Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 43: Murder Mystery

Chapter 43: Murder Mystery

“So… let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Taylor said, rubbing her eyes tiredly in frustration. “An adventurer disappears from Rivira. Then, his body is found missing his lower torso within the forest. Somebody claims to have seen an elf in a green cloak running away from the scene of the crime, and your immediate assumption is it’s Ryuu?”

“She wasn’t our immediate suspect,” Bors protested. “But one of the adventurers who was passing through the town said that that description was a lot like the one that circulated a while back about the Gale.”

“The Gale? Really?” Taylor scoffed. “You think Ryuu is a criminal that has a Guild bounty on her head?”

“That’s why we want to bring her in for questioning,” Bors claimed. “It’s probably a false accusation, but this is the second murder in half a year and the folks in Rivira aren’t happy about that. They want answers, and justice.”

“Mob violence is not justice,” Taylor replied.

“I know that. And I also know none of us have a chance of actually winning in a fight with the elf, Gale or not,” Bors retorted. “But here I am, trying to ask nicely so we can solve this issue without bloodshed.”

“You have a strange way of showing it,” Taylor said, before glancing over at Ryuu. “Were you anywhere near Rivira yesterday?”

“No, I have been with the Familia the whole time. Either with the trainees, or here, in the camp,” Ryuu informed the captain.

Taylor nodded, accepting her answer, before turning to Bors once more. “Show us the body, and the place it was found. Perhaps there are clues nearby as to the real perpetrator.”

The tavern owner nodded before beckoning both parties to follow him, and Taylor and the entire Hestia Familia trailed after with the other adventurers from Rivira tagging along.

Their large group returned to Rivira, and Bors led them into a backroom within his bar. Laid out on the floor was the dead adventurer, face pale in death and twisted in surprise and pain.

“Who is he?” Welf asked as Taylor knelt beside the body, letting her bugs inspect the corpse.

“Enough of his body was left for the Status Thief to work,” Bors replied. “Harvis Zolmeck, Level 2, adventurer of the Hypnos Familia.”

“Sorry, but, Status Thief? What is that?” Karen asked.

“A potion that mimics divine ichor and allows one to observe someone else’s Falna and status,” Bors explained. “Good for finding out which Familia a body belongs to.”

“That sounds… dangerous,” Oriana said slowly. To have your secrets unveiled in such a way was simply unnerving.

“There’s a reason it’s technically illegal,” Bors grunted, before laughing, “Good thing laws don’t really apply down here, though!”

“The wound isn’t a single clean cut, it’s ragged and torn,” Taylor muttered, peering at the injury. “He wasn’t killed in a single hit. It looks like his torso was sawed in half.”

“Now that you mention it…” Bell muttered.

“There are also digestive enzymes on the corpse,” Taylor announced, causing everyone to stare at her.

“Huh? What does that mean?” Bors uttered.

“Parts of his back and arms were partially dissolved by acid. He wasn’t in whatever it was for long, but it’s clear to me that at some point the body was inside of a stomach.”

“How certain of this are you?” an adventurer from Rivira demanded, and he flinched back when a cloud of flies flew up into his face.

“Bugs are a lot more sensitive than you may think,” Taylor replied. “They can detect smaller traces of things easier than the nose or eyes of a person can.”

She then stood up. “I also recognize the way the damage was inflicted. Stomach acid has a very distinct way of destroying flesh.”

Ignoring the looks being sent her way, Taylor folded her arms. “Here’s what I think happened: he was partially swallowed by a monster of some sort, and he died, possibly from shock or blood loss, but the upper torso was cut by blade in order to preserve it. Perhaps because it was the least damaged portion? I conclude that Ryuu was framed. Who was the adventurer that claimed to have seen an elf running away from the crime scene?”

That caused the adventurers from Rivira to mutter amongst themselves.

“Um, it was… Yuno, wasn’t it?”

“No, she sounded the alarm. I think it was Petrus, right?”

“Nah, it was a cat-person. He was missing an ear.”

“And an arm!”

“Yeah, think you’re right! He found the body… but he was alone when we all came running, he wasn’t in a group.”

Taylor frowned as the denizens of the shantytown spoke amongst each other, a picture starting to form.

