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

"..."

"What exactly is happening in the dungeon? What are you hiding?"

She asked Uranus, who remained silent.

Hestia let her voice echo in the dark altar and asked:

"What exactly is your divine will?"

The torch flame crackled.

Uranus's solemn face was illuminated by the firelight, and he spoke quietly.

The eyes, reminiscent of the heavens, stared directly at Hestia.

"I'll tell you what we've been keeping secret, Hestia—"

The sounds of swords and halberds echoed through the labyrinth.

Slashes and strikes went back and forth, the blade blocking the slashing blades and bursting into spectacular sparks.

The swift and sharp counterattack was blocked by a shield that appeared from the side. The impact that numbed the entire body through the arm was initially intimidating, but the armed warrior, propelled by the heat circulating throughout his body, experienced a significant tremor in his throat.

The beast's growl struck Bell and the others' ears.

Dungeon level 20.

Bell's team finally stepped into the unreached floor and began to invade deeper into it.

The "Great Tree Maze," with its identical structure to the 19th floor, continues to confuse them with its bark maze and countless plants. Dreamlike mossy light covers the ceiling and walls, making the adventurers' profiles appear in the gloom.

Following Lily's instructions with the map in hand, Bell and the others forged their way through the maze. The monsters spawned included giant beetles (Crazy Beetles) and poison mushrooms (Dark Poison Mushrooms), many of which were the same species as those on the previous floor. Their life-saving skill, Yatagarasu, perfectly thwarted the surprise attack. Bell and Welf applied their accumulated experience to the battle, further enhancing their safety and efficiency, allowing them to conquer the maze even faster than on the 19th floor.

Even so, new monsters will still appear.

This monster is now wielding its blade and attacking Bell and the others.

"Ruooooo!!"

"Ooh ooh! Ooh ooh ooh!"

Two strong lizard warriors roared and slashed at them.

The blade aimed at vital points was deflected by both Bell and Welf simultaneously.

"These two are quite something!"

Facing the lizard-man monster covered in red scales, Welf cursed.

Standing on two legs, their forelimbs strikingly similar poses to adventurers. Their physiques, exceeding 170cm, are almost as tall as Welf's. Among the various monsters, the two lizardmen particularly evoked in Bell a sense of camaraderie, like facing off against fellow monsters.

The biggest reason lies in the hands of the two monsters engaged in a "melee" at this moment.

The hands, with their sharp nails, held genuine "weapons."

"Flowers' natural weapon...!"

The two lizardmen are equipped with "landform"—a type of natural weapon supplied by the dungeon.

The large, steel-colored flowers blooming on the wall can be used as round shields by breaking off the stems. The petals can also be plucked from the flowers to make short swords with wider blades, which can be called petal cutters.

So far, they had only encountered monsters that used natural weapons such as wooden clubs or stone axes. These lizardmen were the first to use swords and shields in alternating offense and defense. They thrust their steel blades at Welf and then blocked Bell's dagger with their flower-shaped round shields.

The lizardman, who skillfully uses sword and shield, can indeed be considered a warrior.

"Shhhhh!!"

Because some sniper dragonflies were also shooting from behind in the air, Bell and the others were often forced to defend, allowing the two lizardmen to launch a fierce attack. With vertical slashes, horizontal slashes, and thrusts, the monster's powerful attacks were not to be underestimated, causing the weapons Bell and the others used to block the attacks to rattle and shatter the floor with a resounding thud.

Even if it's a brute-force attack, it's undoubtedly the swordsmanship of a monster.

"Monsters can use sword techniques, huh...! But!!"

Facing the monster's swordsmanship, Welf raised his greatsword and roared.

Just as Ming and Lily's arrows shot down all the sniper dragonflies, the counterattack began.

Welf drew the lizardman's slash, skillfully deflecting the petal-shaped dagger. In the blink of an eye, as the weaponless monster faltered, Welf seized the opening and raised his sword overhead.

The lizardman was taken aback and hid behind the shield on his left arm, but Welf laughed, deciding it was a last resort.

With a powerful flash, he cut the monster and its raised flower shield in two.

"Guye——!?"

The chest and shield separated, and the monster, having lost the "magic stone," turned to dust in the blink of an eye.

Seeing its companion killed, another lizardman reacted, but Bell, who was dealing with it, kicked the ground with rabbit-like speed.

"Gah!?"

Bell glided into his opponent's arms, flashing past with the "Ushiwakamaru Second Style" in a backhand grip.

The crimson blade shattered the scales and cleaved deep into the flesh.

Behind Bell, who swung his dagger to its hilt, the lizardman, his body torn apart, collapsed to the ground.

"I was startled at first, but the technique was too rough and lacked any flair."

"However, if these monsters increase in number in the future... the path to conquering the floors will remain treacherous."

As Welf, carrying his greatsword, expressed his rigorous thoughts, he finally ran out of arrows and switched his weapon from a quiver to a katana. Lily and the others quickly gathered the "magic stones" nearby.

"Perhaps some individuals will survive a long time and hone their swordsmanship to perfection."

"It's not that there's absolutely none... but what you're saying is too illogical, Lord Welf. Even if there were, they would become bounty targets, and the guild would issue a subjugation order (mandatory quest)."

