No one's POV
Launched into the air by the monster's tail, the boy's body flew forward like an arrow. Blood flying from the joint where the severed arm had been, it rolled over and over across the floor and finally came to a rest where land met water. It lay there completely still.
Ryuu: Mr....Cranell!
Standing stock-still, Ryuu was barely able to whisper those two words. Time slowed to a crawl. The world went flat—the scene before her very eyes, a lie. Even the water seemed to have stopped flowing. The screams of the other adventurers and the sound of her own heartbeat grew distant. Only the horrible figure of the boy lying faceup where he had landed was fresh and bright.
Ryuu: Bell?!
Ryuu's scream was like silk being ripped. Tearing off the chains of trauma that had held her back, she half dove, half ran toward him.
Ryuu:...?!
She kneeled beside him, dumbstruck. In addition to the severed arm, his whole armorless body was covered in deep cuts and bruises, indicating broken bones. Blood dribbled from his mouth. There was no sign of consciousness in the pair of eyes behind his bangs. Still, it was a miracle that his head was even attached to his body after suffering that fierce blow from the monster's tail. The word death flitted across Ryuu's mind. Shivering and pale, she placed one finger on Bell's neck.
Ryuu:...! He's still alive...?!
Surprised, she leaned toward him. She could just barely make out the faintest sound of breathing.
Ryuu: This scarf must have just narrowly saved him from certain death.
The Goliath Scarf had allowed Bell to take the massive blow to his neck without suffering even a scratch. The material fashioned from the giant's wall of steel had stopped the deadly blow and saved the life of its wearer. Although it had repelled direct damage, however, it had not been able to soften the impact. That alone had inflicted enough damage to make Bell himself think he was dying. Most likely, some of the vertebrae in his neck were fractured.
Ryuu(mind): I have to stop the bleeding from that arm! No, I better do something for his neck first!
Dripping sweat, Ryuu began to chant a spell.
Ryuu: I sing now of a distant forest. A familiar melody of life!
She had used up all her potions during the battle for Knossos and her pursuit of Jura's gang. The spell felt like it stretched on forever, but it was the only recovery magic she had on hand.
Ryuu: Noa Heal!
A gentle light like the dappled sun of a forest surrounded the base of Bell's neck. It was an all-purpose magic with the power to heal surface wounds, as well as other types of damage, and restore strength. However, it did not work immediately like a potion; the length of time required for full recovery was its main drawback.
As she waited for it to work, Ryuu used her teeth and one arm to tear off a piece of her cape and tie it around Bell's right arm to stop the bleeding. Cursing her own failure to act at the crucial moment, she tended to the boy as if she was paying off her sin.
Adventurer 1: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
Ryuu: !
Having put an end to Bell, its first target, the Skull Reaper had turned its attention once again to the remaining adventurers. The reason it turned toward Boris's group rather than toward Ryuu or Jura was simply that there were more of them. The storm of slaughter rose again.
Boris: H-h-help!!
Ryuu's heart trembled at the pleas for assistance.
Ryuu(mind): I want to help them, but if I leave Mr. Cranell now—
Ryuu was unable to finish her anguished thought. In an interval too short even to call a moment of hesitation, the monster had finished its massacre. Aside from Boris and a few others who had run in the opposite direction, all the adventurers were now no more than gruesome corpses. Among them were the animal-person siblings and the Amazonian warrior Bell had tried to save. Ryuu hadn't even been granted the opportunity to make a choice.
Ryuu: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
The moment the healing light faded, Ryuu howled and dashed toward the monster, which was turned away from her. Like an insane animal, she charged forward and drove her wooden sword into its white back.
Skull Reaper:—
The Skull Reaper responded simply. Releasing the energy stored in its back-bent knees, it leaped momentarily out of sight. Then, clinging to the side of a crystal column, it peered at her with glowing crimson eyes as if to say, "You next?" The next instant, it was charging her. She dodged the razor-like scythe by planting her hands on the ground. As the hem of her long cape was shredded, she pushed away her panic and flew beast-like toward the monster, which had just landed back on the ground.
It blocked her blow with its tail, but she aimed relentlessly for its chest, drawing close to the body that caused her such powerful physical revulsion.
Tucked in where its long arms could not easily reach, she jabbed the monster again and again with her sword.
Ryuu: !
Skull Reaper:—!
But the extraordinarily agile monster leaped from side to side and then backward, lashing out at her in return, and very soon Ryuu found herself on the defensive.
Ryuu(mind): Strong...! It's too strong...! Its speed is equal to that of Sora...!
This was the reason she had so stubbornly avoided Bell at first. If the Skull Reaper was once again spawned, she didn't want him to become its target. It was a passive strategy totally unlike the normal Ryuu. This was the underside of the terror that had been imprinted onto her very core. This was how deeply she was tormented by the calamity that had stolen everything from her five years ago.
Ryuu: Aaaaah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The ashen scene rose before her eyes once again. Her companions were collapsing. Their weapons crushed, her friends were being ripped to shreds. They screamed as the monster ground them between its fangs. The vicious claws had torn through the bodies of her companions. The scenes seared into her brain, stirring up her terror and crushing her will to fight.
And so she screamed. She screamed to cheat her fear, to obliterate the past, and to spur her body on to action. When this scream, this outpouring of raging emotion, went dead, Ryuu would no longer be able to fight. Her heart would collapse before this overwhelming being, and she would hug herself and sob like a helpless child. Because she knew that, she flourished her wooden sword and screamed her battle cry.
