"!!"
This kick, reinforced with Reiryoku, directly smashed the merman's face until it caved in.
Bone cracked, and blood sprayed out.
Its huge fish eyes, like two empty holes, stared fixedly at Rayleigh.
'This merman actually knows spear techniques, and it is already close to the level of a master.'
If there was anything lacking, it was that it had merely copied the physical moves themselves while completely neglecting the control of distance needed when fighting against human opponents.
So-called martial arts were techniques created by humans and demi-humans through the act of killing each other.
No matter what school of martial arts it was, because they incorporated systematic ways of using strength, they were highly effective against monsters.
As an Adventurer, one had to at least master some kind of weapon as a primary attack method.
Of course, there were also wild types.
They purely relied on the correction to their Basic Abilities provided by their Falna, while their combat style was entirely tempered through real battle.
This creature had probably learned spear techniques by observing Adventurers, but it could not imitate their actual combat experience.
No wonder the Guild, once they discovered an Enhanced Species, would immediately send out a subjugation party and attach such importance to the existence of Enhanced Species.
If it possessed this kind of learning ability, and on top of that could devour Magic Stones to raise its ability values, then if left alone for a sufficient duration, a being with a threat level surpassing a Monster Rex might appear.
After all, a Monster Rex would never leave the designated area where it was active.
Even Amphisbaena, the most special among all Monster Rexes, which could move freely between Floors, only possessed a maximum range of activity across the 25th to the 27th Floors.
But Enhanced Species were different.
They possessed extremely high intelligence and the innate ability to learn.
Sooner or later, they would leave the Floor where they originally spawned.
A monster like this, one that moved while actively ignoring the rules of suppression imposed by the Gods' prayers, was a walking disaster.
Wherever it went, Adventurers would suffer.
Even ordinary monsters would be harmed by its presence.
"You look really angry."
Rayleigh looked down at the enraged merman monster, his own expression equally cold.
"Let me say this first—I'm pretty pissed off too. I got suddenly ambushed out of nowhere! If my reaction had been any slower, you would have blown a massive hole right through here."
He pointed to the area from his chest to his abdomen.
'Hmm. This thing probably can't understand me anyway.'
'Then I will make it understand with brute force!'
The only one who was angry here was not just this monster.
Rayleigh used Shunpo and flashed directly in front of the enhanced merman.
The Hyōrinmaru in his hand slashed down diagonally.
The merman let out a strange cry and violently kicked the tail end of the crystal spear with that bizarre foot of its.
Driven by the force of that kick, the spear spun rapidly, and its rear end swept upward, colliding with the descending Hyōrinmaru.
'This guy. It can actually use it this skillfully?'
Rayleigh retreated half a step, spun his body, and changed to a two-handed grip.
After a two-hundred-and-ninety-degree rotation, the blade's acceleration reached its absolute limit.
The merman failed to defend against this strike.
Its upper arm was cut open by Hyōrinmaru.
The moment the wound split open, it was frozen shut by the terrifying cold wrapped around the blade, and not even blood flowed out.
If it had only been an ordinary sword wound, then perhaps it could still move despite the pain.
But a frozen wound was like having a thorn stuck directly into the injury.
The merman's right arm could no longer be raised.
The merman let out a cry of pain. Its fish eyes widened greatly, turning crimson and terrifying.
Being stared at so intensely by those eyes made even Rayleigh feel uncomfortable.
The merman leaped with force, instantly jumping over ten meters away.
That jumping power made one wonder whether it was really a merman or a frogman.
"Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen."
Rayleigh took a stance, and his finger traced a triangle through empty air.
Three golden cone-shaped plates of light condensed into form, like three fangs.
Then Shitotsu Sansen shot out at the same time.
Sensing danger, the merman hurriedly dove toward the ground.
Shitotsu Sansen struck the cavern wall and missed.
Rayleigh pointed one hand at the ground and used Hadō #12: Fushibi.
In an instant, a line of fire ran along the ground beneath the merman, and then line after line of fire bound its body, restraining it.
A fire-attribute Hadō had an obvious effect against aquatic monsters.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai."
A blazing pillar of white lightning pierced through the dark space, punching through the merman's abdomen and making it drop to its knees in pain, clutching the wound with both hands.
The other battlefield still had not finished their battle, so Rayleigh prepared to immediately give this Enhanced Species the finishing blow.
However, that monster trembled as it rose to its feet again.
'So it still has not given up resisting.'
Seeing it stand, Rayleigh poured Reiryoku into his blade and swung out a wave of sword slash.
In the next instant, golden lightning flashed and Rayleigh's expression changed.
'What?'
Golden lightning crawled across the ground as if it were alive and arrived right in front of him.
"You've got to be kidding me—it's actually a Magic Sword??"
'Using Dankū... too late. Tch.'
From the lightning right in front of him, Rayleigh felt an aura of destruction.
'If that thing hits me, my body will probably be turned directly to ash.'
'If the damaged part is not vital, then afterward it should still be possible to heal it with Kaidō.'
'But if my internal organs are destroyed, then no amount of Kaidō can grow a new one back!'
'A monster actually using a Magic Sword—what kind of hellish joke is this?'
At that critical moment, Rayleigh poured Reiryoku into his blood vessels and used Blut Vene.
At the same time, he made Hyōrinmaru freeze the moisture on the surface of his body, turning it into thick ice armor.
Boom!!!
Terrifying lightning tore apart everything it touched along its path including the frozen surface of the lake.
...
On Amphisbaena's two heads, its eyes flashed with a dangerous light at the exact same time.
Its restraints had weakened!
Because the lake surface had cracked apart, its restraints were greatly reduced.
"ROAARRRR—!!"
Both dragon heads let out terrifying roars at the same time.
The shock wave that shook the atmosphere blew the girls around it away and shattered all the ice covering the surface of their bodies.
Amphisbaena had regained its ability to move!
"This is bad."
Faced with the two-headed dragon that had lost the restriction of the ice, the pressure on Lyra instantly increased sharply.
She could feel that the tensile strength of the spider silk was already on the verge of collapse, and at the same time even she herself was being dragged over by that terrifying power.
Amphisbaena spewed azure flames at the spider silk binding it and Lyra immediately controlled the spider silk to secrete a fireproof liquid.
However, even the fireproof liquid was ignited as well, and after lasting only three seconds, it was completely burned away.
After the spider silk was burned away, the two-headed dragon completely lost its restraints, and its enormous body suddenly began to tilt.
'With that mass and volume, could it be—'
Whoosh!
The two-headed dragon actually found its center of gravity.
Its enormous body began to spin, and its long tail swung out like the Grim Reaper's scythe, and also like a massive whip.
Crack!
That terrifying tail swing instantly shattered a vast stretch of the ice field.
Amphisbaena did not stop.
After righting its massive body, it directly faced the location it had just attacked.
"Watch out!"
Because the ice field had cracked apart, the party members were forced to scatter, and their tactical formation became completely disordered.
And the azure flames had already been fired!