Churning before everyone's eyes was a yellow-green sea three meters high.
A closer look revealed that the wave was made up of giant worm-like monsters. Their hides were brilliantly colored, and the flat pairs of legs beneath them wriggled in an unsettling way.
Despite their enormous bodies, all of these new monsters pressed tightly together, blocking the path. Like violent waves in a storm, they swept toward the group at terrifying speed.
"Bete, use the Magic Sword! Riveria, prepare freezing magic!"
Finn stared at the Venenthes and swiftly gave his orders.
During Loki Familia's last expedition, they had stumbled because of the corrosive liquid released by this new type of monster. Not only had the expedition been cut short, but they had also lost extremely valuable weapons. It would not be an exaggeration to say that most of the expedition's deficit had been these monsters' fault.
"Get out of my way!!!!"
Bete charged at the very front and kicked one of the worm-like monsters. The violent impact tore through its hard yellow-green hide, sending corrosive liquid spraying out.
The silver boot wrapped in the Storm Magic Sword's wind was completely unharmed. Not only that, Bete also swung the [Dual Rolan], cutting down the monsters ahead.
These were weapons Loki Familia had specially commissioned from Hephaestus Familia after their previous failure. Aside from Riveria and Ais, every other first-tier Adventurer had been equipped with Indestructible Weapons.
"Oooh! Now I can chop away as much as I want!"
Relying on his exceptionally high [Strength] and [Endurance], Gareth swung his giant axe freely.
Together with Bete, he suppressed the monsters' advance, while the splattering corrosive liquid was all redirected by the Wind Magic Sword.
At that moment.
A blizzard descended.
"Vanguard, evade!"
Finn shouted the command.
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow. Blow with the wind before the twilight. Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf!"
Riveria smoothly used Concurrent Chanting, unfolding an emerald magic circle.
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
A triple blizzard.
Ice froze every worm-like monster into blue sculptures. Not only that, even the surrounding passage and the other monsters were completely frozen into a world of extreme cold.
"So this is Riveria-sama's magic…"
Ryuu murmured in admiration.
She could not help recalling the scene when the Viola monsters attacked the surface. Perhaps Riveria-sama's time with the boy had already begun moving from that moment onward.
"The rest will still have to be handled by the others, and the reason it has this much power is also thanks to your Skill."
Riveria replied modestly.
Her [Magic Power] had received a considerable boost. She did not know the activation conditions of Ryuu's Skill, but its practical value was extremely high.
Only working on women was a little too strange, wasn't it?
And her own boost was clearly a step above Tiona's and the others'. What exactly did that represent?
While Riveria was lost in speculation, Bete and the others shattered all the frozen monster statues with their weapons to prevent any accidents.
After dealing with all of that, the group rushed deeper into the passage.
Floor 52.
Finn had already explained the situation to Bell and the others in advance.
Run.
In short, run as fast as possible.
If the party had still been advancing together while looking out for each other before, then in the area ahead, the members could only help one another to the bare minimum. That was the fundamental reason Finn had adopted this formation.
And what had created that situation was a crimson pillar of flame capable of devouring everything.
"It's here?!"
Even though Tsubaki had already heard about the situation beforehand, she was still shaken by the dragon's roar.
The party had only just reached Floor 52. As they repelled the attacking monsters and ran forward, a deafening, terrifying roar echoed through the passage.
In the next instant, the ground exploded, and the roar hammered into their eardrums.
A towering pillar of flame punched through the floor and slammed into the ceiling of Floor 52. The shockwave whipped up a gale, and blazing heat filled everyone's vision.
"Run toward the western passage!"
Finn immediately adjusted their direction.
The heat waves did not stop, and the roaring continued. The ground they ran across collapsed and exploded, igniting one crimson pillar of flame after another.
[Dragon's Vase].
This was the name given to these floors by the former Zeus Familia. From Floor 52 all the way to Floor 58, everything was within the Valgang Dragon's attack range.
It ignored floors. It ignored the ground.
The enormous red dragon waited at the very bottom of the Dragon's Vase, crushing every intruder in this area with overwhelming firepower.
Terrifying, terrifying, terrifying…
Lefiya ran with all her might, suppressing the fear in her heart.
If she slowed even one step, she would be melted by the dragon's fireballs.
An Adventurer's common sense had already lost all meaning here. Those pillars of flame were powerful enough to burn everything to ash, and even the monsters on the floors were not spared.
Besides the threat beneath their feet, the worm-like monsters and giant spiders from before were still swarming in from every direction.
Terrifying!
This was no longer the Dungeon. It was a terrifying hell!
Lefiya ran for her life.
She did not voice her fear, lest she become a burden to the others.
If not for the effect of [Requited Love Bond], she would probably have fallen behind long ago and dragged Ais and the others down.
What about the boy, who had not received any ability value boost?
Lefiya glanced at Bell beside her and found him shockingly calm.
His crimson eyes did not waver for a moment. Instead, he used the gaps created when the pillars of flame blasted open the ground and walls to gather as much information as possible, examining every detail.
Under Lefiya's admiring gaze, Bell spoke.
"There are Viola! We'll run into them after two more turns!"
Using the firelight, Bell had spotted a familiar figure through the cracked wall.
"How many?"
Finn asked immediately.
"Unknown! Judging by the size of the room, a conservative estimate would be over a hundred!"
Bell immediately gave his guess.
"..."
Finn hesitated for an instant.
The enemy had set a trap and prepared an ambush.
Choosing to fight in the Dragon's Vase on purpose meant they had clearly come prepared to die together with them.
The party was already struggling to avoid the pillars of flame and deal with the attacking monsters. If they recklessly engaged now, their formation would definitely be disrupted.
What had to be dealt with first was the Valgang Dragon on Floor 58.
The pillars of flame had bitten through the floor, meaning first-tier Adventurers could ignore the passages and descend directly to the bottom of the Dragon's Vase.
The problem was that the squad's ability values varied too much. It was absolutely impossible for everyone to ignore the floors and descend together.
Finn hesitated no longer and decisively shouted the plan he had prepared in advance.
"Riveria, cast defensive magic on everyone! Ais, handle the worm monsters drawn in by it!"
"Vanguard, middle guard, Tsubaki, come with me. We'll break straight through the hole blasted open and go down to take care of the Valgang Dragon!"
"Everyone else will be under Bell Cranel's command. Avoid combat as much as possible! Prioritize evasion!"