Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

Ryu's spirit was the first to be worn down.

Despite their different types, the absurd power, far exceeding that of ordinary monsters, awakened the dark memories in Ryu's mind. She recalled the ravages and deprivation she suffered, the horrific state of her lost Astrea Familia. She remembered the psychological trauma that still torments her.

The past is about to catch up with her. That nightmare is about to be resurrected.

Absolutely not, the last thing Ryu wants is to lose him.

In order to do everything in her power to prevent the tragedy from happening again, Ryu desperately asked her timid limbs to fight the enemy.

"Haaaaaaah!!"

But the vandals won't wait for her.

It was extremely tyrannical and vowed to eliminate the enemy who had escaped its slaughter this time.

then……

“Wu!?”

Just as the monster landed, it slammed its scale-covered tail down, forcing Bell and Ryu to retreat significantly...

It roared almost as if it were shouting victory at the white rabbit, which was preoccupied with escaping and had lost its footing.

Immediately afterwards, "Zagnat" raised his skeletal right arm and slammed it to the ground.

Slap the ground with your palm.

The impact and vibration followed.

Cracks quickly spread across the ground.

The crack, which sped forward faster than it retreated, exploded the moment it reached Bell and his companions' feet.

"────"

Directly below Bell and Ryu, a terrifying number of bone stakes emerged from the ground.

Faced with the colossal needle-like mountain that appeared after shattering the earth, the deep red and sky-blue pupils froze instantly.

Those were the bone spears of the "Zagnat" that were fired from the ground.

It was countless "sharp stakes"—no, "pile stakes"—shooting out from underfoot.

While Bell and his men were focused on the repeated aerial attacks from above, they switched to a surprise attack from "below".

In other words, it was a surprise attack launched from underground that caught the adventurers off guard.

Bell and his men not only lost their stable posture, but their eyes had also become accustomed to the attacks from above, making it impossible for them to dodge.

"Ugh! Aa ...

The extra-large "landmine" was freed.

The "reverse pile" sound, like a raging storm, shot upwards with a deafening timbre.

Countless stakes were slicing through Bell's single-breasted armor, arms, and cheeks.

They dug through Liu's cloak, right foot, and ear.

The ferocious mountain of knives and swords swallowed up the two adventurers.

(How could this be—this attack was from the floor owner (Udeos)—)

Just as the perceived time was stretched to its limit like a revolving lantern, Ryu trembled all over.

She heard an unprecedented tone of despair and learned that the enemy was probably comparable to the "Lone King of the Labyrinth" in the "Deep Layer".

Like tombstones, one after another, towering "inverted piles" of mountains surged forth, constantly digging holes and chiseling into Liu's skin.

"──────────────────────────────!!"

The terrifying, booming roar of "Zagnat" showed no mercy.

It fired several stakes into the ground in succession, continuing its attack.

He muttered to himself inside the hideous "armor":

—Look.

The two prey twisted their bodies as if in a death struggle, using their remaining armor to deflect attacks, splattering blood-red sweat, unwilling to endure the torture of being pierced, preferring to resist to the very last moment.

He knew, he knew. Those guys were that kind of "being".

He is the supreme "enemy" who cannot be killed no matter how much destruction is done. Therefore, that's why he—

The monstrous monster roared repeatedly, continuously producing death pillars.

The continuous sound of gunfire rendered hearing meaningless.

The repeated attacks on the pillars sent blood and pieces of flesh flying everywhere.

In order to slowly and painfully kill his prey whose life was being cut short every moment, he devoted all his efforts to "staking out" the stakes.

Before long...

"—Waaah!"

The final "reverse stake" caught the boy.

The abdomen is below the single-breasted armor whose metal buckles have been broken and shattered.

A long, thin, bright red thorn pierced through the area.

This is a concentrated bombardment of Bell.

Bundles and piles of stakes were thrown towards the white prey that had taken his right arm, determined not to let him go.

Time paused for Ryu, who was covered in wounds.

The boy was unnaturally levitated by the reaction force of being pierced. As the "inverted stake" was pulled out and fell off, Ryu hurriedly reached out to save him.

But the damage is done.

Instead, as if trying to sever the stagnant flow of time, with a gurgling sound, blood overflowed from the large hole in his stomach.

His lips, which had been bleeding, were now stained bright red.

An irreparable and fatal wound.

A decisive blow that cannot be overturned.

(────────)

Bell grasped the situation perfectly, this worst possible outcome...

Before the intestines obscenely roll out of the abdominal cavity...

He made a quick decision and plugged the large hole in his stomach.

"—【Flame and Lightning】!!"

He pressed his left hand against the large hole in the wound, triggering a small explosion.

Burning the abdomen.

