Published: July 4, 2025
On the third day since the dungeon was unsealed, Abel and the investigation team from the red sword and the Royal Magic Guild had reached the seventh layer of the dungeon.
So far, there had been no issues.
To be precise, they had not encountered any monsters at all.
The first to third layers were inhabited by wolf-type monsters, while the fourth and fifth layers were home to the goblins that had caused the recent great tsunami.
Abel and his team believed that if they penetrated to the fourth and fifth layers, they might obtain some kind of clue.
However, there was nothing.
And there was no one.
"But... to find absolutely nothing is quite unexpected," Abel's companion, Arthur Velasis, who was an advisor of the Royal Magic Guild, muttered beside him.
Arthur had been an adventurer in his younger days.
He had thought it natural to dive into dungeons and take command at the forefront.
The investigation team of the Royal Magic Guild consisted of a total of one hundred members.
Half of them were above ground, analyzing the information that had come in, while the remaining half was in the dungeon collecting information.
All fifty of them had been delving into the dungeon and gathering information since yesterday, but so far, almost nothing had been found.
"There must be something somewhere. The color of the magic stones was faint," Abel replied.
That was the information he had heard yesterday.
After returning from the dungeon and finishing his report to the Guild, a shadow had approached Abel from behind.
And it whispered.
"Abel, the password is, 'the color of the magic stones was faint,'"
the water attribute magician had whispered.
"Huh?"
"The password is, the color of the magic stones was faint. Repeat after me. Yes, the color of the magic stones was faint."
"......the color of the magic stones was faint."
When Abel repeated it, as if satisfied, he left.
After that, it was only natural for Abel to go check the color of the magic stones collected from the tsunami's monsters with Guild Master Hugh.
Only then did he finally understand.
The monsters were not beings that had lived in the lower layers.
They were things that had emerged recently.
"Considering that there were many goblins mixed in, it should be assumed that they originated from somewhere in the upper layers up to the fifteenth layer."
Below the sixteenth layer, in a section conveniently referred to as the mid-layers, the strength of the monsters increases dramatically compared to the upper layers.
It seemed unlikely that goblins could break through the layers where such monsters existed... but still, the brutality of numbers was frightening.
The possibility that they had come from the mid-layers could not be entirely dismissed.
"In the mid-layers, the floors where goblins originally existed are the fourth and fifth layers, as well as the tenth and eleventh layers."
"Ah. There was nothing in the fourth and fifth layers. No monsters, no traps, nothing at all. And the only trace found so far is..."
"Indeed. There is a trace of a large concentration of magical power that occurred a few days ago... a little lower down. That's all."
"A little lower... the layers of goblins from the tenth layer... it might be related to the great tsunami in terms of timing..."
As Abel said this, he looked at the magic tool the investigation team was holding.
If Rhea had seen it, she would have first thought of a metal detector.
"That magic tool is amazing. It can detect residual magical power from a few days ago."
"Yes. It sends the information it picks up to the ground's magic tools, where it is analyzed. They mentioned something about incorporating wind magic's [detection] into alchemy, but I didn't quite understand it. I've heard it was created jointly by the Royal Alchemy Workshop and the Magical University. I was told it was a collaboration of two genius alchemists."
"Alchemy..."
"What is it, Abel? Are you interested in alchemy?"
Advisor Arthur looked at Abel with an expression that seemed to imply he didn't think Abel would be interested in such things.