It had been a week since Gahard's visit and his inspection of the heroes and their party. Ryutarou, as determined as ever, had thrown himself into his training without pause. His dedication paid off when he unlocked a powerful new skill—one far stronger than he had anticipated. Surprisingly, only Kaori, Endou, and Shizuku had witnessed it in action. Recognizing its potential, Ryutarou decided to keep it as his trump card, knowing how dangerous it could be if revealed too soon.
Shizuku wasn't the type to simply stand still and watch others grow stronger. As they spared day after day, she grew frustrated by her inability to land a decisive blow on her opponents. One random day, while Ryutarou was absorbing her furious attacks, something unexpected happened. A faint shimmer began to appear around her. The glow was subtle, but the speed of her movements started to increase. Ryutarou's diamond skin, usually impervious, began to show more visible cuts. He was taking damage. But just as the shimmer intensified, Shizuku suddenly stopped. The strange phenomenon vanished, and an overwhelming fatigue hit her. Luckily Kaori watched over her that day.
Endou, too, was progressing. He had unlocked new skills from his Assassin class. One day, while dodging Kaori, Shizuku, and Ryutarou—who had all forgotten about him the other day after their intense training—he found himself working on his evasive techniques. His classmates were all too happy to help him out of embarrassment for forgetting about him. Much to Endou's exasperation since he did want to be center of attention—just not in the way. At one point, when he was about to be hit, a copper-colored shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, taking the blow that would have struck him. To his amazement, he realized he had unlocked a new ability: a clone that could intercept attacks on his behalf. Fueled by excitement, Endou began to abuse this new skill, dodging and striking back the other with newfound ability.
Meanwhile, Kaori had unlocked all of her class-derived abilities for her Priest class. Determined to push herself further, she also began to focus on mastering a secondary class: Barrier Master. She refined her timing for the "Hallowed Ground" skill and worked on mini shield spells. It wasn't easy—she fainted several times from exhaustion—but her party kept a watchful eye on her, determined not to let her push herself beyond her limits.
The rest of their classmates continued their training, but none of them seemed to be pushing themselves as hard as the four of them. Kouki, in particular, remained oblivious to the quartet's newfound strength. He was focused solely on his own progress, unaware of the true depth of his classmates' growing power.
The party was making good progress; they were on floor 79 going into floor 80 they only had been stumped five floors ago. it was pretty intense when you had a cut, smash or stab would appear to be a monster with the appearance of your best friend that was also trying to cut you in half. The party had to go back and rest for a few days after that encounter but not a week later they are back down pushing through past 75 and now onto the floor 80.
"Let's rest here." The party got to the stairs in between floors.
"Good, I'm tired." Suzu found a spot to sit down having been casting all in the last fight to keep the boss of the floor from bombarding the party with stones it was flinging at the back line. Exhausting her mana.
"Oh Suzu, do you need healing?" Kaori looked concerned.
"Give me a hug that will restore all my energy." Suzu opens her arms and invites Kaori into her embrace. She was hit on the head by Eri.
"You need to calm down that old man vibe is start to show again." She was chiding Suzu.
"It's alright Eri, if Suzu need a hug I don't mind giving it." Kaori fell for Suzu's act, and hugged her.
"Thank you Kaori, your hug makes me feel even more alive than before. She started smelling Kaori hair.
"Okay that's enough Suzu!" Shizuku broke up the hug, "you're making the guys uncomfortable." Her tone got quieter as she reached the end of that sentence in embarrassment.
At that moment the party felt a rush of cold air coming from the next floor.
"Brrrr" Ayako started shivering. "I don't think I'm going to like the next floor all that much."
"O flame I call you, fireball" Kouki said a quick chant and fireball apart over there heads proving a heat source. "Don't worry about the cold. I'll keep this fireball active while we're down there for you guys."
"Thank you so much Kouki". Ayako, who had been shivering was able to rest more calmly. But the cold air didn't let up
After some time the party rested and ate up. They head down to see what was waiting for them.
"Wow, are we still in the labyrinth?" Reichi said as he took in the breathtaking site. They seem to be at the foot of a tall mountain. The part would have to make its way down in order to find there way to next floor
The moment that we cleared the cavern, we were greeted by the sound of crunching snow. Unlike most of the labyrinth, this place was a frozen cave with ice spikes everywhere.
Towering pillars of ice rise from the floor, sculpted by millennia of glacial forces, their crystalline structures gleaming with an otherworldly luminescence. The uneven walls and floor, sculpted by the relentless dance of ice and time, reveal a landscape of intricate detail, where shadows play across the smooth and textured surfaces.
After the hero party was done gawking they headed down the path that was laid out.
Kouki "watch your step guys, the path is pretty slippery." He was quite a bit ahead from the party check each step just to be sure.
"You worry too much Kouki you have to be…" Just as Daisuke said that, he took the next step too fast and lost his footing and began to fall. "Aaaa"
"I got you" as he was beginning to get a moment when an unlikely person ended up catching him.
"Aaa thank Kaori-san"
"Next time please listen to what others tell you honestly this isn't the first time your action almost got us in trouble." She was eyeing Daisuke with a no nonsense look.
"I'm sorry. I will" if Daisuke had a tail it would have been tucked between his legs with how he could not seem to look at her.
"Great job Kaori," Eri said with surprise written all over her face.
"Yea" Kouki said he stopped to look up and see if he needed to do something to help.
"Jugo can we hurry up and get on solid ground please… I don't like him up here."
Everyone soon agreed with the sentiment and now too long later they finally made it down onto the floor ground level.
Suzu "man, I hate this place more and more by the minute I'm going to turn into a popsicle if I don't get some warmth."
Kouki once again cast the fire ball since his last one wink out part way through the walk down since he lost focus and did resit up again.
"Aaa thank Kouki" Suzu said and she got closer to the flame.
"Endou can scout ahead please." Shizuku said since the party was huddled around the fire.
"Ya no problem." He activates his stealth skill disappearing from sight and he charges ahead.
