Chapter 104 - The Lead Found After A Millennium

As he had reached Level 5, Isaac didn't gain any more excelia from the monsters on the 58th floor. Also, because the next thematic zone should still consist of monsters that were at Level 5, he didn't need to stick around here to unlock this Level's version of the Hunter-series Development Abilities.

"If you need some warmer clothes or other items to battle the cold with, just let me know."

With a relaxed smile, Ais arrived at his side. They had just made it to a staircase leading towards the 59th floor and could now casually stroll downwards hand in hand, as no monsters would attack them here.

"Thanks for the offer. I'll see how bad the environment is down there first, and if necessary, I'll take you up on it."

According to Ais' explanation, the Zeus and Hera Familias had made it to the 59th floor in the past, but because they didn't have the necessary supplies, they were forced to turn back at this juncture. They did explore huge parts of what they called the Glacier Territory, though, so they left the next generation of adventurers enough nuggets of knowledge to sufficiently prepare for the challenges ahead. Well, to be honest, even the name itself already gave enough clues.

Somewhat coincidentally, Ais and Isaac weren't actually too far from the staircase that the Loki Familia had discovered earlier. This was because although he oftentimes explored more remote areas than regular adventurers did, Isaac had still chosen to descend relatively closely to the already trodden path. Only during his complete mapping of every floor would he bother to explore the furthest reaches of the entire dungeon. Because of this, while the two were outside of the range of perception of the woman who had observed the Loki Familia's party earlier today, they still hadn't made it out of a certain region.

By the time that the end of the staircase came into view, Isaac furrowed his brows, and so did Ais. Both of them had realized that something was wrong here.

"It's not cold enough."

It even was relatively… warm. This really shouldn't have been the case if this next area actually was the Glacier Territory.

Having realized that things were not as they had expected them to be and what they had prepared themselves for, Isaac increased his speed and stepped out into the 59th floor, with Ais following right after him. As they had anticipated having to face monsters very quickly after arriving here, they had already stopped their intimate hand holding and returned to their combat ready states.

Upon seeing what lay before them, the two were stumped for a moment. Then, when Isaac more closely observed their surroundings, a somewhat excited sigh escaped his lips and the corners of his mouth curled up a little.

"Seems like this really is the Glacier Territory... but there are uninvited guests."

The staircase that the two had taken led close to the border between two areas of the 59th floor. They had arrived in the considerably warm one, whose landscape was dotted with dunes of ash. In the far-off distance, the very edges of a massive jungle could be made out.

On the other end of the aforementioned border, there was a frozen scenery. Mountains almost entirely made up of ice were everywhere, and heavy snowfall obscured one's vision, making it impossible to gaze too deeply into the area. The shadows of a few massive white silhouettes could be momentarily spied every now and then.

What separated the two zones was a close to ten meter thick wall, made out of an unknown material. It was venomous green in colour and looked a bit like hardened tree sap. It had certainly been a liquid before solidifying into this shape. The wall stretched all the way to the more than five kilometer high ceiling, and far further into the distance than either Ais or Isaac could make out. The only thing that he could say for sure was that it had a certain curvature to it. Further observation led him to grow reasonably certain that this wall ran all along the edges of a circular region.

Whenever new snow fell upon the wall, it immediately evaporated into the air and, soon after, yet again descended in the form of snowflakes. This clearly depleted the energy stored within the wall, but this was where the 'uninvited guests' came into play.

Purple caterpillars with a length of tens of meters and a height of about a fifth of that were directly connected to the wall with their mouths. They could be found all over the ground and the ceiling right next to the wall. By using small amounts of their own energy, they constantly 'recharged' its energy, keeping this seemingly unnatural zone stable.

For a moment, Isaac was tempted to research the purple caterpillar monsters first, but then he shook his head. Doing so might cause this carefully upheld balance to crumble, which would lead to the dungeon floor reclaiming the entirety of this terraformed area. First, he wanted to explore it to his heart's content and make sure that he didn't miss anything. Afterwards, he would always have time to return here for his studies.

