CHAPTER 76: 076 ’UDAEUS

The 18th floor of the underground city is a special place.

Like the 50th floor, it is a safe floor where no monsters spawn, and it is the first safe floor in the dungeon.

However, unlike the 50th floor, which resembles a grey wasteland, the 18th floor is known as the "Maze Paradise," similar to the Big Tree Maze and the Water Mysterious City, rare sights within the dungeon.

Here, there are boundless plains that seem just like nature itself.

There are broad lakes and forests located all around.

There is also an island situated in the center of a large lake, and right in the middle of a distant prairie, there towers a huge tree. The hollow in this tree is the entrance to the 19th floor, the Big Tree Maze. All of this is a spectacle only found in this paradisiacal place.

Of course, the most remarkable feature here is the ubiquitous blue crystals.

In the 18th floor, blue crystals grow everywhere—some big, some small, some standing tall like pillars, and others scattered like bushes beside the roads, even the ceiling of the entire floor is covered with unevenly sized crystals.

These crystals emit light that varies with time, causing the 18th floor to sometimes be as bright as day and sometimes as dark as night, similar to the surface with its division into day and night.

It is said that there is a rudimentary town on the island in the center of the lake, built by adventurers as a transit point and resting place during their adventures.

Thus, there are people living in this 18th floor, and there are also inns and shops, but they are very expensive. If someone tries to sell their packed loot there during their exploration, they will encounter extreme haggling, ultimately resulting in little money made.

Thanks to this, the town on the 18th floor is quite infamous as a black market within the industry, with traders that are generally rough and impolite ruffians. One must be careful not to get cheated severely, which leaves many adventurers grinding their teeth in frustration.

Reiger was not uninterested in that town, but at this moment, he had completely disregarded its existence and had no plans to go there for any reason.

"Ais must be heading further down."

Given her current mood, she would definitely not stop in the town.

Therefore, Reiger also had no intention of stopping there and proceeded directly toward the giant tree in the center of the prairie. He made his way through the tree hollow to enter the 19th floor.

From this floor on, monsters were no longer killed indiscriminately.

As one descended further into the underground city, the floors became more expansive. Starting from the 19th floor, the Big Tree Maze, each floor was enormous, with multiple paths leading to the entrance of the 20th floor. Indiscriminately slaughtering monsters here was not only challenging but also a waste of time.

Ais seemed to understand this point too and finally ceased her ruthless killing, allowing the number of monsters from the 19th floor onward to increase drastically, which was now posing some obstacles to Reiger as he traveled.

Moreover, with the terrain expanding and area increasing, finding someone in this place would undoubtedly be very difficult.

Possibly, Ais was cornered somewhere on this floor, engaging in battle with monsters.

If Reiger were to abandon searching this floor and continue downward, he might very well miss crossing paths with Ais.

But—

"Given her personality, at this time, she would definitely continue downward."

Without thinking further, Reiger was sure of this point.

He could roughly guess what Ais intended to do on this trip.

Two nights ago, after leaving Loki’s Divine Room, Ais, who was dissatisfied with and saddened by her growth, had already stated her next phase’s goal.

That was to level up.

Ais was preparing to advance to the next level.

This had always been her plan, only postponed due to her setback during practice with Reiger.

With this, it became easier to guess Ais’s destination.

"To accomplish the great feat required for leveling up, Ais needs an extremely tough opponent."

This opponent must be stronger than Ais at her current stage.

And since Ais’s level is at the highest tier of Lv.5, only monsters classified at Lv.6 are stronger.

Such a level of monster, even deep in the 50th floor, is rare, and at most, there is only one Strong Dragon in the 51st floor.

However, traveling to the 51st floor would take too much time, at least five to six days.

That’s the time it takes for an expedition; traveling alone would only take longer, never less.

Ais definitely couldn’t wait that long.

In view of this, the only possible opponents Ais could choose are two types.

Either a strengthened or rare species that is generally much stronger than the regular monsters on the same floor.

Or—

"The floor master!"

There is a floor master classified as Lv.5 on the 27th floor, Amphisbena.

But this oversized draconic monster, classified the same as Ais, is only a threat to other Lv.5s. For Ais, who can use "Wind Spirit Swift Walk" to challenge higher levels, it’s just a slightly troublesome opponent.