"Come guys the floor isn't going to map itself" Kouki was trying get the party on task since the cold was affecting the party slightly.
As the party was walking for about half an hour Endo had returned once and found no enemies much to their confusion.
"Is it me or is it getting darker here." Ryutarou said to the party.
"Ya it is getting darker," Shzuku said with a bit of worry on her face.
"This floor is creepy" Suzu said it's cold and somehow it has a day and night cycle. The age of gods magic is really something if it created something like this.
"Ya" Kaori agreed. "We should find a cave or something and rest. We passed a few couple hours ago."
"Should we double back?" Endo ask surprise everyone
"Aaaa you scared me," Kaori said since she hates horror stories.
"Mmm" Kouki seems to be thinking about what would be the best course of action. "Let's go back since we are not sure where we will find another one any time soon and I'm low mana since I have been holding fire most of the day."
"Ya" all the caster of the party also had taken turns to keep the group warm and burn a lot of mana.
They found one of the caves they saw on their walk.
"Endo can you check for any monsters?" Daisuke said.
"Ya sure, if I find anything I'll come back." He moved more sluggishly into the cave since he was scouting and got more tired since the cold did not help.
The party waiting outside the cave mouth waits to see when Endo would come back.
"Aaaaaa there are so many." The hero party quickly got into formation. Endo ran towards them.
"Now I know why we didn't see any all day." Following behind him look to be a lot of undead-like creatures, with pale skin, and light-blue/cyan-toned clothing and glowing effects. The creatures seem to be holding different weapons, some are holding War-pikes, others with blades, and a few others didn't have anything at all.
"Holy flash!!!" Kouki thrusted out his piercing attack. It hit the front line and killed a few in the back. They did not seem all that sturdy since they fell apart to open attack but soon they heard more noise coming from the cave.
"Uh guys, we need to close the cave mouth quickly. They don't like the light but we pass so many caves!!!" Endo seems to have lost his composure.
Ryutaou let out fireballs from his Elemental gauntlets and quickly rushed forward.
"You heard the man. we don't want to be facing a whole floor of these in our current state!!!"
"Quick Kentarou get spell ready!!!" Her tone was more frantic since if the many were alone this mouth how many did they pass all day. Shizuku joins the fray and makes quick work of them.
"Raah!" Kouki didn't bother chanting another spell since his cast time was still too long and started hacking and slashing at the walking corpses.
"AAAAA" the hero's party was out of time, the light on this floor just winked out and then heard a noise in the distance.
"Oh god, I don't want to die!!!" Kentarou said knowing that they were not ready for the horde to come.
Kaori took charge of the back line "okay guys get spell ready!! We can't help inside the cave but need to slow down what's coming till the wall is built." The party was making slow progress since the number of those undead didn't seem to be stopping.
"Here they come." Eri alerted as the sound of footsteps coming toward the party could be heard.
"Fire!!!" Kaori said since they could hear the deafening foot fall.
"Fireball!! Wind blade!! Earth needle!!" Their back line made sure not to use any water or ice base spell since the enemy seemed to be covered in ice so figured it wouldn't work on them.
The first volley seems to have worked to slow them down ever so slightly, not even a few seconds later they could hear rubbing. *Boom boom.*
"Guys!!! Hurry"
"We're trying!!!" Kouki made quick work of them; he had killed over a dozen already but he made very little progress into the cave after getting in 5 feet.
Ryutarou was smashing enemies, Shizuku was bisecting them, and Daisuke was cutting heads off with well placed wind blade chants right after parrying attacks from his foes.
"Damn there's no end to them." Ryutarou thought, "That does it. Guys I'm going to make a path but I will be out after that. Cover me."
He set his sights on the foes in front of him and let the berserker skill takeover, losing all sense of reason and began charging like a mad bull, finally pushing his way in 10 feet and being stopped by many zombies, for lack of a better word on the kids' part. He was getting a lot of scratches since he seemed to be unconsciously using diamond skin at full blast to keep the worst of any possible injury out of the way. The combination of Berserker, Diamond Skin, and Flame Fist allowed him to quickly make short work of all of the enemies around him.
Kouki was surprised since he had not used that skill since the behemoth floor like that. But he noticed that the strength he was getting from it was much stronger than last time given how much mana he was given off. It felt like a limit break, but felt slower paced, almost like Ryutarou used it more than the few times he had seen it being used.
Just as the zombies were about to encircle Ryutarou once again. "Moon Slash," Shizuku swings her sword and her sheath makes short work of the wounded enemy.
"We got you Ryu," Kouki slashed the opposite side of Shizuku.
They made it far enough to give the others from the backline and second team room to enter the cave and Kentarou was already building the wall. The back line kept the enemy at bay long enough for the mouth of the cave to be closed and all that they could hear from the other side was *Bang bang bang.*
Eri sighed in relief, "There must have been hundreds of them."
"Good thing they were so easy to kill". Suzu agreed, equally tried like the rest of the party
"Ok, it's official. I hate this floor the most." Daisuke yells to the party while resting after burning up a lot of mana fighting in the frontline, but had decided to watch once Ryutarou managed to push in to break the deadlock.
"We still needed help!!!" Shizuku said aloud as Ryutarou had pushed his limits and was now on the ground face down. Kouki was covering him as Shizuku was standing her ground since she had lost two frontline members.
"I got this," Endo appeared out of nowhere once again, slashing at enemies that got aggroed onto Shizuku. The other team quickly moved in to help and the battle didn't last much longer as the numbers stopped replenishing finally.
"ha..ha.. It's finally over," Kouki said with haggard breathing. The mages had made a fire so the party could see since as soon as the cave mouth was closed, it was completely dark. "Thanks for the light guys."
"We've got you covered, Kouki," Eri said in a sweet tone.
"At least the banging stopped." Suzu said not hearing anything from outside.
"We're just lucky that they were not all that strong," Kentarou said with a relieved tone. "I didn't have that much time to harden it. I was just building a wall first and thickness second. I think I got a solid foot between us and them…" he sat on his ass tired after having spent all of his mana.
