Dungeon, 18th Floor.
As the first safe floor of the Dungeon and a place many regarded as the most beautiful paradise within it, Riezel had been here before, yet he had never once taken the time to truly appreciate its scenery.
The first time he came here, he had been passing through with his familia's expedition party, but they hadn't stayed for long and had immediately continued deeper into the Dungeon with the rest of the familia members, leaving this place behind in no time.
The second time he came here, he had descended into the Dungeon to find someone—Ais, who had gone ahead to challenge the Monster Rex of the 37th Floor, Udaeus, to a duel—so he had only hurried past this place and quickly headed to the 19th Floor.
It was only this time, on his third visit to this floor known as the Under Resort, that Riezel finally stepped into it with enough leisure to admire its scenery.
"Hard to believe this is really the Dungeon."
Stepping out of the sloping cavern and entering the 18th Floor, Riezel openly voiced his thoughts.
At this moment, Riezel and Ais stood upon a grassland-like terrain, their backs facing the tunnel leading up to the 17th Floor as warm light gently poured down from above.
Ahead lay a forest where trees grew sparsely, while above them stretched the ceiling of this floor, where countless crystals grew in thick clusters like a dense jungle.
Massive crystals, shining as bright as the sun, emitted a soft glow that formed an artificial sky—their brightness shifted with the passing of time, creating cycles of morning, daytime, and night.
At present, it was daytime on the 18th Floor.
All those luminous and beautiful crystals were considered the hallmark of this floor.
Not only the ceiling but every corner of the floor was filled with them—there were even crystals inside the forest. Between the gaps of the trees and along both sides of the forest paths stood uneven crystal pillars, creating a distinctly dreamlike atmosphere.
"The Monster Rex... didn't appear..." Ais said softly.
The Monster Rex of the 17th Floor—the Dungeon's very first Monster Rex—was the oversized monster classified as Level 4, Goliath, and the place where that monster resided was the very chamber Riezel and Ais had just passed through.
At the deepest end of Goliath's chamber was the passage leading to the 18th Floor.
In other words, anyone wishing to enter the 18th Floor had to pass through Goliath's chamber.
Riezel and Ais had mentally prepared themselves for the battle, but when they reached Goliath's chamber, it was nowhere to be found.
Instead, the room was filled with monsters native to the 17th Floor—the scene was identical to when Riezel had first returned to this world and barged into the chamber of the Monster Rex of the 37th Floor, Udaeus.
Naturally, the normal monsters that roamed the 17th Floor were only classified up to Level 2 at most, so against Riezel and Ais, such monsters were no more dangerous than grasshoppers hopping out from the roadside.
For this reason, the two of them had charged into the chamber from opposite sides and wiped out every monster within ten seconds. After that, they had leisurely walked toward the gaping hole high on the far wall, passed through the tunnel beyond it, and arrived at the 18th Floor.
Ais seemed somewhat bothered by Goliath's absence, making Riezel, who had been gazing up at the crystal jungle covering the ceiling, pull his attention back.
"It was probably defeated already." Riezel said calmly. "Anyone with decent strength who wants to reach the 18th Floor has to pass through the Monster Rex's chamber, after all. If a strong High-Class Adventurer happened to come through, taking down that giant monster along the way wouldn't be strange at all."
Unlike normal monsters, a Monster Rex required a significant amount of time to be reborn.
For example, if Goliath were defeated, it would normally take about two weeks before it reappeared.
Because of that, when Riezel returned to this world and appeared inside the chamber of Udaeus, the Level 6 skeletal monster had not been there.
From the moment he left this world to the moment he returned, only about four or five days had passed—nowhere near enough time for a new Udaeus to be reborn.
"C'mon, let's head to Rivira."
Done enjoying the scenery, Riezel spoke to Ais as he stepped into the forest.
"..."
Ais silently followed, almost as if Riezel were her natural leader, her steps matching his without hesitation.
