Floor 63.

"Same as always." Said Bete. "This cold temperature.

"Keep your wit about you." Said Finn. "The monsters adapted to the new environment."

"Those Thunder Blasts are freaky." Said Tione. "Tiona, why did you name them that?"

"Well, they blast thunder; I thought it was a pretty good name, all things considered!" Tiona said.

"With less fur, their agility is further increased. The fur that they do have is very thick and dense, as if they were circuits." Said Rethusa. "And their sense of smell is also heightened to accommodate their lack of sight and hearing."

"Well, it’s not like we would have any trouble getting through." Said Lefiya.

They look to see Cirrus, Ai, Ais, and Gareth. Their presence alone is enough to ward any monster away.

From the 59th to the 61st floors, everything was transformed into a jungle. The monsters also changed from what Malion had said were here and what they are now.

In the past 3 years, the Artemis Familia has gone down deep within the dungeon several times with both the Loki and Freya Familia, usually taking on Familias who are very close with their gods, such as the Hestia and Ganesha Familia, along with smaller ones on the floors they could handle.

All in all, with the Artemis Familia spearheading the expeditions, several smaller Familia have slowly grown in strength.

The time it takes to reach the 70th floor is usually 1 month, as with each floor they go down, it gets bigger.

 

71st floor.

When the expedition finally reached the 71st floor, they found it to be a safe floor with a look similar to the floors before it but with a much warmer temperature than a cool lake.

"Scouting parties reexamine the floor for any changes. The rest of us will set up camp."

"Will do!" said Ai.

"Got it," said Bete.

"Understood!" said the rest of them.

They made parties and then left to finish fully mapping the floor out.

"Alright, let’s get to work!!"

"Yes, sir!!!" they all shouted.

"Do you think anything would have changed?" said Finn, coming up next to Cirrus.

"Unlikely, but even if the chance is low, I won’t let that small chance fuck us over."

"This is the first time I wish Finn still led the expeditions," Riveria said, sitting down on a crate. "I didn’t think I would be run this ragged."

"Bahaha!!" Gareth laughed. "If he didn’t, you two wouldn’t have reached level 7! Now get to it, elf! We have to set up camp!"

"Cirrus, you better be helped as well." Riveria got up and picked up a few crates.

"I will. Everyone does their part."

 

Later that night.

"So that is the inventory." Said Raul.

"We're also good at potions," said Cale.

"The weapons are also in good condition." Said Tsubaki.

"The camp morale is pretty good as well," said Gareth.

"Then we are good to go for tomorrow?" Said, Riveria.

"Seems so… but I would like to go the day after tomorrow to get everyone at their peak health."

"That’s good," said Finn. "Anything else?"

"Nothing else aside from some monsters coming down," Ai said. "Other than that, we are all good."

"Then tomorrow we will conquer the 71st floor and move onto the 72nd floor before we stretch our inventory thin," Cirrus said. "Everyone go to sleep. We have a mountain to chip away at."

They all left back to their own tents. They separated the camp between males and females to avoid any conflict.

 

Two days later, the 72nd floor.

The 72nd floor of the dungeon was part of a cave system. There was also no light source, so everything was shrouded in darkness.

"…I hate these fucking floors of darkness; they are always a pain in the ass to navigate." Said Cirrus. "(Sing)." Lightning danced off Cirrus, turning him into a light source.

Several monsters then appeared, trying to end the light source, but—

Swish!!

Thwack!

Bam!!

—Sword, arrow, and magic destroyed the monsters that adapted to the darkness. They all had two things in common: luminescent eyes that glow in the dark and white pigmentation of their scales and fur.

"What do you think of calling these floors the Blind Floors? You can’t fuck see in this perpetual darkness." Said Cirrus.

"A good name is a lot better than the Glow-eyed Lizards and Glow-eyed Serpents you decided on." Said Ai.

"I think they’re a fair name for monsters that have their eyes glowing." Said Bell.

"Yeah! it’s pretty on the nose!" said Tiona.

"We could call them albino monsters?" said Riveria. "Their weakness to a light source is very detrimental to the threat they pose, aside from how aggressive they are to stop any light sources that might pose a problem."

"But they don’t have red eyes to call them that," said Lefiya.

"Let the Guild decide on a damn name for these creepy ass monsters." Said Bete. "And focus more on the damn mapping!"

"Your right. The more we talk, the more time we waste."

They all began to map out the floor in groups, with the strongest carrying the light source.

‘Cirrus.’ Said Circe, contacting him. ‘They found her.’

Cirrus stopped moving.

‘…Are you sure?’

‘Positive, Malion found her in her home forest. It seems she took a drink that was strong enough to even get gods high in heaven.’

‘…Are you going to try and make an antidote?’

‘You know me so well!’

‘Keep safe. We will get back as soon as we can.’

'Understood.’

"Um, Cirrus, sir?" said Raul, noticing Cirrus was standing still for longer than he usually would.

"Is something the matter?" said Phi.

"They found the last spirit on the surface."

"!!" They stood in shock.

"Then... are we going to head back now?" asked Aki. "This could be the only time she could be dealt with."

"…No, I will hurry along the mapping progress." From the sleeves of his shadow came out an emerald and ruby blade with runes and visible cracks filled with mithril. "I will be the fire the moths will flock to. I will leave behind a mark showing where I went."

"Understood!" they all said without any hesitation.

Cirrus tightly grips his blade and takes a deep breath.

"Fuuuu... Level 1."

The runes glowed partway, and Cirrus’s eyes sharpened.

With a kick of his foot and a surge of electricity crackling around him and echoing through the cave, he was off.

He ran with such speed, cracking the ground with his steps and bringing all the monsters in the area to go after him, leaving no magic stone behind.