[Manifestation of the Dark Mother · Call of the Void:
A bell capable of establishing a weak connection with the Dark Mother.
The tiny call resembles an infant's cry; when the bell is shaken, one can obtain a response from the Dark Mother.
· Capable of altering certain terrains within the Dungeon.
· Capable of uncovering certain secrets that were originally forgotten.
At the end of that unreachable, pitch-black depth, in the hollow depths where nothing exists, 'Darkness' exists alone, and no one can hear His voice.]
After defeating the Giant Wolf and the Rabbit Person Witch, Isagi looked at the small bell that had dropped. He couldn't help but think, Why does this feel like a set with the 'Ring of Dark Covenants' I got earlier?
Even the final flavor text was the same. It was obviously a complete set. So, what would happen after collecting them all? It couldn't possibly be...
He gave it a gentle shake.
Isagi originally thought he could control the Dungeon's terrain just like the Rabbit Person Witch had done moments ago. But, as expected, he was overthinking it—a classic case of 'expectation versus reality,' like a deceptive online product photo.
Its function was more akin to a plot item.
When he shook the thing, the surroundings suddenly began to vibrate. The cavern chamber, originally scattering blinding radiance, emitted an incredibly familiar rumbling sound.
Immediately afterward.
At the end of the pure white expanse ahead, a cracked fissure appeared. Continuing forward, it revealed an upward-sloping corridor.
A few minutes later, a magnificent church revealed itself before the eyes of the youth and the maidens.
[Holy Church Hub · Church Garden].
Overall, it was dominated by grayish-white marble, decorated with stained glass windows. Even the roof tiles bore considerably complex and gorgeous colors.
Sky-blue curtains decorated the interior, and there were countless pure white statues present. They looked... like individual adventurers?
If one were to say that the [Goblin Kingdom] from before made people marvel that such a town could exist within the Dungeon, then the church before their eyes made them feel an unbelievable sense of grandeur, as well as... strangeness.
It was a building that should not exist in this world.
The statues of adventurers visible everywhere made it look almost like the 'Bridge of Heroes' in the City.
Was this something that should appear inside the Dungeon?
What was even more surprising was that the entire church was illuminated by a radiance that seemed to come from the surface. One glance revealed that the ground was entirely made of pure white crystal walls, from which a gentle, pure white light permeated.
At the same time.
It also highlighted the tightly closed iron gates in front of the church, and the small, black Site of Grace floating in mid-air, which was incredibly conspicuous.
After walking over, Isagi stood before the Site of Grace and rang the bell again.
As a result, the ground to the side cracked open once more. A slide-like downward passage actually appeared. It looked like a shortcut, and in reality, it indeed was one.
Just like riding a slide, they could arrive directly at the place where he and the maidens usually rested. It should be located on the 16th Floor of the Dungeon, above the 'Wall of Grief.' Looking down, one could see the dim cavern chamber where the giant Goliath's massive skeleton was sealed within crystal.
Afterward, he shook the bell again.
The crystal ground cracked open once more. Circling the giant's skeleton, another slide continuing downward appeared.
Isagi and the maidens continued to test it out and discovered that the final destination was actually the Holy City suspended upside down above Rivira.
The sudden inversion of up and down left Isagi and the maidens still somewhat unaccustomed to the sensation.
Not far away was the city center where Alfia's statue was located, and the elevator was still there.
Understood.
They continued to take the elevator, returning to the initial 13th Floor.
Then Isagi rang the bell again. Sure enough, among the walls not far away, a downward sloping corridor appeared once again.
And the end of this path was that pure white cavern chamber where he had just fought the Rabbit Witch. Continuing forward, one could return to the front of the grand church from just now.
Alright then.
Now the shortcuts formed a complete closed loop. The Dungeon was actually quite thoughtful. Not bad.
They did not continue the adventure.
Isagi decided to wait until he upgraded to Lv.5 before exploring the 'New Map' behind this, including returning to that so-called [Land of Truth] to kill that 'Nameless Hero'.
They had originally come here just to grind Ability Scores, and after so many days, their supplies were running low.
It was better to leave it for next time.
Thus.
A considerable amount of time passed in a flash.
Following Isagi, Lefiya also leveled up to become a Lv.5 First-Class Adventurer, and Astrea could finally rest for a while.
