100th floor

Chapter Forty: Meikai no Chōten

The trigger came on the 98th floor.

Travelling through vast, dim caverns with no walls, only pathways which might open up to cover more ground than Orario itself, or shrink to a walkway no wider than a single person could cross. The darkness meant this could happen very suddenly, and there was nothing to give them any hint as to what waited in the abyss below, beyond the edge of where the solid, flat ground covered.

The ominous feeling of the previous safe zone made sense to them, now, but left no consolation.

Vision was limited, perhaps no more than twenty meders for even the most gifted of sight among them, which did not help the party deal with the mass of monsters which resembled War Shadows, save their crimson coloring and larger size. Of course, they were also all level 9 threats.

Having made the call not to light the darkness lest they draw too much attention to themselves and being unable to see all of the enemies or their own allies, who Haroeris was working hard to keep track of, the leaders had pulled the formation together tightly in an emergency, sensing that a massive monster party was upon them.

The fighters kept the foes at bay, and the mages worked to blow their attackers away, after Lefiya finally cast a spell to shine as much light about them as possible, feeling enough desperation to give their position away for some vision.

The sight reveled to them almost made the lot falter, as hundreds of the High War Shadows swarmed up from the abyss around them, clambering to the ground before rushing their way.

"Mages, on my mark!" Alfia projected her voice aloud, before beginning to concurrently chant her most devastating magic, "Blessing of the root of evil, curse of birth~" following her example, the rest of the magic users prepared the most powerful attacks they could. Riveria, Hedin, Lefiya, Ryu, and many others chanted, several concurrently as they used bows along with some others to harass the monsters before their magic triggered.

"Cry, holy bell tower: Genos Angelus!" the crashing thunderclap of magic resounded throughout the Dungeon.

The mages rained holy hell down all around them, managing to not damage their allies by some miracle, but many dropping from near or full mind down. Rivera spent herself, too, but barely managed to remain standing as she observed the effects: the ground of the floor was devastated; their progress would be much more difficult for it. Thankfully though, a massive swathe of the monsters had been reduced to ash. Then she squinted her eyes in confusion.

"Why are they… retreating?"

True to her words, there were still some of the monsters left, but instead of rushing them after the magic faded, they scurried back over the sides of the floor, returning to the still pitch black abyss. The others noticed this too, and as one, dread consumed the adventurers as the Dungeon groaned.

Only a few knew what these particular cries of the Dungeon meant, why they were being abandoned by even the monsters, what was about to be born, and what abomination was coming their way. Unable to contain their panic, both Bell and Ryu shouted in attempts to get the others attention.

"R-retreat! We have to retreat; Mr. Aedan, Mr. Finn, we need to run, now! NOW!!"

"Lady Riveria, we must get the others, we can't stay here!"

Even as they began to jostle their allies, Haroeris had already felt it. A true irregular being born one floor below them, the lowest down it could possibly be created by the Dungeon, and its powerful, overwhelming presence nearly cowed himself.

It began to move, and so did he.

"Behind me, now!" his voice filled the floor even as he rushed forward beyond what any of them could track. Just as he put himself between the group and the entrance to the 99th floor, he saw it.

The next instant, his glaive and round shield were struggling to hold back its arms as the monster roared in his face, it's strangely flanged, reverberating cry rattling his ears.

Their clash blew back all the others, thankfully still remaining on solid ground, as everyone else got a good look at what was facing them.

"Juggernaut…" Ryu groaned, despair nipping at her heart and filling her voice. The monster was strikingly similar to what had nearly ended herself and Bell, first in the Water City, then on the 37th floor.

However, everyone could tell that it's power was greater than anything they had faced in the Dungeon: its white fur shimmered with the same anti-magic armor that its sibling had, its greater size pushed even Haroeris back and down, the black bones plating its body and masking its face seemed to consume the light around it, and the lightless pits of its dark eye-sockets drilled hatred into the man before it, and the others behind him.

"Mr. Aedan!" Bell screamed, his limbs shaking as he forced himself to try and charge forward to help, but three people stopped him in an instant.

"Stay back captain!" the man himself roared, even as Alfia and- oddly- Belisarius grabbed each of his arms, pulling him back.

"Don't Bell, it is beyond you"

"Stay back captain Cranel, she's right"

Accepting their orders, he shouted his heart out, "That's a Juggernaut Haroeris! It has no magic stone to target, and its body will reflect back any magic that hits it; physical attacks are the only way, but it's fast!"

The man's eyes widened in surprise at the boy's knowledge, even as the monster shifted its sight to focus on Bell, before disappearing the next instant.

