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"Boom!"
Like a missile being launched, a pitch-black short axe embedded itself into the wall with a thunderous crash.
"Screeeeech Ah——!"
The not-yet-fully-born Minotaur was terminated before its birth, letting out a wretched, mournful scream before it died. As the black smoke dispersed, only a magic stone the size of a fist dropped to the ground.
"A monster?"
An ugly, toad-like woman walked over, picked up the short axe, looked around, but saw no one.
"All of you, keep your eyes wide open! If that beautiful boy from the rumors slips past us, don't blame me for not treating my Familia comrades with courtesy!"
Her voice sounded like a screeching gong. After she finished shouting, she hefted the short axe and left the corridor, continuing her search of the 15th Floor area.
"Tch, since when has that ugly hag ever shown any courtesy? She always steals the men we've set our eyes on!"
Only after the woman left did a hooded female grumble angrily.
"Keep patrolling. He's probably on one of these floors. Hopefully, when she's feasting on the meat, she'll at least let us drink some soup…"
The others sighed in turn and continued loitering around the corridor entrance.
"Brown skin, stealing men… this behavior… could they be Amazonesses?"
Around the corner—
Ryoji's figure appeared without warning, as if he had just teleported. Confirming that no one had noticed him, he stepped back cautiously, then quickly made his way deeper—toward the lower floors.
16th Floor
After regrouping with Line and Lefiya, Ryoji shared the intel he had gathered.
"The Amazonesses have blocked the entrance to the 14th Floor? And there's an ugly woman with strength comparable to Miss Tiona?"
Line and Lefiya exchanged glances, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.
"Among the Amazonesses, only the Ishtar Familia has that many top-tier Adventurers. But would they really dare to lay a hand on us?"
After all, they were part of Loki Familia, one of the strongest Familias in Orario, and took pride in that status.
When moving around outside, almost no one dared to provoke them. Even the equally powerful Freya Familia rarely engaged in direct conflict with them.
"Not everyone in this world is rational." Ryoji shook his head.
If intelligent beings truly let reason govern all their actions, there wouldn't be so much garbage in the world. But the truth is, most people follow their desires.
Especially when it comes to his charm, powerful enough to make people lose their minds. That ugly woman likely heard about him somewhere or caught a glimpse of him once, and then promptly threw her rationality out the window.
"So what do we do now?" Lefiya looked at Line, then at Ryoji, feeling completely lost.
"The three of us are probably being targeted. We can't exactly split up and leave separately... Should we wait for the Familia executives to come rescue us?"
Line frowned slightly, uncertain of what to do.
"But backup won't arrive until at least tomorrow morning."
Ryoji countered, "And those Amazonesses are searching floor by floor. They'll definitely find us before morning."
The Loki Familia wasn't in the habit of checking on their members at night. It wouldn't be until the next morning that the executives realized they hadn't returned and sent people to rescue them.
But with the Amazonesses closing in, they couldn't afford to wait that long.
A frontal breakthrough was definitely not a good plan either.
If the Amazonesses only had a few Level 2 or Level 3 Adventurers, sneaking past them with a bit of risk wouldn't be too difficult. But the problem was, there was also a Level 5 among them.
That ugly woman, whose presence felt as oppressive as Tiona's, was undoubtedly a Level 5.
And from where they were now, it would take at least an hour to get back to the surface.
There was no way they could win a prolonged chase lasting that long against a Level 5.
"Then… how about we play hide-and-seek with them in the Dungeon?" Lefiya suggested with a bit of naive optimism.
The idea was to keep dodging and hiding from the Amazonesses in the Dungeon until morning.
If they could manage that safely, it might work. But the flaws in that plan were painfully obvious.
"Too reliant on luck. I don't recommend it." Ryoji shook his head, then, after a pause, continued: "There's also a key issue: we're out of food."
"Gurgle~"
As soon as food was mentioned, the three of their stomachs grumbled in unison, making Lefiya's face flush bright red in embarrassment.
"No food really is the worst-case scenario…" Line rubbed her flat stomach, her expression turning grim.
Stamina potions could restore stamina, but they couldn't replace actual food.
If they went too long without eating or drinking, their condition would plummet, foggy minds, weak limbs… Forget escaping the Amazonesses, they might not even be able to fight off the Dungeon's monsters.
"There is a relatively safer option." Line hesitated for a moment but finally spoke up.
"What option?" Ryoji was just about to say that he could go up alone to draw the Level 5's attention and let the other two escape and call for help from the Familia.
But hearing Line's words, he turned to her with surprise.
"The 18th Floor."
Line raised a single finger, her expression serious.
"The 18th Floor is a safety floor in the Dungeon, no monsters are born there. It even has Dungeon-grown fruits, and some Adventurers have even built a small town there!"
"There's a place like that?" Ryoji exclaimed in surprise. He had been in the Dungeon for twenty days already and hadn't heard anything about this.
"That's because we never go there, so it just never came up." Line shook her head.
They were always in and out of the Dungeon quickly and never ventured down to the 18th Floor, so they had never introduced it to Ryoji.
"If the 18th Floor really is a safety zone, and there are even Adventurers living there, then it's definitely the best place for us to retreat to."
Ryoji's expression brightened slightly.
"Once we get there, we can hire some Adventurers with good pay to send a message to our Familia. That way, even if Ishtar Familia has a Level 5 on their side, they won't be able to do much."
The Amazonesses couldn't risk completely blocking off the passage and creating a scandal. Their real goal was probably just to trap Ryoji and the others down here—not to stop other Adventurers entirely.
This plan was a lot safer than the one he had in mind.
If they went with his plan, he was confident he could escape a Level 5 alone, but Line and Lefiya would likely be targeted by the rest, and that was unacceptable.
"That's what I was thinking too." Line smiled and nodded in agreement, but then her expression turned heavy.
"The only problem is… deep inside the 17th Floor, there might be a Monster Rex."
Indeed.
If they happened to run into a fully formed Floor Boss, they'd be in serious trouble, caught between a tiger in front and wolves behind, a truly deadly situation.
No—
With Ryoji in the party, it was more likely that such a situation wouldn't be a coincidence, but inevitable.
"…Let's go check it out."
Ryoji closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then raised his head.
"Just sitting here and thinking won't help. The more we hesitate, the more danger creeps up on us. We need to move now, whatever comes, we'll deal with it when it comes!"
As he said this, his tone was firm and resolute, like he had made up his mind.
"Right!" Line and Lefiya exchanged glances and nodded seriously in unison.
(End of Chapter)