The Goddess had been 'particularly busy' recently.
Over this consecutive period, first Cecil upgraded to Lv.3 and genuinely acquired the [Mystery] Development Ability—although Astrea felt amazed, thinking about it, it made sense. No matter what, being able to forge a First-Class Armament like that for Ryuu at Lv.2... achieving such a feat already proved that Cecil was no ordinary blacksmith.
Not to mention she had gained the recognition of a Spirit.
Now, the little Spirit at home, Yuufi, seemed to like her more than Isagi. After all, the boy always liked to scare her.
Cecil's level up could be described as a major event. Possessing the [Mystery] Development Ability was significant. Leaving aside Fels, who had long since buried their name, just looking at Airmid and Asfi in the current City—they were both incredibly famous figures.
When the Guild made this news public, the blacksmith maiden who had originally been somewhat obscure within the Familia instantly became the hottest topic in the City.
Whenever Astrea went out recently and encountered other Gods, she was always chased and asked about Cecil.
However, no blind fools did anything stupid.
With Ryuu there.
And with Ais and Heith also frequently running over to the Astrea Familia's side, it was enough to dispel the strange ideas of certain foolish Gods.
But even so, because of this matter, the burger shop had become incredibly busy recently. There were those joining in the fun, those listening to gossip, and even those who just ran over to take a look.
Astrea felt for the first time just how terrifying it was to become a 'City Hotspot.' coupled with the presence of the originally popular Goddesses Artemis and Aphrodite.
It became even livelier!
It was strange to say, but clearly, the Moon Goddess stood behind the counter every day with an angry, terrifying expression. Yet, for some reason, the 'Moon Goddess' set meal had recently been selling even better than the 'Goddess of Beauty' set.
Those male Gods who had been viciously scolded actually came running back the next day, shaking their tails to buy burgers. It was simply ridiculous!
What on earth was wrong with the Gods these days?!
Oh, that's not right. Even in Tenkai, these guys were exactly like this. Simply unreliable to the extreme!!
Sigh...
A characteristic drizzles of spring rain began to fall. The sky was gloomy and lingering, yet it did not affect the Elf maiden's cheerful mood in the slightest.
Level up!
Becoming a First-Class Adventurer was of immense significance to Lefiya!
In the [School District], only considerably powerful teachers possessed the strength of Lv.5. So, for the maiden, this was a transformation in status.
From a 'child' who needed to be taken care of, she had become a 'teacher' capable of standing on her own, and even taking care of and protecting others.
This was originally her initial goal in wanting to become an adventurer; it was Lefiya's dream and aspiration.
And within this imperceptible passage of time.
It had only been about a year or so?
To think she had already achieved it. It was simply incredible. Last night, after returning from the Dungeon and updating her Ability Scores, she once again felt the sublimation of her 'Vessel' and the accompanying sense of power.
Lefiya felt a tangible sensation of slowly floating back to the ground from the clouds.
Ah—
She thought that next time they met, her former classmates would definitely be shocked. Perhaps even Teacher Leon would be too.
The [School District] returned to Orario once every three years.
Lefiya suddenly thought that by then, Isagi might have already upgraded to Lv.7, or possibly even higher.
That was too exaggerated!
Thinking of this, Lefiya didn't stop at all. She didn't rest in her room, even though today was the second day after returning from the Dungeon. Generally speaking, everyone would do their own activities to relax.
Driven by a sense of mission in her heart.
Exploring the deepest layers of the Dungeon, completing the Three Great Quests of adventurers, and even protecting this world—
[I can do it!]
This solid feeling encouraged Lefiya to hold up her umbrella and stride forward. Soon, she arrived at the encampment of the Loki Familia, in front of the main gate of Twilight Manor.
The adventurers on guard duty already knew her.
Without any obstruction.
She arrived at the garden in the atrium just like that. Passing through the archway, she reached the front hall of the Loki Familia.
It was already afternoon.
Riveria was waiting for her. Besides her, Miss Heith was also here. The pink-haired woman appeared quite unaccustomed to the setting, as this was her first time coming to the Loki Familia's encampment.
It just feels a bit weird somewhere!
Heith was obviously a bit uneasy, constantly looking around as if worried someone would jump out and beat her up.
It wasn't to say that the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia had a bad relationship.
Actually...