This dual-headed dragon would not satisfy Ais’s needs, so she certainly wouldn’t choose to challenge it to achieve her great feat.

Since that is the case, the opponent Ais had chosen must be a floor master stronger than Amphisbena.

"The floor master of the 37th floor, Udaeus."

This floor master, classified at Lv.6, is the formidable enemy Ais yearns to confront.

Therefore, Ais has only one destination.

"The 37th floor!"

As Reiger realized this, he was troubled.

He knew that his time in this world was running out.

After returning from the expedition, Reiger had already spent 97 days in this world, with only the last three days remaining for him to stay.

The next day, which was yesterday, Reiger spent the whole day dealing with clan affairs and even attended a celebration banquet hosted by the bountiful mistress in the evening.

And then came today.

In other words, after returning from the expedition, almost two days had passed.

Once tomorrow was over, at this time the day after tomorrow, Reiger would leave this world and return to his original world.

This was an irreversible process.

The limited time for Dimensional Travel was clearly stated as one day in the original world, according to the regulations in the "Dimensional Cube User Manual."

Once the time limit was reached, the consciousness that Reiger had in this world would automatically disperse, and he would be taken back to his original world by the Dimensional Cube.

This meant that, with only about a day left, if Reiger couldn’t find Ais, he might not even have the chance to say goodbye to everyone and would be returned directly to his original world.

In Reiger’s mind, the face of the golden-haired girl who lacked the ability to express emotions emerged.

"Awaken (Tempest)."

Alongside a whisper-like chant, a tempest swirled up around Reiger.

Indeed.

Reiger could no longer care about too much.

All he wanted now was to find Ais quickly, in case something happened to that girl.

As for the burden on his body, that was no longer important to Reiger.

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

The nearby monsters naturally noticed the activity here and began roaring as they attacked this side.

These bear-like robust and massive monsters, only appearing from the 19th floor onwards, were of the large species known as Berg Bears.

Classified as Lv.2, they were quite troublesome for adventurers of the same level.

Unfortunately, they picked the wrong person to mess with.

"Puchi!" "Puchi!" "Puchi!"...

When the tempest swept through, the Berg Bears that leapt towards the area were sliced into countless chunks of meat on the spot.

The chunks of meat burst into ashes, with only magic stones left dropping to the ground.

Reiger, still ignoring everything else, sped toward the entrance leading to the 20th floor.

...

Underground city, 37th floor.

This floor was known as the "White Palace."

In this floor, all the walls were a milky white color, and the entire floor was built like a castle with up to five layers of circular walls, with the staircase to the 38th floor located at the center.

If one wanted to reach the 38th floor, they must head to the center of this floor.

If one wanted to get to the center of this floor, they must pass through the open pathways between the circular walls and also clamber up and down several uneven terrains.

Unfortunately, this floor was extremely vast, almost comparable to a city, with the terrain also being a huge maze structure. If one ran around aimlessly in such a place, getting lost would be an easy thing, and it was possible to be trapped here forever.

Typically, reaching this floor would require about two to three days’ time.

However, with the boost from Wind Spirit Swift Walk, Reiger took about a day to successfully reach this floor.

"Hmm..."

Soreness sprang from all parts of his body, almost causing Reiger to stagger and fall.

Reiger deliberately ignored the pain in his body, gritted his teeth, and continued running forward.

The ceiling above seemed too high to see, giving an endless feeling.

The space was filled with dim darkness, only the sporadically glowing phosphorescence on the milky walls barely illuminated the path, allowing him to proceed.

Reiger, enduring his body’s extreme soreness, hurried towards the memory of that huge chamber.

However, before Reiger could successfully get there, he first heard a sound.

It was a fierce roar that could shake the entire floor, the entire maze’s ground and walls.

"————!?"

Reiger tensed up inside and, whipping his somewhat overdrawn body, he finally completed the last stretch and burst into the vast chamber.

The next second, Reiger finally saw her.

He saw the girl standing with her back to the chamber’s entrance, back to him, sword drawn, facing the wind.

"Ais!"

Reiger called out instinctively.

This call was mercilessly drowned out.

By an enormous roar that was astonishingly loud.

"ROAROOOOOOOOOOO—!"

The giant monster’s roar echoed throughout the space.

In front of the girl, a monster gradually emerged from the ground, coming into Reiger’s sight.