DanMachi: Why Am I Being Crowned the Lord of Cinder!

Chapter 192 192: The Encroaching Prophetic Dream, Daphne’s Decisiveness!

At the expedition camp.

Daphne gazed at the hourglass before her, fine sand slowly trickling down. Before entering the Dungeon, she had been using this primitive method to keep track of time.

Reaching the Mid Floors, clearing the initial danger line and the aberrant monsters on Floor 13—it had taken a total of twelve hours. After their rest, the sand in the hourglass had just finished running out.

And then—when Ron decided to head deeper into the Dungeon to scout information for the team, Daphne started timing again.

Now, with only half the sand remaining in the upper chamber, there was still no sign of Ron and the others returning.

At that thought, the girl couldn't help but frown. She turned her gaze toward the nearby Mikoto, who was resting, and couldn't resist asking, "Miss Mikoto."

"?"

"Well…"

"In the past, when you explored with Captain Ron, did you ever run into any unusual situations?" Facing Mikoto's gaze, Daphne quickly explained, "He's been gone for quite a long time."

"…"

At the mention of Ron, the drowsiness in Mikoto's eyes vanished instantly. Hugging the katana in her arms, she straightened up and carefully recalled her past exploration experiences with him.

Unusual situations?

If encountering special monsters only counted as Ron's daily routine, then there really hadn't been any.

But—she quickly remembered that time, during the Takemikazuchi Familia's expedition, when they happened to meet Ron on Floor 6. Even now, the memory remained vivid.

It hadn't been that Ron went there on purpose.

According to what he had said at the time, when he was heading toward deeper floors, he somehow ended up there without realizing it.

"…"

Back then, Mikoto hadn't paid it much attention. She had simply taken it as Ron's explanation.

But now—after personally experiencing the difficulty of this Soulslike Dungeon—she finally realized where the problem lay.

"Uh…"

"If I'm not mistaken, there probably was something unusual."

Thinking of that possibility, the samurai girl from the Far East decisively stood up, her tone turning grave: "It's the Dungeon environment."

"It definitely changes because of Ron's presence…"

"I've heard him mention before—he was originally heading to the next floor, but the stairway passage somehow connected directly to a deeper floor instead."

"…"

Because of Daphne and Mikoto's conversation,

Cassandra—who had been resting her head on her best friend's lap—now had her brows tightly knit, as if trapped in a nightmare she couldn't escape from.

It was the same familiar dream.

A giant.

A blazing furnace fire.

But this time, she finally saw clearly—within that sea of flames, several adventurers were engulfed.

They were Ron, Lefiya, and the others.

The suffocating sensation was overwhelming.

Cassandra suddenly sat up from the ground, immediately meeting Mikoto and her best friend Daphne's serious gazes. She paid no attention to the tense atmosphere.

Her eyes quickly swept around, but she couldn't find any trace of Ron.

She hurriedly asked, "Um…"

"Captain Ron… has he come back?"

"…"

Silence.

Even Tione in the distance, upon hearing this exchange, couldn't help but frown. She didn't doubt Mikoto's words.

After all—she herself had witnessed how the Dungeon environment could change.

The first person she thought of was her younger sister Tiona, who had insisted on following Ron. An inexplicable irritation rose in her heart, but she still forced herself to stay calm.

Tione looked toward Daphne.

"How much time has passed?"

"It should be—about six hours. The hourglass has only half its sand left."

If they had only gone to explore Floor 14, given her trust in her captain's strength, Daphne didn't think anything would go wrong—especially with a Level 5 adventurer accompanying him.

But… just going to Floor 14 would absolutely not take this long!

After quickly organizing the information in her mind, she said: "Captain Ron and Senior Tiona… it's very likely that, due to changes in the Dungeon environment—"

"Headed to deeper floors!"

"…"

Under normal circumstances, Tione wouldn't have been this worried. After witnessing the strength of the ancient dragon Lansseax, as well as aberrant monsters like the Giant Dog,

when it came to her sister—to be honest, she wasn't actually worried about her safety. After all, she was a Level 5 adventurer, and the strength Ron had displayed was also formidable.

Not to mention Lefiya, whom she had watched grow to this point.

Just as Tione was thinking, trying to approach the situation from Captain Finn's perspective, Mikoto—who had gone to investigate—returned with rather bad news: "The stairway to the next floor… is gone."

"At the time…"

"Captain Ron and Senior Tiona used that very stairway to head to Floor 14 for advance scouting."

"…Damn it!"

After all, there were adventurers from the Hestia Familia present.

Tione, who already had a fiery temper, managed to keep it in check at this moment—but she still couldn't help cursing. It wasn't directed at Tiona or the others.

It was simply—she had never imagined the Dungeon would pull something like this!

Ron wanting to head to deeper floors to scout was actually easy to understand—he wanted to gather information on the monsters in the upcoming floors to ensure smoother exploration.

So, at the time, she hadn't objected.

And the disappearance of the stairway, from another angle, confirmed the truth of Daphne's earlier words. Tione took several deep breaths, calming herself down.

She decisively shook her head: "Maybe…"

"They just can't make it back for a while."

Looking on the bright side, Ron and the others hadn't encountered a Floor Boss—they had simply gone to further floors where there were more monsters, slowing their return.

In that case, what they needed to consider next was how to regroup!

"Um…"

"When I was resting just now, I had a bad dream." The dream had been so vivid that Cassandra still hadn't forgotten it.

When Tione made that judgment, she finally couldn't hold back anymore: "I think—Captain Ron and the others really aren't in a good situation right now… It feels like they ran into a Floor Boss."

"…"

"In that dream, I saw a giant… flames… completely engulfing Captain Ron…" Even though prophetic dreams sounded absurd, when it involved Ron, the girl still did her best to insist.

But, seeing Tione's confused expression—somewhat unmoved—Cassandra's heart filled with despair, and even more with a sense of helplessness.

'Trust.'

Other than Ron, no one believed what she said.

"Really…"

"In my recent dreams, the scenes I saw… they've all come true…"

She could only explain weakly, but under the influence of the magic leaking from her body, it only made the surrounding adventurers think this was nothing more than a meaningless joke.

"…"

"Why won't any of you believe me?"

"…"

Having already foreseen the danger that was about to happen, yet being powerless to do anything about it—that feeling nearly swallowed Cassandra whole. She could only shrink her shoulders, lowering her already bowed head even further.

And at that moment, standing beside her, Daphne frowned and made her decision: "Senior Tione, regardless of whether this so-called dream will come true in the end—this concerns Captain Ron's safety."

"We really can't just stand by and do nothing. After we find Ron, let's regroup at the safe floor—Rivira Town on Floor 18."

"Sorry."

"Don't say sorry…"

It had already come to this point.

No matter what, Tiona was her sister, and there was also Lefiya's safety to consider. Once Daphne made this decision, there was no staying out of it.

Tione felt a headache coming on, shaking her head lightly. She hadn't expected the cohesion of the Hestia Familia to be this strong. With a helpless tone, she said: "Then let's assume the worst-case scenario."

"We're companions now."

"Even if the chance of danger is slim, no matter what, we can't just stand by and do nothing…"

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