Chapter 67: Creature

Alfia quickly went back to their home and she looked for Lars.

Homing in to his mana signature she ran like the wind and he was currently in their smithy.

Breathing blazing flames on some metal that he had on the anvil, he looked like he was a demigod of the forge.

"Hmm? What's the matter Alfia?" Lars stopped squinting his eyes due to the bright metal in front of him.

"We have a problem Lars." Alfia furrowed her brows.

"Why?" He raised a brow and he made the room cool down. He then sat down and patted the seat beside him.

Alfia sat down as well and she sighed. "Remember the 59th floor? It's the last floor that the Zeus and Hera familia reported to the guild to be public."

"Yeah, the glacial hell right?" Lars nodded. "It turned into a damned jungle, getting all humid. And I hate humidity." She squinted her eyes.

"Is it like that all over? Or what?" He wanted to know more.

"I left immediately. I was wearing winter clothes in a goddamned jungle, Lars." She expressed her annoyance thoroughly.

"Okay, okay, little princess is afraid of humidity." He patted her head and she clicked her tongue.

"Don't treat me like a child. This has never happened before." Alfia rolled her eyes.

"Is it so surprising? The whole floor of a dungeon changing?" Lars shrugged.

The concept of a labyrinth changing to kill people better wasn't new to him.

Especially because the place was alive. "You don't understand. The dungeon has been static for centuries. Ever since Babel was dropped on it." Alfia furrowed her brows.

"Wait, really? They dropped Babel on top of the dungeon?" Lars blinked, that was metal as fuck.

"Yeah, the original tower couldn't really stop the surge of monsters for long. So they remade it, but that's how the gods plugged it up like an ant's nest." Alfia explained.

"Then this changes everything. What in the world facilitated that change? An icy desert to a dense jungle?" Lars could smell something fishy.

And he thought that there might be clues there that would point to the Ikelos familia.

"Do you think that evilus is behind this? I can see it." Alfia thinks they're planning something.

"Perhaps... A device is being used? Magic? A ritual? We don't know, but what we do know. Is it's suspicious as hell. And no legal familia has ever been past the dragon's vase." Lars rubbed his chin.

"What will we do then?" Alfia asked him and he made a decision.

"We'll be doing a joint expedition with the Astraea familia and launch a full on investigation." Lars stood up.

"I see, a good choice. I will check the other floors if it changed. I'll scout ahead, you guys investigate the 59th floor." Alfia stretched.

Preparing to go on another expedition to the deeper floors.

__Monstro__

The heaviest hitters were present right now at their plaza.

"Tiona, Tione, you guys will be responsible for Elnea and Belnas. They can't understand Koine." Lars pointed at their newest level 5's.

Demeter just gave them her falna and they are ready to rock and roll.

"Lyra, I'll leave your familia to you." Lars pointed at the Pallum and she nodded with confidence.

"The xenos are with me. You guys are tougher than squishy humans, we will be the vanguard." Lars looked at Airmid and she already knew what to do.

"Gros, Lyd, Ray, and Ranye will be leading MON. Pick your own squad members." The leaders of the xenos nodded and they started picking out their brethren that were level 4.

The xenos spec ops were all armed to the teeth. Carrying explosives for the arachne bombardier squad.

Fomoires were armed with huge tower shields and full plate mail made of pure adamantite and orichalum.

Goblins led by Let; the level 4 goblin took control of the special assassination team, ANBU.

Ray's team were armed with napalm bombs for carpet bombing. All the fliers had at least one payload.

"Aren't we a bit too over armed for this?" Kaguya raised a hand. And she looked at the ANBU squad, she thought they were cool.

Wanting to be a part of them. As she is quite informed about assassinations.

"Good question. You can never be too careful. If need to, we should burn that place to the ground." Lars huffed.

"B-but won't that spawn a juggernaut?" Ryuu winced and the whole Astraea familia got a bit antsy.

"I've spawned one in the 51st floor in the past. I now know when one will appear. The dungeon congregates a lot of malice and energy before it spawns one." Lars answered their concerns calmly.

"Okay, if you say so." Alise trusted his words and they prepared for the expedition.

Putting on his battle clothes, Lars upgraded them. Putting to use the techniques he got from Hephaestus.

His arachne silk garments were now lined with pure orichalum. Making it into a robe that even monarchs can't buy.

"Let's go." Lars squinted his eyes and they started the expedition.

Culling through the floors, everything that moved was shot down by MON immediately.

Their movements, efficient. The arachnes using their senses to restrain anything that moved immediately.

The other squad members then put them down, one bullet at a time. Running around like super soldiers that could do back flips while shooting accurately.

"Damn, I sure did train them well. The winter soldier has nothing against these guys." Lars was impressed.

Xenos were amazing soldiers. Their specs were through the roof, their killer instincts unmatched, and their morals were extremely different.

Quickly passing through the 50th floor that is even larger than Orario, they arrived at the 51st.

"Okay guys, this is the dragon's vase. Do you know why it's called that?" Lars looked at the entrance to the 52nd floor.

The humans gulped, the area's name sounded ominous as hell.

"Valgang dragons lurk in the 58th floor that can shoot flares through entire floors." Lars explained to them seriously.

"That's why we have these bad boys." Lars smacked the plates of the fomoires.

They'll be blocking them if necessary. "I have a bad feeling about this." Ryuu frowned.

Lars had a smirk on his face. And he looked really smug. He was definitely planning something.

