Heading deeper into the dungeon, Anna and I noticed that the spirits of adventurers turned more scarce. Whenever they were around, they'd be fighting creatures that I labelled as 'voids'; according to Ophis, they were creatures created out of the void.
Those spirits would lose horribly. We had deduced by now that one of the forces within this dungeon had held those spirits captive to protect the Elf Cores, but they were helpless. The lower we got, the more humanoid those creatures looked and the stronger they were.
Their spells were stronger, at some point it felt as if they used armatista, but it was only the energy of void which powered them up that served as the source for those spells. Much like I used sun energy. Those creatures had learned to adapt the spells to their energy source.
<4th Tier: Haste>
They even used spells to assist each other, working in cohesion like a single being. I limited myself to being an onlooker, Anna didn't let me fight, she wanted to show me her worth but she soon reached her limit.
*CLAANG!*
"Ugh!"
Anna flinched, her weapons were a bow and a now cracked short dagger made out of orialchum. She had danced beautifully along the battlefield, but eventually, her blade was unable to pierce through the pitch-black skin of those beings. She was no longer able to face them without sustaining harsh injuries.
One of those voids extended their arms towards her using high ranked spells.
<5th Tier: Plasma>
What was produced out of that spell, rather than a beam as I expected, was a sort of terrific cloud that burned everything it touched. Anna didn't even flinch, she ran away, standing behind me. That spell was not something she could fight against.
"Plasma, huh..." That spell left me thinking, cross-handed and in deep thoughts.
"Ray, be careful! That's a mythical spell!–"
I that plasma dust into a different spatial dimension and attracted the creature towards me, crushing its head with my bare hands, still deep in thought. I could work something out with that plasma.
"…"
Anna fell on her knees with a deep sigh. I dealt with the rest of the monsters on my own since she was tired. It didn't take long. They were strong opponents to other mortals, not to me.
"What's wrong…?" I asked her after I finished and found her laying down at the same spot, decayed.
Anna Blair didn't answer, there was only this helpless smile portrayed in her face, I would think she was happy were it not for those lifeless eyes.
'I see... it is one of those moments, realisation' I concluded.
She then looked up towards me with those set of despaired eyes, extending her hand forward but not quite reaching me... like one does when one tries to reach the sun.
"It's… nothing…"
"Do you feel weak?" I asked her straight.
She flinched but didn't say another word.
I turned around and walked deeper into the dungeon, eventually she followed. This is a conclusion she has to reach on her own as only she knows what she's thinking and how this self-perceived weakness is affecting her. She must have been someone very proud of her talents... until recently.
I felt something in the moonlight mist and let the three girls out after their deep slumber.
"Ray-chan! Snacks!!~" Anna – not the calm one, the troublemaker one– was back and ready to eat more. I caught her before she tackled me down onto the ground. Now that she has the strength to pull that off.
"There aren't snacks here, Anna… and you're using the -chan again".
"Ray-kun~" My priestess Akeno was quieter, she only hooked her arm my waist and leaned on me. Don't be misled by this display, after massaging her I realised how much of a freak she is... she should hang out with the likes of Haku more often, they go hand-in-hand in the freaky scale.
"Yesterday was amazing, you were so rough with me~" She purred.
"You're welcome, I guess… I don't do those rough plays often–"
"Then let me be rough with you for once~"
"Absolutely not…" I flinched, oh hell nah... even having special privileges won't take you that far with me.
"You have to please your girlfriend one way or the other~" Akeno pinched my waist with expectations. Either I roughed her up or she roughed me up, there was no middle ground.
Rias stood there in all her sexy self seeing both my arms were already taken. She crossed her arms and tapped her slender pretty finger on her elbow, she protruded her long proud twelve crimson wings of a Devil Queen as if to assert domination.
"Ara ara~ what are you trying to pull off, Rias?~"
Akeno retaliated by popping up twelve wings that looked like a mixture of angel and devil, they were devil wings but white… also, she had a pitch-black halo on her head that resembled Azrael's. A brand new creature from the deepest hell, a Nephilim.
Lastly, as if to not fall behind. Anna pouted and popped up a single pair of beautiful translucent icy butterfly wings. As beautiful as they were, she was still a Snow Predator. Although she lost in number, she gained in beauty… but obviously this girl is petty so she pouted with teary eyes as hers were the least intimidating.
"Anna, I'm having Ray's right arm" Rias decided to fight out Anna, the least intimidating.
"No!" The youkai was not going to let go.
Rias growled and looked at me as if expecting me to move Anna away and give her the spot... Is she mad or something? Does she think I dare challenge an Anna? I'd first pop up an extra arm before I move Anna away.
"Rias, be content with your lot…"
"Ha!?"