"I'm going with you."
When Ais spoke these words, everyone present turned to look at her.
"Ais?" Riveria called out, furrowing her brow.
But Ais simply looked at Finn and repeated herself.
"I'm going with Leon."
This wasn't to protect Leon, at least not entirely. Ais also wanted to explore the Dungeon and continue growing stronger.
While she felt gratified that Leon was constantly catching up to her at a breathtaking speed while her own strength had hit a plateau, it also made her uncharacteristically anxious. During this period, just like everyone else, Ais had been stimulated by Leon to start pushing herself to the absolute limit, yet her progress remained minuscule.
This made Ais realize that under conditions where they had to make round trips within a single day, she couldn't venture into floors that were deep enough. She couldn't battle monsters that were strong enough, nor could she harvest meaningful experience. To make any progress, she had to delve into deeper floors.
Coincidentally, Leon was planning to leave the Familia for a while this time, staying in the Dungeon for an extended period and using a safe floor as a base to delve as deep into the Dungeon as possible. He was even prepared to venture into the deep zones past the 37th floor. Naturally, Ais wanted to tag along. She could protect Leon while teaming up with him to explore the deep zones and battle powerful monsters; no matter how one looked at it, she ought to go with him.
Thus, without a second thought, Ais stepped forward directly.
Standing right beside her, Lefiya abruptly raised her head. Instead of stopping Ais, she followed suit and spoke up.
"I... I want to go too!"
Naturally, Lefiya didn't want to go because of Leon. Her target was Ais; she was only saying this to accompany Ais. Furthermore, she didn't want to be left further behind by Leon. Now that an opportunity to explore the deep zones had presented itself, she absolutely had to seize it.
I've been practicing concurrent chanting for a while now, and I can already manage to move and chant smoothly when facing weak monsters. Since that's the case, the next step is to train against more powerful monsters, Lefiya thought to herself.
It had to be said that the "radish illusion method" Leon taught her previously was quite effective. When besieged by weak monsters now, Lefiya was already capable of moving and chanting her magic simultaneously. In the past, even if she didn't get nervous or show weakness before weak monsters, she still wouldn't have been able to calmly move while chanting magic. The serene mind that Riveria spoke of—she had already achieved a part of it through Leon's "radish illusion method."
Next, she definitely had to forge ahead and undertake higher-difficulty training. In light of this, Lefiya didn't try to stop Ais, but instead proposed going along.
Seeing this, Tiona, who was hopping around nearby, grew anxious.
"Me, me, me! I'm coming along too!" Tiona clamored. "I haven't finished paying off my debt yet!"
The second generation of Tiona's Urga double-blade had already been successfully forged and brought home. However, the production cost of this first-tier armament, made entirely of adamantite, was still heartbreaking. Just like the first generation, it cost a whopping 120 million valis. Tiona had run up a massive debt for it, and she had been agonizing lately over how to earn money as quickly as possible to pay it off. Therefore, being able to delve into the deep zones to slay monsters and earn money was a prime opportunity for her.
This brought a chuckle from Gareth. "If you girls are going along, then we can rest easy."
Finn and Riveria's expressions also relaxed. Ais was a Lv.5, Tiona was a Lv.5, and with Lefiya possessing Lv.5-tier firepower, if these three teamed up with Leon to tackle the Dungeon, it would be far more reliable than Finn's initial idea of finding two teammates of the same level as Leon.
"What about Tione? Do you want to go together?" The little angel didn't forget to include her older sister, but unfortunately, her sister didn't appreciate the gesture.
"No way! If I can't see the Captain for an entire week, I'll literally die!" Tione spoke with absolute righteousness, causing even Finn to fall into silence.
Right then, without a second thought, Finn said to Tione, "You should go along as well, Tione," Finn said smoothly. "Only if you go with them can I truly feel at ease."
