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19.66% Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos / Chapter 460: Udaeus

บท 460: Udaeus

After progressing through several Coliseums, the expedition arrived at the Knight District and Vahn got to encounter the final series of monsters recorded in the compendium that made the White Palace their home. True to its namesake as the 'Knight' district, the rooms were populated with Spartoi, which were skeleton monsters that had varying heights and were rated around Level 4 in strength. It was rumored that Adventurers that fell in the Dungeon became Spartoi later on because they would often spawn with various weapons and armor and had the skill to use them. Even if you encountered two similar Spartoi, both wielding swords, they could use completely different styles and it was because of this that they were considered the most dangerous warrior-type monsters on the floor.

Out of curiosity, Vahn made a habit out of destroying the small crystals that held their skeletal joints together before looting their weapons for later study. After they were identified by the system, Vahn found the majority were around C-Rank weapons while there were a few that even managed to reach B-Rank. The reason why Vahn had decided to loot them was that they were distinctly different from normal weapons as they had been 'created' by the mana that had collected in the walls of the Dungeon. Vahn figured that, if he were able to reverse engineer the process, later on, he would be able to make weapons and armor that could 'form' like the dress that Hephaestus had worn in the Divination.

As for other monsters that appeared in the Knight District, the expedition came across several Peluda, which were dark-green dragonoid monsters that had long snake-like bodies with arrow-like quills along its back. They could angle the quills forward and shoot them out as projectiles so Riveria had been using a physical barrier to protect the expedition whenever one of the troublesome monsters would show up. The quills themselves weren't that dangerous but they were coated in a powerful poison that could overwhelm the abnormal resistance of most Adventurers. Unless your tolerance was B, or higher, you needed to avoid contact with the quills or you could be forced into cardiac arrest within half a minute.

During one of the Coliseum encounters, when Vahn had been preparing to charge forward with the rest of the group, several Peluda had spawned simultaneously with a massive purple one mixed amount the larger horde. If the green Peluda's quills were like arrows, the purple ones were like spears that seemingly regenerated infinitely as it began to bombard the shield Riveria had erected. It was during this instance that Vahn got to experience a bit of Gareth's prowess as he had borrowed Finn's spear before tossing it like a javelin toward the large monster. A total of three shockwaves were generated by the momentous toss before the spear disappeared inside the purple Peluda and caused the entire thing to explode into poisonous dust.

Gareth was the type of Adventurer that only leveled up when his Power and Endurance had reached the stat caps so Vahn could guesstimate his throw to have at least 5400 Power behind it, without taking into consideration skills and abilities. Vahn knew he had the relatively rare racial skill [Dvergr Enhance] as well, which could nearly double his power output, so it was very likely that his power had exceeded 9,000 when he pushed himself to the limit. Since Endurance didn't have much of an effect on projectiles and bladed weapons, there were few, if any, monsters that would be able to tank Gareth's blow head-on. Vahn knew that, even if he pushed himself to his absolute limits, he wouldn't even get close to what Gareth had displayed during his toss.

There weren't only positives to be gained from such a display, however, as once the group had cleared the room and recovered the spear the only thing that remained of it was a bent rod and a shattered spearhead. Finn had been using Vahn's [Moonlight Piercer] as his weapon of choice recently because it was easy to handle compared to his [Fortia Spear]. Though it wasn't nearly as strong as his primary weapon, it had become something of a personal favorite of his for general use. Holding the bent spear in his hands, Finn turned to Vahn with a wry smile on his face as he said, "It seems that this is the end of the line for this one..."

Vahn saw the shoddy state of the spear and accepted it from Finn before confirming that it was still recognized as a weapon through the system. Then, in front of the eyes of apologetic Pallum, Vahn pulled out a [Whetstone] and struck it against the broken blade several times before the entire thing was restored to a pristine condition. The [Whetstone]s produced by Vahn weren't a secret anymore, at least in the upper echelons of the Alliance, but Finn hadn't expected it to be able to have such a 'drastic' effect where it could even restore a badly damaged weapon. When he accepted it back from Vahn and tested the edge, he found it was actually 'better' than it had been previously so he remarked, "Your skill as a [Master Smith] will be a great boon to our future expeditions, Vahn. Thank you for restoring this spear for me, as I've grown quite fond of it as of late."

Seeing that Finn was genuinely pleased by the outcome, Vahn nodded his head contentedly and said, "As long as it's a weapon, I'll be able to use my [Whetstones] to recover it to an optimal state. It won't work if the weapon is in a state of disrepair, however, so take proper care of your equipment or I'll start charging you a maintenance fee..." Finn laughed at Vahn's words before brandishing the spear a few more times. As for what it meant to be in a state of 'disrepair', Vahn had conducted several experiments to see if he could exploit the [Whetstone]s and potentially produce an infinite supply of materials.