Hearing his companions' conversation, Bell, having finished the battle, imagined the greedy, bloodthirsty lizardmen and continued deeper into the labyrinth with his team. "Lily... how much further?"

"If the map is correct, we should be there soon. Lord Bell, please turn right over there."

An hour has passed since we deviated from the main route.

Looking down at the area circled in red on the map—a cave on the edge of a building not far from the grain depot—Lily told Bell that the destination of the forced mission was almost there.

Everyone in the team was self-aware, and the tension increased with each step they took.

Clutching their backpacks, Lily and Haruhime desperately tried to hide their fatigue and endure the tension.

Welf, who usually cracks jokes to ease the tension in the team, also fell silent.

Having exhausted his spiritual energy by repeatedly using the [Yatagaraja (skill)], he drank a dual-attribute potion and wiped his mouth without saying a word.

Bale, standing at the forefront, was overwhelmed by a surge of superfluous thoughts, but he remained highly vigilant about his surroundings, slowly turning his head to look behind him.

As if sharing a deep connection with Bell, Winnie gazed at him with her swaying eyes.

Beneath the hood of his coat, the red stone on his forehead gleamed.

The team later fought the monster several more times.

The team climbed over the dense tree roots under their feet, climbed up the slope, and pushed aside the lush vegetation.

soon.

"arrive……"

Bell and the others arrived at the destination of the mandatory mission.

This was a rectangular cave, over ten meters wide and the same height as the ceiling. The ceiling and walls were made of the same bark, covered in luminous green moss.

Although the cave is not covered with grass, there are beautiful flower beds of green grass and small white flowers everywhere.

However, even more eye-catching than the flower beds is...

"Quartz..."

Perhaps due to its proximity to the granary, the cave was filled with deep green quartz reminiscent of emeralds. Each crystal emitted a faint glow, reminding Bell of the adventurer's quests Naza had given him and Lily. Seeing the quartz crystals of varying sizes growing through the bark of the ceiling, walls, and floor, Haruhime and the others sighed with emotion. Further ahead, along the far wall of the cave, were clusters of quartz—forming small, iceberg-like crystal clusters.

Besides this cave, much of the terrain around the grain depot has been eroded by quartz.

"We've arrived, but..."

"There's nothing there, and nobody there..."

Standing at the entrance to the passage, Welf and Ming looked around the cave, their brows furrowing in surprise.

At first glance, there are neither people nor monsters. The expanse of quartz is indeed dreamlike, but there is nothing special about it that would warrant designating it as a destination for a mandatory quest.

The only entrance and exit was the passageway where Bell and his companions were standing at that moment.

Of course, there was nowhere else to go.

"Lady Lily, is this the place...?"

"There's no mistake, it's...right here."

Lily took out the map and the floor map attached to the mandatory mission, and discussed it with Haruhime in confusion.

Faced with the tranquil space illuminated by moss and glowing quartz, Bell and his companions, feeling lost, decided to step into the cave to take a look.

The cave was brighter than the roads were now, thanks to the presence of quartz. To guard against the sudden emergence of monsters, the team huddled together, searching for any clues related to the mandatory quest.

However, the result was futile.

"There really is nothing there..."

"That's enough! What does the guild want from us?!"

Bell and the others gathered in the center of the cave, at a loss for what to do.

Welf wrapped his arms around his neck and complained, speaking for the team. The "Level Up" buff applied by Haruhime also disappeared over time.

The hidden fatigue—the energy expended climbing through the floors—surfaced, pressing down on everyone's shoulders, while the flowerbeds at their feet swayed slightly.

(—Oh, right, the line of sight…)

Unwittingly, Bell looked up from the squad.

The senses and presence that had increased when I set off from the Tower of Babel and when I reached the 19th floor all vanished.

That's right, the surveillance of them has disappeared.

Bell was pondering what this meant.

“——”

Shake.

Winnie's pointed ears wobbled again.

"I can hear you..."

Hearing her murmur, everyone turned around, exclaiming, "Huh?"

Winnie raised her face, gazing into the depths of the building, directly opposite the entrance, and closed her eyes.

Seeing the dragon girl listening intently, Bell and the others thought, "Could it be...?" and also focused their attention.

『——————』

I heard you.

The sound gradually grew louder, the clear melody lingered in my ears, and it was a song I had never heard before.

Bell and the others were so shocked they were speechless.

"The song echoes through the labyrinth..."

Hearing the beautiful song, so gentle yet so undignified, reminiscent of the calm sea at night, Lily seemed to remember something and whispered.

"Is it calling... us?"

Winnie opened her eyes and her gaze drifted towards the direction of the singing.

Bell and the others also knew that the melody came from deep within the building, from a corner of the crystal cluster covering that wall.

Without saying a word to each other, their feet moved naturally, as if lured by the song, towards the deepest part of the cave.

The group paused before magnificent piles of quartz—lush columns of deep green crystal.

At first glance, it was just an unremarkable quartz garden... but in one spot, there was a faintly glowing crystal. Seeing the quartz vibrate slightly with the singing, Bell and the others exchanged glances and nodded.

Welf, wielding his greatsword, stepped forward and smashed it to pieces in one go.

There was a sharp clang like glass breaking, and the quartz shattered into pieces, revealing the hole that was originally blocked.

“…No wonder I couldn’t find it.”