The Water Magician

"Something is approaching."

The first to notice this was Ryo.

Hearing his words, Abel and the advisor Arthur stopped collecting magic stones and took up a combat stance again.

"It's humans. They don’t seem to be monsters, but… there seem to be quite a few of them…"

After Ryo announced this, three minutes later, Abel and the others also spotted them.

"Isn’t that… an adventurer from the City of Run?"

"Yeah. They look like adventurers. But it seems that adventurers from other cities are mixed in as well."

Abel and Rhea noticed that many of the incoming group were D-rank adventurers from the City of Run.

"Perhaps they are the adventurers that Clive hired in this town. They were supposed to secure the passage up to the eleventh floor."

Advisor Arthur recognized those adventurers.

Among them were some who had come as escorts for the Central University investigation team from the royal capital.

"So it wasn’t just the eleventh and tenth floors that were transported…"

Saying this, Abel stood up and raised his hand.

When the approaching adventurers recognized this, they shouted in excitement.

It seemed there had been no battles before arriving here, but being suddenly transported to an unknown location must have made them anxious.

Their shouts seemed to blow away that anxiety.

With the help of about a hundred adventurers who joined them, the group was finally able to return home after collecting the magic stones from the devil and recovering the relics of the Central University investigation team.

Three hours had passed since Ryo had entered the dungeon.

"We should check if there are any other adventurers who were transported to this floor…"

Abel muttered as he looked over at Lin.

However, upon receiving his gaze, Lin shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but it’s not possible to investigate with [Scan] for a while longer."

"Then, shall I try to check with water magic? It’s a bit tricky, but I should manage somehow."

"I'm sorry, please do."

Abel nodded at Ryo's offer.

"[Active Sonar]"

Ryo's 'stimulus' spread through the water molecules in the air on the fortieth floor.

After a while, that 'stimulus' reached the walls of the fortieth floor and bounced back.

"There are none. Everyone here is accounted for."

(But… the strange reaction I saw at the stairs to the thirty-ninth floor… did they die? Did they stop functioning? The response was completely different from what I detected with Active Sonar earlier… Hmm, well, it won’t help to say anything, so we’ll have to check it out together.)

He decided not to mention that change.

"Okay, let’s head out then."

With Abel’s command, the group started walking toward the surface.

The stairs from the fortieth floor to the thirty-ninth floor.

There lay a black crystal orb, about the size of a human head… but it seemed to be cracked.

Beside it was a clump of sand that looked like something had collapsed.

"I’ve never seen this before, what is it?"

Advisor Arthur's words summed up everyone's feelings.

None of them could comprehend what it was.

Looking at the reaction of the residual magical power detector that had been transported together when they moved from the tenth floor, there were indeed traces of magical power that had just been emitted until recently.

"Well, the barrier has disappeared, so the information I just read should be transmitted to the surface."

Saying this, Arthur put the black crystal-like orb into his pouch.

Ryo wondered if it was really okay to put something so uncertain into a pouch and take it to the surface…

"This is called a barrier pouch. It blocks magical power from inside and outside. Bringing it back to the surface… well, it’s the only evidence we have."

He said this as a rather weak justification, trying to avoid suspicion.

After that, the group walked through the monster-free dungeon towards the surface.

After climbing the stairs from the twelfth floor, they finally reached the eleventh floor, where twenty C-rank adventurers who had received requests from Guild Master Hugh were waiting.