Crossing through the forest and the vast grassland, the two headed toward the lakeside located on the western side of the 18th Floor.
From there, they crossed a clearly human-built bridge and stepped onto the massive rock island at the lake's center, where a tall, towering tree stood.
At the highest point of the island, atop a prominent cliff, stood a beautiful settlement decorated with white and blue crystals that grew naturally from the ground.
"Hmm, so this is Rivira?"
Riezel looked curiously at the arched entrance built from wooden pillars and flags, mumbling softly.
Rivira was the name of the great female adventurer who had first established this town on the Dungeon's safe floor.
Her name was Rivira Santillini.
To honor her, the only town ever built within the Dungeon had been named after her.
However, despite its fame among adventurers, the town was also saddled with unpleasant nicknames such as Black Market, Thug Town, and Haven of Outlaws.
"I haven't… been here in a long time either..." Ais said from Riezel's side, seemingly aware of his curiosity.
"Well, this is my first time." Riezel smiled lightly at her remark as he stepped through the archway and entered the town.
All the buildings here were temporary structures made of wood or cloth.
Some shops and inns resembled caverns, built by taking advantage of natural horizontal hollows in the rock. Other vendors simply sat down wherever they liked and set up makeshift stalls, looking extremely rough and simple.
Because the town stood atop a cliff, steep slopes were everywhere, and wooden log steps were installed all around.
Amid the uneven terrain, lush vegetation and crystal pillars grew in various places.
As for the simple buildings, almost all of them were shops.
Weapon shops, item shops, narrow inns, and a handful of taverns and bars—these establishments served adventurers as their primary customers, creating a landscape reminiscent of Orario's Adventurer's Street.
Meanwhile, those walking the streets were exclusively adventurers and a small number of supporters, all heavily armed—clearly High-Class Adventurers.
It was only natural, for this was the Middle Floors.
Anyone roaming here was generally a Level 2 adventurer or above.
Unless someone had been brought here by others, the Low-Class Adventurers common on the surface were quite rare here.
Evidently, the arrival of Riezel and Ais seemed to draw the attention of these High-Class Adventurers, as one pair of eyes after another turned their way.
"Sword Princess and Trickster Sword..."
"Loki Familia's First-Class Adventurers..."
"Orario's strongest magic swordsman and the strongest swordswoman..."
"...What are those two doing here?"
As the adventurers whispered among themselves, they quickly lowered their heads and reined in every bit of High-Class Adventurer pride they had, their gazes toward Riezel and Ais filled with deep respect and awe.
First-Class Adventurers—this class of adventurer stood at the very top, even in a place like Rivira, where High-Class Adventurers roamed everywhere.
Normally, they were the type of people one had difficulty seeing even once.
Now that these two widely talked-about figures had suddenly appeared—two people who had been making waves in every possible sense recently—none of the High-Class Adventurers present dared act arrogantly.
Some even quickened their pace to leave, looking as though they feared getting caught up in trouble.
Ais seemed used to such reactions, and Riezel paid them no mind either, instead focusing on the shops around them.
"Just like the rumors said—the stuff here really is expensive." Riezel shook his head with a helpless smile.
"It's always been expensive here..." Ais responded flatly.
Because resources were difficult to secure in the Dungeon, no matter how much the people here inflated prices, their goods would still sell.
Whether it was drinking water, food, weapons, or potions—anything needed for dungeon exploration could be found here, but all of it was ridiculously expensive.
And it wasn't just a matter of one or two extra coins—the prices were several times higher than those on the surface, sometimes even inflated by one or two zeros.
Clearly, the merchants of Rivira were fully aware that adventurers couldn't carry many supplies into the Dungeon, and that they'd often run out of essential items at critical moments, which was why they shamelessly exploited this weakness, raising prices to absurd heights.
And yet, adventurers had no choice but to buy supplies here if they wanted to continue long-term exploration in the Dungeon, since returning to the surface took too much time and effort, greatly reducing exploration efficiency.
