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

Liu tossed her hair wildly and howled like a ghost.

Just when all the complicated emotions plunged the three of them into chaos.

A roar suddenly resounded.

*

That chilling shout instantly silenced the entire building.

Bell couldn't breathe, Liu froze on the spot, and Jarrow's one-armed body convulsed.

The adventurer's long-cultivated sense of adventure and the instincts of a living being sounded the loudest alarm bells.

The chilling wind blew by in an instant.

The entire floor shook, followed by a very brief silence, and then "they" rushed into the cave.

"Eeee ...

Led by Perse, the adventurers appeared.

It seems to be the main force of the subjugation team that Bell and Ryuya had seen before.

However, the number of people in the team has obviously decreased.

Their entire appearance was also covered in bloodstains, with everyone's clothes and armor splattered with blood.

The large amount of blood did not come from their bodies.

Bell's eyes froze.

"Persephone—"

The sound disappeared halfway through its call.

At the entrance to the cave, in the depths of darkness.

The crimson gaze that appeared in the hazy distance seized his heart.

That is...

The next moment.

The "shadow" pierced through the darkness and vanished.

"──"

First came the sound of the crystal floor shattering, then a stunning diagonal line shot past, grazing the fleeing Perth and his companions.

The "Shadow" continued its undiminished speed, flying diagonally above Bell and the others.

Bell didn't have time to react.

As he turned around as if struck by lightning, he discovered that Perth's group was one person short.

Before Bell could understand what that meant, fear compelled him to turn and look behind him.

There was no one behind him.

"Ah...ah ah..."

on top.

"That" is like a spider, clinging to the junction of the ceiling and the wall.

At the same time, it will tear a desperate adventurer apart between its fangs.

"──────"

The body, illuminated by the crystal chandelier, was slender yet enormous.

It has two arms and two legs. The arms are so long and thin that they seem disproportionate to its enormous body, sending chills down your spine. The legs are equally long and thin, with reversed joints. What's astonishing is that its body has almost no muscles; covering its bony frame is an armor-like "shell" that is wrapped in an incredible blue-purple glow. A stiff tail, at least four meters long, extends from its waist.

Its head, with its complex protrusions, resembled a beast's skeleton, and deep within its two empty eye sockets lay clusters of blood-red light. Those clusters were a deeper, more gaudy color than Bell's deep red pupils.

"A dinosaur fossil wearing armor."

If I had to describe it, that's the whole picture.

In the dungeons inhabited by countless monsters, it still clearly belongs to the "alien species".

"──"

Its imposing presence—crushing and seizing the crystal with its claws while maintaining a head-down, feet-up posture as it surveyed the scene—was strikingly tall, standing at three meters. Undoubtedly, it belonged to the large-scale category.

The most unusual part is the "claws," which are often mistaken for fangs.

Those were six slender fingertips, disproportionately large, shimmering with a deep purple glow.

Upon seeing that figure, Liu was filled with despair, while Jaluo wore a stiff smile.

The "monster" that caused the "tragedy" five years ago reappears in front of Ryu and the others, and this is the first time it has appeared before Bel.

Its crimson eyes swept over the remaining adventurers.

"Help, help me—"

then.

With a soft gurgling sound.

Time seemed to stand still for Bell and the others. Before their eyes, the creature seized the adventurer with its fangs and crushed him without hesitation.

*

That was the culprit behind the tragedy that struck the Astrea Familia.

At the time, it was generally believed that advancing to the first-level adventurer was only a matter of time. The talented girls were ravaged by this single "monster," and their future was thus sealed.

Lv.3, two.

Lv.4, number eight.

It took the sacrifice of ten second-level adventurers to finally drive away the "nameless monster".

This monster, which was not recorded in the records of the governing body (guild), was given this name by the old god (Uranus):

"Zagnat".

Meaning: destroyer.

*

The head fell silently from between the teeth and shattered on the ground.

