Riveria moved past the tunnel at the end of the stairs. What awaited on the other side was outside of Riveria's predictions. It was a landscape filled with the strangest plants and vegetation she had ever seen. The difference between the floor described by the Zeus Familia and this forest with soaring trees couldn't be any wider.
"This is…" Finn muttered in shock. "Unexpected."??
Asahi noticed a strange vitality drifting off of the plants. They had the same air as the plants he previously saw on the 27th floor—the Evilus Hideout.
'It's related to those corrupted spirits?'
"We saw them before," Ryuu confirmed his doubt.
Asahi frowned. He wasn't afraid of them, but an ambush from a level 7 or above might end up with someone dead. He trusted his instincts to warn him of any danger. What if he couldn't react in time? He quickly wrapped everyone in a light storm fort barrier and pulled out Gae Bolg.
*Shkeeee!*
A horrifying shriek echoed throughout the forest.
"W-What was that?" Lefiya asked, hugging her staff to her chest.
"This is not what we came here for," Riveria said, her sharp gaze peering into the dense forest.
"But we'll continue," Finn added.
"Got it."
"Agreed."
Gareth and Alise agreed.
"Everyone, stay close to me," Asahi said. "Alise, Ryuu, with me."
With Ais and Ryuu sticking close to him, he guided the party with his instincts. Ais stayed right behind him.
Everyone held their weapons close as they traveled through the forest. This floor was larger and more open than the 58th floor, all covered in thick and tall trees. It made up for a perfect place for an ambush, raising Asahi's paranoia.
Crossing the forest, Asahi saw the living nightmare of a person with insectophobia. Giant caterpillars were wriggling on the ground, their skin a mix of yellow and green. Behind the caterpillars were several man-eating flowers shrieking in a panicked alarm. Asahi had seen them on the 23rd floor. However, these monsters looked far stronger than the ones he saw before.
'Around level 4?'
Of course, they were nothing compared to the dragons. Yet, their aura was weird.
'It's destructive but not the kind I felt from the destruction element.'
He looked at the green color of the caterpillar.
'Green… Poison or acid element?'
(Yes, my love! It's the poison element mixed with… arcanum!)
The caterpillar opened its fat, squelching mouth and sprayed a jet of green acid. Asahi's instincts warned him of the danger behind the acid.
"Dodge!"
Asahi yelled as he charged up Gae Bolg and tossed it in the middle of the caterpillar horde. The caterpillars blew up in pieces of squishy green fat, each piece carried the potent acid. As the caterpillars died, their magic stones stirred on the ground and exploded. All the other magic stones also exploded, creating a chain of explosions. The plant monsters covered their heads with the armor-like flower petals, consciously defending themselves from the blast.
Asahi narrowed his eyes. 'Modified magic stones?'
[—You earned 5,000 XP for killing 'Level 25 Virga']
'That's a lot of experience for a level 25.'
Even the black dragon summoned by the dungeon in response to his aura only gave about 4000 XP.
(They are evolved with spirit powers. Oops, I wasn't supposed to spoil anything!)
'It's fine. I had a hunch about it.'
(Umu.)
The party was out of the blast radius, but the acid managed to fall on Finn and Riveria's barriers. Asahi could have stopped it with his telekinesis but he let the acid land on the storm barrier. The acid sizzled as it carved a hole into the barrier. The barriers made for max mobility had low durability. Still, to straight-up dissolve Baal's barrier was no joking matter. Adding the death explosion in the mix, they could have given Loki Familia a very hard time. After all, their weapons can't endure the acid.
The man-eating plants bloomed, revealing sets of spiky teeth all around their mouth.
"Titan Alm," Ryuu muttered. "They indiscriminately eat other monsters… but they are coordinating."
"Strange, isn't it?" Alise said. "Is it related to the corrupted spirit? I wonder."
The girls calmly discussed as the Titan Alms hopped on the bunch of vines acting as their legs.
"Finn, Riveria, leave them to me."
