Unfortunately for them, by the time the women arrived at the scene, the place was already empty.
Between Jeanne's Revelation skill and its wide-area detection, plus a gut instinct that split the odds fifty-fifty with divine foresight, Leon and Jeanne had slipped away well ahead of time.
When the all-female adventurer party reached the site and found the chamber floor carpeted with monster corpses and reeking, charred husks that stank of burnt flesh and scorched chitin, every face turned grim.
"This many... and they're all Killer Ants?"
The eastern woman in the wine-red kimono spoke in a low, measured tone, her elegant features tightening as she surveyed the carnage. Waist-length black hair framed a gaze that missed nothing.
"It's worse than that." The one who answered was Lyra, the Sly Mouse, a diminutive Pallum girl with pink hair. She crouched low, pulling on gloves to examine one of the charred remains. "A rampage at this scale can't be explained by any ordinary Monster Party, Lady Yamato Rindou."
"Wait... Killer Ants?" Kaguya's eyes snapped wide, Lyra's words triggering a realization. The color drained from her face. "Lyra, you don't mean..."
"That's exactly what I mean. Don't forget how Killer Ants behave. Threaten one, and it calls the swarm. Layer the Dungeon's own malice on top of that with a Monster Party, and you get a body count like this." Lyra rose to her feet, her expression turning shrewd. "And let's not forget where we're standing. You all know what that implies."
Behind them, the red-haired swordswoman who'd just caught up sucked in a sharp breath. This was their captain, Alise Lovell, bearer of the divine title Scarlet Harnel, champion of justice.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on! You can't be serious! This is the seventh floor! The Adventurer's Handbook spells it out plain as day: Monster Parties aren't supposed to happen above the tenth floor! And now one hits here? That's not funny, Kaguya! Lyra!"
"Hehe, my dear captain." Lyra smiled sweetly, the kind of smile that made skin crawl. "How many times have I told you? Dogma will get you killed. The Dungeon is full of unknowns. They call it an Irregular for a reason. What makes you think anything is impossible?"
The words hung in the air. Every face in the group shifted.
"If our investigation confirms what we suspect," Kaguya said, her expression dark, "a Monster Party on the seventh floor... that's a serious problem."
"Ryuu, what are you looking at?"
Alise had noticed the elven girl in the green cloak, golden ponytail catching the light. Ryuu Lion, the Gale, stood motionless, her gaze fixed on the ground. Alise followed her line of sight.
"The bodies." Ryuu's voice was cool, precise. "Nearly all of them were killed by a single spear thrust. Clean. Efficient. Judging by the wound placement, the monsters were cut down right at the corridor entrance."
"The charred ones are from fire magic. Skilled work. Almost certainly a seasoned mage."
Alise's jaw dropped. "Two people handled all of this? That's incredible!"
Kaguya's lips curved behind the sleeve she'd raised to her mouth, amusement flickering in her narrow eyes. "Exploring off the standard routes, in side chambers... their levels probably aren't high. Anyone Level 2 or above wouldn't waste time on the seventh floor."
"So you're saying they're both low-level? Maybe even Level 1?" Alise waved a hand, laughing. "Ha! No way. Absolutely no way. At Level 1, against this many Killer Ants, there's no chance they could've survi..." Her voice trailed off, growing quieter with every word, until she fell silent with the rest of them, disbelief written across her face.
"Impressive." The golden-haired elf's expression was solemn.
The women exchanged glances, each pair of eyes reflecting the same stunned awe.
"Well, well..." Kaguya's narrow eyes squeezed into pleased crescents, a quiet laugh escaping her. "We came down here to earn some coin for the Familia's operating budget, and we stumble across a catch like this. Things are looking up for the Astraea Familia."
They each put themselves in that position. At Level 1, facing that swarm, what could they have done? The conclusion was unanimous: forget fighting. You run.