'These caterpillars' overall design reminds me of the pitcher plant monsters that I found on the 18th floor. If I'm not wrong, then this should be one of the important bases of the antagonistic force that is responsible for both.'

Even though he was basically certain of this, Isaac didn't falter in his steps in the slightest. After all, what did he have to fear? Rather than feeling apprehensive, his heartbeat started to quicken due to excitement. With close to his top speed, both he and Ais made their way towards the jungle in the distance.

On the way, the two came across a few curious scenes. One of which were numerous holes which contained the aforementioned pitcher plants. They weren't the only monsters in there, though. Various regular monsters from mostly the floors in the 40s orderly stood in line in front of the plants and walked up to let themselves get eaten and absorbed. The degree to which they disregarded their own lives was rarely seen even amongst the dungeon's spawn, so it was clear that they were under someone's control.

Sights of apparently mind-controlled monsters feeding themselves to others could be made out all over the place the closer that the two got to the jungle. Thousands of massive green caterpillar monsters, equally as many man-eating flowers the size of four-story tall buildings as well as a handful of even more enormous flower-type monsters that bore a bit of a resemblance to massive snakes joined the pitcher plants in their sumptuous buffet. It wasn't too difficult to evade all of these monsters' senses, mainly because they were fully focused on eating their prey. Ais and Isaac didn't even need to take any special precautions, aside from moving silently and staying hundreds of meters away.

The reason for them taking such an uncharacteristic approach was that Isaac planned to get an overview over which monster species could be found here first, only then would he start his research. As these monsters didn't seem like the usual inhabitants of the dungeon, he was relatively certain that they wouldn't infinitely respawn. He couldn't risk killing too many of them in a reckless manner that would keep him from furthering his studies.

When the two entered the jungle, the air had become far more humid, but not to an uncomfortable degree. It felt like a nice refreshment in this warm place.

There was one other change that could be observed here - yet another species of flower monster, this time one with rather massive stems, had started to appear. Contrary to the previous ones, they moved entirely above ground and only used their roots to absorb energy from there every so often. They actually fed on both regular monsters as well as the green caterpillars alike.

'It's likely that there are a lot of them, else their creator wouldn't risk causing them to go extinct.'

-----

A few kilometers away, in the center of the jungle, a red haired woman was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed, seemingly deep in thought. While she didn't show many signs of exhaustion, it was clear from the drops of sweat on her forehead that she was exerting herself in some manner.

From one moment to the next, her eyelids suddenly flew open and she stared into the distance with astonishment written all over her face.

'Someone is here!? How could that be? I know all staircases leading here that have been discovered so far, and they are all within the bounds of the central area. But these intruders… they clearly come from outside of the jungle.'

Setting aside how the hell anyone could even make it down here, especially when the only ones who had ever surprised her since she had been stationed here had embarked on their return journey to the surface hours earlier, the woman was more baffled by the fact that someone had strayed so far from the explored path.

'Whoever they are, they can't be easy opponents. I'll have to pull out most of the stops to face them. I'll explain the situation to my master after I clean up this mess. This isn't only my fault, after all. Master was the one who gave me flawed information in the first place.'

Her expression markedly darkened and she rose to her feet. The only thing that she could hear were two sets of soft footsteps far away - if her hearing hadn't been this unreasonably good, then she never would have picked up on it. The fact that all the monsters hadn't noticed the sounds was to be expected.

With a deep sigh, she picked up a sheath housing a plain longsword from the ground and strapped it to her waist, then she shot off into the distance at a speed that only a Level 6 adventurer would be able to match. Seconds later, many thousands of monsters started to converge towards the same spot.

"Huh? Where is she going?"

The voice of a young woman rang out in the spot that the red haired woman had just left. It would have sounded pleasant if not for the fact that it gave the impression that multiple people were speaking at the same time. While those voices meshed well, their result would seem uncanny to any listener.

-----

"Looks like we were discovered."

A wry smile played across Isaac's lips. The moment that the monsters had started to move, he had - of course - noticed the changes immediately. He was paying extremely close attention to them, after all.

