Goliath stood tall, staring at John with its emotionless eyes. Like a savage beast, it raised its head and roared.
A loud roar erupted like an explosion, a powerful gust of wind rustling John's cloak.
Behind the mask, John's face didn't flinch—only calmness remained.
Goliath lifted its foot and stomped toward John.
A shadow spread below as the massive foot loomed above, growing ever closer.
John didn't dodge. With a thought, he unleashed his magic once more.
Blue flames of mana engulfed his body, radiating overwhelming pressure. It spread instantly, swallowing the entire seventeenth floor. Walls and ceiling cracked, the ground collapsed.
Goliath—mighty and massive—was instantly crushed beneath the pressure, reduced to a bloody mist, meeting the same fate as the goblins and every monster he had encountered so far.
Just like that, Goliath, the colossal monster of power, died.
John moved on, heading deeper toward the next floor—the eighteenth—known as the first safe floor of the Dungeon, akin to a paradise.
He followed a staircase going downward. It took hundreds of thousands of steps before he reached the end: a long tunnel, and at its far side a bright exit. Beyond it were green lashes of trees and warm sunlight.
As soon as he stepped through the tunnel, what greeted him was a vast sea of trees—a massive forest.
Hills, mountains, and a crystal ceiling illuminated the floor with daylight. This floor was circular in shape, with a radius of hundreds of thousands of miles; the floor and ceiling were ten miles apart.
At the very center stood a colossal tree eight miles tall, with a bark radius of five hundred meters. Entrances to the next floor were scattered across its trunk.
This is the 18th Floor, known among adventurers as The Underground Resort.
Not far from the colossal tree stood a small, ragged town surrounded by wooden walls, clearly built by untrained hands.
This is Rivira, the town created and operated by adventurers—constantly destroyed by monsters and rebuilt 334 times.
From the colossal tree, at the four cardinal directions and at distances no lower than ten thousand miles, stood four undetectable and hidden cities. To anyone not strong enough or not chosen, they didn't exist. To those who met the criteria, they were visible to the naked eye.
Each city spanned thousands of miles in radius—ten times larger than Orario—and each was surrounded by a domed barrier with the same properties and capabilities as the Tower Barrier.
Each exterior was as vast and boundless as the Babel Plaza. That's what Eina said. I tried to perceive it with my magic sense, but decided against it when I remembered what happened last time I attempted that with Babel.
My mind couldn't bear the sheer amount of information from its scale.
These four cities were known as the Monster Cities, built by the Dungeon to house its favored children—the Xenos. These cities were operated jointly by the Guild and the monsters.
To the east was the Monster City Lyd; to the west, Ray; to the north, Drake; and to the south, Gorge.
Lyd was occupied by various types of monsters. Ray was home to beautiful female monsters. Drake housed dragon-type monsters, and Gorge was occupied by beast-type monsters.
John looked around for a moment before deciding to return. His loot was enough to cover the cost of his house construction, and besides, he wasn't in the mood to continue.
With that, he began the long journey back to the surface.
Guild.
"How's the Dungeon?" Eina asked.
"It's okay. I went to the 18th Floor."
Eina looked him up and down, checking for injuries. She sighed. "Good. Always remember—safety first, okay?"
"Copy that. And thank you. By the way, I need to exchange magic stones. Privately."
"Follow me." Eina opened a small door at her counter and gestured for him to follow.
We went deeper into the endless space behind the counter—a labyrinth of boundless offices and cubicles, all manned by Guild employees.
I looked around. On my left were never-ending cubicles stretching endlessly. On my right were endless hallways with countless doors, each leading to an office.
We walked a straight path, the scenery unchanging. Above, I could see the ceiling, but it was beyond the maximum range of my magic sense—beyond comprehension, endlessly so.
The same applied to the distant walls.
A massive chandelier hung from the far-off ceiling, illuminating everything. It was unimaginably enormous; despite the impossible distance, it still appeared massive.
The chandelier used colossal stars as light bulbs. Only their light reached us, not their heat.
Eina walked calmly, saying nothing, while I continued scanning the scenery.
After ten minutes of walking, Eina stopped.
"We're here."
"Where?"
"My office." Eina walked into an endless corridor and opened the first door. A name was written on it—her full name—with the word "Office" below.
I couldn't see anything beyond the doorway, only blue light.
Eina entered first, and I followed. My vision blurred for a moment. When it cleared, the first thing I saw was a vast land of flowers—a hilly terrain overflowing with blossoms, with a beginning but no end.
Above was a beautiful sky and the sun.
Even at full range, my magic sense couldn't reach the boundaries. And I doubted this place had any.
"This…?"
Eina answered calmly, "This is my office. Twice as big as that small meeting room."
Amidst the boundless field stood a lone office desk atop a hill, shaded by a single tree.
Each room in this building was a literal boundless world, complete with endless cosmology. A small planet here could fit all of existence countless times over with ease.
Behind me was the door.
"Eina… is there any point to this?" I gestured around at the boundless expanse that was somehow an office.
"To you and me? Yes. But to them, it does. They see it as a defense mechanism." Eina looked upward.
I followed her gaze—and saw an unimaginably massive fairy.
Her wings engulfed everything. Her hair was long and orange. She was impossibly beautiful—fair skin, well-endowed, slim—wearing a dress woven from stars, galaxies, universes, all of cosmology.
She loomed overhead, floating beyond my magic sense, her upper body dominating most of the sky.
"I see why," I murmured.
"That's the defense mechanism. And my AI assistant within this room," Eina said.
"What are they even defending against?"
"Nothing, really. It's just passion, hobby, and following the rules of striving for the best. Anyway, follow me. Let's talk at my desk."
"Please sit."
I sat down.
"Your loot—put it on the ground."
I followed her instructions and opened my Gate of Nameless Treasury, dumping everything onto the field. When nothing remained, I closed it.
Eina began counting manually while I sat and waited.