Ryuu: —Ha!
The Skull Reaper responded with a short breath almost like a sigh and a fierce swipe of the scythe on one hand. It was enough to send Ryuu's sword flying.
Ryuu: !!
Alvs Lumina, her second-tier weapon fashioned from the branch of a holy tree, burst into pieces. Following the same path as Bell's armor, it bid her good-bye. The merciless strength that had destroyed her weapon generated an impact that fractured the fingers gripping the sword's handle. Ryuu went flying through the air and landed with a crash on the crystal floor, faceup. The breath was forced from her lungs in a single gust.
Boris: Gaaarrr! Now! Now's your chance! Get that bastard!!
Far away from her, Boris let out a battle cry. The remaining adventurers knew escape was hopeless. In the time that Ryuu had bought them, they began to chant—in other words, to release a Concurrent Bombardment. Boris, too, took part, wielding his magic blade even as terror pulled him downward.
Ryuu: No, stop!! You can't!! DON'T DO IT!!!
Ryuu's words did not reach them. She could barely even breathe. As her futile cry faded, the white-blue shell encasing the Skull Reaper's huge frame glowed. Just like a replay of what happened when Bell tried to use a Firebolt on the monster, the magic attack bounced back toward its source. Only this time, it was not a single Firebolt but a far more powerful Concurrent Bombardment.
Boris: !!
It hit them head-on. The Skull Reaper 's protective shell had the power of magic reflection. It was the sole shield of this monster that had traded defense for the power of annihilation. Even if an adventurer was to release automatic homing magic, which was ordinarily a fail-proof method of hitting a target, it would not make contact with the Skull Reaper.
The adventurers were thus cut off from the magic they had counted on as their ultimate safety net. Anyone would lose heart under these despairing circumstances, just as Astrea Familia had done five years earlier. Fortunately, Boris was at the back of the party and avoided a direct hit. He stared in a daze at his charred companions. His eye patch had been torn off and his empty left eye socket was exposed, but he had no time to worry about that. The monster was bearing down on him, its own eye sockets glowing.
Boris: Stoppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp!!
Boris sobbed. Thrusting both hands in front of him, unable even to stand up, he pissed his pants. Even for a second-tier adventurer like Boris, this monster was too much to face. The scythe descended toward him.
Boris: Aaaa...
Drawing a vivid arc, they moved from the top of his head straight down. He didn't even have time to think back on his life. But his brain registered the sound of his own body splitting into two halves. He heard his head being crushed, his flesh being torn, and his bones being pulverized. It was over in an instant. Boris was dead.
Ryuu: Stand up!
Boris: !!
The fog of hallucination cleared. As Boris recovered from the vision his petrified brain had produced, he found himself alive, with an elf fighting in his place. Before the all- destroying claws had reached him, the elf had intercepted the blow with one of her own, delivered to the monster's forearm. She was now fighting it desperately with two daggers. At that very moment, the elf was protecting Boris.
Ryuu: Escape, quick!
Boris: Gale Wind... Y-you...
Boris's word trailed off as he stared at the profile of the female adventurer, from which the hood and mask had fallen away. It was the very same brave elf he had seen before on the eighteenth floor. The precise elf who had fought single-handedly against the terrifying black giant. Just then, the monster brought up its claws with ferocious speed. Ryuu bent backward, just barely avoiding a direct hit, but the claws nevertheless grazed her, ripping open her shoulder. A geyser of blood spouted from the elf's thin body. As the warm liquid spattered Boris's face, Ryuuclenched her teeth and resisted her body's urge to crumple to the ground.
Ryuu: Hurryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
Boris: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
Boris fled, his feet flapping noisily against the ground. Stumbling repeatedly over himself, he was making no progress whatsoever. To protect him, Ryuu—her face covered in a gory makeup of blood—took the brunt of the Skull Reaper's attack herself.
Boris: !!
Ryuu: Oof!
Its long tail beat against her legs. Although it lacked the menace of the claws, the hard appendage covered in its White-blue shell was no different from a cudgel. Ryuu's right leg, encased in its long boot, snapped like a twig under the blow. Her shinbone let out a dry popping sound as she flew into the air.
Ryuu: Ah—!
Ryuu gripped her awkwardly bent leg with one hand as she cried out in wordless agony. She felt she would faint from the unbelievable pain. But she knew she could not. Stomp! The horrifying sound of the monster's immense body advancing toward her rang through the room.
Ryuu: No...!
As a crystal fragment bore into her left cheek, she lifted her trembling face. Aside from her writhing form, there was no other sign of life in the sprawling room. Even Jura was gone. Had he escaped? She could no longer fully understand what was going on. Destruction advanced. Despair bore down on her in the form of the Skull Reaper. She was covered in wounds from head to toe. As it landed before her eyes, she realized she had no way left to defend herself against it.
Ryuu(mind): I have failed... I couldn't stop to that bastard Jura and his schemes, and now here I am, my shameful failure exposed...
She felt humiliated. She wanted to scream and cry. She wanted to place a deadly curse on herself for once again making a mistake that led to calamity. She still hadn't explained anything to Syr and her coworkers. She still hadn't apologized to her Hero that saved her 5 years ago. For making things harder on him. Taking care of her patron Goddess while she went on her revenge. She hadn't done anything to repay any of them for giving her a home. She had to survive, if only to explain herself to them.
