Ais's words caused the air around this five-person squad to shift slightly.
The group exchanged glances, and only after several seconds did anyone begin to speak.
"This is the Cadmus's territory. Is someone actually fighting it here?" Tiona asked, feeling somewhat surprised.
"Could it be that aside from us, another Familia has launched an expedition here?" Lefiya also appeared quite shocked.
"Impossible." Tione shook her head, refuting the idea. "There are only a handful of Familias in all of Orario capable of exploring this deep. Before the expedition, the captain already double-checked with the Guild. During this period, not a single other Familia with the capability to launch an expedition here has made a move."
In other words, the Loki Familia was the only one that should be down here right now; a second Familia could not possibly appear.
During an expedition, the floors past the 50th floor could basically be confirmed as the exclusive domain of the Loki Familia. Unless an entity like the Freya Familia had come here behind the Guild's back and conducted a large-scale exploration outside of an official expedition, it was highly improbable for a second Familia to be in a place like this.
"Then what on earth is fighting the Cadmus?" Tiona wondered. "Or did Ais just mistake it?"
Ais didn't speak, but her expressionless face clearly indicated she harbored no doubts, completely lacking the demeanor of someone who had made a mistake.
The group didn't believe Ais's senses could err either. Having fought side-by-side for so many years, no one knew better than they did just how sharp Ais's intuition was when it came to monsters.
Consequently, the girls looked at each other and finally turned their collective gaze toward Leon, who remained equally silent.
After all, Finn had explicitly stated that Leon was in charge of this squad.
When unable to make a decision, the girls naturally turned to see what Leon would do.
Sensing the gazes of the young girls, Leon really wanted to complain.
Why didn't I see any of you asking for my opinion just now?
Along the way, it wasn't that Leon hadn't thought about taking up the responsibility of the squad leader to issue orders. But every time a monster appeared, these girls would charge out without a word like fierce beasts spotting prey, giving him absolutely no chance to speak.
To make matters worse, each of them was more ferocious than the last, slaughtering monsters as if they were butchering chickens. Their swift and decisive strikes left Leon unable to find any opportunity to criticize them.
Faced with this, what could Leon even do?
He could only let them be.
He finally understood why the Familia leaders always used the phrase "acting recklessly" whenever they mentioned Ais and the others, looking utterly exhausted from worrying day in and day out.
Whether it was Ais, Tiona, or Tione, they were incredibly strong, yet each was more prone than the last to letting their bodies move before their brains, and each was more battle-hungry than the next. Once a fight heated up, they would probably listen to Finn and the others quite selectively, which was truly a bit of a headache.
Fortunately, outside of combat, these girls were quite sensible and wouldn't act completely on their own.
Regrettably, Leon had already roughly guessed what was happening, so he had no intention of pondering over it meticulously either.
"We'll know once we go inside and look."
Leaving behind that single sentence, he actually took the lead to step out of the group and enter the cavern chamber, leaving the girls completely stunned.
"He... he just walked right in?" Lefiya found it somewhat unbelievable, her expression conveying a sense of shock that he had just casually strolled inside.
Ais snapped back to reality and immediately followed without a word.
"Wait! Ais!"
"Hey! Aren't you guys being a bit too reckless?"
The Amazon twins called out in astonishment, yet they did not hesitate for a fraction of a second before following them inside.
Lefiya stamped her foot, left with no choice but to follow helplessly.
As the five of them stepped into the cavern chamber together, it felt as though they had suddenly entered an entirely different world, witnessing an incredibly shocking sight.
Roar—
Inside the immensely spacious cavern chamber, a earth-shattering roar suddenly erupted, transforming into a soundwave that shook the air and the surroundings while sweeping across the entire area.
"It's the Cadmus!" Tiona and Tione spoke simultaneously, instantly tightening their grips on their weapons.
"Th-this is the sound of the Cadmus?" Lefiya felt the terrifying nature of the opponent fully from the sheer momentum of the roar, her fair face turning pale.
Ais's eyes became incredibly sharp, as if she had heard the angry roar of a mortal enemy, and she drew the sword at her waist without any hesitation.
"Hide first!"
Leon pulled back Ais, who looked ready to charge out at any moment, and led the girls to a corner of the chamber, ducking behind a massive boulder.
Immediately, through the crevices of the rock, the group peered into the interior of the cavern.
Deep within the chamber—which was even larger than the room where the 17th floor boss, Goliath, resided—a colossal entity had appeared.
It was a dragon possessing a massive frame and menacing, ferocious horns.
The dragon's size was enormous, far larger than ordinary large-scale monsters, and it was practically on par with ultra-large-scale floor bosses. Its body was covered in scales and wings that shined with a golden light, looking precisely like an evil dragon guarding wilderness treasure in mythological legends.
The aura radiating from the evil dragon was also terrifying, far more fearsome than any monster Leon had encountered to date; even the 17th floor boss, Goliath, would be completely overwhelmed in front of it.