Furthermore, if adventurers obtained a large amount of loot on the floors below the 18th and became overburdened to the point that it affected their exploration, they had to bring the loot to this floor to sell it.
Because of that, goods here were sold at outrageous prices, while the buy-back prices for loot were brutally low, maximizing the merchants' profits.
Adventurers exploring the floors below the 18th often relied on this base, repeating the cycle of resting, exploring, selling loot, resting again, and exploring further until the expedition ended and they finally returned to the surface.
For the sake of exploration and progress, adventurers could only accept the harsh reality of being squeezed by Rivira's merchants, turning this place into a notorious black market and thug town.
From the scene before him, Riezel could clearly see the shopkeepers lazing inside their shops. Instead of enthusiastically calling out to customers, they lounged around with mocking smiles, barely moving at all.
They were adventurers too, yet their expressions were far closer to bandits—no wonder this place had earned such a reputation.
Evidently, they also saw Riezel and Ais, for the moment they recognized them, their cold smirks froze.
Even though they didn't show the same fear as the adventurers on the streets, they still shrank back subtly, as if worried about something, stirring faint rustling murmurs throughout the area.
'...Is it because a Level 4 adventurer was killed here earlier?' Riezel pondered in silence. 'Is that why they're overreacting after seeing First-Class Adventurers appear?'
Suddenly, Ais spoke.
"We're here."
At her words, Riezel snapped out of his thoughts and saw a cave entrance carved into a rough rock wall.
"Hmm, this is the place that guy picked, right?"
Riezel glanced at the entrance, noticing a wooden sign placed there, written in the common language with the words Golden Cellar Bar, along with a red arrow pointing downward, where a wooden staircase led into the bar's interior.
"...I didn't even know there was a bar here." Ais said in a somewhat surprised tone, showing a hint of curiosity about the mysterious magus's chosen location.
"Well, the spot really is hidden..." Riezel remarked, noticing that the two of them had veered off the main street into a dim side path.
"So... should we go in?" Ais asked softly.
"Of course." Riezel replied calmly and took the lead down the stairs.
Before long, they reached the bottom and stepped into a bar hall without even a door.
Crystal pillars infused with warm yellow light grew inside, illuminating a space that was neither big nor small, while black rock walls enclosed the room, and only a few tables and chairs stood at the center.
Like everything outside, the place was extremely simple.
"A lot of people..." Ais looked deeper into the bar, her quiet comment barely above a whisper.
Just as she said, despite its remote location, the bar was surprisingly full.
Adventurers occupied all five tables—some were drinking, some were playing cards, and the only empty space was the bar counter in the corner, behind which shelves filled with bottles of alcohol stood untouched.
Before Riezel and Ais arrived, the bar rang with laughter and chatter, lively and warm, but the moment they stepped inside, the noise shrank by more than ninety percent.
Whether human drinkers or demi-human gamblers, silence swallowed them all.
They stared at Riezel and Ais descending the wooden stairs, and a ripple of subtle changes spread across every face.
"..."
Silence.
A stifling silence.
Loki Familia's First-Class Adventurers—the famous, strongest magic swordsman and the strongest swordswoman of Orario—standing together as a pair was enough to terrify everyone in the room.
"I..."
Ais stepped forward, intending to speak, but Riezel raised a hand to stop her.
He then turned his gaze toward a particular seat in the bar, prompting Ais to look in the same direction.
Over there sat an adventurer in a white cloak with a hood pulled low, hiding her face—but even so, it was faintly clear that she was a woman.
When Ais looked carefully, she sensed an uncommon presence radiating from the woman—a faint air of mystery and elegance.
From beneath the hood, she caught a glimpse of a few strands of watery-blue hair.
'Watery-blue hair...' Ais felt a jolt of recognition. 'Could she be...'
Just as she realized the woman's identity, Riezel stepped deeper into the bar and stopped before the woman.
"Let's get introduced."
Riezel spoke with a faint smile—his words dropped the temperature of the bar instantly to freezing.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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