Ryuu(mind):...Oh, but... If I die here, I can be with Alise and the others...
At last, she could be beside her companions once again. At last, she could apologize to them. At last, she could let them castigate her.
Ryuu(mind): Finally, this sin of killing them will be...
At last, she would be free of the guilt she had hidden in the furthest depths of her heart. For Ryuu, that would be a kind of salvation. It would be a sort of ceremony in which she buried the self whose dishonor had been exposed. A smile of resignation curled her lips. A tear fell from one sky-blue eye. The scale of her heart tipped from attachment to life toward the peace of death.
Ryuu: Huh?
Just then, something caught Ryuu's eye. She saw everything. A boy clad in black and was holding twin married blade of black and white was standing in front of her. The mighty Skull Reaper who was about to land the finishing blow was the one that was blown away. It was the Light of Hope. He had once again come to save her. He smile looking back at her.
Sora: Ryuu...! Thank goodness...
Ryuu: Sora...
Ryuu called out to him. Looks like her luck hasn't run out just yet. Hope is still by her side.
Sora: Looks like in the nick of time.
His gaze continue to focused on the Skull Reaper. He gulped seeing that monstrous face once again. The monster that had almost killed him 5 years ago.
Sora: Long time no see, Skull Reaper.
But his mind was wondering about something else.
Sora(mind): Bell... Where are you? Slyphid...?
Slyphid(telepathy): Yes. It appears that his right arm was cut off.
Sora: !!
Slyphid(telepathy): He lost consciousness and was thrown towards the river. But from the looks of it, there is a mermaid who is currently healing him.
Sora(telepathy): A mermaid? A Xenos perhaps...?
Slyphid(telepathy): Most likely.
Skull Reaper: !!
The Skull Reaper who had been on a frenzy slaughtered was once again stopped. He could tell from the human clad in black that he was probably far superior than the adventurers he had slaughtered before. His eyes were saying, "If you want to come, come at me"! Sora noticed this and he immediately rushed forward.
A shadow leaped into the path of its fall: Sora. He raised his twin sword and greeted the scythe. There was an ear-wrenching collision. Sparks flew. But that was only one of two scythes. The left arm continued attacking Sora, while the right swung upward.
Sora: Shit!
Sora deflect the first scythe and leaped forward without a second thought, flying through the air to close the gap, then maneuvering into the downward path of the scythe with a deafening blast. Sora crossed his swords to block the blow. The impact was unfathomable. But the scythe kept coming. Despite the sparks, it kept pushing his swords backward, right under his nose.
Sora(mind): Damn, it's so heavy! Is my wound from Knossos still not healed yet?!
Suddenly, a spear trailing green light sliced upward and caught the scythe from below. Another shock wave. As soon as Sora felt its force relent, he summoned all of his strength and pushed the bone scythe back. Slyphid appeared from her Spirit Form to her Adult Form and turned to look at him for a split second and called out.
Slyphid: We can manage if we take it at the same time! We can do this together!
Sora: Your not supposed to come out!
Slyphid: And let you die...? Yeah right...! The wound that you've been trying to hide on your chest will open again if you do anything reckless.
Sora: Great, back me up, then!
Slyphid: As you command!
Sora nodded. Just the thought of her next to him filled Sora with infinite willpower, it seemed. Sora readied his twin blade while Slyphid readied her spear. It was a spear made out of pure mana. This was Slyphid's Divine Weapons. The same weapons that Sora is currently wielding.
Ryuu: Who is she...?
Ryuu was wondering who was the elf woman who had just appeared out of thin air. From her majestic body, Ryuu could tell that Slyphid, the girl whom looks like an elf wasn't really an elf. Sora and Slyphid ignore Ryuu's mutter and charge. The scythe swooped toward Sora and Slyphid again, sideways this time, but they blocked it with simultaneous diagonal slashes. Their synchronized attacks created a ribbon of light that struck the scythe, sending off another powerful blast. This time, the foe's arm faltered backward.
Slyphid: Sora!
Sora: Yeah!
Slyphid(telepathy): Stop worrying about Bell! Don't look away! Distractions will only get you killed!
Sora(telepathy): You're right...here it comes!
Slyphid(telepathy): Block it on the upper left!
They shared information with just an exchange of glances, then blocked the scythe in perfect rhythm. They forced themselves to ignore Bell's safety. And focusing solely on blocking the creature's deadly blows. They instantly used the exact same moves to block the enemy's breathless attacks. Sora was clad in lightning, while Slyphid was clad in wind.
The occasional heavy attack from the monster graze some of their cheeks, but it was completely out of mind.
Sora: Slyphid!
Slyphid: On it!
With one thunderous roar from the Spirit Girl. She forcefully thrust her spear towards the Skull Reapers face forcing it to bend back. With that opening she made, Sora rushes in with both sword clad in lightning and shouted.
Sora: Starburst Stream! Raaaahhh!!
Paying no mind to the few blows that the Skull Reaper blocked, Sora roared as his assault continued, left and right. His eyesight began scorching—he could barely even see the enemy anymore. Even the occasional shock of the monster's scythe striking his body felt like it was coming from another world entirely. Adrenaline coursed through Sora's veins, and his nerves sparked with every swing of the swords.
Sora(mind): Faster, faster!!
