Kaguya Gojouno, wielding her graceful katana, crossed paths with two charging Evilus assassins in a flash of lightning.
Noah couldn't even see how she drew her blade.
A deep, thin line of blood appeared across both of their stomachs at the exact same time.
The two men collapsed to their knees, clutching their stomachs.
They didn't dare make any sudden moves, terrified that the injury would tear open and cause their organs to spill into the dirt.
In a single instant, she had completely robbed two enemies of their ability to fight.
The close-quarters combat technique displayed by this black-haired young lady, who looked as delicate as royalty, surpassed anyone Noah had ever seen.
Even Ais Wallenstein's sword style seemed somewhat amateurish in front of her sheer technical skill.
Alise, Ryuu, Kaguya, and Lyra served as the main combat force.
Each of them easily pinned down multiple opponents, pushing the assassins to the absolute brink.
The Evilus numerical advantage had vanished in the blink of an eye.
"D-Damn it! You monsters! I will blow you all to hell!"
A crazed member of Evilus suddenly pulled a glowing Firestone from his coat.
It was a heavily modified type; just flipping a physical switch would instantly detonate the crystal, basically a magical hand grenade.
Ryuu's expression instantly changed.
Her figure moved like a true gale of wind, appearing right in front of the man in a fraction of a second.
She violently swung her wooden sword, effortlessly severing the man's arm at the elbow.
With a light sweeping tap of her boot, Ryuu kicked the falling Firestone high into the air.
The grenade finally exploded safely in the distance, harmlessly raining sparks down on the trees.
The man with the severed arm collapsed to the ground, clutching his bleeding stump and screaming in absolute agony.
His eyes were wide with pure terror.
When Ryuu saw his pathetic expression, she felt absolutely no sympathy.
Instead, she grew even more furious.
She gripped her wooden sword tightly and growled through gritted teeth, "If you are so afraid of your own death, why would you commit an act that shows such disgust for your own life?! It is because of cowardly suicide bombers like you that my dearest friend was... Unforgivable!"
Ryuu raised her heavy wooden sword and brought it down viciously on the man's shoulder.
The brutal blow directly shattered the man's scapula bone.
His pained screams were deafening.
"Ryuu!"
Alise rushed to the elf's side and hugged her tightly from behind.
She kept gently comforting her, "That is enough, Ryuu. It is enough. Ardee would be so worried if she saw you acting like this. Please, calm down, okay?"
"Alise…"
Ryuu finally let go of her wooden sword, allowing the weapon to fall into the dirt.
'Ardee.'
That name finally clicked in Noah's head.
The dear friend Ryuu was mourning was Ardee Varma.
If he remembered the lore correctly, she was the younger sister of Shakti Varma, the powerful captain of the Ganesha Familia.
Her older sister, Shakti, held the title "Ankusha."
Her younger sister, Ardee was known as "Vyasa."
Ardee Varma had idolized her older sister.
She was a deeply kind person with a strong, pure sense of justice.
She had a wonderful relationship with all the girls of the Astrea Familia, especially Ryuu. T
heir relationship could easily be described as best friends.
If she were still alive today, she would probably be a famous beloved adventurer in the city.
But this city was just like that—it rarely paid enough attention to those who had passed away.
Ardee Varma died during the bloody Dark Period at the hands of the very civilians she was trying to protect.
Evilus had used a policy of terror and lies to easily manipulate the ignorant, frightened commoners, turning the innocent citizens into suicide bombers aimed directly at good people.
Noah didn't hate justice, but he absolutely did not want to become a slave to it.
Justice was too easily held hostage by morality.
For Noah, who would throw away all moral rules the second someone threatened his life, his support for "justice" was strictly limited to lip service.
"Damn it! Don't think you have won!"
A surviving member of Evilus suddenly lunged at Noah.
The assassin had already figured out that the unarmored boy was the weakest link, estimating him to be only a Level 2 supporter.
He was the one who had used the ice magic to freeze the main payload.
As long as the assassin could reach him and detonate a Firestone, everyone here would die!
The enemy charged forward like a madman, but Noah had no intention of moving.
A fiery red figure instantly flashed in front of him, shielding him from the attack.
It was Alise.
She held her Crimson Guardian sword at her side and smiled confidently. "Did you honestly think I would let you hurt him?"
The girl didn't even bother using her sword; she just used her leg.
A brutal, spinning flying kick landed squarely on the opponent's face, leaving a clear shoe print on his cheek and instantly knocking him unconscious.
A full-force blow from a high-tier Level 4 like Alise, even without a weapon, was not something a weak Level 2 grunt could withstand.
If she had put even a little more force into it, his neck would have snapped like a twig.
With a two-level gap between them, their physical abilities were on completely different planes of existence.
"Thanks, Alise. That was a pretty cool kick."
Noah thanked the girl, then casually walked around her to inspect the unconscious enemy.
He searched the fallen assassin's pockets and found a spare Firestone.
He quickly condensed cold air in his palm, completely freezing the crystal to prevent the man from trying another suicide attack if he woke up later.
"Well, that was easily dealt with," Kaguya sighed, casually wiping the blood off her katana.
