Chapter 150 – Encounter

"I can indeed feel a slight increase in strength. So this is what leveling up by defeating monsters feels like…"

"No wonder Tione and Tiona's strength has increased so quickly." On the 16th floor, Ais defeated a Minotaur with a single sword strike, feeling the indiscernible changes in her body, and murmured to herself.

Having personally experienced the effect of the Faction Card, Ais understood the feeling Tione and the others had when they defeated monsters.

This feeling was very pleasurable, the joy of increasing strength after being stagnant for so long.

"Aston, thank you." Straightening up, Ais came back to her senses, a faint smile appearing on her face, as she thanked Aston.

"There's no need for such formalities between us."

"I know you're very dedicated to increasing your strength. If there are other ways to enhance it in the future, I'll share them with you," Aston nodded gently, smiling.

"Thank you." Hearing this, the smile on Ais's face deepened, feeling warmth in her heart.

After exchanging a few words with Aston, Ais embarked on her hunting path, swiftly navigating through the 16th floor, quickly eliminating any monsters that spawned, immersing herself in the slaughter.

Ais has always detested the existence of monsters, almost to the point of extermination. Now, with the added growth from killing monsters, her killing intent towards them surged even more.

However, even though Ais's speed in eliminating monsters was fast, the dungeon's regeneration rate couldn't keep up with her pace of slaughter.

In just a short fifteen minutes, no more monsters were respawning on the 16th floor, as if Ais had exterminated them all, and the dungeon needed time to recover.

Having no choice, the two proceeded to the next level.

"Aston, what's the purpose of your venture into the dungeon? Do you need help?" On their way to the 17th floor, Ais asked Aston.

"I'm luring members of the Ishtar Familia. I'm planning to take action against the Ishtar Familia." Now that Ais was considered one of his own, Aston didn't hide his intentions and directly responded.

"The Ishtar Familia?"

"Why take action against the Ishtar Familia?" Ais didn't mind Aston targeting the Ishtar Familia.

She had no fondness for the Ishtar Familia, especially since the head of their Familia had bullied her when she was weaker.

However, despite her lack of fondness, Ais was still quite concerned when Aston suddenly mentioned taking action against the Ishtar Familia.

Hearing this, Aston explained the situation to Ais.

"That's amazing… being able to increase one's level by one."

"Plus, being Mikoto-san's friend, it's indeed worth trying to win her over." After hearing Aston's explanation, Ais nodded in agreement.

Ais's personality isn't stubborn; she wouldn't think Aston's actions were excessive, especially since Aston had mentioned the Ishtar Familia's collusion with the dark factions.

Furthermore, by bringing Haruhime into the Hestia Familia, Ais would also have the chance to utilize Haruhime's magic, especially since accepting Aston's favor essentially tied her to Aston.

Eliminating the Ishtar Familia would benefit Orario, and bringing Haruhime back would benefit both the Hestia Familia and herself. It's a win-win situation, impossible to pass up.

"In that case, let's go now," Ais said to Aston.

"Hm? Why?"

"I saw members of the Ishtar Familia active on the 10th floor; they must be here for you," Ais explained.

Upon hearing this, Aston's eyes lit up.

"Let's go!"

Meanwhile, on the 12th floor, a group of battle-ready women was conducting a thorough search of the entire floor.

"We've found nothing on this level either." Standing in the center of a vast cavernous space, Aisha rubbed her forehead, sighing.

Beside her were seven or eight warrior women, one of whom was cloaked, completely concealing their appearance, though it was evident the others were protecting this cloaked adventurer.

"I really don't know what Ishtar-sama is thinking."

"The Hestia Familia is now extraordinary, even capable of surrounding and defeating a Level 5 floor boss. Why provoke the Hestia Familia?" Life is hard, Aisha sighed, her double sigh indicating just how helpless she felt at the moment.

She was opposed to the orders given by the deity of her Familia, after all, the Hestia Familia was not one to be bullied at will. The Hestia Familia could now be considered on equal footing with their own Ishtar Familia.

Provoking such a major Familia unprovokedly is nothing but looking for trouble.

If a real fight were to break out, both sides would suffer significant losses.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

As Aisha sighed, a tremendous vibration came from the ground, and a robust figure emerged from one of the passageways.

With a bulky body, an ugly face, and nictitating eyes, this new figure was none other than the leader of the Ishtar Familia, known as the Man Killer, nicknamed the Toad, Phryne Jamil.

Following her appearance, a large number of battle prostitutes started coming out from various passageways.

"It seems we haven't found that guy, so let's move to the next level," Phryne Jamil said, frowning unpleasantly as she saw the many companions appearing.

The group had no objections and began heading to the next level.

Meanwhile, as the Ishtar Familia hurried to the next level, Aston and Ais were also rushing in their direction.

Without any surprises, after about ten minutes, Aston and Ais encountered the battle prostitutes of the Ishtar Familia who were extensively searching for Aston's whereabouts on the 13th floor.

"Found them!" The battle woman who spotted Aston immediately sent out a signal, her loud voice echoing far and wide through the corridors, heard by other battle prostitutes in different passageways, who then relayed it further. The message spread quickly, and soon all the battle prostitutes received the information and rushed towards the source of the sound.

Faced with this situation, Aston simply stood still, smiling at the few battle prostitutes who had encountered him, waiting for the arrival of the rest of the Ishtar Familia.