When Ais asked to remain behind, she'd been aiming for the Floor Boss of the 37th floor that was about to respawn, "Are you sure about this, Ais?" Riveria asked.
Ais only nodded as a reply as she readied herself.
Sona approached Riveria and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, Is she aiming for the Floor Boss? And if so, why?" Sona, while they're preparing for the exploration, received some information from Yoruichi regarding the monsters in the Dungeon's deeper floors and also reminded her that it has been two months and three weeks since the 37th-floor boss was defeated and they'll likely meet it if they ventured deep enough.
Riveria didn't face Sona and instead just looked towards Ais, but she still answered her question, "It's the monster rex she's aiming at, however, all I can tell you why she wants to do that is that her strength is already starting to stagnate."
"Stagnating, eh? As expected, you guys have a different view when it comes to getting stronger. Maybe it's because of the Falna?" Sona muttered.
Riveria frowned and looked towards Sona, "What do you mean?"
However, just as she finished her question, the ground started shaking and everyone had to quickly lower their body's center of gravity just to stay standing.
A few seconds later, a large skeletal monster emerged from the ground.
Udaeus, the Monster Rex of the 37th Floor. It has a black body and is a large version of a Spartoi. It spawns every three months. It has no lower body due to it being able to spread its attacks through the ground and also has the ability to summon Spartoi.
"Riveria, don't help me. I'll do this alone." Ais once again stated her goal, " 'Awaken, Tempest!' "
Riveria focused back on Ais and the newly emerged monster and thought, 'The specifics of Ais's status eludes me, however, it's clear her growth has stagnated based on my observations of her in combat. Which means that the reality is Ais Wallenstein has reached her limit at Level 5. At Level 5, should she wish for greater strength, to advance to Level 6, she must acquire a larger 'container.' She must step above humanity, closer to the Gods, 'Level up.'
'She must achieve a grand accomplishment that the Gods cannot ignore!'
The Udaeus's magic stone was inside its ribs and it was very visible from the outside. However, despite that, the monster is big and aside from it being very hard to reach with conventional weapons, there's also a strong barrier made out of Mana around it that also stops Magic from approaching it. So the only way to defeat it was to either break its bones and deplete the Mana it uses to maintain its structure or destroy the core.
While Ais was fighting the Udaeus, it started summoning hundreds of Level 4 Spartoi that was enough to overwhelm a party of Level 4's or weaker Level 5's, "Get beside me! It's dangerous!" Riveria shouted towards the trio, worrying for their safety. From the 27th floor and onwards, Sona, Aika, and Koneko had needed to hide behind the Loki Familia and would only fight if there's one or two monsters coming after them.
Although they said that they have a way to defend themselves, Riveria still couldn't just leave them alone. However, Riveria could only be left speechless when Sona and Koneko started floating with a magic circle below them while Aika started ascending while using some 'invisible staircase' until they reached the ceiling of the floor where no monsters could reach them unless they threw away their weapons. But for the three of them, that isn't an issue as Sona could easily block them with her magic.
Even Ais was distracted for a bit but she refocused when the Udaeus' arm brushed past her.
Riveria, on the other hand, couldn't comment as she needed to clear the hoard of skeletal monsters by using her staff. But after thinking about it again it would be better to stay quiet for now since it might distract Ais again. She then went back to smashing the heads of Spartois, killing them with her sheer basic parameter advantage.
The entire fight lasted for about half an hour and within that duration of time, Ais almost lost her life three times and Riveria had to use her Spirit Veil magic that healed her one time. However, the Udaeus was already crumbling and Ais had already won. She just has to stab her sword in its magic stone to kill it.
Without any Spartois, Sona, Aika, and Koneko could now talk freely and Aika muttered, "...That's... Although we also risked our lives that one time, somehow, the feeling Ais-san giving us is different."
Koneko nodded at her words, "It's different. I can't tell what's different, though."
Sona fixed her glasses and tried to address the two's confusion, "It's probably the way she wants to get stronger. Before we even fought those Minotaurs, Kisuke and Yoruichi would always tell us that one of the important things about getting stronger is self breakthrough. And through it, we have a mindset of breaking our old shell to overcome the enemy.
"What Ais is probably thinking is the opposite of that. Overcome the enemy to have a breakthrough."
The haze that was covering the reasoning behind Ais's actions was finally cleared in Aika and Koneko's mind, "I see. Although overcoming an enemy to have a breakthrough sounds nice, realistically, if you can defeat that enemy in the first place, then you don't need a breakthrough that much. That logic only works in RPGs."
"...It's the Falna's fault." Koneko added.
Ais collapsed after killing the Monster Rex due to exhaustion, but Riveria immediately ran to her side and gave her treatment through her healing magic and an elixir.
Sona, Aika, and Koneko also came down and approached them to help Riveria clean up Ais while also gathering the dropped and fragmented magic stone and a huge black sword left behind by the Udaeus.
Fifteen minutes after, Ais was already able to stand up on her own and bowed to everyone, "Thank you, everyone."
Riveria also stood up and fixed a bit of Ais's clothing, "It alright. But let's not stay here. Let's go talk on our way up. It's dangerous to stay here any further."
Everyone agreed and gathered everything before starting to ascend.
On the way, instead of asking how they were able to fly earlier, Ais asked the trio something that she's more interested in, "What did you think of my battle earlier?"
The trio suddenly stopped walking and looked at each other before looking back to Ais with Sona starting, "It's frustrating."
"It's bad." Aika followed.
"If Kisuke-senpai were to see that, he'll tell you to go back to practicing the basics." Koneko then ended it with a harsh remark.
And of course, Riveria, especially Ais, were dumbfounded at their sudden harsh words.
Alexander: Yeah, go tell her. It is time for a training arc.
28th00: Yeah… These are beings that perfected and invented absurd combat styles that are pretty much wholly unique to each person in their society with literal centuries of combat training and experience… Ais is gonna be torn to pieces. She's all "skill" and no Skill, capital required. Power leveling brats.