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

Several hours have passed since they entered the 19th floor, and the team has been using the "Demon Sword" to withstand the monster's repeated attacks.

Fragments of the "Demon Sword," exceeding its limits of use, scattered from Lily's hands.

"Did he die of old age...? He was a bit too dependent."

"That was...!"

"I understand, it is indeed appropriate to use it in that situation... Then there is the issue of the strength of the 'Demon Sword' itself."

Welf looked down at the remains of the "Demon Sword" with a complicated expression, stopping Lily's rebuttal with one hand.

While the power of "Krozo's Demon Sword" is guaranteed, its durability is low.

Caught between the skill of the magic swordsmith and the craftsman's insistence, "This is my problem," Welf said rudely. In any case, the battle was finally over.

"Bell! Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, and I'm not injured."

"But then Lord Welf will only have two 'magic swords' left... Lady Lily, where are you currently?"

"We've gone more than halfway up the 19th floor, and we're almost at the 20th floor."

Bell smiled at Winnie, who was running towards him waving her fire spirit protective suit, while he checked on Lily's condition to see what was going on with his life.

On the map she produced, three-quarters of the main route had already been used. Currently, one of the three "magic swords" was lost, and elixirs and magical potions were being consumed faster than expected. Everyone's weapons were intact and in good condition. As long as you ignore the remaining supplies, things were not bad.

After briefly sharing the intelligence, Bell and his team quickly took their next step.

Everyone gathered around Lily and began collecting the spoils.

"Lily has reminded us several times already that we must pick up all the 'magic stones.' If monsters pick them up and eat them, we won't be able to handle it. We should also try to take as many 'dropped items' as possible. ...If there's nothing too big, just throw them in the grass."

"Okay, okay."

"I want to help too!"

Lily gave instructions to erase any traces of the group's classified mandatory mission. Winnie also came to help, and the supporters had their companions guard them as they carried out the operation, allowing Bell and the others to leave the cave.

Haruhime used "Level Up" on Welf again, and everyone started moving forward again.

"We've come this far, and there are more monsters than on the previous floors, which I can understand... but it seems like there are more of them than when Bell and I came here together?"

"It's probably because there are no other adventurers; the monsters are likely targeting us."

"Continuous battles are inevitable, but there are just too many enemies," Welf asked, and Lily answered him.

There are many reasons, but generally speaking—if I had to give an example, it's because vicious adventurers are more likely to appear—few teams explore the dungeon between late night and early morning, and adventurers based in towns (Rivera) also avoid this time. As they checked the map and entered a side path, Lily explained that it made sense for monsters to gather together to attack a small number of prey.

"..."

"Lord Winnie?"

"I feel so nostalgic... but it's also so scary... so cold."

Winnie looked around the "Big Tree Maze" and touched her chest anxiously.

Haruhime was a timid person, shaking her fox ears and tail nervously, but when she saw the girl's expression, her eyes widened, and then she made up her mind to hold her hand.

Bell glanced at the two girls in the middle of the team and became more alert. Having already encountered many monsters on different floors, he didn't forget to use [Yatagaraja (skill)] intermittently. Like everyone else, Lily and Welf, who had naturally become taciturn, were also on high alert, watching for when the monster would break through the bark wall and appear.

Like the interior of a giant tree, the floors are all very high. There are several small tree hollows, many of which are hiding places for monsters. The passageways are also very wide, and the surrounding area is overgrown with plants unique to this region, as if to confuse and bewilder lost adventurers.

Mushrooms with red and blue spots, perennial grasses with scattered golden down, and tree sap dripping like honey from the bark walls. At the end of the road, the cave floor was covered with a whole field of silver flowers, making Bell think that if he had a talent for painting, he would love to preserve this beautiful scene in a painting.

The encounter with the monster was temporarily interrupted, creating the illusion of calm before the storm. The team maintained their formation, going as far as they could.

(...someone is watching us again, and...)

The number of lines of sight has increased.

Bell looked around at the maze of trees and plants, a stirring running through his skin.

A mysterious stalker, or the gaze of a watcher, who has followed us all the way from the surface.

Since stepping onto this 19th floor, the number has increased, no doubt about it.

The tree holes overhead, the countless branching paths, the shadowy groves behind them—even with their eyes scanning these places, they couldn't catch a single suspicious shadow. But at this moment, they held their breath, spying on the team.

Who exactly are they, and what are their motives?

An incomprehensible terror constantly churned within me.

Bell felt short of breath and uneasy, but he could only keep going.

He gripped the Hestia Blade, which was equipped in his right hand, tightly.

"...?"

Suddenly.

The small group, which had been meticulously processing the itinerary, slowed its pace. The expanding scenery ahead gradually intensified their sense of bewilderment.

Bell and the others finally stopped and looked up at the grass wall that stood tall.

"There's no way out..."

"Did we...did we take the wrong turn?"

"Hey, Riko, what's going on?"

"Please, please wait! This shouldn't be happening..."

A giant colony of fungi has blocked a single road that has become extremely narrow in both width and height.

Mushrooms with red and blue spots grow in clusters, forming a silent wall.

Faced with a dead end that they could not move forward, Mikoto and Haruhime panicked, while Lily, who was being criticized by Welf, frantically tried to unfold the map.

"This... is strange."