An explosion sent Bell and the other two flying again as they shielded him while Aedan redirected the Juggernaut's strike, perfectly angling his shield to minimize the force he received, and still being thrown forcefully into the ground, cratering it. He stood back strong in an instant.

"Eyes on me, creature!"

Just then, shapes began to appear once more from the many edges of the ground as the High War Shadows made their return from the abyss beyond, seeking either to join the Juggernaut or target the intruders not fighting it. With rage and mana burning in his eyes, Aedan ground out, "Ankh! OooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

His roar caused the returning pests to falter, falling to the ground on trembling legs, as even those behind him- who he was protecting- did the same.

"A H-Howl!?" Riveria exclaimed.

Only Asterius and Bell were still on their feet, with Alfia and Belisarius recovering quickly as they kept their hold on the boy; their Xenos ally simply belted out his own Howl in response.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

With an undulating roar, the Juggernaut vanished again, and Aedan did the same. The pair only occasionally becoming visible as numerous shockwaves shook the ground, forcing the group back to avoid being blasted off the edge of the ground into the darkness. For a time- at least by what they could tell, the battle was even.

Metallic shearing tore the air as claws scraped off shield, armor, and blade. Staccato pings rang out like so many smiths as strike after strike was met again and again. Non-lethal wounds slowly began to build on the man's frame as monster too was weathered with superficial wounds.

"It's on even ground with him, so… level 10?" Argana ventured a guess.

"No, if it is even with him, it's beyond that" Ottar's words and their certainty silenced anymore talk as dread continued to bubble in the hearts of those watching, and broken by Lefiya recasting the light which showed the fierce battle unfolding far away from them.

The stalemate went for nearly an hour, neither landing a hit as crippling and killing blows missed or were blocked mere celches from landing. What gave first wasn't stamina, or even a blow landing and breaking past defense.

After taking defense behind his shield, Haroeris struck out all around it with his weapon a few dozen times in a pair of seconds. His attack was shrugged off, and the Juggernaut retaliated.

It was Aedan's glaive, its shaft shattering from being used as a shield when he spun it up into place, which gave the Juggernaut a slim opening. Everything happened rapidly after that.

Faster than they could process, Haroeris was forced to block a blow with his shield arm in an awkward angle, the talon of the monster cleaving halfway through his shield and arm before binding up in the muscle, even as the other limb shot straight at him, piecing through his armor and chest.

Without wasting a moment, the hand which held the head of his glaive swung across his body, severing the trapped arms of the Juggernaut cleanly, only for it to seemingly ignore the pain it must have felt- as he did- as it chambered it's rear leg up to kick him viciously.

When he stood up, he could hear the shock and screams of the others, but the monster was still rushing at him. His one arm was useless, having had the bones in his forearm cut, it flopped uselessly as it spurted blood, hanging on merely by some meat on the inside of his arm.

The arm of the Juggernaut was stuck in him; thankfully it seemed to have missed his heart, so he cocked back the remains of his glaive and launched it at the monster, who used its bone mask to bat the blade off course, but that instant was capitalized by Aedan, who had followed the thrown weapon.

Sliding, he kicked his legs up into the monster and sent it flying through the air, but it landed just short of sailing over the edge of the ground. In a rush, he punched it as hard as he could with his good arm as it stood up, knocking it back; yet it's feet clasped one of his as it fell, pulling him with it into the darkness.

Silence reigned, everyone gathered too afraid to break it, even as the light faded and left them once more dangerously unaware of their surroundings, and the frightened War Shadows began to stir slowly.

Finally, the sound of quick breaths broke the spell, as Bell staggered forward, falling to his knees as he curled against the ground, "Noooooo…" his hushed whimper followed by not a word. What could anyone say? Then, in a moment, the light returned.

Not from the ball above that Lefiya had twice cast, but this time, from below.

Flames… a glow of burning fire filled the abyss around them, that light growing until there wasn't a bit of shadow below their feet, and the shine projected far to the unseen ceiling above them. Still brighter it grew, and hotter, as the sea of flames swelled, and a dark blot rocketed up and out from the depths below. Like a shot from a sling, the charred and smoking form crashed onto the solid ground, bouncing a couple of times, before Bell rushed toward it, already recognizing the man.

Following his rush, the others hurried forward with him, but he clawed his way to his feet with his working arm, teeth bared and a manic look in his eyes, "Stay back! It's not dead!" Even as he warned them, white light joined the swell of reddish-orange from the flames, and chimes sounded out.

"Bell, no!"

"Trust me!" rushing not toward the Juggernaut that could now be seen running up the far wall of the cavern beyond the drop, Bell ran for something in the opposite direction: the discarded half of Haroeris' glaive, with the butt spike. He dual charged Argonaut as he grabbed a fist-sized stone, too.