"We should get some rest." Kouki said, taking charge after catching his breath. "No one leaves this place. We are too tired to go through another fight like that." He looked down to see his best friend snoring. *SKNX-X-X-X* was all that could be heard coming from him, he seemed to be drooling.
"If it wasn't for all the dirt and much that looks fun as hell" one guys said.
"Yea" Kouki seems to be in thought.
"Hey Kouki? you alright?" Shizuku asks since she could tell the look wasn't bad, but Ryutaou had outshone him once again.
"Ah, yea I'm just glad we all made it out alive. I don't think we could handle so many in an open field." His body shook at the thought of having to face so many and keep the party safe.
"Ya i hear you," Kaori said, "they are weak but they are numerous."
"Let's just stay here and rest for the night," Kouki said. "We're all." Everyone nodded in agreement. "You!" Koki pointed at Shinji and Yoshiki. "You guys will be on watch for the next two hours, and then I'll go on watch later, followed by Ayako and Kentarou."
Shinji and Yoshiki sighed, wishing they could go back to sleep. The next couple of hours were cold and damp, and the heroes party found it hard to sleep, huddling together to keep warm. Soon after waking, everyone was still weary.
"Come on guys," Kouki said. "I don't care about the next floor, I just don't want to be here anymore." Several other party members agreed in unison. This was now the start of their second day on this floor, they decided to leave the cave they were in, and as they were exploring the floor they kept finding more caves. They found it odd, but they didn't go into them since they didn't want to deal with more of those ice zombies again.
Seeing the light go down again, they found another cave, but this time they were ready with the mages' light spells appearing. Endo went into the cave being agro.
"Alright guys!" Endo shouted while dashing towards the hero party, dashing later to the side. The rest of the party unleashed their spells, mowing down the incoming horde. Ryutarou let out a battle cry, running into the cave, and unleashed a flurry of blows at the horde, crushing skulls and shattering limbs. The rest of the front line party followed suit. Slashes, cuts, and stabs followed suit, whittling down the horde even more.
Shizuku shouted. "Alright, Kentarou! Can you erect a wall covering the mouth of the cave?" The rest of the group followed them into the cave as the front line of the hero party was wrapping up the fight by themselves.
"Oh! Shizuku, you're hurt!" Kaori chanted a quick spell, healing her fellow teammate up.
"Thanks Kaori, can you check out how the others are doing." As the last party members finished up the last of the horde. They looked to see Ryutarou, who was leading the charge, covered in superficial scars.
"See!" Ryutarou shouted happily. "We were able to kick their asses this time around without us getting hurt." Feeling the taste of victory, their moods elevated. Later on, they were all around the fireball.
"Guys," Endo exclaimed. "I haven't seen an exit and we've been doing this. I can barely feel my feet!" He started rubbing his boots for warmth.
"Yeah, we should explore the cave," Shisu said. "We've been exploring the floor but not the entire cave system.
"Do we really have to?" Suzu said.
"We could call it quits and call it a better day but better equipped with better stuff!"
"Yeah, we should leave and come back." Daisuke added.
"How about we rest for the night before exploring?" Kouki said. The rest of the party were not enthusiastic about that decision. "We can't use magic with how close the rest of you are to the enemy." Shinji and Yoshiki exclaimed. "We hate feeling like deadweight!"
Ryutarou punched a fist into the palm of his other hand. "Don't worry, doubt this will go on forever!" Mao blew a raspberry. "What makes you sure?"
"What floor are we on?" Ryutarou responded. The party took a moment, having an epiphany, realizing they were on floor 80. Ryutarou smirked, seeing their expressions. "See?" The others begrudgingly agreed. Kouki took charge
"If we're doing this, we gotta rest now." Nobody argued as Kouki took the first watch whilst Shinji and Yoshiki took the second watch. Later on, Suzu and Ryutarou were watching the cave mouth with Suzu asking Ryutarou how he was feeling. He had no real thoughts as he simply stared into the cave. "No, I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"Well, I never see you around whenever we're all together." Ryutarou paused before continuing. "I usually use all my free time training."
Suzu replied. "But that's why we're doing this, to get stronger." She gestured across the entire area. "Facing off with the demons."
Ryutarou started cracking his knuckles. "I know, but there's something else. When I'm fighting, everything's fine. But, when there's downtime, I feel off."
Suzu kept talking. "You think Hajime and Selena are still alive out there?" Saying Selena's name made Suzu feel downtrodden, with Ryutarou none the wiser.
"I believe so," Ryutarou mentioned. "She never did anything without a reason."
Suzu sighed a little. "You must have really liked her a lot, right? She's probably out fighting just as hard as you." Ryutarou chuckled.
"She's a great training partner, that's for sure! Wouldn't be surprised if she's mowed down an army or two!" Suzu smiled while confused. Sure, he'd expect him to appreciate a girl who can kick an ass or two, but she'd figure most guys would talk about their looks, especially a looker like Selena. She sighed, lingering on several thoughts. Ryutarou pressed on. "What's wrong?" Suzu looked at him for a minute.
Hours passed, with everyone rested to an extent. After waking up on the third day, the group sent Endo to scout ahead as the heroes made their way through this. He came back with some worrying news. "Guys, you're not gonna like this…" Endo revealed that the caves were all connected in a sprawling system, making them retread areas they've been.
"Does that mean we have to keep going further down?" Shinji asked in dread
"Right now we're out on top cause it's dark, so that means…" Suzu was quickly interrupted by Kouki.
"Endo, we need you to find the way down."
"There's tons of enemies down there," Endo complained.
"But they're also up there right now, so if they start coming down we'll all be trapped down here as well!" Ayako was shaking in fear of the zombies creatures that might get them. Kentarou placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
Shizuku looks at Daisuke and Endo. "You two, while we take care of enemies, we need you two to keep looking for a path downwards. We will keep the incoming monsters busy."
As soon as the hero party made it to room Endo had been talking about, the party realized how screwed they could get if they didn't find their way down before the mob of undead made their way back into the cave when daylight happened on the floor. The room was about a football size stadium. The top had stalagmites. Something seems to be sleeping, maybe bats the party could not tell at this moment.
