Light swirled around them in a raging vortex toward the ghastly vessel at its center.
Two hundred meders. That was all that remained between them and the corrupted spirit still greedily devouring magic power, and they made a beeline toward her, weapons flashing.
They moved like the wind. A thunderous howl rose up to meet them the moment they clashed with the massive army of monsters.
“Aiz, save your strength! We’ll need you to land the finishing blow! The rest of you, protect her!”
One strike.
They were betting everything on a single strike.
Finn knew that against an enemy like this, one that had countless methods of attack and defenses like a fortress, any chance they could finagle would be momentary at best.
Aiz needed to save up her power, and he and the other first-tiers needed to get her next to that thing at all costs, even if it meant a few sacrifices along the way.
They’d use every ounce of their power to cut a way through the teeming mass and guide Aiz toward the corrupted spirit.
She nodded and activated her Airiel.
“Awaken, Tempest!!”
The flowing armor of wind quickly encircled her body.
The rest of the party changed formation, moving Aiz and her winds of enchantment to the center and placing Finn at the head to form an arrowhead shape.
A silver bolt to pierce the heart of that creature.
“Lefiya, begin chanting something! Anything!” Finn shouted as Aiz began amassing her wind power.
“Understood!”
And then Finn himself began to chant.
“Spear of magic, I offer my blood! Bore within this brow—” The ultrashort chant on his lips as he ran, his left hand was quickly dyed a deep bloodred as it amassed magic power.
He closed his eyes and pressed his thumb, now a brilliant red, against his forehead like the sharpened point of his spear. The moment it touched, the glowing magic power rushed inside him.
“Hell Finegas!”
Finn’s emerald eyes burst open, now stained a murderous shade of crimson.
“—Gggwwwwwwwwuuuuuuuuooo oooooGGGGGGHHHH HHH!!” The usually taciturn prum leader screamed with all the strength and savagery of a feral warrior.
Hell Finegas was Finn’s spell for bolstering fighting spirit.
It gave him a lust for battle, drawing out a bloodthirsty passion from deep within him while greatly boosting his abilities.
At the same time, however, it greatly reduced his rational thought processes.
—Finn was done giving orders.
Aiz and the others realized that all too well the moment they saw their leader transform into that barbaric soldier.
Everything now was to get Aiz to that spirit, which meant prioritizing abilities over orders.
From here on out, each one of them would be giving their own commands.
Tiona, Bete, and Lefiya silently adjusted their grips on their weapons. At the same time, Finn took back the Durandal spear he’d entrusted to Tione.
He flung himself headlong into the oncoming monster swarm, his tiny frame looking even smaller next to the two long spears in his hands.
All alone he rushed forward, away from the rest of the party, war cry straining his lungs.
“?HNNGHH!!”
The slaughter began.
Before the caterpillar at the front of the horde could even think of releasing its corrosive acid, the upper half of its body was forcefully wrested from its frame by the prum’s Durandal spear. Legs went flying, followed by a hail of fleshy chunks. The spear continued, hitting the monsters to its left, its right, behind it—all of them exploding and scattering in pulpy pops with that single swing of his spear.
The prum hardly took notice of the carnage he’d created, moving fluidly into frenzied slashes of his two spears.
“Wuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhh!!”
The long silver pikes plowed through caterpillar after caterpillar. Finn’s scream shook the walls as acid sprayed and splattered. The relentless slashes dug deep into the caterpillars’ flesh, all the way to their cores, shattering their magic stones and sending clouds of ash dancing through the air.
He destroyed every one of them in his path. Nothing could touch him. Not the caterpillar’s acid. Not the violas’ tentacles. He crawled the ground like a crazed beast, bypassing every incoming attack as he robbed the fiends of life with each flash of his spear.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Finn like this…!” Tione murmured as she and the others witnessed the bloodbath occurring before them. Though this certainly wasn’t the first time they’d witnessed Finn’s berserker form, the inhuman butcher in front of them was so far removed from the leader they knew that they could only look on in awe, eyes trembling. Even the Sword Princess, still surrounded by her armor of wind, found the color draining from her face at the sheer power of their prum leader. In only a matter of seconds, a mountain of carcasses had formed in front of them.
The lancer’s howl continued unbroken, his reddened eyes desperately craving, desperately lusting for blood.
He single-handedly plowed his way through the teeming throng, the true point of their arrowhead formation, while Tiona and the others took out any other monsters that drew near.
