This deep-level exploration didn't encounter any mid-way accidents like the last one. Fu Hua led the way, pre-emptively guiding everyone along safe paths. Takatsuki, from the rear, used his Nen perception and weapons launched from the King's Treasure to preemptively strike before the monsters could attack, piercing them with several projected weapons.
Monsters that weren't killed by the King's Treasure's throws would then face the violent explosion of Broken Phantasm.
Even the usually stubborn Bete had to shut his mouth at this point, because Takatsuki and Fu Hua had practically completed all the tasks. Everyone else had nothing to do but run.
"Too cunning! Takatsuki, you actually snatched all the monsters by yourself."
Ah, only a person like Kiana would complain at a time like this.
"Kiana, after the 58th Floor, there will be countless dragon-type monsters for you to fight to your heart's content. Let's just ignore these little guys on the way."
Kiana was just complaining lightly and wasn't really throwing a tantrum. However, their effortless demeanor made the Loki Familia members somewhat suspicious.
[Can they go on an expedition by themselves? Do they not need to cooperate with us for a joint expedition?]
And their guess was correct. Takatsuki and his group had already cleared their way to the 58th Floor. The 59th Floor, being a glacier, wasn't suitable for their adventure. Takatsuki's group had descended to the 59th Floor once and found that the environment there had reverted to a glacier due to the Corrupted Spirit being subjugated. Both the combat difficulty and comfort were very poor, so they didn't continue exploring downwards and instead retreated to the 58th Floor to slaughter Valgang Dragons.
Everyone smoothly arrived at the 58th Floor, Dragon's Pot.
All the monsters here were Western Dragon-shaped monsters, including flying dragons in the sky and Valgang Dragons on the ground that could attack across floors like artillery turrets.
"Haha, finally back here again! You guys! Watch me!"
Bete and Tiona were excited to be back at Dragon's Pot, because for their LV5 level, the monsters before were already difficult to give them a satisfying fight. The monsters in Dragon's Pot were roughly LV5 level, making them evenly matched opponents.
Coupled with the adventurers' equipment and various strange abilities, they could engage in exhilarating battles with these monsters.
Meanwhile, just as Bete and his group charged forward, Kiana drew her White Album and transformed into a streak of light, severing a ground-based Valgang Dragon.
Seeing her effortlessly take down a monster, several people were startled.
"Hey, hey, is this the strength a LV3 can have!?"
In terms of destructive power alone, Lefiya could also kill these monsters with one magic spell, but that was different. Part of the reason Lefiya was brought down as a LV3 was that her magic power could unleash LV4 or even LV5 destructive power, showing great potential.
But that was only destructive power. In terms of physique or speed, Lefiya was just an ordinary LV3 level.
However, Kiana's speed, strength, and one-hit kill power just now even surpassed agile LV5 fighters like Bete.
"Wow! I need to work hard too, I can't lose to a LV3!"
No sooner had Tiona spoken than a figure wrapped in a stream of green wind flashed past her. As that figure flashed by, several monsters in front of her also had their lives taken by a single sword strike.
"Ah! Ais!"
Mei, who was watching Kiana charge forward from behind, also felt a little eager.
"Takatsuki-kun, I'm going too."
"Mhm."
Except for Takatsuki, Fu Hua, and the three veteran LV6s of the Loki Familia, everyone else charged into the Dragon's Pot and began fighting the monsters.
The terrain of Dragon's Pot was very spacious, with no traps, making it very comfortable to fight. After all, these dragons needed spacious terrain more than adventurers.
The big three, who had fought here for a long time, were already very familiar with the monsters here, including their fighting styles and weaknesses.
The battle lasted for half a day, and they finally cleared out the Dragon's Pot.
However, this expedition wasn't meant to end just at Dragon's Pot. Everyone gathered at the entrance to the 59th Floor, and Finn felt the cold air coming from below.
"It seems the floors below have returned to their original state, just as the records left by the Zeus Familia indicate."
