80th Floor

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Fukami e

"Hmmng! Hup, ha!" the ring of metal reverberated around the training ground of the camp as Aedan worked through forms and drills with Finn, Allen, Riveria, and Thors, giving them a thorough lesson in polearms, "Every part of the tool is both weapon and shield, keep this in mind!" he emphasized his point by striking out with his glaive as he rushed through their formation, striking out with different parts of it, and fending off their strikes at the same moment.

"The spear is the weapon of choice for the soldier, and the most well-rounded of any; however, mastery of it is far above any other weapon to obtain!" His blows continued as he would bait out certain attacks from the others when he wanted to make a particular point, or address some weakness or habit, "Using your full strength and dexterity, effectively wielding this weapon with one hand becomes possible, but your off-hand ought never be unable to assist should the need arise"

He demonstrated how his own shield would be unaffected whether he gripped its handle or the shaft of his weapon.

Through the lesson, and in real time, those participating grew in skill under his watch, even after years of training themselves to the peak of Orario's- and Gekai's- strength.

The whole force took a full week to rest on the floor, and after Bell and Asterius' spar, most took the chance to do the same with each other, or train on their own. It was a pleasing sight to see them all so raring to go.

All of the executives hoped that the same energy would be remaining once they arrived on the 74th floor to rest at the next safe zone, even as they were drilled by Haroeris themselves. At the end of that week, everyone was sat down and walked through the plan for the advance into the depths.

They weren't flying blind, but beyond the 66th floor and its monster rex, they had no experience with any of it.

Haroeris had already made clear that he would only act to protect the others if there was any mortal danger, not to aid them along normally; nor would he actively lead or command anyone, much to Bete and Allen's agreement to be led by their own captains.

The formation had been thoroughly laid out, rotations planned for an extensive length of time, support and resource collection hammered down; after all, they weren't simply being tasked with a race to the bottom of the Dungeon. They were to treat this as a proper expedition, on top of being a race to the bottom.

Slave-driver indeed…

Challenging the rex was the first hurdle, and despite their experience, even the executives were shocked when it went directly for the level 5's after hiding from them!

Thankfully, Bell and Allen were fast enough to keep them alive, each catching a pair of arm-blades before having to roll in opposite directions as it snapped at them with its mandibles, only to get sent careening back over a hundred meders as Asterius punched it square in the face.

"Fast" he rumbled, before having to bring his ax up as it flew back at him in an instant. Luckily he, Bell, and Allen were able to keep it at bay long enough for the rest to organize and bring it down very efficiently.

"Good, it is very dangerous, but its defense isn't anything impressive" Aedan nodded, not seeing the incredulous look Belisarius sent him.

"Then what would be impressive?"

"The next floor boss you have to face"

His ominous warning served only to spark their determination as they worked their way down into the next section of the Dungeon: floors 67 to 72, constituted of massive floors which were opened up wide and tall.

Each was a subterranean, forested mountain range in its own right. They were leaving the glacier zone behind, but it meant heightened danger, of course.

The Mountain Zone had hordes of monsters, none less than level 5 in threat level, and some as high as 7, with the 72nd floor having "mini-bosses" at level 8. This zone was a significant challenge, but they blazed a trail through it as quickly as they could. Still, they had to stop to harvest some of the trees they came across and mine minerals, too.

They were required to collect Ironbark and Steelbark tree heartwood, as well as extremely pure deposits of adamantite, valmarth, and nosteel. Along the way, they collected anything else that seemed useful, too. Including what seemed to be a rare formation of trees in the Dungeon which held a few drops of Thousand Year Tree Sap, which the mages marveled at.

Of course, they took all of the drop items from the Dire Wolves, Mountain Orcs, Ogres, Saber Cats, Arctodus Bears, packs of Forest Trolls, Giant Moth Bats, Poison Hurons, and more.

The elites did their best to stay back, trying to let those that were new level 7's or below get most of the experience they could in this zone, but there were times they had to step in: irregulars, enhanced species, and the "mini-bosses" of the 72nd floor, the Mountain Dragons, which put the power of the Valgang Dragons above them to shame.

In the fighting, Alfia took note of something she knew would be the price for her most recent joy: the removal of her cursed disease.

That which manifested as a skill carved into her very status- her Gia Blessing- had caused her no shortage of grief and pain her whole life, yet after gaining a falna, it at least offered her strength in return. It put her into a constant state of Limit Off, which let her fight well above her class at a whim.

