The blond knight, Tor, who had survived while possessed by the Sighing Faerie, was taken away by the knights.
Iris and Leon continued toward the 25th floor. Along the way, Iris watched Leon far more frequently—so often that she didn't even realize she was staring at him too much, which was extremely dangerous in a dungeon.
Fortunately, probably because Caron's group had cleared the way, the two of them met far fewer obstacles this time.
By rule, after a monster is killed, the dungeon will "re-birth" it at different time nodes depending on strength—24 hours, 3 days, or 7 days.
The stronger the monster, the longer the rebirth time.
No one understood the principle, but the phenomenon was well established.
That meant within 24 hours, the two of them were very likely not going to run into powerful monsters.
Of course, "likely" was only "likely."
It was also possible that some monsters active in side-path regions—no longer threatened by the main-route monsters—might wander into the main route.
Anything was possible. But in reality, their path ahead was almost completely unobstructed.
In the blink of an eye, ten hours passed, and they had descended to the 24th floor.
Only one floor remained between them and their target: the 25th.
During this stretch, everything they encountered was weak—mostly second-tier, a few first-tier—barely worth mentioning.
Total profit, even rounding up generously, was probably under 20 gold.
For ordinary people, that was already an enormous income.
But for the extraordinary, it was barely enough to cover equipment maintenance.
Compared to the Minotaur and red spider haul, it was night and day.
That was the norm in dungeon exploration: once a main route had been swept by experts, intermediate profits would nosedive.
But if your target was deeper areas, clearing like this saved time and improved safety.
Overall, pros and cons.
Still, they did pick up some special items along the way.
Items like these were either rich in mana or had unique properties—but because they weren't widely useful, they rarely had buyers.
Until you found a good use, you could only store them.
For example: the chameleon slime core gel Leon had obtained earlier, and the fire lizard tongue sac they found on the 23rd floor.
That sac was an organ used to cultivate fire-element mana in the fire lizard, rich in fire-aspected power.
But its fire attribute was too violent, and no craftsman currently knew how to forge it into usable magic equipment, so it wasn't worth much on the market.
Leon collected it mainly because it was suited for making a type of magic tool that wouldn't be invented until Part Three—he planned to try it someday.
As a side note, after repeated battles, Leon's first-tier mage robe had lost a lot of durability; after leaving the dungeon, he'd likely need to replace it.
Iris's leather armor was high quality—top-tier third-tier gear—so it hadn't lost much durability.
But her frequent staff work had worn her staff down a fair bit; she'd probably need to spend some money on maintenance.
From departure to now, they had been in the dungeon for nearly 26 hours.
After every fight, they would rest, eating Minotaur jerky to replenish consumption.
Thank goodness they'd made so much—after eating hard for a full day, they still had half the reserve left.
And despite eating so much Minotaur jerky, their stamina caps hadn't increased again, which made Leon basically certain the earlier stamina boost had likely come from the red spider eggs.
Next time, if he had the chance, he could hunt red spider eggs specifically and raise stamina hard.
By surface time, it should already be the afternoon of the second day.
Thanks to class bonuses, proper rest, and constant jerky replenishment, both were still in pretty good condition.
But Leon, considering that entering the 25th floor meant heading into side-path regions where difficulty would spike, suggested they rest before going down.
"Iris—before we enter the 25th floor, how about we take turns sleeping for a while? Treat it like night."
"Aren't we rushing to reach the goal before new monsters respawn?" Iris looked at Leon suspiciously. He'd been urgent before, and he still looked energetic—why stop now? Was he finally going to show his true colors?
"My destination is the side-path region on the 25th floor, not the main route. The odds of running into strong second-tier or even third-tier monsters will be high. It's better to go in fully rested."
As he spoke, Leon began clearing the ground and laying out rest gear:
a simple sleeping bag, a small fire pit, and beast-repellent incense.
"I see. If the goal is a side-path region, then there's no need to rush." Iris acted as if she believed him and continued chatting while probing. "By the way, what exactly is the advancement item you're targeting?"
A moment later, Leon continued:
"This is information I got from an adventurer. Supposedly, there's a place in the 25th floor's side-path region where all four elements are unusually dense. I suspect there's some special magic item there."
