At this time, the surging heat wave was gradually dissipating, the previous violent vibrations were slowly subsiding, and the sound of collapse came from a distance.
The solid ground where the expedition team was originally located had now turned into a huge hole with a diameter of nearly 100 meters.
Not only that, the nearby caves around the hole were also not spared, and each one became riddled with holes and in ruins.
The walls were covered with dense cracks, some of which were even several meters wide, as if they would collapse at any time.
In the midst of this mess, the huge ice ball controlled by Akira was not greatly affected.
Driven by Akira's thoughts, it slowly melted away and finally turned into a stream of water.
All members of the expedition team were safe and sound in this thrilling explosion.
However, because the ground beneath their feet was completely blown up, everyone lost their support and was caught off guard. They fell straight down from the 26th floor to the 27th, where Amphisbaena was.
"Is everyone okay?"
"That was a close call, Akira, you are awesome."
"It's a trap. They actually want to destroy us with so many bombs. What a scary guy."
The voices of the familia members could be heard from all around.
...
"Huh?!!!"
Ouranos stood up from the throne with a serious look on his face.
In the stone space that looked like an underground temple, four torches set up beside the altar emitted red light. In the center of the altar dominated by the dim darkness, Ouranos opened his pale eyes.
"What's wrong, Ouranos?"
Fels felt the immovable old god standing up, so he sent him a message.
Ouranos paused for a moment, then spoke with a heavy heart, "Something is wrong in the dungeon, something is hatching..."
"Something? What do you mean? What are you talking about, Ouranos?!"
Perhaps sensing the unusual aura of the old god, Fels asked a little impatiently.
Ouranos squinted his eyes and looked down at his feet.
Looking down at the underground world (dungeon) spreading out below, he answered to the crystal, "I don't know, I can only feel that an unknown monster is being born..."
"Monster?!"
Ouranos solemnly declared to the speechless Fels, "The disaster is coming..."
Ouranos listened to the sounds coming from the dungeon and told Fels in a sad voice.
"The defensive instinct triggered by excessive damage... That is the cry of the dungeon that even my prayers cannot reach."
If you simply destroy the structure of the dungeon, it will not cause any reaction. Every time the dungeon is damaged, it will start to repair itself in order to regenerate. The power is so sufficient that adventurers call it [Infinite Resource].
However, once someone carries out an act that makes it too late for the dungeon to regenerate... no, it is an act of excessive destruction.
Then, the dungeon will no longer regenerate, but will start eliminating the "cause".
If we use living things to describe it, it will be easy to understand.
Just like humans, when the body is attacked by foreign objects, the immune function will be activated to eliminate the invading pathogens (viruses).
Of course, all living things have this self-defense instinct.
The same goes for the dungeon.
As a dungeon that can produce monsters, it is alive. When it is attacked excessively, this living underground maze will play its self-defense instinct and give birth to that...
Giving birth to that being that is equivalent to an immune response.
Give birth to apostles to remove foreign objects such as adventurers who invade the body (dungeon).
Back to Akira, everyone landed safely after having a thrilling experience. Everyone was gasping for breath with lingering fear, but soon focused their attention on the huge and deep hole above their heads.
Alise raised her head, looked up at the shocking hole in the ceiling, and said solemnly, "What a horrible attack, these damn Evilus."
Kaguya also had a look of disgust on her face.
She frowned and gritted her teeth and said, "Ah, I didn't expect that they would even raise such a thing."
At this time, Akira stood there calmly, listening to the discussions of the girls around him.
Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly felt his body shake violently.
"What happened again? Is it... an earthquake?" Lyra reacted quickly and noticed.
You know, in this mysterious labyrinth, any tiny vibration is often a harbinger of some abnormal state to come.
Alise didn't dare to delay for even a second. She made a prompt decision and shouted at the top of her voice, "Everyone, hurry up and evacuate the bottom of this hole!"
Hearing Alise's cry, the members of the expedition came back to their senses as if awakened from a dream, and then ran as fast as possible towards the cave leading to the 28th floor that was covered by tree roots.
Akira grabbed Maryuu and Celty in each hand and held them between his waist and quickly followed everyone's pace.
As they ran desperately, the vibrations around them became more and more intense, as if the entire dungeon was shaking.
At the same time, bursts of low and faint roars were heard from a distance, the sound was deafening, it seemed that the monsters in the two adjacent floors were rushing towards here frantically.
Then, a sharp, piercing, and creepy cry resounded throughout the space.
"Ahhh!!!"
The huge maze buried deep underground was like a living being being tortured, crying out in pain.
It was as if a knife was ruthlessly cutting through a silver string stretched to its limit, producing an extraordinary, inorganic, high-pitched melody.
This extremely sharp sound has unparalleled penetrating power. It is powerful enough to easily penetrate people's fragile eardrums and physically drill into the depths of the brain.
The undoubted "crying" of the dungeon made every girl present frown involuntarily.
They instinctively covered their ears with their hands, but even so, the horrible sound still followed them like a shadow, madly attacking their nerve endings.
At this moment, the light around, which had seemed a little dim, suddenly began to flicker and quickly turned into a dazzling red light.
The red light illuminated the surroundings, making it seem as if one was in purgatory, terrifying and depressing.
In Akira's perception, the intricate lines crisscrossed like blood vessels connecting countless lives. These lines were the veins that stored the vast amount of magic power in the dungeon.
The magic power began to gather, like a waterfall falling straight down and like a flood spreading across the sky.
(End of Chapter)
Read 40 Advanced Chapters on patreon.com/astralicity