Our eyes fixed on the origin and there appeared a crowd of individuals who hadn't been there a second ago. Thankfully, I could track their energy and the source was a bit eerie, just like the runes.
They didn't look like physical people, instead, I could see past their bodies and they emitted a spectral aura.
"They're spirits…" I said, a bit astonished. Spirits are usually not visible outside of Limbo.
The girls got on guard. I looked around trying to search for answers... these plants beneath us, some of them could emit something equivalent to a limbo domain, although this one was in the form of mist.
Those were the spirits of the adventurers who had previously fought. These plants in the ground were some sort of living necromancers.
"Alright girls… I want you to go loose. Destroy those spirits with everything you have, I'll use this fight to evaluate you".
"Hai!"
"Vanna, you stand here with me" I held the elf's hand and pulled her with me before she could charge and put an arrow in everyone's forehead on her own, that attack just now was enough for me to evaluate her.
"Eh? But I–"
"You're already plenty strong. Let those girls fight a little. I want to see their strengths".
"Understood…" Anna Blair sighed, held onto my shirt and waited.
'This girl likes fighting unexpectedly'.
...
"Let's do this, Akeno, Anna!" Rias' arms rose with destruction in them, Akeno smiled and popped up some lightning.
"Yummy!~" Anna was already eating.
"…"
Who knows when she took her Youkai form, jumped on those spirits and began eating them like they were snacks. From the last time I saw her, her youkai form had changed. She was a more adult form of herself with longer wings. Her claws were a lot sharper too.
Akeno and Rias deadpanned and jumped into the fray a bit too late.
"Ha!"
Akeno unlike always, used all of her arsenal, even her fallen angel wings popped up. She used lightning… but her lightning phased through those spirits and impacted the walls behind, causing some considerable destruction.
"E-Eh!?" She was confused, upon further attempts, she was still unable to injure those spirits who kept charging at them.
"Rias, I can't do anything to them!" She prompted, a warrior jumped on her and the warrior did manage to hack away a piece of stone with the force of the strike. These spirits had a firm contact with the secular world, but one needed to use spiritual means to attack them
'Uhm this is… complicated. I see it now' I thought, no wonder no one comes out of here alive. There must be a very limited amount of adventurers in this world who can attack spirits, adding to that the fact that no one has come out of here alive to tell the nature of this dungeon, and it all makes sense now.
<5th Tier: Fire Spectrum!>
A spirit sorcerer cast towards Akeno, for some reason they were focusing on her instead of Rias. I noticed the spell was a greater rank than the ones I have seen on the surface.
"They are high-ranked sorcerers at the level of Adamantine-rank adventurers" Anna Blair pointed out.
My beautiful priestess cast her own spell, lightning was not the only element she could use, I knew that much.
A magic circle manifested and torrents of water shot out towards the massive fire spell.
Akeno's spell was lost in impact, but Rias was there already expecting that.
"Ha!"
*BOOOOOMMM!!*
Her destruction scattered the leftover force of the flaming spell.
"My lord. Those are spirits, I'm afraid physical means are useless… but then I don't understand why Anna can–" Anna Blair was confused as to why Anna could so cutely devour those spirits while Akeno struggled.
"Anna is a creature known as Youkai, they're spiritual beings, to begin with, they feed on spirits so dealing with them is her innate capacity".
"Oh!"
*RUMBLE!*
"Get me some time, Akeno... I'm going to finish them all at once!"
"Let loose, Rias~"
Akeno conjured a magic circle that spread around, lightning sparks travelled across the field and even a slight tremor manifested. It was a clever move that delayed the movement of those spirits and also, it struck the plants.
A red aura engulfed Rias and she released a wave of destruction.
"I'll do as you said, Ray! I'll let loose!"
*BOOOOOMMMMM!!!*
Rias did let loose and her destruction aura shattered those spirits, I understood why she was so reluctant to use her powers. Before she noticed, I held Rias in my arms... that destruction aura was going to harm even her.
"Haaa… h-how was that…?" She asked with a smile as if she knew I was going to jump in and save her. I kissed her forehead.
"That was beautiful, you just need to work out a bit in control. Don't worry, I will help you with that".
"I don't want to lose to Anna..." She said, her gorgeous blue eyes staring at me with hope.
"In what sense...?"
"In all senses".
I felt someone hug me from behind, it was Akeno.
"H-How did I do, Ray-kun?".
"You girls, you know we're almost the same age, right? The only difference is that I'm a god".
"Little difference~" Akeno giggled. I held the two of them hard against me while we both stared at Anna. She was still happily devouring but Rias had gotten rid of at least half of the spiritual army. She'd soon take care of the other half.
There was no point... no point in competing with that beast. Girls, you can't win! You can't win against someone who fights and eats at the same time!
"Yummy yum yum!~"
"Anna is scary" Anna Blair sweated and wondered if she would be able to win a fight against that monster before being eaten. Soon, the youkai finished her meal, she even devoured the plants.
"What do you mean she's scary? She's my cute little girl. C'mere~"
"Yum!~"
Anna jumped on me with her belly full and still took a bite out of my neck and suck my blood. An insatiable little girl.
…
"Anna-chan… during the next fight you won't be participating, you will stand aside with Vanna".
"Heh!? Why!?" The girl pouted, she found the plants to be rather tasty. She was pulled by a giggling Anna Blair to the side. Both Annas were officially out of the contest.
'You two are too strong already!' I don't know why these Annas are so strong. Let alone, I misunderstood her all this time. I thought it would take time for Anna to embrace her youkai nature but this girl has no issue devouring human-sized spirits even as they wail for mercy!
"The truth is, for the last few weeks we have been hunting out with Haku-san. She's taken us to a lot of places to train together with Kuroka-san... so we're not completely inexperienced".
"And Anna has..."
"She's been eating everything that moves".
"..."
I looked at the youkai in question only to get 'Tehe~'.
"Haku-san said, and I quote: 'She's currently the most dangerous youkai in existence and that is all master's fault' She has been banned from entering the underworld without a representative, we also stopped her from going to the world of familiars where she has a grudge with the Dragon Queen Tiamat, after she tried to eat her treasures–" Rias explained but I didn't let her.
"How is that my fault?!"
I have only been out of that world for about three months and Anna has already become public enemy number one! I didn't create this monster!
"Ray-kun, we all know you have been spoiling Anna-chan rotten all these years. Moreover, according to Amaterasu-sama, she has been exposed to your Sun Energy daily for years, which has altered her body and made her a lot stronger than she would normally be".
"I'm your little monster, Ray-chan! You have to take responsibility and marry me, okay?~"
I sighed, 'This little monster that I created. What can I say? I'll have to marry this girl in the future'.
I thought so with a smile.