The 37th Floor

Throughout the investigation regarding Hashana's death, Sona, Aika, and Koneko stuck with Ais and Lefiya as they went around the town searching for anyone trying to escape. It was then that the trio finally witnessed the Loki Familia's prowess when the plant monsters besieged the town of Rivira which was led by a red-haired tamer that had attacked Ais.

When the giant monster appeared, Finn and Riveria finally made their move and defeated the giant monster with ease with the help of Hiryute sisters finishing it off.

It's the fight with the red-haired tamer, who seems to be at Level 6 and Hashana's murderer, that truly opened their eyes regarding the abilities of both Finn and Riveria, which led to the three of them thinking that even if they have the same basic parameters and their very limited way of fighting, they would still lose after just a few exchange, proving how by far how inexperienced they are in battle.

After the monsters were cleaned up, everyone had to return to the surface so that Finn and Riveria could make a quick report to Loki and the Guild of what had transpired on the 18th Floor and would immediately return to their original plan of Dungeon exploration.

Since they don't have much time and the Guild is trying to control the flow of information, Sona had to write a quick report which summarized the information she got in the incident.

'-Someone asked Hashana of Ganesha Familia to retrieve a green transparent gem with a fetus inside down on the 30th Floor.

-A red-haired woman around Level 6 killed Hashana and tried to retrieve the gem by leading and controlling many plant type monsters but failed when the fetus suddenly reacted to Ais Wallenstein after she used her magic and tried to jump on her. The fetus missed its intended target and landed on a dead monster plant monster with an intact magic stone. It then fused with it, revived the monster, and mutated it. It also started consuming other monsters and only stopped when it became a giant half humanoid monster. It seemed more intelligent than most monsters, but the Loki Familia took it out in an instant.

-The red-haired woman called Ais Wallenstein 'Aria' and she seemed to react to that name greatly.

-The red-haired woman doesn't seem to be aware of Finn and Riveria's identities as she only distinguished them as Level 6 after their exchange.

-The magic flow around the red-haired woman is very different from all the Adventurers. All I can tell is that there's a magic leakage around her.

-The Guild seems to be trying to control the spread of information.'

After writing those things, Sona left the report at the corner of the Babel Tower. This is one of the spots that Yoruichi set up for information sharing when any other method is inconvenient. The moment the paper landed on that spot, it let out a small bit of light signifying that Yoruichi was already alerted.

Sona then immediately returned to where everyone was and waited for Finn and Riveria to come back and resumed their plans.

Setting the incident aside to the back of their minds, the group progressed through the dungeon with relative ease and it just took 7 days for them to reach the 37th floor. The 37th Floor is known as the White Palace as the walls, ground, and ceiling are colored white with the floor being a giant labyrinth. The floor is on a different scale than the floors above it as the space between hallways, rooms, and walls is huge. The entrance to the 38th Floor was located at the center of the floor, which is where the Monster Rex Udaeus is located, and around it are five huge circular walls that adventurers have to navigate through to reach the center. Many adventurers liken the 37th Floor to a cake in a box and it's said that the floor is large enough to contain Orario.

The walls are numbered 1-5 starting from the innermost wall, and the area between two walls is referred to as different rooms; the Udaeus' area inside the 1st wall is the Throne Room, and from there, the Knight's Room, the Warrior's Room, the Soldier's Room, and the Beast's Room. The area between the walls gets smaller the closer to the Throne Room and the labyrinth becomes more complicated.

Colosseums start appearing, which are rooms that spawn monsters such as Barbarians, Loup Garou, Lizardman Elite, Spartoi, Obsidian Soldier, Skull sheep and Peluda.

Barbarians are a two-meter tall monster similar to the Minotaur with two large and curved horns, black skin, red hair, and yellow eyes. The Guild estimates it to have power equivalent to Level 3 and 4 adventurers.