“Ah-ha.”
Still in the process of recharging, the spirit turned her gaze toward Finn and the group in their rapid approach and unleashed a flurry of thick tentacles.
Bete and the other first-tiers fought them back in an effort to protect Aiz. Finn, on the other hand, neatly chopped three of them in half. The sound of it reverberated off the walls as the three fat whips recoiled and twitched. A look of disbelief crossed the spirit’s face.
Braver had both a golden spear and a silver spear.
In his right hand was his tried-and-true weapon of choice—the Fortia Spear. Often called the “Brave Fortia Spear,” it was a Superior weapon with a golden tip.
In his left was the silver Durandal spear—Roland Spear. Armed with these two spears, Finn was a veritable whirlwind.
“—But it all ends now,” the spirit said with pure scorn after her moment of surprise.
The multicolored ring she’d been using to absorb the magic power closed, and she returned her two great flower buds to her lower half. Then she raised her arms, her gown shuddering with the movement.
“Arise, flame—”
Once more, the repulsively ethereal voice began to sing. Once more, she began casting her spell.
“More magic?!” Tione cried out in alarm.
“Shit!!” Bete immediately responded as the two of them watched the magic circle begin to form beneath the spirit’s feet, accompanied by a brilliant red light.
There was still a good hundred meders left between them and the creature, and a wall of monsters yet blocked their path. There was no way they’d make it in time.
In front of them, the spirit raised her armor of flower petals—ten colossal shields she kept stored behind her lower chassis. Aiz, Bete, and the others could only watch in despair as she began uttering the same protracted chant as before, her iron-wall-like defenses already in place.
“Your envoy beseeches you, Salamander! Incarnate of fire! Queen of flame—!”
The spell was finished before they knew it, magic light swelling up around her. The hearts of not only Aiz and the other first-tiers but Raul’s and the supporters’ in the back, as well, dropped into their guts.
Then Finn jumped.
Gripping his gold-tipped spear and grinding his teeth together, he hurled himself at the spirit, a prum cannonball.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!”
There was a brilliant flash of golden light as Braver shot forward.
Then, with a flash of his red eyes, he launched his weapon. The Fortia Spear hurtled forward, puncturing the very air itself and transforming into a beam of light that rocketed straight toward the spirit.
The distance between them might as well not have even existed considering the speed at which that spear traveled. It was to her in an instant.
“Gngh!”
The spear plunged into the spirit’s face just as she was about to release her spell.
It sailed past the armor of flower petals so fast it was nothing but a single point as it dove straight into her open, chanting mouth.
It was a direct hit. Passing all the way through her head, the golden tip of the spear protruded out the back near the lower half of her brain stem.
The spirit bent backward from equal parts shock and awe—Finn had triggered an Ignis Fatuus.
“?!”
The unexpected impact left her faltering, unable to control the magic so close to release.
And then she lost it. The massive net of magic power broke, spilling out unchecked, and she erupted in flames. The explosion was colossal. A giant blast, large enough to mask her entire body, detonated from inside her, and the crimson magic circle she’d summoned fizzled into nothingness.
Aiz and the other first-tiers found themselves in stupefied awe as Raul and the other supporters behind them let out cries of joy.
“NOW!!” Tione screamed, stepping in for Finn, and everyone took off.
Bete and Tiona eliminated the remaining caterpillars and violas surrounding them, allowing the group to finally break through the teeming army.
Fleshy chunks of meat flew around them as a path opened up straight to the spirit.
“Please—give me strength! Elf Ring!!” Lefiya shouted, finishing up her Concurrent Casting the moment they ploughed through the monster obstacles.
Her summon burst was ready. A small, golden magic circle formed around her running feet, waiting for her next command. In a constantly changing battle such as this, she needed to be ready for anything, so she simply held her breath, siphoning more and more power into the spell as she waited for the perfect time to release.
She and the rest of the party upped their speed with the flaming spirit in their sights.
“…”
From within the rising smoke, the spirit swayed, her skin charred and blackened.
A single tentacle rose, curling around the spear currently skewering her throat and tugged it out with a jerk. There was a snap as the spear was broken in two.
The pieces of the gold-tipped spear dropped to the ground with a clatter, and then the spirit healed herself with an ignition of magic power. In only a matter of seconds, the gaping hole in her throat was filled with flesh. She smiled.
