Chapter 41: You are showing us the way

Dante walked to the front of the line, stopping just behind his guards. He didn’t draw the Seven-Sins Asura Blade, but his eyes tracked the old man’s posture. Even without a system interface to scan the target’s attributes, Dante’s veteran combat instincts picked up something shocking.

Dangling from the old man’s belt was a cracked, faded silver token—an old-model S-rank hunter badge from the Heavenly Sword Guild.

’A human signature. And that badge model is at least a decade old,’ Dante thought, his expression hardening.

"A human rat walking in the dark," the giant four-armed vanguard commander hissed, raising his iron clubs. "Should we crush his skull, Great Queen?"

"Hold your hands," Dante commanded.

The commander gritted his teeth but stepped back, fearing queen pressure behind dante.

The old man looked at Dante’s, then at his completely uncaring expression. A raspy laugh broke from his throat.

"Well, I’ll be damned," the old man said, his voice rough from years of staying there"I felt a massive shockwave down in the twenty minutes ago. I thought Esabella finally found a way to hatch a dragon core. I didn’t expect to find a fresh exile from the upper floors."

"Who are you, and why are you blocking the path?" Dante said.

"My name is Gideon," the old man said, leaning on his bone staff. He pointed a scarred finger toward the silver badge on his belt. "Ten years ago, I was the leader of the top pioneer squad clearing the 50th floor. Back then, that was the absolute limit of human expansion. We found a unique territory core, but the corporate backers didn’t want to share the profits. They framed me, stabbed me in the back during a raid loop, and dropped me down the spatial shaft to rot in the Basin."

Gideon looked deeply into Dante’s eyes, his expression turning grim. "You have the exact same look I had ten years ago.The people at the top never change, do they?"

Dante remained silent, but his mind flashed back to the locked exit doors on the 55th floor. The logic lined up perfectly. Gideon was a forgotten pioneer from the previous decade’s expansion era.

"If you’ve been hiding here for ten years, you should know to stay out of a war zone," Dante said, "We are heading north to Balor’s fortress to strip the floor core from his hands."

Gideon let out another laugh, shaking his head. "Balor’s fortress? Kid, if you march that army straight through the front gates of the Crimson Valley, you are committing suicide. Balor is a brute, but his fortress is built directly over the primary magma vents. The moment he realizes he’s losing, he will trigger the core’s defensive locking system and sink the entire sector into the lava. You won’t even get within ten meters of the vault before you’re vaporized."

Esabella stepped up right beside Dante. Her eyes burned with a dangerous, suspicious light as she glared at Gideon. Her tail aggressively curled right around Dante’s left leg, the switchblade bone-shards popping outward slightly as a warning.

"If you are trying to mislead us with fake rumors, old man, I will personally pull your spine out through your throat," Esabella said. "My army can tear down any gate."

Gideon didn’t even flinch at her aura, having lived among monsters for a decade. He just looked at Dante. "The Queen has fire, but she doesn’t know the mountain layout like I do. I spent ten years tracking the old, abandoned mineral mining tracks underneath the volcano. There is a hidden, subterranean ventilation shaft that bypasses Balor’s entire front army. It leads directly into the back room where the floor core is kept."

Dante internally calculated the options. Fighting an entire legion while avoiding an environmental lava trap would waste too much physical stamina. Gideon’s layout was the exact tactical advantage he needed.

"Get in the carriage," Dante said to Gideon, turning back toward the vehicle. "You’re showing us the way."

Esabella’s eyes sparkled with instant adoration as she saw Dante make a logical decision, though her red eyes kept a protective watch on the old pioneer walking behind them.

The royal carriage moved forward again, but the atmosphere inside had completely changed. The space felt much tighter now with a third person sitting.

Gideon sat in the corner, his bone staff resting between his knees. Despite sitting across from a human who killed an S-rank captain and a demon queen who could erase an army, the old man looked completely relaxed. He leaned his head back, his scarred face showing a calm expression as he watched the two younger exiles.

Dante remained by the window. However, Esabella was not relaxed at all.

She had shifted her position, sitting as close to Dante as possible. Her hips pressed directly against his thigh, her soft skin contrasting with his clothes. Her lace corset rose and fell with her breathing, her large chest straining tightly against the fabric. Her tail was wrapped firmly around Dante’s ankle like a tight chain, Her attractive red eyes were narrowed into slits, staring at Gideon with pure, murderous jealousy.

’This old fossil is talking too much to my King,’ Esabella thought, her tail twitching aggressively against the floor. ’If he looks at Dante’s face for one more second, I will use my whip to take his eyes out.’

"You are staring, old man," Esabella said, her voice dropping to a dangerous register. "If you don’t start explaining the layout of these mining tracks immediately, I will open the carriage door and throw you under the wheels."

Gideon look at her . "You have the exact same temper your father had, Queen Esabella. Lord Vaelorix also threatened to skin me when we first met at the border ten years ago. It must run in the bloodline."

The moment her father’s name left Gideon’s lips, the murderous jealousy in Esabella’s expression instantly vanished, replaced by a sudden stillness.

"You knew my father?" Esabella asked. Her voice didn’t carry its usual command anymore.

Gideon looked at her, his scarred face softening just a fraction. He nodded slowly. "I did. Ten years ago, when I was first dropped into this pit, I was half-dead from the spatial fall. Your father’s scouts found me near the border canyon. Instead of feeding me to the hounds, Lord Vaelorix brought me to the southern palace. He wanted to know about the upper floors, and I wanted to survive. We traded information for months. He was a ruthless ruler, but he kept his word. When Balor ambushed him a year ago... it ruined the balance of this entire floor."

Esabella stared at Gideon, her bottom lip tightening slightly as her chest rose and fell heavily against her corset. The mention of the ambush brought back the exact image of her father’s shattered lifeline stone.

"Balor didn’t just kill him," Esabella said, her voice dropping to a dangerous, shaking whisper as her bladed tail dug violently into the floor, leaving deep white gouges. "He butchered his guards, took the core, and left his remains to burn in the volcanic tracks. He thought my family bloodline was finished. He thought I would bow to his northern dogs."

She suddenly turned her face toward Dante, her red eyes burning with a mixture of raw grief and possessive adoration. She grabbed Dante’s left arm with both hands, pressing her forehead directly against his shoulder.

"That is why everything changed when I met you, Dante," she whispered fiercely, her body trembling slightly as her hair brushed against his cheek. "My father always told me that one day, a true conqueror would drop from the upper floors—someone who doesn’t care about the rules of this graveyard, someone strong enough to break the balance forever. When you pinned my wrists against that pillar, I knew it was you. I don’t care about my father’s kingdom anymore. I only care about yours. I will give you everything I have, Dante. I will bleed for you, I will slaughter the entire northern clan for you, just promise me you will let me crush Balor’s skull."