While the Astraea Familia's champions of justice investigated the scene and debated deeper causes, a steady trickle of curious adventurers and parties arrived behind them. One look at the carnage inside the chamber and the familiar figures standing at the corridor entrance was enough. They dropped their voices to whispers and turned to leave.
"That's the Astraea Familia... the Scarlet Harnel, Yamato Rindou, Sly Mouse, the Gale..."
"I thought something huge went down. That fighting was intense enough to make my hair stand on end. Turns out it's just the Astraea Familia's justice squad blasting small fry on the seventh floor."
"Oh, the justice Familia. Nothing to see, then."
"Evilus has been way too active lately. They're probably under a ton of pressure. Can't blame them for coming to the Upper Floors to blow off some steam. Honestly, I get it."
"Tch. Must be rough in the city if even the Astraea Familia is feeling the heat. Things are getting tense."
"Well, yeah. You've seen the Evilus psychos. They attack anything that moves." The adventurer's face twisted with disgust.
The others nodded, sharing the sentiment. Evilus, that pack of unhinged fanatics... no one with a functioning brain and a moral compass had any love for them.
Meanwhile, Leon and Jeanne, who had quietly made their exit long before any of this, remained blissfully unaware.
Because Leon's fire magic happened to match Alise's, and because plenty of adventurers had "witnessed" the Astraea Familia at the scene, the monster rampage on the seventh floor was ultimately chalked up to "the Astraea Familia blowing off stress by overkilling weak mobs."
Leon could never have imagined that his dramatic welcome-to-the-Dungeon party would end with Alise and the Astraea Familia's justice squad taking the blame.
The main passage from Floor 7 to Floor 8.
Leon wrapped the staff head's large magic crystal in its maintenance cloth, secured it with leather straps, and hung it back on his pack. He and Jeanne moved in single file toward the lower floors.
Both wore hooded cloaks, keeping a low profile while staying alert.
"Don't let the surface fool you," Leon said as they walked. "Up there, you've got the order-aligned Familia Alliance and Guild headquarters running constant patrols. Down here, it's a different world."
"Down here, it's simple. The strong take. The fit survive. Violence rules."
"Inside the Dungeon, it's pure law of the jungle. Our enemies aren't just the environment and the monsters. It's not just Evilus lunatics. It's other adventurers."
"The threats you can see aren't the dangerous ones. It's the ones you can't. One wrong step and you're walking into a trap. Stabbed in the back before you even realize it, dead without knowing why."
"The unspoken rule among adventurers in the Dungeon is to keep your distance. Don't interfere with another party without their permission."
He laid out the survival code of the trade as they moved, drilling it into Jeanne beside him.
"Even... helping someone is off limits?" Jeanne's voice dipped, her expression clouding over.
Behind his face covering, Leon's lips pulled into a dry grin. He let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Every one of these rules was written in blood. Say you see someone in trouble and play the hero. Fight's over, the people you saved turn around and accuse you of stealing their drops. They shake you down. What do you do? Pay up, or fight?"
Silence.
"That's human nature."
"And the simplest way to deal with that kind of problem? Make sure your fist is bigger than theirs."
"Here. Let's go."
The natural stairway passage yawned before them. They shared a look and stepped through without hesitation.
Floor 8 of the Dungeon.
Not drastically different from Floors 6 and 7. Still the same cavern-labyrinth environment, just slightly more spacious, with a wider variety of monsters.
Purple Moths, for instance. Small flying creatures that scattered toxic scale powder. The poison was slow-acting. A single exposure wouldn't drop anyone on the spot, but each hit stacked, dragging adventurers deeper into a poisoned status effect. It was precisely because of these pests that the Development Ability Abnormal Resistance was so popular and widespread among adventurers.
Leon and Jeanne's luck held, though. An hour into Floor 8, they hadn't run into any of the annoying moths.
What they found instead was far better.
"Holy shit, jackpot!"
"?"
"It's a Blue Papilio! Ultra-rare spawn!"
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Note: 50 p.s for extra chap!