Mn...
It was just like that. The two Familias basically had no interactions. Of course, this was mainly because on her own Familia's side, a bunch of idiots always failed to get along with others, so their reputation was terrible.
And to be honest, there was usually no reason to interact. Why would she come to the Loki Familia? To drop by for a chat when she had nothing to do?
Of course.
The reason she came today was actually because of Lefiya's invitation.
After the adventure ended yesterday, it was foreseeable that the Elf maiden was about to level up. Naturally, she needed to adapt to her new power. So, she had asked Heith to come over to conduct 'close-quarters combat' practice, to help her body recover coordination quickly.
It wasn't as troublesome as it was for Isagi.
Because Ability Scores like Strength, Agility, and Dexterity weren't high for Mages to begin with, adapting was quite fast.
Actually, in Heith's view.
The reason Isagi was so 'painful' every time he leveled up was partly due to his exaggeratedly absurd Ability Scores—as a squad member, she already knew that the boy's level up this time was all 'SSS' again. His highest Ability Score had even broken through 1700 points, nearly reaching 1800.
That was too terrifying, wasn't it?!
Other people's '999' was already considered the limit for genius adventurers. But your limit is basically double theirs, right!!
Suddenly, she thought of a sentence from the chunibyo words Isagi occasionally spouted—
[Genius is merely the threshold to see me.]
Absurd.
If not for the fact that the boy and the maiden were both alive and kicking right in front of her eyes—guys she could see and touch—Heith would probably think this was some ridiculous story made up by a bard after drinking too much.
Sigh!
Sighing, she realized she was now the lowest-level guy in the team. (Apart from Cecil, the Astrea Familia members were all First-Class Adventurers, but Heith wasn't from the Astrea Familia).
Looking at the boys and girls younger than her, who had one by one become her 'Seniors'.
The woman always felt somewhat sentimental.
Therefore, today wasn't just to help Lefiya adapt to her new power. More importantly—
Heith felt it was necessary for the two of them to have a good 'exchange.'
Both were rearguards; one was a Mage, the other a Healer. Moreover, both of them were now responsible for carrying supplies, acting as half-Supporters. Even when cooking in the Dungeon, the two of them often did it together!
So.
Heith naturally felt that she and Lefiya should be a bit more 'familiar'!
She had recently started to feel like she couldn't keep up with the team.
It wasn't an illusion.
Isagi had helped her quite a bit before, giving her many extra 'Support' abilities, but it was still far from enough!
The woman was already somewhat worried about whether she would be left behind by the youths in the future and directly kicked out of the squad.
I don't want that kind of future!
She hadn't upgraded to Lv.5 yet. Furthermore, if things went smoothly, maybe she could even become a Lv.6 or even a Lv.7 guy. At that time, she'd see if that Elf who always had a smug look on his face dared to be cocky in front of her!
She must exert her subjective initiative!!
So Heith decided to take action. First, she would figure things out together with Lefiya to see what else she could do for the squad during combat and adventures.
Amidst her thoughts.
She had already followed the two Elves toward the depths of the Loki Familia encampment.
Walking through corridor after corridor, it felt just like a maze.
Speaking of which, Heith didn't know why Lefiya wanted to come here. Yesterday, they had agreed to meet, but then the Elf maiden suddenly seemed to remember something. While apologizing, she said she was sorry, but she already had an appointment with Riveria first.
Heith thought that since she had nothing to do anyway, she would just tag along, and they could leave together later.
She figured.
Lefiya probably came to receive Riveria's guidance and continue cultivating Mage techniques.
After all, she was the strongest Mage in the City.
Furthermore, the Loki Familia had a rearguard unit composed purely of Elf Mages, and its leader was Riveria herself.
In a certain sense.
Speaking solely of the 'Mage' class, it was no exaggeration to say the Loki Familia was currently the highest mountain and the longest river in the City.
However—
"Sorry for the trouble, Lefiya."
"Ah... okay..."
The Elf maiden still appeared somewhat reserved.
"?"
When Heith, following behind the two, walked into the room, what she saw was rows of Elves sitting obediently inside.
"Hello, Teacher Lefiya!"
Facing the overwhelming cheer, Heith froze slightly.
[Wait!]
The woman's mouth twitched as she thought, What the hell are you guys doing?!
____
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