“Take us to the spot you found the body,” she instructed, and a quick trip outside of Rivira led them to where the remains of the Hypnos Familia member had been found.

Most traces of evidence had been obliterated by the feet of the curious investigators and the Dungeon itself, but there was still some that lingered here and there as her swarm buzzed forward, inspecting the surroundings.

“Drag marks,” Taylor said as her swarm found traces of blood splattered here and there that hadn’t been absorbed by the Dungeon yet. “He wasn’t killed here, but dragged over to this spot.”

She glanced behind her. The walls of Rivira were within view, and a loud enough voice out here could likely be heard within the town. Somebody shouting desperately for help would have attracted some attention. And the parahuman had a feeling that was deliberate.

“Dragged? Was the cat-man trying to get help for his friend?” Leo wondered.

“Doubt it. And where is this witness, anyways?” Taylor asked.

“We’re looking for him,” Bors replied, but from the way his jaw was set he didn’t think they’d be found. Taylor didn’t think it’d happen, either.

“I found a trail we can follow. Let’s go,” Taylor said after a moment, following the stink of death that still lingered. Her flies eagerly tracked it back through the woods, and they got close to the edge of the 18th Floor before she stopped.

“This is where it happened?” Bors asked, looking around. “I don’t… wait, what’s wrong with the ground?”

Indeed, there was something off about the dirt in front of them. A perfectly circular patch without grass was an odd sight, but it was proof that something had been there and the Dungeon hadn’t yet had a chance to completely restore the damage.

Taylor raised a hand, and suddenly the ground began to shake. Where the bare dirt was, a giant monster burst out of the ground, revealing a giant yellow-green pitcher plant with vibrant red spots. The flap of the plant monster formed a crown-like appendage with a singular eye in the center.

“That’s a Venenthes!” Bors exclaimed. “A rare Deep Floors monster!”

“It’s a monster based off of the pitcher plant,” Taylor explained as she wrenched control of the monster away with her powers. “Normal pitcher plants lure insects in with sugary nectar, but they fall into the pitcher-like structure which is full of digestive enzymes, melting down the insect and letting the plant nourish itself without relying on sun or soil. The Dungeon has taken this form, and created a monster that can digest metal and flesh.”

“Huh, guess that explains what happened to Harvis,” Iris said. “He fell in, got partially digested, and then the cat-person saved him, only to later kill him to try and frame Ryuu.”

“That does seem to be the case,” Tammuz agreed. “The real question though is what this is doing up here. Venenthes cannot move, and are essentially living traps. It would have to be transplanted to find its way to the 18th Floor.”

“Agreed,” Taylor said, her swarm already scanning the area. “Whoever brought it here, they were using this monster as a proximity alarm. Somebody gets caught in it, their screams would alert the owners. Then they can dispose of the intruder.”

She then pointed a finger towards a bluff in the distance. “Over there. I’m detecting traces of habitation.”

“Allow me to investigate the area first,” Fels requested. Taylor didn’t react. She’d known the Guild operative was following them for a while, hidden from sight by whatever magical item had allowed him turn invisible.

“Why?” Taylor asked under her breath, without towards the spot occupied by the robed skeleton.

“I believe there is something up ahead the Guild may not want to become widely known,” Fels told her in a low voice.

“Too bad, they tried to get one of my friends arrested and possibly killed,” Taylor said with a shake of her head. “The Guild can bother everyone here with NDAs if they’re so worried. But I’m finding out what is happening.”

Fels groaned a little as Taylor walked forward, uncaring of what dirty secrets she might uncover.

What she found was a secret cave, hidden behind a boulder that had to be shifted aside. The cave itself was large enough to hold a dozen people and had traces of habitation in the form of ashes from a campfire and discarded remnants of rope and trash. Scrapes and scratches told Taylor that boxes and other containers had been here at some point, but moved, and recently at that. But that was a minor matter compared to what they found at the back.

“Is that a door?” Bell asked in shock, staring at what was embedded into the side of the Dungeon. It was indeed a pair of double doors, large and imposing with a faint gold and silver sheen and engraved with curious designs and sigils.

“That’s made of Orichalcum!” Welf exclaimed as he inspected it. “To get that much would cost hundreds of millions of valis!”

