"New skill?"
Lynn was somewhat surprised.
Most of his skills came from other Lynn's; very few skills were truly awakened by himself.
He hadn't expected that this upgrade would yield a new skill.
"What is the new skill?"
"Mmm... it seems to be the crystallization of your martial arts sublimation."
Hestia stared at the blessing for two seconds, quickly transcribed the contents, and handed it to Lynn.
[Raikiri: When using the sword strike Raikiri, the longer the charge time, the higher the damage. ]
"The appearance of a skill depends on various factors. When one's own martial art reaches a certain height and the technique is repeatedly used to slay powerful enemies, there is a probability that it will sublimate into a skill or magic engraved upon the blessing," Hestia's explanation came from the side.
"Actually, considering the frequency with which you use Raikiri, Lynn, I think this skill should have sublimated long ago. But you leveled up too quickly before, so you couldn't gather enough experience, and it was delayed until now to meet the conditions to awaken a new skill."
"I see, this is the first time I've learned about this." Lynn stared thoughtfully at the new skill.
A skill exclusive to a specific technique.
Just looking at the effect, it is indeed quite limited.
But considering his habit of using Raikiri first whenever faced with trouble, it was a decent improvement.
It's just that he didn't know how much the charged power could be amplified, so he needed to measure it.
...
One day later, at the Adventurers Guild headquarters.
In the council hall, which normally only high-ranking members could enter and exit, many guests were present today for a rare occasion.
A huge crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and figures one after another took their seats around the long obsidian table.
Loki Familia, Freya Familia, Hermes Familia, Ganesha Familia, Dian Cecht Familia...
Any Familia with a high-level Adventurer or a Familia possessing powerful support magic had received an invitation.
Even the Hermes Familia, which usually hid its strength, couldn't escape and was summoned by the Guild to attend the strategy meeting.
At this moment, the Guild's council hall gathered over 90% of Orario's top combat power.
Just then, the council room door was pushed open again.
The Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild, Royman, who held actual control over Orario, walked in.
"It seems everyone is here."
Royman walked to the obsidian table: "Thank you all for coming to the meeting. I am the host of this meeting..."
"Stop the nonsense, you fat pig."
Royman's words were cut off halfway through.
Hedin, who attended the strategy meeting on behalf of Ottar and Freya, sat in his chair, staring irritably at Royman.
He held no favorable feelings for this fellow countryman who was corpulent, greedy for money and power, and tarnished the image of the Elven race.
"Just get straight to the main topic. Hurry up so I can go back and report to the Goddess Freya."
"Ahem, no problem."
Royman, who was retorted at the opening, did not get angry.
This was not the first time he had experienced something similar; being cursed at wouldn't cost him any flesh, it was inconsequential.
At Hedin's urging, Royman recounted the matters of the Artificial Labyrinth and the Evilus.
"The Artificial Labyrinth covering the outskirts of the Dungeon—this is the first time I've heard of such a thing."
Aside from the informed parties like the Loki Familia and Freya Familia, many other Familias present were hearing this information for the first time.
A girl with silver-white long hair and exquisitely delicate features like a doll pondered for a moment, then glanced at the others.
As the leader of the Dian Cecht Familia, Airmid's mind worked quickly.
Upon noticing that the Familias with First Class Adventurers were not reacting much, she realized the truth: "Calling us here at this point in time, it seems the Guild is already prepared to launch a full-scale assault, right?"
Royman nodded: "That's correct. Just as Miss Airmid said, we have already obtained the map, key, and personnel strength for the Artificial Labyrinth. Next, we just need to assign the teams, and we can take down the Artificial Labyrinth in a week at most."
Airmid looked somewhat surprised: "That's more detailed than I imagined. I thought we would have to fight a tough battle."
Royman did not take all the credit: "This is also thanks to the assistance of the Hestia Familia. This intelligence basically all originated from Lynn."
Hestia Familia? Lynn?
Airmid blinked and looked toward the far end of the meeting table in the direction Royman was looking.
She saw a black-haired man sitting at the far left of the meeting table, resting with his eyes closed, leaning back in his chair as if he were asleep.
Airmid was certainly not unfamiliar with this man.
Breaking the fastest promotion record, leveling up twice in just over a month and breaking through to LV3.
No matter how one looked at it, Lynn was a legendary figure.
