"That should be the last of 'em~!" As expected the moment all the crystals lining the island walls shattered the bubble-like barrier that encompassed it disappeared. All that appeared now on the island was a single lever sitting dead center in the middle.
"I guess that's how we get to the layer huh…?" Ivan and his group all landed on the island to proceed to the next step of the dungeon. While arduous the fight that took place before only served to exhaust their mana reserves a bit.
Ivan stared around for a bit. "Hey, Ari. Could you pull the lever using your chains?" It was a request that caused the others to stare at him. They turned back and looked at the lever. Out in the open, devoid of cover, it was of considerable size which should probably warrant the use of two hands.
If the lever was just another part of the test then it wouldn't be strange to take that opportunity when someone was occupied pulling the lever to trap them. Ari nodded before holding out her wrists to the lever, standing in the right position to pull and potentially activate the next test.
CLINK!
"Hallowed Ground!" It was only a second. One second was all it took. Rays of light shone from the sky and dotted Ivan in an attempt to fry him like an ant under a magnifying glass. Each light carried the same color as that of a rainbow, though even with that its consistency was made of mostly white.
But even under that sudden attack, Yue manifested the strongest barrier she could, the defense spell that she had been holding in anticipation of the lever's trap. Felis and Ari, who had been excited at the sound of a hatch opening, immediately huddled close to Yue under the protection of her barrier. Tio stood on standby mustering a defense of her in case Yue's defense crumbled. Claire stood next to Ivan as she and he aimed to discover who or what launched that attack. Canis on the other hand just stood beside Tio for added protection.
BANG BANG BANG!
Blast after blast, what at first seemed like a trap set by the dungeon immediately started to feel like a targeted and coordinated attack as each ray of light precisely hit the group in their defense. Even Yue was starting to feel the strain of holding back each attack as the rays of light carried a level of destruction that was familiar to her.
"Umu, it's just like the light from that Hydra at the end of the Orcus Labyrinth," Ivan confirmed Yue's suspicion as he used his assortment of skills to locate the group attacking them.
"There you are~" After several minutes the onslaught calmed down enough for Ivan to see through it. The sight he was greeted by was that of a fleet of dragons, their numbers likely in the tens. But what caught the most of his attention was the dragon significantly larger than all the rest, pure white from snout to tail.
On top of that dragon sat a man, who like Cattleya was a red-haired, dark-skinned, pointy-eared demon. His eyes shone a cruel gold as he stared daggers into the group from above.
"Tch! It would seem the reports stand corrected— No, you lot are far more dangerous to let live than described. This strength… just how many labyrinths have you people cleared?"
His arrogant and demanding demeanor annoyed everyone else in the room.
"Hm~? Who could say~? My group and I have been slacking for quite a while so I kinda forgot. But judging from your irritable tone and unpleasant manners you must be that Commander Freid that girl told me all about."
Ivan spoke out with a rather enthusiastic tone. To allow Yue some rest under this conversation was his goal, the same went for allowing the group to ready their magic and attacks to take on the fifty or so dragons that littered the sky. At the same time, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain some information.
"...My name…. How did you know?" Freid spoke with anger in his voice. Under normal circumstances, not even members of the high echelon of humanity knew his name. This led him to the conclusion that his group had been betrayed, however, that seemed unacceptable to him as a demon would never betray a demon.
"A good friend of mine told me~ What was her name again? Cowlleya, Cattella– or right, it was Cattleya! You see she was in the dangerous levels of the dungeon so I thought as a good samaritan it'd be up to me to save her. Though it would seem my intentions failed to reach her. She screamed, kicked, yelled, and clawed at her own throat. Aiya, the number of consumables I used just to keep her safe… You should be grateful, y'know~!"
It dawned on Freid what had happened to his companion, even when he sent agents to investigate her disappearance they never found her corpse. She was the fiance of her closest friend, Freid knew she did not hold the capacity to betray the Demons. Which meant it was forced out of her… That despite the poison and resolve she held the enemy in front of him broke her spirit.
"D-Damn you!" Freid held one arm into the air as he prepared to orchestrate another barrage on the bastards that stood below him.
"You know, she said the exact same thing to me~!" Ivan flung his wrists as the barrier Yue had constructed disappeared, 20 of his exploding needles flew from his hands and rushed to disrupt whatever Freid was preparing.
"You fools!" A swarm of the smaller dragons surrounded Freid as triangular dark red barriers appeared and blocked the missiles that were shot in a single direction. However, the ones that trailed off returned with a vengeance and hit some of the dragons that stood in front from a different angle.
