In a distant part of the forest, so far that even Ryuu and Shirou couldn't sense any hostility or gazes. A white-clothed, golden-haired elf lowered a magic tool with the [Far Sight] function.
"It's been a long time since I've seen her smile so happily...", Beside him, a dark elf with chocolate-colored skin and pure white hair sat on a large rock, expressionlessly chewing on dry bread.
"Do not recklessly touch the score, lest the predetermined opera produces discordant noise."
The dark elf spoke words that made no sense, but the blonde elf understood his meaning.
[Don't act on your own. Don't do anything outside the mission.]
The two of them, the Level 6 adventurers of the Freya Familia, the Black and White Knights, had only one duty today: to ensure the safety of a specific target. That was all.
"...I know what I'm doing," [White Fairy's Magic Wand], Hedin Selland, spoke in a calm voice.
[Black Fairy's Demon Sword], Hogni Ragnar, glanced at Hedin's back before falling silent once more.
"Hogni, what do you think of that boy's ability, as a Swordsman?", Hedin asked.
[Black Fairy's Demon Sword], Hogni Ragnar—he was known as the King of Swordsmen in the labyrinth city of Orario. Though the Sword Princess was closing in step by step, at least until Ais leveled up, Level 6 Hogni was still the city's strongest swordsman.
At the same time, he was one of the few adventurers in the city to possess the [Swordsman] development ability.
Although many adventurers used swords as their primary weapon, the Swordsman development ability was rare, a testament to an adventurer's top-tier talent and achievements in swordsmanship.
"Upon this world's stage, if there is a crown of swords, then it is destined to belong to him," Hogni still spoke in his unique manner, but this time, his words were easy to understand.
[Translation: In this world, that person has the strongest swordsmanship.]
"He doesn't even have the Swordsman development ability," Hedin continued, his voice still steady.
Emiya was currently Level 2, meaning he could only have one development ability. And clearly, his was a production-type—either Blacksmith or Mystery.
Hogni: "A divine-granted medal is but the end of the thread of fate for the children of man, not the beginning."
[Translation: Development abilities are results, not causes. Adventurers obtain development abilities because of their talent, not the other way around.]
"Of course I know that. I'm just surprised—"
Hedin: "Hmm?"
His words were cut off by an unexpected disturbance.
"This is... the roar of a dragon hidden deep beneath the earth."
Hogni: "A trivial noise unworthy of concern."
[Translation: An earthquake. Mild tremors.]
"Earthquakes near Orario are quite rare."
Hedin spoke. "Is it the Dungeon, or..."
On the other side, Emiya and his group also noticed the unusual event.
Especially Anya and Chloe, being Cat People, they were particularly sensitive to earthquakes.
"Nya! It's shaking!"
"Is it the Dungeon acting up?"
"Hasn't the Dungeon been behaving strangely a lot recently?"
Not long ago, Orario had already experienced a minor earthquake due to another Dungeon anomaly. Emiya and Ryuu had personally witnessed that event.
This tremor, however, was much weaker than that time.
"Let's head back, everyone."
Syr spoke, "The city gates might close early today."
"Yeah, let's go," Emiya said, glancing toward the Babel Tower in the labyrinth city, 'Could this be another Malice of the Dungeon?'
———
"It is not a Dungeon anomaly," In the deepest part of the Guild, within a sacred altar, an elderly male god spoke.
He had white hair and blue eyes, wore a long white robe, and had a black hooded cloak draped over him. His feet were clad in laurel-woven shoes.
The Sky Ouranus—among the many deities in Orario, he held the most unique position. He was one of the earliest gods to descend from the divine realm, the first to bestow Falna upon mortals, and the god who founded the first Familia.
It was thanks to Ouranus and a group of pioneering gods and their Familias that humanity had been able to fend off the monster onslaught and build a fortress to defend against the ever-spawning creatures of the Great Hole. That fortress would eventually become the labyrinth city of Orario.
Because of this, Ouranus was known as the Founder God of Orario.
His Familia had long ceased to exist, replaced by his role as the Guild's President, where he spent his days praying to the Dungeon in the underground altar. With his immense divine authority, he suppressed the Dungeon, preventing monsters from emerging as frequently as they did in ancient times.
For a thousand years, he had carried out this task.
To an immortal god, a millennium was but a fleeting moment, and many gods didn't think much of Ouranus' contributions. However, he was still deeply respected by the people, especially the Guild workers.
At the same time, Ouranus was undoubtedly the god who understood the Dungeon better than anyone.
"It's not a Dungeon anomaly?", Another god standing before Ouranus spoke. He tilted his head, seemingly in thought.
"By the way, are you surprised to see me, Ouranus?", The male god asked with a smile.
"I thought Loki would come first. Didn't expect it to be you," Ouranus paused for a moment, "Hermes."
The god standing before Ouranus, wearing a relaxed expression, was none other than the Traveler God Hermes.
"I don't think you need to worry. Loki will be here soon. Most of her children are in the Dungeon. With this happening, she's probably going crazy," Hermes chuckled.
"That's why I had to check with you before she got here and started pestering you," Hermes looked at Ouranus, "You say it's not a Dungeon anomaly. So is it just a normal earthquake, or—"
His voice paused, then turned serious, "Where is the problem?"
Dungeon anomalies were dangerous, but with Orario around, they weren't the most frightening thing.
Hermes knew this world well. There were places with far greater potential for disaster.
Not because they housed worse threats than the Dungeon—rather, because outside Orario, there was almost no capacity to handle them.
Beyond Orario, there wasn't a single place with dozens of First-Class Adventurers ready to act at a moment's notice. In most regions, even finding a single Level 4 was difficult.