Right as he was about to charge into their midst and start his research, to at least get these few monster species out of the way, he quickly turned his head and looked further into the jungle, where just seconds later, an extremely quick presence approached.

'Guess it'll have to wait for a bit. This has to be the person who discovered us. I wonder how they did it? Their senses reached further than even mine, which is impressive.'

An excited glint flashed past his eyes. If any of his past specimens had gotten the chance to bear witness to it, then they would have cried in fear and attempted to take their own lives. That was, if they had enough control over their own actions to do so.

Ais and Isaac didn't have to wait for long. Even before the nearest monsters could arrive at their side, the figure of a woman appeared in their field of view. Her attire was anything but stylish, but with just a glance, it could be determined that it was of very high quality. Only Level 5 adventurers and above could afford such equipment and wear it without coming to rely on it too much. A plain longsword was held in her hand, and the look in her emerald-green eyes was full of emotionless killing intent.

'Wait, doesn't she look awfully similar to that girl Valenoa?'

Although just matching hair and eye colours could be found everywhere, even the woman's facial features were remarkably close to Valenoa's. While it was still possible for this to be a coincidence, it was just as likely that there was some sort of connection between the two.

Smiling slightly at a relatively confirmed guess of his, Isaac nodded to himself. But before he could even do anything else, the red haired woman's expression suddenly turned to one of shock and intrigue as she halted in her tracks. It had happened when she had laid her eyes upon Ais who was right beside him, with her sword, Desperate, held in hand.

"Are you… Aria?"

-----

The moment that this name entered her ears, Ais froze up completely. A mixture of surprise, astonishment, fury, hatred, sadness, yearning and a plethora of other emotions flashed across her face in rapid succession. Finally, it turned completely serious. There was an icy chill in her eyes.

"How do you know that name?"

Instead of attacking the woman, she really wanted to know the answer to her question. Isaac had realized this as well, so he stayed put and didn't interfere with the situation in any way.

'Aria'. It was a very nostalgic name to Ais, as it was the name of her mother. Ever since their separation close to a millennium ago, reuniting with her - or at least hearing some news about her - had been one of her chief goals. To be honest, she had a pretty good idea as to what fate most likely had befallen her mother, but she still held on to a tiny sliver of hope all this time.

The present day had disappointed her greatly - only in the heroic tale that described her father's journey in very vague detail, the Dungeon Oratoria, was her mother even mentioned, and only as the Spirit who had bestowed her favour upon the greatest of heroes, Albert Waldstein. No accounts of her ultimate fate were given, and she was barely even included in the story. All this time, Ais had searched for clues and even had Riveria help her in this regard while she focused on growing stronger, to achieve her revenge. But nothing had come of it.

Now that she had heard her mother's name, all her attention was focused on the woman in front of her. No matter what, she just had to know!

"You look just like her, so you have to be her."

While the woman mumbled to herself and completely ignored Ais' question, the monsters that had been charging towards them slowly encircled Ais and Isaac completely, yet they didn't attack.

Suddenly, Isaac's brows furrowed. A second later, the uncanny voice of a young woman, or rather, a chorus of voices resembling the voice of a young woman, entered everyone's ears.

"Revis, why didn't you bring me with you when there is something fun going on? Only feeding grows stale after a while."

From behind the trees, a massive shape approached. The monster - if it even was one - had two distinct parts. The lower one was the majority of the body of one of the flower monsters that inhabited this floor, the one that even fed on the green caterpillars. It was at least a size bigger, though, and the green, red and violet colours of it were far more prominent. Parts of this half's body had changed and now somewhat resembled the shape of a dress that was wrapped around the entire body.

The upper part was still seamlessly clad in that red and blue 'dress', and was in the shape of a gorgeous, humanoid woman. Even its size wasn't much taller than the average human upper body. The only differences lay in the skin colour and the eyes. The 'woman' had long and flowing green hair, while her skin tone was of a slightly lighter green. Her eyeballs were entirely golden, and no pupils or irises could be found.

