After traversing all the levels in a constant, uninterrupted descent, the group finally arrived at the first floor of the dungeon.
They walked down the wide corridor until they reached the main entrance, right where the imnse rift connecting the outer sky of the nations with the interior of their isolated fortress was located.
At least at first glance, everything at the entrance seed to be in perfect order. There were no traces of intruders, nor any alterations in the portal’s flow of mana.
’We should have agreed on a specific ti for today’s eting. It is incredible that I overlooked such a basic detail.’ Ryan thought, stopping a few ters away from the glowing threshold and crossing his arms.
’Or maybe an urgent matter arose in her territories and that is why she has been delayed.’
Ryan shifted his gaze to the side and watched as the impatient Helen paced back and forth in front of the rift, kicking imaginary pebbles with her tal boots, clearly irritated by the wait.
’I don’t think Ophelia has forgotten about it. After all, she was the one who took the trouble and the risk to contact first in order to forge this alliance.’ Ryan analyzed, discarding the idea of abandonnt.
’I would rather believe that the magical link they have with the seal’s robe is not allowing them to transport themselves here again.’
Ryan let out a slow, heavy sigh.
"That would be a problem." He pronounced in a low voice.
"Did you say sothing, Ryan?" Irina asked, stepping a little closer to him upon hearing his murmur.
"It is nothing, I am just thinking that maybe we ca to the entrance way too early and we are wasting our ti." Ryan said, raising a hand and gently stroking Irina’s head to reassure her.
Upon seeing the scene, Mirian, who was leaning against one of the entrance pillars, comnted with a relaxed tone.
"Helen is very impatient today. Behaving like that won’t make the Demon Queen co any faster."
"Stop being so annoying, Mirian." Helen replied imdiately, stopping her pacing and furrowing her brow.
"It seems like a complete breach of trust to that they make us wait around like this."
Ryan crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Helen with a clear suspicion forming in his mind. He knew the heroine well enough to know that her impatience did not stem solely from boredom.
"I hope you didn’t have the foolish idea of having a rematch with that dragon today." Ryan said with a firm voice, referring to the stoic green-haired girl who acted as Demon Queen Ophelia’s sentinel and personal guard.
Helen made an exaggerated gesture of surprise, opening her eyes wide and taking a step back.
"Eh! Of course not." Helen responded, averting her gaze toward the stone ceiling far too quickly to be convincing.
"I have no intention of fighting with that lizard. That would go completely against what you are planning to do with the alliance, there is no point in making her my enemy right now."
"Hmph, but that wasn’t exactly what you said yesterday while you were sharpening your sword in the workshop." Mirian added, exposing her companion’s lie with a mocking smile.
"What did you say?!" Helen exclaid, spinning toward the archer with her face flushed red from the indignation of having been ratted out.
"Nothing, nothing." Mirian humd, playing dumb.
"Co on, co on, calm down girls, don’t fight." Irina added, timidly stepping between the two heroines and waving her hands in an attempt to calm the atmosphere.
But Ryan decided to intervene as well, cutting the argunt off at its roots.
"I know you must be upset because of how the last encounter ended." Ryan said, fixing his piercing gaze on Helen.
"But right now, I am sorry to tell you that you couldn’t beat that dragon even if I gave you a thousand chances."
"But I wasn’t...!" Helen tried to intervene to defend her S-Rank pride.
"Listen, Helen." Ryan interrupted her, his voice turning deeper and heavier.
"It is not wrong for you to have a goal of facing strong enemies to surpass your own limits. But you must do so knowing reality well. Do not throw yourself blindly into conflict without first knowing what your opponent is truly capable of."
Ryan uncrossed his arms and walked toward her at a slow pace. Before the imposing presence of her leader, Helen averted her gaze to the floor, nervously playing with the hilt of her sword as if she felt scolded by an older brother.
He stopped right in front of her. He raised his right hand and held her cheek firmly but gently, forcing her to lift her face so she would look directly into his eyes.
"Now that I’ve reached the SS rank, I understand and perceive it even better. There is an enormous, ridiculous, and abysmal difference between your current abilities and the one that dragon possesses. And I want you to be fully aware of that gap, because she won’t be the only incredibly powerful enemy we will encounter from here on out."
Helen looked at him with sowhat restless eyes. She felt the pressure in Ryan’s fingertips and understood that he wasn’t saying it to humiliate her, but to protect her from a fatal mistake. The cold logic of his words sank deep into her warrior’s pride.
"Yes... I understand." Helen murmured, relaxing her shoulders and letting out a small sigh. "Forgive , Ryan. Sotis... I simply get carried away."
"As long as you understand and learn from it, then it will be fine." Ryan sentenced, letting go of her cheek and giving her a slight nod of approval.
She looked up again, and a confident smile ford on her lips once more, recovering her usual brightness.
"I feel much better now. And to be honest, I am not interested in fighting with that silly green lizard anyway." She said with her head held high, recovering her energetic attitude.
Helen walked with a determined stride to the very edge of the dungeon’s rift, where the outside wind blew forcefully into the corridor.
"Even so... it is a complete abuse that they make you wait standing up for so many hours, when they were the ones who ca to bother us to ask for help. So..."
Without warning, Helen unfastened the robe that contained the anchor for the Demon Queen’s magical portal and took it off her shoulders. With a quick and vengeful movent, she forcefully threw it out through the rift and into the void of the outer sky.
The robe flew out of the sky dungeon, being swept away by the strong air currents and quickly fading from everyone’s sight as it plumted toward the world below.
"That will teach them a thing or two about punctuality." Helen declared with a mischievous smile, dusting off her hands.
"I hope they have a bad landing and take a nice dip in the water when they try to teleport."
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