"Raaawwwwrr" it didn't matter anymore since they seem to have attracted the attention of all the inhabitants in the massive cavern.
Kouki yelled. "Celestial Flash!" Illuminating the entire area with its lance of energy, cutting through many enemies in its path. As quickly as it came, the swath of destruction the attack made in the horde was replaced with even more enemies.
"Holy shit, dude…" Mao's voice trembled. "There's no end to them." The blast caused the room to shake. causing some stalagmites to fall from the ceiling. Their parties' frontline phalanx began to form.
"Suzu, can you put up a barrier over our heads?" Kaori shouted.
"No problem!" Suzu shouted back and quickly began chanting the spell to employ the barrier, the backline then began to fire their first volley, causing more explosions and sounds in the room.
A high pitched squeal pierced their ears coming from the ceiling. What looked to be ice imps flew down at the party. Some collided with Suzu's barrier, while others flapped their wings and a burst of wind magic propelled them around the barrier, directly at the party. Those who landed on the barrier began to wail upon it incessantly.
Then Daisuke and his party, which normally covers the rear, began to fight off the imps. However since the imps were airborne, it was hard for Diasuke and Reichi to get a decisive hit on them.
"Oh heaven bine my foe!!" Kaori saw that the party was having a hard down new foe. She did not need to heal anyone just yet so started to trap a few imp they were close to the rear guard .
"Thanks Kaori," Yoshiki said as he quickly beheaded the imp that was struggling to move with a wind blade. The light spell did not seem to dissipate though and a white ring began to fly around trying to trap the next imp.
Ryuotarou led the charge in battle with the undead horde. Unlike before where he was swinging his fist around trying to take out many enemies, he used the diamond skin skill around his arms defending from blows they would otherwise hurt him to give Kouki and Shizuku time to kill.
"ha..haa.. there's no end to them and what the hell are those flying things!!" Shizuku's battle awareness was showing itself off as she quickly attacked an imp that came at her from behind.
"don't worry about that, for now they are not screaming for help, we just need to hold them off." Kouki was getting increasingly more frustrated as the fight continued.
"I don't think waiting is going to help. We need a strong blast to wipe out the area." Ryutarou said as he pushed the enemy towards the two of them.
"He's right, we didn't account for the fly enemies. Kouki, do you think you could cast another hero spell?" Shuizku was spin beheading the nearby foes and kept others at bay with the sheath since left back open didn't stop them from approaching her while her back was turned.
"I need like two minutes.." Kouki sheepishly said "I don't think you and Ryutarou can hold the front alone!!" Kouki swings his sword quickly bisecting multiple undead.
"stupid trust us!! we got your back." Ryutarou pushed the enemy near him back.
"He's right, hero…." Shizuku dragged on the hero part. "We need your skill to turn into a win." Just like in training, an aura starts surrounding her and she no longer parries attacks unless it redirects the attack from herself. She began to mow down all nearby enemies.
"We are always here to support you man!" With all his passion Ryutarou starts to smash and break the foes.
Kouki saw his two childhood friends give it their all and was confused at Shizuku since even to him right now she was going faster they took the right side of the head and Ryutarou the left holding back the enemy. He felt dark thoughts but quickly squished them and began to chant.
Back with the back-line, Kaori was chanting Aether flow, a healing ability. The front line was about to break down if not for her spell since they were not used to such prolonged conflict. Even the rear guard was feeling fatigued from this seemingly endless horde. Kentarou was in the middle of chanting a spell, when suddenly, panicked settled in, stopping his chant. Others also started to panic, causing more spells to start losing their composure.
"Aether flow!" Kairi sent another brilliant white light that distracted everyone for a moment, even the monsters attacking backed off briefly, their eyes not used to this amount of light. The bright light was too much for the enemies so the zombies took a few steps back while imps flew up higher.
Kaori eyes her classmates down. "Shinji, Eri, focus on the flying enemies, shoot them down from the sky, let our rear guard take them. The rest of you focus on blowing up the enemies near the right and left side of our defensive formation. Kouki!! Hurry up and start chanting." Soon enough the light from Aether flow dissipated and the monsters began to charge at the party once again.
Booom bang slash.
The despair was nowhere to be seen while Kaori seemed to be eyeing them down.
"Binding chains!!" Light change came from the ground holding in place the enemy that were about to overflow their dragoon.
"Ah thanks Kaori!" Reichi stabs the heads using a skill that speeds up his thrusts, making quick work of them and keeps his side from overflowing.
"Heal," Kaori once again heals someone else on top of the aether flow. It was their heavy knight, Jugo, who had been counterattacking only since he was a bit slow to react to so many enemies at once.
"Haa, thanks for that. The first heal just didn't cut…" he held strong
"Asir Blaze" Eri took a while, but she shot up a big fire attack killing dozens of imp while burning off many wings, having them fall down. The undead started eating them. It seemed as though they were not a unit force just at the same place.
Endo shouted out "I found the way down guys." He recalled a flare showing the path they should take.
Seeing the light, Shizuku said. Any time she gotten so fast she was a bullet, much to the surprise of Kouki.
"Oh my enemy shall know you rather once twice may not be enough so i call Divine Wrath Tenfold!!! We sure get ready to run, guys!!" Ten bright lights shot into the sky but they did not stay there for long and they shot down and destroyed all of the enemies in their way. The party made a dash for the exit that Endo had indicted for them. At some point Daisuke had made over to them without anyone noticing.
"Close the passage, Kentarou!!!" Eri said as they made their mad dash.
"Ha..ha I'm low on mana…"
"I got you. I'm sorry guys, I'm going be taking from everyone. May the grace of divine light grace you no evil shall pass sanctorum." All the people in the heroes party felt just a bit of their mana leave them as Kaori's spell fully restored Kentarou's mana.
"Oh wow, I feel full again."
"Hurry, we are about to reach the cave mouth. We need you to close it up!!" The classmates yelled since they did not want to fight a war of attrition once again.
