Chapter 123 - Aria, Where Are You?
"It's, it's over…"
"Are we all going to die here?!"
Despair enveloped countless adventurers.
A dog-eared girl with a broken right arm, a middle-aged man with a ghastly face, an elf who had yet to give up hope, and many other adventurers with dim, hopeless expressions.
What brought them despair was the pale blue flame that was gradually gathering in the mouth of the two-headed white dragon.
The adventurers gathered here, except for Alise's team, were almost all below level 3.
Evilus took a perfect opportunity for revenge just like they said they would.
A large number of adventurers entered the dungeon to explore, but by chance, not a single first-class adventurer was present.
And the Monster Rex 'Amphisbaena,' with a normal strength of level 5 in land, and in presence of water, would have level 6 strength.
Whoosh!
The pale blue breath attack instantly covered all the space in front of the white dragon.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"
"We're going to die! We're dead… Eh?"
Countless adventurers screamed in horror as the breath attack of the white dragon approached, reacting instinctively.
But after screaming for a while, they realized they didn't seem to feel any pain.
A huge barrier, composed of blue starlight, stood between them and the white dragon, defending against the Monster Rex's breath attack.
Among all the adventurers present, indeed, there was no official first-class combatant presence.
But this didn't mean that there was no one capable of resisting the floor boss's attack.
Luke made a hand seal, the reserve Prana stored in his Sword Sheath of Tranquility flowed continuously into his body.
Ignoring the adventurers that were mostly useless, Luke turned to Alise and asked:
"Can you handle this floor boss?"
"With the combined strength of my team and the adventurers present, as long as there's enough space, subduing 'Amphisbaena' won't be a problem."
"What are you planning to do by asking this?"
Alise looked at Luke with a puzzled expression.
Although surprised that Luke could use 'magic,' now was clearly not the time to discuss this.
After all, including Alise herself, who doesn't have one or two aces up their sleeve?
"Let's not talk about whether the place we are in is suitable for casting magic, but the monster army catching up from behind will not give us much time to besiege the floor boss."
Luke felt relieved knowing Alise had a way to bring down the floor boss, his heart settled down halfway.
"There's no need to worry about the monster army for now; this is a man-made trap, not a mutation, so the dungeon monsters still need to abide by the 'rules'."
"Faced with a Monster Rex's momentum, at least for now, they won't come down to the 26th floor."
"Since you said you could subjugate 'Amphisbaena' with the help of others, then get your people ready to battle immediately. I will move it to a suitable place for encirclement."
After speaking, Luke no longer paid attention to Alise and turned to walk towards Ais.
"Huh, wait! Where are you going? What do you mean by moving it…"
Alise was left completely confused by Luke's words.
After calling his name twice and getting no response, and with time pressing, Alise had no choice but to bite the bullet and trust him, starting to organize the team to subjugate the floor boss.
"Ais, can you still fight?"
Arriving beside Ais, Luke paused before asking her, who was holding her head with a pained expression. It looked like the girl sensed something unpleasant and disgusting.
"I'm...fine, I can still fight."
The headache did not last long, and Ais quickly returned to normal as if the previous headache had just been an illusion.
"That's good. I need you to help Alise and the others subdue 'Amphisbaena'."
"But in this fight, you are absolutely not allowed to use magic without my permission; do you understand?"
Not allowed to use magic?
Ais looked at Luke somewhat confusedly, but when she saw his very serious expression, she obediently nodded.
"I understand, I won't use magic."
"Good, be sure to stay safe."
With Ais's affirmative answer, Luke was completely reassured.
He patted Ais's head and reminded her to stay safe.
Then, he turned his gaze back to the white dragon that was still spouting pale flames.
Crack!
After dragging for a minute, cracks started appearing in the Prana barrier erected in front of everyone.
Luke was not adept at regular Seisenjutsu spells; he could only resist the floor boss's unique breath attack by relying on the massive Prana reserve in the Sword Sheath of Tranquility.
After all, for spells, powering up is a matter of having enough energy.
Even so, one minute was the limit of his defensive barrier.
"Hah, after this fight, the Prana reserves in the Sword Sheath of Tranquility are probably going to be depleted."
Luke, feeling the vast amount of Prana being wasted while using the barrier, sighed with a hint of regret.
But there was nothing to be done about it.
Not being adept at regular Seisenjutsu spell was a fact, and it was already enough that he had managed to come this far.
"The plan to break out of this situation is ready, now it's time to wrap things up and prepare to return home for rest."
Listening to the noises from the lower floors getting closer and closer, Luke knew he could no longer waste any more time.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Luke walked to the front of the disintegrating barrier.
Buzz!
Countless sparks of starlight began to appear around him, as immense Prana from the Sword Sheath of Tranquility continued to flow into his body.
At the same time, his aura was also rising steadily.
Just as the momentum of his Prana reached its peak after a while...
Swoosh!
Luke disappeared.
Bang!
Boom!
Luke reappeared instantly in front of the white dragon, striking it hard with the Sword Sheath of Tranquility in his hand.
"Get ready to move-- now!"
With a thunderous roar,
In the expressions of utter shock from everyone around,
The massive body of the white dragon, tens of meters in length, was sent flying out of the waterfall by Luke's full-powered strike.
"Alise! Quick, don't let it return to water!"
Alise, upon hearing Luke's command, immediately snapped back to reality.
She suppressed her astonishment at Luke's display of monstrous strength and led the adventurers to quickly surround the white dragon on open ground.
"Everyone, we need to eliminate the floor boss as quickly as possible!"
"Oh—!"
The water dragon's abilities would decrease to level 5 once it was on land.
Even if the floor boss's attributes were far superior to regular monsters of the same level, it was no longer unbeatable. Adventurers soon regained their morale and were ready for battle.
On the other side,
Luke, who had successfully sent the floor boss flying, had no intention of continuing the fight.
He walked in the opposite direction of everyone, towards the direction of the 27th floor.
"W-what, how is this possible?!"
"Is this some kind of joke?!"
"How can you use magic?"
"How could you possibly have the strength to send the floor boss flying?"
"Aren't you supposed to be a level 4 adventurer? Aren't you a swordsman? Aren't you the 'Sword Master'?"
"Why can you overpower the floor boss!!! Tell me why!!!"
An adventurer from Evilus, who had been enjoying everyone's expression of despair in their direction, went mad.
How is this possible?
He had investigated beforehand, of course, he knew that the 'Sword Master' and 'Sword Princess,' these two super rookies, could fight beyond their levels.
But Amphisbaena in water was supposed to be a level 6 floor boss, wasn't the 'Sword Master' only level 4?
Swish!
Splurt!
Luke ended the life of this Evilus adventurer with a single sword strike.
He didn't consider such an insignificant figure worth his attention, nor did he have any intention of explaining himself.
His attributes, maxed out at four levels, were now strengthened under the boost of immense Prana, turning what was once his weakness into his advantage.
The reason why no one survived the nightmare on the 27th floor was not at all the fault of Evilus. There's someone or something else responsible for this tragic incident.
And now Luke is about to face the owner of the voice calling out mentally.
"Where are you..."
"Aria, where are you..."
"I've come to find you, Aria!"
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