Cao Ye looked around carefully.
After confirming that he could no longer sense any malicious intent, he finally relaxed slightly.
Clatter.
Just as he was about to dispose of the bald man's corpse, a small spherical object fell out of the man's clothing.
There was a strange symbol on it—something like a totem or rune.
The outer ring had golden patterns, while the center contained a bright red eye-like design.
Seeing this object, Cao Ye's pupils shrank.
"A key to the Artificial Labyrinth?"
In the story of DanMachi, the Xenos arc revealed many dark secrets hidden in the shadows of Orario.
One of them involved the Artificial Labyrinth.
Cao Ye glanced once more at the bald man's body, his mood turning heavy.
He tore open the clothing on the corpse's back.
There was no Falna visible.
It had clearly been sealed or hidden.
That made sense.
Members of the Dark Faction always concealed their Falna.
After all, Falna acted like an identity panel, exposing all of a person's information.
Even someone who couldn't read Divine Script could identify which god granted the blessing.
Slash.
With a wave of his hand, a crack opened into Imaginary Space, swallowing the corpse.
Cao Ye then returned to the other three bodies.
He ignored the two already dead and walked directly to the unlucky survivor—the man whose legs he had cut off.
"D-don't come closer…"
Having lost both legs, the man could only lie there screaming in agony.
Cao Ye had killed the others so easily that the man's courage had completely collapsed.
His eyes were filled with terror.
"Which Familia are you from?"
"Stay back! I'll kill you!"
Despite his fear, he still gripped his weapon tightly—the last thing he had to rely on.
Slash.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Cao Ye had no patience.
One swing of his sword severed the man's arm holding the weapon.
First his legs.
Now one arm.
The pain nearly drove him insane.
"I won't ask a third time."
"Are you from the Ikelos Familia?"
"Y-Yes! Yes!"
In his eyes, Cao Ye was no different from a demon.
He was terrified of losing his last arm.
"Why did you try to attack me?"
Cao Ye asked the second question.
His eyes flickered with cold intent.
"S-someone hired us…"
"We were told to capture you and the fox girl and bring you back."
Under overwhelming fear, the man didn't dare lie.
He revealed everything he knew.
"Who hired you?"
"I don't know… it was an order from our boss."
"Who is your boss?"
"Dix. Our boss is Dix, the captain of our Familia."
"Dix…"
Cao Ye's expression darkened.
So it really was connected.
Istar had indeed been working with the Dark Faction.
It seemed that after suffering a loss earlier, the goddess still refused to let things go.
Since she couldn't act openly, she turned to covert methods.
She hired the Ikelos Familia to capture both Cao Ye and Haruhime.
Her ambition was truly bold.
In Cao Ye's mind, information about Dix Perdix surfaced.
Dix Perdix was the captain of the Ikelos Familia.
A Level 5 First-Class Adventurer with the alias "Violent One."
He was also a descendant of the Daedalus Family.
Because of the bloodline curse passed down through the Daedalus family, its descendants were compelled to continue building an Artificial Labyrinth.
Over time, Dix discovered that inflicting violence on others—hearing their screams—temporarily relieved the torment of that curse.
Like an addict taking drugs, Dix stepped onto a path he could never leave.
Thus a true villain was born.
Using the Artificial Labyrinth, he engaged in crimes such as:
Monster smugglingHuman traffickingVarious illegal operations
The origins of the Daedalus Family traced back one thousand years.
When the first gods descended to the lower world, monsters poured endlessly from the Dungeon.
To suppress them, the gods built a city above it.
That city became Orario.
The architect responsible was a genius craftsman named Daedalus.
He personally designed Orario's iconic structure—
Babel Tower.
But after witnessing the Dungeon, Daedalus became obsessed.
He was fascinated by the Dungeon's architecture.
His dream became creating something even greater.
Thus, the first Artificial Labyrinth was born.
However, Daedalus was human.
His lifespan was limited.
Knowing he would never complete such a project in his lifetime, he carved his obsession into his own bloodline.
It became both a curse and a command.
Every descendant of the Daedalus family was forced to continue constructing the labyrinth known as Knossos.
For a thousand years, generation after generation labored to finish their ancestor's creation.
In the present era, the Daedalus family had joined the Dark Faction.
Through countless criminal activities, they gathered the funds needed to continue building the labyrinth.
Dix was one of those descendants.
Today, the Artificial Labyrinth served as a secret base for the Dark Faction.
And to enter it—
A key was required.
The sphere Cao Ye had just found was one such key.
It was crafted using the eye of a Daedalus family member.
To prevent outsiders from accessing the labyrinth, only those of the bloodline could open its gates.
Cao Ye exhaled slowly.
"So even with Freya as my backing…"
"It seems I can't avoid being dragged into trouble."
His sense of urgency increased.
Although he was confident in his strength—despite being only Level 2, he believed he could defeat Level 3 or even Level 4 adventurers—
Facing a Level 5 opponent was another matter entirely.
Especially someone like Dix, a dangerous madman.
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