Ealdred Crow’s main party had hit a wall on the ninety-sixth layer. Day after day, they plunged into God’s Dungeon in search of answers, but though they’d uncovered so hints, they still hadn’t managed to find their way through.
The structure of the ninety-sixth layer was deceptively simple. It featured a wide, circular corridor within the Ancient Castle’s interior, spacious enough for a full party to walk side by side with ease. The looped passage resembled the shape of a doughnut, and precisely at the midpoints of both the north and south arcs was a particular structure, which stood out even from the distant vantage of the ninety-first layer.
[There’s no doubt this Dragon is the key,] Stephanie thought, her gaze fixed on the stone-carved monster protruding from the castle wall, its head broader and tougher-looking than even that of a Fire Dragon. She nibbled on a cookie, one of Ealdred Crow’s custom field rations, never taking her eyes off the creature.
It was embedded in a panoramic platform midway through the layer’s circuit, visible even from afar. At first glance, the statue seed decorative, but up close, it was clearly breathing. Most likely, it was a creature that only looked like stone, sa as the type of monster they’d seen before in the Light and Darkness set of layers.
There were two of them: one at the north midpoint and one at the south, as if deliberately placed to signal their significance. Naturally, they’d tried attacking the Dragons, assuming they were the trigger to proceed, but there was no resistance. It felt as if they were striking the castle itself, resulting in neither any reaction nor effect.
The passageways themselves were uninspired. Occasionally, standard monsters would appear, but nothing particularly strong, and not even a single one they had never seen before. Nothing offered a clue, either; hoping for a hidden passage, they had spent five days painstakingly examining every inch of the castle walls, but that too had proven fruitless.
At the end of the day, the greatest obstacle was the lack of information. For this particular layer, Absolute Helix had imposed a strict information embargo, which even the general public found suspicious. Ealdred Crow’s informants had returned empty-handed. The Monitors had only shown Hannah battling monsters solo in the corridor, then before they knew it, Absolute Helix had already cleared the layer.
Even on previous layers, Tsutomu had expertly masked key information, and the informants had struggled. But here, he had enacted a full-scale blackout. With only vague hints and red herrings to go on, Ealdred Crow’s main party found themselves fumbling in the dark.
With barely any progress being made, morale had begun to wane. Their main party now split their efforts: two mbers remained on the ninety-sixth layer to investigate, while the others focused on leveling or supporting lower-ranked teams. Currently, Sova was monitoring the layer through the God Eye, absently fiddling with a magic tool that spat tiny sparks as he muttered to himself.
"If we could just get Absolute Helix to share information, that’d solve all our problems…"
"Mister Tsutomu isn’t so soft," Stephanie replied coolly. "He already warned . I doubt you’ll get a warr reception, even if he did help you connect with Weiss that one ti. But by all ans, go grovel to him. I’ll pretend I’m not involved."
"Want
to bring the God Eye over and broadcast this conversation right now?" Sova shot back, eyes sharp as blades.
While practicing a one-handed swap of Magic Stones into his tool, he glared at her with a clear threat in his gaze. Stephanie responded by calmly flying around a few wisps of [ and [ in front of her, as though unconcerned.
"In any case, none of the other Clan mbers seems likely to leak any information. Apparently, the one most likely to spill the beans simply hasn’t been told a thing."
Daryl, being Cynokin, was naturally loyal. Leleia, raised in a strict knightly household, would endure torture before giving up a word. Diniel, existing in a class of her own as a fighter and shrouded in plenty of mystery herself, could not be expected to talk. The only real risk had been Hannah, but she seed completely in the dark, not even privy to the sensitive details in the first place.
Stephanie yawned as she pulled the floating skills back to her feet. Normally, she’d never let her guard down inside a Dungeon, but there were no monsters nearby, and the Pedestal only displayed the empty corridors of the ninety-sixth layer. Sova, seeing her yawn, found himself infected and did the sa, before glancing around with a wary look.
"The fact that the Pedestals only show that corridor basically confirms that the Dragons are involved," he said, half-grumbling.