Sora's mind was accelerated to the breaking point, even the double-speed of swinging twice the swords feeling inadequate. He swung faster and faster, it felt like watching a shooting star.
Sora: Aaaaahhh!!
The sixteenth and final blow caught the Skull Reaper directly in the middle of the chest.
Skull Reaper: Groaaahhh!!
The Skull Reaper was blown away with huge hits. Sora lend on his knees exhausted.
Sora: Haa... Ha...
Slyphid: Sora... I'll heal you up.
The Spirit Girl wrap herself up from behind Sora's body. Hugging him tightly and Sora's body was wrap in gentle light as his wound started healing. But it's not over. Far from over. The Skull Reaper was already on its feet roaring franticly. It just couldn't accept that a mere human was able to beat the likes of him.
Sora: Dammit... If only... If only I don't have these wound on me...
Ryuu: Why is he so tired already?
Ryuu couldn't understand why Sora who was able to take on a Red Juggernaut for a long period battle, was now already tired when the fight has just begun. Then something caught their eyes. They saw the drops of water flying, the form bursting powerfully through the water's surface, and the foot stepping firmly onto the crystal ground. Sora and Ryuu saw the boy standing on land. They saw the light of determination in his rubellite eyes.
Sora: Bell...
Ryuu: Mr Cranell...
Bell: Thank you, Marie. Sora...! Miss Ryuu...!
Mermaid lifeblood. The mysterious drop item was said to have the power to heal wounds. And truly, Bell had fully recovered. Smoke rose from the wounds that had been bathed in the blood of her self-sacrifice. To Ryuu's eyes, the scene looked like a beacon for a counterattack. His right arm restored, Bell steeled his will and tightened his grip on the black knife and sword.
Skull Reaper:—
Behind the Skull Reaper, who looked on in astonishment, and beside Marie, who poked her face from the water, Bell flew into a rage.
Bell: !!
Sora: Bell...!! Together...!!
Bell: Right!!
Sora, Bell, and Slyphid raced toward the Skull Reaper, Bell's body—just moments before on the verge of death—transformed now into a speeding bullet. He was keeping up with Sora and Slyphid's speed.
Skull Reaper: !!
The monster spun violently around as Ryuu watched. It had determined that this three, was no mere bit of prey but rather its prime enemy, worthy of complete annihilation. As the Hero, the Spirit, and the Boy charged toward it with terrifying speed, the monster flourished its claws powerfully, as if to say, "This time, you must be crushed".
Skull Reaper: !!
Sora: Me and Slyphid will deal with the scythe! Attack its flank!
Bell: On it!
Faced with this deadly blow that approached at lightning speed, Bell chose not escape but direct advance. He tore the scarf from his neck, wrapped it around his left hand, and shot forward.
Skull Reaper: ?!
Slyphid: He's using the Goliath's Scarf as a shield.
Astonishment flickered in the Skull Reaper's glowing orbs. The black scarf that Bell had wrapped around his hand in place of the demolished gauntlet threw off a shower of sparks as the monster's claws slid over it. The devastating weapon bestowed upon the monster by the Dungeon was deflected by the ultimate defensive armor born of that very same Dungeon.
As if to pay back the monster in its own currency, Bell snatched its brief moment of hesitation to attack. With a suddenness and speed that left no room for escape, the Hestia Knife glinted backhand toward the monster's chest.
Bell: ?!
Next it was Bell's turn to be astonished. With Sora and Slyphid keeping the Skull Reaper at bay, Bell had ripped into his enemy's chest. Yet the response did not suggest he had crushed its core.
Sora: It's pointless Bell. This monster had no Magic Stones!!
Shuddering at each other's menacing presences, boy and monster slid cleanly past each other. Instantly, both turned on their heels. Their gazes clashed. Their respective blows met thin air. This was when the life-or-death battle truly began. Goliath Scarf, Hestia Sword and Hestia Knife at the ready.
Sora: Bell...
Bell:...
Sora: I assumed you already perfected that move.
Bell: I have...
Bell didn't need to ask what kind of move Sora was asking. It was his Raikou Vesta. The move he had used to defeated the Moss Huge.
Sora: Then Game on! Slyphid! Return back and strengthen my body to its limit.
Slyphid: As you command!
Slyphid once again turned into her Spirit Form.
Sora: Bell, if we don't defeat that thing here. It will slaughtered Rin and the others who is waiting above. You know that don't you.
Bell: Yeah! We have to finished it here!
Skull Reaper:...?
The Skull Reaper was puzzled by this totally new feeling it was experiencing. The blue spark and the white flame that had been extinguished roared back to life, had been slashed but was now charging forward, had been beaten down but rose once more in defiance. The newborn monster was unable to grasp the fact that its enemy's spirit was dominating its own.
Finally—either because it recognized the unending series of slashing attacks as a menace or because it was overwhelmed by the boy's determination—the monster for the first time retreated. It had folded first in the life-or-death contest of endurance.
Perhaps it was due to instinct, or perhaps it was the inevitable outcome. In any case, it saw no need to risk its own life for a bit of prey that had nearly died once and was already half-dead again. The only problem was the blue spark that had dominated this battle from beginning to the end. And so, the monster stepped back from the close-range fight into which it had been tricked. It was, without a doubt, an advantageous move. But Sora and Bell saw a chance for victory.
Bell: It's retreating.
Sora: Yeah. If it were those two, they would never retreat.
