""What?!""
When a figure appeared ahead in the passage, Bete, Tiona, and Tione—who were running at the front—each drew in a sharp breath.
"How could there be someone here?!"
With Tsubaki in the lead, the supporters who had barely participated in combat also froze one by one, and Raul even cried out, his voice filled with disbelief.
One should know that this was the Dungeon's 52nd Floor—not only the starting point of the Dragon's Vase, but also the front line of dungeon exploration. Those capable of reaching such depths, even if one searched all across Orario, would likely be limited to the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia.
The deepest floor the Loki Familia had reached was the 58th Floor, and the Freya Familia was the same. Aside from these two strongest familias in Orario, it could almost be said that no one else could reach this level.
And yet, a single person was now standing in the Loki Familia's way.
How could they not feel shocked?
How could they not be shaken?
Only Ais, upon seeing the person, had her pupils suddenly contract.
"Hybrid..."
Indeed, the one who had come was none other than the hybrid of human and monster whom she had encountered in the Pantry on the 24th Floor.
Clad in a white battle outfit and a white skull mask, the man was undoubtedly the one who was with the red-haired woman before.
"You're here."
With a sneer, the man's voice rang out, neurotic in tone, as though he were mocking and at the same time thrilled.
Facing the group running toward him, he spread his arms wide.
"How wonderful. I came to welcome you, Aria."
Upon hearing the man's call, Ais bit her lip, and the hand holding her sword tightened.
""Aria?""
Everyone looked confused, since no one knew who the man was calling.
Only Finn, Riveria, and Gareth showed a change in expression when they heard that name.
"Come out!"
Ignoring the others completely, the man shouted, and soon, behind him, one shadow after another began to appear.
They were caterpillars.
A seemingly endless army of caterpillar monsters emerged, flooding the wide passage and even arranging themselves in formation.
In the next moment, as one, they raised their upper bodies, opened their mouths, and spewed out massive amounts of corrosive fluid.
"Fuck!"
"Watch out!"
"Captain!"
Bete and Tiona, running at the front, both went pale, while Tione anxiously shouted to Finn.
It was unavoidable.
When all these swarms of caterpillar monsters formed ranks and unleashed their corrosive fluid together, the result was not scattered sprays but a torrent—a surging flood like water released from a broken dam.
It roared through the rocky passage like a mudslide, eroding the stone as it advanced toward the expedition party.
Clearly, this was no longer a spray but a tidal wave.
Just like that, the wave of corrosive fluid filled the entire passage, melting walls, ceiling, and floor alike. Accompanied by a sharp sizzling sound, a foul stench, and thick black smoke, it advanced mercilessly, ready to swallow the tiny adventurers whole.
"F-Fall back!"
Tsubaki finally shouted in panic.
"No!" Finn rejected it immediately. "If we retreat, we'll be shot by the Valgang Dragon! We can't go back! We can't even stop moving forward!"
As if to prove his words, the ground began to shake.
*BOOM!*
Behind them, the floor exploded again.
Crimson flames erupted upward, reaching the ceiling and burning away even the Ill Wyverns who were still attacking the rear of the party.
*Whoosh!*
Gareth, who had been fighting the Ill Wyverns, was caught in the blast—his body recoiled while still burning, covered in blackened scorch marks.
Seeing this, everyone's faces turned pale.
Ahead of them was a torrent of corrosive fluid that melted the dungeon itself, filled the entire passage, and could neither be defended against nor avoided.
Behind them was a long-range bombardment powerful enough to blow open the Dungeon's floor in a single strike and pierce through multiple floors.
To their left and right were walls, leaving no room to change direction.
They could not retreat.
They could not stop.
They could only run forward toward the torrent of corrosive fluid, trapped between two deadly forces.
A dead end.
A despairing thought began to pass through everyone's mind.
Ais was even prepared to step forward and use her wind-wrapped body to crash into the corrosive fluid and open a path.
But would that even work?
Even with the abnormal power of wind around her, throwing herself into that torrent would be like tossing a pebble into a raging river—the only outcome would be getting swept away.
At best, she could protect herself, but she definitely could not protect anyone else.
For the first time, a trace of urgency appeared on Ais's usually expressionless face.
Until—
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow."
With a magic circle still lingering beneath him, Riezel burst out of the party.
"Riezel!"
"Mr. Riezel!"
"Riezel!"
Everyone cried out instinctively.
Riezel paid them no attention and completed his chant at astonishing speed.