"Oh bless earth mouth heed my call my are in need of a miracle." Soon the party reached the cave mouth. "Earth wall!!!" A wall quickly started to form, but not fast enough as a few of the undead leapt over with some imps that flew above it, diving towards the party.
"I got this," Kouki's holy sword was still shining with power since he recalled the spell and seemed to be ready to unleash it.
"NO" Shizuku held his arm. "Your blast will destroy the wall we just made. We don't have the stamina for another fight like that…" the aura that had been covering her disappeared once stop attacking the enemy. Her hand on Kouki's shoulder was shaking, almost as if that gesture was the only thing that was keeping her up at this point.
Seeing Shizuku's state made him realize that he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life. Calming down, Kouki let the mana that he was holding disappear as he watched the rest of the back-line quickly mop up the few undead and imps that got in.
The moment that the last of the monsters were slain, the party collapsed on the floor. To them, it felt like the battle lasted forever, however it was only about twenty minutes long. After a little bit of rest, everyone pulled out some snacks to eat and help replenish their weaning strength. Everyone looked at each other before smiles broke out on their faces and they began to laugh, happy that they all were able to walk away from such a difficult battle.
"Endo are there any enemies?" Suzu asked since no one questioned Endo till now.
"Yea, I double checked it goes down." He stammers since everyone turns to look at him.
"Why are there any enemies then? Since we got to this stupid floor we have been fighting since entering these caves." Daisuke asks.
"Yea that is weird. you'd think those monsters would be banging more, but they stopped very quickly." Eri said, looking back at the earth wall and not hearing a sound.
"Maybe it was too strong" Suzu suggested, "I mean we did pour all mana from us to make it hehe."
"No, I don't think that's it, Suzu" Shizuku was deep in contemplation, thinking of the events of the battle and aftermath. "We should rest till we are all fully recovered. We are not going to get a better chance than now. We didn't get full rest but from the looks of it they are going to break the wall down."
"Yea." the party said in unison.
Kaori noticed Kouki was quieter than usual. "Hey are you alright?" Kouki seemed to snap out of whatever funk he was in.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking. You, Ryutarou, and Shizuku all got so strong. What was that glow from earlier?" Kouki turns to look at Shizuku.
"Well I unlocked a new skill while walking on this big oaf." Punching Ryutarou on the shoulder.
"Yea, we have been training a lot. Man Kaori, you totally took charge when the party was about to lose their marbles." Everyone around looks down at how. We are stronger than the time with the behemoth. Please trust your teammates. If we can't then how will we do in the war to come..?
"War… I keep forgetting" Ayako mumbles.
"Killing monsters is so much easier," Eri said with a frightened tone.
Kouki saw that the spirits of classmate were falling. "Guys don't worry, we are ready." That seems to get others to not dwell on it. Shizuku looked troubled and looked at her fellow classmates.
"For now we beat this floor and then we head up for some R&R" Kouki said.
"Yea." The others were in agreement with head back.
"Let's rest till we are fully ready to take the floor boss since it looks like we're safe here. We won't rush into the battle half tired." Shizuku states after looking around for a little bit.
"It's so cold.. At least we are not in danger of getting attacked for the first time in a good while. We just let Kouki use Celestial flash in order to finish it off." The others got in small groups in order to share body heat.
Shizuku noticed Kaori was zoned out and the aura was changing.
"Oh no." Shizuku muttered while Kaori was whispering "no Hajime, don't kiss her!! I feel as though I've lost something." And other nonsensical things that the others didn't know how to respond to. Luckily they were resting so this episode didn't stress them out too much since Kaori was able to snap out relatively fast.
After the party rested for a few hours, Eri looked at the supplies the guys had been carrying, "It looks as though this will be our last day before we need to start heading back to resupply and prepare better next time we are here."
"Yeah, I would like something more than a fireball to keep us warm next time, burr we're just lucky the cold didn't get worse down here." Suzu shivered from the cold.
"Yea," Eri agreed, "we could burn a lot more magic power if it was any colder on this floor."
"We need to make sure that it is something light weight though," Kouki adds. "We can't carry something so heavy for a single floor."
Shizuku was glad to see her childhood friend with head on straight again.
"We sure get this boss done and see what time is best to book it out of the floor." Ryutarou looks pumped for the next battle.
"Haha ya we beat and get the hell out of here for some well deserved RnR. Kouki said joviality.
"I miss the beds at the inn. well cook meals… shower I smell…" The other kids seem to have thought of getting back to the surface to fuel them for this last big push with the floor boss to come.
Soon after they got packed up and stayed in formation with Endo and Daisuke leading and the other following.
When they got to what looked to be the boss room, they noticed a nest. Unlike the past few floors this one didn't need to summon how they grew accustomed. There looked to be a nest in the center and something big and blue curled up.
"Damn I thought we had the initiative like all the others while it got summoned." Daisuke moaned.
"Na this good." Ryutarou gripping his gauntlet tight.
"How should we approach it?" Suzu asked with a bit of a trembling voice seeing that the nest looked to be as big as the behemoth was.
Shizuku looked worried since they had not faced something so big as a boss since back then. "Look, we charge ahead, but the back line stays near the casters just in case. Look caster we know this floor is all ice base so stick to what we've been doing up till now. We'll change the strategy as needed." Shizuku kept her worry from her voice to try to raise the parties' morale.
Everyone nodded.
"Wow she looks so manly.." Someone said, which she promptly ignored since this wasn't the time or place to get flustered.
The party stepped into the boss room, and the back line had chanted their spells preemptively. Endo had already stepped away from the group, hoping to find something while he was being ignored.
*Screeech* The party had to stop since the noise was so high pitched. The large creature starts coming at the front line. It looks like you mix a giant anaconda and a centipede. It skitters at the front line at a rapid pace.
"Ewww it looks nasty!! Kill it, kill it!"
Kouki and Ryutarou met it head on, halting its initial charge. As both sides collided a gout of fire popped out of nowhere blowing the two of them back.
"What just happened?!" Kouki was confused.
