Babel, Plaza.
At this moment, adventurers were pouring into the dungeon one after another, exploring in fervor.
When Riezel and Riveria, along with some members of Loki Familia, appeared at the scene, they were immediately spotted by quite a few people.
However, they soon dispersed, approaching adventurers who had visibly spent more time around or the Guild personnel stationed inside Babel, seeking information.
Ten minutes later, they regrouped in front of Babel, exchanging gathered intelligence.
"No surprises, Ais did indeed enter the dungeon..." Riveria said while sighing. "The Guild personnel inside Babel claimed to have seen Ais fully armed. If that's the case, she must have entered the dungeon."
"I confirmed as well, someone saw Ais entering the dungeon." Riezel looked at Riveria. "Although some time has passed, catching up with her now is not impossible."
"You're right..." Riveria sighed. "But it doesn't mean we will."
It was common knowledge that with Ais's speed, after these few hours, she must have descended to a certain floor.
In various aspects, she resembled Riezel.
Riezel excelled in 'DEX' and 'AGI', and judging by Ais's status, her main specialty was also 'DEX' and 'AGI', where she achieved A-rank in both.
With her swift speed, delving into the dungeon for a few hours was enough for her to reach below the 10th Floor.
Even if she focused on moving quickly, given her speed, it wouldn't be impossible for her to reach the lower floors below the 20th Floor.
Riezel might have a chance to catch up, but for Riveria and the rest, it was quite difficult.
Riveria, being Level 6, excelled in 'MAG', but basic abilities like 'STR', 'END', 'DEX', and 'AGI' were not her strong suit.
At this moment, her 'MAG' had reached S-rank, but her 'AGI' was only at C-rank. Even with latent basic abilities from the previous level factored in, her speed still couldn't match Riezel and Ais.
The rest of the group was even less capable.
The highest level among those brought by Riveria was only Level 4, making it impossible for them to catch up with Ais.
"Alright, Riezel, you go first and find Ais, while we'll catch up later." Riveria placed her hopes on him. "Is that okay with you?"
Riezel shook his head.
"No problem."
He was already Level 5 now, and even alone, he was more than capable of delving into the deeper floors.
Starting from the 37th Floor, the deeper floors could be easily handled by him. Unless he encountered an irregular, he wouldn't face any life-threatening situations. But even if he ran into an irregular, he would undoubtedly face it head-on after having plenty of experience.
"No time to waste, I'll set off first."
With that, Riezel's figure flashed, turning into a gust of wind, rushing into Babel. The strong wind he stirred up along the way drew exclamations from onlookers, leaving some irritable adventurers cursing.
Riveria watched him leave, then turned to the rest of the searching group.
"Two of you stay here and guard. The rest, follow me inside."
"Yes!"
The searching group members responded one after another.
After a while, Riveria, along with several members of Loki Familia, entered the dungeon.
===
The dungeon today seemed unusually quiet.
Although there were plenty of adventurers, causing quite a commotion, as Riezel dashed through, he didn't encounter many monsters. The roars that were usually faintly heard upon entering the dungeon were also absent today, giving the labyrinth an eerie sense of tranquility.
Some adventurers found this situation strange and even frustrating.
"Yo, what's up with the dungeon today?"
"Haven't spotted a single monster, what gives?"
"Did someone already wipe them all out or something?"
"But that doesn't make sense."
Adventurers discussed one after another, and Riezel, who happened to overhear everything, furrowed his brow.
"Could it be Ais? That girl... Maybe she's been taking out all the monsters since entering the 1st Floor and making her way down?"
With her strength and speed, if she really did that, the upper-floor monsters would have been wiped out in no time. It wouldn't have been surprising if the dungeon couldn't spawn new ones fast enough. If this was her doing, it proved that she was indeed getting a bit impatient.
After all, no matter how many upper-floor monsters she slaughtered, Ais, who was already at Level 5, wouldn't have gained a bit of excelia.
In the past, she wouldn't indiscriminately slaughter monsters in the dungeon like this. She would quickly dive down and explore after reaching a certain floor. It was an unwritten rule that high-level adventurers should avoid making moves on upper-floor monsters to ensure enough monsters for lower-level adventurers to fight later.