But he was only LV3; how did he gather this intelligence?
Gathering so many Familias together for a meeting, the Evilus shouldn't be that weak, right?
"I have already cleared out the high-end combat power of the Evilus. Now there are only a few LV4s and LV5s left."
As if sensing Airmid's confusion, Lynn opened his eyes and spoke slowly: "The reason I called you all here is to gather manpower to block the exits on every floor, to prevent the members of the Evilus from escaping and harming ordinary Adventurers."
LV4s and LV5s are already very formidable, alright.
How come they sound like common cabbage in your mouth?
Glancing subtly at Lynn, Airmid noticed that neither the Loki Familia nor the Freya Familia said anything; in fact, they even showed expressions of agreement.
Airmid: "..."
Has she fallen behind the times?
"Alright, let's continue with the previous topic."
Royman's voice sounded again, and he clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention back to him.
"As Lynn said, this strategy meeting is mainly to inform everyone about the Artificial Labyrinth and to use the strength of the major Familias to annihilate the Evilus. If you have no issues, then I will assign the teams."
Royman took out a list from his embrace.
Because he had already briefed the Familias with First Class Adventurers before the strategy meeting began, the team assignments went very smoothly.
After supplementing some details, this grand strategy meeting came to an end, and Airmid stood up preparing to leave.
But just then, a figure blocked her way.
"Guild Master Lynn?"
"Just call me Lynn."
A faint smile appeared on Lynn's face: "Airmid, do you have time? I'd like to ask you for a favor."
Airmid looked thoughtful: "Can you tell me the content first? If the reward is suitable, I can consider it."
Lynn replied: "I want to ask you to teach me some medical knowledge. It would be even better if you could help me study one person. Your magic should be able to help."
Airmid frowned: "Study a person? Guild Leader Lynn, you aren't doing something illegal, are you?"
Lynn's expression remained unchanged: "Don't worry, if it were something illegal, I wouldn't discuss it with you in public. If you don't believe me, you can come to the Hestia Familia with Finn."
After the strategy meeting ended, Finn and Riveria walked directly toward where Lynn was.
Hearing his words, Finn let out a soft chuckle: "It's fine to act together. But let's be clear beforehand, even if I accompany you, I can't guarantee your safety, Airmid."
Airmid was somewhat surprised. Finn was a veteran LV6 Adventurer, only one step away from breaking through to LV7. Even he wasn't confident in protecting her: "How strong is he?"
Finn shrugged: "You'll have to ask Lynn himself about that."
Lynn subtly raised his hand and gestured a five: "I just broke through yesterday. Remember to keep it a secret for me."
Airmid: "...?"
Although your breakthrough to LV5 was indeed fast... no, to be precise, it was abnormal to the extent that it required investigation.
But how could LV5 threaten an LV6, especially an LV6 like Finn whose stats were maxed out?
Her gaze swept back and forth between Finn and Lynn, and Airmid felt that the two were making fun of her.
However, with Finn's guarantee, her wariness towards Lynn subsided significantly: "How much is the commission fee?"
Lynn still gestured a five: "Fifty million Valis as a deposit. The subsequent reward depends on your specific research results. If you can achieve my expected goal, I can give you one billion Valis."
"One billion?!"
Airmid's eyes widened in surprise.
Seeing that Lynn was not joking, her expression became serious.
"Let's go, we're heading to the Hestia Familia."
This wasn't a matter of Valis.
She was mainly curious what kind of patient could make Lynn offer a billion Valis as a reward.
...
It turned out there was no such thing as a free lunch.
After examining the Monster-transformed Filvis from head to toe, Airmid rubbed her forehead.
Even for her, this was the first time she had seen such an existence.
"The magic stone has corroded her soul, thereby affecting her physical body, causing her constitution to lean towards that of a Monster."
"Furthermore, there is a... curse? In short, there is something like a curse inside her body, which is also affecting her physical body, causing her to rush headlong down the path of a Monster."
"If you want me to change her back to how she was... this is no longer a matter of money; what you need is a miracle."
"It doesn't have to be changed back to the original state."
Lynn gave Airmid the highest praise.
Although she was only LV2, her medical skills were truly heaven-defying, incomparable to ordinary people.
"Airmid, I didn't ask you here to help treat her. I mainly want to study her Monster constitution and improve upon it."
