Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

Page 1081

Of all the people, only Lefia reacted differently.

She tossed her thick, golden hair and walked out alone from the ranks of adventurers.

"Lefia...!"

Seeing the girl step forward to confront the enemy, the members of the Loki Familia felt a sense of foreboding and tensed up.

To this elven girl, the "masked man" was a mortal enemy who slaughtered her own kind—

Therefore, she must be determined to seek revenge.

Everyone was worried that this silence was just the calm before the storm.

Despite being a mage, Lefia was standing at the forefront, confronting the enemy. The members of the Loki Familia rushed forward to try and stop her—

"actually……"

Contrary to everyone's worries, Rafia's voice sounded very calm.

Her azure eyes were fixed directly on the "masked man".

"I've always been puzzled and wondered 'who you really are'."

"..."

Even though you always hide behind the urban destroyers, you always act "strangely".

"..."

"You always give off a feeling that 'something's not right' about you."

The girl's voice echoed in the cave.

The masked man remained silent as always.

The adventurers couldn't understand what Lefia was trying to say.

Even Bert frowned deeply, listening quietly as she continued.

With everyone present stopping what they were doing and forced to wait and see, Lefia continued speaking at length to the "masked man":

No matter when, you will always appear in front of me.

"Not planning to reveal your name? Then let me 'check the answers' first."

Loki casually placed the magic lamp on the ground in front of Ernie, who was dressed in black.

There are several torches already lit here, so no additional lighting is needed.

Loki raised his head, revealing a defiant gaze as he stared at the god, adopting an attitude that if he gave the wrong "answer," the face hidden behind the mask could laugh out loud.

"First of all, the reason you refused to reveal your true colors until the very last moment... was not to avoid the plan being exposed before the city was destroyed."

"..."

"Of course, it's not based on caution or fear, but on the fact that you've appeared before us so openly. You're very good at playing the field, always putting on an innocent and harmless act."

Loki admits that Ernie is one of the people around him.

This is actually a "declaration of defeat".

After all, this method was both ingenious and daring. He pretended to be innocent and blended into everyone's daily life. Even Loki, who was known for his quirky and mischievous nature in the heavens, or Hermes, failed to see through his true colors.

"The second point is that your plan began six years ago. Perhaps you had been considering destroying the labyrinth city even earlier... but I believe your plan only took shape at that time."

"..."

"The turning point was—'The Nightmare of the 27th Floor'."

Faced with the still silent "Enior", Loki continued speaking.

"On the day the nightmare occurred, the 'Filthy Fairy' lurking in the 'deep layer'... or more accurately, its 'avatar' was attracted to the 'lower layer' by something. That's when you found the final piece of the puzzle to complete the plan."

That was the day Olivas Actor, the executor of the incident, became a monster.

The embodiment of the "Filthy Fairy" is indeed in the "Lower Dimensions." Loki's implication is that "Ernio" is the only divine being who has noticed this.

"The third point follows on from the second point. After you made contact with the 'Filthy Fairy' and reached an agreement, in order to carry out the plan, you arranged for the remnants of the dark faction to join forces with the 'Filthy Fairy's' underground forces. However, you never showed yourself from beginning to end. You only handled things through a strange person named Ruivis and the 'Masked Man'."

"..."

"At first glance, you seem to be cleverly controlling the dark factions and underground forces, but in reality, you're caught in the middle and doing a thankless job. Especially when you accept the unreasonable demands of the weirdos and have to go find 'Arya'."

Hearing Loki's words, which seemed to show that he had seen through his true identity hidden in the black clothes, Ernie did not interrupt.

Instead, he replied with amusement, "I'm all ears," implying that he was urging Loki to continue "comparing answers" with him.

"The man-eating flower I encountered back then... the Monster Festival incident, was something the monsters forced you to do. It was all to find 'Arya.' You didn't actually want to cause that incident—no, it would be more accurate to say you didn't care at all."

"..."

"When you noticed that the guild... Uranus and the others concealed the existence of the 'heretics,' they did a lot of things to force them to lose credibility, right? The reason was that it would make it easier for them to act. For example, having a drunkard question the old god was one of those tactics."

Loki spoke with absolute certainty, mentioning Dionysus, who always seemed to contradict the guild.

"Ernio's" biggest miscalculation was that a certain "goddess" triggered an event at the same time in order to test the strength of a certain "boy".

Originally, the plan was to create a disturbance centered around the Monster Festival to attract more adventurers, but the "Charmed Monster" caused trouble first, causing the Ganesha Familia and Loki Familia to react in advance. This swift action forced Enyo to miss the opportunity to simultaneously release the carnivorous plants deployed in the sewers.

The carnivorous plants that Bert and Loki found in the water tank, as well as the carnivorous plants that Finn and others destroyed in various sewers, were all individuals that could not be recovered in time.

