Ardi, who's ready to charge, froze at her sister warning. She took a few steps back, keeping her eyes locked on the monster.
This wasn't the Ganesha Familia's first run like this.
They wouldn't hold their hands forever.
The whole point was to train the rookies so they wouldn't lose their shit when things went sideways.
Ardi was used to Shakti's orders by now.
Even when told to back off, she didn't feel bummed out or second-guess it.
Her sister wasn't just the Familia captain—she was the hero Ardi had always looked up to.
Seeing her little sister fall back, Shakti spoke up. "The chant is almost done."
That snapped Ardi back to reality.
'So that's why she stopped me.'
If Ardi had kept pushing, she would've walked right into the magic's blast zone and messed up her team's shot.
That realization made her think.
'My tunnel vision is still too bad. In a real fight, just staring down the monster isn't going to cut it.'
"Fire!"
The finished chant unleashed a barrage of destructive magic beams that slammed into the Hellhounds.
Flesh and bone vanished wherever the magic hit.
Surviving a hit like that was basically impossible.
In one magic volley, the pack of Hellhounds dropped to less than the number of people in the Ganesha Familia party.
Without needing Shakti to bark another order, the Lv2 Adventurers moved in to surround and wipe out the stragglers.
Ardi jumped on the opening, bringing Nejibana down hard.
A Hellhound with its back turned got ripped apart by the blade's sheer sharpness.
'Holy crap, it's sharp!'
Ardi found herself falling even more in love with the Zanpakuto in her grip!
Shakti noticed the upgrade to her sister's weapon too.
Fifty million Valis—a price tag a Lv2 Adventurer like Ardi could never afford on her own.
That pile of cash included Ardi's couple million Valis in savings, a handout from the Familia, and Shakti chipping in as a High-Class Adventurer.
Sadly, Shakti had been way too swamped to actually help her sister pick the weapon out.
She just fronted the cash.
Now, it looked like Ardi actually bought a good sword.
Fifty million Valis could buy a pretty solid piece of Second-Tier gear.
Down in the Middle Floors, where even Third-Tier gear was a bit much, they probably weren't going to be able to push that sword to its real limits.
Crack!
A cold chill shot straight down Shakti's spine!
Her muscles locked up. Her nerves were screaming as her brain flooded with danger signals.
Crack!
The sound of the Dungeon walls crumbling told her things were about to go to hell.
She'd felt this before.
"Everyone! Emergency formation! This isn't a normal spawn!"
The dead serious tone in her voice left no room for joking around. The Familia members snapped right into a tight defensive ring.
A second later, just like she predicted, a terrifying wave of Hellhounds burst out of the walls.
There were at least thirty—no, forty, maybe even forty-five of the bastards. And that might not even be all of them.
"Dammit, it's an Irregularity!"
Shakti's face went dark.
An Irregularity was a sudden, unpredictable event in the Dungeon. It completely tossed out the common sense Adventurers had built up over the years.
For decades, the Guild and the Adventurers had worked together to map out every Floor.
But the Dungeon wasn't some programmed machine, the damn thing was alive.
It would bare its fangs the second Adventurers dropped their guard, wiping out anyone who got sloppy.
You could basically chalk it up to the Dungeon's malice against intruders—a trap it set on purpose.
Against a massive horde of Hellhounds like this, even a Lv5 might not walk away in one piece, let alone a single Lv4.
Quantity had turned into quality.
If all these Hellhounds blasted their fire breath at the same time, the Familia was going to get roasted.
Even if they tried to run, it was too late.
They were boxed in!
'In that case!'
"Everyone, on me! We're punching a hole right through them!"
The second the words left her mouth, Shakti charged right into the thick of the Hellhounds.
She dropped into a martial arts stance.
With a fist, she caved a Hellhound's skull right in!
Right after, she launched a brutal high kick over her head.
Her leg came crashing down like a battle axe, snapping another beast's spine.
The dog let out one whimper and dropped dead.
"Incoming! Fire attacks!" a front-line warrior yelled, his voice shaking with sheer terror.
Shakti glanced back at the terrified shielder.
'Shit... They can't hold them off!'
...
Ardi gripped Nejibana tight.
She heard a faint sound coming from the blade.
She stared at the sword in her hand as her face hardened with absolute resolve.
From one direction, over twenty Hellhounds lurked in the dark. Flames pooled in their jaws right beneath their blood-red eyes, ready to fire.
Seeing no easy way to block that attack, Shakti had no choice but to step up next to the Shielder adventurers.
"I'll help."
