Demi Spirits.
From what the Loki Familia had gathered so far, they appeared to be monsters that had been parasitized by a Jewel Fetus.
As a result, they gained immense strength and grew to a size that could easily dwarf even the Goliath.
Due to an accident, one had unknowingly spawned on the surface... directly in front of the Twilight Manor, of all places, when Evilus attempted to rescue Revis.
'So this is what they actually look like.'
Unlike the others who had been present for that incident, Judas had passed out from Mind Zero when he went to confront the powerful knight, so he had never actually seen one.
He had only heard accounts from Tiona and the others afterward.
So this was his first time seeing one.
'But why... why do I feel like my blood is boiling just from looking at them?'
As Judas stared at the two Demi Spirits before them, an inexplicable anger rose within him.
An uncontrollable rage bubbled deep in his soul, as if he were witnessing something that should not exist.'Estelon... are his emotions bleeding into me?'
Judas closed his eyes, sensing something stirring within him.
'No… this is my life now.'
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
If he allowed those emotions to run wild, it would only cause problems.
It was then that the Demi Spirits changed.
The upper halves of their bodies twisted and reshaped, taking on the form of women with faces of unearthly beauty.
Nobody present was charmed. Nobody was entranced.
Everyone raised their weapons as the two Demi Spirits turned toward them, their gazes locking onto Ais.
"Aria?"
"Aria!"
"Aria... Aria... Aria... Aria... Aria... Aria."
Their voices layered over one another, repeating the same name in an endless, overlapping chorus.
Ais took an unconscious step back, her expression deeply unsettled.
The spirit blood within her veins told her that this was wrong.
"Aria... we've wanted to see you for so long."
"You should become one of us too."
"Hahahahaha."
The moment the Demi Spirits broke into manic laughter, an army of Virgas surged forward, charging toward the party.
"Finn, I'm moving to the vanguard."
Gareth said, already charging forward with his axe raised, carving through anything that crossed his path like a force of nature.
"I'll kill every last one of them."
Bete growled as he followed close behind.
"I can already tell this isn't going to be easy... even for us."
"Which means sitting on the sidelines isn't an option."
Tsubaki grinned, drew her sword and threw herself into the fight.
Ais, Tiona and Tione fought side by side, cutting down the wave of monsters rushing toward them.
But when one of the Demi Spirits barreled forward and lashed out with its vines, deflecting the attack sent a numbing shockwave through their arms that rattled their bones.
"Its attacks are heavy."
Tione winced, gritting her teeth.
"Raul, Narvi, Cruz, prepare your magic swords and bombard them with everything you have. Don't hesitate to use them all."
Finn commanded.
"Yes sir!"
Raul and the others immediately reached into their bags and began drawing out the magic swords they had been saving, compensating for the gap in raw combat power.
While Riveria, Lefiya and Alicia began their chants, Finn turned his attention to Judas.
"Judas, does your [Penitent Executioner] skill activate against these things?"
"It does."
Judas nodded, staring straight at the Demi Spirits with narrowed eyes.
"Then... can I leave one of them to you?"
Finn said, pointing toward one of the Demi Spirits.
"Alright."
Judas answered without hesitation and stepped forward.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm asking a great deal... these are considerably stronger than the one we dealt with on the surface."
"It's fine, Finn. I would've done it even if you didn't ask."
Judas said before his figure flickered and vanished.
The other Demi Spirit, who had remained in the back, watched as chaos unfolded in front of her and giggled.
"Hehe... I want to play with Aria too."
Just as she spoke, a cold voice interrupted her.
"Then why don't you play with me instead?"
The Demi Spirit turned her head to find Judas hovering at eye level with her, arms folded.
"I know I'm not Aria… but why don't you have a taste of my wind?"
A small, concentrated tornado spun lazily above his open palm.
『Rising Whirlwind』
A massive tornado erupted, lifting the Demi Spirit off the ground despite its enormous size and sending it flying.
But the Demi Spirit wasn't going to let that happen so easily.
She lashed her vines outward and drove them into the earth, anchoring herself in place.
『Wind Blade』
Dozens of blades of compressed wind fired in rapid succession, slicing cleanly through every vine.
'One more time.'
『Rising Whirlwind』
This time the tornado was bigger.
Significantly bigger. The force behind it tore through the surrounding vegetation, uprooted trees and sent everything within range scattering outward.
The Demi Spirit was launched skyward, sent flying a considerable distance away from the rest of the battle.
With the two separated, Judas glanced back toward Ais and the others still engaging the first Demi Spirit.
"Judas..."
Their eyes met, and they exchanged a silent nod.
No words needed.
'Good luck.'
...
Somewhere in a hidden corner of the dungeon...
Revis, in her new body, sat surrounded by magic stones and worked her way through them one after another.
She had chosen to lay low for now and focus entirely on rebuilding her strength.
Since her revival, eating magic stones was all she had done.
She had set the Violas and Virgas under her command to hunt down monsters and bring their magic stones back for her, which had piled up into a small hill.
"Tsk... I'm not even back to first-class level yet. I forgot what it felt like to be this weak."
She clicked her tongue and reached for another magic stone.
Then she froze, feeling subtle vibrations on the ground.
"They must be on the 59th floor by now... which means they're probably fighting those things as we speak."
She said quietly, eyes lifting toward the ceiling.
'The original plan was to send only a single Demi Spirit...'
'But after the last encounter, the Loki Familia proved stronger than expected, so Enyo decided to send two instead.'
As their enemy, she should have been hoping for their deaths.
But for some reason…
She didn't think they would die.
'Not with that ridiculously strong brat in the mix.'
The face of Judas Spade surfaced in her mind, as clear as if she had seen him yesterday.
'Judas Spade.'
Having become a Creature, Revis ended up losing all the emotions she had prior to her transformation, giving way to monotony and habitual disinterest in everything around her.
However, her repeated clashes with Judas gradually fanned a flame within her.
It had become the only stimulus in her life.
'The one to defeat him will be me.'
For the first time in a long while, Revis had a desire of her own.
She wanted to defeat Judas, not because someone told her to, but because of her own free will.
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