The next morning, Leon brought Haruhime with him to Daedalus Street, where the members of Loki Familia had already gathered.
"Haruhime of Hestia Familia?" Finn blinked in mild surprise when he noticed the girl walking calmly beside Leon.
The others followed suit, their gazes turning toward her in surprise and curiosity.
They had all seen the War Game previously and knew Haruhime belonged to the Hestia Familia, but she had played no active role during that confrontation. She had remained entirely in the background, which led most to assume she was simply an ordinary supporter.
Compared to well-known members like Liliruca and Belle, Haruhime had always seemed... unremarkable. However, no one questioned Leon's judgment. Since he had brought her to this important expedition, it meant she had value.
So, aside from Tione, who frowned ever so slightly as her eyes lingered on Haruhime a second too long, no one raised any objections.
"Now that Leon's here, let's assign the teams." Finn announced, nodding at Leon before addressing everyone gathered. His voice rang out crisply in the chill morning air.
Everyone from Loki Familia had already been briefed—Leon would be forming and leading a team. Not a single member opposed the idea. In fact, many welcomed it, knowing full well the strength Leon brought to the table. The assignments were distributed quickly.
Alicia approached Leon with a composed demeanor and gave a respectful bow. "Leon-san, please take care of me."
"Likewise, Alicia." Leon replied with a gentle smile.
With the teams formed, Finn's voice rose to declare, "Then, let the assault on the artificial dungeon... begin!"
At his command, the expedition force surged into motion. Their destination: the sewer entrance that led into the artificial dungeon beneath Daedalus Street.
The bronze gate marking the maze's boundary stood like a slumbering sentinel at the end of the sewer. Within five minutes, the full force had arrived at its threshold.
Finn stepped forward, producing one of the keys Leon had acquired and inserting it into the mechanism. With a heavy creak, the bronze gate began to open.
"Everyone, move out!" He ordered, and the group surged through the newly opened passage into the artificial maze.
Elsewhere, deeper within the darkness, a single magic stone lamp illuminated a section of passage, casting long shadows on the walls.
A young man toiled silently, his hair unkempt, his eyes dim and vacant, barely clinging to consciousness as he drove a stake into the earth with a hammer.
This was Barca, the current chief excavator of the artificial underground labyrinth.
Born and raised in Daedalus Street, Barca had never known a world outside the underground labyrinth. For over ten years, he had worked tirelessly, rarely leaving the subterranean labyrinth. Pale and expressionless, he resembled more a ghost than a man.
"Barca, could you lend me a hand?" a casual voice echoed through the tunnel.
Thanatos, the tall and languid god of death, approached with his usual relaxed air. His words carried neither urgency nor expectation.
Barca paused but didn't turn.
"I don't have time for your divine ramblings." He muttered. "We mortals suffer from the curse of mortality. There's still much to do."
Thanatos chuckled, unfazed. "The Loki Familia is already moving through the labyrinth. We can't just let them wander freely. If we don't act soon, the entire operation, our funding, our secrecy, will collapse."
He stepped forward, eyes narrowing slightly. "My children wish to bury them in the dark… let them sleep forever. What do you think, Barca?"
Barca remained unresponsive, hammering without pause.
Thanatos sighed and delivered a quiet ultimatum. "If we let this go on, everything our ancestors built will fall apart. The labyrinth will remain unfinished."
Those words finally struck a nerve. Barca stopped. He turned, his lifeless eyes locking onto Thanatos. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to activate the mechanism—the one only you can access." Thanatos replied smoothly.
Barca's expression twisted. "You would destroy our creation?"
"Don't be so dramatic. That mechanism was built for emergencies, wasn't it? Better to use it than let everything get taken from us."
Barca gritted his teeth, then muttered, "Call me when you need me."
"Actually, I need you now." Thanatos said with a smirk. "They're already inside."
Barca: "..."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the artificial underground labyrinth, beneath a stairwell wrapped in dim green tendrils of flesh, a man sat quietly.
Cloaked in shadows, Dionysus stared ahead where a grotesque creature hung chained to a wall of pulsating meat.
The creature seemed to fuse with the walls themselves, its monstrous body melding with the throbbing green mass as if it commanded it.
"Nidhogg... bring ruin to this world." Dionysus whispered as he stared at the beast.
Then, with a dramatic flourish of his cloak, he turned and walked away.
Two colossal entities followed in his wake—full, perfected versions of demi spirits, unlike the flawed prototype used by Ishtar. This time, Dionysus had returned from the deep dungeon with a harvest both terrifying and dangerous.
"Let us meet, Leon... properly."
Behind him, as his figure vanished into darkness, the chained monsters began to stir. Their eyes glowed crimson.
Deep within the artificial maze, on what corresponded to the tenth floor of Orario's Dungeon, six different areas resonated with eerie, overlapping chants. The resonance surged into a single, unholy chorus.
At the same time, Leon and the others had just entered the artificial underground labyrinth.
The initial entry was smooth. The key allowed their group to bypass most of the security mechanisms, and they encountered no monsters along the way. However, the deeper they moved, the more convoluted the paths became. The labyrinth branched repeatedly, forming countless forks and hidden routes.
Eventually, the teams had no choice but to split into three units, each advancing through a different tunnel.
Leon led one group personally, Alicia beside him. As they reached another three-way fork, Alicia glanced at him.
"Leon-san, which path should we take next?"
Leon paused and closed his eyes for a moment. Golden lines of magical detection, Veins of Light, spread out around him like the tendrils of a tree, pulsing softly.
"Give me a moment." He said calmly, increasing the strength of his detection magic. He pushed his Veins of Light farther into the unknown depths, hoping to identify the most viable route.
The artificial underground labyrinth, intricate and dimly lit, remained silent, yet the air itself felt charged.
Not long after Leon began scanning the passageways with his light veins, a strange, harmonic singing reached his ears. The moment he heard it, his expression shifted drastically.
A chorus—six voices in unison.
His heart sank. That melody, that structure—it was unmistakable.
Gate of Heaven...?
(This Gate of Heaven is different from Leon's healing magic. I should have used a different name but it's too late now.)
Leon's eyes narrowed sharply.
Dionysus... was he really about to burn the ship?
Was this the final stage of the plan? Had they already gathered enough magical energy to annihilate all of Orario?
No... that shouldn't be possible yet... should it?
Despite his doubts, Leon didn't hesitate. He abandoned all restraint and immediately channeled a massive surge of magic power into his light veins, extending them across the labyrinth at maximum output.
"Alicia, I'm leaving a trail. Follow it immediately."
"Haruhime, if necessary, amplify Alicia's detection." His voice was steady but cold with urgency.
Without waiting for their response, Leon activated Tenseigan Mode and shot down the passage like a streak of light.
Alicia watched his figure disappear. "What happened? Leon-san looked so... serious."
Haruhime's golden eyes followed the same path, full of worry. "I don't know. But if Leon-sama is moving like that... something must be wrong."
They didn't hesitate any longer and dashed after him.