Chapter 67: Shocking Change! Overwhelming Worms!
The structure of the 51st Floor was an anomaly within the Deep Levels.
The walls and floor were smooth and flat, not naturally formed, but rather meticulously carved.
Natural underground passages crisscrossed here, with a crossroads appearing almost every few steps.
In the dim light provided by faint phosphorescent dust, Arthur, without hesitation, led Ais and the two others, turning left and right, and proceeded unimpeded.
Tiona, who was following behind him, noticed the unusual calm along the way and couldn't help but mumble softly.
"From entering the 51st Floor until now, we haven't seen a single monster. Could it be that we've taken the wrong path?"
Hearing this, Tione's brow furrowed slightly, and a hint of hesitation flashed across Ais's face.
Arthur, walking at the very front, didn't even turn his head, saying calmly,
"Don't worry, I've seen the expedition data compiled by Finn and have memorized all the routes of the 51st Floor."
The three girls widened their eyes in surprise: "All!?"
One must know that the overall structure of the Dungeon was like an inverted giant cone; the deeper one went, the wider its area became.
By the 40th Floor, the area was already equivalent to the entire territory of Orario City.
Just how vast the 51st Floor was, one could well imagine.
Could anyone truly memorize such a complex map?
If you say the Captain can do it, then it's fine.
As Ais and the two others were each pondering in their hearts, Arthur, who was leading the way, stepped into a wide, straight tunnel.
The place was strewn with rubble, dark, hard hides and sharp horns of varying lengths were scattered everywhere, and the ground and walls still bore sticky, corrosive marks resembling those caused by dragging.
"Huh? Be on alert, something's strange here."
Arthur motioned for the three behind him to be vigilant, drew his Holy Sword, carefully approached, squatted down, and meticulously examined the dropped materials covering the ground.
There was no mistake, these were the remains of the Black Rhinoceros, a monster unique to the 51st Floor.
These monsters were known for their charge tactics, not only having tough hides and thick flesh but also preferring to act in groups.
However, judging by the horrific state of the scene, they seemed to have been completely wiped out.
Arthur casually picked up a thick, long horn, turned to look at the three girls who were equally perplexed, and asked in a deep voice,
"Currently, among the Familia conducting expeditions in the Deep Levels, it should only be us, right?"
Tione nodded affirmatively: "That's right, the Freya Familia tends to train in the Battleground, so we are the only ones who could delve this deep right now."
Receiving a definite answer, Arthur's gaze swept around, only to see dropped materials casually discarded, with only the Magic Stones nowhere to be found.
"I suddenly have an ominous premonition."
His voice deepened, and air currents swirled around his feet.
"Everyone, speed up, obtain the Spring as quickly as possible, and then return to the camp immediately."
Tiona, who was worried about her huge debt, looked at the high-grade dropped materials scattered everywhere, a little hesitant.
"So many dropped materials... are we just going to leave them here?"
Arthur shook his head: "No time for these now, the mission is urgent."
Before his words finished, a burst of wind appeared at his feet, and his figure shot out of the tunnel like an arrow.
Seeing this, the three girls dared not delay and quickly followed closely behind.
...
After increasing their speed, Arthur and his party quickly arrived at a deep kiln chamber.
He raised his arm, made a gesture, quietly reined in the storm swirling around him, and then flashed into it.
"Here too?"
As soon as he entered the cave, Arthur stopped with a look of surprise and doubt; the scene before him was vastly different from the kiln chamber described in the data.
The once abundant dwarf shrubs were all destroyed, and the surrounding walls and ground were covered in sticky liquid, emitting wisps of black smoke.
A pungent stench assailed them, catching the three girls who rushed into the kiln chamber right behind him off guard, making them cover their mouths and noses.
"So smelly! What happened here?"
"Could it be that some monster came to contend for territory with the Strong Dragon?"
"The Spring?"
Arthur's brows were tightly furrowed, his gaze sharply sweeping the entire area, and soon he discovered a pale blue shimmering water in the deepest part of the kiln chamber.
"The Spring is still here, you all stay vigilant, I'll go collect it!"
His movements were incredibly swift; in a few agile steps, he skillfully bypassed the broken dwarf shrubs and landed steadily near the Spring.
At the edge of the spring pool, there was a large clump of ashes that had not completely dissipated.
While quickly filling a bottle with spring water, Arthur carefully observed the golden wing fragments vaguely exposed beneath the ashes.
These should be the wing membranes of the Strong Dragon, right?
