Time passed after the incident on the 18th Floor, and before long, the day of Loki Familia's deep expedition arrived.
And then,
"Hey, I heard that rabbit-like adventurer became the Record Holder this time."
"Really? How long did it take?"
"Six months... Six months faster than that [Sword Princess]."
In Orario, one story after another kept spreading without end.
Stories about some adventurer becoming the Record Holder, and—
"More importantly, that [Sword Princess] became LV.6."
"Oh, after soloing Udaeus?"
—stories about Aiz reaching LV.6.
Orario was unusually noisy.
"Bellf. Tired?"
"Yeah. A little."
And I was completely ignorant of all that talk.
More accurately, I just wasn't interested.
"You're... bringing that too?"
Aiz asked, pointing at the sword strapped to my back.
"Ah, yeah. I still haven't fully figured it out."
I'd spent days and nights examining the sword, but I still only understood part of it.
"Today, we will write a new page of history!"
"There he goes."
Finn's speech, which was boring to me, but moving to the other members, had begun.
The expedition was,
"Let's go! To explore the unknown Dungeon!"
—now underway.
"Kazuki."
Crozzo's magic sword burned up the monsters charging at us.
In an instant, the monsters were reduced to ashes, leaving only magic stones behind.
The supporters moved in perfect coordination as they collected the magic stones.
"Haaah..."
"Did you go to a brothel or something yesterday? Why are you yawning so much?"
After I let out a long yawn, Finn asked me that.
"Why would I go to a brothel? I stayed up late looking into this."
Still, why did you, Aiz, sigh in relief?
"We're almost at the 59th Floor now. How do you feel? Excited?"
"I want to drop everything and just make swords."
Ignoring Finn's attempt to draw me further into the expedition, I projected a magic sword and handed it over.
We'd soon be entering the 59th Floor.
We had plenty of food and clothing, so as long as nothing unexpected happened, we should be able to explore the 59th Floor safely.
But,
that uneasy feeling never went away.
Finn, too, must have sensed something ominous, because he kept rubbing his thumb over and over.
"All right! From here on, we enter the 59th Floor, a place even Zeus Familia never explored! Are you ready!?"
"""Yes—!!!"""
"Then let's go! To explore the unknown!"
Finn took the lead and descended into the 59th Floor.
After him came Riveria and Gareth, and then everyone else followed in order of level.
I, too, followed behind the executives as they went down.
My impression of the 59th Floor, which I was setting foot on for the first time in my life, was...
"It's fucking huge."
It was "spacious."
"Ugh... ngh..."
"Aiz?"
As I slowly took in the 59th Floor, Aiz let out a pained groan.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know..."
"..."
I wondered if something was nearby, but all I could see around us was a nauseatingly writhing mass and a dense jungle.
Ah,
"Is that it?"
Maybe the executives had noticed it too, because they reached out toward the writhing thing, but—
[...Ah.]
The writhing mass began to take shape.
The tentacle-like things moved rapidly as they formed a body, and what emerged was something with a woman's upper half and a monster's lower half, staring straight at Aiz and me with unpleasant eyes.
[Aria? Urrs?]
"What the hell is it saying?"
[Aria!!! Urrs!!!]
That disgusting, revolting thing shouted names I'd never heard before and charged straight at Aiz and me.