"Mr. Leon!"
"Miss Ais!"
At a distance from the grey forest, very close to the exit leading to the 49th floor, Line and Lefiya's tearful cries rang out, causing the surrounding atmosphere to instantly become incredibly oppressive.
To escape the massive area-of-effect attack brought by the self-destruction of the female-type monster and its explosive pollen, Finn and his vanguard had brought the members of the expeditionary force to this distant location, stopping their retreat only after reaching a safe distance.
However, they had just barely halted, and before they could even take their next action, that spectacularly massive explosion abruptly erupted. Not only did it shake the entirety of the 50th floor, but the aftershocks of the blast also swept all the way here, forcing everyone to raise their hands before their faces and close their eyes to endure the oncoming hot wind and shockwave.
The surrounding temperature climbed at an alarming rate, turning scorching hot.
Their field of vision was enveloped by flames, dyed entirely in a brilliant red.
Everyone felt a sharp pang of dread in their hearts, unable to believe that even after fleeing to such a distant location, they were still brushed by the aftershocks of the explosion.
If they hadn't retreated in time just now, what would their fate be right now?
The moment this question crossed their minds, everyone felt a lingering fear while turning to look at Finn with complicated emotions.
Facts proved that the Captain's directive had been entirely correct.
Without his insistence on a withdrawal, they would certainly be suffering heavy casualties right now.
But when they realized that they themselves had been brushed by the aftershocks even at this distance, what about Leon and Ais, who were holding the line at the very center of the explosion?
Those who held these thoughts, like Line and Lefiya, could no longer hold back their tearful cries.
"Ais—!"
"Leon, brat—!"
Riveria and Gareth were also in terrible spirits, staring fixedly at the center of the explosion ahead. Their hands gripping their staves and backup weapons had turned white from the strain.
"—They won't be in trouble, right?"
"—Who knows."
The usually boisterous Tiona spoke in a low murmur, while Tione could hardly conceal her irritation, clutching her hair with a look of wanting to fly into a rage but not knowing whom to direct it toward.
"Damn it—!"
Bete smashed a stone beneath his foot with a kick, cursing aloud, though it remained unclear whether he was cursing himself or someone else.
"Leon—"
Even Raul, who had already regained consciousness, showed a sorrowful expression. The Cat People girl Anakitty and the beautiful Elf Alicia stood right beside him, both sinking into silence.
The entirety of the expeditionary force fell into a low state of depression. Some were despondent, some were vexed, some were filled with regret, and some felt thoroughly ashamed of their own inadequacy, yet without exception, every single one of them kept their eyes glued to the front.
Over there, the colossal fireball had already formed a dome, blowing away every object in the vicinity, igniting the grey forest and burning it into a sea of fire that scorched both the earth and the heavens.
The fire threatened to extend across the entire 50th floor, causing flames to rise everywhere within this safe floor. Black smoke even swirled into vortexes, forming thick, storm-cloud-like formations against the ceiling.
After an unknown amount of time had passed in this manner, someone within the expeditionary force suddenly let out an exclamation.
"Look over there, quick!"
The spirits of everyone present jolted. They snapped their heads up, looking in the direction the person was pointing.
In the very next second, everyone saw them.
Amidst the slowly burning sea of fire, two figures were supporting each other, walking slowly toward this location.
The youth was covered in soot and grime, and the gemstone on the emerald short staff he held in his hand had grown dim and lusterless.
The girl had structural damage to her equipment in various places, and her skin was stained a greyish-black, yet the silver saber she gripped in her hand still gleamed brilliantly.
Though the pair appeared in a wretched state, their eyes remained as bright and sharp as ever. One carried a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, while the other was entirely serene.
Looking at these two walking slowly toward them, the members of the expeditionary force trembled all over, moved beyond measure.
Accompanied by a cheer from Tiona, everyone was completely mastered by their excited emotions and rushed toward the pair.
"Whew—"
Finn, whose face had been tightly strained the entire time, also let out a heavy breath, his face breaking into a smile.
Half an hour later, the excitement gradually receded, and everyone was forced to face a harsh reality.
That was, despite the fact that no one had perished from the assault of these unknown monsters, they had still paid a rather agonizing price.
Setting Leon and Ais aside for a moment, the rest of the group had either sustained injuries or had their weapons and armaments honorably sacrificed to handle those worm monsters. Even their backup weapons were nearly exhausted, leaving them fundamentally unable to continue fighting.
