Chapter 51: Full-Floor Dungeon Riot

Sure enough, as long as he kept a low profile, Bell blended right into the crowd—just another quiet, unremarkable kid who wasn't great at socializing.

Staying with the crowd, Bell successfully made it out of the Dungeon.

As he glanced back at the grumbling adventurers behind him, he made a silent resolution.

'I can't let anyone find out that the Monster Parade on every floor was caused by me.'

If they did, Bell had no doubt that the adventurers of Orario would be ready to kill him on the spot.

He'd have to be more careful with his luck the next time he entered the Dungeon. In fact, Bell had noticed something—so long as he didn't want to encounter a flood of monsters, the Dungeon wouldn't respond so strongly. Just like earlier: when he wished for fewer goblins, the Dungeon had returned to normal.

That might mean fewer chances for training, but at least it would keep the Guild off his trail.

Bell was confident that he could grow step by step. Even if the monster spawn rate on the upper floors was slow, the middle floors were a different story. That was where high-level adventurers truly began to face danger—especially because of how fast monsters appeared. There was no need for Bell to stir up trouble on the upper floors using his luck.

Most importantly, there was no benefit in doing so.

Stirring up chaos in the Dungeon helped no one—least of all him. It would only bring more problems and create openings for the Evilus. And Bell hadn't forgotten about them. When it came to causing trouble, those lunatics didn't hold back.

Glancing at the people around him, some headed toward the Guild, others toward the taverns or the Pleasure District. Bell took one look and quietly walked in the direction of Hephaestus-sama's shop.

The crowd split as they reached the Dungeon's entrance, each group heading off to their own destinations. Bell, cloaked in a trench coat and hood, was just another face in the crowd—easy to miss, hard to notice.

After walking for a while, he slipped away and entered Hephaestus-sama's store, having thoroughly concealed himself.

A girl in formal work clothes came forward to greet him.

"Welcome... Bell-kun!"

The one in the uniform was none other than Hestia herself. Saddled with a debt of 200 million Valis, she had reluctantly asked Hephaestus for help finding work. Even though Bell was a top-tier earner, Hestia wanted to lighten his burden somehow. After some discussion, she ended up working part-time at Hephaestus-sama's shop as a waitress to repay the debt.

"Goddess-sama."

Seeing her in high spirits, Bell gave a small smile.

He was well aware that Goddess-sama had started working at Hephaestus-sama's shop. Given the current partnership between the Hestia Familia and the Hephaestus Familia, placing her here was undoubtedly the safest choice.

After her initial delight, Hestia suddenly looked alarmed. She flipped the sign at the entrance to "Temporarily Closed" and pulled Bell into the store, asking questions as they went.

"Bell-kun, did something happen in the Dungeon?"

Bell looked a bit awkward. Goddess-sama wasn't clueless—if he came back this early, clearly something had gone wrong.

"Something did happen. It's kind of related to me, so I couldn't stay down there too long today."

"That serious?"

Hestia couldn't imagine what had happened that would force Bell to leave the Dungeon so soon. Still, she didn't press the issue right away and instead brought him upstairs to meet Hephaestus. She figured they'd have to explain everything to her soon enough anyway.

...

Upstairs, Hephaestus was enjoying a cup of tea while reviewing recent orders from her Familia. She wasn't too surprised—after every expedition, it was always Loki's Familia who rushed to place orders, and they were never small ones.

"But for the order to come this quickly, and with a request for 'indestructible' specs… Looks like Loki's people ran into something nasty down there. That kind of request usually means they encountered monsters capable of breaking weapons."

"But how come no one mentioned anything about monsters like that before?"

While it was true the Dungeon still held many unidentified species, any floor that had already been explored should've had its monsters reasonably catalogued. Something like this shouldn't happen—unless a new variant had appeared.

"Is it a new species? Designed specifically to target adventurers' weapons and gear?"

If that were the case, it made sense why Loki's Familia had rushed to place an order the moment they got back from the deeper levels. Crafting "indestructible" weapons was no small task—it required both time and significant effort.

Across all of Orario, only two Familia could forge such weapons: Goibniu's and hers. And from what Hephaestus knew, the Goibniu Familia was already overwhelmed with backlogged orders and had no bandwidth to take on Loki's request. So naturally, the job had fallen to her.

"Bam!"

The office door slammed open, and Hephaestus reflexively covered her face. She was more than used to this by now. Whenever Hestia had something to say, she always barged in like this. Didn't that idiot know how to knock?

Suppressing her frown, Hephaestus looked up—only to see Hestia dragging Bell behind her.

'Huh? This kid's back early today?' The thought popped into her mind before she could stop it. But then, glancing at the time, she realized—way too early.

A flicker of concern crossed her face.

"What happened?"

She wasn't asking Hestia.

"Hephaestus-sama, it's… today the Dungeon erupted into a full-scale riot. Every floor."

"...???"

Bell's response left Hephaestus stunned.

A riot across every floor? What happened to Ouranos' prayers? Was the Dungeon reaching its limit?