Following Filvis's instructions, the man codenamed "Silencer," Mason Adler, led his fellow Familia members to the 17th Floor in search of their target adventurer.
As for the appearance of the Floor Boss—the Fire Giant—and the commotion caused by the battle, they needed no guidance.
Very quickly, they followed the cave tunnels, located the boss room, and personally witnessed a monster unlike anything they had ever seen before in all their exploration.
The Fire Giant.
Its appearance completely overturned their understanding of the Floor Boss Goliath. Its abdomen resembled a volcanic crater, continuously spewing flames into the chamber.
Most crucially—
among the adventurers currently fighting this mutated Floor Boss were quite a few familiar faces.
Core members of the largest faction, the Loki Familia. Even the two Lv.5 Amazoness adventurers were present, along with Lefiya, one of their main midline forces.
"What is going on here?"
"..."
Mason stood at a distance.
As one of the few remaining Lv.4 adventurers in his Familia—and the leader of this team—he frowned as he observed the situation.
If this were simply a standard raid by the Loki Familia against a mutated Floor Boss, he would have immediately disbanded the team and fled in separate directions without hesitation.
From a pure strength standpoint, they were completely outmatched.
And if their true identities were exposed… they would very likely be hunted down.
After all, Evilus, compared to Orario, was like cockroaches in the sewers—almost everyone present had a bounty on their head at the Guild.
However—within the crowd, Adler spotted a face he knew all too well.
The same individual who had repeatedly stirred upheaval across Orario—the very target of this mission.
Ron.
"Why…"
"Why is this guy cooperating with the Loki Familia to clear the Dungeon?"
This completely contradicted the intelligence provided by Filvis.
Ron's Hestia Familia was supposed to be preparing for the Dungeon expedition, with a lineup consisting of only two Lv.3 adventurers and the rest being Lv.2.
Because of that, Adler had even thought Filvis was making a mountain out of a molehill. Even if Ron was unusually strong, three Lv.4 adventurers working together would be more than enough.
Besides—
Their objective was merely to force him back to the safe zone on the 18th Floor. That should have been completely feasible.
But now?
Adler's expression turned complicated.
The target was right in front of him, yet he could do nothing.
The sheer number of adventurers present made any move too conspicuous.
"...Hmm."
"So… do we still have time to withdraw?"
Ron and the others in the distance had already noticed their presence, causing the already tense atmosphere inside the boss room to tighten to the breaking point.
The air shimmered with heat from the hellfire, waves of scorching air rising continuously. Even though the battle against the mutated Floor Boss had drained the adventurers somewhat—they all clearly understood the gap in strength between levels.
"If you don't want to die…"
"Then move your legs faster!!"
Especially when—as Ron rose from Tiona's lap pillow, the furious look in his eyes—Adler felt a chill run down his spine, as if needles were pricking his back.
For some reason… he had the distinct feeling that this guy harbored an inexplicable hatred toward him.
They had to run.
Just the Hiryute sisters from the Loki Familia alone could easily wipe out his team—
not to mention all the other adventurers present.
"Run!!"
"..."
The mission intel was obviously inaccurate.
If they stayed here any longer, they would just be idiots waiting to die. Naturally, Adler had no intention of doing something like that—nor did the Familia members behind him.
Having spent years surviving in the Dungeon,
as remnants who had escaped the purge of the "Dark Age," no one understood the art of running away better than they did.
...
After all, Ron was here.
Tiona restrained herself quite a bit from saying anything outrageous. She merely stared into the distance at the adventurers who had drawn their weapons and approached aggressively—only to turn around and flee moments later.
She frowned, utterly confused.
"They came all the way here just to chicken out?"
"Most likely the Fire Giant Floor Boss caused too much commotion and attracted the attention of adventurers from the 18th Floor safe zone."
Daphne's gaze was equally thoughtful.
Situations like this were not especially uncommon in Orario. Most adventurers followed the unspoken rules of Dungeon exploration.
'Don't steal other people's prey.'
However—there would always be adventurers unwilling to follow the rules, trying to snatch a bit of profit for themselves. After all, a Great Feat was something exceedingly rare for ordinary adventurers.
"But…"
"They probably recognized us. And since the Floor Boss is already dead, they didn't want to start a conflict?"
"..."
Not everything could be judged based on the original DanMachi storyline.
At the very least, the butterfly effect caused by his own existence had already triggered plenty of chain reactions. Listening to Daphne's analysis, the logic behind it was at least internally consistent.
Ron lightly shook his head.
"Hopefully."
"At the very least, we can't afford any more unexpected trouble today."
He had already used up all of his remaining "Revival" charges today. During the rest of the journey, his ability to handle unforeseen danger would be extremely low.
They absolutely could not afford further complications.
Ron looked toward the women present.
After intense exploration, rushing between Floors to provide support, and enduring the hellish environment created by the Fire Giant, visible exhaustion could already be seen on their faces.
Still, their strength was what mattered most. As long as they did not encounter another Floor Boss, safety would not be an issue.
More importantly—this Dungeon expedition had already exceeded Ron's expectations in terms of efficiency.
The path leading to the Boss Room extended directly into the 17th Floor region, saving them a tremendous amount of time that would otherwise have been spent exterminating Soulslike monsters.
And on top of that, they had reunited with Tione, Daphne, and the others without issue, saving them the trouble of searching for companions.
Ron swept his gaze across the group.
Compared to retreating—there was still one extremely important matter he needed to handle first.
"Next…"
"We'll head to the 18th Floor safe zone and get some proper rest. But before that…"
"We need to collect the rewards from clearing the Floor Boss."
The profits from the drop items would be distributed according to the standard ratio.
But what Ron cared about most was whether defeating the Fire Giant would drop something like an Ash of War or an Incantation.
Then—what entered his sight first was an enormous dark-purple magic stone, seemingly containing endless magical power within it. Its color was incomparably deep.
And second—his attention was drawn to the whip lying on the ground, woven from the Fire Giant's crimson hair.
After all, the DanMachi world had no "Remembrance" system.
So directly dropping the "Giant's Red Braid" honestly felt pretty reasonable.
'At least…'
'All those Revival charges weren't wasted for nothing.'
Only now—did the effort he had invested finally feel proportional to the rewards he had earned.
And no one was happier about that than Ron.
Continuously growing stronger inside the Dungeon was the very thing that drove him forward.
Not only that—the moment he bent down and picked up the "Giant's Red Braid," the Incantations born from the Fire Giant's faith began flooding endlessly into the depths of his mind.
"..."
"Hm?!"
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