The air at the bottom of Floor 60 froze, but not because of the Glacier's icy temperature, but rather the murderous intent radiating from the three absolute existences standing within the hall.
Six giant tendrils from the lower body of the Corrupted Spirit lashed through the air like the whips of a death god. Their tips, adorned with sharp crystals, did not only target the physical body, but also emitted magical distortions ready to tear at sanity. At the same time, the lips of the pale woman fused with the flesh above mumbled, chanting ancient spirit magic that had been twisted into pure curses.
Facing the opening attack that could level a city, Aria did not retreat a single inch. Her golden eyes flashed blindingly.
The Great Spirit of Wind spread both her arms.
"O eternal wind, bless those who dance upon the storm... Eternal Zephyr."
Not an attack, but an absolute blessing from nature. A golden-emerald wind blew fiercely, enveloping the bodies of Aria and Alfia like invisible cloaks.
Instantly, Alfia's eyes widened. She could feel her mortal body become as light as cotton. Her muscles, her reflexes, and the sharpness of her five senses spiked drastically, surpassing the normal limits of a Level 7. Every air current around her seemed to whisper the trajectory of the enemy's attacks before they even arrived. This was a god-tier buff—a blessing that extremely boosted Agility, Critical Rate, and Counter Rate.
"Incredible," Alfia smirked ferociously. "With a body this light, gravity is nothing but a joke!"
In just a matter of milliseconds before the six deadly tendrils struck them, Alfia vanished from where she stood. She darted at a speed that even left afterimages on the ice floor.
However, the Corrupted Spirit was no stupid monster. The pale woman atop the mountain of flesh finished her distorted chant. A giant, dark purple magic circle filled with inverted ancient characters materialized in the air.
BOOOOM!
A pillar of black fire carrying a curse of decay exploded from the magic circle, shooting like a comet straight toward Alfia, who was in mid-air. The magic's range was too massive to dodge, even with Aria's wind speed. If that magic hit an ordinary adventurer, even adamantite-strong armor would melt along with their bones and soul.
Alfia did not alter her trajectory in the slightest. Her left hand snapped its fingers, and a super-short incantation slipped from her lips.
"—Silentium Eden."
A highly dense layer of silver light exploded from Alfia's body, forming an absolute energy armor that enveloped her from head to toe. This was her absolute defense magic—a magic-nullifying armor capable of erasing any existence of Magic that came into contact with it.
When the giant pillar of black fire struck Alfia, the fire did not burn her. Instead, the curse fire split in two like waves crashing against a sturdy reef, then faded into dust particles upon contact with the Silentium Eden armor.
While piercing the sea of curse fire without a single scratch, Alfia dove straight down right above the six giant tendrils trying to ambush Aria.
Her heterochromatic eyes glared sharply at the disgusting masses of flesh. Alfia raised her right hand.
"—Satanas Verion!"
Unlike the mass-annihilation version that required a long energy-gathering time, Alfia used the super-short chant variation of her pinnacle magic. Blocks of sound and shockwaves compressed until they were as hard as diamonds shot from her palm like cannonballs.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Three shockwave blocks squarely hit the bases of those tendrils. The resulting sonic explosions were so terrifying that the ice at the base of the Floor 60 hall cracked. The six giant tendrils shattered to pieces, exploding into shards of rotting flesh and purple crystals that scattered into the air.
GROOOOOARRRR! The Corrupted Spirit screamed in pain. Its distorted scream made the ice pillars tremble.
Alfia landed smoothly beside Aria, her short sword spinning elegantly in her hand. "Too easy. This creature is slow, and its attacks are very predictable."
"Do not let your guard down, Alfia," warned Aria, her eyes constantly watching the mountain of flesh before them. "Its essence... has not diminished in the slightest."
Sure enough. Right after Aria spoke, thick black blood spewed from the bases of the tendrils Alfia had just destroyed. In a matter of seconds—not minutes, but seconds—the rotting muscles forcibly knitted themselves back together. New bones protruded, and six identical giant tendrils grew back in the blink of an eye.
In fact, this time the tendrils looked thicker, and the purple magic circles prepared by the pale woman were three times more numerous than before.
Alfia narrowed her eyes, analyzing the regeneration speed and the magic pressure the creature had just released.
"Instant recovery without chanting healing magic? And it can unleash large-scale magic almost without mind down (magic exhaustion)?" Alfia muttered, the deadly calculator in her brain working fast.
Alfia finally realized a bitter fact. Considering its speed, the tendrils' destructive power, the bombardment magic's strength, and its regeneration... the energy output of the creature before them right now was in an entirely different realm from any deep-floor monster.
Its pure pressure is equivalent to a Level 8 adventurer, Alfia thought. Maybe even more, considering its ability to continuously unleash magic without limits. This anomaly is supplied by an utterly illogical energy.
The creature gave them no time to think. Three giant magic circles exploded simultaneously. A rain of poisonous ice spears, a storm of black fire, and strikes of purple lightning shot out, bombarding the area where Alfia and Aria stood.
"Let's test how long it can last!" shouted Alfia.
Thanks to the Eternal Zephyr still flowing in her veins, Alfia moved like a flash of silver light. She used a combination of Silentium Eden to cleave unavoidable magic, then closed in at an invisible speed and unleashed a rapid barrage of Satanas Verion.