"Not sure man, but we got to slow this thing down!!"
This time the rest of the front line created a makeshift wall as the beast seemed to make a full circle around them after that initial clash.
The monster starts close in onto the party, making the circle they were in tighter. As soon as it was close enough all the kids activated their skills and Elemental attacks, peppering the hard-shell.
Fist, swords, shields, and spears went to hit the beast head on, only for the same effect to occur once again sending them flying away from it, some heading in the direction of the mages. Luckily the mages had already let their spells fly before being hit by their friends.
Seeing giant fire bolts, thunder spells, and wind spells flying all around it. The creature moves erratically dodging most of the initial volley aimed at it, though it did get hit by a single wind spell that cut into its armor, but it didn't go very far in. Just like every time they clashed, fire seems to spread out from the wound.
Shizuku who had been watching and had felt from the second clash figured out it's magic. "Hey guys, it looks like it's special magic is ricochet magic. So as soon as it hits or meets an object that would hurt it, it seems to spout fire in that general direction."
"Great, so that means we have to get past a layer of thick armor and then a layer of magic before we can even get at it." Ryutarou was kind of annoyed with this kind of enemy. It has a lot of blowback force.
The rear guard, led by Daisuke, had set themselves up as the second line of defense as the centipede-like monster kept charging. The back line was heavily since it's been a good chunk of the time dodging all the incoming spells he had to zigzag.
Its momentum was kill since it had to zigzag make much easy for the backline to stop.
"Wind blade" Daisuke roared as his dagger met skin. The other rear guard with their shields and swords also met it, casting their own spells if not enhancing their shields.
This time the large monster seemed to back away, not wanting to stay since it had been enclosed by the front line from behind. It seems to be stopping its legs into the walls and crawling up on them and over them as it crawled back to the starting point.
The monster seemed to have noticed that the front line it broke through was coming up on its rear. Somehow it moved quickly enough to use its tail as a hammer to bash away all nearby people and stop Kouki's group from getting any closer as it ran up a wall.
"We didn't get blown back… ?"
Eri chimed in with a guess "now it looks as though the monster is very intelligent, and he is only using it to get rid of things in its way. It seems to fear the back line more than the front line at the moment since we were almost able to get solid hits in," Eri was already preparing her next spell circle as were the others.
"Kaori, do you think you can hold it down just like the imps?" Shizuku asks as she eyes down the monster as it began its second assault on them.
"Not sure… it's so big I need time to get enough chains to bind it down for a moment…" Kaori looks worried since if she stops healing that leaves them open if anyone gets too hurt.
"Just leave the healing to me Kaori." Ayako said.
Instead of the direct charge the group had grown used to, it suddenly changed its pattern. It uses its momentum and grabs Ryutarou. At the moment when the monster was trying to crush him he activated diamond skin he forced it on two points where its pincers were.
"AAAAA guy, I need help!!!"
"Shizuku!" Kouki wastes no time and leaps into the air. "Divine Wraath!!!" A slow blade of light hit near where Ryutarou was being held.
"Wind blade!!" Shizuku cut at the base of the monster leg that had been holding Ryutarou.
*CREEE!!!* The monster was in pain as it let go of Ryutarou moving once again. Since the front line broke formation it made its way back to the backline once again.
It was free to use its ability to blow past the second line of defense and come close to the back line this time.
"Aahh. Does anyone have water!! Drop and roll!!" The kids' minds lost focus since the fatigue built up from the last few days held the party back. The party was racking up a lot of damage.
It was only a few feet away from reaching the back line when a blue bubble appeared to stop its advance.
"Enemy will not tread on this hallowed ground." Suzu's leg was shivering.
It bent up to show off its massive height raise appeared to the bubble.
"Divine wrath" Kouki shouted out. As made way back into the fray after be left behind
"Fire fist" pyramid size fire balls were following it.
"Fire javelin!!" Reichi shot out.
"Wind blade!" Shizuku uses her sword as a medium to let out wind blade slashes.
*SCREEEE* they finally managed to make contact. It quickly moves away on many leg falls. It has been severed by divine wrath and wind blade combined.
"Guys it looks like this monster is heavily weak to magic base attacks. Every time you guys have tried to clash with it it seems to shake off any of the normal strikes."
"That's just great." Daisuke said "half of us are useless."
"If you have nothing good to say, then shut up and defend." Kaori was holding the spell to bind the monster when she saw the chance.
"Alright everyone, encircle the mages. Those of you who have offensive magic, get them ready."
By the time they hear us party and manage to get into the new formation, the centipede monster has just circled them.
Alright as soon as we start clashing half the casters and leisure spells other halfway in case it starts moving back and preparing for another volley. Kaori seemed to be in charge since the front line and back line were too focused getting ready for any clash.
*SCREECH* the monster let out another wail, and it became the circle in half. It kept trying to grab someone else, but at this point the student had seen what would happen so they leap to the side if they saw an arm going for them.
"AHHH!" some of the hero party screamed as they were surprised by such a fast, huge opponent. The solo healer was doing her best but it was clear she wouldn't be able to keep healing everyone at the current pace they were all getting wounded.
The monster seemed to not be in a rush since it was just a hit and run tactic. But at the current rate the party would not win in a prolonged battle.
"Damn at this rate we're gonna die," Kouki seemed to realize they weren't gonna win a short battle. He starts to consider using limit break, but if he doesn't get the monster to stop it would just drain mana and wait him out.
The monster movement got a bit slower since there were a lot of potholes where it had to dodge incoming fire.
"Kouki!" Ryutarou shouted, getting his friend's attention.
"Yea?" He seems on the verge of doing anything to stop this rampage. Let's stop together.
Kouki was rolling away from being grabbed. Ryuatou on the other hand was upper cutting the end of the leg to make it mess up. Shizuku jumped on to the leg cutting before the leg would back off.
"How? It walks around us and tries to skewer us." Kouki was panting after it passed them.
All the while, another of their classmates was on the ground drinking heath position, with a cut over his chest.
Hey Shizuku get them all ready. I don't think it will fall for it a second time.