Now she wielded her full power as a new level 8, no longer held back by her disease, but no longer blessed by it also. Still, she was easily as powerful as a level 9, and demonstrated so by blowing away a Mountain Dragon with one strike of her magic.

The others still contributed for these battles, but could not spearhead the effort with the rest of their expedition in mind. As such, they were able to clear their way to the entrance of the 73rd floor in good time: a mere seventeen days had seen them there. They did have to break three times for sleep rotations, but arrived fairly fresh given the circumstances.

Having been informed ahead of time, they ventured down into the largest floor so far, essentially a giant version of the floors above: colossal space, mountains, and gigantic trees growing up almost to the ceiling that they couldn't even see. Even from the entrance, they could already make out massive nets of webs zig-zagging between the trees.

"Now we enter the lair of Ungoliant and her children; remember, each of the smaller Vorg Spiders are level 6 to 7 threats alone, but the rex is a high level 9, bordering 10. Tread carefully and be mindful of each other; they will try to hunt a group like this in a manner to pick us off. This is a challenge that Zeus and Hera never encountered, let alone overcame; now you will"

Safe to say that many of the level 5 adventurers, Raul and Lefiya among them, had a healthy hatred of spiders before they were even halfway through the floor.

By the time they neared the end, the three-meder tall Vorg Spiders had more or less developed a new phobia- or rather, a quite rational fear- into many of the group; however, what awaited them at the entrance to the 74th floor- the safe zone where they would next be able to rest properly- seeded fear into even the most powerful among them, short of Haroeris and Alfia, who had already faced it.

A spider monster with eight limbs on each side of its huge body, six pincer-like mandibles, and twelve pitch-black, beady, evil eyes. Its frame reached easily ten meders high and over twenty-five long, with a stinger larger than Asterius at the end of it.

As they watched it on their approach, it moved and jumped about, feeding on different monsters trapped in the wide-spanning web that stretched between ten of the massive trees.

"Yeah, it's a different thing to see it" Finn whispered, biting his thumb.

"Shall we continue with the plan?" he looked back at Riveria and nodded.

"We don't have much choice, it's the best we have; even after seeing it. We can't retreat now" she nodded, turned, and gave the signal.

"Lil Rafaga!" Aiz, Allen, and Bell- despite his own terror at the monster rex- were tasked with one objective: cut the web.

While the monster was up in the web feeding, they raced around the structure, severing it from the trees it was attached to, and causing it to fall the long way to the Dungeon floor with an explosive, thunderous boom.

Bell moved back to join the other level 6's and 5's to keep control of the Vorg Spiders as they swarmed toward their "brood mother", and the rest moved in to kill the rex.

This was more easily said than done.

The webbing was shredded instantly by the many limbs of Ungoliant, buying them practically no time, so Belisarius, Ottar, and Musashi had to move in quickly to hold its attention. When it held them at bay easily enough to jump back up into the trees, Riveria and Alfia harassed it with their magic.

"Gospel!"

"Harbinger of the end, the white snow. Blow with the wind before the twilight. Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard, the three severe winters~"

"Gospel!"

"~ name is Alf! Vas Windheim!" not holding back, the pair sent devastating attacks as quickly as they could.

The sounds of their strongest executives struggling against the floor boss made the others nervous, but they still fought hard to keep the horde at bay.

It was a good chance for Aedan though, to view the teamwork which they were truly capable of. The deep floors up to now tested them, to be sure, but with what they were facing, they were never in true mortal peril.

This was the wall which would show them what was required, as the only one who could really save them if things went badly was him, they would have to rely on themselves.

It took a lot out of them, in the end. All of those at level 7 and above save for a scant few- which were with the others keeping the mobs at bay- had been needed to completely expend their total energy to bring down Ungoliant.

Even after keeping the strongest among them at bay for a long battle, Ungoliant was still defiantly poised to attack any that dared to advance to her. After the exhausting fight, only Asterius charged forward, "oooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Still, he was forced to stop by Ungoliant's relentless counterattack, blocking her many limbs with his ax and horns. His effort was enough, though.

Between Gareth, Hogni, Allen, and Nobunaga, a quadruple of attacks aimed at vital points landed on the distracted Rex. After the arduous fight, the giant spider fell apart in three pieces, disappearing into ash after Musashi plucked out the glinting blue stone from its head. Even as it dissolved, a fang, an eye, and a bundle of hairs from one of its legs remained, which the group made sure to collect.