This was a lie. Finn simply didn't want to be hounded by Tione, so he took the opportunity to suggest it. To instruct Leon, Finn had accumulated a backlog of paperwork lately that he wanted to handle properly, and he didn't want to be pestered every single day by the passionately uninhibited Amazon. It was not only a waste of time but also mentally exhausting. Thus, he simply used this chance to shoo her away.
"Captain~~~" Hearing Finn's words full of trust, Tione was instantly touched.
She's so easy to trick... On the contrary, the usually naive Tiona saw right through Finn's ploy to get rid of her sister, casting a look of pity toward her.
In any case, Tione was completely fooled, meaning she would also join this expedition party. With Tione's addition, the venture became even more foolproof.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Riveria could only say, "You girls, remember to act within your capabilities. You must absolutely not do anything reckless." Riveria admonished them. "If it's only around the 37th floor, it shouldn't pose an issue given your collective strength. But remember, do not delve any deeper, understood?"
Gareth also turned serious, warning them. "You are permitted to venture up to the 40th floor, but no further. Even with your party, going down there is not completely without risk."
Finn's gaze swept across the group as he spoke. "In fact, it's best if you don't go past the 37th floor at all. After all, the floor boss will regenerate before long."
Upon hearing this, Leon and the others froze momentarily before it all clicked.
"Oh, right!" Tiona clapped her hands. "Calculating carefully, Udaeus is indeed about to respawn."
Udaeus's respawn interval was three months. The Loki Familia had personally defeated it during their expedition before last, placing it on a reproduction cooldown. And that expedition traced back to before Leon received his Falna, which was already more than two months ago. Calculating the time, in about a week, the cooldown would end and it would regenerate once more.
And the location of this Lv.6-classified floor boss was the 37th floor. If Leon and the others ventured past the 37th floor, whether going down or returning, they would inevitably run into this formidable floor boss.
When that time came, even with three Lv.5 first-tier adventurers and two second-tier adventurers with Lv.5-class output, they might still meet their match against a Monster Rex whose classified rank reached Lv.6. After all, it was a floor boss, a super-large-scale monster. Even a party of adventurers of the same level would find it hard to defeat, let alone Leon and the others whose individual ranks were lower than the opponent's.
The Goliath, with its endurance specialized to a Lv.5 tier, had already made it difficult for a Lv.5 first-tier adventurer to take down single-handedly. Compared to the Goliath, Udaeus was far more unique and extraordinary; even the main expeditionary force of the Loki Familia required an all-elite lineup to safely subjugate it. Expecting just Leon's group to defeat it wasn't entirely impossible, but the difficulty would be astronomical.
And that was only because Ais and Leon were present. Since both of them possessed the ability to challenge opponents above their level, they would stand a sliver of a chance if they clashed with Udaeus. If it were just a few ordinary Lv.5s, defeating Udaeus would be utterly out of the question.
"Return after one week," Finn concluded. "Coming back before Udaeus regenerates is the safest bet."
That floor boss would be left for them to deal with during the next expedition. To clear their disgrace, Finn didn't plan to wait very long. Once all the aftermath of the previous expedition was settled, he would immediately begin preparations for the next one. When the time came, the expedition force would likely confront that floor boss on the 37th floor.
"Make absolutely sure not to push yourselves too hard, understood?" As he spoke, Finn cast a sidelong glance toward Ais.
Ais almost instinctively averted her eyes from Finn's gaze.
As for Leon, he had watched his adventure party's roster get finalized in just a few short words, and he had barely managed to process it. How did things suddenly take this turn? He hadn't planned on forming a party with anyone! In his original plan, he intended to undertake this adventure entirely alone.
However, seeing that everything was already set in stone, he opened his mouth but ultimately decided to remain silent. Because even if he spoke up, it likely wouldn't change anything. He knew without a doubt that neither Finn, Riveria, nor Gareth would agree to let him venture into the deep zones alone, even if his survivability had skyrocketed after acquiring Comet Chase.
"Alright then." Leon's gaze swept over Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya before he finally shrugged. "This familiar lineup... I just hope we don't run into those disgusting worm monsters again this time."
