A blazing torrent of fire surged from Ryota's mouth, transforming instantly into a massive fireball nearly two meters wide, roaring through the passageway ahead!
The fleeing trio felt their scalps tighten, as if a scorching sun had just grazed the tops of their heads!
A wave of searing heat instantly rushed over them, accompanied by the deafening roar of flames!
They could even clearly feel their hair sizzling slightly from the scorching blast!
And then—
BOOM!!!
The fireball slammed violently into the shadowy figure!
The entire tunnel trembled fiercely for a moment, and with a nauseating burnt stench filling the air, the shadowy creature—originally charging at terrifying speed—didn't even have a second to struggle. It was instantly vaporized into a thin wisp of black ash by the extreme heat!
At the end of the corridor lay a patch of charred, heat-blasted stone and a lingering smell of burnt flesh.
Even the floor itself now bore a huge, smoking crater.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
The trio was still frozen mid-run, their legs suddenly glued in place, unable to move an inch.
A brief, deathly silence filled the air.
Dumbfounded, the three turned their heads stiffly, staring blankly at the empty corridor behind them.
"The War Shadow... is gone?"
"An elite monster from the sixth floor... just like that...?"
"What the hell was that fireball?!"
The three exchanged bewildered glances, cold sweat trickling down their faces uncontrollably. They completely forgot about the urgency of "running for their lives."
Standing not far away, Ryota approached slowly, speaking calmly:
"Finally, I ran into some living people."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it echoed clearly in the silent tunnel.
The startled adventurers simultaneously whipped around, finally noticing the youth standing nearby.
Black hair, crimson eyes, dressed in neat, robe-like clothes—he looked as though he'd just emerged from the flames, exuding an aura of quiet intensity that didn't belong to this floor at all.
The red-haired youth leading the trio hesitated for two seconds, then gritted his teeth, stepping forward with a trembling voice:
"S-Senior… We're just an ordinary beginner team… We don't have much Valis on us…"
The girl and the older man behind him instinctively took a step back, their eyes filled with fear and caution.
Ryota paused, momentarily stunned, before chuckling softly:
"Huh? You misunderstood!"
"I just want to ask you a few questions. I'm not some robber."
"Besides—"
His gaze swept lightly over their torn armor and the wounds still dripping blood, finally resting on a shriveled-up pouch at their waist that presumably once held their coins. He couldn't help but add quietly:
"You guys… don't exactly look rich anyway."
The red-haired youth froze, his expression shifting from nervousness to confusion, then finally to embarrassment.
If we had money, who the hell would risk our lives in the Dungeon?!
Feeling that standing still was disrespectful, the red-haired youth forced himself to bow deeply toward Ryota, forcing a strained smile onto his face:
"My name is Lain, Lain Hait."
"This is our adventurer team… I'm the captain."
He pointed behind him at the blonde girl whose leg was still bleeding and the older man who was missing an entire arm but still stubbornly standing:
"They're Lia and Lota."
Both teammates forced weak smiles. Clearly, they hadn't yet recovered from the shock, but at least they'd managed to regain some composure.
"What questions do you have, Senior? We'll gladly tell you everything we know!"
Ryota thought for a moment, then asked:
"Why are you down here? Did you somehow wander in randomly like I did? And what's the name of that monster just now?"
Hearing this, Lain exchanged bewildered glances with his companions.
The same thought simultaneously appeared above their heads:
"Is this senior joking with us?"
Although puzzled, Lain still replied honestly:
"We're adventurers belonging to the Freya Familia."
He paused briefly, pride evident in his tone:
"Although we're just peripheral members, we're still official adventurers!"
"We came here because we accepted a quest—escorting a merchant caravan down to the tenth floor. We just never expected to run into that monster on our way back!"
As he spoke, Lain glanced again toward the charred, blackened spot at the far end of the corridor, awe filling his eyes:
"The thing you just killed was called a 'War Shadow.'"
"It's not an ordinary monster—it's an elite creature from the sixth floor. It moves strangely, incredibly fast, and once it locks onto you, escaping is almost impossible."
"We were truly unlucky to encounter it on the fifth floor…"
"And then— you just blasted it into oblivion with a single fireball…"
By the end, even Lain himself was stumbling over his words.
He gulped nervously and cautiously asked:
"Senior… which God's Familia do you belong to? After we return to the surface, we'd like to pay our respects and give our thanks—even if it's just offering some drinks…"
Before Lain could finish speaking, he noticed Ryota suddenly freeze in place.
"God?"
"Familia?"
Ryota repeated blankly, confusion evident in his eyes.
Suddenly, he felt as if someone had slammed a hammer against his skull, jolting him awake:
"...Huh?"
At the same moment, fragmented memories rapidly pieced themselves together in his mind.
Gods, Familia, Dungeon, War Shadow…
And those all-too-familiar goblins, caves, kobolds…
His eyes widened in shock as the surrounding terrain, the scent in the air, and even the names he'd just heard flooded into his mind, perfectly matching a certain anime he'd watched long ago.
"Holy shit…"
"Isn't this— 'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?!'"
"I'm actually in the DanMachi world?!"
No wonder!
No wonder these monsters didn't match the Naruto world's style. No wonder this Dungeon felt more and more familiar. No wonder fighting goblins felt like playing a real-life ARPG…
He'd actually transmigrated into the DanMachi world?!
"What the hell is wrong with this damned system?! What's this supposed to be—a second transmigration?!"
Before he could finish complaining, a familiar, cold mechanical voice suddenly rang out clearly in his ears:
[Ding! Host has completed "Initial World Confirmation."]
[Main Quest: Stage One activated.]
[Quest Objective: Join any God's Familia.]
[Quest Reward: Hidden (Unlocks upon completion).]
Ryota's mouth twitched sharply:
"Seriously?! NOW you decide to wake up again?!"