The glossy black walls were riddled with scars, and the marks left by fireballs had yet to fade.
The Dungeon repaired damage to its terrain, but unlike the green curtain of a giant Viola, it did not regenerate immediately after being damaged.
Bell took advantage of that trait as he directed the party through the 52nd Floor.
"A Deformis Spider?!"
Lefiya had only just leaped over the hole in the ground and reached the other side of the wall when she saw a monster tangled in an enormous spiderweb.
Sticky threads shot toward Lefiya like arrows.
Her katana flashed, and countless slashes scattered the monster's attack in an instant.
"Just as Cranel-san said."
Ryuu narrowed her eyes, showing no fear at all.
Empowered by [Astrae Serenade], she cut down the spider silk and guarded the opening.
As Riveria and the others leaped across the large hole and arrived, Ais, who had been in charge of dealing with the yellow-green monster, jumped over as well. She was like a gust of wind sweeping across the battlefield, turning in the span of a breath from the one covering the rear into a vanguard charging straight ahead.
"Um... is Ais-san even more fired up than before?"
Lefiya hid her fear as she kept pace with the party and asked.
"It may be because of Cranel-san."
Ryuu tightened her grip on her katana, a faint sense of rivalry stirring inside her.
She had never told Bell that, many years ago, she and Ais had once crossed blades, and that opponent from back then now stood far ahead of her.
Ryuu felt a trace of sadness and jealousy. The sword that had gone to Bell's aid, the blade that cut through the darkness for the boy, was not hers.
Ais did not say anything unnecessary to Bell. She simply became a blade and obeyed the boy's commands.
Deformis Spiders, Viola, Black Rhinos, Virga...
Ais ravaged those monsters with a storm, while Bell kept calling her name and giving precise instructions.
Of course, Ryuu's and Riveria's names were mixed in from time to time as well.
"..."
Lefiya's composure wavered slightly too.
In this hellish scene of roaring cannon fire and surging waves of monsters, for the first time, she actually felt disappointed because her name had not been called.
In the past, Lefiya would have wanted nothing more than to be as invisible as air, never assigned anything by Finn.
She wanted Bell Cranel to call her name. She wanted him to trust her. She wanted to tell him that she was no longer the girl she used to be, and that she could now unleash proper Magic too.
Her old cowardice, the fear of standing in this purgatory, all of it was swallowed whole by the feelings in her heart.
Though countless emotions churned inside Lefiya, in the end, she did not say a word.
Both Ryuu and Lefiya hid their jealousy and sense of rivalry, trusting that the boy would call their names when the time was right. Since that was the case, all they had to do was wait quietly and offer him their strength.
"Alicia, prepare a Mind recovery potion. Ais, turn right at the next fork. After you deal with the Deformis Spider, slow down a little and drink the potion first!"
To Lefiya's disappointment, Bell called the blonde Elf's name.
Ais's wind was powerful, but the endless wave of monsters would wear her down eventually. Bell saw that and quickly gave his orders.
The party's advance was going quite smoothly. Since Gareth and the others had drawn away part of the Valgang Dragon's attention, the bombardment raining down on the 52nd Floor had also become much less frequent.
Under Bell's command, the entire party reached the passage to the next Floor without a single casualty.
"..."
Ais listened to every word the boy said.
She did not need to think. She did not need to worry. She only had to follow the warmth in her heart and swing her rapier again and again.
Ais felt her movements were unusually smooth. Even though she was cutting down hated monsters, simply obeying the boy's commands and swinging her sword for Bell made her feel at ease.
What wrapped around her did not feel like a screaming storm, but the boy's words.
Bell was right beside her...
Guiding where she should go, and in which direction she should swing her blade.
Wrapped in that warmth, Ais danced through the Dungeon.
Riveria's thoughts were completely different from those of the naturally airheaded blonde girl.
She had been watching the direction they were advancing, and she understood less and less what Bell was thinking.
At times, even when the party passed through a hole blasted open by a Valgang Dragon and reached the other side of the wall, it did not save them any time.
Could it be...
Had Bell seen through the fact that something was hidden on the other side of the passage?
[Juggernaut].
The name of the Calamity she had heard from Gale flashed through Riveria's mind. She did not ask. If Bell had truly considered that much, then there was no need for her to say it aloud and spread panic among the others.
"At the fork near the entrance to the 53rd Floor, take the path ahead on the right!"
Bell continued with the same policy as before.
Just as Riveria had guessed, Bell had a feeling that the enemy was definitely hiding something on the left side of the Dungeon.
This was not a baseless intuition, but a theory sparked by the Viola monster.
The red-haired woman herself was badly injured and could not fight, so why had she deliberately placed a Viola in the room on the left side of the 52nd Floor?
Any adventurer with common sense would think there was an ambush there and deliberately avoid the left-hand passage.
But someone sharp would easily make another connection. With interference from the Valgang Dragons, fighting there would amount to mutual destruction. From that perspective, splitting the party and sending part of the group to kill the Valgang Dragons became the best option.
What if the current situation was exactly what the red-haired woman had guided them into?
Revis had suffered two defeats. She surely understood that Bell was very clever, and it was entirely possible she was using that against him.
Bell's Status had its limits. He could not simply drop down like a first-tier adventurer. He could only advance steadily.
The enemy believed Bell could overcome obstacle after obstacle and reach the [correct] route.
And that was exactly what worried Bell.
The more correct a path seemed, the more likely it was to be a trap.
That was why he avoided the normal route and used the holes blasted open by the Valgang Dragons to pass through corridors that should have been dead ends.
"Jump through the opening in the left passage!"
Bell shouted the order.
Before setting out, he had memorized the entire map of the Dragon's Vase from Finn.
What Bell was doing was not searching for the single correct route, but avoiding it completely and carving out a new path.
Of course, the prerequisite for using this tactic was enough [Luck]. Without the Valgang Dragons' help, wit alone would not let him cross through the walls of the Deep Floors.
[Luck] had its limits.
The Dungeon's malice would not stop there.
At last, when the group reached a vast chamber on the 53rd Floor, countless Wyverns came flapping toward them.
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