Isekai Adventure in the Dimensional Cube

"Reiger!"

As the party charged out of what seemed like a certain death trap, Ais was the first to notice Reiger falling behind, and also the first to realize his intentions.

Seeing Reiger standing in front of the man in white robes, whose throat was gushing blood, and his retreating figure gradually being obscured by the legion of worm creatures, Ais's mask slipped off her face, and she reflexively prepared to turn around and head back to Reiger's side.

"Don't go!"

Unfortunately, Finn stopped Ais, preventing her from turning back.

"...Finn?"

Ais looked at Finn with an expression of disbelief.

However, Finn remained steadfast, speaking calmly with a single sentence.

"Leave that side to Reiger."

This extremely brief statement not only caused Ais's expression to change slightly but also stirred a strong reaction among the others.

"Wh-why would you leave Mr. Reiger behind alone?"

"That's too dangerous!"

Rephia and Angel, one with a face full of anxiety, the other with a furrowed brow, protested the command from the clan leader they usually trusted absolutely.

"This is the 52nd floor! Even with so many of us, we're barely holding on... and Reiger...!"

Even Raul spoke up, his usually good-natured face filled with worry.

Grace and Revilia remained silent, seemingly deciding to follow Finn's instructions, while Bert, Theona, and Theone were busy dealing with the sudden appearance of giant scorpions, Thunder Snakes, and deformed spiders blocking the path ahead, leaving them no time to join the discussion.

Alicia, seeing Revilia's silence, also remained quiet, while Chun seemed a bit confused, not understanding what was happening.

In such a situation, Finn maintained his absolute calm, or perhaps it was more accurate to say his cruel expression.

"This is the strategy we agreed on beforehand," Finn said, "Once a mysterious enemy appears to thwart our conquest, Reiger will stay behind, blocking the enemy's attacks without significantly affecting the party's combat strength."

Finn's explanation drew a strong protest from Ais.

"Then let me...!"

From Ais's perspective, if someone had to stay behind to fend off the mysterious enemy, that person should be herself, not Reiger.

After all, in this expedition, reaching the unexplored floors was just a secondary goal for Ais.

Since encountering those mysterious enemies on the 24th floor's food storage and hearing the name "Alya" from their mouths, Ais had not stopped thinking about finding them for even a single day.

She wanted to know why those enemies knew that name.

She wanted to know what exactly those enemies knew about her.

She especially wanted to know who these beings were and why they were connected to her and the name "Alya."

Therefore, she had gradually been brought out of her shell by Revilia, Theona, Theone, and Rephia, no longer staying locked in her room, lost in her own world.

She had already guessed that she might encounter those mysterious enemies again on this expedition.

After all, there was no denying that the female-shaped creatures born from the parasitic "Treasure Bead embryo" were obviously of the same kind as those they encountered on their last expedition here; the worm creatures and carnivorous flower creatures clearly had a connection. Both had colorful appearances and magic stones, providing significant evidence that the female-shaped and worm creatures they encountered previously were likely related to the mysterious enemies.

If that's the case, as long as they ventured into the underground city and reached the ultra-deep levels below the 50th floor again, there was a significant chance she would encounter them once more.

At that time, she definitely needed to question these beings and find out why they knew the name "Alya."

With this determination, Ais participated in this expedition.

Now that the mysterious enemies had finally shown themselves, the person who should remain to block them should rightly be her, not Reiger.

However, as Ais expressed this strong intent, Finn doused her determination with a bucket of cold water.

"You're not capable," Finn stated bluntly, "Even though you've reached Lv.6, I'm certain that if you were to stay behind alone, you'd surely die, Ais."

Ais found herself speechless.

As Raul mentioned, this was ultimately the 52nd floor, the starting point of the "Dragon's Crucible."

The Loki Familia originally had eight First Class adventurers before Reiger became a key member, with three at the peak of Lv.6 and four at the peak of Lv.5. Yet, even with a party of such seven First Class adventurers, during their last expedition, they only managed to reach the 58th floor.

Although Ais had now reached Lv.6, significantly enhancing her strength compared to the previous expedition, this hellish place, where even the collective desperate struggle of all First Class adventurers of the Loki Familia barely ensured survival, what could Ais accomplish alone?

Reiger was an exception, possessing thousands of otherworldly magic spells and various kinds of Ancient Secret Treasures for defense, coupled with a fearlessly adventurous spirit. Only with all this could he survive alone here, but even for him, when his power was limited to Lv.5, he frequently ended up severely wounded and narrowly escaped dire situations, gradually accumulating sufficient high-level experience points. Yet even then, Ais, who was no match for Lv.5 Reiger and lacked his numerous trump cards, simply couldn't survive here alone.

Especially now, with mysterious enemies sabotaging things, the danger had increased severalfold.