The Trash Slime, having once more evolved into the "Greed Slime I," concealed beneath its placid exterior a mind brimming with excitement and exhilaration.
The greed rooted in its very nature had endowed it with a Treasure Scent unlike that of ordinary beings.
Within its Treasure Scent, this dungeon was simply an inexhaustible treasury, every corner of it exuding the aura of precious treasures.
But its excitement and exhilaration were not purely on account of having entered this treasure trove.
The more important reason was that it had discovered it was finally useful!
In this dungeon, no one could take its place...
"Meow?"
A faint, indistinct meow suddenly sounded inside the Greed Slime's head.
It hurriedly shook itself, banishing the stray thoughts.
Dark looked with mild puzzlement at the Greed Slime, which had abruptly begun to shake violently, but the Greed Slime quickly settled down and went on pointing the way with its tentacle.
At Dark's command, DemiDevimon flew up ahead.
Diana and Rose each held a Magic Guide Card, maintaining the necessary caution as they followed closely behind.
Dark kept his speed in check as much as possible, not flying ahead too recklessly.
For one thing, overly hasty movement could easily cause an accident — such as blundering into a trap.
For another, Rose's stamina couldn't keep up for the time being.
Although the Greed Slime's evolution lasted only fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes was actually not as short as one might imagine.
Furthermore, the Greed Slime's "scent" was evidently subject to a distance limit as well.
The farther the distance, the more blurred the perception.
Conversely, the closer the distance, the clearer the perception.
So the fact that it could point out the direction so definitively meant that the location of the "treasure" couldn't be too far off.
And sure enough.
After a journey of probably less than ten minutes, the three of them arrived at the place where the "treasure" lay.
"Stop."
Dark came to an abrupt halt.
DemiDevimon flew back from directly ahead, blocking the three of them's path.
Dark immediately asked, "What's going on?"
DemiDevimon landed on the ground, crossed its two wings in front of its body, and shook its head violently.
Dark said in sudden realization, "The road ahead is impassable?"
DemiDevimon immediately nodded.
Dark: "Understood, scout again and report back."
DemiDevimon: "??"
Dark said solemnly, "Heighten your vigilance and keep advancing."
Diana and Rose immediately slowed their pace.
The three of them continued forward.
After only half a minute, Dark had merely rounded a corner when, to his astonishment, he discovered that there was no longer any path ahead!
On this second floor of the labyrinth-structured dungeon, a bottomless abyss had, astonishingly, appeared.
The passage that had led straight onward came to an abrupt end at the edge of the abyss, with only a short three-or-four-meter stub jutting out.
Looking farther ahead, across the abyss, one could see a small platform.
Upon that platform, a treasure chest as fiery red as flame was quietly set in place.
"Floaty-yo, floaty-yo!"
The Greed Slime gave a sudden heave and leaped up upon Dark's palm.
Clearly, the treasure it had "scented" was precisely that chest separated from them by an entire abyss.
"Well done."
Although it was not yet certain whether they could obtain that chest, Dark nonetheless gave the Greed Slime the praise it craved.
It instantly quieted down, its whole jelly-like body becoming all the more soft and squishy.
Evidently it was thrilled beyond measure.
Dark smiled faintly, took out the Magic Guide Card, and recalled it: "Come back for now."
The Greed Slime then obediently burrowed back into the Magic Guide Card.
Only then did Dark look once more at that treasure chest, his eyes gradually turning grave.
The chest's position was, in fact, not all that awkward.
So long as one had a Magic Guide Spirit that could fly, it would be easy to soar across the abyss and bring the chest back.
Even if the chest were of the immovable type, one could control a Magic Guide Spirit to open it, then take out the treasure inside and bring it back.
But thinking rationally, the dungeon couldn't possibly let you obtain a treasure chest so easily.
"Broadly speaking, there are two possibilities," Dark spoke up.
"One possibility is that there's a monster hidden within that abyss."
"The other is that the chest itself is a trap."
"Do the two of you have any ideas?"
...
Diana and Rose were likewise observing carefully.
After Dark posed his question, Diana's little face gradually scrunched up like a bitter gourd.
Rose, on the other hand, after thinking it over seriously, said, "No matter which possibility it is, we can try first. We're Magic Guides, aren't we?"
Dark couldn't help but smile. "Indeed, we are Magic Guides."
Magic Guides possessed an endless supply of [Magic Guide Spirit Card]s.
Things that ordinary combat-vocation users couldn't accomplish, Magic Guides could almost all accomplish.
Dark reached out and drew a Magic Guide Card from his card pouch, then said, "Stand back."
This place near the abyss was not safe.
