"The evil dragon shall at last be cast down;the world now stands at the coming of dusk—"
Along the blade, the runes that had appeared on their own after its transformation lit up one by one... a unique proof that the candle-flame had acknowledged this very moment.
Riveria's defensive magic was ready. Her eyes were locked on the evil dragon opposite them; the instant its attack moved first, she would cast without hesitation and do everything she could to keep everyone alive.
Finn was shouting too, ordering everyone to scatter. His fingers were throbbing madly with pain, his instincts screaming that if anyone remained caught between the two forces now gathering power, the outcome would be disastrous.
"Strike down all delusion—Phantasmal Greatsword: Heavenly Demon's Fall!"
The great sword came crashing down, like a beam of righteous light washing all impurity away—
A cannon-blast of golden lightning collided head-on with the dark crimson breath of annihilation—
In that instant, heaven and earth changed color. The world turned into a mute, pure-white void. The violent shockwave blew away everything in the surrounding area. If not for the protection of Avalon, no one would have had the slightest chance of surviving that impact.
Everyone struggled to force their eyes open and see the result—but in truth, the outcome had already been decided before the attacks even met.
How could the breath of a mere Floor Boss possibly compare to the scale of the power of Abundance?
Almost theatrically, as if slicing through water, the golden beam smashed apart the breath attack and struck the stunned Floor Boss with thunderous speed.
"ROOOOOOOAR—!"
A hideous, unbearable scream tore through the battlefield. The light mercilessly ripped apart its scales, crushing its ambition to bury the lives before it once more with unstoppable force.
The radiance erupted amidst the sea of flowers. A pillar of light shot into the heavens, carrying with it the enemy's soul-rending cries—and the deepest hopes of everyone present.
The raging particles of light gradually faded. Along the path the blast had carved, traces of golden lightning still flickered. At the far end of the devastation, the monster's colossal form lay shrouded in smoke and dust.
One after another, the party members pushed themselves back to their feet, staring fixedly at that spot, as if trying to find the final answer.
Then, while they watched, a figure flashed past them.
It was the boy.
He was running straight toward the drifting smoke, sword already drawn, his will nearly burning with intensity—pure, absolute, and unwavering.
"Could it be...?!"
A jolt of alarm shot through everyone's hearts. They had all arrived at the same dreadful suspicion.
And that suspicion was proven true at once—
As though realizing its hiding place was exposed, a sinister dark-red glow began to emerge from the rolling smoke, accompanied by the monster's towering body.
A single word was enough to describe it: ruined.
The natural magic defense that had once wrapped around it was gone. More than that, nearly half its abdomen had been blasted away, exposing white bone beneath. Most of its steel-hard scales had been torn off, and corrosive blood sprayed wildly in every direction.
Barol's single eye lit up again.
This time, energy gathered with terrifying speed—so quickly that the space around the eye itself began to twist and collapse.
The crimson light compressed to its utmost limit, darkening into a deep blood-red hue.
It was destruction, honed to its endpoint.
What caught the eye even more was the venomous malice in that lone eye. It could not forgive this. It absolutely could not forgive these insects before it for wounding it so grievously—
"Shien—!!"
Finn's voice tore out of his throat, overpowering every other sound like the first ray of sunlight ripping through storm clouds.
"Go! Finish it!!!"
At the same time, the beam of destruction was already prepared.
A catastrophe beyond compare.
No matter how despicably it had fought, the fact remained—it had moved first.
Compared to the remaining distance between the boy and the monster, its breath was faster—
Convinced victory was now certain, the beast even wore a trace of cruel amusement, eager to see terror on the insect's face.
But in the end, it was the one proven wrong.
Confronting the attack it had prepared, the boy charging toward it did not show fear.
Instead, he smiled—as though his plan had succeeded.
And in his eyes burned a strange crimson light.
At once, a bone-deep chill flooded the monster's heart. Barol felt a nameless lethal threat. Its lone eye spun frantically, trying to lock onto that tiny yet dangerous figure, trying to fire the attack waiting in its maw—
But it was too late.
