The squad stared at him.
"That's ice cold." Laurier looked at him differently.
Aura shook her head. "Remind me never to negotiate with you."
Rose didn't say anything. The smile on her face said enough.
...
On the other side, Kaguya finally steadied herself and let go of Alise's arm, exhaling hard. The tingling faded, and strength flowed back through her limbs.
She registered the faint boost across all her abilities, and the embarrassment on her face slowly gave way to composure. She nodded to her companions.
"It works." She paused, choosing her words. "Based on how it feels... the boost is subtle, but I'm stronger than before."
"How much stronger?" Lyra said.
"Roughly... a step below what a skill would call a minor boost. If you had to name it in Falna terms, it'd be something like a micro-boost to all Basic Abilities."
Kaguya had a dry wit of her own, and she borrowed the Falna's naming style to give the Monster Hunter Special the most underwhelming label possible.
Ryuu, serious and blunt as ever, gave her assessment in a level tone. "The increase per stat is small, but the value is in its breadth. It doesn't just raise Strength or Endurance or Agility or Dexterity or Magic individually. It raises everything. Combined with proper technique and tactics that amplify those stats, the effect is far from negligible."
"More importantly, this boost costs nothing. Well... I trust that with sufficient willpower, that fantasy can be overcome."
She looked at Alise. "We keep this secret. The moment the expedition ends, we head straight to the surface and report to Lady Astraea."
Everyone nodded. Kaguya set her jaw, shot a murderous glare at a certain someone watching them from across the chamber, and added one final declaration.
"We need to warn Lady Astraea that while this food works, it's extremely dangerous for women!"
Lyra, cunning as always, caught the subtext immediately. If they were going to negotiate a partnership, then haggling was fair game, and talking down the product's value was an excellent opening move. She smiled to herself.
Leon had been sneaking glances at the Astraea Familia's reactions, and he pulled his gaze back, mind already racing through how to maximize his leverage in the coming negotiation.
Knowing Kaguya and Lyra, there's no way they'll let me name my price. They're going to use the fantasy side effect against me and try to lowball me into the ground, aren't they?
He sucked air through his teeth, then straightened up.
Fine. You asked for it. I was going to charge a hundred thousand valis per serving, but now I'll open at two hundred and fifty thousand. Even expert hagglers aren't cutting that in half. I live with Rose. If I can hold my own against her, I can handle anyone.
...
The intermission ended, and the assembled Adventurer teams gathered at the mouth of the wide floor passage, rested and sharp.
The Astraea Familia stood at the head of the formation. The murmuring died down, and after a quick exchange of glances, Kaguya stepped forward. Her pale, slender hand rested on the hilt of her katana as she swept her gaze across the crowd, pausing on Leon for half a second before she spoke.
"I, Gojouno Kaguya, vice-captain of the Astraea Familia, will now issue the deployment for the subjugation."
"We'll form a fan formation centered on Goliath."
"Left flank suppression: Squads One and Three."
"Right flank suppression: Squads Two and Four."
"Ranged support: Squads Five and Six."
"The frontal assault: our Familia will handle it."
"Your mission is straightforward. Once combat begins, deal continuous damage to the Floor Boss while drawing its attention to relieve pressure on the front line. Don't worry about the danger. We'll absorb its counterattacks."
"Leave the rest to us."
"Questions?"
Whispers rippled through the group, but no one objected.
The assignments made sense. Everyone knew where they stood. Sending these squads head-on against a Floor Boss would be suicide. The strongest fighters among them were a handful of fresh Level 3s, with the bulk being seasoned Level 2 Adventurers and a scattering of Level 1 Supporters.
Goliath was a different beast entirely: potential equivalent to a peak Level 4, a super-large class monster specialized in defense, and armed with special abilities on top of that. The raw power gap was enormous.
That gap was exactly why they'd formed a coalition. When you can't beat something alone, you build a team and push past the limit together. Compared to throwing your life away on some solo charge, this was the safest, smartest, most forgiving path forward, and the one most Adventurers chose.
As for Leon's squad, their performance throughout the journey had been perfectly consistent with a veteran Level 2 party. Everyone, Astraea Familia included, pegged them as experienced Level 2s.
Nobody suspected that this unremarkable "Level 2" squad was actually a group of Level 1 rookies.
The disguise held for two reasons. First, the raw combat ability Leon, Jeanne, Rose, and the others displayed genuinely met Level 2 standards. Second, the Beloved's Crest - the same protection that even Freya couldn't see through - masked their true levels. As long as the strength was real, ordinary Adventurers had no chance of seeing past it.
"If there are no objections, we move out!"
At Kaguya's command, the Astraea Familia turned and led the way into the passage.
...
...
Unlike the stairway corridors connecting the upper floors, the passage between the sixteenth and seventeenth floors was something else entirely. A massive slope plunged downward like a chute, emptying straight into the vast cavern of Floor Seventeen.
Boots and greaves met solid ground, and every first-timer stopped to stare.
The scale was staggering.
The first thing Leon and his squad noticed when they entered the infamous floor was how sharply the light dropped.
"Leon, it's so quiet," Laurier said, a thread of tension in her voice. In the dimness, the only thing keeping her steady was the feel of her sword's grip under her fingers.
"It is." Under his hood, Leon's narrowed eyes flickered with a faint blue glow as he sharpened his guard. The cavernous space was oppressively silent, the kind of silence where a dropped pin would echo, saturated with a deathly stillness. The squad stayed alert, scanning the darkness as they lit the lantern from their packs.
Footsteps echoed through the void in a steady rhythm that offered a thin illusion of comfort.
The cavern kept expanding, widening into a passage broad enough for dozens to walk abreast. Branching paths grew rare until the route was essentially a single corridor, like marching through the gullet of some colossal serpent. The phosphorescent glow on the high ceiling, which on other floors might resemble flickering torches, was reduced to scattered pinpricks in the distance.
The coalition advanced at a steady pace, following the map toward the great hall at the deepest point of Floor Seventeen.
From the front, Alise's energetic voice called back. "Everyone, stay sharp! The monsters on this floor don't play nice. Minotaurs especially. If conditions allow, each squad should gang up on them rather than taking them one-on-one. Conserve stamina, avoid injuries, and absolutely avoid casualties."
Every veteran present understood what she was really saying. She was guarding against the unexpected.
"Got it."
"Understood."
But half an hour passed after Alise's warning, and they'd barely encountered anything. A few stray Minotaurs, easily handled. Beyond that, the floor was eerily, unnervingly quiet.
At the rear of the formation, Jeanne's Revelation had already picked up on something. Monster presences, plenty of them, lurking all around. But none attacked. None even moved.
It wasn't natural.
"The monsters... it's like they're waiting for something," Rose said, hand on her sword, eyes scanning the darkness. "No. More like they're afraid of something being born."
"So this is the Floor Boss's presence," Aura said, her knuckles white around her staff. "It hasn't even spawned yet, and it's already warping the atmosphere of the entire floor."
The feeling was similar to the Monster Party on Floor Thirteen, and at the same time, nothing alike.
Time crept by as the coalition pushed deeper. The monsters in the shadows held their breath and retreated further into hiding. Some of the Adventurers who couldn't handle the invisible pressure felt chills crawling up their spines, shivering despite themselves.
The mood grew heavier with every step.
Even Alise, who could lighten any situation, had gone quiet.
And then the passage opened up.
They'd arrived.
A hall of impossible scale, stretching to dizzying dimensions in every direction.
"The Wall of Grief!"