“This isn’t natural, it’s man-made,” Lucia mused.

“Obviously,” Primo huffed.

“No, I mean, this was added to the Dungeon,” the seamstress explained. “Somebody built this, then transported it down here. The sheer effort that would take boggles the mind!”

“Or, and here’s a crazy thought, somebody dug down from Orario and tunneled into the Dungeon, then installed the doors here,” Silva suggested.

‘Seems like we found the secret entrance Fels was worried about,’ Taylor thought to herself, somewhat amused by that, as well as Fels sighing in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Bors’ jaw had dropped, and he was looking around the cave in bewilderment, clearly confused.

“How?!” he uttered. “Why?! What?!”

“I think this place was being used by smugglers,” Aisha said, bending down and picking up an object off the ground. “And check this out. A Harpy feather.”

“People are smuggling monsters out of the Dungeon?!” Lili exclaimed. “Why?!”

“Never underestimate the stupidity or conceit of the wealthy who have nothing better to do,” Taylor said, earning nods from Karen and Oriana.

“I can think of a dozen different nobles who’d paid handsome for an exotic pet,” Karen said. “To say nothing of those who’d use captive monsters as a way to train.”

“Makes sense. Outside of Orario, there aren’t a lot of easy ways to steadily gain Excelia,” Gita muttered, the information broker scratching her head. “Come to think of it, I’ve heard rumors about this very practice. But I tried to stay away from that sort of business. Smuggling leads to trafficking which leads to slavery, and I never wanted to have any part in that.”

As they discussed reasons as to why somebody would try to kidnap and smuggle monsters out of the Dungeon, Taylor was keeping an eye on the tagalongs. With a thought, two tendrils of her swarm shot forward and burrowed into the clothes of a pair of adventurers standing nearby while Chris leapt into action, his scythe-like limbs lashing out and severing the arm of one of them while Taylor used her curse to disable the arms of the other.

“What the?!” Bors exclaimed, and the other adventurers screamed in shock as Taylor’s monster attacked.

“When we were approaching the cave, they were nervous,” Taylor said, finally turning around as her swarm tore apart a series of bombs strapped to their chests while they screamed and writhed. “And when we found it, neither of them showed surprise. Just shock and worry.”

She then kicked one and ordered Chris to cut apart the front of their shirts. When the Crystal Mantis did so, it revealed the bomb vests they’d been wearing.

“One of them tried to blow us up just now,” Taylor explained. “I wasn’t going to let him do that, of course. Hence why I had to disarm him.”

“Boo!” Bell said, unimpressed by her pun.

Bors meanwhile was staring at the two downed adventurers. “Evilus,” he eventually snarled, expression turning dark and angry.

“Evilus?” Taylor repeated, while Ryuu stiffened in shock.

“Yeah. Thought they were all wiped out, but some of them were causing problems down here a while back. Ended up being responsible for a murder and destroying the town.”

“I’ve heard better names from literal children,” Taylor muttered under her breath as Welf knelt beside the downed cultist and inspected his bomb vest.

“Kaenseki,” he muttered, extracting a fiery red stone from one of the pouches that made up the vest. Seeing the unaware looks most of his Familia was giving him he explained, “Also called Burst Stone. It’s a Drop Item from a fairly powerful monster located within the Deep Floors. If injected with magic, it explodes.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Lili hummed.

“It can be. It’s a major component for making non-Crozzo Magic Swords. That’s partly why they’re so unstable and break easily,” Welf explained. “And it’s also illegal to sell outside of Orario without the Guild’s permission. Some dwarven mines use it to break up rocks and clear tunnels but the sale is heavily monitored.”

“How do the bomb vests work?” Taylor inquired.

“Looks to me like they have a bunch of Mythril wire connecting the Kaenseki pouches, with the plunger connected to a Magic Stone. When the stone is broken by depressing the plunger, it releases a burst of magical energy that is carried to the Kaenseki via the Mythril, allowing it to explode all at once,” Welf said as he inspected them.

“That means that this Evilus group has a lot more resources that I’d have expected a group on the verge of total annihilation to have,” Taylor muttered.

