"What incredible pressure… this thing isn't any weaker than Behemoth." Finn muttered, his brows furrowed as he gazed up at the glowing mass.
"Yeah. That makes four Level 8 monsters we've encountered on this expedition." Alise placed a hand on her hip, a grin tugging at her lips despite the tension in the air.
"Should I be calling this good luck or misfortune?" Kaguya quipped with a wry smile.
"Obviously, it's good luck." Alise retorted without hesitation. "How often do you run into this many Level 8s?!"
"The thing inside that cocoon doesn't seem ready to emerge yet." Leon said, folding his arms. "Let's not provoke it. Focus on Riveria's goal first."
Their reason for entering the rift had always been about Riveria. It was here, within this anomaly, that her mother's relics had been discovered. It was also here that many members of Zeus and Hera's Familias had vanished.
"Yes, let's finish our investigation." Finn agreed with Leon's decision without hesitation.
The others nodded in unison.
"Thank you." Riveria said quietly, her gratitude genuine.
With the light cocoon behind them, the group turned to explore the cavern they had entered. The space was immense, a colossal chamber branching out in all directions. The light cocoon's massive bulk blocked their view of what lay behind it, but even from where they stood, they could see hundreds, nearly a thousand, interconnected passages.
Without wasting time, the team split into two groups and began combing the area from opposite sides of the cocoon. But it didn't take long before something strange was discovered.
"Wait…"
A cry came from Lefiya, who was on the opposite side with Finn's group.
On Leon's side, Riveria froze and crouched suddenly, placing her palm gently against the ground.
"What's wrong?" Leon asked as he walked over, seeing her stunned expression.
Riveria didn't speak. She merely pressed her hand to the cold surface. At the same time, Lefiya mirrored her movement from afar.
A soft glow began to pulse from both their palms, two arcs of light shooting out across the stone floor in opposite directions. Within seconds, the arcs converged at a single point and burst outward in a flash of blinding magic. A glowing magic circle appeared beneath them.
Everyone instinctively stepped back, eyes wide with shock.
"This is a sealing magic circle passed down from the elven royal family for generations…" Riveria whispered, voice trembling with awe. "They say it came from the spirits, passed down by the elven saint herself."
"Riveria-sama taught me about this." Lefiya said, answering their unspoken questions. "She told me it was used for sealing. I never learned the full spell, but I remembered the pattern. That's why I knew how to trigger it."
"So it really is that spell."
Riveria's gaze lingered on the circle, and her voice grew soft.
"There's no doubt now. My mother was here."
"Let's regroup. We'll consult with Riveria about what to do next." Finn said, regaining his composure.
No one disagreed. The teams reversed course, heading back toward their starting point. Leon, too, began making his way around the cocoon.
Back in the underground altar, Ouranos turned toward Fels again.
"You didn't see any of this during your trip, did you?"
"Not at all." Fels said, shaking his head. "I never even got this far."
"Not long after I entered, I encountered many aquatic and ice-type monsters. I was able to slip past using an invisibility item but then, I was forcibly expelled by a massive shockwave."
"Looking back, I'd say that shockwave probably came from the cocoon."
Hearing Fels' response, Ouranos nodded silently, choosing not to press further.
Freya, Ottar, and the others cast a few curious glances at Fels, surprised by his account, but none of them spoke up.
Back in the spatial rift between the 60th and 61st floor, Leon and the others had regrouped.
"Riveria, what are your plans now?" Leon asked as the team reassembled. His gaze was steady, his tone calm.
Riveria looked at the magic circle beneath her feet, her expression solemn. "This sealing array was left behind by my mother. It's been suppressing that giant cocoon."
"Back when my mother and her companions were active, the Zeus and Hera Familias weren't as powerful as they are remembered today. The strongest among them barely reached Level 7, nowhere near the Empress."
"She and her allies likely couldn't defeat what's inside that cocoon. So, they chose to seal it instead, giving everything they had to lock it away."
Her voice softened. "Even after all these decades, the seal still holds."
"I want to complete what my mother started." Riveria declared. "I'll destroy that giant cocoon."
"But before that…" she paused, gaze turning toward the maze of passages surrounding them, "I want to keep searching. Maybe there's more of my mother's legacy hidden here. I need to understand why she never returned, why she vanished after placing the seal."
"I see." Finn nodded, quickly shifting into leadership mode. "Then let's proceed like before. We split into teams. If anything happens, use the communication orbs immediately."
"No problem."
"Understood."
"Got it."
Everyone responded without hesitation.
Without wasting any time, the group re-formed into exploration teams and entered the maze-like corridors branching from the vast cavern. But they didn't get far before running into trouble.
The monsters they had seen earlier on the 60th floor appeared once more, this time within the tight passages.
It was odd. None of these monsters had shown up in the large cavern before. Why were they emerging now?
Leon had a theory. He suspected it was the pressure emitted by the colossal cocoon. Perhaps the presence of such a powerful being had kept the lesser monsters at bay. Regardless, it didn't matter.
Everyone swiftly launched into battle. But just a few minutes into the skirmish, a violent shockwave erupted from the direction of the cavern. It swept through the entire network of tunnels, rattling the walls and causing the weaker adventurers to stumble.
Aki and a few others nearly lost their footing, giving the nearby monsters a dangerous opening. Fortunately, veterans like Finn kept the situation under control, neutralizing threats before they escalated.
"Even with mother's seal in place, this kind of tremor still occurred?" Riveria whispered in disbelief, pressing her hand against the tunnel wall as the lingering force passed over her.
"Let it go for now." Leon said softly, placing a steady hand on her shoulder. "We keep moving."
"Yeah." Riveria took a deep breath, nodded, and began chanting softly again to prepare her next spell.
Leon's gaze, however, drifted back toward the cocoon in the distant chamber. He couldn't help but wonder, what kind of creature was being nurtured inside that massive shell?
The sealing array created by the elven royal lineage was no joke. Even after decades, its power remained unshaken. The thing inside must be terrifying, its aura akin to that of a Level 8 monster. And yet, it was still sealed. It hadn't broken free. Not even now.
All it had managed to do was unleash a shockwave, loud, disruptive, but not fatal. Unless that seal was broken, the creature inside posed no immediate threat.
The group continued their search, moving from one passage to the next while staying in contact via communication orbs.
Even with all their effort, including multiple battles along the way, two hours passed and they found nothing of note. It seemed that whatever remnants of the Zeus and Hera Familias had once existed here, most had already been taken out by Fels.
Riveria's disappointment began to show, though she said nothing. Her silence spoke volumes. Still, they pressed on.
The area of the rift was massive, and its passages were unnervingly complex. Even with multiple exploration teams working in parallel, it took them a full five hours to comb through every tunnel and corner of the domain.
Yet in the end…
The result was the same.
No new clues. No new findings.
"Let's return…" Riveria's voice came faintly through the communication orb, tinged with a quiet disappointment she could no longer hide.
"Understood. Regroup at the main chamber." Finn answered.
"Received!" Tiona's voice chimed in energetically.
"Copy that." Ais' calm voice followed a moment later.