The bottom-most level of the Dungeon's middle floors—the 24th Floor—was an insurmountable hurdle for the vast majority of adventurers.
The Guild's official recommendation for reaching this floor was Level 2, with an evaluation of basic ability parameters requiring at least a C to S rank.
With Aiden and the group's current Status parameters, they had long surpassed this standard.
The reason they had lingered in the middle floors for so long was more out of a desire to familiarize themselves with the environment and progress steadily.
If they had truly disregarded everything and charged recklessly downward, they might have stepped into the deeper domains long ago.
At this moment, the stratum known as the Large Tree Labyrinth was welcoming this small party with its unique ecosystem.
The air was thick with the scent of damp, rotting wood mixed with soil. The surrounding walls, floor, and even the ceiling were interwoven from the roots of ancient trees so massive they seemed endless, presenting a deep, weathered brown.
Luminescent moss had replaced the phosphorescent stones of the upper floors, winding across the interlaced bark walls and casting large swaths of serene, deep blue light. It illuminated the entire labyrinth like a bizarre forest at the bottom of the ocean.
With a crimson flash of flame, the longsword cut through the air like a brushstroke tearing across a dark blue canvas, cleanly cleaving a lunging Mad Beetle in half straight down the middle.
The carapace shattered, its foul-smelling green fluids instantly vaporizing in the extreme heat.
Aiden's movements didn't pause for a moment. Using the momentum from his landing slash as a pivot, his toes pushed off the slick, mossy ground. Shooting forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, he delivered a heavy, powerful flying kick that sent a Bugbear—which had just reared up on its hind legs to roar—flying backward. It crashed violently against the hard bark wall and dissolved into a cloud of black smoke.
Buzz—
Several Gunmeganes, with wingspans approaching a meter, dive-bombed from a gap above, their high-speed wing vibrations emitting an ear-piercing noise.
Without even looking, Aiden switched to a reverse grip on his sword. Pushing off the ground once more, he launched himself into the air.
He uncoiled his body in mid-air. The Fire Spirit Sword II—he had lost count of which generation this one was—danced like the wind in his hand. The slashes were so fast they left behind an unbroken chain of afterimages.
It was as if a flower of death, made of severed limbs and black ash, blossomed in the sky. The Gunmeganes didn't even have time to shriek before they were dismembered into countless pieces, raining down across a wide area.
With the battle over, the surroundings temporarily returned to peace.
Aiden lightly flicked the non-existent blood off the blade, but his heart ached faintly.
He was already using a brand new Fire Spirit Sword II.
The previous one had been gloriously "sacrificed" during the battle against the Goliath on the 17th Floor.
That terrifying ultimate technique—formed by combining the three great weapons of [Alpha Inforce], Demon Lord Valion, and Everlasting Flames—had been named Unsheathed Heavenly Fire by him.
The majesty of that blast was truly earth-shattering. The coolness factor was unparalleled, and the exhilaration was beyond description. But the price was that the Third-Class Adventurer Weapon meticulously crafted by the Hephaestus Familia—after bearing a power that exceeded its limits—began crumbling inch by inch from the inside out the instant the beam fired. Ultimately, it had disintegrated into a pile of dazzling metallic ash.
At the time, facing the adoring gazes of his teammates, Aiden remained casually indifferent on the surface, but his heart was bleeding.
Fortunately, he had an incredibly clear understanding of his own combat style, which could best be described as a "weapon shredder."
Therefore, before setting off on the expedition, he had the foresight to pack several spare weapons in his luggage.
The one currently in his hand was the brand new successor.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but think: given the rate at which he consumed weapons, even if he spent a fortune in the future to have the Hephaestus Familia forge a divine weapon with the Durandal attribute for him—just like Ais's—the subsequent maintenance fees alone would probably be an astronomical sum capable of instantly bankrupting any small-to-medium Familia.
After all, so-called Durandal weapons weren't truly indestructible; it merely meant their material limits far exceeded standard weapons.
They would still suffer wear and tear, their edges would dull, and they required regular maintenance.
Aiden never believed there was anything truly indestructible, provided the force applied was strong enough.
Judging solely by his method of using Unsheathed Heavenly Fire, he probably really would have to send it in for maintenance after a single use.
"Two o'clock direction, the Deadly Hornets are coming again!"
Just as Aiden's thoughts were drifting, Robin's clear and precise voice rang out in the Mental Network like the timeliest of alarm bells.
Before her words even faded, an ear-piercing, high-frequency sound of flapping wings approached rapidly from afar.
Dozens of pitch-black, giant hornets—the size of hunting hounds—swept out from the depths of the tunnel like a dark cloud.
These were the "high-level assassins" of this region—the Deadly Hornets.
Sharp claws, stingers glowing with an eerie green light, and fearless, suicidal dive-bomb attacks turning themselves into living cannonballs.
The swarm of Deadly Hornets ruthlessly crashed into the protective barrier radiating soft golden light that Jeanne had deployed around the perimeter of the squad.
The dense barrage of impacts sounded like hail on a tin roof, sending ripples across the shield.
This barrier, capable of simultaneously defending against both physical and magical attacks, faithfully fulfilled its duty in this moment.
Robin and Hyacine immediately launched a ranged counterattack.
With a light flick of her fingers, Robin sent several invisible sonic blasts roaring out. Hyacine waved her arm, conjuring several cyan wind blades out of thin air to slice through the atmosphere.
However, the Deadly Hornets soaring freely in the air displayed a level of evasion entirely disproportionate to their massive size. Their bodies cut bizarre, jagged paths through the air, easily dodging the vast majority of the attacks.
Even when a few spells luckily hit their mark, they were completely blocked by hard carapaces that far surpassed those of Killer Ants. The impacts merely sparked harmlessly, failing to leave behind even a decent scratch.
Truly worthy of monsters crowned as "high-level assassins."
Seeing this, Aiden immediately refocused his mind and accelerated his movements.
He didn't charge directly into the hornet swarm. Instead, he first swept the surrounding area clean of the sparse, randomly spawned monsters, ensuring the flanks were secure.
Then, he abruptly dashed toward a wall formed of massive tree roots. In the instant before colliding, his right foot pushed off the vertical surface violently.
Bang!
Using the immense reactive force, he transformed into an inverted comet. With a massive, physics-defying leap, he vaulted straight over the swarm, instantly appearing behind them.
The killer hornets, intensely focused on attacking the shield, clearly hadn't expected someone to appear from this angle. For a brief moment, they actually froze in confusion.
Aiden's speed was simply too fast. In the fraction of a second he moved at high speeds, his blue eyes left behind two long trails of blue radiance in the dim labyrinth.
The slash arrived howling.
The Fire Spirit Sword II he swung burned with flames as bright as day.
Where the sword edge passed, the defenses of the Deadly Hornets—comprised of four wings and hard carapaces—were as fragile as warm butter sliced by a red-hot knife, severed cleanly at the root without effort.
The wingless hornets plummeted like falling dumplings.
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