Delirious and covered in blood, Bell and Sora nevertheless felt their hunger for battle burn with fresh ferocity. They let their mind follow the path of that desire. The Red Juggernaut that Sora had fought, and the Black Minotaur that Bell had fought had not retreated. Bell's idol and his Hero who was standing next to him would always fight to the end.
The monster before him was neither warrior nor adventurer. Sora and Bell smiled. They had lured the Skull Reaper into close combat in order to wrench this one moment from it. Although it was faster than Bell, with Sora on his side, the monster had been forced into the defensive for the first time in order to retreat. Sora and Bell thrust their hand toward his backward-leaning enemy.
Bell: Firebolt!!
Sora: Railgun!!
Sora shot a huge bolt of lightning. While Bell concentrated his mind into and shot seventeen shots, loading every last drop of magical power he had into the rapid-fire attack. The all-out, instantaneous firepower erupted before the eyes of the surprised monster.
Skull Reaper: !
Of course, the Skull Reaper pulsed its shell to exercise its power of magic reflection. Sora and Bell's magic were pitilessly repulsed by the invincible shield.
Bell: Yeah!!
Sora: It fell for it!
Letting out a yell of victory, Bell dove toward the whirlwind of electrifying flames that came hurtling back toward him.
Everyone: ?!
Ryuu couldn't believe her eyes. Marie yelped, and even the monster stared in shock. The barrage of the electrifying flame sped toward Bell. An instant later, his body was engulfed in light. Even as his own fire and Sora's lightning seared his flesh and pierced his flank, Bell sped forward, shouting victoriously. Two shots. Both magic carefully aimed Firebolt exploded into his black knife while the Railgun exploded into his black sword. He was charging his weapons.
Sora: Looks like your ability backfired!
Skull Reaper: !!
The Skull Reaper saw it—saw that instead of scattering like it should have when it hit the knife and sword, the two magic were pressed into place by a white light and focused. A Dual Charge. Bell had anticipated that their magic would be repulsed and used that to prepare for his deadly strike. That was why Sora had asked Bell if he had completed his technique. He was going for that outcome.
The massive barrage of magic provided a cover. In the moment that the raging electrical fire obscured his body from the enemy's view, he drew close to its massive frame. The Skull Reaper, frozen for just an instant, understood everything. It had been lured into using its magic reflection by a barrage of firepower strong enough to inflict deadly injury even on a monster. It had been attacked with the aim of provoking that tiny moment of immobility caused by the use of its armored shell.
Time froze for the Skull Reaper as it stared at the raging Divine Knife and Sword encased in an armor of flames and lightning. It knew it was in a bad situation. Things were moving fast. Still, it had time. If it gathered all its strength, it could intercept the attack, defend itself, and escape. But a kind of static was interfering with the monster's instincts.
Was that magic, or was it a knife attack? Should it deflect it with the invincible armor or destroy it with the deadly claws? The apostle of murder was confused. It chose escape. Using its one remaining reverse-joint leg, it sprang forward—not perfectly but adequately.
Skull Reaper:—
To get straight to the point, the monster of calamity lost its bargain with the adventurer. The second or two it spent deciding what to do was, for the Skull Reaper, a most regrettable opening that it should never have yielded to the lightning- fast flash.
Sora: Where do you think your going?!
Sora with his super speed appeared above the Skull Reaper and went for a punch. His hand was covered in lightning, and with the magic and body strengthening Slyphid had provided him, along with his ability One for All to store and increase his power even further, Sora's punch had become a living canon.
Skull Reaper: ?!
There was a tremendous shock as The Hero's punch to its full strength and landed on the mighty monsters face. Its not even magic attack, so its reflective power was no used. The Skull Reaper landed on the ground, to where the boy was waiting. Gathering his remaining strength Bell charges in.
Bell: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
The Skull Reaper—was right in the center of the boy's attack. As the enormous form landed at Bell's feet, it shuddered. The monster realized the nature of the emotion it had been feeling for the past few minutes. This was the terror that its prey experienced.
Skull Reaper: ?!
As if to shake off the feeling, it pulsed its shell with whitis-blue light. In the face of the flaming knife and sparking sword in its enemy's right and left hand, it brandished its own weapon—its all-destroying scythe, the scythe that nothing could withstand. A moment earlier, it had wondered whether the knife and sword would deliver magic or an ordinary slashing attack. The answer was neither. The deadly blow it held in wait would allow for neither reflection nor defense.
It was a sacred flame that would turn all to ash. And a thunderous lightning that destroy anything in its path. Bell had charged it for 10 seconds. As the Skull Reaper towered over him with scythe bared, Bell unleashed the blow.
Bell: Raikou Vesta!!
A blast of light.
Skull Reaper:—
Thundering flames of lights swallowed the enormous fang-like claws. A flare extinguished the flashing purplish-blue light. The claws of destruction shattered. White fragments flew everywhere. Bell had been thrown backward, but he kept his right arm extended. Sora intercepted Bell and catch him before his body reached the ground. This time, it was the Juggernaut's right arm that would be obliterated.
Skull Reaper: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
The monster wailed. Its right arm had vanished, claws and all, in the roar and flash of sacred light and sacred flame. The shock reverberated through its shoulder and into the right half of the towering body.
