What was that thing?
Takatsuki had seen it the instant the floor-shattering object appeared—it was a bull-like monster, and even now, he could sense the intense magical fluctuations emanating from it.
"Is Fu Hua fighting it?"
Through the feedback transmitted by Observation Haki and aura perception, Takatsuki discovered multiple auras on the 13th Floor, including several LV4 members of the Loki Familia, Fu Hua, and the massive aura that had shattered the floor.
However, the enormous magical fluctuations emitted by the green flesh hidden beneath the ground and walls obscured part of Takatsuki's perception.
Normally, Takatsuki should go back and help Fu Hua, but…
Looking at Mei, who had lost consciousness in his arms, Takatsuki abandoned this idea.
Anyway, Fu Hua could defeat that guy. In Takatsuki's perception, the bull's strength was even inferior to the Corrupted Spirit he had defeated on the 59th Floor.
As for Kiana and the others, they were perfectly fine as well.
Activating his Nen, Takatsuki, holding Mei, dropped straight into a circular hole and appeared on the 18th Floor.
The 18th Floor was a safe floor, and it was also far from the 13th Floor, with no monster attacks and unaffected by the battle there.
However, Takatsuki needed to seriously consider what was going on and why they were attacked on the 13th Floor.
He let Mei lean against him. Although she was an adventurer of a higher level than Kiana and the others, Mei's spirit didn't seem strong. The impact and magic overflow that didn't even cause a few LV3s to faint had caused Mei to lose consciousness.
This was quite unreasonable, but Takatsuki didn't think too much about it.
Mei's unconsciousness didn't last too long; in just a few minutes, she slowly woke up.
"Takatsuki-kun? What happened to me?"
She looked around a bit bewildered. The environment of the 18th Floor was similar to ordinary ground; if one didn't look up, they wouldn't even realize they were underground.
"You're awake, Mei. How do you feel? We were attacked by enemies. This is the 18th Floor."
After briefly explaining the current situation and confirming that Mei's body was fine, Takatsuki continued: "Since you're awake, we should go find Kiana and the others."
"Mm."
Takatsuki sensed the Nen he had left on Kiana and the others' weapons, and his expression suddenly changed.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't feel it."
Looking at Mei's puzzled expression, Takatsuki frowned deeply: "I can't feel the anchor points I left on Kiana and the others."
Anchor points disappearing was not impossible.
Even Nen couldn't last forever; at its core, Nen was the 'life' within the human body, and it would slowly dissipate after long periods of wear and tear. It could be erased by others' Nen, or it might be slowly covered and worn away by the aura present on the human body itself.
So Takatsuki would regularly replenish the Nen on their weapons to maintain the anchor point effect. However, weapons that could be stored within the body would have the Nen on them erased when stored, as even strong Nen attached to a weapon was like rootless duckweed, unable to contend with the continuous flow of Tao from the human body itself.
So Takatsuki had left Nen on Kiana's greatsword and given Fu Hua a hair tie. If the weapons were destroyed, and Takatsuki couldn't sense the anchor point on Fu Hua's hair tie either, then it would mean…
No…
Takatsuki instantly thought of another possibility: that a larger aura had swallowed it.
Even Nen, its essence would not change, and the power of magic itself was a form of human vitality, with subtle differences in each person's magic.
And unfortunately, each piece of that green flesh emitted magical fluctuations far exceeding the human body, which meant that upon close contact, those rootless Nen would quickly be covered.
"Takatsuki-kun, are Kiana and the others in danger? Then we need to hurry and save them."
"Yes, but now the anchor points are destroyed, so we have to go up from other places."
Takatsuki recalled the information he had obtained from their daily communications: a large amount of green flesh was found in the sewers on the surface, and by tracing it back to its source, they discovered an artificial labyrinth hidden beneath Orario.
Takatsuki knew about this artificial labyrinth, the artificial labyrinth Knossos, mentioned in the third arc's Xenos incident.
It was an underground labyrinth built by Daedalus and his descendants, and one of its entrances was on the east side of the 18th Floor.
"Follow me, we'll go up from here."
Leading Mei all the way to the east, the eastern wall showed no strange features, as the mountain walls here were very rugged. But Takatsuki knew that the path to the artificial labyrinth was hidden behind a certain wall.
Things invisible to the naked eye could easily be discovered with Haki's perception. Using the Dragon Talisman's blast, he instantly blasted open the mountain wall, revealing a clearly artificial passage within.
"Such a place is hidden within the Dungeon?"
Mei followed Takatsuki inside, looking at the surrounding walls in surprise.
"Yes, this was built thousands of years ago by a person named Daedalus, the artificial labyrinth Knossos."
"Thousands of years? And these were all built by humans?"
Even seeing only a part of it, Mei could imagine how magnificent this artificial labyrinth was. In this era, the towering Babel already had the handiwork of gods, but this artificial labyrinth was entirely man-made.
"Yes, Daedalus in this world left a curse in his bloodline, and his descendants have also been continuously building this labyrinth."
As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the true entrance of Knossos, a large gate covered in strange patterns.
"Knossos has many traps. The eyes of Daedalus's descendants are the key to Knossos; without the key, one cannot control the traps within the labyrinth, so be careful."
Looking at the gate in front of him, Takatsuki remembered that this gate had the effect of absorbing magic, making it difficult to destroy with magic.
"Stand behind me. I'll open this gate."
Shielding Mei behind him, Takatsuki silently changed an item in his equipment slot, raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers towards the gate.
Blast!!!
In a game Takatsuki once played, there was a skill called 'Gaboja's Fist,' which summoned a robot's fist from another space to attack, and it was only one punch.
Takatsuki drew inspiration from it, combined with the experience of the Ishtar Familia at the time, and had learned how to summon only one fist of the Shikoutazer.
The gate, which could defend against magical bombardments, was shattered by the Shikoutazer's pure physical violence.
No matter how sturdy it was, it was still something that could be destroyed by force.
"Let's go, we'll go up from here."