It no longer had the chance—
In the next instant, the boy crossed space itself and appeared beside that single eye.
And then he swung down his sword—
Slash—!
Time itself seemed to freeze.
The dark-red light died in an instant. Barol's enormous body stiffened abruptly as a blue line that seemed to carve through space sliced through it. The surrounding space shifted and then repaired itself in the same breath.
And then it released the most agonized, most maddened scream since the day it had been born.
Black fluid gushed from the severed body like a waterfall.
"ROOOOOOOAR—!!!"
Staggering backward, it flailed its arms wildly—then crashed down with the force of a mountain collapsing. The earth shook beneath it.
At last, its titanic form dissolved into black ash and scattered into the air.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Only ragged breathing and pounding heartbeats remained.
The gusts stirred up by the battle brushed across their faces, and only then did everyone awaken from the shock of what they had just witnessed.
The thought that rose in every mind at the same time was only one:
"We won—!"
Standing beside the place where Barol had disintegrated, Finn looked across the battlefield—now almost completely destroyed—and said softly,
"We won... We traded everything we had for this victory."
"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH—!!!"
This victory was as heavy as a crown.
But once again, with iron will alone, they had crossed a hopeless precipice no ordinary person could have overcome.
The wind moved through the flower field like a song of celebration, as though the land itself were playing a hymn of mourning and triumph for a newborn legend.
Soon the camp-making began in a noisy rush.
Commands and shouted responses rose everywhere among the expedition members. Boots hurried back and forth. Iron stakes were driven into the ground, ropes were tightened, and tent after tent went up.
They were now on the fiftieth floor of the Dungeon.
This was a safe zone where monsters did not appear—a rare blessing the Dungeon seemed to offer to those who had survived a mighty battle. Here, the expedition force began setting up camp for a large-scale rest exactly as planned.
Even though it was still within the Dungeon, the place looked like a world smothered under volcanic ash. Everything was a dull gray, even the forest of the floor stained with it, giving the whole landscape the lonely air of a world after its end.
Blue currents like leaf-veins wound through the towering trees. Far above, some ten meters overhead, the ceiling was studded with great stalactite-like pillars glowing with faint phosphorescence.
The expedition camp was pitched atop a huge rock that overlooked the gray forest. Since this level lacked natural light and felt perpetually sunk in twilight, magic-stone lamps had been tied to the tents and supply crates.
In their swaying glow, the chatter of the members was loud and constant, freer and more relaxed than during work.
"Honestly, that was way too close. I still can't believe we actually made it here alive..."
"Yeah... that Astraea Familia kid is absurdly strong..."
"No kidding. The captains and commanders are still treating him like an honored guest in that tent over there... Ahhh, I wish I could go ask for his autograph..."
As they worked, the various faction members whispered among themselves with unmistakable envy.
Their eyes kept drifting toward the tent where the captains were gathered.
Inside, the boy was resting—or more precisely, everyone was discussing what to do next.
"It seems we really overestimated ourselves. I never imagined a single Floor Boss could nearly wipe us out... We really owe you, Shien. Thank you."
Inside the tent, the three great leaders and Shien were discussing their next course of action.
Other than Shien, the other three all still looked shaken. Thinking back on it now, they were almost certain that had been an enhanced breed of Floor Boss—one that had grown abnormally powerful by devouring the magic stones of surrounding monsters.
You could tell as much just from the strange magic stone exposed inside its body.
Otherwise it was hard to explain how it had acquired powers that did not appear in any prior records.
At the same time, with his remarkable intellect, Finn had begun to form a deeply troubling suspicion:
If that Floor Boss had only gained such strength because it had lived for so long without being killed, and had gradually figured out how to strengthen itself, then... could other monsters do the same?
If that were true, then with the two great Familias gone, and with deeper-floor monsters no longer being culled effectively, the farther future expeditions pushed downward, the more of these things they might encounter.
A sickening conclusion.
"It's only natural. We're companions now."
Shien, unaware of the Pallum's line of thought, simply answered Finn's thanks.