Its speed and aggression were extraordinarily developed, but its endurance and defense were correspondingly low. Fissures ran down its flank and back, and chunks of shell clattered onto the floor. As its fossil-like form crumbled, the Skull Reaper crashed into the crystal floor. Its right arm blasted off and its tail finally freed from the bonds of the scarf, it rolled and scraped across the floor, finally coming to a halt in the center of the room. For the first time in its life, the Skull Reaper howled in grief.
Bell(mind): I didn't charge enough...!
Bell squinted at the writhing, shrieking monster. Although it was inevitable due to the short amount of time he'd had, the blow hadn't been deadly. But he could do something about that. He could bury a silver round in the hideous beast.
Bell: Owwwwwwwwww...!!
Sora: Bell...!!
A terrifying jolt of pain shot through Bell's hand. His mind had robbed his body of strength in its tremendous effort to achieve both Magic and a Dual Charge. His legs were shaking. His arms felt like they were about to be torn from his shoulders. He now couldn't feel his left hand.
Sora: Rest up! Leave the rest to me...!
Bell: Ugh...!
Ryuu: Sora?! Mr. Cranell?!
Ryuu, who had been watching in a daze as this scene unfolded, shuddered and let out a cry. Sora and Bell noticed, too, but it was too late. A one-armed shadow leaped from behind a crystal column and fell over the Skull Reaper.
Jura: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! I did it!
It was Jura. The tamer had been hiding and waiting for this moment to reappear. The magic collar, still encircling the monster's thin, bony neck, pulsed
with a strange crimson light.
Jura: With the Fang of Flash here, I wouldn't be surprise if you bring it to its knees!
Ryuu: Jura...!
Sora: That idiot!
Jura: But with this, it's mine!
Trembling with joy, the catman grinned at the dumbfounded Sora, Bell and Ryuu. This was the long-cherished moment he had been waiting for. Sneering, he pulled out his crimson whip and lashed it powerfully against the ground.
Jura: Stand, monster of mine! Kill Lion, that Hero and that brat!!
The collar pulsed with a bright light in response to the whip. As the magic item flashed wildly, the Skull Reaper's half-destroyed body convulsed again and again...until finally, slowly, it rose. The crimson light in the depths of its eye sockets bore into Sora, Bell and Ryuu. Bell grimaced, unable to hide his fear in the face of a monster whose eyes —as if insensate to all the injuries it had suffered—were filled with pure bloodlust.
Jura: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes, kill them! Kill them all! With those scythes of yours—
The next instant, the monster swung the remains of its tail, as if in irritation. Chunks of flesh flew. The catman's body was cleaved in two. In the end, Jura never knew what had happened. The upper half of his body flew through the air and landed with a splash in the waterway flowing through the room. As if realizing its fate, the lower half toppled over. Red bubbles frothed as the upper half sank into the water. Sora, Bell and Ryuu gaped in silence. The end of the Evil had come so abruptly.
Bell, Sora, Ryuu:—, —, —...!!
But the collar kept pulsing with light. As if illuminated by the dead man's last wish—or, rather, his rancor—the collar continued to flash, animating the Skull Reaper's body. The battered legs took a step toward Sora.
Sora: Dammit...!
In the face of this destroyer who seemed to take no notice of its own injuries, Sora flourished the Divine Weapon. He let out a battle cry, as if to whip his exhausted body toward one last battle.
Sora: Huh?
Just then, he heard a crumbling sound. Or more accurately, the sound of piled-up rubble being swept aside. Something pulled at Sora's mind. Even though the Skull Reaper was right in front of him now, he obeyed his adventurer's instinct and turned his head toward the sound that indicated something abnormal in the Dungeon. Directly behind him was Ryuu, still unable to stand. Behind her, slithering from the pile of crystal rubble, was a giant serpent monster.
Sora: A Lambton?!
Ryuu: It's still alive?!
But there it was, as huge as ever, the pulsing collar around its neck clearly responding to the tamer's command. Its multiple bloodied eyes glared as it obeyed the last command of its master. Kill Lion, that Hero and that brat! The near-dead serpent roared and bore down behind Ryuu, scattering crystal fragments as it approached.
Sora: Ryuu!!
Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, but it was too late. The lambton was charging forward, its enormous maw wide open. Sora grab Bell's exhausted body ran toward it with Bell on his shoulder. With the little energy he had left, he accelerated, grabbed Ryuu's outstretched hand, and pulled her close.
Ryuu: No, Sora! Stay back!
A moment later, all three adventurers were engulfed in the serpent's mouth.
Lambton: Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
As it bellowed, the lambton burrowed its sharply pointed head into the ground. Its corkscrewing body crushed through the bedrock as it drilled and gouged downward.
Skull Reaper: !!
The Skull Reaper followed. Roaring and scattering pieces of shell from its fractured body, it dove into the hole that the lambton had made. The heroic battle that had unfolded in the crystal room was over.
Marie: Bell... Beeeell?!
Just one living being remained. The mermaid's sorrowful cry echoed through the now-quiet space.
(Elsewhere)
Lili: Please let me go, Miss Cassandra! Enough already...! If what Master Sora said was true about such terrifying monster is slaughtering everyone, then I need to be there for them!
Lili's shout disappeared into the din of the Great Falls. They were in the cavern on the twenty-fifth floor. Standing on the cliff near the mouth of the falls that overlooked the cavern on the floor below, the adventurers argued among themselves.
Cassandra: No, you can't go...! Not to the twenty-seventh floor...! That Skull Reaper monster will kill us all!!
