on the floor.
"A mammoth tusk..."
Eina muttered under her breath.
As a senior advisor at the Guild, Eina could be said to have an intimate familiarity with every kind of standard monster in the Dungeon.
"The Mammoth is a monster that only appears from Floor 21 on down."
"You all — today — went down to Floor 21?"
Eina raised her head and looked at Kikakujou Mary and the others in disbelief, her pupils contracting.
"Yes."
Kikakujou Mary nodded.
"Polished off a Monster Feast over there in passing, too."
"A Monster Feast?"
"A middle-floor Monster Feast?"
The instant Eina heard those words, her jaw dropped wide open, her voice spiking instantly.
Outside the VIP room, the Guild clerks and adventurers who had been pricking up their ears to eavesdrop heard that line, and a chorus of sharp indrawn breaths broke out at once.
"That can't be possible..."
"According to the records, the members of [Haimer Familia] just completed their adventurer registration a week ago."
"The day before yesterday they just submitted upgrade records showing the entire roster at Lv.2 — they even shattered the Sword Princess's record for level-up speed."
"They just hit Lv.2 — they should barely even have polished their base stats yet — and today they straight-up punched through a Monster Feast on Floor 21?"
"A middle-floor Monster Feast... a disaster even old hands like us who've been knocking around Floor 18 for years don't want to bump into."
"If this keeps up, it won't be a matter of days —"
"As an exploration-type Familia, [Haimer Familia] should have its Familia rank assessment forcibly bumped up by the Guild to Rank D — maybe even Rank C — and then forcibly assigned to deep-floor expedition missions, right?"
Everyone in the hall exchanged glances with one another, every face wearing the same 'I've seen a ghost' expression.
All kinds of speculations and assessments were fermenting throughout the Guild hall.
The rate at which [Haimer Familia]'s combat power was inflating had now thoroughly outstripped all expectations.
Inside the VIP room.
Eina sat back down on the tall stool.
After drawing in a deep breath to settle herself, she reached out for a quill pen and pulled a fresh, high-tier red settlement form from the side.
The tip of the quill dipped into the ink, settling onto the page.
"I understand."
"As for the settlement."
"Please, give me a moment. The inventory check should take about ten minutes."
Eina lowered her head, forcing herself to focus her attention on the Magic Stones laid out on the desk.
Onigawara Rin leaned against the side of the counter, arms folded across her chest as she waited.
Amou Kirukiru walked over to a sofa off to the side, sat down, and closed her eyes to rest.
Meanwhile.
On Northeast Street, inside the forge of [Hephaestus Familia].
Inside the private forge.
White-hot flames leapt madly within the massive Magic-Stone furnace.
The terrifying heat was so intense it actually warped the air inside the forge into severe distortion.
Haimer stood before the anvil, his white shirt sleeves rolled high.
In his right hand was a heavy, dark-black smithing hammer, the hammer-head raised high.
On the anvil.
A piece of deep-floor rare ore — radiating a dark-red ghostly glow — had been heated to a half-molten state.
Loki stood beside the bellows on the side of the furnace.
She had both hands gripped white-knuckle-tight onto the metal handle, her whole body tilted forward from the effort. The sweat on her face gathered into beads that dripped onto the searing iron plate and instantly vaporized into white mist.
"Pull!"
The moment Haimer's voice rang out.
Loki gritted her teeth and gave the bellows handle a sharp yank backward.
"WHOOSH——!"
A massive volume of air was forced down into the furnace.
The forge fire surged in temperature instantly.
Haimer's right hand, gripping the smithing hammer, swung down to match.
"CLANG!"
Sparks flew in every direction, like blooming fireworks.
Tsubaki, standing off to Haimer's side-rear, watched on.
"Loki, faster."
Haimer's eyes stayed locked on the anvil. He didn't turn around.
Loki, even as she registered her protests, kept working the bellows.
"You really are treating me like an ox-and-horse that doesn't need rest!!"
____
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🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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