Dungeon 18th Floor, Under Resort.
The radiance emitted by the crystal ceiling spilled onto this verdant sea of trees. Even though it was mostly blocked by the lush foliage of the trees, a portion still filtered down through the gaps between the thinning leaves, illuminating the surroundings and causing the blue crystal pillars around each tree to sparkle.
Having received special permission from Finn to temporarily leave the squad, Leon arrived here, taking a stroll through the forest.
"It's been a year, and this place hasn't changed at all."
Following the faint traces of memory remaining in his mind, Leon walked among the trees, observing his surroundings while discerning the path.
"Back then... I think I left this place by taking this path, right?"
Leon thought with some uncertainty, trying his best to dig through his fading memories.
He remembered that a year ago, he was led out of this forest by Ais toward the southern tunnel cave, and from there they went up to the 17th floor. Now, trying to retrace the exact path he took when he left was proving to be a bit difficult.
"After all, back then I was in no mood to observe my surroundings and memorize the path. All I could think about was following behind Ais and reaching the surface as quickly as possible—"
Recalling his panicked and helpless state at that time, Leon could not help but smile faintly. Looking back from his current perspective, he certainly felt that his past self was a bit embarrassing.
However, he did not think he was a pathetic person back then. A young man from the 21st century who originally lived in a peaceful world and a peaceful country, suddenly arriving in an unfamiliar world with no family or friends, where deadly monsters could leap out at any moment—the fact that he did not wet his pants out of fear on the spot was already quite commendable. Of course, had he not encountered Ais right at the very beginning, he might have behaved even more poorly.
"I hope I didn't take a wrong turn."
While reminiscing about the past, Leon continued to walk deeper into the forest.
As he walked, Leon began to encounter babbling springs and cool streams, and fruit trees bearing unfamiliar fruits began to appear one after another in the surroundings.
"Roar!"
A massive bear monster appeared, clawing at the fruits on a tree. Attracted by the sound of Leon's footsteps, its gaze snapped over instantly.
"Is that... a Bugbear?"
Leon stopped his pace.
The Bugbear was a monster that only began to appear from the 19th floor onward, and it was a large-class monster. Its classification level was Level 2. Although its power and endurance were somewhat weaker than the Minotaurs that appeared after the 15th floor, its dexterity and agility surpassed theirs. It often relied on an agile movement that defied its massive body to corner its prey before tearing it to pieces, making it a monster that was in some ways even more dangerous and troublesome than a Minotaur.
The 18th floor was a safe zone where monsters normally did not spawn, nor was it a floor where Bugbears roamed. However, monsters would occasionally wander in from other floors, and some would even use this great forest and the wetlands in the northern part of the floor as a base of operations. The Bugbear was one such example.
The gourd-shaped red berries growing on those fruit trees were called cloud fruits, a type of wild fruit produced only in the Dungeon that Bugbears loved to eat. Therefore, Bugbears would frequently come here from the 19th floor specifically to harvest and consume these fruits.
Leon had just encountered a Bugbear lingering near a cloud fruit tree.
"Roar!"
The massive bear monster let out a furious roar the moment it saw Leon. Casting aside the fruits it was just clawing at, it charged toward Leon at an astonishing speed, kicking up a cloud of dust with aggressive momentum.
Its speed was indeed faster than a Minotaur's. Once it started charging, it was like a rampaging tank, knocking down the trees in its path. Faced with such a charge, even an adventurer at the latter half of Level 2 would likely find it difficult to handle.
Regrettably, it had chosen the wrong opponent.
"Boom!"
As the Bugbear leaped high into the air and slammed heavily onto the spot where Leon had been standing, causing a dull, heavy crash against the ground, Leon had already leaped up into the air.
His movements were as swift as the wind. The moment he leaped, he landed on the branch of the tree closest to him, then stomped down, transforming into a soaring arrow that shot toward the massive bear monster.
His speed was faster than the Bugbear's—much faster. The Bugbear could not even react to Leon's movements. Before it could even raise its head, a flash of sword light sliced through the air.
