There were a few days of mild preparations to be done after the attack plan was finalized. Immediately following those days, each of the four strike teams practiced their team work on individual group runs, deep into the dungeon. The Zeus & Hera familias were being careful with this. The danger here wasn't really the strength of the monsters, it was the sheer quantity, if one got through the front line, it wasn't a big deal, but if enough got through there would be problems. Hence why each group took the time to practice formations with the new arrangements.
In the end a couple of weeks went by, with incredible exertion among all members. And they called for Shurry to come by and give the twins their treatment… It was also… Right around the time of Shurry's 6th birthday, causing the actual dungeon dive to be put on hold for a while to celebrate Shurry's birthday, and his level up to level 4.
"Awe! Little brother beat me to it!" Meteria cried alligator tears, summoning an ever dutiful Alraj to appear near her with her favorite snack. "Thank you."
The cheer, of celebrations, and the tension right before their descent into what amounted to an infinite hell caused a lot of emotions. Specifically, Alraj was showing far more promise now than he had been before, but now he secretly swore to himself that he'd push himself, further, and harder than ever… Screw the cap!
Meteria was also quite eager to level up as well. Her talent was negligible when compared to that of the others in the familia, but that didn't mean she was weak. In fact even with this limitation, her talent still surpassed the average adventurer.
Alfia's talent was another beast entirely. She had gained nearly 200 points in magic in just the last few weeks, hardly lifting a finger. And depending on what one measured, her talent could be rated higher than Shurry's, though the effects of her talent seemed to increase after getting treatment, which is why people didn't bother thinking too much about comparing against Shurry.
Towards the end of the party, Maxim made an announcement. "Alright everyone, for everyone coming down with us this time. Be sure you rest well tonight. We're going to train like there's no tomorrow. And as for our friends staying here to help watch Meda, thank you for your help."
"Your welcome mister hero man!" Ardee cheerfully added, eyeing the baby Meda.
Empress giggled, then grew serious. "Enjoy this meal everyone. Starting tomorrow we'll be dining in hell."
"Endless prey, endless prey." Shurry was salivating at the thought of endless prey.
"Damn, Shurry, you're still not done eating the world yet?"
"Nope! Still always hungry!" He answered with a smile. "Oh, Amphisbaena respawned now did it?"
"Yeah, but Ganesha took it this time. Saying something about redeeming themselves. They should be returning soon now."
"Okay… But I'm taking Udaeus' crystal if it spawns again!"
"Of course…"
Someone rushed into the room. "Hey the Ganesha familia just returned. They look like they took a beating, but they have all their members, and their captain looks cool, and confident…"
"Seems like they defeated it. Good on them. It isn't easy to work around all of those disadvantages. I'm actually a little surprised. I thought they'd retreat in failure again. It seems I should improve my opinion of them a little bit."
…
Shakti returned to her familia, with her members, and proof that they had slain the creature. However, the toll it took on everyone was clear and present. They were exhausted.
"Ah! I am so glad to see all of you have returned safely! I AM GANESHA!" He posed, and then relaxed, noticing that Shakti, along with Ilta looked exhausted but also, like they had overcome a huge hurdle. "So, how did it go?"
Shakti showed her god, her back. "See for yourself. I'll write the report tomorrow…" She leveled up.
Ilta also showed her back. "Do mine too!" She also leveled up.
"Lord Ganesha, there's little doubt in my mind a few more of our members leveled up… And… I have a question… What exactly is the dungeon?"
"The dungeon is the dungeon."
Shakti clicked her tongue, and stormed off to get some rest. Ilta spoke next. "Lord Ganesha, what are the Zeus and Hera familia's made of? Are they really mortal?"
"Heh, they are indeed mortals. Very strong ones! Guardians of the people! … I am GANESHA!"
Ilta, clicked her tongue and then followed Shakti. "Big sister wait for me!"
Ganesha stood there, beyond confused, but thought to himself. I wonder what kind of names I should try to get for them? And more than that… Did I confuse them well enough? Keeping these kinds of secrets is hard… Though, Ilta at least asked a reasonable question. They are indeed mortals… Now, if she asked about a different familia, I don't know how I would answer that.
…
The following morning the Zeus & Hera familias entered the dungeon again. This time their destination was the 37th floor's colosseum. And along with them came a few guild cartographers, each of them were sworn to secrecy under the penalty of death.
That was done not just by Zeus & Hera, but Ouranos, and Royman all agreed to it. They would now aid in finishing the map of the 37th floor. The cartographers also willingly offered to submit to such rules, the idea being the reason why such a far deep floor managed to finish its mapping… Was far too tantalizing a prospect to pass up.
Finally, there were the additions of a few people in the guild meant to track certain things like monster kill counts. They would aid in the research portion of the colosseum. Why? Because everyone else is going to be fighting, or resting until they get back into the fight… And once again these researchers were sworn to secrecy in relation to any and all abilities the adventurers had.
This was risky, but Royman was put in between a rock and a hard place with gods from both sides, guild members eager for a chance to boost their reputation, and adventurers demanding the aid…
Shurry ended up using a similar method to help transport the slow, non blessed guild workers, via turning kobolds into his personal wolf pack members. This sped the dungeon traversal up by quite a bit. And there was no need to wait on the 18th floor, as everyone pushed straight forward to the 28th floor. This is where the new wolves would be substituted with significantly stronger wolves, serving two purposes now, transportation, and protection.