“Yeah. A single one of these vests would be worth a million valis from the Kaenseki alone. Then there’s the cost and effort of turning Mythril into thin enough wire that can link up with all of the pouches…” Welf said, trailing off. “There are a lot more things somebody could use all these items for. I mean, the explosion all of this Kaenseki could cause wouldn’t be able to kill anybody over Level 3. This is a terror weapon, more than something to try and cause destruction.”

“What do we do with them?” Bell asked.

“First, we need to find out which Familia they belong to,” Taylor said. “Bors, do you have any Status Thief left?”

“Sure do,” he replied, and sent one of his loyal men off to get some.

When he returned, the adventurer had some unfortunate news to convey. “The cat-guy ran off. He’s not anywhere in Rivira anymore.”

“Damn it!” Bors growled.

“We did get a name, though,” Bors’ assistant said as he handed over the vial containing the Status Thief. “Jura.”

“Jura?!” Ryuu demanded, and everyone turned to her.

“You know him?”

“He was part of the Rudra Familia, and helped with the Nightmare of the 27th Floor and that attack on the Astraea Familia,” Ryuu spat out. The long-time adventurers and natives of Orario gasped at that. “But, he should be dead!”

“Seems like he survived, though not without some damage, if the mention of a missing arm and ear are truthful,” Lili hummed.

“First things first, though,” Bors grunted, kicking one of the disarmed suicide bombers over so his back was facing up. He ripped the shirt off and dribbled some of the liquid onto his skin.

Taylor watched, fascinated, as the Evilus member’s aura started to vibrate crackle before shifting. It went from the sound of crickets chirping to the clatter of bone striking bone as his Falna appeared, which resembled a grave with a tombstone.

‘I could do that,’ Taylor thought to herself. Deep within her heart, she instinctively knew she could use her Godslayer Skill to do the same thing… and something more.

But she put that out of her mind as she examined the markings on the Evilus adventurer’s flesh.

“Mike Hurn, Level 1, Thanatos Familia,” she uttered, staring at the words that appeared.

“You can read the God’s Tongue?” Tammuz asked, surprised.

“Apparently,” the parahuman replied with a shrug. ‘It seems Hestia put a bit more than the knowledge of the Koine language into my head when she was fixing me.’

“Thanatos? That was one of the big names involved with Evilus, but he was never caught,” Bors claimed. “Check the other guy!”

“Simon Coros, Level 2, also of the Thanatos Familia,” Taylor said.

“Damn it, so the Thanatos Familia and Evilus are involved in the monster smuggling! That must be where they’re getting all the money for their operations,” Aisha spat out. She then glanced over her shoulder at the doors. “And whatever those are, they probably have something to do with it, too.”

“Now what?” Bell wondered.

“We’ll take the little bastards from here,” Bors declared, and had his men tie up the Evilus goons. “The Guild will probably be happy to have some live ones to interrogate. As for the other matter… yeah, our bad. Sorry for trying to arrest your friend.”

“Water under the bridge,” Taylor assured him. She then turned to Ryuu, who looked like she wanted to rush off instantly and find Jura.

“Ryuu?”

“I understand, captain,” Ryuu said bitterly. “I will not go after him…”

“Actually, I was going to tell you I know where he is,” Taylor informed her. “And that we can go after him right now.”

“I… what?”

“I spotted a one-armed cat-person lurking nearby, and decided to tag him with a few bugs after I heard just who it was that’d tried to frame you,” Taylor said before chuckling a little at the dumbfounded look on the elf’s face. “Besides, I understand the desire for revenge. So why would I stop you from trying to obtain it?”

“I thought… I thought you would tell me not to pursue revenge,” Ryuu admitted.

“Nope. Bell, you’re in charge here while I’m with Ryuu,” Taylor ordered him. “Go do some training with the others. Work on coordination and teamwork. I’ll be testing you when I return.”

“Wait! I want to come with you two!” Bell protested.

“This isn’t going to be pretty, Bell. And it won’t be nice,” Taylor warned him.

“I-I know that! But I want to repay everything Ryuu has done for me and the Familia!”

“…Fine,” Taylor said, giving in after Ryuu nodded her head in acceptance. “Lili, you’re in charge. Aisha? Tammuz? Do whatever she says.”

