As the roar of the explosion reached Floor 57, cracks began spreading across the Dungeon wall in an unknown corner of Floor 54.
The cracks gradually widened.
A murky purple stream seeped from the fissure like blood. Amid the wailing of the Dungeon (Mother), a pair of blood-red eyes snapped open.
The enemy was clear at a glance.
The way it fought was engraved into its killing instinct.
Kill.
Kill them.
The moment smoke and dust rose into the air, it became slaughter and destruction itself, racing out at a speed far beyond any Wyvern.
…
Floor 53.
The roaring gradually faded into the distance. Perhaps that unprecedented explosion had strained their eardrums, because everything around them seemed much quieter now.
Bell and the others slowed down slightly as they advanced through the right passageway of Floor 53.
Unlike Finn's group, this team could not simply withstand the monsters' attacks and leap down into the void. Now that a large-scale explosion had occurred, both the road ahead and the path back had been affected, leaving them caught between retreat and advance.
Bell knew that Finn and the others could not come to rescue them before the Valgang Dragons' roaring stopped, so he decisively ordered the party to keep moving forward. Fortunately, the collapsing floors had crushed whole swaths of Wyverns, and the monsters charging at Bell's group had also been blown away by the explosion's shockwave.
With Finn and the others drawing the Valgang Dragons' attention, the threat Bell's party had to deal with had greatly diminished.
"Tempest."
Ais served as the vanguard.
Again and again, she called forth Tempest to clear away the monsters blocking their path.
"Careful!"
Ryuu swung her katana and cut down a Deformis Spider that had dropped from the ceiling.
As the middle guard, she handled the monsters' surprise attacks.
"Ais-san, a Magic Potion."
Lefiya fulfilled the role of supporter. She followed Bell's instructions at all times, seizing the right moments to hand out potions while the other women rested.
"Hail Dust!"
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
Alicia and Riveria chanted their magic one after the other.
They pointed their wands at the Wyverns pursuing them from behind. Frost whirled through the air, and even the bloodthirsty Enhanced Species were frozen solid.
With [Astrae Serenade] empowering her, Alicia's magic could not destroy the monsters, but it was more than enough to buy time for Riveria's Chant.
"Keep the formation! Take the right path at the next fork!"
Under Bell's command, no one in the party was injured.
For a Level 3 Adventurer to remain calm in such a hellish scene and give clear, correct orders every time.
Given the situation, this result was already something worth celebrating, a feat worthy of praise.
And yet Bell's heart was full of worry.
The glossy black walls, the storm trampling monsters, the katana cutting down spiders, the frost freezing Wyverns...
Bell took in every sight he could.
Had [Calamity] been born?
Where would it strike from?
Doubt tightened around his heart.
If Calamity's true form was what Ryuu had described, an assassin-type monster that emphasized speed, and if its latent abilities had been greatly strengthened, then the first clash would be crucial.
As Bell ran, he held himself ready. He had already warned the others to watch out for a monster ambush.
As a Level 3 Adventurer, this battlefield was far beyond anything Bell could control. Even so, he kept his nerves stretched taut, ready to step forward at any moment.
Glossy black rooms.
Repeating scenery.
Finally, the instant a bead of cold sweat struck the ground, the abnormality descended.
"?!"
[Goddess's Blade] seemed to sense the threat, trembling unnaturally.
"Watch out!"
Bell immediately shouted the warning.
The moment the words left his mouth, everything happened in an instant.
It was a surprise attack from behind.
Slaughter without the slightest warning.
[It] stepped across the ground without a sound.
Its foreclaws shimmered with a deep purple glow and thrust out violently, moving far faster than a flying arrow. Their razor-sharp edges rivaled a first-tier weapon.
Its target was the emerald Elf.
[It] seemed certain this strike would take its prey's life.
In those blood-red eyes, it was as if a tragic feast of blooming blood was already reflected.
No matter how prepared one was, there was no way to react before absolute speed.
And that was exactly the truth.
Death at first sight.
For [it], that was an entirely ordinary opening act.
The other prey had not reacted yet. The prey far ahead had moved, but could not make it back in time to help.
As for the one about to become a gruesome disaster of death, in [its] eyes, she was already nothing more than mangled flesh.
Even if she noticed it approaching, she could no longer respond in time.
Even if she avoided the foreclaws, the fangs would follow immediately after.
Together, the two attacks formed a lightning-fast net, trapping the emerald Elf and cutting off every possible escape.
However…
Something unexpected happened.
[It] had relied on instinct to rank the prey by threat level. Once it dealt with the emerald one and the golden one, the remaining prey could be crushed easily by stepping over them.
But that instinctive ranking was wrong.
Faced with this attack, the first to react was actually the "weakest" white-haired prey.
It took time for words to leave the mouth.
That prey clearly understood this.
Just as the claws were about to touch the emerald Elf's body, the white-haired boy raised his crimson scarf.
Bell understood his own combat strength perfectly. Without the warning from [Goddess's Blade], he would never have been able to react in time.
A monster with this much speed far surpassed what Ryuu had described before. From that alone, this Juggernaut's strength was absolutely not something Bell could face head-on.
So instead of drawing Goddess's Blade and clashing with it, he grabbed the [Goliath Scarf] and threw it over Riveria.
Bell had thought this through long beforehand. The stance he had taken earlier had one hand gripping the scarf and the other resting on Goddess's Blade, so his movement was extremely quick.
Clang!
Juggernaut's foreclaws struck the scarf, sending out a sharp metallic crash.
During the expedition, Bell had asked Gareth of Loki Familia to test it. Even Gareth, known as [Elgarm], could not cut through the [Goliath Scarf] with [Strength] alone.
Protected by the scarf, Juggernaut's surprise attack failed.
But it was not over yet.
Riveria was badly injured by the impact.
Juggernaut began its retaliation.
Its foreclaws struck the ground, and its terrifying speed did not slow in the slightest.
Blood-red eyes met crimson eyes for a single instant.
That bloodthirsty gaze seemed to mock the boy's futile struggle.
In that moment, its fangs, like a row of sharp spikes, bit clean through the flesh of the white-haired boy's right arm along with his light armor.