"Improvement?"
"That's right. I want to replicate this constitution where one can become stronger by devouring magic stones, but not by allowing the magic stone and the soul to completely merge, but by allowing the magic stone and the soul to form a connection."
"Under the effect of this connection, I can consume magic stones to strengthen this core magic stone, and then use the power fed back by the core magic stone to strengthen the soul and the physical body."
"However, even if an accident occurs and the core magic stone inside the body is destroyed, it won't have too much impact on the soul."
"...Are you kidding me?"
This was Airmid's only reaction after listening.
Admittedly, Lynn's plan was very appealing; if realized, it could allow all humans in the lower realm to ascend.
But this thing was fundamentally impossible to achieve, okay?
Just the first step—establishing a connection between the magic stone and the soul without allowing them to fully merge—was already a dead end.
"I'm just giving it a try, and it's not some wild fantasy. At least for me, there's a chance of success."
Lynn raised his palm, which twisted and transformed into a mass of churning flesh and blood under Airmid's gaze. "As you can see, I can freely manipulate the form of flesh and blood. As long as I study and improve upon the Monster's physique, even things that require specific structures to achieve, I can replicate them using this ability."
Airmid fell silent: "..."
This... doesn't look like an ability a human should have at all.
After staring at Lynn's palm for a moment, she silently turned her gaze to Finn and Riveria beside her.
Finn: O.o?
Riveria: (O_O)?
Hmm, now I feel balanced.
Airmid's expression returned to calm as she began to consider the feasibility of Lynn's proposed plan.
A moment later, she gave her reply.
"We can give it a try, but don't get your hopes up too much."
...
Airmid left the Hestia Familia.
Although she had accepted Lynn's request, now was not the time to research Filvis.
With the purge of the Artificial Labyrinth imminent, she, as the captain of the Dian Cecht Familia, needed to return and make some preparations.
On the other hand, after seeing Airmid off, Finn and Riveria finally had a chance to speak with Lynn privately.
"You really manage to come up with something new every time."
"Don't worry, there will be plenty more in the future."
Lynn returned his hand to its original form. "You didn't come all this way just to chat, did you? What did you need?"
Finn's expression turned serious. "About that Monster spirit you and Riveria encountered on the 37th floor. I wanted to ask if you have any other information about it."
Lynn extended his hand. "No free rides."
Finn cooperatively pulled out a magic stone card. "There are 50 million Valis inside. Is that enough?"
Lynn accepted the card. "That's about enough, since I don't know that much anyway. Where do you want to start?"
Finn asked, "The origin of that Monster, and why it's targeting Aiz."
Lynn thought for a moment before replying. "The Corrupted Spirit is actually a spirit from the past that went into the Dungeon with the great heroes. Their corpses were devoured by Monsters, turning them into a special existence between Monster and spirit."
"As for why it's targeting Aiz, it's probably because Aiz has great potential. The Corrupted Spirit's main body can devour spirits to grow stronger. In its judgment, devouring Aiz might allow it to break through and become even stronger... Oh, and don't ask me how I know about Aiz."
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning to." Finn fell into thought.
After learning about the Corrupted Spirit earlier, he had considered this possibility.
Now, having it confirmed by Lynn, the next course of action became clear.
Increase their strength, earn money to fund an expedition, and eliminate this Monster to prevent Aiz from being targeted again.
Finn continued asking, "Do you know how strong the Corrupted Spirit's main body is?"
Lynn: "I have a rough idea. It's around the peak of Level 7. But considering it possesses a degree of intelligence, combined with its spirit characteristics and ability to create clones, you can treat it as a Monster with Level 8 threat level."
Finn: "The location of the main body?"
Lynn: "The sixtieth floor."
Finn: "..."
The sixtieth floor... that was still acceptable.
Their highest exploration record was the fifty-eighth floor. Reaching the sixtieth would only require advancing two more floors.
"Any other information?"
"Yes. Although that thing's main body is on the sixtieth floor, you'd better not think of that floor as the sixtieth floor of the past. It has turned the place into its stronghold. Even Monsters from deeper floors can't break through. You can't judge it by the usual floor patterns."
"...Thanks for the warning. Can I ask one more question?"
"Go ahead."
"Where did you learn all this? Don't tell me you went to the sixtieth floor to find out."