In his view, if you were part of a team, then the most basic responsibility was fulfilling your role within it. He was a healer; to Shien, if any teammate died while he was present in the party, then that was his failure and his responsibility.
The dwarven commander nodded gratefully as well. Owing such a debt did not embarrass them. They only needed to remember it, and when the time came that he needed their help, they would repay him with whatever modest strength they had.
But right now, the important thing was the situation in front of them.
"So what's the plan from here? We're already at our limit, aren't we? Do we return?"
That was the problem.
Even though they had studied as much information as possible beforehand and prepared carefully, the results of this expedition had still gone far beyond everyone's expectations.
Their preparations hadn't been as sufficient as they'd believed.
And the enemies they had encountered...
"We definitely need to think this through carefully. After all, we've come this far—it would be a shame to turn back now..."
The gods' commission was right within reach.
And if they turned back now, it would mean declaring this expedition a failure. Their main objective had been to reach the floors near the sixtieth level and search for that thing.
If the main mission failed, then even though they had killed three Floor Bosses, that still wouldn't change the fact that the expedition itself had failed.
And that would be a major blow to the Loki Familia's plan to build their name through successful expeditions.
Which meant the situation was truly difficult.
"If what you're worried about is food, I can help with that!"
Having roughly understood the predicament the party now faced, Shien spoke up first.
He didn't want this journey to end here. He still hadn't had his fill—how could they just retreat in defeat now?
His words immediately drew the attention of the Pallum commander. Food shortage truly was one of the greatest problems they were facing.
Could this boy really solve even that?
Against his better judgment, Finn felt a flicker of expectation.
"Hm? How?"
Shien got straight to the point.
"The power I have—when used in a certain way, it can accelerate the growth of plants. Because of that, I usually carry quite a few seeds with me."
At the same time, Shien took out a tiny seed the size of a grain of rice from his pocket. Green light flashed in his hand, and the seed began growing wildly as though pumped full of stimulants.
In only a few seconds, a vine laden with fruit had appeared in his hand out of thin air.
He plucked several fruits and handed them to the three of them. The dwarven commander took the first bite—and the rich, luscious flesh burst open in his mouth.
"So sweet!!"
That involuntary cry was enough for the other two to understand this was all real.
They each took a bite as well.
Indeed.
It was even better than what they normally ate.
"What a truly miraculous kind of magic... If it's like this, then maybe we can still keep pushing... Ah, honestly, the more we owe you, the more pressure I feel."
"Isn't there a saying that too much debt stops feeling heavy? At this point, what's there left to worry about...?"
"That's true enough..."
Beside them, discussions continued back and forth.
But Riveria wasn't hearing a word of it.
Her eyes were vacant. She sat staring blankly at the fruit in her hand, her mind clearly far away.
He saved me again...
And this time, when I was in such an utterly undignified state...
Ahhh... I want to die...
When she remembered the smile and reassurance he had given her in her most helpless moment—
No, I can't think about it anymore.
Her heart was already hammering in her chest. If this kept up...
Forcefully suppressing the strange reaction rising through her body, the elven girl lowered her head without realizing it, trying to hide the flush that had already spread across her cheeks.
But she overlooked one thing.
It wasn't only her cheeks that had turned red.
The pointed ears exposed to the air had gone crimson too.
Once camp was fully set up, the Loki Familia began to eat.
The members gathered in a wide circle at the center of camp, almost as if they were encircling a bonfire, just like on previous expeditions.
This time, as before, they ate well.
Or rather—
even better.
The difference this time was not quantity, but quality.
With Shien acting as chef, even a mere handful of ingredients became astonishingly rich and delicious in his hands.
By now, everyone admired his cooking so much that they were practically ready to worship him. It was hard to imagine how awful it would feel after returning home and never getting to eat food like this again.
Watching everyone enjoy dinner together in such harmony, Finn found a faint smile rising to his lips.
He was not some calculating machine.
He was human too.
Just because he could usually strip away personal emotion and analyze every problem coldly did not mean he was without warmth.
....
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