The sight terrified Perth and the others, causing Bell's thoughts to come to a standstill.

As for the "monster," it has taken action.

"──"

The instant the knee extends or retracts in a reverse joint.

Its figure disappeared again.

“──!?”

An illogical acceleration force.

The wind pressure is strong enough to slap your hair.

A blue-purple diagonal line moving too fast.

Bell barely managed to react, and the next moment after turning to dodge...

Screams erupted on the spot.

"Gahh ...

The orc man was dismembered.

Leaving a deep purple trail, the fleeting "claw" claimed his life.

Just one hit.

The killings were ruthless.

The long tail, like a flail, swept across, deforming the two dwarves' bodies, causing them to cough up blood and fall to the ground.

The raised hand slammed down, crushing the elf and embedding it into the ground. The elf was thus held in the palm of the hand, becoming a victim of the fang-like "claws," turning into chunks of flesh, its limbs peeled off its body.

The creature began to devour the human from the head.

Before Bell could even comprehend it, five people had already "died."

"Oh, oh ...

Nearly insane avant-garde adventurers raised their greatswords, hammers, spears, and battle axes high above their heads.

But just moments before, the reverse-joint leg bent slightly, and the crystal floor shattered.

With a leap to the side, "Zagnat" caused all three attacks to end in mid-air, landing on the side of the giant crystal cluster and pushing off with his feet.

The slanted shot that erupted again sent the upper bodies of the three forwards flying into the air.

The colossal blue-purple body still wouldn't stop.

It landed on a crystal pillar growing inside the cave, then leaped around, unleashing a chaotic dance of death.

"Eek, ee-yaaaaaa!?"

Whenever a shadow flashes by, an adventurer coughs up blood, and their torn armor flies into the air.

The complex, crisscrossing diagonal lines resembled a spider web surrounding Perth and his companions. Those caught in the web vomited blood one after another, or lost limbs, collapsing one by one.

—This is the true nature of the "calamity" that appeared in the girl's (Cassandra's) precognitive dream.

Only such high-speed maneuvers, impossible on a large scale, can make the actions that even the floor master cannot perform a reality.

In a cavern at least fifty meters wide, exaggerated leg strength, like a bullet, moves from one edge to another, capable of swiftly eliminating pathogens—annihilating all adventurers.

It bounced like a bullet through the passageway, leaping continuously between the ground, ceiling, and walls, instantly slaughtering countless adventurers in this killing space. It didn't even give them time to comprehend what was happening.

Faced with this nightmare of resurgence, Ryu's voice grew dry.

Even Jallu, the one who started the whole thing, was trembling.

Bell's pupils contracted.

Adventurers fell one after another.

The brave warrior and his shield turned to dust.

The cowardly man who turned to flee was stabbed.

The mage transformed his trembling incantation into a requiem and was slaughtered.

It wasn't even a battle; it was just ravaging.

In just a few seconds, the bodies were dumped, leaving only bones, a scene that was emotionally devastating.

Faced with the cold-blooded and ruthless scene of torture, the boy felt neither fear nor despair; he simply shed the shackles of emotion.

"────!!"

An emotional outburst.

Bell frowned and glared, letting out a roar that was not uttered in words, and charged headlong into the killing field.

"Mr. Craney!?"

For Bell, not rushing to the labyrinth and instead witnessing the deaths of other adventurers was perhaps a stroke of luck.

For a boy who loses his composure at the slightest sign of death.

Bell shook off Liu's screams and accelerated further.

"Ughh ...

Orc brothers, Amazons who are just as capable as men, and Perth who has lost his battle axe; ruthless fangs and claws approach these people who once teamed up with Bell.

—Don't even think about it! Don't even think about it! Don't even think about it!

Bell picked up the greatsword that had fallen to the ground after losing its user, and while channeling his passion into a shout, he swung it at the rapidly moving diagonal.

"!!"

A low, muffled thud followed.