Finn instructed Raul to take out the Narcissus Spirit Cloth they had prepared earlier. This cloth could resist water-attribute attacks and had strong cold resistance.
After equipping themselves, everyone set off for the 59th Floor.
Originally, there was a Floor Boss on the 59th Floor, the Corpse King Flower.
However, the original Floor Boss was defeated by Takatsuki's group because it was possessed by a Corrupted Spirit, so it hadn't respawned yet.
Similar to the previous two Floor Bosses, Udaeus and Balor, Amphisbaena had just respawned during this expedition due to being on a higher floor with a shorter refresh time.
But Udaeus and Balor were different.
Finn was puzzled for a while by the fact that the two were defeated by others, eventually blaming it on Ottar, the Strongman, because the information Finn had only indicated that he could solo deep floors without alarming anyone.
One floor after the Floor Boss, the Sixtieth Floor, was a safe floor. However, the safe floor here wasn't an open wilderness or forest like above, but an environment like the polar regions.
"Ahhhh, it's so cold."
Even wearing the Narcissus Spirit Cloth, it still felt cold here. Kiana shivered and then looked at Bronya, who was completely unaffected: "Bronya, you're too unfair."
"Bronya is just using Bronya's abilities. Is there a problem? Kiana can use them too."
Although others couldn't see it, the Hestia Familia members could all see Bronya silently materializing White Album. White Album's freezing ability was lower than the environment here, so the cold environment of this place had no effect on Bronya whatsoever.
However, no matter how cold it was, this was the only safe floor. They didn't want to return to the 50th Floor, so they could only set up camp here. Although it was still some time until night, everyone was tired and not suitable for continuing to the next floor.
Fortunately, the Loki Familia had ample supplies, and a roaring bonfire was lit, around which both LV4 and LV5 adventurers gathered to warm themselves.
Takatsuki, meanwhile, returned to his tent to rest. Having switched to his Holy Lord character card, he was largely impervious to the cold. Not to mention his Fire Demonic Tao, his Evil Dragon physique alone allowed him to resist most environmental negative effects.
After resting for a while, Mei entered the tent and saw Takatsuki sitting cross-legged on the bed, head bowed. On his knees lay an unremarkable katana, and in one hand, he held an octagonal talisman.
"Takatsuki-kun?"
Seeing Takatsuki as if asleep, Mei softly called out.
A few seconds later, Takatsuki looked up: "Is something wrong?"
"Finn and the others are looking for you. It's already evening."
The fixed nightly exchange of supplies and information was a daily agreement, and Takatsuki naturally hadn't forgotten.
Looking at the katana in his hand, Takatsuki sighed. He had possessed this sword for a long time, but even now, he hadn't been able to unleash its power.
Asauchi…
It was a weapon Takatsuki had drawn a long time ago. Its appearance was just that of an ordinary katana, showing no special features, but Takatsuki knew that this weapon was the precursor to a Zanpakuto.
By communicating with it and transforming it into his own Zanpakuto, one could gain special powers.
However, no matter what Takatsuki did, he couldn't successfully communicate with the sword, even though he fully understood its structure and could project it.
Even placing it in his equipment slot to fully utilize its power couldn't awaken his Zanpakuto. After all, a Zanpakuto is, in essence, a copy of the wielder's own soul, not the Asauchi's ability; the Asauchi merely reflects it.
What Takatsuki held in his hand just now was the Sheep Talisman. The Zanpakuto system is a product within a profession called Shinigami, and Shinigami are souls. Takatsuki had been wondering if his inability to awaken his Zanpakuto was because he possessed a physical body.
But his soul couldn't pick up anything; he could only, as just now, place the Zanpakuto on his physical body, and then, with his soul out of his body, try to communicate with it, but he still failed.
"Let's go."
The matter of the Zanpakuto couldn't be rushed; it could only be left to fate.
After meeting with Finn and the others, Takatsuki once again activated [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart], but unlike before, this time, as soon as [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] opened, Takatsuki saw Loki and Hestia pacing anxiously on the other side through the passage.