"Hey big guy, you want it?" Musashi hefted the torso-sized stone toward Asterius. The bull was breathing heavily on one knee, and shook his head.

"I didn't kill it, so your party should keep it; it's part of your spoils" the man shrugged as he set the large magic stone down and sat beside it.

Finn was trying to catch his breath on his knees, Riveria moments away from a mind down, Gareth and Ottar collecting bits of armor so that Tsubaki could hopefully repair it, and so on. Alfia was trying to stay composed despite her battle dress being soaked with sweat.

Once they were able to gather themselves, they urged the whole group on to the 74th floor. They made a head count- as did Aedan- as they went in, and he was pleased to note that everyone had made it to the next safe zone.

"Gods above that was terrifying!" Falgar groaned, swiping at his skin as it still crawled from the feeling of spider webs clinging to it.

"You've all done remarkably well" Haroeris raised his voice, "Except for myself and Alfia alone, this is now totally uncharted territory in the Dungeon; take what time you need to rest. Once your leaders are ready, we will continue still deeper"

Their next rest required weeks. Repairs, maintenance, and rest itself were required, but the scenery was as relaxing as Rivira.

Bell reminisced that it reminded him of home a bit, the floor resembling the ones above it, but with similar lighting crystals to the 18th floor, it looked like a beautiful, pristine mountain range, with untouched forests, picturesque lakes, and perfect, calm rivers, broken by terrifically beautiful rapids.

The ceiling was visibly lit by the crystals, but they were so high up they appeared to be an unblemished blue sky, waxing and waning with light in a circadian rhythm just like the 18th floor.

The respite was indulged by the group, and the only ones who sparred this time were Bell, Asterius, the Amazons, and the rest of the battle-maniacs. All the while Aedan was advising the leaders once more, though their faces were considerably paler as he described what awaited them in detail.

"So we will get a chance to rest again on the 80th floor?"

"It isn't a true safe zone, but it is free of monsters; you will be able to sleep better at least, but the next safe zone isn't until the 85th floor"

"We'll take what we can get, but to think that the 79th has something like that…"

"It is the final true monster rex, so it's natural that it wouldn't be easy"

While the leaders discussed their strategy for the next leg of their journey, Bell was taking a rest. Well, he was technically patrolling, but that was rest from his vigorous training in any case. He had taken point as the fastest, but was going about with Ryu and Lefiya; travelling alone was banned, and each group required at least one level 6 among them.

"Hmph, why couldn't my patrol have been with Miss Aiz? Being stuck with him makes the beauty of this safe zone dim slightly" Lefiya pouted.

"Wallenstein is a level 7, and not likely to be dispensed for patrols as a result. Regardless, it is an honor to be grouped with Bell, and I cannot fathom why you take such exception to it" Ryu, for all her patience, had grown to be annoyed by Lefiya's… disposition, at least toward her captain.

For all the other elven girl's words, she could tell there was serious respect for their fellow adventurer there, but she still insisted on speaking against him, "Bell is honorable and acts in accordance to his convictions, even and especially when it does not benefit him"

"… I know, and agree with you; on his own, he's… I would even say admirable" Ryu's eyes tracked to her peer as she spoke honestly, "It's simply… he takes Miss Aiz' attention more than he should, more than I wish. She is part of our Familia, and he isn't. No matter how friendly or whatever alliance, that remains true.

"It doesn't help that he is… clearly lusting after her so much" keeping her voice low, but getting flustered as she went, Lefiya petered out as she got closer to the heart of her issue.

"Be that as it may, he is a young man; lusting is part of the package, as it were. Would you prefer he be lusting after you, then?" Ryu somewhat playfully poked at Lefiya, but the playfulness turned to surprise as Lefiya blushed cherry-red.

They walked forward in silence for a moment as she seemed to honest to goodness consider the proposition.

"I-if he were to properly court me, I don't know that I would say no, necessarily…"

"Those are bolder words than I thought you would say, but I'm of the same mind" she said easily, even after Lefiya turned her gob-smacked face her way, "Is that really a surprise? There is not a shortage of women who have fallen for his charm; they are no more immune to it than you or I"

"Y-you say that like we're just some village girls swooning over the local stud!" Lefiya whisper shouted, unknowingly revealing a part of her literature preferences to the other elf.