The Strong Dragon that monopolized this Spring was a powerful monster, extremely rare even in the Deep Levels; in terms of strength alone, it was even enough to contend with some Floor Bosses.
Within the 51st Floor, there actually existed high-level monsters capable of hunting Strong Dragons?
Arthur's intuition repeatedly warned him; the situation seemed to be developing in an increasingly unfavorable direction.
Just then, Tiona's startled cry suddenly came from the entrance of the kiln chamber.
"Unknown monster groups are approaching!"
Gurgle, gurgle—!
An extremely eerie squirming sound rapidly approached from outside the kiln chamber; some slimy objects were closing in on them at high speed.
Arthur quickly put away the newly filled spring water bottle, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and a sneer spread across his lips.
"Good that they show themselves; I want to see what's playing tricks!"
Wrapped in visible gales, he kicked up dust and ashes as he shot towards the cave entrance like an arrow.
Outside the kiln chamber, countless yellowish-green worm-like monsters with colorful patterns all over their bodies were surging forward.
They were massive in size, and their countless short legs dragged nauseating, sticky trails across the rough ground.
"What kind of monsters are these? They look so disgusting!"
"Could it be that all those marks we saw along the way were caused by these things?"
"Are they new species of monsters?"
Seeing the worm monsters getting closer and closer, Tiona's eyes hardened, and with a sharp cry, she unexpectedly leaped out first among the three.
The twin-bladed sword in her hand ignited with raging flames, carrying immense force, and chopped down heavily towards the head of one of the worms!
Almost simultaneously, Arthur, who had rushed to the entrance with the wind, witnessed Tiona's unauthorized action and loudly stopped her.
"Stop!"
Unfortunately, his warning was still a step too late.
The twin-bladed sword deeply cleaved into the worm monster's head, and streams of purplish-black, foul-smelling liquid burst forth from it.
Sizzle—!
A terrifying, intense corrosive sound rang out, and Tiona's proud twin-bladed sword was instantly dissolved by the purplish-black liquid!
Her right hand also accidentally got a little liquid on it, and under intense pain, she couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.
In a flash of lightning, the sky thundered, and lightning tore through the air!
Arthur descended from above, splitting the worm monster in half with one sword, while swiftly grabbing Tiona's shoulder and sharply dodging backward.
"Did you forget the corroded walls and ground we saw along the way?"
"Don't get close to these monsters easily; one wrong move and you'll die!"
..."Sorry."
Tiona tightly gripped her bleeding right wrist with her left hand, enduring the pain, gritted her teeth, pulled out a bottle of elixir from her backpack, and quickly gulped it down.
Arthur looked up at the tunnel, which was now completely blocked by worm monsters, then looked down at the Holy Sword in his hand, which was completely unharmed.
The good news was that the terrifying dissolving liquid had no effect on the Holy Sword.
The bad news was that the corrosiveness of the dissolving liquid was enough to instantly destroy First-Class Armaments, meaning that others would likely find it difficult to intervene in this battle.
"Prepare to break through!"
The three girls all looked solemn upon hearing this, and while carefully dodging the dissolving liquid constantly spewed by the worm monster horde, they cried out in surprise.
"You said break through? But... how do we get out?"
"Just like this, we break through!"
Arthur stood sternly at the entrance of the kiln chamber, scarlet magic power surging out from within him, swirling around his body.
The Holy Sword he held inverted in his hand gradually became almost transparent under the extreme compression of the surging wind pressure!
Wind King Hammer!
In an instant, the restless storm condensed into a terrifying tornado, unleashing a genuine shockwave!
With destructive force, it savagely tore through the dense worm monsters in the tunnel!
Dismembered limbs and dissolving liquid splattered everywhere, and Magic Stones, each glowing with an ominous light, were swept up by the strong winds, fiercely striking the hard rock walls, emitting crisp clinking sounds.
Arthur slowly reined in the surging magic power around him, looked at the tunnel, which was now empty and riddled with thousands of cracks, and raised his hand to call the three girls.
"Now's our chance, let's leave this place..."
"Ah ah ah—!"
Before his words finished, an extremely shrill scream suddenly came from the depths of the labyrinth.
The sound echoed repeatedly through the complex terrain, as if coming from all directions at once.
Upon hearing this familiar sound, Arthur and the others' expressions suddenly changed, becoming incredibly grim.
"Raul's voice?"
"It's not just us who have those worms!"
"Stop talking nonsense, the Captain is in danger now!"
"Found it, over here, everyone follow!"
After carefully discerning the approximate direction from which the scream came, Arthur made a decisive move, taking the lead and rushing towards one of the Fork in the Road.