After six days of marching, The Loki Familia reached the 18th-floor safe zone and decided to split their group when going further up as it would be too crowded if they all went at the same time.
The first group consists of Finn and Gareth along with some injured in their Familia and some higher-level supporters. While the second group consists of Riveria, Ais, Tione, Tiona, Bete, and Raul with most of the supporters carrying their supplies.
Finn's group left first as they need to bring the injured to the Dian Cecht Familia for treatment. And an hour later, Riveria's group started moving.
On the 17th floor, while walking, Tiona is complaining, "We could have kept going!!! I didn't have enough fun yet! Especially after hearing that!!!" She's talking about the strange man's definition of an Adventurer.
Her sister, Tione, already had enough of her whining and told her off, "Enough already! You're testing my patience!"
Dropping her hands down, Tiona became a deflated balloon, "But we worked so hard just to get to the floor 50..." She then recalled the fighting figure of the two unknown individuals, "But really... Where did they come from... If just one of them is needed to slay that unknown variant Balor by just exchanging an arm, the guy at least should be a lot stronger than the 'King', right?"
"That's correct. Finn, Gareth, and I already had a few run-ins with the King and he couldn't even match the pressure the strange man can emit." Riveria confirmed her guess.
"Old H-" However, just with a single glare from Riveria, Bete stopped. She still hasn't forgiven him from interrupting their talk on the 49th floor, "R-Riveria... Just what is that magic he's using? Aside from those weird barriers, I heard from Finn that the strange guy used at least 7 different magics and that's not counting the variety of magic that his 'magic sword' produced. And on top of that, although you lot didn't see it properly due to how fast and far it is, he transformed... What's up with that?"
Riveria didn't answer immediately as she tried to guess to that question too, however, she failed to even come up with any theory that makes his 'magic' possible from the common stand of view, "...I don't know... But maybe... He's using an entirely different system with his magic... A system that doesn't rely on a God's blessing. And a system different from those who didn't receive any blessing." Riveria then took a glance toward's Line, who's carrying a large bag, doing her supporter job, and taking it off just as fast, "Either way, I don't have the answer you're looking for. I intend to ask Loki if she knew anything about this..."
"And if she doesn't know about it...?" Ais suddenly asked.
Riveria looked towards her eyes for a few seconds before answering with a serious expression, "Then that's a very big issue..."
From the side, Lefiya raised her hand timidly, "Uhhmm... Maybe he has a similar skill or magic to mine?" Known as the 'Thousand Elf' due to her rare magic, 'Elf Ring' Which allows her to cast any magic that an Elf cast as long as she knew the said magic's effect and chant.
Riveria shook her head, "There's that possibility... But something tells me that that isn't the case at all. In the first place, when he used those 'magic' of his, except those barriers, I didn't feel any movements from Mind. And the 'enchant magic' that the woman used to clad herself in lightning... I also didn't feel any Mind in it."
"That!... How's that possible!? Riveria-sama, any magic should have fluctuations in Mind but you didn't feel any?" Lefiya asked for another confirmation and she got the same answer from her.
They met the dead-end of their topic regarding the two enigmatic figures.
With nothing else to do Ais looked around, looking for Minotaurs that should appear on these floors, but she first saw, Line, having a hard time with her luggage and sat down for a quick rest. Ais approached her and offered her help, "Need help, Line?"
Line stood up in a hurry and refused her offer, "You're a first-tier Adventurer, Ais-san! Carrying the bags is a supporter's job!"
"...But-" Ais wanted to insist, but Bete approached and stopped Ais, "Don't bother, Ais. Don't worry about the small fry." He then gave Line's bag a small soft kick to get her to move on, "Get going." Facing back Ais, he continued, "Getting involved with weaklings is a waste of time. Even if they mess up, don't go helping them." Bete then passed by her, "Do you best to look down on them. You should stay the way you are because you're strong."
Ais looked at his departing back and thought, 'Bete Loga-san... Just as strong as to be expected... Maybe even more so for someone who takes pride in power. Perhaps that's why he treats me, a fellow first-tier Adventurer, differently from the Familia members." She then started to look around and noticed the space created around her, "...But... Though not as much as they do with Bete, it seems like everyone is very reserved with me..." If there's a mirror right now, Ais would want to look at her reflection, "Am I scary...?"