Should a monster truly be hidden within the abyss, it was bound to be something of enormous size.
In all likelihood, it was precisely the Floor BOSS of this second floor!
Reasoning along the normal line of thought, Dark called DemiDevimon back to the corner as well.
Only then did he summon out his sole flying-type Magic Guide Spirit.
"You're the one I've decided on, Hawlucha!"
...
"Hacha!"
The Magic Guide Spirit wearing a wrestling mask struck a most imposing entrance pose.
And showed off its muscles in passing.
Diana curiously raised her hand, felt her own soft, squishy tendons, and compared them with Hawlucha's.
Dark happened to catch sight of this scene, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
He had, in fact, always had one question.
Why was it that a person on whom not the slightest bit of muscle could be seen could have such great strength?
What on earth was this so-called innate divine strength, anyway?
Or was it that her muscles only hardened when they were supposed to harden?
And went soft once they were done hardening?
Hmm...
Given the chance, he could give them a feel.
...
Dark hurriedly cut off his own stray thoughts and explained the situation to Hawlucha.
Hawlucha's comprehension was very strong.
It patted its own chest to indicate that it understood.
Then it immediately spread its wings and soared high.
There was rather a tragic heroism to it, like a valiant warrior who departs never to return.
As it flew toward the abyss, Dark's nerves also gradually grew taut.
If Hawlucha were to plummet midway, then he would have only one flying-capable Magic Guide Spirit left in hand.
"Whoosh!"
Even upon reaching the edge of the abyss, Hawlucha showed not the slightest intention of slowing down.
Fearlessly it flew into the abyss, and in the blink of an eye it had already flown to directly above the middle of the abyss.
Only at this moment did its movement suddenly meet with a trace of obstruction.
The chill emanating from within the abyss made it unable to help shivering.
But still relying on the momentum of its flight, it nonetheless swiftly rushed across the abyss, and astonishingly arrived smoothly at the platform where the chest lay!
Hawlucha rejoiced slightly in its heart and immediately folded its wings to land.
Seeing the chest right before its eyes, it walked a few steps forward, stretched out a wing, and attempted to open the chest.
And then...
"Click!"
The sound of a mechanism suddenly rang out.
The chest had, astonishingly, truly been opened smoothly!
...
The three of them, Dark included, couldn't help leaning half their bodies out from behind the wall, straining their eyes to look.
What they saw was that within the chest lay scattered bits and pieces of treasure.
Among them were things like gold foil, as well as pearls and gemstones radiating light.
But the most eye-catching of all was the weapon set in the middle of the chest — a rust-covered, sheathless short sword!
This rusty sword, clustered amid the treasures, was as ordinary as a relic to be seen anywhere on a battlefield.
But the more so it was, the more it gave one a sense of being extremely special.
Hawlucha attempted to reach out and pick it up.
But the instant its fingers touched it, a violent tremor suddenly came from beneath its feet.
Immediately after, two dazzling red beams of light shot out from the bottom of that abyss.
The red light illuminated the ceiling.
An ear-piercing shriek tore apart the void.
A terrifying tentacle covered in suckers shot out from below, curling toward the Hawlucha on the platform as if it had eyes.
Hawlucha's reaction was extremely fast; in the midst of turning, it transformed its feathers into flying arrows and shot them out.
But those feathers shot forth couldn't even withstand the gale stirred up by the tentacle, and were blown scattering in all directions.
Hawlucha wanted to beat its wings and soar high.
Yet the moment it took to the air, the tentacle had already assailed it, binding it fast in an instant, so that it couldn't break free.
At the critical moment, Hawlucha suddenly felt a summons from its master.
It immediately opened its mind and answered the call.
The tentacle gave a sudden heave, attempting to drag it into the abyss.
But Hawlucha's body instantly turned to light and vanished without a trace.
"Click!"
The chest automatically closed.
The thick, sucker-covered tentacle probed around the platform's perimeter, and after searching to no avail, retracted once more into the abyssal depths.
...
"Phew——"
Seeing that the abyss had returned to calm.
Dark finally let out a soft breath at last, and raised the Magic Guide Card in his hand slightly.
The Hawlucha on the card's face wore a dejected expression.
Dark rubbed its chest and praised it, "Well done."
Hawlucha couldn't help blinking its eyes, and only after seeing that its master's expression was indeed very serious did it turn to delight.
It vigorously beat its chest and grew smug once more.
Dark couldn't help smiling, then raised his head to look toward the abyss.
He had recalled Hawlucha into the Magic Guide Card at the critical moment, letting it dodge the fate of being dragged into the abyss.
But that had been merely a stopgap measure.
The terrifying tentacle that had emerged from within the abyss confirmed his conjecture.
A monster was indeed hidden within the abyss.
As for whether the chest was a trap, well, that was a matter on which the benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom.
...
"Dark, what kind of monster was that?" Rose couldn't help asking.
Dark shook his head slightly and said, "It seemed like an octopus or a squid, but exactly what monster it is, it's hard to tell from just one tentacle."
Diana exclaimed in amazement, "Just one tentacle was that thick — how big can its main body possibly be?"
Dark's expression turned somewhat heavy. "I don't know, but it doesn't seem like a monster that could be encountered on the second floor... It's very likely that, without realizing it, we walked into a hidden space connecting to a lower floor."
The existence of hidden spaces had been verified.
St. Marian's dungeon was itself a product of distorted time and space, possessing some characteristics similar to those of secret passages.
Here, the appearance of any situation was not at all impossible.
Rose quickly grasped the meaning of this, and couldn't help saying in a fluster, "Then can we leave this place?"
Dark furrowed his brows slightly and said, "I've looked over a bit of material. Generally speaking, this kind of hidden space can be exited, but once you exit, it's very likely you'll never be able to enter again."
Upon hearing that they could exit, Rose relaxed a little, then immediately said, "So what do we do next? Exit or continue?"
Dark did not hesitate: "Continue, of course."
Rose asked, "But how do we continue?"
Dark couldn't help pondering, "Give me a moment."
In fact, he had by now already thought of a method to seize the chest — or rather, the thing inside it.
But it was not only the rusty sword inside the chest that he coveted; he coveted that monster beneath the abyss as well!
Seizing the treasure and hunting the monster — could the two be had together?
That would depend on the monster's strength.
From that one tentacle alone, one could only judge that it must surely exceed three stars; as for whether it was at the second tier or the third tier, that couldn't be judged for the time being.
And within the bottomless abyss, Miltank definitely wouldn't be able to perform.
So the only one that seemed able to contend with it was, perhaps, Bastemon alone?
Or perhaps Drifblim could also put up a fight against it.
Dark thought for a moment, then again felt that fighting that monster carried too great a risk.
It would be better, instead, to grab and run!
Finally he glanced at Diana and Rose, then promptly made his decision.
"DemiDevimon."
"Here!"
...
When DemiDevimon discovered Hawlucha returning from peril, it had realized it was its turn to shine!
It had long been waiting for Dark's call.
It was only when Dark shot it a glare that it hurriedly covered its mouth, chuckling dryly to indicate that it had merely uttered a single syllable rather than actually speaking aloud.
Fortunately, Diana and Rose's focus was actually not on this.
Facing the two girls' puzzlement, Dark quickly said, "Get ready — in a moment we may need to start running!"
The moment these words came out, Diana and Rose realized that Dark intended to seize the treasure and then swiftly flee.
The hearts of the two girls also eased a little.
Even Diana really did not want to face that kind of enormous monster hidden within the abyss.
And once Dark had made his intentions clear, he immediately drew out a Magic Guide Card, clamped it between his index and middle fingers, and held it before his chest.
The face of the Magic Guide Card was a solid dark-gold color; a single glance at it conjured up confidence out of nothing.
It was none other than "Pride III"!
"Swipe the card, evolve!"
As his right hand swept across it, the face of "Pride III" immediately released an intense radiance.
The crest of "Pride" lit up between DemiDevimon's brows, absorbing and gathering the radiance of "Pride III."
Its body rapidly turned to light, its whole frame enveloped in brilliant glow, its bodily structure transforming violently.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a ferocious howl, the furiously spread, tattered bat-wings burst the orb of light apart.
The dark fallen angel descended upon the mortal world once more!
The towering Devimon, the corners of its eyes slightly upturned, its brow filled with unchanging pride.
"Teleportation: mana consumption 100, movement limit 100 meters; exceeding 100 meters causes mana consumption to surge sharply; CD 15 seconds."
...
Although Devimon felt utterly disdainful of Dark's "grab and run" plan, it nonetheless faithfully carried out his command.
First, fly across the abyss from this side to reach the small platform where the chest sat.
During this stretch, it needed to beware of the monster at the bottom of the abyss suddenly running amok.
Should such an anomaly occur, it was to immediately use Teleportation to move onto the platform, then wait fifteen seconds before opening the chest and taking the sword.
Devimon flew up over the abyss and clearly perceived that there was a monster stirring restlessly below.
But that monster did not attack.
Only, all of a sudden,
its pupils couldn't help but contract, and it abruptly turned its head to look toward the left side.
Since when had an opening appeared in the wall on the left side of the abyss?
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