“Lili won’t let you down!” the pallum said, saluting, and the pair of higher leveled adventurers conceded to their captain’s wishes.

“Where is he?” Ryuu asked as the three of them ran across the 18th Floor.

“He’s headed into the 19th Floor,” Taylor informed the elf. “He’s fast, but not beyond a Level 2 with a high Agility stat.”

“We can catch him, then,” Ryuu said, eyes flashing with determination.

The cat-person was staying ahead, but with three people on his tail, two of which were Level 3, there was no chance he’d be escaping.

‘He’d have had a better chance of heading up to Orario instead of trying to flee deeper,’ Taylor thought to herself.

Monsters who could fold the weaker adventurer in half aside, the lowest floors of the Dungeon also had incredible environmental dangers and were quite maze-like, along with lacking supplies for survival. Safer to get to the surface, where one could vanish into the streets of Orario and not worry about being eaten by monsters.

Of course, it wouldn’t help hide from her, but Taylor felt that running deeper would only lead to death for a weaker adventurer.

Yet as the pursuers entered the 19th Floor, the cat-person was almost to the 20th ahead of them. He also drew a bunch of small pouches off of his belt.

‘What is he doing…?’ Taylor wondered to herself, confused as she watched their target throw these pouches at the walls of the 19th Floor as he went down to the next floor. They burst open upon impact and her swarm detected a variety of pungent herbs as well as powdered Magic Stones being released.

The purpose of these potpourri pouches soon revealed itself as the walls rippled and burst, dozens of monsters exploding forth in a frenzy.

‘Did he just trick the Dungeon into summoning monsters?’ Taylor wondered, narrowing her eyes. The combination of herbs and Magic Stones had lured monsters out and they were now fighting each other, seemingly turned berserk.

It was an interesting trick, but not one that actually did anything to stop them. Ryuu barely even slowed down as she tore into the Bugbears and Lizardmen, Bell not far behind, and Taylor forced the bug-like monsters to leave them alone.

“How far is he going to run?” Bell couldn’t help but wonder as they continued down after the criminal.

“Not sure. We’re closing in on him, but he’s taking shortcuts I didn’t know about. Whoever this person is, he knows more about these floors than we do,” Taylor replied.

Annoyingly, some of these shortcuts he was using also seemed to be too small for any of them save Bell. The one-armed cat-person was only able to squeeze through thanks to having a missing limb to reduce his size and mass.

Despite that, though, after several minutes they finally closed the gap, their higher Agility stat managing to overcome the time the cat-person was able to shave off.

“There he is!” Ryuu snarled, eyes glaring at him as the target approached the entrance to the 25th Floor. He was panting heavily, heart beating wildly. And yet Taylor was confused as he didn’t seem to be afraid at all.

“Cut him off before he escapes to the 26th Floor!” Taylor called out. “Don’t let him jump down the Grand Fall!”

“Got it!” Bell replied, and he summoned a pair of Lightning Clones. His Skill-made duplicates flashed forward, using the fact they were made of lightning to travel across hundreds of feet near instantly and appear next to the fleeing adventurer.

The clones then exploded, causing the one-armed man to be thrown backwards, crashing to the ground. This finally stopped him from moving, and the group from the Hestia Familia took the chance to encircle him, finally able to confront the criminal and get a good look at him.

The cat person had light brown hair and green eyes, and was missing his left ear and right arm. He wore leather armor made from Minotaur hide, and at his side was a sheathed short sword, but what really intrigued Taylor was the crimson whip he was clenching desperately in his one remaining hand. It was clearly magical, if the hum her swarm could hear from what was any clue, but the way Chris seemed to instinctively recoil away from it… well, it would be interesting to see what it did.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” the cat-man snarled, glaring at Taylor with hate filled eyes. “You ruined everything!”

“Jura,” Ryuu spat out, recognizing the adventurer. “I thought you were dead.”

“I almost was!” he cackled. “But I survived! I survived and I can now take my revenge!”

He cracked the whip, and there was a flash of crimson light. When it faded, a massive snake with blue skin and six amber eyes had appeared, coiled around Jura protectively. Its tail tapered to a point, like a spear, and splotches of black covered its body, a sign of heavy Magic Stone consumption.

