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Chapter 38: Dragon's Pot (Dystopia)
Breaking through the 51st floor, the party finally arrived at the stairs leading down to the 52nd.
"Consider this the absolute limit for resupplying," Finn warned those who hadn't ventured this deep before.
"Let's go."
With Finn's command, the party descended the stairs into the 52nd floor.
"Avoid combat whenever possible!! Just repel the monsters and keep moving!!"
At Finn's order, the expedition rushed through the 52nd floor at a pace even faster than their blitz through the 51st.
What is this…
The moment they stepped onto the 52nd floor, Tsuna's Hyper Intuition flared violently, picking up a deeply unsettling anomaly from below. Then, a distant, thunderous roar rumbled from deep within the earth.
"RUUUUN!!"
The second he heard the roars, Finn screamed. The party accelerated to a dead sprint.
"Something's coming!!" Tsuna yelled, his Hyper Intuition screaming danger.
"Bete!! Change course!!"
The instant Tsuna shouted, Finn relayed the order. Bete, leading the vanguard, sharply veered into a side tunnel, the rest of the party diving in right behind him.
Then it happened.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
An unfathomably massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground beneath them, shattering the floor and piercing straight through the ceiling into the 51st floor. Any monster caught in the blast was instantly reduced to ash.
But it wasn't just one. More pillars of fire erupted from different points across the floor. In a matter of seconds, the previously quiet 52nd floor had been transformed into a blistering hellscape.
"A bombardment from the lower floors!?"
Tsuna realized immediately that the monsters below were bombarding them. The Valgang Dragons lurking on the 58th floor had sensed their arrival and were firing massive artillery spheres of flame upward to eradicate any intruders. This was why the 52nd floor was known as the Dragon's Pot.
"Natsu!!"
"GRRRR… ROAARRRRR!!"
In the midst of the apocalyptic inferno, Tsuna drew Natsu from his ring. The little lion stood his ground and unleashed a deafening roar down the shaft of the fire pillar. Natsu's Ruggito del Cielo collided with the blast, harmonizing with the surrounding stone and rapidly petrifying the rising flames.
It's not enough!?
The petrified flames were instantly shattered. The artillery fire was coming from the 58th floor—before the petrification could travel all the way down, the sheer volume and continuous force of the Valgang Dragons' barrage pulverized the stone and surged upward, plunging the 52nd floor back into a fiery hell.
Even Tsuna grimaced, realizing that trying to counteract the sheer mass of the bombardment was futile.
"Detour!! Take the west route!!"
Judging that even Tsuna couldn't suppress the artillery, Finn commanded them to abandon the main route. The party sprinted down the wide, labyrinthine corridors with everything they had.
What kind of nightmare is this floor… So this is what Raul meant…
Tsuna had maintained his composure until now, but the sheer absurdity of the environment was beginning to test his nerves.
"Raul!! Dodge!!"
Gareth, guarding the rear, shouted a warning. A thick strand of spider silk shot out from a side tunnel, aiming straight for Raul. But the young adventurer hadn't noticed.
"Mr. Raul!!"
Lefiya, running just behind him, forcefully shoved Raul—backpack and all—out of the way. Her push saved his life, but the Deformis Spider's web wrapped around Lefiya's wrist instead.
She was yanked into the air, screaming as the massive arachnid opened its mandibles to devour her.
Before its jaws could snap shut, a pillar of fire erupted from below, taking the Deformis Spider point-blank and obliterating it. Though spared from being eaten, the spider's death severed the web. With nothing anchoring her, Lefiya plummeted straight down the massive, six-floor-deep hole created by the fire pillar.
Seeing her fall, Tiona, Tione, and Bete dove into the abyss without a second thought.
"Eh!?"
"No way!?"
"That bastard!!"
But as the three of them looked down, they saw Tsuna already plummeting past them. He was diving faster than any of them, his speed leaving them in absolute shock.
"Grab on!!"
"Y-Yes!!"
Tsuna reached his left hand out toward Lefiya, and she reached back. Their fingers locked, and Tsuna halted her freefall.
"Are you okay?"
"T-Thank you so much…"
Lefiya had been prepared for death. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as overwhelming relief washed over her.
Another one's coming!!
Her relief was short-lived. Tsuna's Hyper Intuition flared again. Another Valgang Dragon artillery shell was rocketing up the shaft.
"Catch!!"
"Wait—eh!?"
"Whoa!?"
Knowing neither of them would survive a direct hit in mid-air, Tsuna forcefully hurled Lefiya upward toward Tione. Lefiya shrieked, entirely unprepared to be thrown, and Tiona gasped in surprise before frantically catching the Elf mid-air.
"Natsu. Cambio Forma. Modo Attacco."
"Gau!!"
Tsuna commanded Natsu to shift into his offensive Cambio Forma. The little lion dissolved into brilliant light, wrapping around Tsuna's right arm.
"[Mitena di Vongola Primo!]"
The gauntlet on Tsuna's right hand transformed. The Mitena di Vongola Primo—a legendary weapon said to mirror the gauntlet Vongola Primo wore when he focused all his flames into a single, ultimate strike.
"It's coming!!"
"Tch!!"
At Tiona's shout, a massive fireball surged up from the depths, illuminating the shaft in a blinding crimson light. Tiona and Bete readied their weapons, desperate to figure out a way to deflect it.
"Big Bang Axle!!"
Tsuna thrust his right fist straight downward at the incoming inferno. A hyper-condensed sphere of Sky Flames erupted from the gauntlet, rocketing down the shaft. It slammed into the Valgang Dragon's artillery shell—and completely tore through it, shattering the enemy fire into harmless sparks.
"He pierced it!?"
"You've gotta be kidding me!?"
He had met an artillery blast capable of blowing through six dungeon floors head-on and completely overpowered it.
Suddenly, massive dark purple dragons emerged from the walls of the shaft beneath them. Ill Wyverns. Monsters native to the deep floors that nested in the vertical drops, waiting to ambush adventurers falling down the holes created by the Valgang Dragons.
GAAAAAAARRRRR!!
But the power of Tsuna's Big Bang Axle hadn't diminished in the slightest. The blast swallowed the Ill Wyverns whole, annihilating them instantly as it continued its descent.
The power of this move has gone up too…
Tsuna realized his output had drastically increased since receiving Falna.
He didn't just obliterate a Valgang Dragon's blast, he wiped out a flock of Ill Wyverns with it!? Just how much firepower is packed into that strike!?
Bete stared in utter disbelief.
Unstoppable, Tsuna's attack continued plummeting, vaporizing every Ill Wyvern in its path.
.....
Floor 58.
GYAAAAAAAAAARGH!?
Tsuna's blast slammed into the massive Valgang Dragon that had fired the shot, instantly obliterating its body. The shockwave didn't stop there—it blew a massive crater straight through the 58th floor.
.....
The Shaft.
"I'm going to drop all the way down and take out the monsters firing the artillery. It'll make it easier for Finn and the others to push through the 52nd floor. You guys cool with that?" Tsuna called out as they continued their freefall.
"You don't have to tell me twice!!"
"Yup!! I'm in!!"
"It's our best option."
Knowing that neutralizing the artillery was the only way to secure the 52nd floor, Tsuna relayed his tactical assessment mid-air. Bete, Tiona, and Tione immediately agreed.
He's just like the Captain...
He had instantly taken charge, uniting the famously eccentric and stubborn executives of the Loki Familia without a hint of hesitation. Looking at Tsuna, Lefiya saw shades of Finn Deimne.
"Let's go!!"
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