Still scattering residual magic power from her auto-regeneration, she turned the golden pools of her eyes toward Finn and the others.
“Pierce, spear of lightning! Your envoy beseeches thee, Tonitrus! Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning—!”
A golden magic circle appeared in front of her eyes.
“A short chant?!” Tiona cried out at the almost instantaneous spell.
Short chants excelled when it came to pure speed, and considering this was a spirit they were dealing with, the power behind it would be nothing to balk at, either—not even comparable to the spells of a normal magic user.
No, this was a spell that could stand up to even the best of the best, and the sight of that loaded magic gun made the eyes of every adventurer there—Finn and his Hell Finegas included—widen in terror.
Brilliantly sparkling beams of lightning burst forth from the midair magic circle.
Time itself seemed to stop as an electric glimmer seared the adventurers’ faces.
“Thunder Ray!” the spirit screamed.
The all-powerful spell, reserved for the spirits of the Ancient Times, enveloped Aiz and the others with a deafening roar.
“—Shield me, cleansing chalice!”
She had to stop it!
The moment the words burst from her throat, Lefiya leaped in front of the others.
The golden magic circle at her feet transformed into a circle of pure white, filled to the brim with the power to save the people she loved the most.
Lefiya unleashed the ultrashort chant of her friend with a speed that surpassed that of her enemy’s.
“Dio Grail!!”
A snow-white, circular barrier surrounded them.
Less than a second later, the two magic spells collided.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~gnh?!”
Lefiya’s body began to sink, both hands tightly gripping her staff.
The massive thunder attack pummeled the round barrier. Then, just like with Riveria’s spell earlier, there was a high-pitched screech, and a crack formed across its surface.
It couldn’t take much more. Though the spirit’s current spell didn’t come close to the power behind the earlier protracted chant that had shattered Riveria’s Via Shilheim, it still contained incredible force. Lefiya let out a scream of anguish as the white fissure grew with every passing second.
Aiz and the others could only watch as their fields of vision went white. The spirit’s magic—magic that could easily swallow them whole—was fully prepared to crush the spell of the tiny elf in front of them.
Lefiya’s knees began to give; sparks flew as her barrier screamed.
Then.
“LEFIYA!!”
“You can do iiiiiiiit—!”
Two shadows ran past her, colliding with the barrier.
It was Tione and Tiona. Durandal halberd and greatsword crossing, they slammed themselves against the white shield.
They were supporting her Dio Grail in its attempt to hold back the lightning.
“Tiona! Tione!” Aiz cried out as Lefiya’s eyes slammed shut.
The two brave first-tier adventurers used their own bodies as shields, not even caring as their skin instantly scorched under the full brunt of the sparking electricity.
Lefiya’s knees screamed at her, so close to giving out beneath her.
Was this it, then? Was this the best she could do?
“—I can do it, too,” she whispered as Aiz, Bete, and Finn stood behind her.
In front of her were Tiona and Tione, blocking that omnipotent spear of thunder with their bodies.
Her body ignited. Blood and magic churning, boiling, frothing within her, her azure eyes opened with an almost audible snap.
“I CAN DO IT, TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!!”
The two spells neutralized each other.
“!”
Lefiya roared as light burst from the pure-white barrier, pushing back the incoming lightning and erupting in a giant explosion.
They destroyed each other, spirit and elven magic rupturing in a brilliant light storm that sent shock waves rippling from the impact. Tiona and Tione went flying, and even Lefiya herself was sent straight back at an incredible speed.
The other adventurers didn’t even look back as the three girls whizzed past them but pushed forward immediately.
“NOW!!” Bete howled as the three dashed ahead, Finn with his spear and Aiz with her accumulated wind power.
Tears pricked at Aiz’s eyes, her pupils trembling at the courage, at the sacrifice of her companions, but she stayed on target, nothing but that towering corrupted spirit in her sights as she shifted her grip on Desperate’s hilt. She was the Sword Princess.
And only three of them remained.
Only some fifty meders stood between them and the spirit.
“—Harbinger of the end, white snow.”
A clear, ringing tune rang out behind them.
From the giant magic circle over two hundred meders away. Standing at the center of that flowerlike magic circle of jade was Riveria, her silvery-white staff, Magna Alf, primed and ready.
The high elf’s eyes were tightly shut, her focus on nothing but the spell at hand.
This was it. The most powerful spell of the most powerful magic user in Orario. The true ultimate spell that would take every ounce of Mind she had.
