Charles organized his spoils of war. Although Amphisbaena's magic stone had been shattered in the explosion, it had still left behind a considerable amount of loot.
After fishing the materials out of the lake, Charles moved into a tunnel far from the water to take stock.
Twelve intact dragon scales, six or seven fragnted ones, three dragon teeth, a section of dragon bone, and most importantly—a dragon lung.
Dragons rely on their lungs to unleash their breath attacks. Judging by the coloration, this was the lung responsible for the azure flas. Charles had actually been hoping for the red mist lung, but acquiring even one was still a great gain.
He packed all the spoils into his backpack and began treating his injuries.
Most of his wounds ca from the close-quarters underwater struggle with Amphisbaena. The worst was two fractured ribs on his right side.
The rest were just surface wounds, which didn't require healing potions—simple dressing was enough.
Interestingly, Endurance was the only one of his five stats that wasn't significantly suppressed by the weakening potion, which was what had allowed him to withstand so many attacks.
It was precisely for that reason that Charles had chosen not to wear any armor. All of this effort was aid at securing a worthy feat. One could say Charles had gone to great lengths for it.
Once he finished patching himself up, he didn't imdiately leave. Instead, he stood in place and said, "I don't know who you are, but I've slled that stench of malice for a while now. If you're not planning to act, I'm leaving."
Crack!
The sound of sothing breaking ca from beneath him. The ground split open, and a massive, tooth-filled maw lunged at him.
Charles had already jumped into the air. From earlier, he'd sensed faint tremors in the ground. If it wasn't a Dungeon anomaly, it ant the enemy was planning an ambush from below.
In midair, he saw what had attacked him—it was a massive serpentine monster, far beyond the scale of the water serpents he'd encountered earlier.
Its most terrifying feature was the cluster of a dozen or so eyes on its head, packed together like a grotesque mosaic.
Charles frowned. This kind of monster was called "Lambton" by adventurers, aning "On of Disaster." Its official na was Basilisk Pit, and it was the only known monster capable of moving between different Dungeon floors.
Unlike those monsters on the 25th to 27th floors that could do so because of the terrain, this creature had a unique skill called [Burrow], allowing it to pierce through Dungeon strata and move freely between layers.
Most crucially, the Basilisk Pit originated on the 37th floor. Although it could theoretically roam, it almost never left its birth floor.
A creature like this appearing in the upper layers was unheard of.
Charles's sharp eyes quickly spotted sothing odd about the beast. Beneath its head was a glowing ring set with a sinister gem.
That was an artificial magical device, and Charles imdiately understood why a deep-floor creature had surfaced.
Even as he thought, his movents didn't slow. The [Martial Saint] weapon appeared in his hand as he soared through the air.
Muscles bulged along his arms as he swung the heavy blade, coated in fla, cleaving through the Basilisk Pit like it was warm butter.
He landed beside the hole the monster had created and reached out to catch the magic stone as it fell from the sky.
A raspy voice echoed from the shadows as a tall, thin figure stepped into the light.
"Impressive work. Operating at only a Level 4 strength, yet you dispatched a presud Level 4 Lambton with ease. But I'll admit—your fighting style really pisses off."
As the figure erged from the shadows, Charles got a good look at him.
A male cat person—one ear maid, the other adorned with a bone earring. His right arm was missing beneath the cloak.
Charles looked at him and said, "So that explains why the Basilisk Pit showed up here. You brought it."
He'd suspected as much the mont he saw the collar around the monster's neck and the presence of killing intent nearby.
"Monster taming" was a well-established practice in Orario. The Ganesha Familia even held a grand "Monster Festival" every year, where elite adventurers displayed their taming prowess in an arena.
Taming involved using overwhelming strength to convince a monster it was the inferior, forcing submission.
Still, beastmasters were rarely seen on Dungeon expeditions. After all, it was far simpler and safer to kill monsters than to ta them.
Even if tad, there was no guarantee of stability—adventurers generally wouldn't take such unnecessary risks.
To circumvent this, the Dark Faction had invented magical tools to enslave monsters—like the collar on that Basilisk Pit.
Seeing the collar, Charles knew imdiately that the Dark Faction had targeted him.
The Dark Faction was a unique blight among Familia. They defied Orario's laws, trampling morality and conscience. Slaughter and destruction were their trades.
They were the mortal enemies of all Familia. Killing them would earn a reward from the Guild—they were nothing less than dangerous terrorists.
Interestingly, not all their gods were "evil." Gods viewed the world differently from mortals.
While many of the gods Charles knew were kind and loving, like parents to their children…
The reality was, the gods had co down from heaven not out of love, but boredom—seeking to escape eternity.
rcy was one form of divine grace, but to so, so were destruction and death. For so gods, concepts like "good" and "evil" were aningless. If it amused them, nothing else mattered. They were the most dangerous kind of hedonists.
Take Ares, god of war, for example—he led the Rakia Kingdom into endless conflict, even misusing the Crozzo magic swords to unleash tragedy on a massive scale.
After the Zeus and Hera Familia were wiped out fighting the One-Eyed Black Dragon, and their remnants driven from Orario by the Loki and Freya Familia, the Dark Faction expanded rapidly.
Led by the evil god Erebus, they even plotted the destruction of all Orario.
This led to the dark era known as the "Great Conflict" seven years ago.
In just seven days of war, casualties reached uncountable numbers, and many gods were forcibly "returned" to heaven.
The war ended with the goddess of justice, Astraea, personally "returning" Erebus. The order-aligned Familia claid victory.
But that didn't an the Dark Faction vanished.
Just a year later, they launched another assault.
They orchestrated a massive monster ambush. Though Loki Familia's hero Finn saw through the plan, it still led to the deaths of many adventurers on the 27th floor.
That event beca known as the "Nightmare of the 27th Floor."
Finn rallied the three most powerful Familia—Loki, Freya, and Ganesha—and dealt a crushing blow to the Dark Faction, repelling many of their "evil gods."
But just one year after that, the Dark Faction struck again. Rudra Familia set a trap for Astraea Familia, and in the end, only one survivor remained from the Astraea side.
The cat-man before Charles now—missing an arm and ear—was the mastermind behind that very trap.
"Slave Cat, Jura. Beastmaster of the Dark Faction's Rudra Familia. So you've crawled out from your sewer after all."
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