*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!*
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!*
Inside a wide rocky passage, which had already been eaten into a pitted mess by corrosive fluid, a swarm of Violas swung countless tentacles in a rain-like barrage, causing the ground to be struck again and again and producing continuous explosive sounds.
Dust filled the air, broken stones and debris spraying in all directions, and this section of the battlefield looked as if it had been bombarded by artillery.
Dull detonations echoed without pause, and the entire passage shook violently.
*PSSS!* *PSSS!* *PSSS!* *PSSS!*
A swarm of Virga also spat out spears of corrosive fluid, and at times they combined as before to unleash a surging, muddy torrent of corrosive fluid that washed across the passage and melted everything in its path.
As for the Viscum, it did not join the direct attack, instead using its tentacles to erode the surrounding passage and gradually transform the labyrinth into green, fleshy walls.
"Produce more! Keep producing! Don't stop until that damn adventurer is drowned!"
As the skull-masked man issued his order with a furious roar, the Viscum's erosion of the labyrinth accelerated, and flowers began to bloom across the green fleshy walls.
In just seconds, they rapidly grew into full maturity, swelling and hardening before falling off, dropping heavily to the ground and transforming into new Violas that immediately joined the battle alongside the others.
By continuously producing Violas in this way, however, the Viscum's body visibly shrank.
Clearly, without a Pantry to provide nutrients, if the Viscum wanted to give birth to Violas, it could only draw on its own power, sacrificing itself to create an army of Violas.
Needless to say, the man obviously hated Riezel to the point of grinding his teeth, which was why he used such an extreme method against him.
In response, Riezel naturally counterattacked without hesitation.
"Firebolt!"
He moved at extreme speed, avoiding all incoming tentacles and spears of corrosive fluid, while firing fast attack magic toward the unavoidable torrent of corrosive fluid rushing straight at him from the front.
*BOOM!*
A thick, pillar-like bolt of flaming lightning struck the corrosive fluid stream, blowing it apart and burning away most of the fluid.
"Firebolt!"
"Firebolt!"
"Firebolt!"
Riezel fully demonstrated the rapid-fire and continuous-fire strengths of Firebolt, raising his hand and releasing countless, pillar-thick bolts of flaming lightning that poured forth in an unbroken torrent, wildly sweeping across the Violas and Virgas.
*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!**BOOM!*
In an instant, thunderous explosions echoed throughout the labyrinth as flaming lightning covered the Violas, waving their tentacles, and the Virgas, spitting corrosive fluid like a barrage, causing them to evaporate, burn to ashes, or be directly pierced through. Some were even skewered together, with dozens of them pierced through in a single line by the flaming lightning.
In the end, the already battered rocky passage was struck by the aftershocks of the flaming lightning, and countless new craters and pits were blasted directly into the ground.
*BANG!*
Only after clearing the obstacles did Riezel stomp the ground, kicking up dust and carrying a howling gale with him as he charged toward the skull-masked man.
"!!!"
Because the distance was greater this time, the man successfully caught Riezel's afterimage left along the trajectory of his dash.
Consequently, the man was about to move when he suddenly stopped, as if sensing something.
In the next moment, a cold sneer appeared on the face beneath the skull mask.
*BOOM!*
In that instant, the ground in front of Riezel exploded violently, just before a beam of fire pierced through it, smashing into the rocky ceiling.
Evidently, this was the fire breath of a Valgang Dragon.
It tore through floor after floor of the Dragon's Vase, finally reaching the ceiling of the 52nd Floor. Waves of heat and explosive flames surged forth, and Riezel, who had been charging without slowing down even slightly, was swallowed by the raging inferno.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Seeing Riezel's fate, the man finally laughed out loud.
Now that his throat was already fully healed, he was freed to mock them with open contempt.
"Do you think I dared to come alone to cause trouble for your entire familia just because of Viscum, Virgas, and Violas?"
"No, it's because this is the 52nd Floor."
"You damn adventurers should know that this place is hell called the Dragon's Vase. On the lowest floor of this hell, the Valgang Dragons are always aiming their fire breath at you humans."
"You can handle me. You can handle the army formed by Viscum, Virgas, and Violas. But can you still handle the breaths of the Valgang Dragons?"
"No! You can't!"
As if he had completely forgotten his earlier rage, the man spread his arms wide and spoke arrogantly.
*ROOOAAARRR—!!!*
*ROOOAAARRR—!!!*
Seemingly attracted by his voice, one Ill Wyvern after another burst up from beneath the blasted floor and arrived here.
Not only that, the other types of monsters active on this floor finally appeared—Venom Scorpions, Thunder Snakes, Silver Worms, Deformis Spiders, and more and more of them.
Powerful monsters permitted by dragon monsters to live within the Dragon's Vase crawled out from the branching passages.
However, these monsters had clearly come to the wrong place.
*SCREEEEEECH—!!!*
Whether it was the Virgas, Violas, or even the somewhat shrunken Viscum, they all seemed to regard these monsters as prime nourishment and released hoarse, broken screeches as they launched their attacks.
Some of the Violas wrapped their tentacles around the Ill Wyverns flying through midair, dragged them into their mouths, and swallowed them whole along with their magic stones.
Some of the Virgas used corrosive fluid to melt away a monster's hide, then dug out the magic stone and swallowed only the stone.
As for the Viscum, it opened its mouth and swallowed more than a dozen large-sized monsters in a single go, chewing them with loud, crunching sounds.
After consuming these monsters' magic stones, the aura of the Virgas and Violas grew stronger, while the Viscum's shrinkage seemed to be healed, its condition visibly improving.
Clearly, this was one of the terrifying traits of colorful monsters: they could grow stronger by devouring magic stones.
Strengthened species, which were rare in the Dungeon and sometimes even regarded as disasters that had to be exterminated, were all members of this category, and these colorful monsters were entirely such beings.
"Let's go."
Seeing that Riezel had clearly been burned to ash by the breath of the Valgang Dragon, the man gave the order.
"Keep chasing Aria."
Just as his words fell, however, the sea of flames in front of him suddenly trembled.
*Whoosh!*
A figure bathed in fire burst out of the flames at extreme speed, lunging toward the man.
"What?!"
Gazing at the figure, the man's expression changed drastically.
"Who do you think you're chasing?"
Bathed in flames, sparks still clinging to his body, yet with not even the corner of his clothes scorched, Riezel appeared before the man completely unharmed.
Yes.
He was uninjured.
"Impossible!"
Seeing such an absurd scene, the man shouted in disbelief.
"Heh, there's nothing impossible about it."
Riezel responded mockingly with these simple words.
In truth, he was never particularly afraid of the Valgang Dragon's attacks.
Even without using magic such as 'Energy Immunity- Fire,' which reduced or nullified damage from fire attribute attacks, he already possessed extremely high resistance to fire attribute damage, thanks to Pioneer of the Sun.
One of the effects of Pioneer of the Sun was resistance to the powers of light and heat, as well as resistance to frost and darkness.
For that reason, even without defensive magic, he would not suffer fatal injuries from the Valgang Dragon's attacks.
On top of that, before entering the 52nd Floor, he had cast Raumure, and Riveria had cast Veil Breath, both of which remained on his body as a coat of light and a thin light membrane.
One strengthened his END, while the other could block all attacks.
With three layers of protection, it would have been strange if he had been seriously injured by the fire breath of the Valgang Dragon.
As a result, he directly rushed out of the flames and appeared before the man unharmed, once again releasing a godlike, flash-speed slash toward his neck.
"Wind Breathing - Sixth Form - Black Wind Mountain Mist!"
A wind-wrapped slash, carrying sword energy, diffused through the air and became an extremely sharp, deadly strike aimed at the skull-masked man.
"Tch!"
Not relying on sight, but on inhuman instinct to sense the attack and recognize its threat, the man did not retreat at the critical moment. Instead, he advanced, throwing a punch toward the figure that had flashed before him.
Looking closely, the fist was covered in a layer of biological gel, forming a crimson gauntlet.
A transparent gleam flashed in Riezel's eyes as he immediately identified the nature of the gauntlet.
'Same as the crimson sword that woman used last time. A landform, huh?'
After seeing through it, Riezel did not stop and instead brought down his sword with full force, slashing directly at the gauntlet with sword energy and wind power.
*DING!*
A clear metallic collision rang out.
Riezel's strike was blocked by the crimson gauntlet, sending out a shockwave of energy before his Fool was knocked away.
Apparently, the slash infused with sword energy and wind power ultimately could not overpower the monstrous strength of the hybrid.
However, the man was also forced back several steps, cracking the ground beneath his feet.
"Wind Breathing - Third Form - Clear Storm Wind Tree!"
Riezel seized the opening and, centering himself, instantly swung three wind slashes toward the man at close range.
"Don't underestimate me, human!"
Instead of fear, the man was filled with rage.
As if the ferocity within him had awakened hidden potential, he roared and forcibly matched Riezel's speed. With both hands equipped with crimson gauntlets, he unleashed punches that produced sonic booms as they collided head-on with the incoming wind slashes.
*CLANG!*
*BANG!*
*BOOM!*
Riezel's three wind slashes were successively neutralized by his three punches—some were deflected with metallic collisions, some scraped past each other like grinding steel amid flying sparks, altering their trajectories, and some collided head-on, erupting with tremendous force that shattered the ground.
"Oh?"
Riezel spoke with a mix of surprise and understanding.
"Looks like you've gotten a lot stronger since last time, huh..."
Riezel, who understood the existence of hybrids, also knew that they could, like strengthened species, increase their power by consuming magic stones.
In his eyes, this was an extremely broken ability, or rather, an extremely unfair trait, one that made any human race feel powerless.
Although adventurers with Falna could rapidly improve through self-training and slaying monsters to gain excelia, their growth speed was still far inferior to monsters that could simply grow stronger by devouring magic stones.
In the original work, Ais had clashed with Revis multiple times and suffered greatly because of this trait.
In their first battle, before Ais leveled up, she lost to a Level 6–equivalent Revis even while using her Ariel.
In the second battle, after Ais reached Level 6 and Revis had not consumed magic stones, Ais achieved a complete victory without even using Ariel.
In the third battle, Revis devoured a massive number of magic stones in order not to lose to Ais, becoming a monster comparable to Level 7, and Ais was utterly defeated.
Now, it was clear that the skull-masked man had consumed many magic stones after the Pantry incident on the 24th Floor and had become far stronger than before.
He was now likely comparable to Level 6, and with his regenerative ability and terrifying strength, he might even be able to contend with top-tier Level 6 adventurers like Finn and Gareth.
However…
'Well, too bad for you, the current me is also far stronger than the me you saw last time.'
Riezel suddenly accelerated, charging toward the man like a gale.
"Wind Breathing - Eighth Form - Primary Gale Slash!"
As the gale spun around the man and circled him once, not only did powerful, spiraling wind blades rise, but the wind blades and slashes mixed within the wind tore through his body and shredded his white robe.
*RIP!* *RIP!* *RIP!* *RIP!*
Tearing sounds echoed continuously.
Stripped of his outfit, the man's body below the head was exposed, and blood flashed across every part of his body as countless wounds were carved into him.
"AAAAAARGH!!!"
He could only raise his arms to protect his vital points, roaring amid the storm of slashes.
"Viscum!"
Completely overwhelmed by Riezel's assault, the man could only cry out in humiliation for help from the monster he had brought, calling to the massive being behind him.
*SCREEECH!!!*
Having just been nourished, the Viscum seemed to finally react as it roared, lifted its enormous head, and charged toward Riezel's direction below.
*BOOM!*
In an instant, the ground shook violently as the floor shattered, collapsed, and caved in under Viscum's charge, sending broken stone and dust erupting upward like a geyser from the point of impact.
*Rumble—!*
Along with the rumbling sound, dust poured down from the ceiling, and shockwaves and violent winds swept through the surroundings, dragging everything along and threatening to cause this battlefield to collapse amid the chaos.
Riezel and the skull-masked man were both blown away by the shockwave and sandstorm—one landed steadily, his clothes fluttering wildly in the wind, while the other crashed heavily to the ground, rolled several times, and only then managed to stabilize himself.
"Damn it... Damn it... DAMN IT!"
Now, the man's skull mask was stained red, apparently because he had spat blood inside the mask.
He staggered to his feet, then roared at Riezel, rage and madness intertwined.
"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME?!"
"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING 'HER'?!"
"YOU DAMN ADVENTURERS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING—WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DISAPPEAAAAARRR!!!"
Intense hatred poured out from the man's body as he yelled toward Riezel.
Facing such murky hatred, Riezel narrowed his eyes.
"You say I don't understand anything?"
Riezel suddenly smiled, a calm and indifferent smile.
"You really think I know nothing?"
"You really think I don't know who this 'Her' you're talking about is?"
"You really think I don't know what you're planning?"
Riezel spoke with a faint, ambiguous smile.
"You make it sound like stopping you is some unforgivable sin. You really think of yourself as a higher lifeform than humanity, don't you?"
"Hmph, you're just a mere lackey of the Corrupted Spirit."
Corrupted Spirit.
When this term left Riezel's mouth, the man finally froze.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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