The flat terrain of the 10th Floor was a battlefield deliberately chosen by Roy, allowing the giant army to unleash its full potential—much like facing cavalry on an open plain.
"No! I don't want to die!"
"Captain, save me!"
"Where's this thing's magic stone?!"
Surrounded by large numbers of Pure Titans, members of the Rudra Familia screamed in despair. Amid their desperate cries, they were trampled to death or smashed apart with a single slap from a giant.
Some tried to fight back, driving their blades deep into a Pure Titan's chest—yet nothing happened. Instead, they were seized by the giant's enormous hand.
The unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.
These giants felt no fear and no pain. Summoned by Roy, they attacked with clear purpose. In some sense, they were even more frightening than dungeon monsters.
A strange glint flashed through Ryuu's eyes. The weak point of a Pure Titan was the nape of its neck. If one knew this, three or four seasoned LV.1 adventurers would be enough to take down a ten-plus-meter Pure Titan. The Rudra Familia wouldn't have fallen into such a tragic situation—this showed just how vital information was.
However, while Pure Titans could terrify most LV.1 adventurers, they couldn't intimidate LV.2 and LV.3 adventurers.
There was a fundamental difference between them!
"Hah!"
The Rudra Familia captain leaped into the air, swinging his greatsword at a giant roughly fifteen meters tall, cleaving it cleanly in half from top to bottom.
The bisected giant collapsed onto the ground, steam rising from its body as the massive form gradually faded away.
Unlike ordinary dungeon monsters, the Rudra Familia captain ground his teeth and shouted, "Ryuu Lion, where did you get these new kinds of monsters?!"
"Hmph!"
Ryuu snorted coldly. Of course she wouldn't answer—those two LV.3s were hers to deal with!
Seeing the elf girl charge straight toward them, the Rudra Familia's captain and vice-captain didn't dare be careless. She was an LV.4 adventurer; only by working together could they contend with her.
Boom!
The cavern walls shattered as large numbers of monsters poured out.
Large-class monsters—Orcs—with bloated bodies and pig-like heads, ragged old hides wrapped around their waists, standing over three meters tall.
Imps, pitch black in color, with oversized heads bearing a single sharp, stone-like horn. Their long, slender bodies moved with speed and razor-sharp agility.
Above them appeared Evil Bats, dark-colored bat monsters with sharp fangs that emitted eerie sonic waves to disrupt concentration.
Their total number exceeded two hundred.
"It's a Monster Feast!"
"Why now of all times, damn it!"
The Rudra Familia members' expressions changed drastically.
Ryuu and the Pure Titans, dungeon monsters, and Rudra Familia members slaughtered each other wildly within the vast cavern, turning it into a chaotic three-way melee.
"All units, retreat!"
The Rudra Familia captain shouted loudly. At this point, it was no longer about whether they could kill Gale Wind—it was about whether they could survive this massive chaos.
In theory, the 10th Floor posed almost no danger to LV.3 adventurers. But this sudden abnormality filled them with unease, as if something even more bizarre was yet to happen.
And there was no way Ryuu would allow them to escape. With an air of mutual destruction, she charged straight at them.
"Ryuu Lion, if you want to die, don't drag us with you!" the Rudra Familia captain growled.
Boom!!
With a thunderous roar, a violent explosion erupted. The entrance back to the 9th Floor was blown apart and collapsed.
Heeding Ryuu's earlier warning, Shakti Varma, who had stayed on the 9th Floor, hesitated about whether to enter. Then she saw the cave-in—countless rocks blocking the passage completely.
"Ryuu Lion…"
A trace of worry appeared between Shakti's brows.
Not only Shakti—the members of the Rudra Familia were utterly stunned. Had she gone insane? Unable to return to the surface, no matter how powerful an adventurer was, they would eventually be devoured by the dungeon's endless monsters.
"It's that damn brat!" The Rudra Familia captain's face darkened. The only one who could have done this was Roy, who had never shown himself from the very beginning.
Hidden within the fog, a cold glint flashed through Roy's eyes as he tossed the dark-purple potion in his hand.
Pop!
The Zombie Deadly Poison Potion traced a graceful arc through the air and landed in the center of the battlefield. The glass bottle shattered, and the dark-purple liquid spilled out.
Roy took out a Panacea, drinking half the bottle to increase his poison resistance. The Zombie Deadly Poison was indiscriminate in its lethality. Ryuu possessed Grade G abnormal resistance, so there was no need to worry about her.
Equipment and potions from the system followed clear tiers: low-grade corresponded to LV.1, high-grade to LV.2 and LV.3.
Without abnormal resistance or special skills, even LV.3 adventurers would be affected by the Zombie Deadly Poison—though they could endure longer and potentially find a healer to detoxify. But Roy and Ryuu would never allow that chance. The entrance was already destroyed.
"Aaaaaaah—!"
The zombie poison, now mixed into the air, spread rapidly. Heart-rending screams rang out as all LV.1 adventurers of the Rudra Familia were hit.
They collapsed to the ground in agony, their skin turning deathly pale and bloodless, shriveled and dry. Their eyes became crimson as the light of reason slowly faded.
Even several LV.2 adventurers were affected, though they barely managed to hold on.
"Captain, what do we do?!"
"It's over—we're all going to die here!"
"I told you we shouldn't have joined the War Game!"
The captain and vice-captain clearly possessed abnormal resistance, so the poison had little effect on them. But the situation had spiraled far beyond their expectations. Doubt, confusion, and anguish surged toward them like a tidal wave.
"It's poison gas!"
The two quickly realized what had happened, their expressions turning ugly. Wasn't this kind of despicable tactic supposed to be the Dark Faction's specialty? You're the righteous Astraea Familia—how could you do this?!
What terrified them even more was that Ryuu and Roy were using a gas-type poison. Ordinary poisons required direct contact, while poison gas was rare—let alone something this potent, capable of bringing down over a hundred people in an instant.
And the effects of the Zombie Deadly Poison weren't over yet.
Those who had completely lost their sanity slowly stood back up, transforming into zombies. With physiques far beyond normal humans, they were nothing like ordinary zombies.
The three-way melee became a four-way battlefield.
Ryuu and the Pure Titans relentlessly hunted down the remaining Rudra Familia members. The remnants tried to flee, while zombies and dungeon monsters attacked indiscriminately.
At the passage leading from the 10th Floor to the 11th Floor, several monster heads quietly appeared in an unnoticed corner, hidden within the fog, secretly observing.
Watching the chaotic battlefield, human-like expressions appeared on the monsters' faces—stunned and dumbfounded.
Lyd, Ray, and Gros exchanged glances, seeing the same shock in each other's eyes.
As the number of adventurers in the dungeon decreased, the activity range of the Xenos expanded. Fels had told them about the War Game, and driven by curiosity, the Xenos had climbed up from the 20th Floor.
The moment they arrived—
They were greeted by this utterly explosive scene.
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