“A Lambton!” Ryuu hissed, clenching her sword tighter.

“That’s right!” Jura mocked. “A regular one is easily Level 4, but this one has been raised to be even stronger!”

He then scowled. “I had this whole plan laid out to lure you down to a different floor, but you just had to ruin it, didn’t you, Weaver?!”

“I don’t care,” Taylor replied as she raised her golden arm while Bell raised the Hestia Knife. “You tried to frame and hurt somebody within my Familia. You do not get to complain about what happens afterwards.”

She glanced at Bell. “Kick his ass, Bell. Ryuu, Chris, and I will handle the Lambton.”

“Yes!” he replied, and darted forward, slipping past the monster and attacking Jura. The cat-man was not prepared for the assault on his person, having expected his tamed monster to distract them while he fled. But he was now unable to do so with Bell sticking to him like glue.

The white-haired adventurer delivered a haymaker to Jura’s face, and knocked him out of the protective grasp of the Lambton. He then proceeded to smashed the cat-man’s face into the dirt and dragged him across the ground and hurled him at the stairs back up to the 24th Floor.

When that was happening, Taylor, Ryuu and Chris charged at the snake monster. The Lambton’s scaly hide was durable, tanking the blows they hurled at it. Ryuu’s magical wooden sword wasn’t able to leave any cuts, and was too small to inflict crushing damage.

Taylor’s magic splashed against it leaving scorched scales behind, and she wished she’d swapped her cartridge over from the Lightning elemental one she’d been using earlier. It’d been useful for dealing with aquatic monsters, but not so much the current foe.

Only Chris’ razor-sharp scythe-limbs were able to do anything, but even then, the wounds were too shallow. The Lambton was simply too big and after a diet of Magic Stones it had become significantly stronger and tougher, almost on par with a Level 5.

“Earthquake Fist!” Taylor shouted, slamming her artificial limb into the monster, unleashing seismic vibrations point blank into its body. It roared in pain as the attack bypassed its defenses completely, and flicked Taylor with its tail.

The blow hurt, and she felt some of her ribs break as she was sent flying, but Ryuu quickly hit her with a Noah Heal as she landed, and the damage was mostly undone by the time she stood back up onto her feet to chug a potion.

‘At least it doesn’t have any esoteric abilities,’ Taylor thought with a wince. It’s physical strength and sheer size was a pain, but it lacked any sort of Blaster power. ‘Still, the thing is like a damn Brute… and my Earthquake Fist isn’t strong enough to defeat it. Unless I can accurately destroy its heart, brain, or Magic Stone in a single strike, it’ll be pointless.’

‘Weaken it… weaken it… how can I do that so Chris can cut through the monster’s skin?’ Taylor wracked her brain for a solution. ‘If only there was a way to disrupt the magical energy within its body! Because a normal animal wouldn’t be so tough without it…’

“Huh,” Taylor suddenly muttered, looking down at her golden fist. A new idea was forming inside of her head, specifically for a new spell. She looked up at the Lambton and darted forward.

“Ryuu! Pin it in place!” she shouted, and the elf obeyed, pressing it’s head down into the dirt with repeated strikes of her Luminous Wind.

With it unable to retaliate, Taylor landed a punch against the side of its head. However, when she sent her seismic vibrations into it via the modified Earthquake spell, she also sent a pulse of raw magical energy straight into the Lambton. As much Mind as she could handle rushed into the monster’s body, and she felt light-headed.

‘Ooof! Didn’t mean to use that much magic!’ Taylor thought as she felt the migraine-esque feeling of Mind down creep up on her while she staggered back. However, her gamble paid off.

The monsters of the Dungeon were magical creatures. They were, in some ways, almost like spirits in that they were mostly made of magical energy. It was why they died when their Magic Stone was broken. Without the magic to sustain themselves, they would crumble into ash.

Disrupting that internal flow of magic should, therefore, do something to any monster. Disorient it at the very least. But the question of ‘how’ this would happen remained. Taylor’s idea had been to shove a huge amount of her own magical energy straight into the target, carried along via the medium of seismic waves.

In the Lambton’s case, the raw magic Taylor sent into its body caused the scales to crack all over while boiling blood spurted from its maw and its head swayed drunkenly.