When this newcomer noticed Ais, both of them froze up momentarily.

'This… being. It feels similar to my mother! It's just a very vague resemblance, but I'm certain that there is some sort of connection. Could she be some sort of Spirit?'

While Ais was deliberating about this, the green woman-monster-hybrid started to exude a terrifying killing intent, while a joyous expression spread all over her face of heavenly beauty.

"Aria! I finally found you. Don't resist, and let me devour you, ARIA!"

By the end of her short speech, the 'Spirit' was roaring at the top of her lungs and directly charging at Ais. Her Agility was clearly already at Level 6 as well.

The red haired woman who had been referred to as Revis couldn't help but frown at this sight, but then she shook her head. Letting the 'Spirit' absorb Aria had always been the plan, so even though things weren't proceeding exactly according to the original plan, because things would still work out somehow, this development was fine.

'I'll take care of the male, then.'

Right as she focused her emotionless gaze on Isaac, the latter sent a certain message Ais' way via the system, interrupting her scrambled thoughts.

"The green one is acc.u.mulating a lot of mana. I'll play with her until you've dealt with the red one, okay? I'll keep her alive and capable of responding, so don't worry."

A slight smile spread across Ais' lips, then she whispered the words "Awaken, Tempest" and shrouded herself in her wind enchant type Magic, raising her speed and the power behind her attacks by a huge percentage in the process. While this wouldn't effectively double her Agility and Strength, it wasn't too far from achieving this effect.

Although Revis would be capable of overwhelming most Level 6 adventurers in terms of her stats, before Ais' partially buffed state, she could do no more than raise her sword in defense in an attempt to respond to Ais' charge.

A slightly amused smile stole itself on Ais' face as she effortlessly changed the angle of her attack and aimed at Revis' shoulder. The latter barely managed to evade, but a relatively deep cut was still left behind. All of her protective equipment had been completely useless.

While shock and trace amounts of despair appeared in the cornered woman's eyes, she retreated hastily and commanded all of the surrounding monsters to attack 'Aria', wisely leaving a lot of space around the 'Spirit', as that would just sacrifice the monsters' lives in vain.

'How could Aria be so strong!? I have never met an opponent more powerful than her, that's for sure! I can only pin my hopes on 'her' now.'

If Revis knew that she was only alive because Ais didn't even take the battle seriously in the slightest, then she probably would have fainted from shock. Still, Ais couldn't allow her to die before she got to hear what she needed to know.

With relaxed movements, a few swings of her sword were enough to send violent gusts of wind into the thousands of monsters approaching her. They were instantly obliterated, with no way to resist. Some of them exploded upon their deaths, along with their magic stones, but some others had at least a few scraps remaining.

"I'll ask you again. How do you know that name?"

Seeking to gain some time, Revis' expression hardened and she actually chose to speak, to survive for now. Once her backup arrived, she would figure out a way to get out of this mess. Hopefully.

"I heard 'her' mention your name and describe you to me, Aria."

Before Revis' sentence had even ended, a cold blade had already been pressed on her throat, drawing a fine line of blood. Ais' gaze was cold enough to freeze over every single circle of hell as she stared directly into the desperate woman's eyes with a slight frown.

"Who is 'she'? Don't speak in riddles."

Legitimately terrified, Revis gulped heavily, then she mustered up the courage to reply.

"Titania, the Demi Spirit over there."

With deliberately non-threatening movements, she pointed towards the east where Isaac was facing the green woman-monster-hybrid. She followed her outstretched finger with her eyes, and right as she hoped to be greeted by the sight of Titania coming to her rescue, that last spark of hope was extinguished. The life in Revis' eyes almost disappeared, as plain despair was written all over her face.

What she had seen was so far from her expectations, and so devastating to her mental state, that it had momentarily completely broken her. If she had been in the position of a neutral observer, then she might have been in the mood to crack a smile and chuckle, but right now, she truly couldn't appreciate the hilarity of the situation that she bore witness to in the slightest.