"That person... she's incredible."
Menos, the archer man, stood beside Rei and watched Vihera’s display of power with a muttered breath.
Hearing this, Byune puffed out her chest with pride. However, because her expression remained entirely flat, Menos failed to notice her reaction.
Instead, as he looked at Byune, his gaze drifted as if he were recalling an old memory. A moment later, he gasped. It seemed he had realized exactly who stood before him.
He was relatively new to Exil, but even he had heard stories of the four founding families of the Labyrinth City. He also knew that one of those families had already fallen into ruin.
A thief who was a young girl of about ten years old was a rare sight, which likely allowed him to identify her. Unlike Vihera, whose reputation was known only to those in the loop, the legacy of House Flaut made it easy for even someone like Menos to make the connection.
To his credit, he merely allowed his expression to flicker before returning to his posture of gratitude toward his rescuers.
"Uh, thanks for the help. Like I said before, I never imagined a Stone Puppet could be that strong."
"It was certainly a far cry from a Mud Puppet," Rei noted.
"Yeah. We'd fought Mud Puppets a few times, so we thought we had plenty of leeway, but... our thief was attacked the moment we ran into it, and everything went south. I guess we’re lucky she’s just unconscious and not dead..."
The moment Menos spoke, another voice cut through the air.
"Don't screw with me! That stony bastard was my prey! Who the hell do you think you are, butting in where you aren't wanted!?"
"Hey! They saved us! Watch your mouth. You know damn well we couldn't have beaten that Stone Puppet on our own."
The shouting reached Rei and Menos.
Menos hurriedly looked toward the source and saw Ramros, looking as though he were about to bite Vihera’s head off, while Energeia, the hammer-using man, tried to restrain him.
Despite the vitriol being hurled at her, Vihera didn't seem to care in the slightest. She was preoccupied with checking the condition of her gauntlets and greaves. Since she had adjusted her weapons the previous night, she was likely confirming their performance.
However, being ignored in such a way was more than Ramros could take. Seeing Vihera act as if his words weren't even worth hearing caused the veins on his forehead to bulge.
"Stop it, Ramros!"
Menos rushed over and shouted sharply at his companion, who was about to scream again.
"Menos, why are you stopping me!? These people intruded on our fight without permission!"
Ramros turned his anger toward the archer man instead.
Watching this from the corner of her eye, Vihera looked their way for a split second and let out a weary sigh—the kind one gives when looking at a truly hopeless fool.
Naturally, having someone sigh at him like that pushed the hot-headed Ramros over the edge. He turned back toward Vihera, ready to explode—
"Calm down!"
With that shout, Menos’s palm struck Ramros across the cheek.
For a moment, Ramros didn't seem to understand what had happened. But as the sting registered, he realized he had been slapped.
"That’s enough. You’re being pathetic," Energeia, the hammer-user, said in a low voice, clearly agreeing with Menos. He let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Vihera.
She was dressed in layers of thin cloth over what looked like little more than underwear, appearing for all the world like a dancer. The only things that set her apart were the gauntlets and greaves she wore. Her provocative attire, designed to stir a man’s lust, contrasted sharply with the heavy, combat-ready gear on her limbs. The imbalance only served to make her presence more striking.
"I apologize for my party member. I am Energeia, the leader of Blue Sky."
Setting his hammer on the ground, Energeia bowed deeply to Vihera.
Only then did she finally feel like acknowledging him. Or perhaps she had simply finished her inspection; either way, Vihera turned her gaze toward the man.
"Finally, a man who listens to reason. ...So, what now? Can I assume we're taking the materials from this Stone Puppet?"
"Hey! We were the ones fighting it first!"
"...Hah. Would you give it a rest already? You couldn't do a thing with that sword of yours. I defeated it entirely with my own strength, didn't I? Honestly, I'd prefer it if you kept your uselessness confined to the bedroom."
Ramros’s forehead pulsed with renewed anger at Vihera’s remark.
However, Vihera had no intention of letting him mouth off without consequence. she directed a look of pure disdain at him, a provocative smile playing on her lips.
"You! Why, you—"
"Enough! You're in the wrong here, no matter how you look at it!" Energeia barked. "You know perfectly well we would've been finished by that Stone Puppet if they hadn't stepped in. They're our lifesavers! Besides, you have something more important to do than picking a fight!"
At Energeia's words, Ramros caught his breath and hurriedly looked toward the edge of the passage where his lover lay.
"Karsana!"
In his haste, he didn't even bother to sheath his sword properly, tossing it aside as he rushed to her side.
The longsword, having reached its limit after being slammed into the Stone Puppet repeatedly, snapped in two when it hit the ground. Everyone except Ramros noticed the blade break, but the man himself ran off without a second thought.
"I’d like to thank you properly once more. We're safe thanks to you. You truly saved our lives."
"Fufu. Your friend doesn't seem to agree."
