"—Aaaah…"
The female-shaped body straightened its upper half, and from that hideous head came a faint sound, like limbs knocking against one another.
It had devoured roughly half the monsters around it when the energy building inside its upper body finally reached completion. Then, trembling as if it were writhing, the grotesque mass began to change.
The ugly flesh of its upper torso swelled all at once.
The female form let out a dazed breath, and from its upper body—like an insect emerging from a chrysalis—a new figure was born before the stunned eyes of the adventurers: the body of a woman, with supple, alluring curves.
"—Hahahahaaaaaah!!"
A cry of exultation burst forth.
The shrill, terrifying sonic scream was enough to make everyone clutch their ears instinctively, fearing their eardrums would rupture.
The newly emerged "woman" arched backward, her head tilted toward the sky.
The hair spilling down her back had become lustrous and beautiful in a way that was almost uncanny.
Her arms, chest, and waist were soft and seductive, draped in a strange, iridescent covering. Her shape was flawless—but those colors were clearly not something any normal human could possess.
Her face, upturned toward the ceiling of the underground cavern, was breathtaking enough to rival a goddess in beauty, quivering with joy.
Green hair. Green skin. A green upper body.
An aberration that looked as though it had been corrupted and assimilated by vegetation.
Only her eyes were wrong—two vacant golden orbs, utterly devoid of iris or pupil.
And it was not just the humanoid upper body that had transformed. Even the monstrous lower half had changed structure, sprouting enormous flower petals and countless tentacles.
This thing—this abomination—now stood not far from Orario, crying out as though it had fallen into the world from some other realm.
"W-What… what is that thing?!"
Its voice was still absurdly loud. Every member of both familias groaned, hands clamped over their ears.
All of them stared at the unknown creature in trembling horror as it sang its song of joy.
"…Impossible."
Xien's face was full of disbelief.
He had never expected to see something like this here.
A Corrupted Demi-Spirit.
Watching the scene before her, Freya wore a faint smile, murmuring softly to herself.
"Unexpected… but in a way, it's the perfect opponent."
"A fallen spirit's split body… I never thought something like this would appear. As an enemy, though, isn't this a bit too far beyond the level he should be facing right now?"
"No… with that power of his, it isn't as though he has no chance at all."
"Despair… let me see it."
"Before that definition that causes every living thing to cower in fear, just how brilliantly can you shine?!"
She took a sip of the red wine in her hand and watched Xien with the rapt devotion of the purest audience.
Spirits were, alongside elves, one of the archetypal magic races. They were also known as nymphs, elementals, or spirit-beings.
Compared to other races, they were few in number and steeped in mystery. Gnomes, undines, sylphs, thunder spirits, light spirits—their kinds were many, though among them, the gnomes, who excelled in processing metals and gemstones and often resembled elderly men, were the most capable of blending into human society.
They were publicly acknowledged as the race closest to the gods, and thus were called "the children most beloved by the gods" and even "the gods' own avatars."
As for a Corrupted Spirit, it was an ancient spirit that had entered the Dungeon, been devoured by monsters, yet retained its sense of self. Its nature reversed, it then began devouring monsters and fusing with them in order to sustain its own existence, surviving for over a thousand years until it had become a creature ruled by primordial desire.
And the one before them now was a Demi-Spirit, a split body born through a "Gem Womb," essentially a fragment of that Corrupted Spirit.
Even if such a thing had already existed in secret, why had it appeared here? At this point in time, had it already stopped caring about showing itself before people? Was this the butterfly effect caused by him? Or was this the handiwork of some evil god?
And how strong was this thing?
If memory served, even years later in the main story timeline, Loki Familia in its elite prime had struggled desperately to defeat one.
This was completely outside the rules.
Grinding his teeth, Xien's thoughts raced. In the side stories, decades later, Loki Familia had mobilized virtually all its strongest members just to barely destroy one. Back then, their top fighters included three Level 6 adventurers, plus Ais at Level 6, and several more at Level 5.