Ryutarou grabs Kouki's arm and they leap away from the group. "Hey stupid! Bet you can face us like a true monster!!" He launched a fireball from the gauntlet at the centipede creature.
"There is no way this will work.." all the while Kouki had been gathering his mana for divine wrath.
*Sccrrrr* The monster soon turned away from the injured classmates out of nowhere and fixed its gaze on them and began to charge at them.
"Herculean strength!!" Ryutarou focused body strengthening magic onto his legs and arms.
Following suit Kouki yelled out "Herculean strength" activating the same spelling, copying his activation.
"Sometimes it is not about being the hero you know, Kouki."
Bang!! The monster seemed to hit an immovable wall.
It clenches its toes and makes its own spear tip. It was going for a piercing attack. It seemed to be getting fed up with missing its prey and was just trying to eat anyone at this point regardless who it was.
Only to be met by resistance. Ryutarou had activated diamond skin but unlike all other use cases, it was focused only on the point of attack. While Koki was relying on his hero's armor, shielding him from the majority of the piercing attacks showing dents on the armor.
"Binding chains", the spell Kaori has been holding since the beginning of the fight was finally unleashed by multiple huge giant chains of light wrapped onto different parts of the centipede's body holding it down.
"Fire!" was heard, but no one knew who said it.
And here his party had unleashed all of their strongest attacks upon the monster that could no longer move away from any of the incoming attacks. Shizuku was moving in between the monster's legs, cutting them off with a wind blade, coating her blade making sure on the off chance that the volley didn't succeed. It made sure that the boss would no longer be able to run as fast.
The majority of the attacks were flying towards the head, trying to kill it in one shot. Those that couldn't aim for the head, went for any part of the body. After a few rounds of blasting at it, they stopped as they waited for the dust to settle. When it did, the monster was seen, heavily damaged, but still alive. On the other hand, the hero party was exhausted and out of steam. No one was ready to fire another barrage. And the chains that were holding it down, were no longer in place as they were destroyed by the spell barrage. Just as the party was about to fall into despair, Endou finally reappears.
"AAHH" Endou had climbed all the way onto the ceiling of the battlefield and leapt towards the monster at the point when the party was its only focus. He landed on its serpent-like face and slashed at its open skull.
*RAARRR* it flailed around in pain trying its best to shake off Endou. After a few more moments it uses magic to send Endo flying with more force than was needed. As it turns to charge and devour poor Endou.
Kaori at that moment was low on mana but cast a spell, normally used to catch her allies, as a stepping stone. Shizuku and Kouki both performed sonic step as they both shattered their footing at the same time, lunging for the place Endou is at as they cut at the big target. Both of their blades dug into the monster's head and stopped its screeching and the next moment both Kouki and Shizuku kicked off land a bit away from the monster.
"Man, that was something else… We got so used to ice being used the entire floor and out of nowhere we had to then deal with fire." Kouki looks annoyed more than anything else.
"Don't forget that magic was the only means of attack until we destroy the carapace…" Shizuku wiped the blood off her blade.
Ryutarou walked up to them from behind, looking haggard but happy. "We're going to need to come up with a better strategy if we don't want to get so hurt next time. By the way, Kaori, Bind chain really did the trick!!"
"The only problem is we need it to slow down long enough to trap it and whale on it…" Shizuku was not enthused about having to fight this thing again in the near future…
"Kaori, you're so amazing! I didn't know your bind chain was so strong!!" Suzu hugged Kaori in excitement.
A lot of the heroes party cheer and proceed to flop onto the ground after the job was done.
Endou came up to the group with a big smile on his face, but just before he could say anything. *Smack!*
"You idiot! Who yells at the enemy to let them know that you're there" Shizuku looked annoyed since one wrong move and things could have ended a lot more differently.
"Aa sorry I was thinking at that moment i was siking myself up. You know it was big and stuff and we wanted it." Endo's mood was plummeting, he was fighting with his finger, looking at them like they held all the answers.
"Sigh you did a good job just remember next time silence is key."
"HEY! You're going to open your wounds up again!!!"
"Man, this floor is the worst."
"I couldn't agree more."
"Did see how Ryoutarou was so manly. Taking on that thing head on with Kouki. He is not even the hero.."
Stuff like that was being talked about as the kids were relieved to be done with the new hardest fight since behemoth.
"Kaori, I need you to heal me pls" Suzu was sporting a few burns.
xxxx
In the demon castle there was a meeting taking place inside a well lit room where everyone was able to clearly see each other. In the meeting chamber, there was a round table with eight chairs surrounding it. At the head of this group was a man sitting on a large chair, but was shadowed by some of the pillars around the room. To the left of this man, was a man in armor that looked like he didn't care about the people here. This was Freid Bagwa, the Demon army's general.
"All right, now let's hear how everyone's tasks are going. Davros, how are the preparation for the search in the Sea of Trees?"
At this, an older looking man stands up and bows towards both Freid and the Demon Lord, "The troops are ready to go. We are just making the final preparations with the monster army. We should be ready to march by the end of the day."
With a nod, Freid turns his attention to the next person, "What about you Reiss, are you ready to get that so-called fertility goddess?"
A thin man with slicked back black hair stood up next. This man, Reiss, looked like he was built to be a fast scout.
"The army of monsters are ready to go, though we will need to make a disturbance to lure the wench out."
"Well, we will send some scouts out to verify her route so that we can head her off." Freid ordered
"Yes sir."
"Next, Cattleya, I have prepared the strongest monster for you. Just make sure that you strengthen it further as you make your way to the city."
"Yes, General. Though, what about those heroes that the humans summoned?" A demon woman questioned him.
"Recruit them if you can. If not, then get rid of them. Also, make sure to weaken the city while you are going down that labyrinth."
"Of course, General."
"Now, where is Will? He should at least be able to use his artifact to make a projection here."
"Tsk. That upstart shouldn't even be a part of this circle. He was just a blacksmith not too long ago." Cattleya bit out under her breath.
His tone shows a bit of disgust. "So Dr. Zanahi, how is your research going?"