After all, it was this exact lineup that had encountered those hideous worm monsters on the 51st floor last time.
"How could we possibly meet them again?" Tione scoffed, crossing her arms. "If things like that wandered up to the higher floors, the Dungeon would have fallen into total chaos by now."
"Y-Yeah," Lefiya murmured sheepishly. "Migrating from the 51st floor to the 50th floor is normal enough, but if they moved from the 50th floor to a place like the 37th floor, it would be no laughing matter."
Unlike the zones below the 50th floor, which barely one or two Familias could reach, the 37th floor, while already part of the deep zones, was accessible to a fair few Familias in Orario, even if they weren't many. The Loki Familia and Freya Familia, the two strongest factions in the city, went without saying, but secondary factions just behind them like the Ganesha Familia and Ishtar Familia had likewise updated their deepest reached floors to zones below the 37th floor. If the worm monsters migrated to such a place, it would highly likely result in massive casualties. For those Familias that could only barely manage to explore that far, if they crossed paths with monsters that had forced even the Loki Familia to retreat after suffering heavy losses, their end would definitely not be pretty.
Even Tiona chimed in. "I definitely don't want to encounter those worms again! What if the second-generation Urga gets dissolved too?!"
Thinking of her first-generation Urga double-blade, tears welled up in Tiona's eyes once more. She was truly heartbroken! 120 million valis, dissolved just like that; she felt a phantom ache so deep she could barely breathe!
"If we run into those monsters again this time, I'm turning right around and leaving immediately!" For a fierce Amazon to make such a declaration of retreating without a fight showed just how massive of a psychological trauma those worm monsters had inflicted on Tiona.
Unfortunately... I just don't know if we really will run into them, Leon murmured to himself.
He faintly recalled that entering the Dungeon during this period meant they might cross paths with the mastermind behind those worm monsters. That was how it played out in the original story, but whether things would shift now, Leon had no idea.
Because of his existence, the progression of events had already experienced some changes; they hadn't encountered any mishaps on their return trip from the expedition, and no sudden dangers had struck during the Monster Festival. This proved that certain elements were indeed changing. Leon couldn't be certain whether more alterations would occur down the line, so he could only take things one step at a time for now.
He was actually quite passive; though he possessed knowledge of the original plot's future development, he couldn't lay it all out due to issues like the inexplicable source of his information. Coupled with the fact that his presence had already triggered deviations in the plot, Leon genuinely worried that even if he revealed everything he knew about the future, those events might not happen at all. If things truly turned out that way, it would only invite trouble upon himself instead.
In a world brimming with diverse deities and inexplicable existences, foresight didn't serve much of a monumental purpose; at most, it merely allowed him to make some advance preparations for certain matters.
Once I possess the necessary strength, striking directly at the heart of the problem to resolve everything at once is the approach that suits me best.
Leon knew better than anyone that he still required time to grow. Before gaining sufficient power, it was wisest not to think about altering the future but to do his utmost to salvage the irreversible regrets from the original work and change the endings of certain events. Otherwise, diving too deeply into that bottomless abyss of darkness would ultimately harm not only himself but also the people around him.
Take it slow, there's no need to rush, Leon told himself more than once. Time was on his side; the longer things dragged out, the stronger he would become, and the more confidence he would have to face those matters.
Therefore, what Leon needed to consider most right now was nothing else but exerting his utmost effort to grow, work hard, and become stronger while ensuring the safety and well-being of his Familia.
Udaeus... Remembering the floor boss everyone had just mentioned, a faint glint flickered in Leon's eyes.
No one knew what he was thinking. The group merely discussed matters on the spot for a brief moment before disbanding then and there to make their respective departure preparations.
Leon returned to his room, donning his Giant Armor and equipping his Dragon Tooth Sword and Emerald Staff. After packing all the potions into his pouch and fastening it to his lower back, he set out.
The group gathered at the main gates before heading into the city to purchase some essential adventure supplies. Finally, they made their way together toward the Tower of Babel—