“NO! What are you doing?!” Jura screamed.

He rolled away from Bell, spitting blood and teeth and he raised his whip, clearly about to try and do something, but the white-haired adventurer who was his opponent reacted faster.

Bell cut through Jura’s wrist, causing him to drop his whip as he could no longer hold onto it. When the whip fell, the Lambton shuddered as flinched back, as if disoriented. Somehow, the whip had been controlling the monster, which made sense to Taylor as a Level 4 or 5 monster likely wouldn’t heed the orders of a Tamer as weak as Jura without some sort of artifact binding it.

As the Lambton thrashed around in confusion at being freed from Jura’s control, Chris charged in, his blades flashing with flickers of white light coating his limbs. Insectoid scythes struck badly weakened snakeskin and bit deep into its neck, blood spurting forth and drenching the Crystal Mantis.

The serpentine monster’s severed head fell to the ground and Chris let out a roar, clicking his scythe-limbs together before picking up the Magic Stone the Lambton had dropped, scarfing it down.

“No! NO!” Jura screamed in disbelief before Bell slashed through his left leg, nearly severing it and causing him to collapse to the ground with a shriek.

Ryuu did not hesitate and she shot forward, poised to strike Jura and finish him off, only to be stopped by a shout from Taylor.

“Wait!” Taylor called out, causing Ryuu to pause, her sword a centimeter from Jura’s throat.

“Why?!” she demanded. “Why should I wait?!”

“Because I need to find out how this all happened!” Taylor replied.

“What do you mean?” Ryuu asked sharply.

“Ryuu, he has a Falna,” Taylor pointed out, causing the elf to blink.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she demanded.

“You said he was part of the Rudra Familia, but Rudra is dead. And when a god dies, their Falna disappears with them,” Taylor reminded her. “So how is Jura still an adventurer when he shouldn’t have a Falna anymore?”

That caused Ryuu to pause, and she glared down at the cowering cat-person. But she lowered her blade, which was what Taylor wanted in the first place.

“Don’t forget his whip!” Bell called out. “It’s able to summon and control monsters! Something like that can’t be easy for just any adventurer to wield!”

“Good point, Bell,” Taylor nodded, and she picked it up, securing it to her belt. No reason to leave a precious artifact behind, after all!

“We don’t have any Status Thief,” Ryuu protested. “And it would take too long to obtain more! I won’t risk him escaping and harming anyone else!”

“I don’t need a potion for this,” Taylor replied cryptically, reaching out a hand to the Tamer as her swarm buzzed eagerly around her.

To her senses, Jura’s Falna sounded like the crack of a whip, but frantic and fearful. He tried to escape, but Ryuu was faster, her hand clamping down on his one remaining arm before she lashed out and kicked his legs, violently breaking them.

Taylor ignored Jura’s cries and pleading as she placed a hand on his back after ripping his shirt off, and called upon the Godslayer Skill. She’d promised Ouranos not to use it again, but surely it was fine if she only did a little, right?

For a moment nothing happened, but then Jura let out a renewed scream of agony as his Falna was forcibly manifested, and the hum of power shifted, changing to a fearful screaming.

Taylor stared closely at the cat-person’s Falna as it appeared. Every Falna looked different, with each one reflecting the god who put it onto them. Hestia’s Falna always had the same fiery brazier motif, regardless of who it was applied to, and Thanatos’ adventurers had a Falna that was a grave with a headstone.

They were unique, and normally invisible, but her Skill allowed Taylor to forcibly manifest them in order to identify which god had placed them onto a person. And Jura’s resembled a twisted, screaming visage.

However, before she could try to read the Falna, the Dungeon began to shake, tremors running through the ground while a deep, booming roar rang through the tunnels.

“Taylor?!” Bell exclaimed fearfully. “Something’s happening!”

The ground shook, and monsters exploded from the walls, howling and charging forward, only to receive death at Chris’ blades.

“The Dungeon is active!” Ryuu uttered, looking around in horror. The walls started to crack, and the keening wail of monsters started to echo throughout the Dungeon.

Taylor grimaced, and looked down at Jura. The cat-eared adventurer was twitching in agony from the Godslayer Skill, and after a moment she made up her mind.