To be honest, when Finn first came to Lynn, he only wanted to inquire about the Corrupted Spirit's origins.
But judging by the final result, the 50 million Valis was well spent—so well spent it felt a bit abnormal.
If the Corrupted Spirit's main body was on the sixtieth floor, how did Lynn, who had only recently become an adventurer, learn all this?
Could he have actually been to the sixtieth floor?
"What are you thinking? How could I possibly have been to the sixtieth floor? If I had encountered the Corrupted Spirit's main body, I would have killed her long ago."
Lynn pointed at Filvis. "I learned it from her teammate."
"Teammate?" Riveria, who hadn't spoken until now, seemed to think of something.
"Was it Olivas? Or the other red-haired female Monster you took away?"
"Revis told me. Don't worry about the information being wrong. I can guarantee it's true."
"...I understand."
Seeing Lynn's assurance, Finn and Riveria did not press further.
The other party had many secrets.
Plus, gods had the ability to see through lies, so confirming the truth of information wasn't difficult.
After briefly organizing the information about the Corrupted Spirit and confirming there were no omissions, Finn changed the subject.
"Lynn, I want to exterminate the Corrupted Spirit's main body during our next expedition. Can you join us?"
"When is the expedition?"
"In about 2 to 3 months. We suffered heavy losses on our last expedition and need to earn some money to cover the deficit. Also, we plan to invite members of the Hephaestus Familia to join the expedition, and we'll invite Airmid as well."
Having learned about the Corrupted Spirit's strength from Lynn, Finn dared not be careless.
In fact, upon learning that the Corrupted Spirit's main body possessed a Level 8 threat level, he realized that the Loki Familia alone couldn't handle it.
The team needed a Level 7 to hold the line.
He didn't hold out hope for the Freya Familia. Ottar and the others only obeyed Freya, and they also needed to keep some combat power on the surface to handle emergencies.
Excluding the Freya Familia, the only high-level combatants they could currently invite were from the Hestia Familia.
Lynn, plus Haruhime's magic, could fill their lack of a Level 7.
If Riveria could break through to Level 7 before the next expedition, their advantage would be even greater.
But all of this hinged on Lynn's agreement.
"I can agree to the expedition," Lynn quickly replied. "But I have one condition."
Finn asked, "What condition?"
Lynn pointed at Filvis. "Let her deliver the final blow to the Corrupted Spirit's main body."
Finn was taken aback but quickly realized Filvis must have a grudge against the Corrupted Spirit.
However, ...
"The battlefield situation changes too quickly. We can only try to give her that opportunity, but I can't guarantee it."
"Then rest assured. If you agree, I'm confident I can suppress the Corrupted Spirit's main body."
Although he could hardly gain ability values from grinding upper-floor Monsters now, other Lynn's were different.
With the help of other Lynn's, 2 to 3 months was enough for him to level up once more and break through to Level 7.
If he was lucky and a new Lynn arrived, he might even advance further to Level 8.
Then, with Haruhime's magic, a single Corrupted Spirit main body wouldn't pose much trouble.
"It seems I've underestimated you again."
Looking at the confident Lynn, Finn unconsciously rubbed his thumb.
Thinking back carefully, since he had met Lynn, his thumb had rarely experienced intense pain.
Understanding what this meant, his confidence surged, and he felt full of confidence about the upcoming expedition.
But before the formal expedition, he and Lynn had another matter to attend to.
"Let's end it here for today."
Finn bid farewell to Lynn. "I'll go back and gather people now. See you tomorrow at the Artificial Labyrinth."
Lynn nodded. "See you tomorrow."
After seeing Finn off, Lynn turned to the silent Filvis beside him.
"You must have heard what was said just now."
"Get ready. In a few months, you'll be able to take revenge on the Corrupted Spirit."
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me. This was agreed upon."
Lynn waved at Filvis and turned to walk towards his room.
...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was the evening of the next day.
Led by Lynn, the adventurers of Orario swarmed out, blocking all exits of the Artificial Labyrinth from the surface down to the Dungeon's Eighteenth Floor.
After lengthy preparations, Fels had used various materials to replicate a large number of keys.
With a series of dull thuds, the doors of the Artificial Labyrinth were opened one after another, and adventurers rushed in to launch their assault.
The Artificial Labyrinth Purge Battle had officially begun.
...