Based on this aura, this size, and this scale alone, Leon was entirely certain that this was a monster he could not defeat under any circumstances.
Even if a group of Lv.5 first-class adventurers teamed up and attacked together, they might still not be a match for the opponent.
"So that is the Cadmus?"
It could only be said that it truly lived up to its reputation as an existence rumored to be stronger than the 37th floor boss, Udaeus, in terms of pure physical strength alone. This aura by itself was enough to scare someone to death.
However, what caused everyone's pupils to contract sharply was that such an incredibly powerful evil dragon was actually being hunted by a pack of monsters at this very moment.
Yes, hunted.
Around the Cadmus, deformed monsters were attacking this mighty dragon in droves.
Those monsters possessed a uniform appearance, with a yellow-green coloration dominating their entire bodies. Their bulging and seemingly tender green hides were covered in multicolored patterns at various spots. Countless short legs formed their lower halves, while their upper bodies appeared to rest atop their long lower halves, bulging up like small hills. Flat organs with no thickness, resembling arms, extended from the left and right sides of their bodies, with four slits at the tips that looked somewhat like fingers.
Their bodies were not as massive as the mighty dragon's, yet they still stood up to four meters tall. Combined with that bizarre skin coloration and shape, it carried a somewhat nauseating sense of ugliness, causing both physical and psychological discomfort.
"Wh-what are those?" Lefiya covered her mouth, barely holding back a direct scream.
"—Viola?" Tiona and Tione frowned with a look of aversion, though they did not react as strongly as Lefiya.
"A new species—" Ais spoke in a low voice, giving voice to the thought within everyone's hearts.
Without exception, a single realization surfaced within each of them: that was a new type of monster.
This was because Ais and the others, who had explored the deep zones of the Dungeon for a long time, had never seen this type of monster until now.
This was not any monster they recognized, nor was it something they had encountered on this floor in the past; it was a completely unfamiliar existence.
Of course, that in itself was not a severe problem.
They were just monsters. Regardless of whether they were a new species, as long as their strength wasn't absurdly high, they were destined to be slaughtered by adventurers; it wasn't worth getting overly shocked over.
The real issue was that these monsters were actually ganging up on the mighty dragon, Cadmus—ganging up on another monster.
This was certainly not a situation that could be casually ignored.
"Could those monsters... be Enhanced Species?" Tione spoke out in astonishment.
Enhanced Species—this was an entirely different type of rare monster individual compared to a Rare Species.
Generally speaking, monsters would not attack other individuals that were also monsters. Unless there were exceptional circumstances, even if different types of monsters encountered each other, they would merely ignore one another. At most, they might fight due to territorial issues or behavioral habits, resulting in some sudden battles. But if they could coexist peacefully, they were highly unlikely to actively attack each other.
However, there was one type of monster that was different.
When certain monsters killed another monster under sudden or unique circumstances and devoured the opponent's physical body, eating their magic stone, their own abilities would sometimes undergo an alteration, making them significantly stronger—much like adventurers updating their status.
This type of monster, which became stronger due to the accidental ingestion of a magic stone, could potentially become addicted to the process, actively hunting other monsters in order to grow stronger.
Monsters intoxicated by the power brought about by devouring magic stones would not only become stronger and stronger, but they would also grow increasingly insane. Ultimately, they could become incredibly terrifying existences, with bounties placed on them by the Guild.
In the past, there was a monster named the Bloody Troll that had become exceptionally powerful by hunting numerous kin and devouring countless magic stones. After being discovered by the Guild, a bounty was issued, yet it actually managed to repel an elite adventurer squad sent to subjugate it, killing roughly fifty high-level adventurers in total and sending shockwaves through all of Orario.
That was an incredibly severe loss. In the end, it even alarmed the Freya Familia, and it wasn't until the powerful warriors of the Freya Familia stepped in that the subjugation was finally successful.
To this day, that incident was still brought up from time to time within Orario and across the major Familias, causing quite a stir in the world.
Monsters similar to the Bloody Troll were referred to as Enhanced Species, meaning monsters that had obtained an enhancement far surpassing their own kind. Once discovered, this type of monster would immediately have a bounty issued by the Guild and be hunted down, preventing it from growing continuously stronger and eventually causing heavy casualties like the Bloody Troll did.
Since these worm-type new monsters before their eyes were attacking the mighty dragon, Cadmus, it was highly probable that they were the so-called Enhanced Species.
However—
"How could there be so many Enhanced Species?" Tiona voiced her objection.
What she said wasn't wrong either. Generally speaking, Enhanced Species were individual monsters, anomalous existences among the same type of monster. Yet these worm-type new monsters before them, without exception, were all attacking the Cadmus.
Could it be that they were all Enhanced Species?
How could such a thing... possibly happen?
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