"Not really, it's simply that a man of his caliber is bound to attract the attention of many, there are probably even some men who have been taken with him. In any case, no matter who fancies him, if he were to give me a true and honest love, I would return it just as fully" Lefiya gaped at the proclamation, which was basically saying that Ryu was ready to marry Bell should he simply ask, or even… she might even be a mistress for him!

"S-so long as he controls himself toward Miss Aiz, I wouldn't say no to him either, I think"

All the while, Bell made sure to stay ahead of the two girls as his ears burned in embarrassment, 'Do they know I can hear them!? What do I do with all of this!?'

A full two months on the 74th floor saw them set out once more, delving deeper into the Dungeon. They set out once more after developing a detailed plan again, and yet took a little more than two whole months to make it down to the 79th floor.

Below the 74th, each floor resembled massive deserts, the blue crystal ceiling of the previous safe zone seemed to continue along with them down the floors; it was so high up making it look as though they were truly under the natural sky.

The total space of all the floors might have even eclipsed the enormous expanse of the Kaios Desert. The only thing they were tasked with collecting were patches of black sand amidst the gold, and a particular plant near oases: mithril yucca.

Monsters no less than level 6 peppered the floors: Titan Cobras, Chimeras, Sphinxes, Azure Harpies, High Scorpions, Tarasque, and at the passages between floors- which resembled old ruins of temples or something similar- Ebon Spartoi prowled with a small number of Jackals.

The latter being four meder tall humanoids with dog-heads, wielding huge spears. A strength of high level 8 bordering on 9 meant that they were the "mini-bosses" of the Desert Zone. This meant the passages were easy to find, but well-guarded.

One thing made travel a bit harder, though: the "sky" never darkened; they had to travel and sleep in the blazing light and uncanny heat of the zone, making it almost the inverse of the Glacier Zone above.

Sleep was fitful and rare, yet they had no choice but to continue, weary and thirsting for the next oasis, approaching the end of the Desert Zone.

The greater challenge was the 79th floor itself. Another stretch of sand, there were no monsters other than the final monster rex… or rexes, as it were. The final one was actually two.

"The Twin Basilisk; remember not to look it in the eye unless you are very confident in your resistance to mental attacks" This combined threat was rated at a low level 10 by Haroeris, a pair of monstrously large snake creatures cleaved the dunes before them. Their dull, brownish-green scales visible against the dull tan-gold sand.

"We'll try and overwhelm them with force from range, then close with lightning speed to melee if we have to" Riveria gave the signal this time, as their entire group lined up their ranged capabilities and unleashed a volley of spells and projectiles on the twin serpents.

True to being a level 10 threat, it wasn't near enough to kill them, and the group closed in as the pair gave high-pitched shrieks before surging toward them, too. This time, Aedan was far busier occasionally pulling one person or another out of the way of one of the monsters; a result of having the whole group confront a threat of this level.

While the serpents didn't target them specifically, the level 5's and 6's were still part of the battle, and low enough in ability that one hit could seriously harm or kill any of them. All the while they strained themselves to even do minor damage to the monsters.

The battle dragged on longer than the spiders, mostly because the serpents were much more durable, and occasionally burrowed into the sand only to reappear in unexpected places. Numerous people were poisoned, too, even if they had Abnormal Resistance, as the Basilisks could spray venom from their mouths in wet, humid clouds that stank of stale, rancid death.

The breakthrough came when the first was finally slain, Hogni bringing it down beside Nobunaga, Minerva, and Charles. Instantly- according to Haroeris- the threat dropped a full level. So the first falling was the signal to rush the second in a mad melee, killing it soon after.

Finn landed the final blow, staring down the monster as it seemed to struggle to affect him with its psychic attack, "Tir Na Nog!" his empowered spear, already boosted by Hell Finegas, absorbed his most powerful magic, compiling the total of his strength and status into one blow. His spear- aglow with the strength he imbued into it- pierced through the skull of the Basilisk.

Taking the time to treat the injured there first, they didn't move on until everyone could stand under their own power. They harvested the two stones from the Basilisks, both also blue like Ungoliant's stone, and larger to boot. The first turned to ash and left nothing more behind, but the second left a piece of hide with scales and a fang in the ash.

After collecting these items, the group then made their way to the 80th floor.