"Pfft!"
The cold, crescent-like blade light instantly sliced through the Bugbear's fur and muscle, cutting into its chest. It accurately struck the magic stone within its thoracic cavity, cleaving the stone and its massive torso clean in half.
The Bugbear could not even let out a wretched cry before its body was split into two. The magic stone was shattered directly, causing its slowly collapsing corpse to turn into ash and vanish, leaving nothing behind.
Leon, who had brought about all of this, did not even turn back to look. Sheathing his Dragon Fang Sword that had unsheathed at some unknown point, he continued forward.
Later on, he slew many more monsters from other floors, ranging from large-class ones to small-class monsters like Al-Miraj, without facing any real hindrance.
After advancing for another half an hour, Leon finally heard the sound of water. It was not the sound of a flowing stream, but rather a gentle splashing sound, like the ripples stirred when a breeze swept across a water surface.
Hearing this sound, Leon's spirits lifted slightly. He quickly picked up his pace and walked forward.
Finally, the view ahead was no longer a monotonous repetition of trees; an open clearing and a pool of water appeared. It was a pool with water so clean and pure that one could see straight to the bottom.
The pool was situated right in front of a cliff face, from which crystal-like water flowed down, plunging into the pool like a miniature waterfall. It formed a pool that was more beautiful, clearer, and cleaner than any water source on the surface.
There were monsters near the pool, bowing their heads by the water's edge and drinking quietly, completely ignoring Leon's arrival.
Looking at this pool, Leon smiled.
"Yes, this is the place."
The crystal water in this pool flowed out from the deeper recesses of the floor. Not only could it be drunk directly to quench thirst, but it could also soothe the body's fatigue, making it a location known only to a small number of adventurers.
Of course, Leon had not come looking for it to quench his thirst or to soothe his fatigue, but because this was his initial spawn location.
Leon vividly remembered the events of that day. At that time, he had suddenly appeared right above this pool, as if he had been tossed here by some unseen entity. He had plunged from the air on the spot, splashing heavily into the water and sinking to the bottom of the lake.
The sensation of suffocating was still vivid even now, and the feeling of water continuously forcing its way into his nose and mouth was extremely unpleasant, causing him to struggle instinctively at the bottom of the water.
A hand had grabbed the frantically struggling him, pulling him out from the depths and breaking through the surface of the water. Then, while coughing violently, Leon's pupils contracted slightly at the sight that appeared before his eyes, his mind going completely blank.
Even now, he would frequently see that scene in his dreams.
A golden-haired, golden-eyed girl was right in front of him, holding him with one hand. She was completely unclad, in a primordial state just like a newborn infant.
The girl's skin was fair, delicate, and covered in water droplets. Her posture was slender, her curves distinct, and her facial features were so exquisite that they did not seem to belong to the mortal realm. Her appearance while immersed in the clear water carried a breathtaking beauty, making one instinctively think of the spirits that resided in forest springs within mythological tales.
Leon remembered that he was completely dazed and stupefied at that time. Leaving aside the fact that the girl was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life, her completely unclad, exposed posture was something that would captivate the soul of anyone who saw it, whether man or woman.
To be honest, at that moment, he even felt as though he was dreaming, harboring the thought that he had actually drowned just now and that everything he was seeing was merely a hallucination before death. After developing this thought, he actually felt that he could die with no regrets, which showed how massive the impact of that scene was on him at the time.
"Ais—"
As he thought, Leon unconsciously called out that name in a low voice.
As a result, the owner of the name responded to him.
"—I am here."
The voice appeared right behind Leon, causing him to snap out of his thoughts.
The golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman slowly walked out from the forest behind him, her gaze fixed on him all the while, an emotion swirling within her eyes that Leon could not quite read.
"Why are you here?"
Leon looked at her blankly, speaking in surprise.
"I followed you." Ais came to Leon's side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, and said softly, "I saw you leave the squad, so I followed."