She clenched her hand and felt a rush of energy enter her, while at the same time Jura’s Falna shattered like glass, tiny motes of divine essence fading into nothing.

“Let’s go,” Taylor said.

“What about him?” Bell asked, glancing back at Jura who was shivering on the ground babbling nonsense.

“Leave him.” It was Ryuu who replied, and she was staring at the last member of the Rudra Familia in disgust. “Let the Dungeon devour him.”

Bell clearly didn’t like that, but Taylor put a hand on his shoulder, and silently shook her head. The white-haired teen sighed before turning away, and ran off together with Taylor and Ryuu.

Behind them, Jura continued to lie on the floor. Monsters began to crowd around him, and he vanished from sight as dozens of newly spawned creatures pounced on him. If there was one mercy granted to the Tamer, it was that the whole thing was over quickly.

The return trip to the 18th Floor was done in silence, none of them wanting to say anything. Bell was disturbed, Ryuu seethed at not killing Jura herself, and Taylor was confused.

‘Why did he have a different Falna from the Evilus members?’ Taylor wondered to herself.

She’d assumed they been working together, as Jura had clearly taken the adventurer’s corpse he’d tried to frame Ryuu with from the Venenthes. The digestive juices of the monster matched with the acid burns, after all. So clearly, Jura had known the monster was there.

‘Unless it was a matter of opportunity, and nothing more,’ Taylor mused. ‘Maybe Jura didn’t know the plant monster belonged to Evilus, and merely stumbled across the Venenthes and saw the chance to use a fresh corpse in his mad plans against Ryuu.’

Right place, right time. A possibility, but Taylor couldn’t shake the feeling there was some sort of connection between the cat-person and the Evilus goons. Were there perhaps others gods working with Evilus? How many of them didn’t get caught the last time?

Her thoughts continued in their vein until they reached the 18th Floor again and found their Familia waiting for them at the camp. They looked happy to see the party return unharmed.

“Welcome back, Miss Taylor!” Lili called out when the group returned to the camp.

“Is everything alright?” Haruhime asked, looking at the unhappy faces they wore.

“Things didn’t go exactly as planned,” Taylor admitted, before turning to Ryuu. “Are you fine?”

“I am… I don’t know,” the elf admitted softly. “I thought my vengeance was finally over years ago… but to discover that not only Evilus still remains active, but that one of the people responsible for the murder of my friends had somehow survived?”

“Take all the time you need to process things,” Taylor told her. She raised a hand to pat the elf on the shoulder, but stopped when she remembered that elves weren’t fans of physical contact. Ryuu just smiled weakly at her before nodding.

She then turned to Bell. “…Are you going to say anything?”

“I-I don’t like what we did,” he admitted.

“You’ve never had to kill before,” Taylor said softly. “At least, not another person.”

“Right,” Bell nodded. She then gave him a brief hug.

“And that’s okay. You should never have to sully your hands like that,” she said. “Just leave that to me.”

“I don’t want you to have to do it, either!” Bell shouted. “You hate it, right?!”

“Sometimes… we don’t get to do what we want,” Taylor said softly.

“Then I’ll become strong enough so you never have to kill anyone ever again,” Bell vowed, determination burning in his gaze. She smiled at him, but it was an expression of fondness but also sorrow.

“I feel like there’s some context we’re missing, here,” Welf muttered, only to get an elbow to the stomach from Aisha.

“Shush! Don’t ruin the moment!” the Amazon hissed.

Sadly, there was another interruption, and this time it wasn’t one they could easily ignore.

“Hey! HEEEY!” an adventurer called out as they ran towards the Hestia Familia.

They were a tan-skinned Chienthrope with a red scarf that was approaching, and they were a Level 3 based on their hum Taylor could detect with her swarm.

“Lady Hebert! Lady Hebert!” the adventurer shouted at them, focusing on the captain of the Hestia Familia “I’m from the Hermes Familia! I have a message for you!”

“Now what?” Aisha groaned as the adventurer ran up to them.

“R-Rakia has invaded!” the Hermes Familia messenger called out. “The Guild is calling for all Familia Captains to assemble for a war council!”

Taylor stared at the adventurer while Welf cursed up a storm.

From out of the frying pan and into the fire!