The night passed, and the sun rose.
Today was the day we were going to the Dungeon.
I got up a little early and finished preparing to explore it at dawn.
"The sword's in good shape, right?"
"Yeah... no problems."
I'd packed a few bottles of elixir too...
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
How many floors could the two of us reach, I wondered?
As always, the Dungeon was full of variables.
Monsters could appear at any time, anywhere, and with who knew what in their hands, so even veteran adventurers had to stay on guard.
But...
"Just rest."
Nothing was more helpless than overwhelming firepower.
Maybe because of my contract with Urrs, the mind consumed when I projected a magic sword had dropped quite a bit.
Thanks to that, I could fire off magic swords and still move around just fine.
"What floor are we on again?"
"If I counted right... the 50th floor."
Hmm... I'd been smashing through the floor with magic swords on the way down, so we'd gotten here faster than I expected.
It felt a little like cheating, but... so what?
This was power I had too.
"...It's coming."
Just as Urrs said, a bizarre dragon with nothing left but bones burst up through the shattered floor.
"Long time no see?"
Its name was... Juggernaut, right?
"I'll take care of that one."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I can do it."
Aiz drew her sword and took a deep breath.
There was clearly little or no wind on this floor, but it gathered around her all the same.
"Is that Spirit Form?"
"Oh, not bad."
A fierce wind began to whirl around Aiz.
And then...
"Haaah!"
Aiz started moving as freely as the wind itself.
"Flying?"
"She's a wind spirit, after all."
Before, she had moved like the wind across the ground. Now, it was as if she was using the wind as a foothold. She was faster than before, and her attacks had grown far more powerful.
"Lil Rafaga!"
"It's all good, but why is she shouting the technique name?"
I have no idea. Didn't Loki tell her to do that or something?
"That god is somehow useless."
Still, she was trusted in her own way, which was probably why the Familia had grown this much.
In the end, the two of us managed to descend all the way to the 55th floor.
"Let's stop here."
"...Yeah."
If it was just the two of us, then...
Could we actually explore the deepest floors?
"Bellf."
"What is it?"
"I forgot, but there's a dinner party today."
"A dinner party?"
Was it something they did to get acquainted before an expedition?
"Finn said it would be nice if you came too."
"Hmm..."
I didn't have anything else to do, so maybe I should go?