Turning, he rushed back the way he came; the Juggernaut far up the wall now, it braced it's legs and pushed off from it, cratering the wall and flying toward Aedan and the others with demonic speed, a shattering boom following after it.

Bell, hoping its eyes were focused on Aedan, released the attack after a minute, letting the improvised javelin and its chaser fly.

By whatever grace, his Luck held, and his aim was true; the broken weapon flew straight into the mouth of the monster as it opened its maw to roar, the stone hitting perfectly to drive it in like a spike. It still didn't die.

Landing awkwardly, the Juggernaut tried to stand, but the lack of arms and the damage it had taken were wearing on it. In a flash, a hand grabbed it by the back of the head, right where the piece of weapon jutted out of it. In a smooth, ruthless motion, Aedan slammed the Juggernaut's head into the ground, shattering it and causing the whole body to turn to dust instantly.

Staggering, he tried to get his feet steady under him, until Bell came to grab his side and support him.

"I've gotcha" Aedan was breathing too heavily to answer, so he simply nodded in gratitude.

"Let's hurry on, we can recover once we reach the 100th floor" Finn ordered resolutely, a cheer going up among the gathered adventurers. Ryu moved to help Bell move Aedan along, clasping her hand around her captain's as she took notice of his unceasing, worried looks at the man's injuries, now weeping blood as the stuck limb dissolved from his chest, leaving behind a wicked talon which was quickly taken up by Aisha.

She followed the trio closely with Raul, Lefiya, Vanir, Tammuz, and Falgar; the group of level 5's acting as a guard for them as they all began their mad rush to the bottom.

The 99th floor was much the same as the previous one, though the flames still burned on the 98th, where the 99th was dark as could be, making them shiver at the possibility of where the darkness led to.

Even so, inspired by the battle they had seen, the group pushed mercilessly through the horde of monsters blocking their way, sustaining more damage than perhaps they should have, but they made it at last, and quicker than they might have otherwise.

"… here" Aedan finally spoke for the first time since the fight. At last, he and the others flopped down, eager to recover and rest. Having already been treated with elixir, he did as most of the others did and fell to sleep, knowing that magic could finish the job when they had better recovered.

Some unknown amount of time later, he awoke with start, only to relax as he observed that they had made it to the 100th floor; not a safe zone, truly, but no monsters spawned here, like the 80th and 90th floors; unlike those, it seemed that none wandered down to it, either. A handful happened to be awake at the time he was, and seeing one, he approached as gingerly as his healing wounds would allow.

"Bell, good morning" he said in a bit of humor, only to freeze as the boy turned and hugged him in an instant.

"… I'm glad you're okay; everyone's okay" he said, preempting what he was going to ask.

"That's good, I had to make sure that I had remembered right; things were a bit foggy from before. On that note, thanks for your information on that monster, Bell; it may well have saved my life"

When his captain looked at him with confusion, he elaborated, "After it took me over the edge, I used a fire spell on it in desperation. It was to push me back up higher, but also for the reaction. It returned my spell back at me just like you warned, and that boosted me back up to the rest of you. It also pushed it back to the wall of the cavern, but thanks to you, we were able to manage killing it"

"…" Bell pulled back from the man, looking at him in the eyes, "It was close, though. It nearly killed you"

"Yes, it did" he didn't lie, "I was surprised that the Dungeon was capable of birthing something like that, which is why I was thankful for your warning. That was like what you and Ryu faced in that disaster you were involved in, right?" the boy nodded wordlessly, and he continued, "You two really are quite amazing" he tousled Bell's hair with his good hand, his other arm still heavily bandaged like his torso.

"We still have some time that we need to investigate down here and recover before we attempt to begin the return journey, so make the most of it, captain" the two went separate ways as Aedan found his way intercepted by two others who seemed haggard after their push to the 100th floor.

"Alfia, Riveria" he greeted to pair warmly, his heart swelling at the relief on their faces, "You all did very well bringing everyone down after I collapsed"

"Please, we were practically here already" Alfia closed her eyes, maintaining a regally aloof attitude; not that he didn't see through it like a window.

"Thanks to your battle, we were able to push through those that remained, and make it whole to the 100th floor" Riveria said gravely, "although you only just survived. Had that blow struck your heart, you'd not be here"

"I know" he said quietly, "I'm not immortal; I simply age slowly. That was an unexpected irregular, but we should be ready for the Dragon to be all the worse compared to even that horrid creature"

"Enough of that for now" Alfia pulled Riveria toward him, "We will ensure you are healed enough for the work you want to do here, and for the return journey"