"A place where all four elements are dense?" Iris's gemstone-yellow eyes lifted as she remembered something.
"Come to think of it… my mother once told me my father died in an accident on the 25th floor of a dungeon. Unfortunately, I don't know which dungeon it was."
Leon's heart stirred. So Iris had looked into her father's death.
According to the plot, Hamla's fall was largely tied to losing that beloved.
But Hamla never appeared in the main story, and what Leon knew came only from expansions and from players' theories pieced together from clues.
To solve Fallen Dark Elf, he still lacked certain finer details.
"Iris—if you'll forgive my bluntness—do you know what your father ran into back then?"
"I only know he went into a dungeon to prepare a birth gift for me," Iris replied calmly, "and he was followed by an enemy…"
"Anything beyond that, my mother never told me."
"But when you traveled the continent, it was because your mother was trying to track down that enemy, right?"
"Yes," Iris said. "But unfortunately, we never found any clues."
There was a trace of loss in her voice—so subtle that even Iris herself didn't notice it in the moment.
Leon did.
He reached out with both hands, gripped Iris's shoulders, and looked directly into her eyes.
The gesture caught Iris off guard. She stared at Leon, thinking he might finally reveal his true intentions—yet she realized she didn't instinctively reject his touch anymore.
And this time, seeing how solemn Leon looked, it didn't match the "ulterior motives" she'd imagined. She'd even been ready to strike first.
"Iris," Leon said, "before we left today, I divined our exploration once. Do you want to know the result?"
"Now that you look this serious, I'm almost afraid to ask," Iris said, shaking her head like she was relieved—then she nodded anyway. "Go ahead. What is it?"
"The divination says that on this dungeon run, we may obtain clues related to what you need."
Iris froze, then understanding hit. Shock rose in her face.
"Are you saying… the dungeon where my father died… is this Oradu dungeon?"
"Very likely," Leon said. "After all, you also spotted your mother here. That suggests she chased leads for years and found nothing—and may have decided to return to the origin point. Or maybe she came back to address her failed legendary breakthrough. But I believe the former is more likely."
Leon's "divination" was, of course, another lie.
But these logical inferences—combined with what Leon knew of the plot—were highly accurate, arguably more reliable than real divination.
He brought it up now to lay groundwork for his future involvement in Hamla's fall.
And also to prevent Iris from later noticing inconsistencies after he obtained the Elemental Magic Ring and turning against him.
After all, unless affection reached 100%, outside forces could always drag it down.
Leon's rule was simple: never voluntarily "test" human nature.
"Alright," Iris said with a smile. "You've convinced me, Leon."
At least this time, Leon wasn't plotting something dirty. A heavy stone dropped from her heart.
"If we really do find clues later, I'll have to think about how to thank you."
"Then I'll look forward to it," Leon said.
By now he had the fire going, flames flickering beside their sleeping bags.
"Iris—since my stamina and mana are worse than yours, you sleep first. I'll keep watch, then we'll switch. That way I'll wake in good condition, and your loss will be minimal. Then we'll go to the 25th. Any objections?"
"No objections."
Iris had alertness gear on her, and she wasn't afraid Leon would attack her in the night. So right in front of him, she removed her leather armor, revealing simple close-fitting underlayers and graceful lines.
Her hips and waist—like flower petals—were turned away from Leon.
Her long, pale arms gripped the sides of the sleeping bag.
Then she crouched and slipped into it, moving like a squirrel climbing a tree—quick, small, and oddly elegant.
After a while, the fire died down a little.
"Iris," Leon suddenly spoke.
"What? Already bored keeping watch?" Iris smiled slightly. This dungeon adventure… wasn't so bad.
"Nice figure," Leon said. "And your movements are cute too."
Iris didn't respond. After a pause, she abruptly turned to the side, avoiding letting Leon see her burning-hot face.
[Iris Affection +2%. Current Affection: 68%]
Damn it—why am I so happy?!
Wasn't I teaming up with him to find proof that he lied to me?!
No, Iris—calm down.
You have to stay alert to the possibility he's still deceiving you!
Her flushed face still hadn't cooled by the time she finally fell asleep.