"If we could figure that out with just the two of us, one of the informants would’ve already cracked it… We’ve covered enough of the layer by now. Ti to return and level up. You especially, Sova. You’re falling behind."
"Tch, leveling’s just busywork. There are far more useful things I could be doing."
"If Dorssia were here, she’d be lecturing you."
"I swear, this Clan’s full of crazy won…"
"Did you say sothing?"
"…Nothing."
Their bickering might have sounded tense to outsiders, but the two had known each other since childhood. Though their friendship had suffered when Stephanie’s darker side erged during her phase of Tsutomu obsession, it was gradually returning to sothing close to normal.
As the two returned to the Black Gate, having opted to avoid any monster encounters, Sova glanced sidelong at Stephanie, who was contently nibbling on so more cookies.
"You really get by on just that?" he asked, his tone equal parts disbelief and amusent.
"Healers don’t move around nearly as much as Attackers or Tanks," she replied, brushing a crumb from her lips. "This is more than enough for . It’s nutritionally balanced, too."
"You’ve changed," Sova muttered. "Old Aunt Pei would probably cry if she saw you now."
"…Now that you ntion it, I haven’t seen her in quite so ti," Stephanie said with a tinge of lancholy in her voice. "Even when I visited ho, I spent all my ti training as a Healer."
They had both grown up in upper-class households, at least by commoner standards. Their childhoods were blessed with warmth, security, and sweets. Aunt Pei had often baked for them, her kitchen filled with the scent of sugar and spice. Rembering that, Stephanie let her gaze drift wistfully down to the cookie in her hand.
[‘Absorb the techniques of those around you,’ he says…]
Tsutomu’s words from so ti ago remained etched in her mind, but she had yet to truly embody that advice. If she were honest with herself, she still found it difficult to care about anyone outside of her ‘Mister Tsutomu.’ Still, things within her own Clan had improved these days. She even held civil conversations with Kisaragi, Team 2’s Healer, sothing she wouldn’t have imagined not long ago.
Her relationships outside the Clan, on the other hand, had seen little progress since the incident. When she learned that Eunice and Lorena had participated in a social gathering organized by Absolute Helix, and the fact that she hadn’t been invited, she’d felt like her lungs had seized, as if she’d die simply from forgetting how to breathe.
Apparently, the gathering had been arranged spontaneously, and their attendance had been purely coincidental… or so she’d been told. Could she really believe that? Try as she might, Stephanie couldn’t stop herself from spinning dark and paranoid theories until she very nearly clawed at her own scalp in frustration.
[No, no, no…] she reminded herself firmly. [Sova confird it. That much is true. There’s no reason to doubt it.]
She wasn’t alone anymore. There were others — Sova, Bittman, even Dorssia, who had practically beco her loyal servant, who could pull her back when her mind began to spiral. She had asked Sova to investigate, and he had confird that the gathering had been impromptu, nothing more. He had even lanted that he had missed the chance to drink the night away with Weiss.
[Perhaps… I should host a tea party myself,] she thought.
Of course, she would’ve preferred to invite only Tsutomu. But after being explicitly warned against isolating him, she couldn’t, in good conscience, exclude the others. She’d already been considering it for so ti, but the ntion of Aunt Pei had cented her resolve. The woman had always loved afternoon tea, and those mories gave her a push.
[…Which ans we must get through the ninety-sixth layer as soon as possible.]
If Tsutomu were to misunderstand and assu her tea party was just a front to glean information, that would ruin everything. All the more reason to move forward quickly and leave no room for doubt. With that thought firm in her heart, Stephanie passed through the Black Gate and returned to the Guild.
"You’re back," ca a voice.
"Hmm?" Sova grunted in response.
Just beyond the gate, a figure greeted them, his face hidden beneath the deep shadow of a hood. It was the standard garb of an Ealdred Crow informant. Not all of them dressed this way, of course, but their leader did, and many had copied the look.
The gatekeeper cast the man an irritated glance, but the informant leaned in and lowered his voice.
"We may have found the thod to progress through the ninety-sixth layer. Please co to the Clan House at once."
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