"Yeah," Lyra chimed in, tossing a rope over the frozen Dix Perdix.
"It almost feels like Noah predicted all of the enemy's actions!" Alise cheered happily. "I was so startled when you suddenly rushed out of the trees earlier! By the way, how did you know the enemy captain's name?"
When Noah had cheerfully shouted "Dix," their reaction had been the exact same as the enemy's—utter shock.
That was why they had been a step too slow to act.
"Oh, that? I just shouted a random name to confuse him," Noah lied smoothly.
"Huh?" Alise blinked.
"That actually worked?" Kaguya raised an eyebrow.
With no one able to contradict him, the girls couldn't just force him to drink an illegal Unlocking Potion to expose his unique skills.
Noah could say whatever he wanted.
After confirming that all the opponents were tightly bound and unconscious, Noah asked.
"Who was the person who actually commissioned this delivery request? Did you ever meet them face-to-face?"
Since the request was obviously fake, it meant the client and Evilus were working together.
As expected, the girls shook their heads, indicating they had only received the job through the Guild's anonymous posting board.
This didn't surprise him.
In fact, he already had a prime suspect in mind: the Ikelos Familia.
Since Dix Perdix was secretly colluding with the Rudra Familia to spring this trap, it was only natural for them to use a disguise skill or a fake proxy to issue the deadly request to the Astrea Familia.
To prove this theory to the Guild, they would just have to drag the frozen body of the Ikelos captain back to the surface for interrogation.
"They just won't ever give up. What good does overthrowing Orario actually do for Evilus? I really do not get it," Lyra complained helplessly as they tied up the last assassin.
Kaguya just gave a cold knowing smile.
"They don't need any logical benefit. The scumbags of Evilus simply enjoy the process of destruction. The suffering of innocent people is the sole source of their pleasure. That is exactly why I say we should never show mercy when fighting these dregs. When you cut them down, never hesitate."
"In any case, let's drag this trash back to the 18th Floor first," Alise ordered.
"Okay!"
...
Although Finn now knew that Evilus was hiding inside the man-made labyrinth, the Loki Familia was still at a total loss as to how to actually conquer it.
After all, the Knossos labyrinth built by Daedalus was tightly sealed with massive doors made of pure Orichalcum.
Faced with an indestructible metal, an invading army absolutely needed a special key to open the gates and get inside.
And that key was the cruelest part of the entire design.
The so-called "key" was actually the blood curse of the Daedalus clan.
The peerless craftsman Daedalus was human, not a long-lived species like an elf.
Deeply aware of his own powerlessness in the face of his limited lifespan, yet desperately yearning for the completion of his underground miracle, he placed a dark twisted curse on his own bloodline.
This curse was passed down from generation to generation, violently infecting everyone born into the Daedalus family!
As long as a person possessed the blood of Daedalus, the curse would mentally compel its host to sacrifice their entire life to complete Daedalus's work.
Those who bore the curse simply could not stop building the labyrinth, even if the stress drove them completely mad.
Their clan's unique ominous red eyes were the physical manifestation of the curse—and they were the only key that could open the Orichalcum doors of the man-made labyrinth!
To increase the number of keys available for Evilus to use, Daedalus's descendants would violently surgically remove their own eyeballs and turn them into magical tools.
The tragic end of each generation would create a new set of keys: the Eyes of Daedalus.
Without acquiring one of those gruesome bloody items, conquering the man-made labyrinth was completely impossible.
...
With the Rudra Familia's assassination plan foiled, Noah returned to the safe zone of the 18th Floor alongside the Astrea Familia, mentally exhausted but physically unharmed.
Upon arriving at the hidden town of Rivira, he was highly surprised to find two massive flags hanging over the main square.
They were the official banners of the Loki Familia and the Hephaestus Familia.
In the center of the town, dozens of familiar faces were gathered together in a tight circle, each wearing an incredibly serious, grim expression.
"Finn?" Noah called out. "Tsubaki?"
Noah's voice instantly drew both of their gazes.
Hearing him speak, both of them snapped to attention, quickly turning their heads and spotting him walking out of the tunnel.
Without a second thought, Tsubaki pushed roughly through the crowded adventurers and rushed over to him.
Then, she violently slapped him on the back of the head.
"Hiss—hey! That hurts!" Noah cried out in pain, rubbing his skull.
Before he could complain further, he felt himself being pulled tightly into her muscular embrace.
The half-dwarf woman roared, her voice thick with emotion.
"I knew you wouldn't die so easily, you brat! But still... stop making Lady Hephaestus worry about you all the time!"
Standing a few feet away, the Pallum hero watched the reunion, his face filled with a heavy crushing guilt.
The terrifying danger Noah had just encountered was entirely due to his mistake.
He had failed to secure the prisoner.
That was exactly why Finn had immediately organized a massive search-and-rescue team of over twenty high-level adventurers, sent them charging back into the Dungeon and notified the Hephaestus Familia of the emergency.
Truly, Finn felt that even kneeling in the dirt and begging for an apology wouldn't be enough to earn Noah's forgiveness.
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