"Aaa yes we manage to keep the subject alive now, but that's about it."
"Explain" Freid clearly does not seem like this subject.
"Well since we have an ample supply of subjects I found out why they kept dying so I fixed that but the subjects lose all intelligence and need to be given orders to function."
"So will they be ready in the coming month?"
"I sent out a group of scouts with them to give them a field test with the first batch. Ask me later."
"Fine… but we don't not have infinite wealth to keep spending on…" at that moment the demon lord raised his hand, cut him off.
"I'm sorry sir it won't happen again."
"Yea sure" Cattleya said under her breath.
The others seem to not say much but are uncomfortable with the current topic.
"And that leaves" Fried looked to his left to see that the final chair was empty, that was the demon lord's left hand, so to speak. "Sir, where is he?"
"He doesn't not need to be here for this. He will be back in time to help you with whatever plan you have in mind, Fried."
"I see thank you for letting me know sir."
"Well this has been fun." The Dr tone sarcastic tone let everyone know he was not amused. "I will be getting back to my work. If you need anything I'll leave this with my vice captain, Fried." The stone quickly loses its luster at the other end.
Davros spoke up. "I don't know what you see in him sir but we demons should be strong enough with our new monsters we don't need those things." He said his peace and walked out of the meeting room. The others do not say anything as they follow suit.
xxxx
Back at the Sea of Trees, a patrol of bear-men trudged along, clearly worn and haggard from their long journey. Their bodies were bruised, and their movements were sluggish, as though the weight of their duties had taken its toll.
"Why do the Haulias have to be so ruthless?" A bear-man with red hair asks as he holds his arm
"I'm just glad this is our last day for the week. I'll need to drink my problems away after this." A brown haired bear-man grumbled.
As they spoke, a faint noise echoed in the distance. Both bear-men immediately turned, pointing their weapons toward the sound. They had learned the hard way that ignoring even the smallest noises could lead to trouble. They had been pelted with rocks and peppered by Spice power in the past for underestimating the threat of small movements in the trees.
"Come on, Haulia, we're almost home! Can't we just end it here?!" he said frantically, not wanting to risk an ambush so close to home.
Suddenly, a cold, feminine voice cut through the air.
"No. Never let your guard down, Tyler!" A feminine voice echoed around them.
"But I am Taylor!"
A sudden chill swept over the patrol, and the voice continued, dripping with disdain.
"Is this how you used to call yourself the strongest? Where's all that bravado from weeks ago?" The voice taunted the supposed strongest.
Tyler managed to defend himself just barely, using what appeared to be a hard stick as a makeshift weapon. However, Taylor, distracted and ignoring the warning, wasn't as lucky. He was knocked off his feet, landing heavily on his backside, unconscious before he even knew what had hit him.
"Good... hehehe... Carry your comrade. We're done here since he died today." the woman, still hidden, finally decided to let them off after the 'kill'.
Tyler, still reeling from the ambush, struggled to maintain his composure. He gritted his teeth, his spirit igniting with fury and determination.
"Ha... ha... Just you wait. One day, I'll strike back!" Tyler's words, though defiant, were filled with an unmistakable fire—a determination to get revenge for the countless injustices that had befallen him and his comrades during their patrols.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll wait for that day," the voice replied in a condescending tone. "We'll see after your rest days are up."
Tyler, who up until now had been able to sense the presence of the rabbit-men nearby, suddenly felt a chill as the voice disappeared. Her presence vanished entirely, and with it, a sense of unease settled over him. He had no idea who, or what, had just ambushed them.
Meanwhile, the Haulia were waiting for the next group of patrols to start their checks. In the distance, a small group of rabbit-men arrived, preparing to take over the next shift. If only Selena had known how much the patrols had become a form of trolling since she had left. The other races, particularly the rabbit-men, had taken it upon themselves to prepare for anything, training themselves to the best of their ability.
Boltfelt, along with a few other rabbit-men, showed up to take over.
"Lanainferina, we're here to switch groups. Let us take the next shift. Cambantis would like you to report in as soon as you get back to base." the young rabbit-man told the woman returning from tormenting the last group.
"Understood," she replied, saluting Boltfelt in a professional manner.
Sometime later...
Cam sat in his office, intently studying the progress of their training. He was examining reports when he heard the door open.
Sir, I'm here to check in," Lanainferina announced as she entered the room, giving a sharp salute to Cam.
Cam looked up from his paperwork, a vicious smirk tugging at his lips as he recalled the last time he'd been involved in the training himself.
"Rest up and report on how the training is going," he said, his tone both playful and predatorily.
"It's going poorly. They don't seem to catch on to our presence, even when we don't try to hide it fully. One bear-man did show some signs of progress, but he let it go to his head. I had to remind him, with a demonstration of skill, how wrong he was."
"Yeah, the Council wants us to stop... Apparently, they've been having nightmares and seeing ghosts. A bunch of spineless cowards, the lot of them." Cam spat out in disgust.
"Sir, if I may speak"—Lana seems to want to ask something.
"Speak. What is it?"
"Why are we wasting our time on them?"
Cam leaned back in his chair, as if pondering the question for a moment, before answering with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Ah, yes, I didn't tell you... Since we're all having so much fun messing with the other races. It was actually a request."
"A request? From who?" Lanainferina asks, wondering who would make such a request.
"From our XO. Selena left a note with a few things she wanted done in a timely manner. It's why I've had half our 200 soldiers working on all the traps we'll need to start installing soon across the forest."
"I was wondering about that too, since we finished the new city defenses ages ago." Lanainferina tilted her head in thought as she tried to figure out what was in their XO's mind.
"Yeah, Selena told me that every army needs its bait. Hehehe... The only reason I haven't outright ignored the other races is because we need them to take the brunt of the damage in the upcoming war. Our beloved boss hinted that he's going to war with humans as well, so we need to keep the Sea of Trees well-defended until they come back for their prize." Cam had a dark grin on his face as he thought of all of those traps going off, maiming or even killing his potential enemies.