"Great! They're still alive!" Tiona shouted. All of them, except, of course, of Medusa, don't know what exactly happened back there. At the moment that cat person got done in, the whole party should have died without them being able to help since it's already too late. But because of their strangely fast movement and strange instantly appearing barriers, they were saved. However, they don't have time to contemplate that as they need to save them first since this will be their last chance to do so.
But as they're about to jump out, Medusa blocked their way again and took out her scythe for the second time today, "It's obvious that they can't fight anymore! What are you trying to do!?" Riveria, for the first time, shouted at her, "Ais! Get them with Ariel!" She commanded the fastest among their team.
Ais nodded and muttered, "Tempest!" The wind started gathering around her body as she readied her rapier.
Medusa wasn't having any of that and finally removed her blindfold while also secretly contacting Kuroka to come to her position as she won't be enough to stop all of them if they still insist to save them.
Seeing her reveal her eyes again, Riveria warned the others, "Don't look at her eyes!"
To bad for them, Medusa's Mystic Eyes of Petrification doesn't work that way. The moment they witness her eyes for the first time and even they turn away from that gaze, the moment they thought about her eyes, they'll be affected as long as they're within Medusa's line of sight. So when she turned to them and they evaded her eyes, everyone from the Loki Familia still felt their blood run cold and they immediately their bodies slowing down.
"!?"
The Loki Familia noticed the slowing effect isn't that much, however, when they recalled the fate of the Minotaurs on the 17th floor who's limbs turned to stone, they shuddered and didn't move. Riveria was about to give a cruel order of retreat, leaving behind the three girls to their death as their members are much more important to her than those unknown Adventurers, when the slowing effect started disappeared.
They all looked up and saw that Medusa returned her blindfold again and said, "Please don't interfere... This is just the start." Medusa then turned back to the three girls while gritting her teeth, "They have to surpass this... Or else... They'll be following behind forever."
They don't know what Medusa is talking about, but they can easily tell that those words has more emotion than her apathetic actions until now.
Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Bete looked towards Riveria to wait for her decision. Riveria, in response, could only sigh in defeat, "We watch."
.
.
.
While a Minotaur is approaching her, Aika tried to stand up but as she did, an unbearable pain suddenly stabbed her left arm that she used to block the Minotaur's kick and couldn't help but scream "AAHHH!!!"
When she took a look at it, she was horrified that her upper arm is broken with sharp bones sticking out and only flesh is keeping her hand from falling off from the rest of her arm, "Ah!... Ahhh!!!... Guh!"
Even with Yoruichi and Kisuke's brutal training, this is her first time being almost dismembered and she got dizzy and wanted to vomit after seeing her arm's sorry state like any normal person who lived most of their life in peace back on Earth.
With the Minotaur looming over, tears started to paint Aika's whole face as her life seemingly started to flash before her eyes, 'Am I going to die here?'
When a big shadow covered her, she unconsciously looked up with her tear-stricken face and saw the Minotaur who she could only imagine sneering at her, 'Ah... I'm going to die... Kisuke... Save me...'
'Save me... Save me... Save me...' Aika kept repeating those words inside her head, but then she suddenly realized something, 'Sa...ve... me...? Again...? Do I have to hide behind him again...?' Aika recalled Kisuke's smug face, 'Although he will surely save me again when needed... Isn't this the main reason why he hesitated on taking us with him...?'
Aika remembered the fact that they can't join Kisuke's group when they went deeper in the Dungeon and it's because they're weak. Because of them, the three of them tried their hardest to catch up to them, but apparently, the distance between them is still increasing and sooner or later, they might just be so far away, they couldn't even see his back.
While staring blankly at the Minotaur, who started preparing its fist to finish Aika off, she muttered, "...Hardest?... I have already tried my hardest...?"
The Minotaur then brought down its fist to blast Aika's head away.
From Aika's perspective, the world suddenly became slow as her thoughts accelerated. Seeing the large fist about to hit her face, she gritted her teeth and shouted while backing away and gripping her remaining short sword, "I see that I'm just deluding myself that I already worked hard!!! That's complete bullshit coming from me to myself!!!"
The Minotaur was shocked when she suddenly moved and evaded its attack, but it wasn't able to think more when a short sword suddenly pierced through its hand and pinned it to the ground, "GRAAHHHH!!!"
After carefully stabbing the hand of the Minotaur so that it wouldn't break the sword, Aika jumped towards the Minotaur's head, "And I'm not going to die!!! Not now!!! Not anytime soon!!!" She then took out one of the two remaining daggers she had on her waist and shoved it inside the Minotaur's wide-open mouth, "And not when he hasn't taken my virginity yet!!!"
Along with her arm, Aika shoved the dagger on its throat and immediately took out his arm before the Minotaur closes its mouth. She was able to wound its throat, but she knew that it wasn't enough so after dropping down, she jumped again and gave its throat a good punch.
The dagger inside its throat broke into many pieces, however, it was able to pierce through its nape and a few seconds later, the Minotaur dropped down without being able to cry before turning into ashes.
Everyone became silent after this. Even the Minotaurs stopped their advancement when they saw one of them was suddenly killed. Unbeknownst to Aika, her golden colored eyes became more pronounced along with her irises becoming slits.
"S-she killed it..." Tiona muttered, "But where did she pulled that sudden explosion of strength?"
Ignoring, the shocked expressions of everyone from Loki Familia, Medusa sighed a huge relief and said, "This is it..."