Using the rotational force of his sword swing, Aiden forcibly spun his body in mid-air. Reaching out his empty left hand, he aimed his palm at the still-dense hornet swarm below.
Scorching flames and high-frequency sonic waves rapidly fused in his palm in an unprecedented manner.
"Gospel."
A beam of light mixing crimson red and golden brilliance instantly fired.
This was the perfect combination of the extreme speed of Demon Lord Valion and the extreme heat of the Everlasting Flames.
The fiery bombardment moved at breakneck speed, penetrating the entire hornet swarm the instant it appeared, detonating violently right in the center.
BOOM—!
The fierce explosion whipped up a violent shockwave and a sea of fire, engulfing massive swathes of Deadly Hornets and instantly turning them to cinders.
Allowing gravity to pull him down, Aiden landed lightly on the ground.
At the exact same time, the blown-apart remnants of the hornets rained down like a shower of fire, crackling as they littered the surrounding ground.
"The Captain's every move never fails to leave people in awe," Daphne said, holding her rapier. Her tone carried a hint of genuine admiration.
"Yeah. He's getting stronger and stronger. We can't fall behind. Let's go together."
Tifa's beautiful eyes had remained locked onto Aiden the entire time.
Seeing Aiden's dazzling, almost artistic combat posture on the battlefield, a breathtaking smile uncontrollably curled the corners of her mouth.
As soon as she finished speaking, she voluntarily stepped out of the barrier's protection. Flanking left and right with Daphne, they charged at the stragglers escaping the explosion's aftermath.
However, just as Aiden, Tifa, and Daphne were unleashing their full might, Robin—who had been acting as the command tower—knitted her brows slightly.
Her gaze swept past the fierce battlefield, finally locking onto a massive tree hollow deep within the Dungeon walls in the distance.
She spoke to Aiden through the Mental Network. "If we don't take that out, the hornets will just keep pouring in forever. Even if we choose to run, we won't get very far."
That tree hollow was the source where the swarm was continuously pouring out from.
At the dark entrance, countless Deadly Hornets clung, wrapped, and squirmed together like a living black tide, forming a massive, terrifying "hornet's nest."
But this nest—which appeared to be a structure—was actually a monster itself.
It was a trap-type monster that lived symbiotically with the Deadly Hornets, an incredibly rare creature known as a Bloody Hive.
Its appearance resembled a pinecone magnified countless times, over seven meters long. Its hideous, purple-black exterior looked like some ominous Devil Fruit birthed from the abyss of Hell.
This monster possessed no means of mobility. Normally, it hid inside tree hollows large enough for giant hornets to pass through.
The moment prey entered its nearby alert zone, it would violently blow away the bark covering the labyrinth wall, revealing its full, hideous form, and unleash an endless swarm of hornets.
Once this kind of monster appeared on an adventurer's standard route, it spelled a highly troublesome disaster.
And now, Aiden and the party had unfortunately crashed headlong into just such a disaster.
The purple-black, giant-pinecone-like hideous hive began to reveal its own attack methods.
From the countless holes on its surface, massive amounts of viscous, oily liquid shot out.
The liquid didn't possess any direct lethal power, but it traced parabolic arcs through the air. Like a grotesque downpour, it showered down on the group with clear intent.
A sickly sweet, sour smell instantly permeated the air.
It wasn't hard to imagine that once touched by this liquid, its incredibly strong adhesive properties would glue a fully armed adventurer fast to the spot, completely sealing all their movements, leaving them as sitting ducks for the swarming Deadly Hornets.
Watching the liquid land on the golden shield, emit a series of sizzling corrosive sounds, and slide greasily down, Robin furrowed her brows, a flash of unconcealed disgust passing through her eyes.
Hyacine and Cassandra also looked utterly repulsed. Just thinking about their bodies being covered in that slime brought on a wave of physical discomfort.
Fortunately, Jeanne's barrier magic, Luminosité Eternelle, was indestructible.
That seemingly thin wall of light acted like an impassable moat, blocking all the filth on the outside.
However, this didn't solve the root of the problem.
"Aiden, you have to clear out that hive immediately, or this will get very troublesome."
Robin's calm voice echoed in the mental link, laced with a hint of solemnity.
Her judgment was flawlessly accurate.
The Bloody Hive was tightly fused with the Dungeon's jagged root walls, nearly becoming one entity. This meant it could directly absorb the Dungeon's power.
Its production speed of Deadly Hornets was far faster than monster spawn rates in other areas. It was practically an inexhaustible armory.
While they were exhausted dealing with the endless hornet swarm, monsters attracted by the scent of blood from other branching paths would join the fray, forming a vicious cycle capable of dragging down any party.
"Got it. I'll take it out."
Aiden replied deeply. He tightened his right hand around the Fire Spirit Sword II; the hilt was cold and solid to the touch.
In the next second, scorching flames wound around his limbs like living vines, emitting a low roar of combustion.
This hive, which occupied the entire main passageway, was continuously spewing out Deadly Hornets. It was no longer a simple monster, but a bona fide "monster fortress" constructed of flesh and carapace.
Facing such a "fortress," a war of attrition was meaningless.
The only way to break the deadlock was to strike with the force of a thunderbolt and swiftly execute a tactic aimed at obliterating its core.
Aiden raised the longsword in his hand high.
This time, he didn't accumulate the apocalyptic power of Unsheathed Heavenly Fire. Instead, he attempted an entirely new technique.
His mind highly focused, he began guiding the magic power within his body.
First was Alfia's magic, Demon Lord Valion.
The invisible sonic power was no longer fired out as a cannon blast. Instead, with exquisite control, he wrapped it around the blade of the Fire Spirit Sword II layer by layer, like an invisible membrane of air.
The air around the sword began to vibrate slightly, emitting a high-frequency, barely audible hum.
Immediately following was the fire of Everlasting Flames.
Crimson flames erupted from his body, but they didn't burn wildly like usual. Instead, they followed the trajectory of the sonic waves, seamlessly fusing with that invisible vibrational power.
The form of the flames became unstable. They contracted and expanded, as if breathing to a bizarre rhythm.
Under his will, two completely different types of magic—the vibration of sound and the heat of fire—reached a delicate equilibrium.
Then, he swung his sword.
Accompanied by a clear, ringing sword hum, he lashed out with this composite energy—infused with two types of magic—as if cracking a whip.
A crimson, flying slash several meters long detached from the blade and howled through the air.
Wherever the slash passed, the air vibrated and wailed violently. All the giant hornets in its path didn't even have time to react before being instantly incinerated to ash by the interwoven power of sound and fire.
The hideous, squirming hive met this oncoming light of destruction head-on.
Along with the countless unformed monsters still gestating deep within its nest, screaming as they were buried together, it exploded violently in a deafening blast.
BOOM—!!!
The massive Dungeon wall, along with the Bloody Hive that had been turned to dust, was blown to pieces.
A violent shockwave mixed with copious amounts of dust, splintered wood, and monster remains formed a dense smoke screen, instantly sweeping through the entire main passageway.
"Phew... it worked."
Aiden looked at the incredibly powerful slash he had just unleashed and softly exhaled a breath of stale air.
That strike just now had drained nearly half of his Mind.
When he had originally created his signature technique, Unsheathed Heavenly Fire, his mind involuntarily recalled a technique Alfia had once casually demonstrated in front of him. A technique she and Zald called Pseudo Lumina Slash—the pinnacle art belonging to swordsmen.
It was a terrifying technique capable of obliterating physical distance, allowing a swordsman to transform a slash into a ranged magical bombardment, just like the highest-tier mages.
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