Roy circled around in the forest, retrieved tents and various living supplies, then returned to the girls' side.
They quickly set up camp in the wilderness, lit a fire, and boiled the drinking water they brought.
The warmth from the flames and the warm water entering her stomach warmed her body. Maris finally regained her composure, though a trace of fear still remained on her face.
Daphne and Cassandra comforted her.
"You all rest first. I'll go clear some floors below," Roy said with a smile.
With that, Roy left the campsite.
Watching Roy's departing figure, the newcomer girl's face showed amazement and disbelief. "Mr. Roy is truly amazing. He actually still has the strength to kill monsters."
Daphne and Cassandra smiled wryly. What did you expect? High-level adventurers were practically monsters themselves.
During the descent, Roy had killed the most monsters, yet he was also the one who maintained his condition the best.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Roy headed toward the great tree at the center of the eighteenth floor, entering the nineteenth floor through the passage there. Having come to this floor, he might as well check on Marie—it wasn't much farther.
He still remembered the life-saving grace from last time.
Roy rapidly broke through the nineteenth to twenty-fourth floors. There weren't many monsters encountered along the way.
Of course, this wasn't because the Dungeon was kind.
This was actually the Dungeon's most insidious characteristic. As long as you kept going deeper, not many monsters would jump out to stop you. But when you wanted to leave—that's too bad. Every floor had a banquet of monsters waiting for you!
It wouldn't rest until it kept you there!
So in less than two hours, Roy arrived at the Water Capital. The soul-stirring waterfall came into view, the splashing water bringing inner peace.
The Floor Boss Amphisbaena's regeneration cycle was one month. More than half a month had passed since they defeated it last time; there were still two or three days until regeneration.
Without the Floor Boss, Roy could walk sideways here.
Blue Crabs, Rushers—he killed dozens, magic stone fragments dropping all over the ground. Roy created a Thunder Doppelganger to follow behind and collect magic stones.
But as time passed, Roy furrowed his brows. Why did something feel strange?
The monster appearance frequency was wrong!
Even if the Dungeon wanted to lure him deeper, the "Water Capital" connected three floors together. The monster quantity should far surpass other floors.
But so far, he had killed fewer than a hundred monsters, which seemed somewhat诡异.
Roy continued forward. When coming to a corner, he quickly hid into the surrounding darkness.
There was actually a young man guarding the passage!
Riding the Wind!
Roy suppressed his presence, silently approaching the other. At thirty meters, he activated the Wind-Chasing Boots' special effect, his Agility attribute explosively rising to SS rank.
His legs wrapped in fierce wind, Roy crossed the distance between them like a phantom, pressing the other against the wall and tightly locking his throat.
The Level 2 youth's full ability values were merely H rank, completely unable to react. Sensing fatal danger, the youth trembled all over. "Don't kill me."
Roy pressed his voice low, asking, "Speak. Which Familia are you from?"
The youth answered, "Ikelos Familia!"
Roy's pupils contracted, beyond his expectations.
Ikelos Familia!
This Familia's overt rank was B, their Dungeon exploration stopping at the thirty-seventh floor, unmoving for several years—extremely low-key.
Basically no one knew what this Familia was actually doing.
"What are you doing here?" Roy's tone turned cold. He faintly realized something.
The youth quavered, "Catching a monster..."
A trace of icy cold light appeared in Roy's eyes. Of course he knew the Ikelos Familia's background. Their stronghold was located in the man-made labyrinth "Daedalus," earning massive profits by capturing and selling Xenos.
He seemed to understand everything.
This floor had been cleared by Ikelos Familia members, which was why he hadn't encountered many monsters.
"How did you discover this monster?" Roy spoke coldly. The Water Capital was vast; Marie hid underwater, theoretically quite safe.
"About a month ago, someone saw this monster arranging shells on the shore. We guessed she might be an intelligent monster..."
Hearing this, how could Roy not understand what happened? Marie had arranged shells to guide Ryuu and the others to the room where he and Amphisbaena were.
As a result, some adventurers saw it.
The Ikelos Familia heard of this peculiar matter and guessed it was an undiscovered Xenos.
The Ikelos Familia came to capture her. To prevent the Xenos matter from being exposed, they set up sentries at various passages. This youth was one of them.
Crack!
Roy's eyes were indifferent, mercilessly crushing this youth's larynx and cervical vertebrae, ending his life.
Discarding the corpse, Roy advanced silently, passing through the passage. Ahead was an open area where over a dozen Ikelos Familia adventurers appeared.
"Didn't expect there was one in the Water Capital too."
"Not easy. Over a dozen people pursuing for half a month, finally caught her."
"Going to make another fortune!"
These adventurers emitted excited voices.
On the open riverbank ground, an iron cage was placed. Inside was locked a red-eyed Needle Rabbit. Unlike ordinary monsters' savagery, its eyes were very spiritual, revealing humanized expressions. Its limbs were bound by special iron chains, pain appearing on its face.
"Hey hey, if you don't come out, your companion will die!" A male adventurer of the Ikelos Familia viciously kicked the iron cage. This Needle Rabbit possessed intelligence but hadn't yet learned to speak, only able to emit pained sounds.
"Truly cruel, actually abandoning your own companion. Look at its tears!" Ikelos Familia members continuously used words to stimulate Marie in the water.
Even Level 4 adventurers didn't dare easily enter the Water Capital's waters to fight.
They could only use this method to lure the other party.
Any rational adventurer's attitude would definitely be: as long as the green mountains remain, there's no fear of lacking firewood. Develop strength in the future, then take crazy revenge.
Going out now would just mean one more corpse!
Only against those Xenos who valued loyalty and righteousness would such despicable methods succeed.
Hearing her companion's painful groans, that mermaid girl who had once helped Roy appeared in the deep water area, her small face filled with conflict, pain, and despair.
Seeing Marie appear, the Ikelos Familia members' eyes lit up. Mermaid Xenos were too rare—elegant appearance, graceful figure, and sang beautifully. Those wealthy nobles outside Orario would flock like ducks.
Could sell for at least tens of millions of valis, even hundreds of millions!
Know that, setting aside intelligence and appearance value, mermaid blood was one of the world's top-tier healing materials, allowing injuries to rapidly recover!
"As long as you come over, we'll immediately release your companion!"
"We are adventurers with credibility!"
The Ikelos Familia members still didn't dare enter the water, continuing to use words to induce Marie.