During this time, Bell heard Winnie's murmured words as she sniffled.

The scene in front of him gave him an unexpected sense of déjà vu.

(——)

Then, he immediately realized that this strange feeling was a "warning".

It was neither abrupt nor a déjà vu experience, like an illusion.

A certain older sister-like specialist (a half-elf) once taught me this "knowledge".

Oh no—by the time he realized it, it was too late.

Multiple mushrooms forming a cluster, with organs resembling eyes emerging from beneath their enormous caps.

“————————”

The fungi of various sizes abandoned their mimicry, their bodies instantly turning blackish-purple, and they all began to move.

"—No! It's a 'Dark Poison Mushroom'!?"

Lily screamed at the frozen squad as if her throat was about to tear apart.

"Dark Fungus".

Having zero prior experience, these fungal monsters evaded the deadly detection net (skill). They hid alongside the giant fungi that roamed the dungeons, waiting for their prey to come to them.

The mushroom monster, which is considered one of the representative monsters of the "Great Tree Labyrinth" alongside insect monsters, unleashed a poison attack with an extremely wide range of effects.

"————!!"

The mushroom cap swelled up in an instant.

The eruption is a poisonous spore far more potent than that of the "Upper Layer" Purple Moth. If directly struck by this highly toxic "abnormal attack," even a large-scale monster would immediately lose its ability to move.

The next instant, a series of eruptions, like a massive explosion, rang out.

Lily and the others failed to take immediate action, resulting in fatal consequences as a large amount of purple poisonous fog sprayed and spread in front of them.

— Almost at the same time.

"【Flame and Lightning】!!"

Bell took action.

He was the only one who had received instruction from Eina, learned the knowledge and strategies, and was able to stand up and defend against the poisonous fog in time.

The Nine-Shot Strike of Flame and Lightning, true to its name as a "Quick Attack Magic," transformed into a raging torrent of flames that engulfed the swarm of poisonous mushrooms.

The flames burned away along with the poisonous spores that were about to spread widely.

"~ ...

Surrounded by the flames they feared most, the fungus monsters swayed their heavy bodies and struggled in agony.

One by one, the poisonous mushrooms burned to death deep within the fire, and the flames even spread to a giant mushroom-like creature that was not a monster.

Some of the purple powder escaped burning and struggled with the sparks as Lily and the others were about to take emergency refuge—but the dungeon roared, determined not to let its prey escape.

After breaking through the wall of flames created by Bell, a giant boar appeared in front of them.

"Fighting wild boars!?"

That was a large monster with a body length of two meters.

It broke through the wall of fire with its ferocious speed, its fur standing on end as it pursued the adventurers.

Not only that, the giant boar roared as if leading a herd of beasts, followed by a group of bear-like monsters.

"hateful!?"

Welf abandoned his escape attempt and rushed into the poison powder.

He dropped his greatsword and, as he passed by, snatched a large shield from Lily's backpack.

To protect his companions from pursuit, he raised his shield in front of the "fighting wild boar".

"Whoa whoa!!"

"!!"

The silver shield he had forged collided violently with the giant boar's body.

Faced with an attack that could send several high-level adventurers flying in one blow, Welf, enveloped in the glow of "Level Ascension," buried his feet in the ground and managed to survive by only taking a slight step back.

Immediately afterwards, he rushed toward the monster that had stopped and pounced on it.

“Haaaa!”

She leaped over Welf and drew one of the twin swords, Earth Cripple, directly above the giant boar.

The short sword was drawn like an iaido slash, severing half of the "Fighting Boar's" neck, causing blood to gush out. As the massive body swayed and fell to the ground, its life came crashing down, its face covered in splattered blood.

"—Call M"

As for Bell, he charged towards the monsters following behind the giant pig.

He used his dual-blade weapon—a series of flashing blue-purple slashes that severed the bear-beast's head—and with a fluid crimson second strike, he slaughtered another almost simultaneously. Bell's natural speed disrupted and toyed with the enemy horde, plunging them into a chaotic melee.

Bell was almost wiping out the bear beasts when Welf and Mikoto, equipped with a greatsword and a katana respectively, joined the battle. The three of them used different methods to pile up the monster corpses.

"Haa, ha...!"

Bell defeated the last monster, and the battle ended.

Beside the still-burning giant mushroom, the three men's disordered breathing mingled.

Haruhime gasped at the sight of the mountain of corpses and rushed to the exhausted Bell and the others, but Lily grabbed her hand. "Not yet," she said. In front of her, a few poisonous mushroom spores still lingered, swirling in the air.

"Excuse me, could you please give me the antidote...?"

“Okay, okay!”

When Welf returned, he was covered in cold sweat and managed to groan.

Haruhime hurriedly handed him a test tube filled with green solution, and Welf, who had been "poisoned" by inhaling the spores, drank it all.

"Damn it, Bell almost burned it to the ground, and it's still so bad... If he just rushes in without doing anything, I don't think even a high-level adventurer could last long."

"These symptoms are actually quite mild; I've heard that in severe cases, it takes a long time to recover..."

If you're unlucky, you might even die on the spot. Lily told him this while deftly preparing the necessary items for Welf, who was adjusting his breathing. "Lord Bell and Lord Fate..."

"It's not so uncomfortable that even standing is uncomfortable..."

"I feel a bit weak in my limbs."