“Get your magic swords ready!” Raul shouted at the other three supporters even as they warily eyed the building waves of magic power forming behind the elf. They needed to prepare for the multitude of monsters drawn to the massive magic power building around Riveria and approaching her without so much as a glance at Aiz, Bete, and Finn. The army of caterpillars and violas kicked up a storm of dust and smoke behind them.
“Aim for the caterpillars! Don’t let a single one through! Then we’ll take on the violas behind them!” Raul called, sounding more and more like Finn.
The three Level 4 adventurers nodded. They only needed to take out the acid-spewing caterpillars from afar with their ranged weapons. The remaining violas could then be taken out using any means possible.
Gripping their long magic swords with their superior power and endurance, they took aim, then let their power fly.
“Gust before the twilight.”
Flame, lightning, ice, then flame again—the rounds of magic ammunition hit the oncoming caterpillars with godlike precision.
Again and again they launched their elemental salvos, the sound of Riveria’s chant in their ears. One by one, the caterpillars exploded until finally Raul’s magic sword reached its limit and shattered in his hands. He quickly kicked open the backpack next to him and grabbed a bow and arrow.
A true jack-of-all-trades, he deftly aimed his arrow into the throng, shooting first one, then two, then three of the oncoming caterpillars right through their hearts, piercing their magic stones and turning them to ash.
“—Raul! Behind you!!” one of the other supporters screamed. Try as they might to take them out, the army of caterpillars was almost upon them.
“!”
Indeed, when Raul turned around he saw a new swarm of caterpillars and violas a ways behind Riveria but pressing closer every second.
The green wall that should have been blocking their path back to the fifty-eighth floor had gone up in flames together with the rest of the jungle thanks to the spirit’s earlier inferno, leaving the passageway open for monsters from the upper levels.
They were caught in the middle of a pincer attack, and they only had one magic sword left. Raul’s voice stuck in his throat—he had no idea how to proceed. It was at that moment that Tsubaki rose to her feet with a swish of her red hakama, her right arm fully restored.
“Leave those critters to me.”
“Huh?!”
“Toss me one of those, will ya?” she said as she motioned to the weapons left behind by Gareth and the others. Having stripped herself of her battle clothes to heal her arm, she stood now in nothing but a single cloth. She took first Gareth’s Durandal ax, then Tiona’s Urga into her hands.
Tan skin bared, she dropped her tachi to the ground and took off running.
“M-Miss Tsubaki, you can’t!!” Raul wailed as the smith headed straight for the swarm of monsters behind Riveria, ax in her right hand and Urga in her left.
It didn’t matter how strong the half-dwarf was, there was no way she’d be able to wield Tiona’s Urga and Gareth’s Roland Ax, two of the heaviest custom-made weapons around, at the same time.
Tsubaki, however, was not one to care about such matters. Ignoring Raul’s cry, she made a beeline for the oncoming monster mass, dodging a salvo of corrosive acid and promptly dismantling three caterpillars at once with a wave of her ax.
“Like hell I can’t,” she stated matter-of-factly before blocking another barrage of acid with her Durandal weapon. Or perhaps block wasn’t the appropriate word, as the mighty swing of the heavy blade never stopped moving and sliced through the skin of one yellow-green caterpillar after another.
Utilizing the subsequent inertia, she sent Urga spinning with nothing but her left hand, slicing and bisecting the incoming violas, tentacles and all.
“Just how many weapons y’think I’ve made, huh?” She laughed haughtily, continuing her double-fisted slaughter as Raul and the other supporters looked on in awe. “Each and every one of ’em got a thorough test run.”
The supporters’ faces gave simultaneous twitches. She was absolutely relentless—no doubt having experienced anything and everything there was to experience when it came to armaments in her effort to one day create the ultimate weapon.
They didn’t let their wonderment last long, however, and quickly returned to their defensive maneuvers as Tsubaki showed them just what a Level 5 could do, a grand smile playing on her lips.
“Fading light, freezing land,” Riveria continued, her eyes closed, as Raul and the other supporters—and Tsubaki the one-woman army—continued fending off the oncoming monster army.
Her words came out faster and faster as the spell of ice and frost formed on her tongue.
“Blow with the power of the third harsh winter—advent of the end.”
Only she didn’t stop. She continued, transitioning directly into another spell.
“A blaze shall soon descend.”