Cassandra was holding on fiercely to the prum's arm. She pushed away Mikoto, who was tearfully trying to hold her back, and gripped Lili's small hand. Her face was so transformed as she struggled to keep Hestia Familia from moving on that they didn't know what to make of it.
Cassandra(mind): My dream has come true after all! I can't let them go! Their deaths have been foretold...!
All her actions were driven by that one thought. Guilt and despair overwhelmed her. The countless souls she had abandoned to death were tormenting her conscience and weighing on her heart. Her chest felt tight and warm, like her own thoughts were chewing away at her. Tears spilled from her eyes.
Cassandra(mind): But, but, if they don't go...
She could save them. As long as they stayed there, like Sora said they should, the people Cassandra cared about would be safe. This would not absolve her of her sins, but the thought nevertheless brought Cassandra some relief. If she kept them there, she could avoid total destruction. But then, as if the Dungeon were sneering at Cassandra, a tremor shook the ground.
Cassandra:—
An earthquake? No, a shaking caused by the Dungeon. Rin and the others, who had been so troubled by Cassandra's strange behavior, froze. The sound was unmistakable.
Rin: What's happening now...?
Muller: From bellow...!
Ouka: Hey, that noise...!
Welf: You're kidding me...!
Lili: It's impossible. I mean, one was just spawned two weeks ago!
The Dungeon ignored the sudden paleness of Rin's, Muller's, Ouka's, Welf's, and Lili's faces and continued its groans. It had only one thought. It had sent out its apostle of murder to the 27th floor, its equivalent of an immune system, yet the virus remained alive. Even worse, the child of calamity had left the floor, despite the fact that the contaminants destroying its mother's womb remained in the Water Capital.
Aisha: We're going to have to throw common sense out the window at this point.
Lili: Huh?
Muller: That High Level 8 monster that Sora told about... That wail... This isn't the same dungeon that we're used to anymore!
Not just one or two but a number so large it couldn't be ignored. The Dungeon could not overlook this. So it made a completely improbable decision. Raising its voice in a howl, it spawned that thing.
Lili: Th-th-this is...
Lili and the others recognized something—something in the signs that an unbelievably huge being was about to be spawned, in the tremors that shook the floor and the sound of enormous fissures splitting the walls.
Aisha: It's coming!
Muller: Run for it!
Muller and Aisha screamed. The next instant, the Great Falls on the twenty-seventh floor exploded. Huge jets of water spouted up to the twenty-fifth floor, beating down onto the cavern like a pounding rain. This subterranean rain poured onto the thing that burst through the falls on the lowest floor, wrapping its form in smoky white mist. Slowly, it sank toward the bottom of the plunge pool. A moment later, it burst up again. Then it began to literally climb the several-hundred-meder-tall column of raging water that was the Great Falls.
Cassandra:—
As Cassandra looked down on the chilling form that rose from the twenty- seventh to the twenty-sixth floor, and then toward the twenty-fifth, she remembered something.
Aisha: Oh, don't worry, monsters don't climb up the falls. Well, most don't.
A certain Amazon had said those words just a few days before. The very same Amazon who stood beside her now, podao at the ready and eyes filled with astonishment. Cassandra finally understood what she had meant.
Welf: Get baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!
Welf screamed. The entire group sprang away from the cliff's edge that formed the mouth of the falls. No sooner had they done so than it shattered apart. The tsunami that surged from it swallowed them all and carried them toward the back of the bank. One by one, they stood up; raised their drenched, coughing faces; and looked at the two-headed dragon before them.
Lili: The Monster Rex of the twenty-seventh floor—
Lili whispered in a daze. Aisha spit out the rest of the sentence.
Aisha: —Amphisbaena.
As if answering its mother's call, the huge floor boss writhing in the center of the twenty-fifth-floor plunge pool looked up.
Amphisbaena: Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The Amphisbaena was an anomaly among floor bosses known to the Guild. Contravening the rule that confined Monster Rexes to the guarding of a specific floor, this one was mobile. As her companions scowled and brandished their weapons, Cassandra stared absentmindedly. This was the Dungeon, the crucible of monsters.
The limitless Dungeon, for which the rebellion of a prophetess of tragedy was a mere trifling matter. The two-headed white monster roared with the will of that Dungeon. Cassandra's face froze. She and her party may have escaped catastrophe, but they were now facing—yes, despair.
(Elsewhere)
The sound of bedrock being shattered rang out. The huge form descended in a rain of rock and stone. The terrific sound of that form ripping through the air was succeeded by that of it crashing into the earth. The whole floor shook. Beyond the veil of smoke, a long bluish-white body writhed in the newly formed depression. It was a wormwell, that enormous serpent monster.
Lambton: Aa!!
The lambton raged. Its multiple eyes crushed and bleeding, it flailed as if it was suffering the cruelest torment imaginable. A red-streaked liquid spilled from its enormous jaws as its long body floundered on the ground. It looked precisely like a child who had eaten some foreign object guaranteed to cause it a royal stomachache.
Suddenly, its body convulsed with a loud thump. It happened again and then again, four times in total. Each time, its cries grew more desperate. The bluish-white surface of its body glowed pale pink, as if it were being illuminated from inside by a lamp. Finally, tremors overtook its whole body, and the light of an electrifying flame pulsed forth.
Once, twice it pulsed, and still it did not stop. A lightning column of thunder rose from the flank of the lambton's body. With a roaring crash, the monster—burned open from the inside—rolled over sideways, sapped of all strength. And then, from the center of the beast's long form, a long black sword burst through the skin.
