[Floor 25 (Subquest)]
[Mission Type – Survival]
[Objective – Survive the additional hordes of enemies]
[Optional Objective – Annihilate the hordes of enemies]
Weapons flew at the monsters around us.
In an instant, my comrades struck down all the monsters climbing the central tower, securing our immediate vicinity. The other parties were doing the same throughout the fortress.
I then turned my gaze upward, toward the fifteen Prime Impianas descending upon us.
More lightning struck the shield I casted over the fortress. The Prime Impianas had not given up on breaking it through despite not even a crack formed on the barrier after their two attempts.
Seeing that my shield held perfectly well, Lauressia disabled hers and continued fighting the monsters below with her twin trishulas.
[Come]
I chanted.
A large hovering book with the symbol of feathered wings on its cover manifested before me.
The grimoire glowed and resonated with me, turning into an extension of my body and mind.
[Book of Malaikat (S+) is taking effect!]
['Serafina (★★★★)'s intelligence has increased by 50% for a period of time!]
[The effects of Hero 'Serafina (★★★★)'s skills have been enhanced for a period of time!]
[The synergy between Hero 'Serafina (★★★★)'s skills has been enhanced for a period of time!]
Relying on the powerful artifact, I summoned dozens of flickering light orbs beyond the barrier above.
I flicked my hand and the orbs burst into lightning bolts which sped toward the charging Impianas.
The monsters used their foresight ability and altered their courses to dodge the lightning.
But my eyes had marked each of the creature and set the lightning to hunt them.
Shriek!
The lightning bolts curved and meandered from their stiff trajectories, chasing the fleeing Impianas till they struck and obliterated the creatures.
Boom!
With the Impianas' demise, I disabled the barrier over the fortress.
I then casted my eyes below and found barely any monsters were left inside the fortress walls. Or at least anything living.
Piles of monster corpses were scattered all over, surrounding the four gaps within each the other parties were standing in.
The other parties had positioned themselves at the entrances. They were intercepting the other monsters beyond the walls from breaching in.
I spied more flowers blooming on the vines creeping throughout the fortress walls.
Knowing what they would do, I sparked fire on each end of the vines. The flames travelled and consumed the vines and the flowers till they were reduced to blackened ashes.
That was when more monster shriek echoed from all over.
[Wave 36]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x155]
[Prime Blood Crow Lv.30 x160]
[Prime Gatormole Lv.30 x150]
[Prime Killer Spider Lv.30 x146]
[Prime Poison Stinger Lv.30 x158]
[….]
[Wave 37]
[…]
[Wave 38]
[…]
[Wave 39]
[…]
[Prime Impiana Lv.36 x25]
[Time Remaining]
[29:46]
Just as the subquest suggested, there were more monsters to face and the mission's duration had been extended.
Our goal, however, was not only to survive. But to annihilate everything we come across.
Some of the subquest rewards depended on how we cleared the subquest in order to receive them.
Annihilating all the monsters must be the condition for those special rewards.
Master was aware of this fact and ordered us to obtain all the rewards available.
Time to fulfill their demand.
"Just as we've arranged, everyone! To your stations!"
I ordered the heroes.
Right at that moment, I teleported Jonah and the others from the central tower to the northern entrance where Party 4 was located.
Once my party comrades arrived and took charge of guarding the entrance, the Garudas flared their wings.
Kinnara then made a small bow to me.
"Leave the Impianas to us, Prophesied! No harm shall come to you from above."
The Priestess said confidently.
She turned to her children and began ascending to the air.
"Fly, my children! We'll show Master and the wingless the might of the Messengers!"
With the 4-star's command, the Garudas rushed swiftly to the sky.
They flew with such extreme acceleration as if they were launched from a catapult.
Garudas' flight ability was truly something.
As the Priestess proclaimed, we would no longer need to worry about the Impianas with the Garudas taking care of them.
All that we needed to focus on were the hordes charging from the ground.
An ocean of monsters was expanded beyond the fortress. I could barely see the jungle of Phirdaus due to the hordes.
It would take a lot of work eradicating them all.
Time to begin that effort.
I reached out to the Malaikat grimoire and projected my mana to the earth below.
Crash!
The ground beyond the fortress shattered.
It rifted and rolled outward into a destructive wave which buried the monsters beyond the walls.
A great chasm formed around the fortress.
Three times as wide, five times as deep as the moat the Third Advanced Scouts created.
Most monsters would plunge to their death upon falling into the chasm.
But I did not create the rift just so the monsters could die by falling.
Whoosh!
Fountains of lava burst forth from inside the chasm. They soared as high as the fortress walls.
The lava fountains settled and filled the chasm halfway.
Hundreds of monsters charging toward the fortress plunged into the infernal rift and got consumed by the blazing liquid.
The monster corpses would not pile up within the lava and instead become disintegrated. Preventing the other monsters from using the piles as stepping platform to cross over.
And because the chasm was only filled halfway, the monsters would not be able to jump over the death monsters that were still sinking into the molten substance.
The Prime Beastlings also failed to simply jump across due to how wide the rift was.
After forming the lava-filled moat, Yuxia, Matrias, and Lauressia arrived at the central tower.
The three mages had left their parties.
Even with their absences, Party 2, 3, and 5 still had no problem intercepting the remaining floods of monsters on this side of the lava moat.
The monsters were cut down as if they were eighth floor goblins.
It barely took the heroes much effort to face the creatures, especially now that the bulk of the hordes had been intercepted by the burning rift.
They would even be left with nothing to do if we succeeded in our plan.
"I was rushing since I intended to help you make the lava moat. Had I known you could cast it that fast, I would've taken my time getting here."
Yuxia said with a sour face.
"It was decided that I would be the one creating it. Because it's important that you save your mana for what we're going to do."
I told him.
"Andaman still prefer for us to not do this, Vice-Master."
Lauressia said.
The 5-star Tsamudran went on with a chuckle.
"His warrior pride made him reluctant to leave all that fighting to us."
Matrias nodded to her.
"Ulrica and Graihan said the same thing too."
"I'm aware how strong they are and how they are fully capable of overcoming all these monsters. But we've got an objective to fulfill. And this is the most effective and efficient way to accomplish it in the shortest time possible."
I told them as I reached out to the Malaikat grimoire and began casting a spell.
The two nodded back to me approvingly, indicating that they too thought this must be done.
"Morivia wanted to participate in casting this grand spell. But she understood that you wanted as few mages as possible for the casting to reserve strength in anticipation for unpredictable circumstances."
Lauressia said while integrating her own magic runes to my casting.
As Yuxia and Matrias joined us, I nodded to the two mages and replied the Tsamudran.
"If it weren't for my intention to monitor how well their new artifacts works, I would even exclude them from the casting. Or Matrias, at least. We never know what'll happen even after we casted the spell."
"Let's find out, then."
Yuxia said.
With the elementalist's words, the four of us focused on casting our fusion magic.
Grand wave of mana radiated from the central tower to the sky.
Dark clouds formed all over Phirdaus as hordes of monsters were being engulfed within the moat of lava around the fortress.
Once the magic calculations were finished, all the runes were formed and perfectly aligned, and every aspect of the spell was completed, I chanted the Seventh Circle spell.
[Maha Indraruna Surgayu]
The dark heaven split open and unleashed disaster upon all the monsters below.
['Unified Grand Magic 'Calamitous Storm (★★★★★★★)' has been activated!]
[Caster - 'Serafina (★★★★)', 'Lauressia (★★★★★)', 'Yuxia (★★★★)', 'Matrias (★★★)']