"Don't take it to heart. He’s usually a considerate guy, but his lover was injured and knocked unconscious right in front of him. I can understand why he’s panicking."
"I suppose. But I'm not exactly thrilled about him taking his frustrations out on me."
"I know. I'll make sure to give him a proper talking-to later."
"Fine. It's not like his level of strength interests me anyway. More importantly, this Stone Puppet is mine, right?"
"Of course. I know better than anyone that all we managed to do was buy time. Take it. Is that alright with you, Menos?"
Menos nodded in agreement.
"To be honest, I didn't think a Stone Puppet would be this strong. We've beaten Mud Puppets a few times, but it seems B6F was a bit too much for us. We'll come back after we've gotten a bit stronger."
"Yeah. We have to wait for Karsana to recover, too."
Energeia and Menos nodded to each other, both letting out heavy sighs.
But then...
"Nn... Nn!?"
Byune, who had been listening while poking at the remains of the Stone Puppet, let out a surprised sound.
"Byune, what's wrong? ...This is a problem; I can't quite tell what she’s trying to say," Elena said.
"Well, trying to communicate with just 'Nn' is strange to begin with," Rei agreed with a wry smile.
However, Vihera was perfectly capable of translating. Beyond the communication issue, she had already noticed the anomaly herself through combat.
"She's saying this Stone Puppet is abnormal."
Except for Vihera and Byune, everyone present tilted their heads in confusion. Even Ramros turned his gaze toward Vihera from beside the fallen Karsana.
Under the collective gaze, Vihera shrugged her shoulders.
"A Stone Puppet is certainly stronger than a Mud Puppet, but it shouldn't be orders of magnitude stronger. At most, the difference between them is like comparing height between two peas in a pod."
"Wait. We've fought Mud Puppets too, but this one..." Energeia interjected.
Vihera nodded as if she already knew what he was going to say.
"Yes, this Stone Puppet was clearly too strong. In fact, it was far beyond what a Stone Puppet should be. Byune, let’s see it."
"Nn."
Byune handed Vihera a fragment of the monster that had been broken off by Energeia's hammer.
As Menos opened his mouth to speak, Vihera forestalled him.
"Just as I thought. This isn't stone. Or rather, it would be more accurate to call it ore that's in the process of becoming Magic Metal."
"Wait a second. Does that mean this Stone Puppet is..."
Vihera nodded before Menos could finish.
"Yes. It's likely a Rare Species... or perhaps a Superior Species."
"...Again?" Rei muttered.
Vihera's brow twitched at his words, and she turned her gaze toward him.
"Rei, what do you mean by 'again'?"
"Hmm? Oh, we fought what appeared to be a Queen Bee of the Sword Bees on a higher floor. Apparently, that wasn't an enemy that was supposed to appear on that floor either."
"That's right," Elena added. "Setting aside its combat ability, that Queen Bee was making the Sword Bees perform tactical maneuvers, however crude they might have been. There's no doubt it was a High-ranking Species compared to a normal Sword Bee."
After thinking for a few seconds, Vihera looked at Byune.
"...Byune, what do you think? Even for you, who has been diving into this Dungeon for many more years than I have, is this unusual?"
"Nn."
Byune gave her usual single-syllable nod, but there was a grim look in her eyes. Only Vihera was truly able to sense the weight of it.
"I thought so. This is clearly abnormal. Something like this almost never happens. ...Does that mean something is going on? But what? ...I suppose we won't know for sure without investigating further."
Vihera turned back to Energeia and Menos.
"Listen, since things have turned out like this, you're heading back to the surface today, right?"
"A-Ah. Of course. We wouldn't dream of exploring without a thief. Besides, we have other problems."
Energeia pointed toward the longsword that lay snapped in two. With the weapon of one of their main attackers broken, trying to explore B6F any further would be suicide.
"Ah, we really should have brought a porter," Menos sighed. "If we had, we could've had them carry a spare longsword."
Energeia shrugged.
"Maybe, but our party always did fine without a porter before. I didn't think a porter was this essential for a Dungeon dive. ...Well, everyone's alive, even if we’re bruised. We got off easy. So, what do you want from us?"
"I want you to tell the Guild about this. Tell them something strange might be happening."
"Well, we can do that much... but what about you? You're Crimson, right?" Energeia asked, looking at Rei, who was stroking Seto while keeping watch. "Wouldn't it be more persuasive if someone of your rank explained it?"
Rei had half-expected to be recognized since he was with Seto, but he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Vihera.
"Unfortunately, we're going to stay down here a bit longer," she said. "Ideally, we want to investigate B7F as well. There might be other anomalies waiting for us."
"...I see. If that's the case, we'll take care of the report," Energeia said. "We'd just be a burden in this state anyway. Ramros, let's go!"
"Yeah, I know."
As Ramros, carrying the unconscious Karsana on his back, passed by Vihera, he stopped for a split second.
"Sorry for lashing out at you. Thanks for the help."
He offered the short apology and then followed his companions away.