"Why haven't they arrived yet…"
"Loki-sama? Hestia-sama?"
As soon as Finn spoke, the two chief gods immediately turned their heads.
Hestia, a step ahead of Loki, squeezed over and loudly exclaimed to Takatsuki: "It's bad! Takatsuki-kun! Monsters! The monsters are attacking the city!"
"What!?"
Monster attack, as the name suggests, means monsters invading the city. In Orario, it means monsters pouring out of the Dungeon onto the surface.
Although Hestia seemed very urgent, Takatsuki felt that it wasn't actually overly critical.
But he was very curious about the origin of this monster attack.
Takatsuki remembered that in the original work, after the Dragon Girl was sent to the Xenos, they would be ambushed by the Ikelos Familia, and many of their kin would be captured, which then led to the subsequent event of destroying the 18th Floor safe zone town to rescue their kin, and then, due to Bell's intervention, the event of the Xenos coming to the surface through the artificial labyrinth occurred.
However, after Takatsuki bid farewell to Nana this time, he roughly estimated the time the Ikelos Familia might attack, and then used the ribbon he gave Nana to activate his Nen to monitor the situation around Nana and her group. Upon discovering someone attacking the Xenos, he immediately arranged for Shadowkhan Soldiers from hundreds of kilometers outside Orario to return Ikelos.
This caused the Ikelos Familia to lose their blessing, and they could also avoid suspicion while still in the Dungeon.
Hestia was not a good narrator, so Takatsuki ultimately learned what had happened through the conversation between Loki and Finn.
Loki seemed to have no intention of hiding anything and directly told them that many green, plant-like fleshy walls were spreading upwards along the artificial labyrinth within Orario.
And with the appearance of these green fleshy walls, some mysterious individuals were driving monsters to invade the surface of Orario. No, saying "driving" isn't even accurate; from Loki's perspective, they were herding the monsters, making them passively "invade" Orario.
These monsters were forcibly equipped with weapons by "people," and "people" were mixed among them, pretending to issue commands, giving the impression that they wanted to pin the blame on the Xenos.
Because this incident was likely to affect Nana and her group, Hestia also came along. Loki felt that the monster attack was merely a prelude, and although the attack was quickly dismantled by the adventurers on the surface, Loki's intuition told her that the attack itself was not the goal; the mastermind had a bigger scheme.
So Loki issued an order during this call.
"Abandon the expedition! Return to the Familia quickly and prepare to deal with Enyo's conspiracy."
The command of a high god is absolute, and Finn did not refuse. After completing today's material exchange, Finn called a portion of the core adventurers into the tent.
"Loki just sent news that Orario is on the verge of riot at any moment due to Enyo's conspiracy. Someone disguised as Xenos launched a monster attack."
Finn briefly recounted the news Loki had just sent, and Kiana immediately became agitated.
"Is Nana alright!"
Mei quickly comforted her from the side: "Kiana, don't worry, Nana is fine. Someone disguised as Xenos, it wasn't the Xenos themselves attacking the city."
Finn nodded affirmingly: "Although the Xenos are fine for now, the other party's goal is clearly to incite conflict between the Xenos and Orario adventurers, so we must rush back quickly."
"The others outside don't know about the Xenos yet, everyone remember to keep it a secret. I'll find a reason later to tell the others about the plan to return tomorrow."
Finn raised his right thumb and licked it with his tongue.
Riveria, who was familiar with Finn, immediately noticed something was wrong: "What's wrong?"
Finn shook his head: "After learning this news, my thumb started to ache faintly. The pain escalated when I just decided to return, but at this point, besides returning, we have no other choice."
Yes, in the current situation, even if they guessed that the other party might ambush them on the way back, there was nothing they could do; this was a genuine open conspiracy.
Although Takatsuki could use [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] to send everyone back directly, he still wanted to preserve this ability that could potentially cause turmoil throughout the entire Orario system. An ability that allowed for constant material exchange with the surface was already exaggerated and coveted.
Not to mention the ability to directly reach floors they had already visited.