Floor 19.
The first few minutes of the battle.
Not far from the passage down to the Under Resort on Floor 18, deep in the shadows of a dense thicket.
Several figures in pitch-black hooded cloaks stood silently on thick branches like lurking vultures. From their high vantage point, they were closely watching the monster swarm that poured toward the passage mouth below like a rising tide.
"Heh heh... heh heh heh... hahahahaha!"
The figure at the front suddenly burst into warped, manic laughter. He threw both arms up, head tilted back, and bellowed into the dark canopy:
"With these adorable monsters doing the work for us, and our devoted soldiers already lying in ambush on Floor 18... it'll be more than enough to dye the filthy streets of Rivira the loveliest shade of red! Hahahahaha!"
"Damn Order Faction! What good does reinforcing the surface patrols do them? Our great commander has been running rings around them the whole time! Idiots! Absolute idiots!"
"Hahaha, cursed Adventurers, die die die die!"
"All of you, die for me!"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
The leader was completely lost in his fanatical fantasy, dancing in place.
Behind him, the rest of the black-robed subordinates were a whole lot quieter.
They glanced left, glanced right, exchanged subtle looks with one another, and in the end just fell silent.
Sure, they were a little "mentally off" themselves, but compared to the captain in front of them who had fully let loose, these soldiers figured... well, at least they retained some basic capacity for thought and conversation?
Just as that awkward, subtle atmosphere was settling over the treetops...
Without warning, deafening explosions erupted from the far end of their line of sight, right in the direction of the passage. Pillars of wild flame shot skyward one after another, the ground shaking under the sustained barrage.
The terrifying shockwaves and waves of heat swept through the air, instantly igniting swaths of dense forest. The firelight stained half the dim tree-sea crimson.
The abrupt catastrophe left every black-robed figure frozen.
In front, the leader's manic laughter cut off like his throat had been crushed. He turned his head stiffly, and the fanatical grin slowly drained from his face, twisting into a cold, disbelieving shadow.
"What... is going on..."
The low voice forced its way through his clenched teeth, finally erupting into an enraged roar:
"...WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!"
He spun around, two vicious, predatory glares shooting out from under his hood and nailing his subordinates in place.
"Talk! What are those explosions over there!?"
The leader's voice shook with raw fury, his face flushed red.
"Who? Was it Magic Swords? Flame Stones? Or godsdamn magic?"
"C-Captain! This... this is..."
The subordinates pinned by his glare flinched, scrambling to explain:
"We don't know either!"
"Our job was just to drive the monsters into the Floor 18 passage... according to plan, it should have succeeded, but..."
"The explosions... the explosions are happening right at the passage mouth!"
"That's right, Captain! Some Adventurers must have intervened! They've blocked off the passage!"
Another subordinate pointed toward the blaze, voice edged with fear.
"Adventurers?"
The captain slowly reined in his leaking bloodlust. His expression shifted from twisted to grim, and finally his red tongue flicked out to lick his lips as a bloodthirsty smile surfaced.
"So... aside from the spineless cowards, Floor 19 has a few with real backbone hiding down here?"
With that, he snapped his pitch-black robe sharply and took off running straight toward the site of the explosions.
"Interesting! I want to see exactly which blind fool has the nerve to ruin the Evilus' grand plan!"
"Heheheheheeee!"
...
At the passage mouth.
As the battle reached its peak, Ais's and Heith's gear had been reduced to scrap.
Ais's light armor was shattered, and the combat clothing underneath was torn to pieces, exposing patches of pale skin mottled with bruises.
Heith hadn't been wearing any armor to begin with. She only had on a thin set of combat clothing, and by now it had been shredded down to a few ragged strips barely clinging to her body, barely managing to preserve her modesty.
In stark contrast to the two of them, soaked in blood and fighting for their lives, was Leon at the rear, in charge of fire support.
Forget damaged gear. His red-cotton combat clothing and cloak only had a few scorch marks from Fireball sparks. Only his slightly disheveled, sweat-dampened hair proved he was in the same battle as them. Past that, he didn't even have dust on him.
Watching Ais and Heith get hit more and more often, their movements warping under exhaustion, their breathing reduced to ragged bellows while the monster tide showed no sign of thinning, Leon finally cracked.
"Frost Armor!"
Ice-blue magical light enveloped him in an instant, solidifying into thick ice armor.
The next second, he actually lunged forward in a dead sprint, charging the surging monster tide head-on.
"Hey, you...!?"
Heith, collapsed on the ground gasping for breath, lips bitten bloody, watched the figure dash past her. Her eyes went wide with shock and confusion.
She couldn't understand... why would a mage willingly charge into a monster tide?
Wasn't that just suicide?
Even the usually expressionless Ais flashed a rare look of astonishment in her gold irises.
"Leo-"
But before either of them could finish a word, they were stunned speechless by what happened next.
Leon pulled up his charge a few meters out from the horde and swung his staff.
An ice-blue magic circle flashed beneath his feet, vanishing an instant later.
"Frost Nova!"
"CRACK..."
Bone-chilling magical power spread outward with a wave of frost-white mist.
The monsters mid-mindless-charge were locked in place on the spot, frozen solid!
Their upper bodies could still thrash and roar uselessly, but their legs and everything below their waists were sealed beneath thick, steaming ice, utterly immobilized.
"What is this!?"
"Area crowd-control magic!?"
"And... crowd-control magic that doesn't need any Chanting!?"
Heith and Ais gaped so hard they nearly bit their tongues off, eyes locked forward, minds blanking.
Damn, bro, that's busted as hell.
With the monster horde's advance forcibly halted, Leon immediately pulled back to a safe distance. Moving rapidly sideways, he kept his staff swinging without pause.
Crimson magic circles flashed like rapid breaths, and each flash sent another Fireball screaming out.
As Leon got into his rhythm, the Fireballs came faster and faster, denser and denser.
Finally, under the dumbstruck gazes of everyone watching...
Wagon-wheel-sized Fireballs turned into what looked like machine-gun fire, forming a visible red line of tracer that rained mercilessly down on the frozen monster mob. The successive detonations merged into a single continuous roar, shaking the entire chamber.
But this berserk barrage of Leon's only lasted a few seconds...
Crack! Crack crack!
The ear-splitting shriek of breaking ice stabbed through everyone's eardrums like a death knell.
"No good! Leon!"
"The ice is breaking, fall back!"
Heith cried out, bracing herself up on one hand to stagger to her feet. The healing light on her body flickered weakly, like a battery running low, before she lurched unsteadily in Leon's direction.
Beside her, Ais said nothing, teeth clenched as she forced herself to keep up. A barely perceptible breeze wound once more, with obvious strain, around her slender limbs, clearly at its limit too.
Right now, both of them were nearly spent, physically and mentally.
If they got caught up in that horrific monster tide again, it was death, guaranteed.
"Fall back!"
Leon didn't even turn his head. The cold, crisp command cut through the roar of the explosions. His Fireball barrage didn't so much as hiccup.
And then...
The instant the monster swarm broke free of the ice and surged forward again, roaring, not even two steps into their charge...
"Frost Nova!"
"CRACK..."
That despair-inducing frost exploded across the monsters' "faces" again! The monsters that had just tasted freedom were mercilessly locked in place once more.
With the front frozen solid, the monsters piling up behind them descended into chaos.
"Uh..."
Heith's mouth twitched violently, and she stumbled a few steps before pitching face-first into the ground again.
"This... this bastard... has another trick up his sleeve!"
"Taking advantage of the feelings of innocent maidens!"
Ais nodded rapidly, making "mm, mm" sounds of agreement.
...
[Read 60+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]