From the distance where Bete went, Tiona intercepted him after seeing Ais's troubled expression, "Hey!!! Don't upset Ais, you idiot!"
"Shaddup! A weapon-less pigeon brain like you should just go help the supporters!"
While the two are growling at each other, a horde of monsters suddenly appeared in front of them when they're about to reach the stairs towards the 16th floor.
"Enemies sighted ahead! Minotaurs! And a whole horde of them!" Raul immediately announced.
Tiona then elbowed Bete, "See? They came to shut you up."
In response, Bete only rolled his eyes at her, "Yeah sure, dimwit."
"Riveria. There's quite a few, so can we join in?" Tione asked.
"Yes, that's fine." Riveria then turned to Raul, "Raul, orders from Finn. You'll take command during this battle for the experience."
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Assuming his role, Raul immediately issued instructions, "Supporters, fall back! Stay in tight formation and conserve the remaining supplies as much as possible!
"Also, Tione-san! Tiona-san!! Bete-san!!! The middle levels are for lower-ranking members to gain experience, that's the rule!" However, seeing their faces, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop them, "Don't go breaking it." He warned them nevertheless.
The still frustrated trio found the best outlet of their stress, a horde of monsters, "Hee hee hee, no prob~. No prob~."
"Hahaha, a fistfighting eh? Better give them a handicap~."
Tione couldn't even answer as she just kept laughing strangely.
And not even a minute of their clash, the horde of Minotaurs got scared because of the strangely violent Adventurers, who're either swinging them around with just an arm, crushing their throats barehanded, or crushing their limbs barehanded, started running away from the group.
"Whaat!!? No way! They're running!?" Tiona got the shock of her life today as this is the first time something like this happened.
"O-Oi!? You call yourselves monsters!?" Even Bete got a bit peeved at the monsters' strange behavior.
Seeing this, Riveria immediately shouted and reminded the group, "After them! All of you! There's no telling what a panicking monster will do!!"
"!!"
Realizing this, the whole Loki Familia started chasing after them, "Um, I'm not good at hand-to-hand combat..." Lefiya let out her concern and she got a reply from Bete, "Just whack them really hard with that stick! Got it!?"
'There are other Adventurers in here...! If any of them run into a horde of stampeding Minotaur... Most wouldn't stand a chance!' Ais thought as she rushed to cut the running monsters.
However, the monsters are too many and they didn't stop as they desperately run away, "Wait! The path upstairs! Damn!! There are tons of rookies up there!" Tiona exclaimed. Without her Urga, she's limited with her bare hands which slowed down her killing rate considerably.
But just as the group of Minotaurs about to reach the 16th floor, a tall blind-folded woman suddenly appeared on the path. The woman is wearing a robe and has purple hair with unknown length due to her attire. However, what caught the attention of everyone from the Loki Familia, aside from her blind-fold, is the large scythe attached to a chain.
"A blind woman!? Hey!!! Out of the way if you don't want to die!!!" Bete shouted. However, he and her fellow Familia members how the woman would evade if she's blind.
The purple-haired woman ignored them and took off her hood and put her hand on her blind-fold, removing it which revealed her otherworldly beauty. Tione and the rest didn't have time to appreciate this as they were about to warn her again and Ais was about to rush in using her Ariel, but suddenly, the 'blind' woman opened her eyes, revealing her beautiful gem-like purple eyes but with strange inhuman square irises which are a darker shade of purple in color.
All of them couldn't help but be attracted to those eyes, but suddenly, they discovered the horror of focusing on those eyes as everyone's blood started to run cold. The Loki Familia inadvertently stopped on their tracks while some of them started muttering, "W-what's is... that...?"
They didn't have time to question each other regarding those eyes as they noticed the Minotaurs also started slowing down, but different from the Loki Familia who stopped due to unknown dangerous feeling, the Minotaurs are being 'stopped' and slowly but surely, the Minotaurs' limbs started to have strange colorations and it has the same shade as the walls around.
After the Minotaurs' limbs became petrified except for six that she needed, Medusa put on her blindfold again let the six Minotaurs pass by her before following them upstairs.
When the purple-haired woman disappeared, Riveria immediately recovered and hurriedly gave out her commands, "Ais, Tiona, Tione, Bete, follow her!!! The rest of you! Kill these Minotaurs but save one! Raul! Chose someone to fetch Finn!" Riveria then started running towards the 16th floor with the executives of the Loki Familia.