BLAM! CRAAAK! Alfia's sonic blocks crushed the right side of the mountain of flesh. Purple crystals scattered.
However, every time its flesh was destroyed, every time the Corrupted Spirit regenerated instantly. The creature retaliated with wild tendril swings and relentless magic fire. The battle turned into a storm of destruction that slowly caused the Floor 60 hall to collapse.
Alfia continued to corner the creature, but deep down, the mage realized something was off.
Even a boss monster would tire if its forced regeneration were destroyed repeatedly. This is illogical. Where is it getting this infinite reserve of magic energy?
Seeing Alfia starting to be flooded by relentless magic fire from all directions, Aria took a step forward. The Great Spirit of Wind brought both her hands together again, focusing her power over the sky and atmosphere.
The air inside the Floor 60 hall suddenly felt heavy, as if the entire atmospheric pressure above the surface of Orario was forcibly dropped to the bottom of the labyrinth.
"Bow down, anomaly," ordered Aria with a voice that echoed throughout the room. "Skyline Sever."
An extreme air pressure—an area-of-effect (AoE) magic attack in the form of a storm dome pressurized with billions of tons—fell upon the Corrupted Spirit.
BZZZZZZK!!!
The attack was not purely for cutting, but rather for striking with pressure. Skyline Sever slammed into the anomaly with a force capable of leveling a mountain. The mountain of rotting flesh was slammed down, its bones crushed, and its tendrils smashed to the floor. More importantly, the sudden extreme pressure disrupted the corrupted spirit's mana circulation flow, instantly inflicting a Stun (paralysis) effect.
The magic circles in the air faded. The pale woman atop the mountain of flesh let out a stifled scream, her body rigid and unable to move. The poisonous miasma and purple fog that had shrouded the back of the creature were swept away by the blast of Skyline Sever.
Thanks to the miasma fog being swept clean, the view at the far end of the hall behind the creature was now seen very clearly.
Alfia, who had just stepped back to take a breath, widened her eyes to their maximum limit. What she saw behind the giant body of the Corrupted Spirit went far beyond the logic of her knowledge about the labyrinth.
"Sylphie..." called Alfia, her voice laden with disgust and a horrifying discovery. "Look behind it. At the crater wall."
Aria focused her gaze. Her face instantly tensed.
At the back of the Corrupted Spirit, fused with the ice wall and the glacier floor, was a disgusting giant structure. It was a "Fleshy Womb"—a giant, dark red tumorous womb pulsing rhythmically, as if it lived and breathed independently. The giant tumor dug directly into the labyrinth's structure, pumping pure phosphor-glowing liquid from the Dungeon's walls.
From within the pulsing tumor womb, extended dozens of umbilical cords—giant umbilical cords that were thick, veiny, and coursing with dark purple magic energy. Those umbilical cords plunged directly into the pale woman's spine and into the mountain of flesh of the Corrupted Spirit.
"That's..." Aria held her breath, her anger boiling even hotter. "That's not part of its original body."
"Those are its supply hoses," hissed Alfia, her brain piecing together the entire puzzle of the previous battle. "No wonder it has infinite magic energy and regeneration. This creature isn't fighting using its own stamina."
Alfia pointed at the tumor womb pulsing on the wall.
"Its power equivalent to a Level 8, its ability to recover in an instant, everything comes from that thing. This Dungeon... this damn labyrinth is literally nursing it! That tumor womb sucks nutrients, Magic, and power directly from the depths of the Dungeon, then pumps it into the body of this corrupted spirit through those umbilical cords."
Aria realized how cruel the will of this labyrinth was. The Dungeon did not just rot her fellow spirit, but also deliberately nurtured it, feeding it infinite energy so this anomaly would grow into an absolute weapon of destruction. It made this unfortunate spirit its adopted child full of hatred.
The stun effect from Skyline Sever slowly began to fade. The giant umbilical cords behind the Corrupted Spirit pulsed rapidly again, pumping waves of new energy. The flesh crushed by Aria's air pressure began to knit itself back together with terrifying speed. The pale woman raised her head again, her eyes glowing with even greater wrath.
"As long as that disgusting thing behind it is still attached to the wall, we will never be able to kill it," said Alfia. The mana glow around the mage surged high once again. "We could destroy it a thousand times, and this labyrinth would revive it a thousand and one times."
Aria floated to Alfia's side. The emerald wind cloaked her body again, ready for the peak confrontation. Her golden eyes stared straight at the cluster of giant umbilical cords protected by the mountain of flesh in front of her.
"In that case, our tactics change," said Aria, her voice filled with absolute, undeniable authority. "We are no longer targeting its head or its main crystal for now."
Alfia smirked ferociously, fully understanding her partner's train of thought. She spun her short sword with an enthusiasm that burned her blood. The battle relying on physical brutality was over. Now was the time for precise surgical tactics.
"Exactly," Alfia agreed. She lowered her stance, syncing her breath with the flow of the Eternal Zephyr wind that still blessed her. "We cut its food supply first. We slice those umbilical cords, then we separate this anomaly 'baby' from its mother's womb."
The Corrupted Spirit roared. Dozens of layered magic circles appeared in the air, preparing to unleash an endless bombardment.
But this time, Alfia and Aria had discovered the corrupted spirit's greatest weakness. The true dance of extermination had just begun, and their primary target was now hidden behind a wall of despair.
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