"Is that so?" Leon scratched his cheek, speaking with some unease, "I just wanted to come here and take a look."
"I know." Ais seemed to understand Leon's feelings. Looking into his eyes, she said, "This is where we first met."
"—Yeah." Leon nodded with a slight smile, his expression carrying a peculiar tone. "It is also the place I arrived at when I first visited this world."
Ais did not show any signs of confusion at this statement.
"At that time, I had just come up from the lower floors." Ais looked at the pool before her and said softly, "Because my body was very dirty, I came here to wash up."
Whenever the Loki Familia returned from an expedition, they would usually halt on this floor, and the female members of the familia could not help but come here to wash away the dirt and the mental and physical fatigue accumulated from days of battle. Ais did not often come here when she entered the Dungeon alone; on that day, she just happened to have gotten too dirty, which was why she came over.
Upon coming over, she encountered an bizarre event the likes of which she had never experienced before.
"—You suddenly fell from mid-air, and I didn't even have time to react."
Ais's tone became somewhat different from usual, carrying a hint of perplexity and strangeness.
"Even if a monster approaches, I am usually able to notice it immediately."
Ais was, after all, a Level 5 first-class adventurer with highly developed senses. If someone suddenly approached this area, she would certainly notice unless they were a first-class or second-class adventurer with incredible stealth capabilities. Yet, even though Leon was a normal person without the strength to lift a finger, Ais had actually failed to notice the slightest movement before he fell from mid-air.
"It was as if... you appeared here out of thin air."
This low murmur from Ais was obscured by a sudden gust of gentle wind, making it difficult to hear clearly. But Leon heard it anyway.
"Do you remember what I said back then?" Leon suddenly spoke.
"—I remember." Ais was silent for a brief moment, then said, "You said you didn't know how you came to this place."
"Right." Leon nodded and said, "And what else?"
"And..." Ais pursed her lips, her gaze looking at Leon becoming complex, which caused him to speak with that peculiar tone once more, "You said that you were a person who did not belong to this world, nor to this era."
Leon lowered his gaze.
That was the truth, was it not? Actually, he had not intended to say that originally. The matter of his crossing over to another world was something best taken to the grave, never to be mentioned to anyone. But at that time, he was completely in a state of panic and helplessness, and he did not dare to state clearly that he was highly likely a transmigrant, so he could only utter such riddle-like words.
At that time, he had completely failed to anticipate that it was precisely because of these riddle-like, cryptic words that he touched the heart of the girl before him—who had not blamed him for seeing her completely unclad, had saved him, and had slowly questioned his origins after he calmed down.
Not belonging to this world, nor to this era. Was this not the most realistic portrayal of the girl's own heart as well?
Especially Leon's gaze at that time, so blank and helpless, exactly like a young child who had mistakenly wandered into an unfamiliar place, feeling terrified of everything around him, behaving with extreme caution, not knowing where to go, and possessing a completely bleak outlook on the future—that appearance was so remarkably similar to her own when she was young.
Thus, almost as a conditioned reflex, Ais had spoken those words.
"—Do you have nowhere to go?"
That voice, which lacked cadence and carried no emotion whatsoever, resembling a doll, yet sounding more beautiful than any heavenly music, actually carried an empathy and resonance within it that no one had managed to detect.
"Then... would you like to come back with me?"
By the time the girl realized it, those words had already been spoken. No one knew why she had spoken those words back then, and even the companions who had been with her for many years in the familia were very surprised. She, who usually showed no interest in anything other than becoming stronger, had actually brought a strange boy home.
Who could have known that when Ais looked at Leon back then, she was actually seeing her childhood self through his shadow? That was why she could not help but extend her hand to Leon.
"I have always wanted to say thank you to you again." Leon looked at the beautiful girl beside him and smiled faintly. "Thank you for helping me find a place to belong, Ais."
Hearing this, Ais also lowered her gaze. She said nothing, merely standing with Leon, quietly gazing at the pool before them. It was as if they could see the two of them from a year ago, encountering one another right here.
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