Even Riezel rarely engaged upper-floor monsters after reaching Level 2, and Ais, needless to say, wouldn't make moves on upper-floor monsters unless absolutely necessary.
Now, she was disregarding even this unwritten rule, indicating that her mentality was indeed becoming a problem.
Riezel remained silent, but his speed increased significantly. He rushed through the dungeon, frightening many adventurers who witnessed the scene.
All they could see was a gust of wind, a shadow passing at an astonishing speed. They couldn't confirm the identity of the shadow and were left with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
Riezel paid no attention to them, focusing on speed and advancing deeper into the dungeon, startling many witnesses.
In order to boost his speed, Riezel even chanted the protection magic, Raumure, significantly increasing his 'AGI'. If it weren't for the side effect of 'Ariel', he would have used it to travel faster.
This showed that he was also feeling a sense of urgency.
In this way, Riezel continued deeper, quickly crossing the upper floors from the 1st to the 12th, and entering the middle floors starting from the 13th.
From this floor onward, the frequency of monster appearances was much higher. Even if they were defeated, the dungeon quickly spawned new ones. Hence, after entering the 13th Floor, Riezel finally saw scattered monsters.
*ROAAARRR—!*
A black creature, resembling a wolf or a dog, spewing flames from its mouth, roared at Riezel as he entered this floor.
"Scram!"
Without looking back, he shot the creature a glare, and it flinched before running away.
He continued downward, maintaining his speed without any reduction.
Ten minutes later, he reached the 14th Floor.
Seventeen minutes later, he reached the 15th Floor.
Thirty minutes later, he reached the 16th Floor.
In less than an hour, Riezel entered the 17th Floor, smoothly reaching its end and entering a large underground area.
This area was a rectangular prism with a large circular entrance, at least 200 meters long. The width was about 100 meters, and although the height from the ground to the ceiling was less than 20 meters, it was higher than other places. The entire structure was made of rough rocks, except for the unique construction of the left wall.
The surface of the wall was extremely smooth, like a mirror without seams, extending from the entrance of the hall to the deepest end, covering the entire wall.
"The Big Wall of Grief?"
This was the last obstacle on the 17th Floor, known as the dungeon's wall that gave birth to a particular monster.
In this peculiar Big Wall of Grief, only a specific monster was born.
This was the master of this area.
Up to this floor, among the seventeen floors, it was the most powerful and fearsome existence.
The 17th Floor's floor boss, Goliath.
The Big Wall of Grief was the wall that gave birth to Goliath.
Unless Goliath was defeated and it was not time for it to be reborn, anyone entering this area would inevitably face the crazy attacks of the dungeon's first floor boss.
Any attack from giant monsters like Goliath, who stood at least seven meters tall, would give headaches to any adventurer not yet a first-class adventurer.
Riezel was not unfamiliar with this place.
Originally, when reaching the limit of Level 3, to achieve a great exploit, he came here alone, fighting Goliath one-on-one.
In that battle, even he faced the brink of death several times but brushed against it.
Goliath was a Level 4 monster, a floor boss with a massive body. At that time, when Riezel was only Level 3, fighting such a massive monster had been extremely disadvantageous. Even with all his basic abilities at SSS and an overpowered enchant magic like 'Ariel', it was an extremely difficult battle.
If Riezel hadn't been so excited and reckless in that battle, whether he could defeat Goliath or not would have been uncertain.
It had been precisely because of this challenging battle that he could achieve a great exploit and advance to Level 4.
Of course, the current him, facing Goliath again, could easily crush it. However, what he could do, others could naturally do as well.
For example, a swordswoman who was Level 5 like him.
"..."
Riezel stood before a pile of ashes, looking at the untouched magic stone on top, remaining silent for quite some time.
After a while, he abandoned the enormous magic stone and rushed onto the 18th Floor.
===
Meanwhile, a golden-haired swordswoman entered the 19th Floor from the entrance of the 18th Floor.
"Not enough..."
The golden-haired swordswoman murmured softly, watching the path ahead.
"I must become stronger..."