Asahi equipped the spear of Leonidas and launched himself into the fray of caterpillars. His eyes sharpened to slits, he directly stabbed a Virga's chest. The spear dug deep into the squelching flesh and destroyed the magic stone in one instant. The tempered magic stones were obliterated, leaving no room for any explosion. In the next moment, he was before another caterpillar, his spear coming from its back. He dashed around, destroying the magic stones with pinpoint accuracy. Before the Titan Alms reached the party, he had annihilated the thirty-plus caterpillars.
He moved onto the Titan Alms next. Unlike the suicidal virga, they had no special trait other than their brute strength. Usually, they swung the vines attached to their hands and trapped the adventurers. Without high physical strength, it was near impossible to escape their deadly fangs. Their tricks couldn't work on Asahi, whose perception and instincts were developed beyond monsters.
He smiled as Klyscha brought up the XP bar.
[—Current level progress: 78.80%]
Just as he turned around and flashed a victorious grin at his redhead lover, an alarming buzz went through his head. Pushing his perception to the limit, he caught sight of wriggling green mass sailing through the air.
Tentacles.
A mass of thick green tentacles with thorns protruding from its surface.
They all burst from the green grass and rocketed straight to none other than Ais.
'Tentacle-san, you ain't lewding the blonde knight today.'
(She is illegal!)
The spear in his hand flashed. By the time Finn's thumb twitched, or Ais sensed the ambush, Asahi had sliced down the thick tentacles into thin stalks. Once everyone became aware of the ambush, they raised their weapons and stood back to back with each other. Except for Lefiya. Her legs nearly gave up, so she had to lean on Aki's back.
"It's clear now," Asahi notified the group, frowning at the tentacle. He didn't need any equipment to feel the barely noticeable arcanum inside the tentacles.
'The corrupted spirit is out to get Ais, the child of spirit.'
He turned to Finn with a serious expression. "Riveria, Finn, retreat to the 58th floor."
He could kill the monsters in their place and carry them to any floor. However, he felt like this was only the beginning. The corrupted spirit's attacks will only grow after it saw Ais. The loli was clearly not ready to face this threat as she barely registered the ambush by the tentacles. He signed up as a transporter, and he did just that. Protecting the group from a corrupted spirit wasn't part of the deal.
His unusually solemn expression surprised Riveria. The fact he called her by her name instead of "Mom" nailed home the graveness of the situation. Riveria turned to Finn, who also looked her way with a frown. They had finally reached the legendary 59th floor. If possible, he wanted to clear it and touch the 60th floor. For the sake of breaking the record, he was willing to borrow Asahi's power. He knew he was relying too much on Asahi's instincts. It had lowered his guard.
'It won't happen again.'
Asahi put the tentacles in his ring and took a few drops of the green acid. He snatched Finn's spear and poured it on the spearhead. The golden tip of the spear melted under the shocked eyes of the pallum.
"See. You guys don't have the equipment to face these monsters."
Riveria nodded in understanding. Dangerous acid, and the fearsome ability to explode upon death—she was thoroughly impressed by his ability to deal with them in such a short time.
Finn's eyes widened in shock. "No way…"
It was the spear Loki gifted him when he received the 'Braver' alias. It was a sign of his bravery and his hopes. Seeing it melt drained his body of all the strength.
Ais came forward with her saber lying flat on her hands. "Onii-san… try on this."
Ais wanted to see if her beloved weapon could guide her past the dangerous 59th floor.
Asahi nodded and repeated the test on her saber. Her weapon surprisingly survived the acid.
"It has Durandal…" Ais muttered, nodding to herself.
"The Durandal attribute is the key," Riveria said, giving a soft smile. "Finn, we should only return once everyone has upgraded their weapons."
It would be a costly but necessary upgrade. Knowing most of her party could no longer fight, Riveria agreed to retreat.
Others also gave up. Well, except for one cheery wheat-skinned amazonian girl.
"I can come with you alone!" Tiona shouted, her wild dark hair bobbing with her head. "Please, take me down there!"
Asahi was left speechless. Tiona's weapon was top-tier, yet it didn't have the Durandal attribute. Even so, she was willingly throwing herself in the danger just to explore the legendary floors. The unexplored lands of the dungeon where no adventurer had descended.
'It will be my fairy tale!'
Tiona grinned ear to ear.
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