The jade-colored magic circle already formed beneath her grew in splendor as her chant shifted toward magic of complete and total annihilation—her inferno spell.
“Approaching flames of war from which this is no escape. Battle horns blaring on high, all atrocities and strife shall be engulfed.”
Concatenated Chanting.
It was a special magic characteristic possessed solely by the high elf queen, Riveria Ljos Alf. A type of chant that could encompass any of the three spells expressed in her Status.
Just as different levels could exist within a single Status, so, too, did three levels of spell exist within her Magic.
From ultrashort chants to short chants, from short chants up to long chants, and from long chants all the way up to protracted chants.
By connecting the respective levels of chants, one could bolster the total magic output, change the magic’s effects, and amplify their destructive power.
Offensive, defensive, healing—three different types of magic each with three different levels. This made for nine different spells the high elf could concatenate at will depending on the situation, which was where her alias, Nine Hell, had come from—a name of praise bestowed upon her by the gods.
And a name that struck fear and awe into her many elven brethren. It was the name of the strongest magic user in all of Orario.
“Come crimson pyre, merciless inferno. Become hellfire.”
This was no longer simply her ice spell, Wynn Fimbulvetr. With each additional word of the concatenated chant, she focused even more Mind, a colossal amount.
The chant she wove now was a second-tier spell, the longest in her arsenal and boasting the greatest range. It was a spell that would set every enemy within its blast radius ablaze in holocaustic hellfire. The sublimation of ice into flame, short into long destructive power doubling in a spell of catastrophic proportions.
“Purge the battlefield, end the war.”
Behind Raul and the other supporters, behind Tsubaki, her silvery-white staff stood ready. A brilliant light flashed from the cracked magic jewel at its tip as the mammoth magic power was released.
Her hair danced in the rippling waves of magic light flowing from her magic circle, and slowly, ever so slowly, she opened her jade eyes.
“Incinerate, sword of Surtr—My name is Alf!!”
It was complete.
As far, far ahead of her, a small white barrier offset the spirit’s lightning attack, the magic circle at Riveria’s feet grew to encompass the entire battlefield.
The adventurers, the army of monsters, and even the spirit itself—all of them found themselves standing upon glimmering jade radiance.
She had found it. The creature, in the middle of that massive army, threatening her companions even now. Then, she pronounced her spell.
“REA LAEVATEINN!!”
The eruption was immediate.
Inferno-like pyres of flaming destruction rose from the earth and burst forth from the magic circle.
They incinerated everything. The monsters attacking Raul, Tsubaki, and the other supporters, the army of monsters proliferating the perimeter, the violas approaching Lefiya, Tione, and Tiona on the ground—everything was swallowed by those swelling waves of pure hellfire.
And it didn’t stop there. The raging flames traveled all the way to the ceiling, to the walls, scorching everything and setting the very air on fire with enough power to rival even the corrupted spirit’s earlier firestorm and turning the Dungeon, once more, into a world of blazing red destruction.
“?”
The spirit somehow managed to react as the radiating pillar of fire and brimstone erupted from the center of the magic circle, encasing her entire body in armor formed of ten giant flower petals.
Separating herself from her lower, titan-alm half, she prepared for the incoming attack.
Then exploded.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!”
It hit her ten times. A ten-pillar colonnade of devouring incandescence rocked the spirit’s giant frame.
It was incalculably hot. Immensely powerful. Riveria’s genocidal spell burned, gouged, charred, then ignited the surface of the armor-like flower petals.
They crackled and popped. The very same petals that had stood up to the magic of Lefiya and the magic swords without taking so much as a scratch now burned whole before falling to the ground.
“Riveria…”
Aiz felt every crevice of her body radiate sensational heat as she watched, surrounded by the high elf’s flames of pure magic power.
Then she, Bete, and Finn took advantage of the magic user’s assistance and propelled themselves still faster, their eyes flashing.
“…!”
For the first time, the spirit’s smile vanished. Her defenses were gone.
Thirty meders remained. Nothing but a few short moments between them and the spirit. They hurtled through that world of fire, and as the spirit looked down on them, her lips tightened in rage.
Long green hair flowing, she opened her mouth.
“ ?Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”
And the earth responded.
From beneath their feet, from deep within the lower floors themselves, a multitude of green pikes burst through the floor as though summoned by that high-pitched call.
“!!”
