In the deeper passageways, the members of Loki Familia jumped down from the pitfall and landed steadily on the metal floor.
"This floor... has no monsters or cloaked figures?"
Alicia nervously surveyed their surroundings.
"This move should have completely caught our opponents off guard. They wouldn't have had time to deploy forces, so it's normal there's no one here."
Eiji let out a long breath, his tense nerves finally relaxing.
"How many are we missing?"
"...Lady Ais is gone!"
Someone exclaimed from behind.
"Ais... she's strong. She should be fine."
Eiji gritted his teeth.
"Let's find the exit first—it should be close!"
For now, they could only trust in Ais. He couldn't abandon so many people.
With her strength, as long as she didn't encounter Revis, she wouldn't be easily defeated.
Besides, these metal walls were at least dozens of meters high and slippery—there was no easy way back up.
Leading the group, he set off again.
Unlike before, this floor had almost no enemies, and no traps were triggered. The group moved through it with surprising ease.
"Why can you say that?"
Alicia was puzzled.
"If you were the enemy, in a completely enclosed environment where you couldn't catch the intruders, what would you do?"
Instead of answering, Eiji posed a counter-question.
"Hah! Of course, you'd set up something at the exit!"
Gareth was the first to understand and burst into laughter.
Exactly.
In a sealed maze where you can't catch elusive intruders, the common tactic is to block the exit and trap them inside.
That's exactly what the dungeon master was doing now. Unable to intercept Eiji's fast-moving group, they could only wait at the exit, ready to lower the gate and activate the pitfalls nearby.
"So the reason we encountered so many traps earlier is because the exit was close?"
Hearing this, the group was overjoyed.
"That's amazing!"
"To deduce things to this extent?"
"And jumping down the pitfall—that must have completely caught them off guard. They're probably scrambling to stop us now!"
"Incredible!"
Their confidence grew stronger.
Eiji kept a straight face.
In truth, he was sweating internally.
The feeling that the exit was nearby had been pure intuition.
His reasoning about the enemy's tactics was just reverse deduction—not some stroke of genius.
"Here!"
Suddenly, Eiji stopped in one of the passages.
"Hey! Isn't this a dead end?"
Bete's eyes widened as he glared at Eiji.
Ahead of them was clearly a solid wall—no passage at all!
"Don't be so sure."
Eiji stepped forward and drew a rough circle on the wall.
"Gareth, smash through here!"
"You're as bossy as Finn."
Gareth rolled his eyes.
Then, donning his gauntlets, he stepped up to the metal wall and raised his arms.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA—!!!"
His iron fists whirled like windmills, unleashing devastating blows against the ultra-hard metal wall.
A gale-force wind swept through the passage as deafening impacts shook the air.
The metal wall finally caved in under the relentless barrage of dozens of punches from the Level 6 dwarf warrior who had pushed his strength to the limit.
By the time Alicia couldn't help but clutch her stomach, feeling it churning violently, Gareth had already thrown hundreds of punches.
"ORA!!"
With another powerful strike, the incredibly sturdy metal wall was finally torn open, revealing a hole.
Gareth's spirits instantly lifted. He swung his arms again, widening the gap into a passage large enough for a single person, then shattered the rocks beyond the opening.
"Light!"
"There's light!"
Once the rocks behind the wall were destroyed, a dimly phosphorescent stone passage came into view.
"I recognize this place! This is the 16th floor of the dungeon!"
"We made it! We really made it out!"
Some were overjoyed.
Some were moved to tears.
The figures rushing into the dungeon resembled believers stepping from hell into heaven.
"It really is the 16th floor of the dungeon."
Casually crushing a worm that emerged from the wall, Bete's face was filled with disbelief.
"This artificial labyrinth really is connected to the dungeon. Who would have thought that would end up saving us?"
Gareth finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Gareth, Bete, take Finn to Airmid."
Standing at the entrance of the hole, Eiji spoke to the two of them.
"What about you?"
Gareth's eyes flickered slightly as he spoke, already guessing the answer.
"I'm going to save the others."
Eiji's expression was calm.
"I'll go too!"
Bete immediately spoke up.
"Don't bother."
But Eiji refused without hesitation.
"Only I can find people, only I can find the exit. You coming along would be pointless."
"...Damn it!"
Bete clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Be careful."
Gareth didn't say much, simply offering a quiet word of caution.
"I will."
Eiji nodded in acknowledgment, then turned and stepped into the passage.
Disappearing from everyone's sight.
They all understood—what he was about to do next was to bring the light of hope to those trapped in despair.
"To think the fate of our Familia would one day rest on a single person's shoulders, while this old man can do nothing!"
After a moment of silence, Gareth hurled his gauntlets to the ground, revealing his bloodied fists.
"Wolf boy, you and Raul take Finn back up and report the situation to Loki waiting in the underground waterways."
"What about you, old man?"
"I'm guarding this place. No one gets past me!"
"...Hmph, suit yourself."
Seeing the terrifying killing intent in his demeanor, Bete snorted coldly.
"Scrubs, follow me!"
"Yes!"
...
This was a dimly lit room.
Over a hundred meters in length and width, like the other rooms, it was constructed from ultra-hard metal. But unlike the others, at the center of this room stood a control panel.
It was a wooden platform resembling an ancient tree, thick enough that it would take several people to encircle it, exuding an aura of history. Delicate green vines coiled around it.
Above this wooden panel, layers of watery membranes unfolded, each reflecting scenes from different parts of the labyrinth.
Among them were scenes of Tiona leading her team in a frantic escape, Tione engaging in a one-on-one decisive battle with Argana, and Riveria, Lefiya, and Filvis traversing the labyrinth together.
Yet there was no trace of the Loki Familia's main force—the team led by Finn.
"Damn it, why is this so slippery and elusive!"
A man with a gloomy expression stood at the control console.
His hair was long, with black bangs nearly covering his eyes, beneath which dark circles were clearly visible. He wore a wrinkled black outfit, giving off an overall unkempt appearance.
Embedded in his left eye was a crimson D-shaped insignia.