But right now?
One Level 5.
Several Level 3s.
Against something like this?
That was beyond excessive. This was absurd.
"Everyone—run!"
"What?"
The wolf-girl looked bewildered.
Run? Just like that? Why? Was this thing really that dangerous?
"That is absolutely not an enemy we can handle right now. My instincts are screaming warnings at me. Run—now. We are absolutely not strong enough to fight that thing—"
Before Xien could finish, the newly transformed female form moved.
From the massive plant-like lower body, several tentacles rose before her eyes and then shot outward at astonishing speed.
As the long, massive tentacles bore down on them, Xien and Iska, quickest to react, rushed forward to intercept.
"So heavy!!"
The enemy's attack carried terrifying speed and force, twisting both their expressions. The impact shuddered through their weapons and numbed their arms—yet the retreating tentacles showed not the slightest sign of damage.
"Move! Everyone, fall back! That thing is at least Level 6!"
"What…?"
Hearing that, everyone present—including Riveria—felt their hearts jolt.
They knew very well what that meant.
It meant that if they made one wrong move here, every single person standing in this chamber could die.
And judging by the expression in Xien's eyes, he wasn't exaggerating. He knew what that aberration really was.
At that realization, everyone instinctively took a step back.
"Tell us clearly—what exactly is that thing?!"
While retreating, Riveria raised her voice. She was the strongest person here. She needed information.
"That's a split body of a Corrupted Spirit. I don't know why it's here, but it can cast high-speed, super-long-chant magic. And because it has a monster's regenerative ability, it barely suffers any casting lag at all. Retreat, now—if we don't, we'll all die here!"
"…You've got to be kidding!"
As a high-level mage, Riveria immediately understood what he meant.
He was saying that not only could that monster cast spells, it could use attacks on the level of her most powerful magic—
and fire them repeatedly.
Everyone's first instinct was disbelief.
But just as they were about to respond—
the attack came again.
As though it had already identified the greatest threat, a rain of tentacles shot from over a hundred meters away, all targeting Riveria.
"Not happening!"
Thanks to her high-level physical abilities, Xien's support, and the assistance of the others, she barely avoided being struck.
And naturally, the Elven Queen had no intention of simply taking hits without answering back.
Her chanting began immediately.
"The strongest barrier…"
No one had expected what happened next.
"[Come, O fire.]"
In the next instant, the spell—no, the song—began.
"Chanting!?"
At the same time, every person there—especially Riveria, the other mages, and the elves—reacted in shock. Xien had been telling the truth.
Beneath the monstrous lower half, a vast magic circle unfolded.
A crimson array, pulsing with ominous patterns and rising magical light, wrapped itself around the female form's entire body.
"A monster… is chanting?! That's impossible!"
Monsters lived by savage instinct and the urge to destroy. They could not possibly intone spells.
Magic required reason and intelligence. It belonged to humanity, not to monsters.
Even if the being before them had once been a spirit, her current form was undeniably that of a monster. Seeing her chant shook even the elves to the core.
But this was reality.
The gigantic crimson magic circle unfurled, and immense magical power began surging upward.
Xien's eyes widened, and he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Everyone, pull back! Magic swords! Bombard it! Interrupt the chant!"
He knew it might do little, but doing nothing was worse.
At his rapid-fire command, the Loki Familia mages, together with Celti—who had already begun preparing her own magic—cried out as one.
"F-fire all at once?!"
"All magic swords—release!!"
The simultaneous barrage of magic sword fire and numerous flaming projectiles roared toward the female form.
In response, the creature spread the ten enormous flower petals of her lower body before herself like a shield.
Still smiling, she continued chanting. The torrent of magical bombardment erupted in a chain of explosions, flashes and shockwaves filling the area around her.
When the smoke cleared, the petals remained untouched.
The female form stood there unscathed.
"Haha… those didn't do anything…?!"