A flash of light streaked across my vision, burning from the surface of my body to the inside, bringing hellish pain.

His pupils looked like pomegranate fruits, bloodshot to the extreme.

Liu opened his eyes wide, and the monster froze on the spot.

With smoke billowing from his abdomen, Bell went a step further, raising his left hand and firing wildly.

"Ughh ...

The first and second shots hit the ground.

The third shot was fired at the air in front of them.

The ground was shattered, followed by waves of heat and blasts. Bell should have stood firm to absorb the recoil from the artillery fire, but he had no intention of doing so. Instead, he grabbed Ryu's outstretched hand and let the hot air blow them away.

Bell flew backwards with a shocked Liu, thus escaping the knife-covered area.

"!!"

"Zagnat" was caught off guard and couldn't react in time.

The explosion wave generated a large amount of smoke and dust that filled the sky, obscuring visibility and forming a "smoke screen" to hide the prey.

In addition, there are artillery pieces firing blindly without any aim, flying in from the depths of the smoke. Without knowing the location of the prey, "magic reflexes" are meaningless; instead, the reflex action can even cause the user to be pinned to the spot.

There was a gap in the monster's pursuit.

"Aa ...

Bell, blown into the air by the recoil of the cannon fire, continued to indiscriminately fire [Flame Lightning].

The agonizing burns to his abdomen rendered him unable to aim properly; sparks obscured his vision. His only thought was to keep the enemy at bay and create distance, unleashing "magic" like a broken machine.

A few seconds later, Bell slammed into the ground and rolled several times with Ryu.

"Bell!?"

The two were thrown to the edge of the main passageway.

Ryu, who had managed to sit up, was speechless.

Bell's body convulsed from the intense pain, repeatedly falling into a hellish state of unconsciousness and then waking up.

"...Ugh!"

Ryu's movements only stopped for a short time.

After she correctly understood what the explosion and smoke in front of her meant and what her decisive, life-or-death escape meant, she dragged Bell toward the fork in the road in the distance.

"────────────!!"

The instant the flames and lightning ceased, "Zagnat" immediately let out an angry roar.

The colossal blue-purple body relentlessly pursued the adventurers.

As the monster burst through the smoke and charged after them, Ryu mustered all her strength and kicked the ground. Just as the monster's outstretched "claws" tore through her long cloak, the two of them plunged into a side passage.

The fork in the passage is about two meters wide, a narrow passage that allows two adventurers to pass side by side, but not so wide that colossal monsters can get through. The "Zagnat," which is at least three meters tall, is not allowed to intrude into the passage. Furthermore, absorbing monsters and causing various parts of the body to enlarge has also had a negative impact.

“Hoooooooooooooooooooo!”

"...!?"

Even so, "Zagnat" still squeezed half of its body into the side passage, trying to grab the two adventurers.

His outstretched left arm tried to tear Ryu and Bell apart together. But the "claw" just missed, failing to reach the two adventurers.

Like a raging giant reaching out to dig out a dwarf who had fled into a cave, the blue-purple "claws" scraped against the front of the boots several times.

Trembling with fear at the terrifying "claws" that were relentlessly tearing apart the floor and walls, Ryu forced herself to stand up. This time, she helped Bell up. Sweating profusely, her breathing erratic, she ran deeper into the passage to escape their fixed, crimson gazes.

The passage through which Ryu and the others escaped was a straight line. The walls on the left and right exuded an oppressive and intimidating aura.

The rooftop opens up all the way to the unseen ceiling, making it feel like a back alley in the dark.

"Gaa ...

"Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh!"

Ahead, we encountered "Lizardman Elite," "Cunning Wolf," and "Earthlings."

Monsters that have disappeared out of instinctive fear of calamity monsters will not be polite if adventurers come to them.

There was no way back; the only way to be saved was to move forward. Ryu twisted her face, intending to fight with her kodachi.

"────"

However, at that very moment, the destroyer, who had squeezed his left hand into the side passage, stepped back and slammed his skeletal right hand against the wall beside the passage, causing a tremor and deep cracks.

Immediately afterwards, a large number of "fallen piles" appeared on the wall to Ryu's right.

「!?」

"Ugh—!?"

Gunfire Hell targets Ryu and Bel, along with monsters such as the lizardmen who are about to attack.

All the monsters were torn to pieces by the bone stakes. Ryu's right hand, which was holding the katana, and her right foot were also pierced, and the back of her neck and collar were gouged out in one piece. As her vision turned into red speckled patterns, Ryu fell to the ground along with the torn and bloodied monsters.

The walls of the passageway were splattered with bloodstains, and a pool of blood had spread out on the ground.

Ryu and Bell were sprayed with blood from head to toe as if they had been hit by a bursting blood bag, their bodies turning bright red.