"Let me state this first: I believe you already know who 'Arya' is. After all, a 'tainted fairy' that has absorbed a lot of 'fairy essence' will only seek the existence of fairy essence. That can only be the 'fairy essence' itself—or the inheritor of the 'fairy essence' bloodline."

In conclusion, "Arya" has indeed been found.

Another unexpected event for "Ernio" was that the strange man actually found "Arya" through his own power.

That is, Ais.

"The 'Filthy Fairy' that appeared in the 'Nightmare of the 27th Floor' was brought here by Ais. Ever since she joined my Familia and first used 'Fairy Wind' in the dungeon—the 'Filthy Fairy' has noticed her presence."

That's right.

The real beginning was "nine years ago".

It was also around the time when the young girl Ais Valentine became famous.

The day she first cast "magic" in order to defeat the black winged dragon summoned by Death by a twist of fate.

The "filthy fairy spirit" deep underground sensed the presence of its "compatriots".

Moreover, it took the "Filthy Immortal Essence" a long time to reach the lower levels.

The real reason why the "Filthy Fairy," which had been lurking deep within the underground city since ancient times, suddenly became active during this period was because of Ais's existence.

"In order to gain the assistance of the underground forces, you have no choice but to take Ais seriously."

"..."

"Therefore, the city's largest faction had to be drawn into it."

And this is certainly the worst-case scenario for "Ernio".

After all, he was forced to deliberately involve the city's largest faction in the heart of the incident.

"...Let me tell you my conclusion."

Loki revealed a sharp, piercing gaze and said to the steadfastly silent Enyo:

"The true nature of 'Eni' is—"

"The initial feeling of 'something' amiss was when we were chasing Miss Ais to the food warehouse on the 24th floor..."

Lefia stared directly at the masked man and began to speak eloquently.

"When I was talking to Mr. Bert and the others, I was the only one who sensed the 'magic'."

"What?"

Bert raised an eyebrow when he heard his name called.

"As long as you still have the nerve to say that your only strength is magic, you'll be nothing but a burden for the rest of your life."

Rafia was referring to the time when Bert gave her a severe scolding.

—"Magic"...?

Lefia did indeed sense "magic" at that time.

Only Lefia noticed the "aura" of the "masked man" who had been secretly following them all along.

As for this "unsettling feeling" called "magic," it is one of the clues that brings Lefia's "hypothesis" closer to the "truth."

"The next 'sense of something being wrong' occurred during the first intrusion into the artificial maze."

Finn was seriously wounded by Revis's surprise attack, and his troops were scattered by the enemy.

While Ais, Grace, and the others were scattered due to the trap set by the descendants of the master craftsmen, Lefia and the others who remained on the upper level were isolated.

"You deliberately appeared in front of us and pretended not to notice us, making us follow you in order to guide us to the entrance and exit of the maze."

Rafia was trapped in the maze with Philwis at the time.

The "masked man" appeared alone at this very moment.

Lefia and her companions were able to discover the "door" leading to the outside of the man-made maze because they followed the "masked man." Conversely, they wouldn't have found the "door" if they hadn't followed the masked man.

Looking back now, it all seems like such a coincidence.

Whether it was the "masked man" who happened to appear, or his unawareness that Lefia and the others were following behind him as a monster, it all came together.

In other words──

"When we got separated from the leader and the others and were trapped in the man-made maze, you did it to help us... no, it was just to let me escape the maze."

The adventurers erupted into chaos after hearing this.

Calling it confusion would be a more accurate description.

They whispered, suspecting the girl was just daydreaming.

Even Bert looked at her with suspicion.

However, Rafia continued speaking.

"The last 'sense of unease' was that the person I cherished... died tragically in front of me."

The "masked man" shuddered slightly, his indigo robe swaying as he did so.

Recalling the scene was still quite painful, and she hesitated whether to reveal the girl's name, but Lefia eventually continued to explain.

She blurted out her conjectures about the "truth" in one breath.

"This is so strange. How could I possibly have been saved back then?"

Lefia could no longer suppress the questions in her heart.

"We should be in the central area of the ninth floor with Mr. Grace and the others, so how did we manage to reach the entrance to the dungeon where Miss Angie and the others are located?"

His tone became increasingly agitated.

"How did we manage to escape to the vicinity of the 'escape' by sheer luck!?"

Emotions overflowed like a burst dam.

"You pretended to launch a surprise attack—and chased me all the way to the entrance of the maze!"

Heart-wrenching cries echoed through the cave.

Even if my heart is deeply wounded... you still want me to stay away from man-made mazes.

Lefia's azure eyes were filled with tears, and her lips trembled.

"You've always... been protecting me."

It was as if time stood still at the scene.

The adventurers were so shocked they were speechless.

Bert stood there, dumbfounded.

The masked man remained silent, seemingly in great agony.