A vertical slash appeared in the skin. The monster's guts tumbled out with a gush of crimson water. They were followed by a pair of hands, which grabbed the edges of the wound and pulled with all their might to the right and left.
Sora: Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!
A gray-haired boy appeared. Squinting, steam rising from his body, Sora screamed. He stumbled forward a few steps from the prison of the lambton's body, then fell flat on his face into the puddle of reddish liquid.
Sora: Ahhhhhhhhhhh!! *Cough*Cough*
He was coughing blood nonstop. His entire body was melting. His exposed skin and parts of his adventurer's gear seemed to have dissolved, and his gray hair was smoking. A pool of blood continue to stream from his chest as he hold it tightly. This was the wound that Slyphid had mentioned earlier.
He had been burned by the potent poisonous acid inside the stomach of the monster that had swallowed him. As the cool air bathed his skin now that he had finally escaped, a searing pain engulfed his whole body. And since he was lying facedown in a pool of blood mixed with stomach acid, his skin was being burned all over again. Despite the pain, he planted his hands on the ground and pushed his body up, then stood unsteadily.
Sora: Ryuu?! Bell?!
Prying open an eyelid that had been glued shut and looking around at the blurred scene in front of him, he turned toward the monster. Then, with an earsplitting moan, he plunged back into its stomach. A moment later, he emerged again, an elf and a boy wrapped in both his arms.
Sora: Blehhhhhh!
Had they been ordinary people, they would long ago have melted together into a single amiable puddle in the monster's gut. But they were not ordinary people. They were upper-class adventurers. They had been able to withstand the bath of powerful stomach acid.
Sora dragged Bell and Ryuu—who was half-sitting, half-standing, and entirely helpless—around the puddle of blood and then collapsed onto the ground. Bell and Ryuu were completely drained of strength. Although Sora had protected them after they were swallowed by holding them both close to his body, Ryuu's long cape and Bell's battle clothes were partially dissolved. Their pliant skin, too, was horribly marred by burns. Their eyes were shut tight as if in eternal sleep.
A tear fell from Sora's eye. By now he was moving through pure effort of will. He knelt beside them both and lifted their body in his arms.
Sora: Ryuu, Bell?! Please, please open your eyes...!
With shaking hands and fingers that sloughed off skin, Sora gripped Bell and Ryuu's shoulders. Again and again, he called out their name, as if to tie them to the world of the living. Whether in response to his pleading it was not clear, but the lashes of their tightly closed eyes trembled.
Sora: Slyphid!
Slyphid: I'm here! I will heal your wound!
Sora: No! Not me...! Them! Heal them first!
Slyphid: But your wound is far more severe. The wound on your chest had split opened once again.
Sora: It's fine. I can still managed. And Regeneration is already kicking! Heal them first! Please!
Slyphid: Alright!
Sora breath a sigh of relief. But as soon as joy flooded his face— A monster howled, crushing his hopes.
Sora:—
Yanked back to reality, Sora slowly raised his head. They were in a vast room. It was inconceivably enormous. Just too huge. Peering around his dim surroundings, Sora did not see any monsters nearby, but he could not feel at ease.
Sora(mind): If we're attacked by a monster now, we're in danger. No, that's wrong. Where are we? What floor are we on?
Sora knew that wormwells could move between floors. He had been repeatedly jolted back and forth in the pitch-black of its stomach and tossed about by the impact of its digging. However, he had no way of knowing just how far the monster that now lay dead beside him had burrowed. Most likely, he was somewhere below the twenty-seventh floor. As he dug his fingers into Ryuu's shoulders and held her tightly to protect her from harm, while Slyphid was healing Bell's wound.
The ground was made of dirt and stone. Far in the distance, he could see that the same was true of the walls. The open space above his head was exceedingly high, so much so that he could not see the ceiling even with his Level Seven eyesight.
He was trapped in a vast darkness. The only source of light was the luminescence glowing at even intervals along the walls. The ground, the walls, and the floor itself were all cloudy white.
Sora: White...? No...!
The gloomy darkness that sat heavily on his shoulders began to laugh into his ears. His heart was pounding deafeningly. He felt like it was going to burst through his ribs and come flying out of his body.
Slyphid: Sora...
Sora: Yeah... There's no doubt about it!
The structure of the space was overwhelmingly gargantuan. The scale was so different it made him want to cry. This was not the scale of the upper levels, or the middle ones, or even the lower levels. Sora's has arrived at the answer to his own question.
Sora: We're at the deep levels... The 37th floor. White Palace.
A/N: Okay, here's the end for part one of Danmachi Season 4. I know that some of you were asking why I made a story without Sora in it in Season 4. But like I said on the first chapter, Sora will appear on the Calamity Arc instead. And why he was so nerfed in this battle was because he had been on an adventurer of his own at Knossos. Which will appear in Oratoria. Fighting against an opponent who is on par with the Skull Reaper.
Why I just don't make Oratoria then you ask? Because the manga haven't reached there yet. The manga was still on Season 3 where the Xenos Arc is still in progress. That's why I didn't do it here. Next is part 2. But I won't update until the part 2 anime course is finish. Next will be my Oratoria book, Knossos Arc. Where Aiz and Asuna first assaulted Knossos, and Sora will be one of the main character there. That's all, and as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading