Labyrinth City Orario.
This was a city built by the gods, named for the grand labyrinth that lay beneath it.
And this labyrinth was especially unique.
Long before the city itself was constructed, it had already existed in this world.
In ages past, countless monsters poured out from the labyrinth, invading the surface world.
To resist these monsters, "heroes" were born. Whether human, elf, dwarf, prum, or Amazon, each race produced its own heroes to varying degrees.
The heroes defeated the monsters, protected the world, and left behind their own epics.
And so the cycle continued. Old heroes faded with time, and new heroes were born in their place.
Until the gods descended from the heavens.
It was said that the gods had grown weary of the dull life in the heavenly realm and came to the lower world of their "children" in search of excitement and amusement.
It seemed that the gods here, regardless of who they were or what divinity they governed, all possessed at least a trace of a trickster's temperament...
Through their immense divine power, the gods drove most of the surface monsters back and forbade them from emerging from the underground labyrinth.
In addition, directly above the labyrinth, they constructed a "playground of the gods."
That was the origin of Labyrinth City Orario.
To ensure the game could continue, the gods established rules for themselves.
Gods were forbidden from using divine power in the lower world and had to live just like their children.
Gods were not allowed to enter the Dungeon.
Countless gods prioritized their own entertainment, experiencing everything the lower world had to offer. They brought development—but also trouble.
With the gods' reckless indulgence, the Age of Heroes came to an end. In its place arose a new era composed of deities, familias, and adventurers.
Until three years ago.
Orario's two strongest familias—the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia—declared their expedition to slay the Black Dragon a failure.
The main forces of both familias were nearly annihilated and were subsequently driven out of Orario by two newly rising familias.
With the new powers taking control, Orario entered yet another era.
Those two familias were the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia.
However, these newly risen powers clearly did not possess the overwhelming strength of their predecessors. During this period, the Evilus factions steadily expanded.
But that was a story for later.
...
In a silent forest, a flash of light flickered into existence—then vanished without a trace.
Roughly five minutes later, the light appeared again, only to disappear the next second.
Almost rhythmically, every five minutes, the strange light flashed once in the same place.
More than an hour later, the light finally manifested completely—and this time, it did not fade.
A head cautiously peeked out from within the light, carefully surveying the surroundings. Only after confirming there was no danger did she truly step out.
Elise had now arrived in this world.
"Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?"
Because this was a world where gods truly existed, Elise had to consider her actions carefully—probe carefully.
That was precisely the reason for her earlier behavior. The gods of this world were described with absurdly exaggerated settings, nearly omniscient and omnipotent—but that applied only to their true forms in Heaven.
The gods who had descended from Heaven to the lower world should no longer possess that kind of omniscience and omnipotence, right?
At least, from the novels and anime she had seen, Elise had not perceived such absolute power.
In other words, sealing their divine power truly reduced the gods to something akin to mortals. They could even be killed by mortals.
However, gods still possessed divine power as a safeguard. Even if an ordinary person with ill intent encountered a god, they would be unable to kill them and could only subconsciously ignore them instead.
So Elise had been worried. What if, the moment she entered this world, she was discovered by one of those gods?
Fortunately, fate seemed to favor her. The gods who had descended to the lower world might retain some strength, but they clearly did not wield the overwhelming authority they once held in Heaven.
As long as her identity was not exposed, she would be fine.
Only after truly calming down did Elise begin to properly examine this world. It was clearly a retro, cold-weapon era. Yet due to the blessings of the gods, the technological tree had developed in a rather distorted manner.
Of course, that was not Elise's focus.
Her talent was faith. Naturally, her focus was faith.
This was a world where gods genuinely existed.
So what level of faith did this world contain?
Elise could tell you.
A lot.
An unimaginable amount.
And the quality was outrageously high.
In any world Elise had experienced before, none possessed faith power as overwhelming as this Dungeon world. She even felt as though she were submerged in a deep sea of faith.
However, despite the absurd abundance of faith power, Elise did not dare to use it casually.
If she accidentally seized the faith belonging to some god and that god shattered the rules to come after her, she would have no choice but to flee.
"The gods cannot use divine power in the lower world—that's all?"
Heh.
That was merely a rule the gods imposed upon themselves. If they truly wished to break it, they could do so at any time.
"So in this world, faith power is completely unusable?"
That was fine.
Elise had not come here intending to crush everything with faith.
She wanted to grow stronger.
She wanted her body to be strengthened.
The gods' blessing in this world was clearly an excellent choice.
"Even without using faith power, I'm not some helpless weak girl."
Elise possessed Prana.
And she had Est, her contracted spirit.
Even without faith power, she had the ability to contend with high-level adventurers.
In any case, her top priority now was to join a familia.
As for which familia to join—honestly, Elise had not decided yet. Only by meeting the gods in person could she make a better judgment.
"But... where is this?"
Elise currently stood within a forest, completely unable to determine her bearings.
If she wanted to level up, she had to head to Labyrinth City Orario.
Reaching that city would likely take quite some time...
Moreover, Elise could not confirm the timeline of any world she arrived in. It might be long before the story began—or perhaps near the end, after much had already transpired.
Though she could not determine the time or place, regardless of the circumstances, Elise had to make her way to Orario.
With a light leap, she bounded several steps upward, landing atop a towering tree to scan the surrounding area for buildings.
Unfortunately, she saw no sign of Orario's iconic white tower.
Which meant she was not near Orario?
"Sigh!"
"Is this the inconvenience of not using faith power?"
It seemed she would have to locate Orario herself.
As for Est...
She was sleeping within the spirit crest...