The Loup Garou are a 120-130 cm muscular humanoid monster with a wolf head. They use a white stone knife or cudgel weapons with their agility to fight. Among the monsters that have made it to the surface, groups of them were known to destroy villages on moonlit nights more than any other monster.

A Lizardman Elite is a stronger version of Lizardman. Unlike its weaker version, it's blue, with scales that are as hard as armor, and they are estimated to be around Level 3 to 4.

A Spartoi is a skeleton monster that is around Level 4 in strength. They are able to spawn with random weapons that they know how to use, such as swords or lances made of bone and kite shield-like protectors. The monster is stronger than a Lizardman Elite or Loup Garou and more agile than a Barbarian. Their skill and fighting ability are more like an adventurer than a monster. It is considered the most dangerous warrior-type monster on the floor excluding rare monsters.

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Obsidian Soldiers are a monster with a misshapen obsidian body made of solidified lava and a single purple light in its head resembling an eye. It is slow compared to the warrior type monsters on the 37th Floor, though it makes up for it with its defense and by being able to lessen the power of magic.

Skull Sheep are 140 cm long sheep monsters made entirely of bones. It has a large dark-colored piece of skin that covers its body starting from the back of its head which makes it hard to predict its attacks, makes it appear as if it's a skull floating in empty space, and allows it to camouflage within the natural duskiness of the 37th Floor. It can also fire piles at its opponents.

And finally thePeluda, a dark green dragon monster with a long snake-like body and four legs. It has poisonous needles on its back, resembling a porcupine, which it can fire at its enemies. Their poison can overwhelm upper-class adventurers who have abnormal resistance and it requires superior detoxification magic or an antidote to deal with the poison. They are also able to stand on walls and breathe scorching fire.

Throughout the way, Riveria patiently taught the trio everything they needed to know all the way to their current floor which made the three of them very thankful.

However, the three aren't exactly aware that they are slowly destroying their party members' world view and the most restless out of them is Ais, who's gaze has become more and more intense as the three of them improve in real-time and defeat monsters that are beyond their level. At this point, everyone from the Loki Familia already gauged their abilities to be around Level 4 of normal Adventurers.

That conclusion, however, gave them shudders. If they're already equivalent to a Level 4 when they are just newly ascended Level 2's, how strong would they become once they reached Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5?

But one thing is for sure. If they want to emulate their success, they have to understand the nature of their power which made Finn and Riveria put more importance on their relationship with the Hestia Familia, especially their Captain, Kisuke Urahara.

Riveria, however, had warned Finn not to make them their enemies with his scheme but it's unknown whether Finn would listen to her if there's an opportunity for the Loki Familia.

But everyone's current concern is with Ais as she has been acting weird and reckless ever since her fight with the red-haired tamer and lost. It's normal to lose, but the way Ais acts now tells that there's something more to that incident.

Riveria approached the trio and asked, "Do you know something?" Since they were with Ais when she was attacked, it's only obvious that they would be asked.

"Know or not... She only started acting weird when that woman called her 'Aria.'" Sona answered and memorized Riveria's reaction.

"W-what did you say!?" Riveria panicked slightly but she immediately bit her lips and calmed herself down, "Nevermind... I'm going to go talk to her." She then went to Ais's side.

Riveria and Ais had a small talk and after that, Ais suddenly asked Finn for him to let her stay behind and continue to fight since they were about to go back. Finn only agreed after Riveria said that she's staying with her.

"We would also like to stay behind." Sona immediately proposed.

Editors and Author's Corner:

28th00: I absolutely skipped the monster info. If there were edits to be made, they were not by me!

Alexander: I skipped it at first. But someone has to do the edit. However,I don't like Info dumping, too.

28th00: Yep, fun times those are… Give me my standard Japanese Culinary Expertise dumping instead! At least I can apply that knowledge! (Phis-chama commentary on this would be hilarious, but impossible to get anything beyond 'Crunchy', it's a loli dragon thing.)

Goyya: I'm really sorry for the info dump.

Garan Mayers.