"Pair up with the heavy infantry in squads of 4. We'll be going down now." Lars watched them pick their shield bearer.

But everybody suddenly stilled when they felt something behind them.

Intelligent eyes locked onto them. Goosebumps appeared on their skin and they craned their necks behind them slowly.

There it was, a little Cadmus dragon that had black scales instead of red.

"T-that thing... It's observing us." Ryuu gulped heavily. Being an elf sensitive to mana, she could feel the monstrous amount of mana it had.

"Everyone! Prepare for battle!" Lyra broke into a cold sweat as they scrambled into formation.

And as if to mock them, the dragon gave them a toothy grin.

"It... It just smiled at us. It's fucking mocking us!" Kaguya was terrified.

"That dragon's level 7... No, level 8." Alise could feel her skills activate.

And the strength she received was off the charts. It activated to the maximum.

In a tense stand off, they just stared at each other.

"Ahh, Ley-chan. What are you doing here? Is it alright leaving your spring?" Lars asked.

"Fue?" Everybody let out a weird noise and Lars scratched his head sheepishly.

"Ahh, that's my friend here in the 51st floor, Ley-chan. It's really friendly you know?" He chuckled.

"What in the world? A deviant as a friend? Are you crazy!?" The amazoness shouted.

"Well, it's fine. It won't fight you guys. Ley's my personal training partner besides Alfia." Lars gave it some magic stones and it tilted its head at him.

"Yeah, I'm on an expedition. I didn't come to train today, sorry." Lars conversed with it calmly and the expedition team thought they were hallucinating.

"Okay, I'm done. I'm so done with that guy." Lyra raised her arms while shaking her head.

Ley then nodded at Lars after they talked a bit. It returned to its spring with a flap of its wings that created gale force winds.

"I definitely thought we would die today." Alise started to do breathing exercises.

"Sorry about the little surprise, I never thought that Ley would leave her little spring." Lars chuckled.

They glared at him and everybody continued on to the 52nd floor.

What greeted them was an apocalyptic looking floor that could be described with one word, treacherous.

There were holes everywhere and the heat was definitely intense. There was a haze over the horizon.

"You said that the Valgang dragons will try to snipe us?" Airmid gulped as she held her shield more tightly.

"Yeah, and we'll be giving these bastards a taste of their medicine." Lars jumped into the air and he inhaled deeply.

"What's he doing?" Belnas and Elnea asked the twins.

But they suddenly covered their eyes at the bright flash that followed.

A flare escaped from his mouth and the floors beneath him crumbled, opening up a hole towards the 58th floor.

The Valgang dragons immediately scrambled and Lars could see them look upwards.

Their pupils constricted and Lars grinned at them.

"See you at the bottom! Last one there have poop in their pants!" Lars dived down and the expedition group had to pick up their jaws.

Flare breaths from the Valgang dragons then appeared from the hole numerous times.

"That guy's insane..." Belnas was sure anyone would die at the barrage of breath attacks they saw being fired.

The floors were shaking and the flying squad who had feathers were more than reluctant to jump in that hellhole he made.

"Don't fear! Trust in him! This is an encounter that we must overcome!" Airmid raised her shield and she ran towards the hole.

"Ahhh, Airmid! Wait!" Tiona pulled Belnas and Elnea and Tione also followed.

They jumped through the hole and was immediately hit by a stray shot from a Valgang dragon.

Airmid's shield was the only thing keeping them safe and sound.

"I... I don't know about you... But I'm quite fine being here." Lyra patted the sweet, sweet ground as she sat down.

She just saw them tank a fucking beam from below after all. And Lyra wasn't one to tempt fate.

"Come on! How can we fulfill our roles as paragons of justice if this stops us?" Alise hyped them up.

"Lion! Kaguya! Pick her up! Charge!" Alise raised her sword and the fomoires responsible for them put up their shields with a gulp.

"Ahhh! No! Mommy!" Lyra screamed in fright as she teared up.

They then jumped to the hole and was blasted by lasers as the fomoires blocked them.

"I'm gonna burn! I'm gonna burn like a match!" Lyra could feel and see the reflected lasers in front of them.

They then arrived at the ground, feeling like they freefalled for an eternity.

"Agaris Alvesynth! Let's go lizards!" Alise charged at the dragons.

"Hah, she's as reckless as ever." Kaguya followed and Ryuu nodded.

The elf glowing a bit, using her mana to be more aerodynamic.

"Come on! Come on! Aren't you embarrassed to be called dragons!?" Lars was throwing the left, right, goodnight at the Valgang dragons.

Leading the charge against the high level 5 monsters.

MON soon followed and they sniped the dragons who were targeting their airborne friends.

Firing at their eyes or the arachne bombardiers throwing sticky bombs on their faces.

It was a fiesta. Fire was raging everywhere and large drakes rampaged around.

And when they finished them up, everybody sat down for a quick second.

The Valgang dragons were no joke. "Please, let's not do that again." Kaguya smiled wryly at him.

"I make no such promises." Lars grinned and they continued to the 59th floor.

And when they arrived there, it was all jungle. Similar to the large tree labyrinth.

They looked around curiously, but there's no monster in sight.

"Hmm? What's that noise." Lars strained his ears and he heard sounds of battle a few miles away.

"I'll check, stay together. Apes together strong." Lars instructed the team and he flew.

He then saw that Alfia was in front of someone, surprising him.

"What, are you?" Alfia squinted her eyes as she felt a magic stone in her chest.

(Pic)

"That is none of your business." The redhead went into a guarded pose.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.