Corrupted Spirit

After the two-hour rest, the party started to move on. But before they descended to the 59th floor, Aika released her Zanpakuto again and even if they got a closer look at it, they still couldn't fathom how this works.

Tsubaki, especially, wanted to know the logic behind a transforming weapon. She was also really interested in the weird thing behind Koneko, however, she couldn't really question them about their equipment. All she wanted to do now was to go home and ask Hephaestus about it, since she saw her insignia on Koneko's jetpack. But in the meantime, she would observe them as much as she could.

The group then started to descend and once they reached the 59th floor, they saw a terrain that was largely contradictory with the records left behind the Zeus Familia. The 59th floor they came to was a jungle instead of a glacial tundra. Although the Zeus Familia could have hidden some information, there was no way for a group as prominent as the Zeus Familia to entirely lie about the terrain of certain floors. This meant that a big change happened in the Dungeon while no one was looking.

The group walked for more than a few seconds until they stopped and realized something. This may look like a jungle, but it was actually a very large nest for the new species. "A-are those the new species!?", Lefiya muttered and shivered in surprise after seeing the closely clustered monsters. On the ceiling of the 59th floor were the hanging and inactive plant monsters.

"I can hear sounds from ahead of us... Let's move forward," Finn commanded.

Half an hour later, they came into an open area without much interference from the monsters. In this area, the ground was covered in gray sand, or rather, ashes that remained from the killed monsters. Also, in the middle of it was a monster similar to the one they encountered on the 18th floor, where the first discovered jewel fetus parasitized a monster. The difference this time, however, was that the monster was connected to innumerable tentacles at its base, making it immobile.

"A jewel monster..." Gareth muttered.

"Wait... Take a look at the monsters around it!" Riveria suddenly shouted as she noticed something fear-inducing.

"The new species are allowing it to eat their magic stones!? Are the ashes around here all from dead monsters!?" Tiona shouted. All along, the smaller monsters weren't guarding the jewel monster but feeding it with their magic stone.

"This is bad...! It's a strengthened species!" The mostly quiet Ais couldn't help but shout.

[Ah... Ahhhhhh!!!!!] The jewel monster screeched as it finished eating the magic stones around it. The shout created a strong shockwave that rippled towards the outside and the party was forced to duck down a little to stabilize their position and cover their ears from the eardrum-breaking screech.

The jewel monsters then started transforming into a gigantic unbloomed flower. A few seconds later, however, it bloomed magnificently and revealed a very beautiful woman in the middle of the petals.

"What... What is that...!?" Tione asked, but no one could answer her.

Tiona, however, is more concerned at Ais' reaction, "Ais?"

'No... That can't be true... That thing... It can't be...' Ais ignored everyone as she was trapped in her own world.

The beautiful woman looked towards her and started muttering, "A...Aria..." It then changed into delight, "Aria. Aria. Aria!!!" Before changing again into a maniacal laugh, "Kyahaha!!! Aria!!!"

"A spirit...!?" Ais finally muttered for everyone to hear.

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On the surface, the mysterious man that gave Ais the quest for the 24th floor suddenly called out to his God, "Ouranos!!!"

A God sitting on a simple stone chair on top of a pedestal muttered while watching the crystal ball, "As I expected."

Before the Loki Familia went on their expedition, the mysterious man discreetly passed a bracelet, which could send a magic equivalent to a modern video feed to the crystal ball, to Ais through one of the members of the Hermes Familia.

"During ancient times, before we came down from Tenkai, a number of spirits took on our will and helped the heroes. Even though they were eaten by a monster in the Dungeon and their existences were reversed, they still kept their own identities." Ouranos continued muttering.

"A fusion between the Gods' children and a monster... So this is also a possibility of the Lower World... A corrupted Spirit."

"Indeed... If I didn't see it today, I would have never believed that something like this existed." The mysterious man which Ouranos calls Fels also muttered.

"Nonetheless..."

"Hmm?"

"What are they?" Ouranos asked and pointed towards Aika, Koneko, and Sona.

"..." Fels fell silent for a bit before shaking his head, "I don't know... All I know is that they're from the Hestia Familia and that this Familia is filled with strange individuals with strange abilities."

Fels then looked towards Ouranos, "If you don't know anything or have no idea what they're doing, then that's really strange... Where did they come from? It's as if they came from another world where common sense is different... Should I investigate them?"

"...Just monitoring their activities within the Dungeon should be enough for now."

"Understood."

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"A spirit!? That eerie-looking thing!?" Gareth and the rest couldn't believe what they heard.

"What dirty Mana..." Sona muttered as she readied her halberd.

Aika and Koneko only quietly readied their weapons.

"Those new species of monsters were mere tentacles. They exist only to refine this female monster into that form..." Finn gritted his teeth as he finally understood the purpose of the new species.

[Aria, Aria! I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you!] The corrupted Spirit faced Ais and started giggling to herself, "You should become one too." Followed by another maniacal laughter, [Aria! Aria! I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you! You should become one too!!!]

