The weapons I forge are absolutely flawless.

So where exactly did things go wrong?

Jessica frowned in deep thought.

Reality doesn't give her much time to think.

"Human! Don't even think about escaping!"

A slender and sharp figure streaked across the sky.

Jessica, who already knew all the information about the demons in the dungeon by heart, recognized the other party's identity at a glance: the Gluttonous Demon Atiga.

For magical beasts, the accumulation of magic energy will cause their size to increase.

The degree of danger can be roughly judged from the size of the body.

The demons, on the other hand, have realized through years of fighting against humans that their massive bodies are a superfluous burden when dealing with powerful humans, especially heroes.

On the contrary, they are most terrifying when they compress their internal magic to the extreme and transform into this seemingly fragile but actually infinitely potential form.

As Yati resisted the seal, he condensed his body into his strongest fighting stance, consuming a large amount of magic energy every second, clearly driven by rage.

Jessica wouldn't choose to fight at this time.

She put the Lion King's Heart into her palm, then raised her hand and made a slash, creating another spatial rift.

"drink!"

Seeing Jessica preparing to pass through the spatial rift again, Artiga, in a fit of rage, opened his massive maw, and an unprecedented suction force burst forth from his mouth.

Even Jessica, who was hundreds of meters away, seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and involuntarily staggered backward.

Faced with this sudden crisis, Jessica's eyes narrowed. The portal, which was originally only big enough for one person to pass through, suddenly expanded under her control, turning into a bottomless vortex that instantly swallowed her entire body.

"Shh-"

The spatial rift closed rapidly after swallowing Jessica's figure, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion.

"Damn it!!!"

Atiga's furious and resentful roar echoed through the empty seventh level of the dungeon.

-----------------

With a soft "whoosh," Jessica stepped out of the spatial rift like a ghost, but all around her was still a vast expanse of yellow sand.

No matter how hard the Gluttonous Demon racked his brains, he probably never imagined that Jessica would not take advantage of the opportunity to escape the dungeon, but instead return to the Gluttonous Demon's place of imprisonment in an almost provocative manner.

Before Atiga returned, she used her sword as a brush to draw intricate magic patterns among the floating sand.

The magical runes were slowly imprinted on the sand beneath the surface, creating a subtle resonance with the sealing array at the very bottom of the ground.

When Atiga returns, he will be met with shackles that are several times stronger than before.

“Take all of these with you.”

After inscribing the seal, Jessica tossed the Lion King's Heart into the air.

The Lion King's Heart instantly transformed into a lion and began sweeping around, soon devouring the remaining monster skeletons.

After doing all this, Jessica's face was slightly pale, and her magic energy was almost depleted.

“I will come again.”

Jessica whispered.

He then wrote a few meaningful lines on the sand before disappearing into the spatial rift in a flash.

Just moments after Jessica's figure vanished into thin air, Atiga had already sped back. As soon as it landed, a belated sonic boom echoed through the air.

Even though its speed in its burst state exceeds the speed of sound, it can only follow behind Jessica's spatial teleportation and be left in the dust.

Facing the nest, which was even emptier than usual, and seeing the words "Jessica was here" on the ground, Atiga felt a pang of anger in his chest.

"Cough cough cough—"

An indescribable anger caused its chest to heave violently, and it finally couldn't help but bend over, letting out a series of painful and suppressed retching sounds.

For many years, they have only fed on yellow sand, and even if they wanted to vomit, they couldn't vomit anything else—that's how it should be.

Finally, a strange gel-like substance gushed from Atiga's throat and splattered onto the yellow sand with a "plop".

The colloid slowly spread and coalesced on the ground, transforming into a miniature humanoid doll, whose outline could be vaguely discerned.

“Rimuru?!” Atiga stared wide-eyed at the figure that was only the size of a palm.

Rimuru, now only the size of a palm, nodded with difficulty.

Most of its original form was destroyed by Jessica, leaving it in a worse state than before it became a demon, and it had even lost the ability to speak.

But at least he survived.

"Hahaha, I knew you wouldn't be so easily eliminated!" Atiga was overjoyed.

-----------------

"Shh-"

A spatial rift the size of a palm suddenly opened.

A crystal-clear katana sprang out from the crack.

The katana spun continuously in the air before finally crashing to the ground with a "thud," turning into a puddle of seemingly fragile, transparent mud.

After a long while, the mud began to slowly flow.

One is all, and all is one.

Rimuru is a demon that transforms from a slime. No matter how many parts it is divided into, it is still Rimuru the Demon.

Even a tiny, insignificant part of the body can stubbornly survive after losing contact with its original body.

In the direction it was heading, there was a sword.

A sword stuck in a stone.

Chapter 239 Metaphysical Guidance

"This is the last teleportation array."

Felix was the last to leave his mark on the teleportation array.

"But we still haven't been able to find the token left by the hero." There was a hint of regret in Listy's voice.

