On the 24th floor of the dungeon.
"Right there... there is a group of Deadly Hornets coming towards us!"
"Ryuu, use your magic to take care of them quickly."
Alise, as the party leader, shouted out commands.
Hearing this, Ryuu nodded and began chanting while moving.
"In the sky of a now distant forest. Infinite stars scattered in the endless night sky. Respond to my foolish voice, give me now divine protection of starfire. Grant the mercy of light to the one who abandoned you..."
She was swift, moving like the wind.
No matter how much the monsters tried to interrupt her, Ryuu was unbothered and continued to chant as if it were nothing.
'Concurrent chanting, the advanced casting technique that Mika told me about.'
Judas took note as he cast a couple of fireballs at a monster that charged toward him.
'She seems to be really good at it.'
Magic stones and item drops littered the ground, which Lyra quickly picked up, acting as the party's impromptu supporter.
"Seriously, making a pallum like me do this type of work... this seems a bit racist, don't you think?"
Lyra teased with a smirk.
"Put a sock in it, you shrimp. You were the one who volunteered in the first place."
Kaguya replied with a cold snort.
"Come, wandering wind, the wandering traveler. Cross the sky and run through the wilderness, run faster than anything else. Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy."
Ryuu's voice echoed throughout the chamber as dozens of glowing green orbs formed around her.
"Luminous Wind!"
The devastating explosion caused by her spell spoke volumes of its power.
Despite not being a mage, Ryuu's spell possessed the firepower to match one.
'Their teamwork is seamless. I, on the other hand, feel like a misplaced piece trying to force itself into the picture.'
Judas thought to himself.
The 13th to the 24th floors were classified as the middle floors.
If they were to go one level deeper, they would finally step foot into the lower floors.
'This lineup... it's a bit unfair.'
A party consisting of him, Alise, Kaguya, Ryuu, and Lyra.
Even if he were excluded, two Level 5s and two Level 4s were already too much for the monsters on the 24th floor.
Three days had passed since the chaos with Alfia shook the city.
After spending so much time with them these past few days, Judas had gotten to know a lot about the members of the Familia of Justice.
"Alright gang, let's go!"
Alise said with a smile as she decapitated a monster right in front of her.
Right now, their goal was to head to the 27th floor.
Judas followed them without saying a word.
'If we wanted a challenge, only the deeper floors could give us that.'
But he knew that was impossible.
Not to mention that it would take multiple days if they wanted to explore that deep into the dungeon.
The Astraea Familia were too busy preparing themselves for their upcoming expedition, with Lyra doing most of the logistical work.
They had the strength to venture into the deep floors, but simply couldn't afford to because of their responsibilities.
"Are you upset that we can't go further into the dungeon?"
Alise appeared beside him as the party walked down the stairway to the floor below.
"Not at all... I'm glad to be able to party with such great adventurers."
Hearing his flattery, Alise couldn't help but smirk as she felt her heart leap with joy.
"Of course... of course... to be able to fight alongside a perfect and pretty lady like myself... you are one lucky man, Judas."
Alise exclaimed, puffing out her chest.
"You two... be quiet. I sense a couple of monsters ahead."
Kaguya's sharp tone rang in their ears as she got into a battle stance and gripped her sword firmly.
The rest of the party looked at each other and nodded.
"Let's go!"
Alise brandished her sword as everyone jumped into action.
The monsters on these floors could only howl in agony in the face of their assault.
...
A few hours later, Judas and the rest of the party made their way toward the exit as Lyra stretched her arms the moment she saw the sky.
"It's always a refreshing feeling every time we come back to the surface."
Lyra said as she put down the giant bag she carried on her back.
"Now... it's time for us to split the loot once again."
The pink-haired pallum peeked inside the bag of loot.
"Here's your share, Judas... I did the calculations in my head. It should sell for around 5 million valis."
Lyra said as she distributed the loot and handed him a sack full of monster stones and item drops.
"You better not scam me this time, you sneaky pallum."
Judas grabbed the sack and slung it over his shoulder, where it hung against his back.
The first time they had partied together, Lyra had intentionally taken a chunk of his share without him knowing.
Since Judas was only a rookie who had just started out as an adventurer, he didn't know the exact values of many items and loot that could be found in the dungeon.
You might think that the knowledge he gained from Estelon would prevent that from happening.
However, you have to remember that the worldbuilding of Celestia and DanMachi are fundamentally different, even if they both fall under the same fantasy genre.
What's considered valuable in DanMachi might hold little worth in Celestia, while something rare in Celestia could be commonplace in DanMachi.
Judas isn't omniscient... he can't just know everything out of nowhere.
It wasn't until Alise and Ryuu caught on to what Lyra was doing that her little scheme was foiled.
Even though he was taking lessons from Rose, there was only so much he could learn in such a short amount of time.
This event made Judas realize how shallow his knowledge was, which was why he took Rose's lessons much more seriously.
"Hehe... come on, that was just a little prank."
Lyra flashed her pearly white teeth, not a shred of shame on her face.
"A prank, huh?"
A malicious grin spread across Judas' face as he cast a spell.
Seeing the look on his face, Lyra felt a sense of bad premonition.
'Ah, shit.'
The floor beneath Lyra turned to ice, causing her to slip and land on her back.
"Ouch!"
Sitting back up, Lyra rubbed her back and looked up at Judas, who was holding a piece of ore in his hands before tucking it into his bag of loot.
"An orichalcum ore you hid from me... now I actually have 5 million. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Lyra."
Judas said with the same cheeky grin she usually gave others.
"Touche..."
Lyra sighed in defeat.
"Deserved."
Alise said with a wide smile.
"Lyra, it is not good to scam your friends."
Ryuu admonished the pallum with a stern voice.
"Lyra, were you testing Judas just then?"
Kaguya asked as their gazes met.
"Eh... what are you talking about? I'm just a greedy pallum trying to make a quick buck."
Lyra said with a shrug, unbothered and nonchalant.
Everyone in the party stared at her with smiling faces, as if they had already figured out her hidden intentions.
'Looks like I got figured out.'
Lyra thought as she shifted her gaze to Judas.
'Well... with this... he shouldn't get tricked so easily now.'
She returned a smile.
The sun had begun to set, blessing the city with another peaceful night.
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