"My opinion is that we should stay longer in the previous room." Ryoji held the opposite view.
With their current three-person team, it was basically impossible to defeat Udaeus.
The white room from earlier continuously spawned monsters. With his Level 3 strength, grinding there for ten days to half a month would probably be enough for him to level up to 4. If food ran out, they could go to the 28th Floor to pick fruits. That's how they managed it during the expedition, too.
"I think so too." Riveria agreed. No doubt this was the safer option.
"Only by defeating opponents far stronger than yourself can you surpass your limits, that's what you taught me." But Ais didn't respond. She just stared intently at Ryoji, her eyes full of unshakable determination.
"Hoh?" Riveria narrowed her almond-shaped eyes.
Her gaze toward Ryoji gradually turned dangerous. 'So it was you who put this idea in her head?'
"Ah… um…" Ryoji was instantly caught off guard and couldn't respond for a while. "But fighting a Level 6 Floor Boss is far too dangerous."
"Didn't you come this far by doing exactly that?" Ais stared at him stubbornly, her eyes burning with defiant resolve.
"You allowed yourself to fight strong enemies. Could it be that you're not allowing me to challenge a Floor Boss?"
"...Alright, I'm convinced." Ryoji let out a deep breath and gave a helpless smile.
She was right. He was in no position to stop her.
Up until now, most of the enemies he had faced were stronger than him. He had always been chasing after stronger opponents, breaking through his limits, only by doing so could he truly grow.
That was his path, and it didn't make sense to deny Ais the same. Her desire to grow stronger was just like his.
"Oi." Riveria couldn't help but speak up.
"It's not that bad, right? If we're careful, then it will be alright." Ryoji quickly changed the subject, laughing as he started trying to convince Riveria instead.
"Ais and I are both pretty good at escaping. At the very least, we should be able to get away from Udaeus. There's no real danger to our lives, and besides, you're here too, right, Riveria?"
Ais gave Ryoji a grateful look. Ryoji stealthily made an "OK" hand sign back at her.
"...I understand now how Finn feels." Riveria pressed her hand to her forehead, making the same headache expression Finn always wore.
"Riveria, I'm counting on you too."
"You're saying that too… really, what can I do?" Faced with Ais's pleading expression, Riveria couldn't help but soften.
Ais had always been a strong child.
From childhood to now, she rarely expressed her desires so directly, rarely said things like "I want to do this." That made Riveria especially soft when Ais actually did make a request.
Besides, the Floor Boss might not spawn in the next couple of days. It wouldn't hurt to just go take a look.
Having made up their minds, the trio began advancing deeper once more.
The deeper they went, the fewer monsters they encountered. The monsters that had been everywhere in the outer areas were now so rare they could go a full kilometer without seeing a single one.
But the air was filled with a dense, grim killing intent. Riveria's expression grew increasingly serious. A hint of worry flickered across her tense face.
This is not good. There was really only one possibility, the monsters were instinctively avoiding this area. At the center of the 37th Floor, A large, dim hall loomed before them.
There were no monster roars to be heard, and none showed any signs of approaching the room. A dead silence hung unnaturally in the air around the three of them.
The atmosphere between them was unusually cold. The ceiling above was dozens of meters high, and the lack of phosphorescence made the entire room feel suffocatingly dangerous, sending chills down their spines.
Ais stopped in the middle of the room.
Ryoji also sharply sensed that something dangerous was approaching.
Riveria raised her magic staff, which was inlaid with nine magic stones, and began chanting softly.
"O spirits of the wood, grant my wish. Garments of the forest, my name is Alf, "
"VMMM--!"
A faint tremor pulsed beneath their boots.
As the three held their breath in tense anticipation, the trembling intensified. Then, the center of the room's floor suddenly bulged upward unnaturally, cracking with a sharp "KRAK!"
"Ooooohhhhhhh!!"
With the earth groaning, the ground shattered and split apart. An enormous figure rose from beneath the earth, as rocks and dust cascaded like a mudslide.
Amid a roar powerful enough to shatter eardrums, a monster appeared before the three, like a Spartoi magnified to massive proportions. Its entire skeletal body was dyed pitch-black, radiating a sinister and ominous aura.
The creature's lower half remained buried in the earth, yet the portion above the pelvis alone was over ten meters tall. Its body, composed of countless black bones, twitched and shifted as if alive. Two horn-like protrusions jutted from its demon-like skull, and crimson ghostly flames flickered eerily within its hollow eye sockets.
At the center of its enormous chest, protected by thick, heavy bones, was a giant magic stone the size of a person.
"I feel like it's looking down on me." Ryoji said grimly, his lips twisting slightly.
"That magic stone's way too obvious. If I use my acceleration magic, I could take it out in one shot!"
And he wasn't wrong. With no flesh or muscle to absorb damage, just bare bone, Ryoji felt confident that a fully-powered Sword Throw could shatter that magic stone.
"Don't get cocky." Ais's expression was filled with an intensifying fighting spirit.
She looked like she could barely hold herself back, ready to charge forward at any moment. Even so, she still took the time to warn Ryoji.
"Udaeus's strength is no joke. Last time, it took the entire Loki Familia to bring him down."
Of course, Ryoji understood.
The warning signals blaring in his instincts were no joke either, he just wanted to lighten the tense mood.
"---Veil of the Holy Spirit!"
With a sharp cry, Riveria unleashed a dazzling surge of magical energy from her staff. The magic stone embedded at the tip glowed brilliantly, transforming into a light green veil that spread out and wrapped around the three of them.
"You're even giving me a buff?" Ryoji was somewhat surprised.
"You'll understand soon enough." Riveria finished chanting, glancing at him with a half-smile.
That look of hers practically said, "That's for encouraging my Ais."
It was a smug, "revenge accomplished" kind of satisfaction.
"Boom!"
As the magical veil settled over her, Ais stomped forward with explosive force. The ground cracked beneath her feet as she rocketed toward Udaeus head-on, her speed leaving afterimages in her wake.
"Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
The massive skeletal monster let out a furious roar. And then, as if obeying a command from its womb, countless minions of the Guardian King burst from beneath the earth, ripping through the floor to emerge into the upper world.
"Tch...!"
Ryoji sucked in a cold breath.
Those were all armed skeletal warriors, the same kind of Spartoi they had faced in the white room earlier!
Each one was Level 4.
And there were twenty of them in total!
"Cha!"
No wonder even the full force of Loki Familia was needed to take this thing down. So this was the Floor Boss's hidden trick!
"Good luck~."
Riveria cheerfully waved at Ryoji as she took a step back and retreated.
"I'm just a fragile little mage, so I'll be counting on you to protect me."
(End of Chapter)
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