50th Floor
The Loki Familia, who arrived here half a day earlier than Takatsuki, had already set up camp. The deeper areas ahead were no longer accessible to ordinary members.
LV4s could only act as support after the 51st Floor; LV5s were regular combatants. To explore alone, one would need to reach at least LV6 or even LV7 to return safely.
The Loki Familia setting up camp here was also to arrange and rest the personnel for further exploration, while other members were responsible for providing support on the safe floor.
For a large Familia like theirs, although the key core members were only a few, the adventurers below also needed to be trained. Along the way, adventurers below LV5 were generally allowed to train, while LV5s provided cover and assistance.
Now that they had reached the deeper levels, the ones undergoing training were no longer below LV5 but LV5s, with three LV6s providing assistance.
Although there were fewer than ten people going to the 51st Floor, they still decided to rest for a day on the 50th Floor.
After all, in the Dungeon, being too hasty would only backfire.
"Lefiya, if you want to fight alongside Ais, you must overcome your fear."
During the rest period, Lefiya, hailed as the Loki Familia's most promising newcomer and the disciple of the city's strongest mage, was being instructed by her teacher.
Although it wasn't instruction on magical problems, as an adventurer, mental fortitude was more important than theoretical knowledge from an ivory tower.
"That's definitely impossible."
A discordant voice suddenly came from behind.
Riveria and Lefiya turned their heads simultaneously and saw the silver-haired Werewolf sitting up from a tree branch. It was not hard to imagine that he had been lying on the treetop for a long time.
"I don't care about your potential. I don't want to be dragged down by a teammate whose legs turn to jelly when they encounter a monster. If you can't fight, then get out of my sight!"
The tsundere Werewolf, as always, spoke venomously to his teammate.
"Bete, that's too much."
Unlike Bete's method of simply provoking others into giving up, Riveria's teaching style leaned more towards gentle guidance.
"So annoying, old hag. Don't always spoil this trash. Always talking about 'admiration,' get lost!"
Bete stood up from the treetop, and halfway through his sentence, his expression suddenly changed. He exerted force with his foot and kicked towards Lefiya.
At such a close distance, even Riveria couldn't react. Who would have thought their teammate would suddenly attack?
And Lefiya was completely terrified, instinctively closing her eyes.
But the anticipated pain didn't come. She only felt a gust of wind sweep past her face, so violent that it made her delicate skin sting a little.
"Damn it! Don't run!"
When she opened her eyes, she only saw Bete standing behind her with an annoyed expression, looking at a wildly moving shadow in the distance, then turning back to them and saying irritably.
"Old hag! Trash! Go notify the others quickly, we're under attack!"
After speaking, he didn't explain further and chased after the direction the shadow moved.
On the other side, Ais, who was cleaning herself in the lake, suddenly uttered a single word.
"Tempest."
A visible green current of air suddenly swirled around Ais. In an instant, she burst out with exaggerated speed and darted into the nearby bushes.
Ignoring her exposed body, Ais looked at the bushes with a puzzled tilt of her head. She clearly felt like she had kicked something solid just now, but it disappeared instantly, as if it had been exploded.
"Ais!!"
At this moment, Tiona ran over from a distance, shouting Ais's name.
"What's wrong?"
Ais walked out of the bushes, startling Tiona.
"Ah! Why are you not wearing anything!?"
"I was just taking a bath."
It was normal not to wear anything while bathing, but clearly, that wasn't the focus now. Tiona quickly refocused: "We're under attack! The captain told us to go back!"
"I understand."
Not connecting what just happened with the attack, Ais, being so unobservant, quickly put on her clothes and hurried to the camp with Tiona.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Is the Loki Familia here too?"
Although the Shadowkhan didn't recognize the Loki Familia members, their description of a large group of adventurers setting up camp here could only mean the Loki Familia.
At this stage, only the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia were qualified to come here. The latter were all elites and not numerous. Coupled with the news that the Loki Familia was going on an expedition a while ago, there was only one answer.
However, soon, another piece of bad news was conveyed to Takatsuki through the puppet's mouth.
"The Shadowkhan Soldiers were mistaken for an enemy attack while gathering information."
"..."
This was awkward, but fortunately, the other party hadn't discovered him yet, only the Shadowkhan Soldiers.
"In that case, you two put these on."
Takatsuki took out two sets of fully armored equipment and threw them in front of the puppet and the ninja soldier responsible for relaying messages.
Gauntlets, eye masks, face masks, gloves, armguards, leg guards, and cloaks—nothing was missing.
Soon, the two were fully armored, not revealing a single bit of skin. Then Takatsuki had them carry two large bags containing some materials.
"From now on, you two are my supporters. You are the second brother, and he is the first brother. For names, you'll be Jerry, and he'll be Tom."
"You can't speak, so just pretend to be mute and follow behind Tom. If someone talks to Tom, you'll be responsible for relaying the conversation to Tom."
Ninja soldiers couldn't speak but possessed relatively complete intelligence, while the puppet was fully functional, could sing and dance, but unfortunately had no intelligence, merely a machine that completed tasks.
The two paired up perfectly to play a pair of supporting brothers.
After arranging his two supporters, Takatsuki led Tom and Jerry towards the heart of the Loki Familia's camp.
At this time, all the Shadowkhan Soldiers were either killed or had been recalled by Takatsuki, but the Loki Familia was still on high alert, searching for the mysteriously appearing enemies.
Soon, Tione, who was patrolling the area, discovered three figures walking in the distance.
"Stop!"
As an LV5, Tione wasn't confident in dealing with guys who dared to come to the 50th Floor with only three people. Before she could clearly see who the people opposite were, she shouted loudly.
"This is the Loki Familia's camp! Who are you?!"
As she spoke, she had already sent a signal to notify the others.
"The Loki Familia?"
The person leading the group opposite seemed to pause for a moment, then stood still, pulled back the hood of his cloak, and said, "It's me, Takatsuki, a member of Lady Hestia's Familia, a divine friend of your god Loki."
At this moment, the other LV6s and LV5s also rushed over after hearing Tione's signal and heard Takatsuki's self-introduction.
"Takatsuki?! That LV1!? How are you here?"
Tiona's eyes widened as she looked at the person in front of her. An LV1 running to the 50th Floor!? This was even more outrageous than a god rushing into the Dungeon.
However, disregarding the others' surprise, Finn was the first to step forward.
"Since you're an acquaintance, don't just Stand there. Come in first."