Seeing the names on the list—Ross and Maizel.
Kanzaki Rei paused.
Then he stepped into the Adventurers' Guild.
"Shiri."
"L-Little Rei…"
"I want the missing-person report for Ross and the others," Kanzaki Rei said calmly.
Shiri met Kanzaki Rei's gaze.
But she quickly realized there wasn't a trace of grief or confusion in his eyes.
So she swallowed the comforting words she had been about to say.
Instead, she immediately brought over the commission documents.
"Rei… this is the commission their team accepted, along with the missing-person report."
Kanzaki Rei took the document and glanced through it.
The information clearly stated: Missing.
Missing report.
During an expedition in a Tier-3 Dungeon, the team encountered a Monarch-Class monster and made the decision to flee.
They ran.
During the escape, Ross and Maizel were separated from the rest of the team and went missing.
Their whereabouts were unknown.
That was all the information available.
The time recorded was half an hour ago.
Not too long.
Kanzaki Rei merely nodded lightly.
Then he turned and quickly headed toward the exit.
This time—
Kanzaki Rei didn't go looking for a mount.
Instead, ice surged beneath his feet.
Ding—
A massive ice spindle condensed beneath him.
BOOM!
In almost an instant, Kanzaki Rei vanished from where he stood, leaving behind a rushing current of cold air.
…
The ice spindle flew at astonishing speed.
Even standing atop it, Kanzaki Rei had already surpassed Earth's speed of sound.
However, in this world, the speed of sound didn't seem quite so slow.
In less than five minutes, Kanzaki Rei had already arrived at the dungeon they had been exploring earlier that day.
"...Hoo."
This was actually his first time entering a dungeon alone.
But Kanzaki Rei didn't waste any time.
「Mind-Sight Eternal Lamp (LV:201) — Selfish Radiance」
After evolving again, the Eternal Lamp no longer produced visible light.
Instead, Kanzaki Rei could assign its effect to his teammates.
To enemies, the surroundings appeared shrouded in darkness.
But to Kanzaki Rei and his allies, everything was perfectly illuminated.
Light revealed every corner of the cavern.
This place was [Cave of Blood Sacrifice].
A Tier-3 Dungeon.
The cave walls were covered in fresh, gruesome bloodstains.
Kanzaki Rei kept the ice spindle circling around his body.
At the same time, "Life-Breath Wind Swarm" fully enveloped him.
Meanwhile, "Protective Barrier (LV:201)" formed like a spherical shell, completely surrounding his body.
"Ross!"
"Maizel!"
"If you can hear me, answer me!"
Ahead lay a corner.
「Repulsion Wind Blast (LV:201)」
While calling out, Kanzaki Rei fired the wind blast.
Only after confirming there were no traps or ambushes did he step around the corner.
Turning the corner—
In the distance, a wide open chamber came into view.
At the center of the cavern was a pool of blood.
Around the pool wandered four faceless humanoid monsters formed entirely from coagulated blood.
BOOM!
The ice spindle shot out almost instantly!
In the blink of an eye, it pierced through all four [Blood Puppets], turning them into frozen blood statues.
The path ahead was wide and open.
Kanzaki Rei released "Wandering Shadow Mire."
Like a swarm of shadow demons, the moving shadow swamp crawled across the cavern walls.
Passing by the blood pool, traces of battle could be seen everywhere.
Kanzaki Rei glanced a few times into the enormous pool.
It was a boiling pool of blood.
Inside there was nothing but blood—bubbling endlessly.
It was impossible to know whether Ross and the others were inside.
But if they were…
There would probably be no point searching for them anymore.
Kanzaki Rei didn't intend to waste time checking.
Instead, he continued forward at a brisk pace.
Thud—
Suddenly, a heavy, muffled impact echoed through the ground.
The surrounding elemental energy also began to grow restless.
This dungeon… had a Monarch-Class monster.
"…Wasn't that something I already knew before coming here?"
Kanzaki Rei sighed softly and continued exploring deeper.
Cave-type dungeons were simple in structure.
They were basically just tunnel passages and large cavern chambers.
There wasn't much terrain variation.
All around him, aside from the rock walls, there was only blood.
But in this dungeon, the deeper he went—
the stronger the scent and presence of blood became.
Fortunately, Kanzaki Rei wasn't new to dungeon exploration.
He had already built up some resistance to these slightly horrifying environments.
Along the way, he still encountered quite a few monsters.
They looked like stragglers that the previous team had missed while exploring branching paths.
Generally speaking, when exploring a dungeon, there was no need to clear every monster.
Once the dungeon's guardian was killed, these minor mobs would disappear on their own soon enough.
Still—
whenever Kanzaki Rei encountered them, he killed them casually and efficiently.
During the journey, he also encountered three traps, all of which he dismantled.
"Ross!"
"Maizel!"
"If you hear me, answer!"
Kanzaki Rei gradually began to understand the irritation people in movies must feel when trying to rescue someone.
Why am I even coming to save them?
Because they're my friends?
Because… it feels like they might still be alive?
Doing something like this—
putting himself in potential danger—
was honestly annoying.
Part of him wanted to just stop searching.
Adventuring meant being responsible for your own actions.
Kanzaki Rei held the pendant hanging on his chest.
This was a talisman he bought from the magic item shop owner for 1500 gold.
Inside it was sealed a Fourth-Tier Life Protection Spell.
If he suffered damage he couldn't withstand, it would activate immediately.
Its effect was equivalent to a full-power defensive block from a Fourth-Tier Defender.
The ring on his other hand contained the effect "Moment of Healing," also Fourth-Tier.
It could restore injuries sustained within a certain time frame.
Altogether, Kanzaki Rei had spent around 3000 gold coins on life-saving equipment.
That included various antidotes and purification potions to remove abnormal status effects.
He even carried a Fourth-Tier Random Teleportation Scroll.
It could cast Random Teleportation Magic.
As for where in the world it would send him…
That was unknown.
Unless absolutely necessary, Kanzaki Rei had no intention of using it.
"…Whatever. At the very least, I won't die just from looking at a Monarch-Class monster."
If simply seeing it could kill someone—
then that team's outcome should have been total annihilation, not a situation where some people managed to escape.
Thud—
The cave trembled again.
Another corner.
Kanzaki Rei skillfully used magic to clear the path ahead.
BOOM!
But this time—
after the wind blast shot forward, he felt feedback from hitting something.
However, the feedback came from far away, not nearby!
RUMBLE—
Kanzaki Rei immediately raised a Heavy Wall, blocking the corner ahead.
There was a small hollow opening in the center of the wall.
A barrier formed in front of the opening, and through it Kanzaki Rei observed the scene in the distance.
What lay before him was a crimson altar formed from countless streams of blood.
Ross and Maizel were suspended high in the air, bound by blood-red chains, hanging directly above the altar.
Beneath the altar were hundreds of faceless humanoid creatures made entirely of blood.
They were kneeling in worship toward the altar.
At the farthest end stood a blood-red throne.
Seated upon it was a humanoid creature composed entirely of blood.
Unlike the countless kneeling [Blood Puppets] below, this one was much larger.
It wore crimson armor, and beside it rested a massive blood-red greatsword.
At the moment Kanzaki Rei laid eyes on it—
it also opened its eyes.
Two black, hollow voids.
Its gaze collided directly with Kanzaki Rei's.
"Looks like… we have a new guest."