She wasn't a tank, but with her Level 4 Durability and her Salamander wool, she figured she could tank at least one wave.
But eating that many Hellhound fire breaths straight to the face would probably drop her right on the spot.
Things were going to fast and she didn't have time to second-guess.
'Nee-san!'
Ardi stared at her older sister's back, her voice echoed deep down in her soul.
She bolted.
Her slender figure blurred, dashing right in front of the Shielder and Shakti.
"Ardi! What the fuck are you doing?!"
Shakti went pale.
She had no clue why her sister just rushed the frontline.
'She's only Level 2!'
'There is no way she survives a hit like that!'
'Get back!'
'Get back!'
Shakti reached out, her fingers missing Ardi by a hair.
"No."
In that split second, Shakti practically broke.
She had just made Captain, and the Familia's senpais were counting on her to step up.
'Is this really how it starts?' she thought, absolutely horrified. 'Am I going to watch my own sister die right in front of me?'
"Ardi—"
"Please, Nejibana... let me borrow your strength!"
The flames blew up.
The combined fire breaths from dozens of Hellhounds smashed together into one massive, raging inferno, exploding toward them.
'It's over.'
Shakti's eyes went wide with despair.
The rest of the Ganesha Familia just watched in pure agony.
Just as they braced for Ardi to get vaporized, she screamed.
"Rankle the Seas and the Skies! Nejibana!"
A massive tidal wave exploded out of nowhere!
A towering wall of blue water crashed into the inferno, slamming the flames to a dead halt in a violent steaming clash.
Ardi gasped for air, her face flushed with pure hype and adrenaline.
The sword in her hand was gone. In its place was a long-hafted polearm.
It was a massive trident that towered over her.
The long shaft ended in a spiraling spike, with blue tassels hanging right below the three blades.
'What?! What the hell just happened?'
'Water? But Ardi doesn't have Magic!'
'A Magic Item...? Bullshit. I've never heard of a water-element item packing this much heat.'
'Could it be...?'
'A Magic Sword!'
Not just Shakti, but the whole Ganesha Familia landed on the same thought: it had to be a Magic Sword.
Only a Magic Sword could pull off some insane stuff like this.
'A water-element Magic Sword...'
'Thank God! With this, we might actually make it out alive!'
Even Shakti figured Ardi blew her leftover Valis on a water-element Magic Sword.
They were running the 13th Floor today, where Hellhounds were everywhere. Buying a water-type weapon was a good call.
Totally clueless about what her team was thinking, Ardi locked in on her Zanpakuto's Shikai.
Since this was her first time letting it loose, she was fighting to keep the power under control!
"Don't back down, Nejibana!"
She had never touched a polearm in her life, let alone some weird weapon like a trident.
But for some reason, Ardi felt like she'd been using it for years.
She twirled the trident, spinning it fast, and the spray of spiritual water kicked into overdrive.
"So this is Nejibana's real form!"
'Crushing enemies with waves from spear strikes, ripping them in half... So this is the kind of Zanpakuto you are.'
Pulling together more power, Ardi unleashed a brutal blue slash.
The massive wave completely swallowed the hellfire and surged right at the pack of Hellhounds.
The water washed over the monsters.
The insane water pressure crushed over twenty Hellhounds to death on the spot!
'Hah... Hah...'
"Did I... no, did we really just do that?" Ardi stared at the soaked corridor and the fading monster corpses in pure disbelief.
'Shikai's power... It's really incredible!'
Her Magic stat was already at B-rank. Even after triggering her Shikai and throwing out two heavy attacks, the Zanpakuto stayed in its released state.
The whole tide of the battle just flipped.
Shakti stared at her little sister's back, completely stunned.
She couldn't believe Ardi was the one protecting her.
But there was no time to stand around looking stupid.
"Change formation! Mode C! These bastards aren't dead yet!"
Her shout snapped the team back to reality and spiked their morale.
Ardi jumped back into formation.
Every swing of Nejibana ripped a Hellhound right down the middle.
'Holy, it's even stronger than before Shikai. And since it's a polearm, the reach is way better...'
Shakti kept a close eye on her sister.
She was getting pretty curious about these new changes.
She also noticed the weapon definitely wasn't a Magic Sword.
Magic Swords were consumables—stupidly expensive trump cards that shattered into pieces after a couple of hits.
But every single one of Ardi's slashes was backed up by that heavy spray of water!
A few minutes later, the last of the monsters were wiped out.
Two members of the Ganesha Familia caught some minor scrapes, and the group started the long hike back to the surface.