"So how did you get out?"
The moment Loki heard that the Black Dragon was still alive, her interest visibly shot up. She casually took a bottle of red wine from a nearby cabinet and poured herself a glass.
"I punched straight through every floor between the bottom of the Dungeon and Orario, then flew all the way back up..."
Seeing how excited Loki looked, Shiro almost asked, 'Want me to lure it up here next time?'
Then he remembered Loki's personality and realized she might actually say yes, so he wisely kept his mouth shut.
If there was anything adventurers feared in the Dungeon besides its endless monsters, it was the Dungeon itself.
If an adventurer entered without proper preparation and became lost in its maze-like passages, death was often the only outcome. Trying to escape by simply smashing through the walls did not work either.
The Dungeon could repair itself.
Normally, whenever adventurers damaged its walls, the Dungeon temporarily reduced monster production and redirected its efforts toward repairing the damaged floor.
Because of this, many Familias deliberately damaged part of a nearby wall whenever they stopped to rest, buying themselves a short period of peace.
However, everything had its limits, and the Dungeon was no exception.
If it judged that it was being damaged excessively, it would temporarily abandon its usual priority of repairing the floor and instead begin producing monsters to expel the "foreign object" destroying it.
According to information circulating from the Guild, every monster created under those circumstances was terrifyingly powerful, nearly comparable to a Monster Rex from the Deep Floors.
Shiro had exploited that exact behavior.
'There are already more monsters than I can count. A few more won't make much difference.'
With that thought in mind, he devoted himself entirely to destroying the Dungeon while evading the monsters attacking him, provoking an even more violent response.
Under Shiro's constant destruction and the crystal's urging, the entire floor was soon packed with monsters.
The result was obvious.
There were so many monsters that attacking Shiro became almost impossible. While he could still move freely through the gaps between them, many of the monsters could barely shift their enormous bodies without risking hitting another monster and provoking retaliation.
By the end, it could no longer be described as a horde of monsters chasing one human.
It had turned into a full-scale battle royale between the monsters themselves.
And the legendary One-Eyed Black Dragon became the greatest boss among them, slaughtering every monster unfortunate enough to enter its surroundings.
While the monsters tore each other apart, Shiro seized the opportunity to break through countless floors above him and eventually made his way back to Orario.
That was also why he had appeared before Loki earlier looking like he had just crawled out of hell.
Fortunately, no other Familia happened to be conducting an expedition at the time.
Otherwise, adventurers in the Deep Floors might have witnessed what a true monster feast looked like. The sight alone would probably have left every adventurer who saw it trembling in fear.
"I made a rough estimate while escaping. The Dungeon probably has around a hundred floors."
Shiro sighed.
"I got out this time, but who knows when I'll ever reach that place again."
"If you want an adventure, it's still way too early to challenge something like that."
Loki swirled the wine in her glass with one hand, clearly approving of Shiro's decision.
Compared with many gods, Loki had descended to the Lower World relatively late, yet even she had already spent nearly twenty years here.
During that time, she had watched countless adventurers die in the Dungeon because arrogance convinced them they could handle more than they actually could.
Sometimes, understanding the situation was more important to an adventurer than raw strength.
Strength could always be trained later.
But if you died, there was no later.
Loki had been somewhat worried that Shiro might become too reckless, so hearing that he had chosen to retreat put her a little more at ease.
Then she abruptly changed the subject back to his Divinity.
"Though as for how you're supposed to repair that thing, I honestly don't know the exact method~"
"Even you don't know?"
"We gods are born with our Divinity and Authority already decided for us. Why would we ever need to go through something this troublesome?"
"...Do you realize how many people would want to punch you if they heard you say that?"
"Still, it's not like we have no clues at all."
Loki paused before continuing.
"Besides Divinity, the thing most closely connected to a god is Authority. Take that little shrimp, for example. She usually looks like a useless freeloader who can't do anything right, but she actually governs the [Immortality] Authority associated with the eternal sacred flame."
She took another sip of wine.
"If you want to repair your Divinity, you could try approaching it from that direction. I can't promise it'll work, though."
"Authority..."
Shiro lowered his head and fell into thought.
Loki had lived for hundreds of millions of years as a god. That experience was not meaningless.
If she was suggesting this, she probably had at least some confidence in the idea. She simply could not guarantee a one-hundred-percent success rate.
As far as Shiro was concerned, Loki's judgment carried considerable weight.
But if he really followed her suggestion and repaired the Divinity through Authority, then what Authority was this Divinity originally supposed to govern?
Without question, it had to be related to creating life.
Otherwise, it would never have granted him [Life Creation].
Beyond that, however, the only remaining clue was where he had found it.
The Dungeon.
Creating life.
'Don't tell me this Divinity really belongs to Gaia, just like I guessed before...'
Shiro suddenly froze.
'Wait.'
If he started from the assumption that this Divinity belonged to Gaia, and approached the problem through Authority...
Then what he needed to do next was...
A terrifying possibility suddenly appeared in Shiro's mind.
"Loki, don't tell me you want me to..."
He abruptly raised his head.
What entered his vision was Loki's wicked grin.
Except this time, unlike her usual mischievous smile, there was something else hidden beneath it.
Something wild.
Unrestrained.
This was the true face of the trickster god named Loki, hidden beneath the mask of a clown.
Her children might have tempered her personality somewhat, but a god's fundamental nature was difficult to change.
All it took was a little fuel for that nature to become a raging wildfire no human could ever extinguish.
"The Dungeon was actually created by a god born from the earth!"
Loki threw both hands into the air, her voice rising with almost fanatical excitement.
"She's gotten bored of it after all these years, so now she wants to reclaim the Dungeon that was born from her own Authority!"
Loki, God of Lies and Trickery, spread her arms wide.
"ISN'T THAT AN AMAZING LIE?!"
…