Everyone shuddered as the corrupted Spirit suddenly started to release large amounts of magic power, [Fufu... Let me eat you.] Pointing towards the group, the remaining monsters started to move towards them. Although most of them disappeared after giving up their magic stones, a few hundred of them still remained.

"Finn, I'm going to move up to the vanguard!" Gareth ran forward.

"This isn't any different from what we usually do! I'll kill them!" Bete hyped himself.

"Everyone, get ready for battle! Lefiya, hurry, and start chanting!" Finn started commanding.

"Got it!"

"Raul's group will support Ais and the others with their magic swords!"

"U-understood!"

"Everyone from the Hestia Familia, you may do as you please, but please always keep the integrity of the group in mind."

"Very well.", replied Sona while fixing her glasses.

The supporters were shocked at Finn's commands, but after recalling their strangeness, it would indeed be better for them to move on their own due to their unknown abilities.

Tiona, Tione, and Bete moved forward, bypassing the new species. They intended to face the corrupted spirit directly. But before they could approach it, they were attacked by the tentacles below the monster. These tentacles were at least a hundred meters long and a meter wide. Aside from its gigantic size, it only boasted a sharp tip and durable body that wouldn't be cut with just a few strikes from the First-Class Adventurers.

After deflecting the tentacles' attack, Tiona said, "Its attacks are heavy!"

While Tione questioned, "Just how many magic stones has it eaten!?"

On the rearguard, Finn stopped Riveria who wanted to chant, "Riveria, don't chant just yet."

"Finn?"

"My thumb won't stop tingling. There's definitely something else..." He then felt another change in density of the magic power in the surroundings, "...coming!"

[Come, Fire.] Under the corrupted Spirit, multiple large magic circles emerged.

"A chant!?" Gareth shouted, "A monster is chanting!?"

"Riveria! Put up a barrier! Bombardment squad, stop its chant!"

Lefiya hurriedly used her magic against it while the support group bombarded it with their magic stones.

However, the corrupted Spirit only used the petals under it to cover itself, blocking the incoming attacks perfectly, [Burn Burn Burn whirlpool of Fire.]

"...Haha... It didn't have any effect!?" Tsubaki muttered. It was as if those petals were First-Class shields.

In response to the impending danger, Riveria was chanting her strongest defensive spell, "Dance around the spirit of the atmosphere, lord of light..."

[Wall of Crimson. Howl of Hellfire.]

"Contract with the guardian of the forest."

But immediately after that line, the corrupted Spirit started to speak even faster and the magic power around it rose exponentially, [Borrow the power of a gust of wind and close the world, burning sky, burning earth, burning sea, burning spring, burning mountain, burning life.]

'What!? A super long chant!?' Riveria shouted internally.

Seeing the situation, Sona and Aika immediately disengaged from the new species. On one hand, Sona released her demonic power and gathered large amounts of water. She formed a high-density water javelin and launched it towards the corrupted spirit.

Aika, on the other hand, crossed her swords before releasing a black and red wave of energy towards the corrupted spirit.

Koneko protected them from the monsters using her white flames which slowly spread towards the other monsters as it consumed their mana.

The corrupted Spirit was slightly startled, especially after Sona released her demonic power and a keen interest sprouted from it. Using several overlapping petals, it was able to block Sona's javelin, and even Aika's destructive sword waves. "Tch!", they clicked their tongues simultaneously out of disappointment.

Sona and Aika tried to wound their opponent a few more times, but its petals kept regenerating. They didn't have enough firepower to deal substantial damage to it.

Although they were shocked by the duo's performance, the vanguard tried to get close to the monster. However, the tentacles kept them busy as they tried to push forward.

"And envelop us with the song of the earth. Surround us, become a great barrier of the forest light and protect us-"

[Change everything to scorched earth and give the signal of rage and despair. The cost of the life of my loving hero. I order you in the name of the agent, the name given to me is Salamander, the avatar of fire, queen of fire.]

'It's fast!!!' Riveria became scared and was pretty sure that her barrier wouldn't be able to completely block its magic.

"We can't even get close!" Tione shouted in frustration while dealing with the tentacles.

"Everyone, fall back to Riveria's barrier!" Finn instructed.

"My name is Alf! Via Shilheim!"

A golden dome covered everyone. And at the same time, the Spirit finished its chant, [Firestorm.]

A small purple flame manifested from the Spirit's hand before blowing it away. The purple flame floated down until it reached the ground and exploded into a whirlpool of purple flames, covering the whole floor.

The first one to be annihilated were the other monsters before it slammed into Riveria's barrier. At this moment, Sona already knew that the barrier wouldn't last for a long time, so she immediately gave a signal to Koneko.

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Comment section

Alexander: I am hyped now. Where is the popcorn and the next chapter?

28th00: So, what trump card that will have very interesting ramifications will appear now? Doesn't Koneko hard-counter both fire and magic? Fire magic would burn really well, ironically.