It was already the third night that Venus and her two companions had been exploring deep into the dungeon.

On their first day, they quickly cleared the second level of the dungeon and, after obtaining the map to the third level, swiftly completed the collection task assigned by the academy.

The following day, following Viner's advice, the group activated five of the eight teleportation arrays in one go, following the passage cleared by the Blue Lions.

On the morning of the third day, Vina was fully recovered, and the team finally regained its full strength.

However, the safe passages cleared by the Blue Lions before were eventually occupied by new monsters, returning to their former perilous state.

As a result, the three of them had to face numerous difficulties once again before they were able to light up the last two teleportation arrays.

“If it were that easy to find, we wouldn’t have a chance,” Wiener reassured him.

The keepsake left by Arios in the third layer is similar to the Holy Sword in some ways; its whereabouts are elusive and it can change its location at unpredictable times.

To encounter it, both luck and skill are indispensable.

The three of them simply followed the path taken by the Blue Lions and explored the third level of the dungeon briefly, so it was normal that they did not encounter any tokens left by Arios.

"Anyway, we'll explore deeper into the third level tomorrow, and we're sure to find it." Felix remained optimistic.

"If only it could go that smoothly." Lisette shook her head slightly upon hearing this, and then offered her suggestion, "If we still haven't found the Hero's token by tomorrow, I suggest we leave the dungeon first."

“Is this a good idea?” Vena asked Lisette.

He had lured Lysette to the dungeon by using Arios's token as a pretext.

Although they have collected materials worth several hundred credits, they still have no clue about the most important item: the Hero's Token.

Lisette clearly doesn't care about these few credits; from her perspective, this dungeon run is practically the same as a wasted trip.

"I've calculated the wear and tear on our equipment and the remaining supplies; we can only hold out for two more days at most."

"The dungeon refresh cycle is in two days, and we must leave before it refreshes," Listy explained.

“One day probably isn’t enough time to find the token left by Arios,” Venere cautioned.

“There won’t be a next time or the time after that. We can’t put everyone in danger for the sake of some vague token, can we?” Lisette retorted.

Wiener glanced in Felix's direction.

“Don’t look at me! You guys decide whether to stay or leave, I’m open to anything,” Felix immediately stated.

He valued the weapons that Vena forged for him more than the rewards from exploring the dungeons.

Every time he went into the dungeon, Venere would always manage to create some new toys for herself, and that alone was enough to satisfy Felix.

With one of the three having already abstained, Lisette turned her attention to Vina.

Wiener scratched his head and couldn't help but smile wryly: "I thought I was the one who would bring this up, but you beat me to it."

As the organizer among the three, Wiener naturally had to consider everything in advance.

He naturally wouldn't miss the dungeon's refresh time, and he was also aware of the team's supply consumption. The reason he hadn't mentioned leaving yet was that he didn't want to spoil the mood too early.

Vena noticed the glint in Lisette's eyes when she mentioned the hero.

At least until the mystery of Arios's fate is confirmed, Venere hopes to maintain the beautiful image in her heart.

"Why would you hide something like this?" Lisette asked, puzzled.

“I thought you’d be completely captivated by the word ‘hero,’” Venere replied truthfully.

"Don't treat me like a child." Lisette punched Venus's shoulder repeatedly as a form of discipline.

If Vena were replaced with anyone else, Lysette would never have agreed to their request simply because of the word "hero."

"Very well, Lady Lisette is wise and powerful."

Vina couldn't help but laugh, which made Lisette even more embarrassed and hit her harder.

Rikka stared blankly at the two of them, unable to understand how someone could laugh while being beaten.

Could it be that my posture and strength are incorrect?

Rikka was deep in thought when Felix suddenly pulled her away from her spot.

"Don't look at it, it'll make you stupid. I'll leave the night watch to you."

-----------------

The next morning.

"Which direction should we begin our search?"

Listy manipulated the map, which floated in the air, and asked Venus a question.

In two days, the map that Sylvain gave to Wiener will become completely worthless.

“I don’t plan to explore in the direction of the map.” Viner shook her head, gesturing for Lisette to put the map away.

Lisette waved her hand, and the map fell back into the alchemy backpack. Then she asked, "So what do you plan to do?"

"Whether or not we can find Arios's keepsake ultimately depends on fate, so let's just gamble on our fate with him."

Between geography and cartography, Wiener chose metaphysics.

Before Lisette could react, Venere untied the dagger from her waist and placed it upright on the ground.

"This way!"

Wiener pointed in the direction indicated by the tip of the knife.

Lisette barely suppressed her displeasure as she raised an eyebrow and questioned, "You're not planning to just rely on luck all day, are you?"

She had thought that Venere would have some good ideas, but it turned out to be such a ridiculous method.

"Is there a problem?" Wiener asked back.

“Yes!” Felix immediately jumped in and interjected, “I think I’ll be luckier, let me try next time.”