The tentacles rose up, forming a mighty dome-like barrier some twenty meders wide around the spirit.
Bete’s and Finn’s eyes widened in surprise, and then the two of them zoomed forward, twin blades and silver spear whirling in an attempt to bring down the wall.
“ “Gngh!” ”
But it was no use.
Their blades sank into the green flesh but neither pierced nor cut the mighty shield. The sight of them rushing at it full tilt with absolutely zero effect made even Aiz shudder.
—All the speed, power, and force they’d built up during their charge was effectively nullified.
And now they’d given her a chance to cast another spell. The tables had been turned.
They’d lost their one chance, and time felt like it was screeching to a halt around them. Only then…
A giant whirling blade came rushing past them to collide with the massive green wall.
An ax?!
The mighty ax plunged into the fleshy bulwark, cleaving a massive fissure. Before they could so much as register the surprise, however, a certain dwarf soldier sailed past them and dove at the wall.
“What? Was all that just talk, Finn?” Gareth goaded, the corners of his mouth turned up in a ferocious smile as he yanked his Great Ax from the green tentacles and promptly plunged it back in with another zealous swing.
The rift in the bulwark widened, though Bete and Finn hadn’t even been able to make a dent.
And then Finn smiled. Eyes still red and all rational thought supposedly wiped from his mind, he shot his comrade-in-arms a wry grin.
“Don’t make me say I knew you’d come.”
“Hah! You wish!” Gareth guffawed before taking another whack with his ax.
The resulting clout was enough to shake the very ground beneath their feet. The rift grew larger still. There was so much force behind each swing of the ax that the blade was beginning to crack.
Aiz and Bete watched in wonder as Gareth abandoned the ax and clenched a boulder-like fist.
“Get outta my way!!”
He punched the great green wall of tentacles.
“I said BEAT IT!!”
Another punch. This time, a hole opened up in the fleshy barricade.
“!”
The spirit inside moved almost instantaneously.
And a multitude of tentacles suddenly burst through the ground at Gareth’s feet.
“?”
They impaled him.
One, two, three, a whole throng of them pierced through his body and held him aloft as blood gushed out from the many holes.
But even as the red liquid poured from his mouth, the dwarf only laughed ferociously.
“You’ll have to do…better than THAAAAAAAAAAAT!!”
His bellow reverberated off the walls.
Plunging both his hands into the breach as if he weren’t leaking a waterfall of blood, he tore at the tentacles.
“Bete! Aiz!!” Finn screamed, and the two responded immediately by diving into the opening the dwarf had created.
Finn followed after, his comrade helping him through with a yank of his hand as he made it through the last of the barrier.
“Ngh?!”
They were a mere ten meders away now, and the spirit invested every tentacle she had into intercepting their attack.
The endless giant whips came at them in a frenzy, straight toward Aiz and the incredible wind power surrounding her, but Bete and Finn blocked them.
“Outta my way!” Bete shouted as he whipped out two magic swords from their leg holsters and slammed them down on his Frosvirt. The two boots ignited in the blink of an eye. Re-equipping his twin Durandal blades, he then threw himself at the flailing tendrils, pruning them whole.
“Burn in hell!!” His feet drew flaming arcs in the air as his two swords carved away with great silver gleams.
The four separate killing tools worked in sync, one on each of his limbs, whirling in a veritable blade dance that first lit the tentacles on fire, then severed them with the force of a raging wave.
It was do or die at this point. The two men fought back against the tentacle onslaught with everything they had.
“ “GuuurrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!!” ”
Their war cries overlapped.
Their armor was gone. Their bodies were riddled with wounds. But somehow they managed it. Twin blades and spear cut a single pathway.
“ “Aiz, go!!” ”
She ran.
Down the single path of survival she sprinted to take on the spirit herself.
It was just her and that thing now.
The cyclone of her Airiel versus that massive, towering creature.
As Aiz turned her gaze upward, her eyes met those deep golden pools.
—I am not Aria.
She told herself as she thought back to those first trembling words of joy the spirit had directed at her.
—And I do not know you.
She knew absolutely nothing about this thing besides the fact that the sight of it made her blood boil.
—All I know is that you shouldn’t exist.
That much she knew.
Her golden eyes flashed as they took in the maleficent, venomous spirit of chaos before her.
Indeed, the blood running through her veins was already whispering to her.
Telling her to consign this monstrosity to oblivion.