"Blow with the wind before the twilight. Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf."
In the next moment, three blizzards erupted from the magic circle at Riezel's feet.
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
As soon as the chant ended, the blizzards surged forward and collided head-on with the torrent of corrosive fluid.
*Ka-cha!* *Ka-cha!* *Ka-cha!*
When the corrosive fluid touched the blizzard, it froze in the near-absolute-zero temperature, gradually turning into solid ice and forming a long glacier.
"Firebolt!"
Immediately after, Riezel raised his hand and fired a lightning-fast bolt of flaming thunder.
As it struck the glacier, it triggered a massive explosion.
*BOOOM!*
Amid the explosion, the pillar of flaming lightning shattered the glacier as it advanced, clearing away the massive blocks of ice that blocked the expedition party's path.
Ice shards rained down like a storm, and the party, without slowing, charged into the freezing passage while scrambling to avoid the falling debris.
"Well done!"
Finn could not help but shout his praise at Riezel.
Thanks to Riezel, the path had reopened, and the man leading the caterpillar army once again appeared in their field of view.
"You again!"
Seeing Riezel, who had stopped the caterpillar army's corrosive fluid attack, the man beneath the skull mask twisted his face in anger as he yelled.
Riezel, on the other hand, hardened his expression, then stopped holding back his speed as his body shot forward like an arrow toward the man.
*Schwing!*
With a cold ring of steel, Riezel swung his sword—it traced a chilling arc through the air and cut toward the man's throat.
"What?!"
Seeing that Riezel's speed was far greater—on an entirely different level—than what he had shown days ago in the Pantry on the 24th Floor, the man couldn't help but gasp.
It was only natural.
Back then, Riezel's suppressed status had still been at the level of someone who had just entered Level 5, but now it had been fully unlocked, pushed all the way to the very limit of Level 5.
One had just stepped onto the starting line, while the other had reached the end, so the difference was obvious.
With the A-Rank Lightweight development ability and the defensive magic Raumure he had just cast, both of which greatly enhanced his AGI, Riezel's speed had been boosted twice over.
If he were not faster than before, that would have been strange.
To put it bluntly, his current self could even compete with Vana Freya for the title of 'fastest.'
Ultimately, this extreme speed caused the man, who still believed Riezel was still the same troublesome adventurer as before, to misjudge the situation and react too late.
By the time he tried to evade, he could only step back half a step, and that half-step saved him from losing his head.
*Swish!*
When Riezel's thin crystal sword swept across the man's throat, the tip of the blade bit into his neck, severing it halfway through.
"Egh—GAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Staggering back, the man clutched his throat as blood poured out and he let out a hoarse, broken scream like a shattered instrument.
*SCREEECH—!!!*
Only then did the caterpillar monsters, lined up behind him, begin to roar one after another, spewing corrosive fluid toward Riezel.
*Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!*
After landing his strike, Riezel did not linger.
He tapped the ground repeatedly with his feet, moving like a phantom as he leapt back and forth, avoiding each stream of corrosive fluid, one by one.
By now, the rest of the party had caught up.
"Riveria!"
Finn called out.
"Rea Laevateinn!"
Without hesitation, Riveria unleashed the wide-area annihilation magic she had already prepared and was keeping in reserve.
*BOOOM!*
The magic circle expanded to cover the entire ground, and after a thunderous roar, countless pillars of flame erupted.
Each one carried power comparable to Riezel's earlier Firebolt—thick, towering columns of fire.
The countless pillars scorched the floor, blackened the walls, and incinerated both the caterpillar monsters within the magic circle and the Ill Wyverns flying in from behind, all accompanied by endless screams.
Under such a large-scale bombardment, the Ill Wyverns at the rear were wiped out, and the caterpillar monsters ahead were scattered.
At last, a clear path appeared before them, freeing them from being attacked from both sides.
"Move! Get through before the next shot comes!"
At Finn's order, everyone accelerated and rushed through the scattered caterpillar army, ran over the scorched ground, and headed for the end of the passage.
"No... Don't... Let... Her... GO!"
Seeing the Loki Familia run away, the man, his throat cut open, stretched a hand toward Ais in desperation.
But—
"Was it only you who came?"
Just as the man had blocked their path earlier, Riezel now stood in the man's way.
"Too bad, you're probably not enough."
Riezel's calm words drove the man into furious hatred.
"Riezel… BRYNHAAARTTT—!!!"
He had made a mistake.
Clearly, this troublesome boy really should have been eliminated first.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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