Watching her shattered magic sword in hand, Iska laughed weakly—then failed even at that.
"[Roar, roar, O vortex of flame, O crimson wall, O infernal howl. By the power of the rising gale, seal the world. Burn the sky, burn the earth, burn the sea, burn the springs, burn the mountains, burn all life. Reduce all to scorched ruin. Fire the cannon of wrath and lament, and pay with the life of the hero I love—]"
"[Dance, O spirits of the air, O lord of light. Form a covenant with the forest's guardians. Embrace us in the song of the earth. Enfold us.]"
The female form and Riveria began chanting at the same time.
The ominous song and the crystal-clear incantation overlapped—and the sheer scale of the enemy's spell caused both Riveria and Celti to tremble.
A super-long chant.
The sheer volume of the chant was unbelievable, yet the speed with which it was being completed was terrifying—faster even than Riveria herself, the strongest mage among them.
A monstrous quantity of magic, far beyond what any mortal race should possess, was being poured at overwhelming speed into a bombardment spell beyond human understanding.
The beautiful "spirit" smiled.
The Elven Queen's lovely face twisted with strain.
Faced with these vermin reeking of despair and trying to flee, the creature was seized by a vast urge to slaughter.
As the magic being woven reached a level that shook every person there, and just as they tried to withdraw from its range—
a storm of tentacles lashed down like rain.
Those stabbing tentacles tore through the area, sweeping away the surrounding monsters as collateral and refusing to let the adventurers escape. Merely protecting Riveria from the tentacles and from the charging monsters had become enough to overwhelm them.
"[In the name of the envoy, I command thee. The name bestowed upon me is Salamander, incarnation of flame, queen—nay, king—of fire.]"
The enemy kept chanting while simultaneously controlling an army of tentacles and a fortress-like shield of petals.
Against a colossal monster that could attack, defend, and cast magic all at once, Xien, surveying the battlefield, clenched his teeth.
Too fast.
One wave after another, without pause. They simply did not have enough time to respond.
Then—
the enemy's spell was complete.
"Everyone, get together! Cluster around Riveria!"
At almost the exact same moment, Riveria finished her own chant.
"[In the name of Alv, become the great radiant forest wall and protect us!]"
Riveria unleashed the strongest defensive spell at her disposal.
"Vilu Seidhr!"
The emerald magic circle at Riveria's feet blazed with brilliant light, transforming into a dome-shaped field of green radiance that enveloped every adventurer, including the caster herself.
The moment the barrier spell—capable of blocking both physical and magical attacks—deployed—
the female form's magic struck.
"Flame Storm."
In the next instant, the world was dyed crimson.
A torrent of flame, like a fire-spirit made manifest.
A burning gale like a tsunami came crashing toward them from the front, a red-hot flood surging into Riveria's vision.
The inferno swallowed everything around them, including the monsters that still remained—and the barrier dome shielding her companions.
The sound of the barrier colliding with the flame-wind rang out, along with Riveria's pained groan as she braced both hands on her staff.
From beyond the barrier came the screams of monsters being roasted alive, rolling over them in waves.
Even as Celti and the others, isolated within the dome from the searing hell outside, stood frozen by the sight beyond the shield—
crack, crack.
Cracks began appearing across the strongest protective spell Riveria had ever cast without a single flaw.
"The barrier…?!"
Watching fractures spread across the front, sides, and ceiling of the light-dome, the members of Loki Familia and Celti's group all went pale.
Staring at the ocean of fire raging toward them—and bearing the heat of that infernal world—Riveria felt pain unlike anything she had ever known.
Her spirit felt as though it were being burned alive.
Her body had already reached its limit.
She couldn't hold this alone.
And then—
a slender hand settled over both of hers on the staff.
Startled, she turned.
The face that entered her vision was serious, focused—and achingly familiar.
Xien.
"I declare here and now—our end will not be here. This degree of despair is nowhere near enough to break us!"
....
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