By the massive crimson quartz pillar stood the masked figure wearing a ram's skull.
-----------------------------------
The fierce battle continued, the roars of the monsters, the crashing sounds of the tentacles formed from plant vines slamming "thud, thud, thud," and the metallic grinding of adventurers' weapons and armor all mixed together, making one's blood boil.
"Boom,"
"Rumble, "
Explosions of magic tools. The eruption of magic swords, the roar of spells, endlessly purging the monsters that poured out in waves.
After the continuous high-intensity fighting, Asfi's forehead was beaded with sweat, her face turning pale.
Not only Asfi, but even the other members were the same, their condition rapidly deteriorating, their recovery potions failing to keep up with their rate of exhaustion.
What was even more dire was that their equipment's durability was decreasing at an alarming pace.
The monsters' skin, completely immune to blunt force, made the battle increasingly difficult as weapons wore down and edges curled.
By this point, even the squad's spare magic swords had all been used up.
"Snap", a gloved hand reached into the pouch once more, but this time Asfi's expression froze.
At her side, "Boom!", the staff tilted forward, releasing another blazing flame cannon, instantly streaking across the cavern, scorching green into black.
Afterward, Fron swung his black Goliath cloak to deflect an enemy's lash, then thrust his staff into the monster's bud, directly piercing its magic stone. Only then did he disengage from the frontline, nimbly hopping back to Asfi's side, asking softly:
"What happened?"
"..."
Asfi's face flushed red, then pale, then dark, her heart clearly far from calm. Fron glanced at her frozen hand at her waist and faintly understood something.
At this moment, Asfi was utterly conflicted, regretful, and frustrated, almost ready to gnash her teeth.
She never imagined that despite bringing far more liquid explosives than usual, she would consume them all in less than half a day of fighting.
In truth, she couldn't really be blamed.
The enemy's peculiar nature prevented the mages from freely using magic, and the vanguard shields couldn't take the offensive.
The only offensive power came from weapons in hand, but… the Violas were far too large, and their weak points were several meters high within their buds.
Thus, killing them came at great cost, causing the Hermes Familia's consumption to easily surpass Asfi's safety line.
Frequent use of "explosive oil" to finish enemies off led her to suddenly realize, her tools were nearly depleted.
"Th-that…" Fron chuckled, tossing Asfi two magic swords from her pack.
"These are swords I forged. Use them for now. With just your short sword, you can't really deal effective damage to the enemy, can you?"
"Th-thank you."
For some reason, perhaps embarrassment, Asfi's lovely face blushed faintly. She shyly turned her head away and lowered it.
--?
Fron was utterly puzzled. 'No. Why are you blushing?'
It truly fit that saying: a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. You can never know what she's thinking in that moment.
Sighing lightly, Fron downed a healing potion and threw herself back into the battle.
...
As Fron, Asfi, and the others repelled wave after wave of attacking Violas, the green passage ahead finally widened.
From the endless tunnel's mouth, unlike the faint glow of the withered plants along the green-carpeted ground, a light of bloody crimson seeped out, different from the green phosphorescence.
"That glow, could it be…?"
As experienced adventurers, they all instantly recognized it.
"The glow of the Pantry's quartz pillar? Then… we've finally broken through!?"
Lulune, battered all over, stared ahead warily along with her companions.
"Asfi?"
At this point, what was there to hesitate about? With a sweep of the arm beneath her pure white cloak, Her Highness gave the command:
"Everyone, raise your guard. Forward!"
"Yes!"
Taking a deep breath, Fron drank two more potions, slowly recovering his condition.
He had long since lost count of how many times he'd cast spells along the way.
Adding to the fierce fighting, both his stamina and spirit were far from peak, but still better off than the Hermes Familia.
"We don't know what unexpected events may occur. Must stay vigilant. Who knows what irrational things those lunatics of the 'Dark Faction' might do?"
What he truly feared were those madmen.
Never playing by the rules, always committing horrific acts beyond the bottom line of morality.
Such lunatics were simply too troublesome to deal with.
Thinking this, the group formed up and slowly advanced into the vast chamber glowing blood-red.
The "Pantry", at the outer edge of every dungeon floor, there were always large cavities. At the center of such a cavern stood an enormous quartz pillar.
This giant crystal pillar, constantly radiating blood-red light, continuously supplied the nutrients necessary for that floor's monsters.
Because of this mysterious property, and because it permanently illuminated the cavern, adventurers called it the "cafeteria", the monsters' "Pantry."
The bloody light was visible to the naked eye, and before long… the party passed through the opening, stepping into the cavern.
"This is…"
Emerging from the tunnel, their field of vision widened.
But… the "Pantry" was not as they remembered. Its appearance had been altered.
First, the floor, walls, and dome of the cavern, just as they had seen before, they were completely eroded and covered by green fungal carpets. The entire space flickered between green and crimson, enough to make the scalp tingle.
But unlike the carpets in the tunnels, these infested surfaces of the cavern bore countless things resembling swollen flower buds about to burst. They hung throughout the cavern, everywhere, densely packed.
"So disgusting…"
"Are these… parasitic monsters?"
"Like… a hive of some sort."
"But, why do they look so familiar…?"
"Could it be…?"
One by one, the adventurers grew suspicious, then shocked, then horrified.
"Those… could they be the larvae of Violas?"
"Hissss…"
Gasps echoed through the group as the terrifying suspicion sank in.
The sheer number of buds was impossible to count. If all these Violas larvae matured, who knew what would happen?
But… another question arose. Who had done this? Who had changed everything? Who was raising these plants?
Was it artificial, or the dungeon itself? If artificial, what was the enemy's purpose? If the dungeon… then why had the dungeon changed this way?
These doubts piled up in Asfi's heart. Beneath her glasses, her pupils were full of confusion.
She felt… they weren't merely dragged into troublesome currents. The relentless questions before her made it seem as though nothing ahead was clear at all.
----------------------------
T/N: Two chaps for yesterday and another two for today, all posted.
Will post the bonus chapter for 50 power stones later.