This was especially true for the first-class adventurers; including Tiona, who had been loudly lamenting, practically every single one of them had their primary armaments dissolved. Only Bete's metal boots managed to survive, and even that was entirely thanks to Ais's magic.
It was the same during the retreat just now. To pull back to a safe distance as quickly as possible, Finn had given a concrete order to carry only the bare minimum of supplies, abandoning everything else.
Under such circumstances, the conquest directed at the uncharted territory of the 59th floor could clearly no longer proceed.
"We're turning back."
Seeing the state of affairs, Finn could only issue the command with a helpless sigh.
"This expedition ends here."
Indeed, the expedition could only go this far; they could advance no further.
Left with only the bare minimum of supplies and stripped of even their weapons, the expeditionary force was like a tiger with its teeth pulled. No matter how fierce they were, it was impossible to continue downward.
They couldn't very well have Finn and the others use their bare fists to fight monsters below the 50th floor, could they?
Even supplies like elixirs had become scarce. Even if they forced themselves to fight, how much further could they go?
Therefore, they could only bring the expedition to a close and begin the return journey.
Regarding this, everyone was naturally filled with extreme reluctance.
They had originally come with the ambition of reaching the 59th floor, yet they ended up returning in defeat at the 50th floor. This was an absolute, staggering loss.
The Loki Familia had poured an untold fortune into this expedition, yet they were forced to stop at the 50th floor, failing to reach even the 58th floor they had achieved during the previous expedition, and they had abandoned a massive quantity of supplies. They couldn't even recoup their baseline costs, let alone the fact that the primary armaments of the core combat personnel were entirely ruined. Returning meant they would face a massive financial hemorrhage just to find ways to forge new weapons.
This state of affairs brought a pang of distress even to Leon's heart.
One had to understand that the primary weapons of first-class adventurers like Finn were all first-rate masterpieces, easily costing upwards of a hundred million Valis to forge. With nearly all of them ruined this time, the losses were absolutely north of five hundred million.
The weapons and armaments consumed during the battle with the worm monsters were simply too numerous, and the abandoned supplies were of significant value. After this battle, not only would the Familia need to bleed money, but the members themselves would each need to endure a heavy financial toll to replenish their original equipment.
Originally, Leon had thought that with his advance warning, the expeditionary force wouldn't fall into such a plight as they did in the original story, but the outcome had ultimately failed to change.
Even for himself, during the female-type monster's final self-destruction, it was entirely thanks to Ais rushing to his side to protect him that he avoided being harmed by the all-encompassing dissolving fluid, let alone anyone else.
"When all is said and done, I'm still not strong enough."
Leon once again realized this truth deeply.
He was ultimately only a Lv.3. Even if he possessed magical firepower on par with a Lv.5 that could play a massive role during the expedition, he was still lacking in capability within these ultra-deep domains where even first-class adventurers had to tread with utmost caution.
If he were already a first-class adventurer right now, with the ability to directly throttle the female-type monster outside of a safe distance, then this situation wouldn't have occurred, right?
"I hope that upon returning this time, I can take another step forward."
Leon thought to himself silently.
Although the objective of the expedition had not been achieved, as far as he personally was concerned, the gains from accompanying the expeditionary force to such an ultra-deep domain were bound to be unprecedentedly massive.
One had to remember that he had originally only conquered up to the 17th floor. Even the 18th floor was reached by following the expeditionary force; he hadn't even fully conquered the middle tiers, let alone the lower and deep tiers.
Crossing so many floors to arrive here and slaying countless monsters stronger than himself along the way, Leon was certain that he must have accumulated an extremely rich store of Excelia, and perhaps even a great feat.
Perhaps, upon returning this time, he would be able to break through to the next stage; there was no telling.
Harboring such anticipation, Leon set out on the return journey alongside the members of the expeditionary force.
The Loki Familia's expedition was officially brought to a close at this point.
The path back was much like the journey down, consisting essentially of a rapid forced march to cover ground quickly.
There was no choice; the carried supplies were dwindling, and the majority of the members had lost their primary weapons. The combat strength of the expeditionary force had been drastically reduced, and they could no longer afford to waste energy fighting the monsters of each floor.
In the current expeditionary force, those who could still exert their full combat strength were limited to a mere handful of individuals like Ais and Bete, alongside the rear-guard mages spearheaded by Leon, Riveria, and Lefiya. Furthermore, Ais's body was enduring a considerable burden due to the excessive use of her magic, and she was now experiencing full-body soreness. While it wasn't enough to render her unable to fight, it did indeed affect her performance.