With one swing of her sword, she was off, charging straight toward the spirit.
“…Ah.”
The world above her was bathed in red, embers floating in the rising heat.
Lefiya stared up into that oversaturated world as her arms trembled to life.
A searing pain ransacked her body; devoid of strength, her eyes grew hazy and clouded.
Weakly, she raised a bedraggled arm toward the sky.
“Unleashed…beam of light…limbs of the…holy tree…”
She would sing.
It was the only song she had left in her.
A song that she could hear, even as she waged war against that terrifying enemy so far, far away.
“Loose your arrows…fairy archers…”
Even if she didn’t turn around.
She would hear it, and it would soothe her, protect her, save her as it pushed back the enemy threatening her.
“You are the…master archer…”
Just like a fairy, dancing in the forest. Like a spirit, racing to save the one she loved.
Singing the song only she could sing.
“Pierce…arrow of…accuracy…”
She would deliver her song.
“…Arcs…Ray…”
“—Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!”
Aiz leaped.
Finally, the distance between them was gone. Kicking off from the ground, she sailed toward the colossal frame of her opponent.
Then she directed her sword, Desperate, at the main body of the spirit sitting atop the titan alm.
The spirit herself could only look on in blank amazement as Aiz drew near, cyclone-like power coursing through her—and then…
—She laughed.
“?”
She opened those smiling lips to reveal the inside of her mouth, which housed a tiny magic circle.
The dancing tendrils had been nothing but a distraction to keep them from noticing the magic light forming inside her, the tiniest chant summoning the tiniest cerulean magic circle.
Her silence and expression of shock had only served to camouflage her next attack.
Aiz’s features froze in terror upon realizing she’d been led right into a trap.
It was too late now. The spirit released her spell.
“Icicle Edge!”
The resulting pillar of ice was monstrous.
It struck instantaneously, leaving her no room to evade.
A massive blade of blue ice launched directly in front of her eyes.
An arrow of light shot forth from Lefiya’s outstretched arm.
The single beam of light rose straight above her head before curving to run along the ground.
“Go…” Lefiya’s voice trembled.
Find her. Fly to her.
“GO!!” She screamed it this time, her eyes closed.
The arrow’s speed increased, almost as though responding to Lefiya’s cry.
“REACH HER!!”
And it did. Lefiya’s song reached all the way to Aiz.
And exploded against the incoming blade of ice.
“!!”
Neither Aiz nor the spirit saw it coming.
The arrow of light appeared from nowhere, slamming into the icy pillar in front of their eyes and diverting its path.
The spirit’s attack zoomed straight past Aiz, tousling her golden hair, deflected by the final cover fire of a girl who’d refused to stop singing.
The moment Aiz realized what had happened, her eyes flashed. Facing the bewildered spirit, she swung her sword of wind with everything she had.
“Gnnnghhh!!”
“Nnngh!”
With an astonishing reflex, the spirit managed to bring her arms up to block the oncoming sword and its vortex-like gale.
The wind screamed.
As the spirit gripped the body of the sword in both hands, the squall tore her vibrant gown to shreds in an instant.
The sword trembled, imbued with all that massive current, then gave a flash as it plunged straight through the spirit’s body.
Crimson blood welled from the creature’s green skin.
“—NO!!”
Her face contorted in pain and agony as the sword, propelled by the tempestuous winds, bisected her whole. She flung up a single tentacle in immediate response.
The powerful whip was quick to break through Aiz’s armor of wind, sending the swordswoman flying.
“AIZ!!”
Tiona and Tione, holding each other up, watched as the golden-haired, golden-eyed girl rocketed through the air in a shower of blood.
As did Riveria, standing there weakly.
As did Raul and the other supporters, exhausted and spent.
As did Tsubaki, supporting herself with her weapon.
As did Lefiya, still splayed across the ground.
As did Gareth, down on his knees.
As did Bete and Finn, sent flying by the flurry of flying whips.
The girl’s body whirled as it crossed above the Dungeon floor.
“?”
But even as blood poured from her head, her perception had not diminished. No, not even a single bit.
Eyes still as sharp as swords, she used the momentum of her flight to travel all the way to the Dungeon’s ceiling—then landed.
She stood there, upside down, and drew Desperate behind her like a bowstring pulled taut.
“Rage, Tempest?!!”
She’d unleash everything.
All the Mind she’d collected within her, everything loaded into the cannon that was her Airiel.
A windstorm more powerful than a typhoon.
“!”
The bloodied spirit directly below her immediately began weaving together a new chant.
“Light, gleam! Tear through the darkness! Your envoy beseeches thee, Lux! Incarnate of light! Queen of refulgence—!”
The ultrashort chant summoned a giant massive circle above her head to oppose the lone swordswoman.
Aiz’s gaze met that of the spirit below her, then she pointed the tip of her sword toward the ground.
She was ready.
All eyes were on her.
“Aiz…” Riveria murmured.
“Do it, lass.” Gareth’s eyes narrowed.
“Go, Aiiiiiiiz!!” Tiona and Tione cried out in simultaneous encouragement.
“Crush that bitch!” Bete asserted.
“It’s up to you now,” Finn said with a smile.
“—Miss Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz!!” Lefiya screamed from her spot on the ground.
And then.
“Li’l Rafaga!!”
She released the storm.
“LIGHT BURST!!” the spirit said as she finished her own spell at the same time.
Spiraling arrow of wind met massive blast of light.
There was a momentary pause.
Then the whirling kamikaze blasted through the gleaming white light, eliminating it completely.
“?”
The unbreakable sword impaled the spirit from her head to her chest.
A single flash of wind traveled from her seemingly feminine upper half to her monstrous lower half.
As the silver sword sliced her in half, the spiraling gale gouged out chunks of her flesh. The spirit’s high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the hall.
Desperate passed all the way through, collided with the hard earth—and then exploded.
The wind thundered as the spirit turning instantly to ash, her magic stone shattered.
The resulting shock waves made the entire floor quake.
Still, the tempestuous gale continued, all the ash rising and whirling like a massive dust storm.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!”
The adventurers covered their faces with their arms in an attempt to protect themselves from the violent winds.
As the gale pushed them back, the brilliant flash painted their visions white.
The weapons thrust into the ground began to shake, resonating with the scream of Aiz’s sword.
And still the storm continued to rage and howl.
Then…
Once the trembling and the rumbling began to subside…
Tiona and the others looked up from their crouched positions…and saw a shadow moving in the center of that giant crater.
The young swordswoman slowly rose to her feet, pulling her silver sword from the ground.
She turned her golden eyes toward them, her long blond hair practically glimmering in the overhead phosphorescence—and they couldn’t hold in their cheers of pure joy.
“AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZ?!!” Tiona shouted as she rushed forward, her body covered in cuts and bruises. How she still had any strength remaining was anybody’s guess.
Tione was soon to follow, and Aiz could only smile softly at the broad smiles of her two Amazonian companions. Tiona practically leaped on her as the sisters wrapped her in their arms.
“…Are you all right, Gareth?” Finn inquired as he made his way over to the dwarf.
Gareth glanced up from his spot on the ground, skin and armor stained a bloody crimson. “I seem to remember some prum tellin’ me the only thing I had goin’ for me was this great lug of a body,” he replied, the corners of his mouth turning up in a knowing grin. Next to them, Bete closed his eyes with a laugh.
Far, far behind them, the supporters were hugging one another with tears of relief—even Raul brought an arm to his eyes as he let out a waterfall of manly tears.
“Lefiya, are you all right…?” Riveria knelt down to take the magic user in her arms.
“Lady Riviera…is…is Miss Aiz…?” Lefiya replied from against the high elf’s chest as she directed her watery eyes upward.
Riveria turned her gaze toward the swordswoman in question.
“She’s fine…thanks to your magic.”
Lefiya looked over to see Aiz stumbling beneath Tiona’s and Tione’s overwhelming embraces.
Aiz, in turn, looked back at Lefiya, golden eyes meeting azure.
Thank you, she mouthed silently.
“Oh…” Lefiya’s vision blurred as it took in the sight of that smile.
It was a true, genuine smile from the depths of her heart.
A single tear worked its way down her cheek.
“Goodness gracious! I’d say I’ve seen about everything now!” Tsubaki rubbed at her eye patch from afar as she watched over Loki Familia in their celebration.
Then a childlike smile spread across her face.
The cries of victory echoed throughout the entirety of the fifty-ninth floor.
They’d done it. They’d overcome another expedition. And as the adventurers raised their voices, their weapons gleamed with a brilliant luster.
Aiz pulled her sword from where it stood protruding from the earth in the middle of the hall.
It glinted a dazzling silver in her hand.
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