"Looks like it's one of those places, after all," Seeing Ouranus' expression, Hermes had his answer.
"Which one? The Aurora Glacier's 'Hraesvelgr'? The Storm Wildlands' 'Gugalanna'? The Divine Sakura Island's 'Yamata no Orochi'? Or the Great Forest Sea's 'Antares'? It can't be Dragon Valley, right...?"
"It's the Great Forest Sea," Ouranus said, "The force that resonated with the Dungeon came from that direction. I believe the recent Dungeon anomaly must have awakened that monster."
Some time ago, the Dungeon had reacted violently to the presence of a god, and the Guild had secretly investigated. But until now, they hadn't been able to determine which god had illegally entered the Dungeon.
The only conclusion was that it was likely the doing of a Evilus god—an ultimately meaningless answer.
"The Great Forest Sea's Scorpion, huh... what a troublesome one...", Hermes sighed.
"I'm counting on you, Hermes."
"I know. I'll check it out," The Traveler God lightly flicked the brim of his hat, activating his magic item. His figure vanished.
"You should deal with your own problem first, Ouranus," Hermes smirked, "I'm off."
"Ouranus! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"
Loki's voice echoed through the Guild.
———
Perhaps because too many adventurers had leveled up to Lv.5 in a short period, exhausting their luck, Loki Familia had been rather unfortunate lately.
Just like now—the expedition, which had been thoroughly planned and prepared for, not only failed to achieve a great success and break records, but they didn't even reach the deep floors. One could say it ended almost as soon as it began.
The only gain was the magic stone and drop item of the Floor Boss on the 17th floor, the giant Goliath—thanks to Ais and the others running fast enough to slay Goliath before the expedition had to be called off.
However, it was just an ordinary Goliath, not the black Goliath of Lv.5 that Alicia had once seen.
Due to being hunted too frequently, the drop item of a regular Goliath, [Goliath's Tooth], was no longer worth much.
Afterward, the dungeon started trembling. Compared to the surface, tremors were more noticeable underground.
Although the shaking only lasted for a short time, Finn, the captain of Loki Familia, made a swift decision: the expedition was canceled, and everyone was to immediately return to the surface via the same route.
He and Riveria personally set out to catch up with Ais and the others, who had departed earlier, forcibly bringing them back.
Although the young adventurers, especially [Sword Princess] Ais, were very unwilling to accept this, they had no choice but to accept the result.
Subsequent events seemed to prove that Finn was perhaps overly cautious. After the brief tremor, nothing unusual happened in the dungeon.
However, both Captain Finn and Goddess Loki firmly decided to suspend the expedition, with no foreseeable date for its resumption.
The only consolation was that, although the expedition had been halted, the Guild reopened the dungeon entrance the next day after confirming no anomalies. Loki also did not restrict her members from entering the dungeon, only forbidding them from venturing into the deeper floors alone.
As a result, the adventurers of Loki Familia vented their frustration over the canceled expedition on the monsters of the middle and upper floors. The monsters up to the 27th floor suffered heavy casualties, and even the Floor Boss, the two-headed dragon Amphisbaena, was slain by the Amazon sisters, who specialized in aquatic combat.
Amphisbaena had a latent strength equivalent to Lv.5, and in water battles, where most adventurers' combat abilities were limited, it was considered as difficult as a Lv.6 enemy.
However, Loki Familia's Amazon sisters possessed the rare development ability [Diver], a skill that granted them the ability to "breathe underwater" and enhanced their combat strength in aquatic environments. Thus, Amphisbaena was not a particularly difficult opponent for them.
———
"The members have been holding in a lot of frustration lately," Finn remarked upon returning to their Familia's base, his tone as calm as ever.
"They're also trying to help ease the Familia's burdens," Riveria added, "Because of the expedition's suspension, our debt situation is quite severe."
Expeditions were highly profitable, but the initial investments were staggering—potions, equipment, magic swords, and various magical tools added up to an astronomical amount.
Moreover, these preparations were crucial to the expedition's success and the survival of adventurers; not a single one could be omitted, nor could any compromise be made on quality.
Loki Familia's current situation was that they had poured massive resources into the expedition, but due to unexpected circumstances, it had been suspended with no short-term returns in sight.
Not only that, but a significant portion of these investments came from other Familias. For instance, the Dian Cecht Familia had crafted a large supply of healing and mind potions for Loki Familia at the lowest possible discounted rate, allowing them to defer payment.
The same went for equipment—the Goibniu Familia had sold Loki Familia a batch of spare weapons at low prices for the expedition.
And that wasn't even mentioning the four hundred million valis loaned for the magic sword [Spiral Blade] and the six hundred million valis super weapon that had yet to be paid for.
Other Familias had agreed to these deals partly due to Loki Familia's reputation and their long-standing cooperative relationships, but also because they anticipated the results of Loki Familia's expedition. Most of the rare items obtained from the deep floors would eventually end up in the hands of these major production-type Familias.
Of course, Loki Familia was not at a disadvantage in these deals either. What they gained from the expedition was far more valuable. Their Familia's reputation and honor, and most importantly, the strength and achievements of their members.
One could say that the production-type Familias were making a risk-free investment through Loki Familia's expeditions, or that Loki Familia was using these Familias' resources to nurture their own members. Either way, their cooperation was crucial for Loki Familia.
"Fortunately, I've spoken with the captains of the Dian Cecht Familia, Goibniu Familia, and Hephaestus Familia. They understand that this is a special situation and are willing to continue supporting our future expeditions," Finn said.
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