Consequently, for this return journey, Finn had explicitly ordered that the primary policy would be to avoid prolonged engagements as much as possible. They would bypass combat whenever they could; unless a fight was completely unavoidable, even taking a slight detour was acceptable.
At this stage, where the majority of their primary combatants had lost their main weapons, the expeditionary force could potentially encounter danger even within the deep domains above the 50th floor. This was especially true given that the Dungeon was still watching them like a hawk, poised to deliver a vicious blow at any moment. Thus, a forced march to return at the absolute fastest speed while minimizing combat was the optimal strategy.
Only after leaving the deep tiers and arriving in the lower tiers would the pressure the expeditionary force had to endure decrease significantly, at which point they would be considered relatively safe.
Thus, under Finn's instructions and the leadership of the limited core combatants like Ais and Bete, the expeditionary force set out on their return at maximum speed, heading toward the upper floors.
The mage squad, spearheaded by Leon, Riveria, and Lefiya, entered their highlight moment along this path. The vanguard's reliance on them spiked in a straight line, making their magic the primary means of dealing with enemies during the return journey.
Naturally, under conditions where supplies like elixirs were running low, Finn also took care to have the mages rest in shifts, preserving a certain degree of Mind to avoid entering a state of mental exhaustion.
In this manner, the expeditionary force spent roughly three days leaving the deep domains, and another two days leaving the lower tiers, returning to the relatively safer middle tiers.
By the sixth day, the expeditionary force had returned to the Under Resort of the 18th floor, finally allowing them to breathe a temporary sigh of relief and take a proper rest.
However, to prevent complications from a long delay, the expeditionary force did not remain on the 18th floor for too long. At the very least, they had no plans to spend the night there, stepping directly onto the final stretch of the path out of the Dungeon.
During this stretch of the road, perhaps because the butterfly effect brought about by Leon's status as a traveler had finally manifested, the journey went smoothly without any major scares, and they passed through with extreme ease.
By the time the expeditionary force left the Dungeon and walked out of the Tower of Babel, the sky had not even turned dark; it was currently midday.
At this hour, the Tower of Babel was not particularly bustling. After all, during this period, most adventurers were still within the Dungeon and had not yet emerged.
Yet the return of the Loki Familia still caught the attention of quite a few onlookers.
"It's the Loki Familia!"
"Have they returned already?"
"They seem to have come back quite early this time, right?"
"Was their expedition a success? Or did it fail?"
"The 59th floor... did they reach it or not?"
"Who knows—"
The crowd bustled with chatter, causing the atmosphere to gradually become noisy and lively.
The news of the Loki Familia's return from their expedition spread at the fastest possible speed, becoming known to the various factions within Orario.
The members of the expeditionary force, however, turned a blind eye to this, wanting only to hurry back to their headquarters to wash away their exhaustion and grime.
Thus, without a single pause, they walked toward the northern district of the city, proceeding all the way along the bustling North Main Street before finally sighting the grand manor situated by the roadside.
"We're back!!!"
Tiona was the first to let out a cheer, causing the two low-ranking members guarding the main gates to display expressions of pleasant surprise.
"It's the expeditionary force! The expeditionary force is back!"
"The Captain is back! Everyone is back!"
"Quick! Open the gates, quick!"
Within Twilight Manor, a commotion gradually surfaced, shattering the quiet of the midday.
The main gates slowly swung open, and the travel-worn expeditionary force finally returned home, each breaking into a happy and relaxed smile.
"We're back—"
Leon and Ais exchanged a look and smiled.
Even Ais displayed a rarely seen expression of relaxation, causing Lefiya, who was walking by her side, to feel her mood instantly brighten upon witnessing it.
"You guys are back!!!"
As the crowd walked into Twilight Manor one by one and arrived in the courtyard, a figure from within the central tower darted forward with astonishing speed.
"I missed you guys to death!!!"
The deity with vermilion hair shaking wildly plunged forward like a bullet, heading straight toward the direction where the female members were gathered.
"Eek! Lo—Loki?!"
"What are you doing, Loki? Hurry up and let go!"
"Don't hug me! I'm exhausted!"
"Let go of me! You perverted Goddess!"
The female members let out shrieks, startled gasps, and angry reprimands one after another, falling into a chaotic mess.
The entire Twilight Manor sank into this boisterous atmosphere, which refused to dissipate for a long time.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi