"BOOM!"
Amid hearty laughter, a meteor came crashing down from the sky, striking the leading Valgang Dragon with perfect accuracy and smashing it to the ground.
"You're late, old man!" Tiona complained cheerfully.
"Sorry, sorry! Got held up for a bit by the bipedal dragons up above!"
From within the dust cloud, the Dwarf warrior Gareth was clutching the Valgang Dragon's head. His thick beard made him look surprisingly kind-hearted.
"There was also a Wyvern King mixed in there. Since this old man doesn't have any magic for blasting through quickly, I had to kill them one by one… HA!"
He suddenly roared, exerting force with both arms and lifting the entire dragon overhead, spinning it violently like a windmill.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The dragons behind it were immediately sent flying as the spinning dragon became an improvised weapon.
"Careful, these dragons are heavy!"
Gareth released the "windmill," letting it spin freely through the air before it crashed into the distant ground.
Then he casually rolled his wrists and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"If you don't defend properly, even you two would be seriously injured from a direct claw hit. Use your speed and agility to keep them occupied!"
"Understood." Ryoji nodded.
Dragons were rare species, making them exceptionally powerful creatures.
Their strength wasn't only reflected in their long-range fireballs; their close-quarters combat power was equally terrifying.
"Six left." Tiona fixed her gaze on the regrouping Valgang Dragons.
"Two each! Let's see who finishes first!"
Raising her indestructible greatsword, Tiona grinned brightly.
"Then I'll take first blood!"
Ryoji lowered his stance and burst forward, dual blades in hand.
"Hey, that's cheating! I didn't even say start yet!" Tiona shouted indignantly before charging after him.
"Haha! The youngsters these days are full of energy!" Laughing loudly, Gareth gripped his twin axes, unable to suppress the surging battle intent within him.
The six Valgang Dragons suddenly shuddered.
Each of the three approaching humans wore the eyes of hunters—as if, in their gaze, the dragons were not mighty dragonkin at all, merely roadside beasts.
ROAR!
Feeling their dignity challenged, the Valgang Dragons cast aside the inexplicable unease in their hearts and charged forward with furious roars.
The battle erupted once more, their cries shaking the sky!
.........
"Whoa, was this floor originally a sea-of-fire terrain?"
At the southernmost side of the floor lay the entrance leading to the 57th Floor.
After a long advance and slaughtering large numbers of upper-level monsters, another Loki Familia squad had finally arrived.
Tsubaki, the strongest blacksmith in Orario from the Hephaestus Familia, looked across the flames covering the 58th Floor and couldn't help clicking her tongue in amazement.
"No, we've been here before. It used to be a crimson wasteland, but definitely not a sea of fire." Finn held his golden and silver spears in hand, sweeping his gaze across the scene before him. He already had a rough idea.
"Was this Lefiya's magic?"
Looking at the blazing battlefield, Riveria showed a satisfied smile.
"Magic Stones and drop items are scattered everywhere. This was definitely caused by Lefiya's large-scale magic, and they were so busy they didn't even have time to collect the materials."
Tione kicked a Magic Stone the size of a basketball lying at her feet.
"Let's hurry and meet up with them."
Even Ais's usually expressionless face had become notably serious.
"Move!"
Finn nodded solemnly, leading the group and their supporters northward.
Along the way, monsters were rarely seen. Large amounts of materials lay abandoned on the ground, completely uncollected.
Seeing this, everyone began forming the same uneasy suspicion in their hearts.
"BOOM!"
A sudden thunderous explosion rang out.
Everyone's hearts tightened, and they immediately rushed toward the source of the sound.
Before long, a Valgang Dragon lost its color right before their eyes, dissolving into black smoke and vanishing completely, leaving behind a Magic Stone half the height of a person.
"Waah! Valgang Dragon claws everywhere!" Tsubaki cheered excitedly.
The moment she saw the materials scattered all over the ground, she couldn't hold herself back. She dashed forward and began stuffing them into her backpack one by one.
The others, meanwhile, turned their attention toward the center of the battlefield.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Seeing the group standing there, Finn's eyes filled with relief.
"It's a blessing that there were no casualties!"
The monsters before them had once again been completely wiped out.
Ryoji, Tiona, and even Gareth were breathing heavily, sweat pouring down their faces in streams, their clothes nearly soaked through.
The armor worn by Ryoji and Gareth was riddled with cracks, while Tiona's body was covered in bloodstains.
Even Lefiya, who had been protected the most carefully, looked dazed, as though her mind was on the verge of complete exhaustion.
They had fought bitterly for several hours.
Despite annihilating wave after wave of incoming monsters, repeatedly unleashing large-scale magic, and endlessly swinging swords, blades, and battle-axes, the monsters had continued to emerge without end.
The nonstop, high-intensity battle had consumed an enormous amount of their stamina.
Only the recovery potions Lefiya had brought down with her had barely kept the front line from collapsing.
"Hah… Finn, if you'd arrived even one hour later, I wouldn't know what we could've done!"
Gareth tossed his battle axe onto the ground, letting out a strained yet unyielding laugh.
"Potions, quickly!" Finn ordered immediately.
Raul, Alicia, and the others hurriedly removed their backpacks, pulling out stamina recovery potions, magic recovery potions, and healing potions all at once and handing them over.
After downing more than a dozen potions, everyone's complexion gradually improved.
"Gareth, did you never consider heading to the stairways to the 57th Floor or the 59th Floor?"
Once everyone had stabilized, Finn finally breathed easier before asking intently.
"Of course we did." Gareth grinned, a strange expression appearing on his face.
"Not many monsters want to leave the floor, so the stairways are comparatively safer. That's what we thought too, so we checked both the stairways to the 57th and 59th Floors, but… those places are even more dangerous than here!"
The stairways were more dangerous than the center of the floor!
A sharp light flashed through Finn's eyes.
"Could it be that…?"
"You'll understand better if you see it yourself."
The group exchanged glances and quickly reached an agreement.
Once their stamina had fully recovered, everyone sprinted together toward the stairway on the northernmost side of the floor.
"…This is ridiculous."
At the stairway leading to the 59th Floor, Riveria's expression turned grim as she looked at the completely packed entrance.
As far as the eye could see… There were bugs. Nothing but bugs.
Their skin shimmered in multiple colors; they were nearly ten meters long, faceless, and covered in a horrifying number of fleshy prolegs.
Countless giant caterpillars had clogged the narrow stairway so completely that there wasn't even a path inside.
Virga possessed terrifying corrosive properties. In a sense, they were even more troublesome than Valgang Dragons.
This place truly was far more dangerous than the center of the floor.
(End of Chapter)
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