Daedalus Street was a vast residential district located in the southeastern part of the city. It had been built at the dawn of the gods' descent a thousand years ago and was named after its designer, Daedalus, a master craftsman whose legacy had gone down in history.
Although it was a residential area, its layout was unbelievably complicated. Stairways crisscrossed between different levels, and the entire district looked like a maze with no discernible order. Because of that, it was also known as the 'Labyrinth Above Ground'.
Even the people who had lived there for years could easily get lost, let alone outsiders. Almost no one knew what lay deep within the district, making it one of Orario's greatest mysteries.
As the morning sun rose, the members of the Loki Familia arrived.
"Tch. This place is as annoying as ever." Bete clicked his tongue irritably while looking at the maze-like streets.
"We've been going in circles." Ryoji looked around at the countless narrow alleys surrounding them. Overhead, elevated walkways crisscrossed the sky, making the entire place feel even more oppressive. "My eyes aren't the only thing hurting, my head is too."
"This is Daedalus Street." Even Finn sounded impressed. "If you don't follow the markers, you'll lose your way before long. It's hard to believe a craftsman from a thousand years ago built something like this."
To be honest, the layout here was even more confusing than the Dungeon.
"Wow! It's the Loki Familia!"
"Vanargand! Elgarm! And Brave!"
"Where's Aurora?"
"Yeah! Where's Aurora?"
"A Loki Familia without Aurora Polaris just doesn't feel right!"
The voices of children echoed through the neighborhood. Because land here was so cheap, this was Orario's most famous slum district. Yet despite its poverty, the area was full of life. The buildings stood two or three stories high, clothes hung from every clothesline, and elderly residents sat by the roadside playing board games.
Finn shot Ryoji a meaningful look. "'Ahem.' Kids say all kinds of nonsense. Don't take it seriously."
Ryoji coughed awkwardly as he adjusted the hood fluttering in the breeze. "Then stop looking so pleased with yourself."
"Am I?"
"..."
Finn decided it wasn't worth responding and turned to address the rest of the Familia. "Based on our earlier deductions, there's a high chance that Evilus remnants are hiding somewhere in this district. We'll split into several teams and search separately."
He continued giving instructions to the group of over twenty members. "Remember the designated meeting point. Don't engage the enemy unless necessary, and make the safety of the residents your top priority. Finally, there was one last assignment. The team searching the underground waterways... Ryoji, I'm putting you in charge of that one."
"The underground waterways?"
"That's right."
"Can we make a deal? Send Bete instead."
"He has another team to lead."
"..."
'Note to self... Don't get too smug in front of Finn anymore.' Ryoji firmly committed that lesson to memory.
---
"This smell is awful!" Pinching his nose shut, Ryoji walked into the dim underground tunnel with an expression of pure disgust.
Running alongside the passage was the city's sewage canal. All kinds of foul odors rose from the filthy water, so pungent they made people want to throw up. It wasn't just Ryoji. The few members following behind him all wore sickly expressions, silently cursing their terrible luck for drawing the worst assignment imaginable.
"Let's just do a quick sweep and get out of here if we don't find anything." Ryoji had already decided he wasn't staying underground any longer than absolutely necessary.
The others nodded so vigorously that they looked ready to sprain their necks. At that moment, they thought their captain was nothing short of wise and heroic.
"Um... Ryoji?" One of the team members suddenly raised a hand.
"What is it?"
"Come take a look..."
Ryoji walked over. The moment he saw what was ahead, he froze in astonishment.
This passage was completely different from the old, crumbling stone tunnels around it. The walls were smooth, orderly, and looked almost new. At the end of the corridor stood a massive metal door. It was a gleaming silver gate nearly three meters tall, with a crimson jewel embedded at its center. It practically screamed: '"Come on in. I'm the entrance."' It was so blatantly obvious that it almost felt suspicious.
"Theoretically... my luck should be terrible right now..." Ryoji muttered to himself in disbelief. "So why did we find it so easily?"
---
Not long afterward, Finn, Gareth, and the others all gathered at the site. Everyone stared blankly at the enormous metal door. They had been prepared for a long, drawn-out search. Instead, they had found the enemy's headquarters on the very first morning. Wasn't this a little 'too' easy?
'Knock. Knock. BOOM.'
Finn stepped forward and rapped on the metal door, the heavy sound echoing through the sewers.
"No mistake... This is Orichalcum."
"Seriously?"
"Isn't that the strongest metal there is?"
"Nobody could possibly break through something like this!"
The members behind him cried out in shock. It wasn't surprising. Orichalcum was that precious. The Durandal weapons Finn and the others had commissioned from Tsubaki had each cost over a hundred million valis, despite containing only a tiny amount of Orichalcum. The gigantic gate before them, however, was well over three meters tall and wide. Just the cost of the raw materials alone had to be in the billions of valis. And as the hardest metal in the world, not even Gareth could destroy it.
"But this confirms it." Finn exchanged a glance with Gareth. "There's no way a door this extravagant isn't guarding the enemy's base."
"I can smell the man-eating flowers too." Bete sniffed the air before making a disgusted face toward the nearby sewage canal. The stench nearly made him throw up his breakfast.
"Honestly..." Ryoji cut into the conversation, his expression unusually serious. "I think this is a trap. It bothers me how easily we found the enemy's base. Doesn't it feel like they 'wanted' us to find it?"
"I was thinking the same thing." Finn nodded in agreement, unconsciously biting his thumb. "It's almost as if they're inviting us inside. Even if we manage to open the door, there's a good chance they've filled the place with traps. What awaits us is probably going to be a brutal battle."
That much was almost certain.
"But we have to stop the Evilus remnants. We don't know when they'll put their plan to summon the Corrupted Spirit's avatar into motion. But we can't allow them to keep doing as they please. The longer we wait, the greater the danger. So entering this place is unavoidable."
Even so, there wasn't a trace of hesitation on Finn's face. After a moment of thought, he made his decision. "Send word to Loki and have her team return immediately. Then gather all of our forces. We'll settle this in one decisive battle."
There was still plenty to prepare before then. Ryoji's intuition was screaming at him. His danger sense reacted even more strongly than it had on the fifty-ninth floor when they encountered the Corrupted Spirit's avatar. Something unimaginably dangerous was waiting for them beyond that door.
But for the sake of Orario, the Loki Familia had no choice but to stand and fight.
"Prepare yourselves. We're launching the assault on Daedalus Street."
'(End of Chapter)'
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