Freid had seemingly not anticipated the recalculating attacks as his confidence in his perfect team had faltered. On some of the smaller dragons (ash dragons) were turtles that had fallen after their mounts were blown into smithereens. From Ivan's observation, it was the turtles that manifested those barriers, the dragons themselves were only capable of shooting those rainbow beams.
Using the telepathy function imbued into each mask Ivan translated that information to the rest of the group. They each nodded firmly as they changed their targets to the turtles riding dragons.
"Fire!" Before allowing the group to commence their attack, Freid began his assault. The ash dragons shot their rainbow beams in a flurry. Their coordinated attack left little to no room to dodge. Those agile and swift narrowly evaded the attacks, Felis with her flexibility and Canis with sheer speed.
Tio put up her magical defense, not nearly as strong as Yue's 'Hallowed Ground' but strong enough to handle the barrage that was directed at her. Meanwhile, Claire and Ari stood beside Yue, with neither long-ranged attacks nor magic capable of dealing with this situation they planned to sit back until they saw an opening.
Ivan clad himself in a suit of lightning. His right hand destroyed any auroras headed his way as any that made it past him dealt almost no damage to the impenetrable armor he had crafted. Having angered Freid made Ivan a target of his wrath, who would've thought. As such he dealt with the brute of attacks.
"HAHAHA!" However that didn't deter him in the slightest, in fact, this was the adversity he sought. Ever since enhancing himself, he'd been eager to test out his strength. The battle with Cattley was too lackluster to consider a true test of strength.
The lightning-clad mode deactivated as Ivan focused on conserving energy, for now, he was going to go full melee. He had closed enough of a gap to reach from the island to the fleet of dragons using rocks sticking out of the lava.
Any attack that wouldn't be advisable to physically destroy himself was met by an exploding needle. The same went for dragons that panicked and attempted to devour him to death the moment he got too close to them.
However, rather than focusing every attack on Ivan, Freid made no changes to his strategy. Ivan was enough of a hassle as was, the last thing he needed was the others to get close to him just because everything was focused on Ivan.
Though he had to admit that he underestimated the group Ivan brought along with him, if he had gauged their strength properly before he probably would have a greater defense.
"Paracelsus…" Freid muttered aloud, Ivan with his acute senses picked up the frustrated groan. In his heart was a bit of pride at having his name hated by the General of the Demon Army.
"Hmph, you've done well to drive me to this state. But it matters not… My name is Freid Bagwa, a faithful apostle of god, sworn to bring divine judgment to the heretics!... Now let me show you the other power I attained. This is the true might of magic from the age of gods!"
"Freid Bawga huh… Y'know I liked Cattleya's name so I was hoping the Demons had the same sense of naming, though I guess that was too much to hope for~"
Freid began chanting, Ivan who was determined to stop it reactivated his lightning-clad form. His speed increased dramatically. Judging from how he mentioned it as the 'other power I attained' this was the ancient magic he claimed from this dungeon. It would be foolish to assume he wasn't able to clear this dungeon with a fleet of dungeons.
Contrary to his previous acts Freid this time converted every force to defense. Dragons that were previously shooting lasers stood still before rushing to encompass Freid like shields of meat.
Some dragons were turned into paste under Ivan's right hand, the others were malformed by Ivan's left hand. The blood flowing in the air from these acts converted into a hail of blood-red ice needles that pierced the eyes of dragons whose skin was too thick. He even went as far as to convert the water in some dragon's eyes directly into steam.
It was all rather sadistic but a fun activity for the man in question. Yue and the others watched from afar with a stupefied expression as the man who emphasized keeping clean bathed in the blood of dragons.
"Witness it! Cosmic Rift!" Freid raised both hands into the air as he and the white dragon he rode exploded into white blinding light. With the modifications, Ivan made to the masks the glare was not nearly intense as it would've been with their naked eyes.
When the light settled, neither he nor the dragon remained. Alarms went off in Ivan's head as the alert skills he obtained put him on edge. The lightning-clad form output much more magic as Ivan prepared for an attack, arms crossed and his defense form manifested.
And then, in another flash of light—!
"Die!" Freid had appeared behind him. The white dragon whose maw was already open shot out the most powerful aurora destruction beam yet.
Light swallowed Ivan in almost an instant, the blast devoiding the area of all noise.
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Finished this one pretty early. Taking that time imma go ahead and write another. Y'know I wanna keep a back log of work incase I get sick or can't write for whatever reason. It also gets me closer to starting production of my next work. Then hopefully if I got more time later I'm actually going to work on the Nobeta video, this time for sure!
Thanks for reading today's work, I really hope you enjoyed this one as I haven't wrote any combat scenes in a long time. Have a great evening, and I'll see you all real soon~!
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