He had created a pure mithril blade, broken the tip of it, and then used a [Whtstone] to repair the damaged blade. However, the moment the blade shone with the magical light, which represented it was fixed, the materials Vahn had set to the side completely vanished. Vahn tried to circumvent this by storing away the fragments into his inventory but, the moment the composite materials were moved away from the original weapon, the [Whetstone]s lost their effect. Vahn didn't know the effective range of the small stone but it seemed to imply that, as long as the broken pieces were nearby, Vahn would be able to repair anything within a short period of time.

---

After clearing several more Coliseums, the expedition arrived at a massive wall that looked as though it had been carefully constructed to resemble an actual palace. There were massive pillars that extended all the way from the floor nearly 400m to the ceiling. Finn gave out orders for the expedition to spread out and create a temporary defensive line as they investigated the interior and determined if the Udaeus had spawned. Since it hid within the floor and walls of the Throne Room, it was impossible to know if it had spawned unless they actually entered inside. At least, this would have been the case if Vahn hadn't been present.

Though his domain couldn't cover the entire Throne Room, Vahn could see veins of mana spreading through the floor that all converged on a single mass of energy near the western wall. Ever since it was decided they would be the ones fighting it, Vahn had been discussing the tactics of the Udaeus with Ais, Tiona, and Tione. They had each fought the Udaeus in the past so they were very familiar with its tactics and answered all of Vahn's questions. Though it was a floor boss, the Udaeus was one of the few immobile enemies that could be encountered in the Dungeon. Knowing its spawn location was an important piece of information because it would often try to ambush the parties that tried to clear the Throne Room thinking it was 'safe'.

The biggest threat posed by the colossal monster was its speed, range, and the area-wide magic that it used. Even if you tried to fight it from a distance, it had incredibly high magic resistance and could even spawn Spartoi if you went beyond the range of its attacks. Since there were no limits to the number of monsters it could spawn, the best tactic to employ was to stay within the range of the Udaeus and take advantage of the gaps in its attacks. Though it was fast, there were plenty of opportunities to exploit in its movements since it couldn't easily deal with multiple agility fighters at once. With the support of Haruhime's [Uchide no Kozuchi], everyone's agility parameter had increased by 30% which had greatly boosted their potential speed.

Just as they were preparing to enter, Riveria had stopped the group and reminded, "When the Udaeus moves, it can create massive shockwaves in the wake of its attacks. Don't drop your guard just because you were able to evade its attacks, especially you, Vahn. Most importantly, make sure to mind your footing since blades can shoot up out of the ground in an instant and catch you unprepared..." Seeing Riveria's actions, Finn arched his brows slightly and even Gareth gave her a strange look before saying, "It's rare that our Riveria is so considerate to others right before a fight..." Hearing Gareth's remark, Riveria's brow twitched before she ignored him and said, "Be careful..." to Vahn and the girls.

---

After entering the room, Vahn indicated the location of the Udaeus before Ais activated her [Aeriel] and began to draw a wide arc around its location. Tiona and Tione charged toward the spawn location while Vahn prepared his own measures in the backline. Though it was purported to have incredibly high magic resistance, Vahn was curious if his own magic would be effective against the monster. As for Tiona and Tione, they actually weren't planning to fight Udaeus head on and were merely intended to serve as a distraction for Ais to target the orbs that linked together the monster's joints. If they could disable its arms, the rest of the fight would be relatively straightforward because it would only be able to use its magic and summon Spartoi.

Once they got within 200m of the Udaeus, Tiona and Tione dashed in opposite directions as a mass of crystalline black blades shot up out of the ground where they had been standing. Vahn had his [Eyes of Truth] active so he was able to see pulses of energy pass through the floor that triggered every time the girls landed. As a result, the mana would condense into a physical form that would try to impale them from below. Vahn squinted his eyes in thought as the 15m tall skeletal floor boss exploded from the ground and sent huge shards of shrapnel flying through the air as it released an eerie roar that shook the air around them. Its body was completely black and it had massive horns on its head that made it look somewhat demonic and cruel as it swept its arms toward Tione.

Though she was well out of its range, a wave of energy passed through the air and knocked the Amazon from the sky and sent her flying several meters before she bounded off the ground and evaded the blades of black crystal. Vahn was still outside of its normal range and hadn't drawn any aggro so the Udaeus had completely ignored him and the waiting Riveria, Gareth, and Finn. Vahn was using the opportunity to learn the patterns of the Udaeus to see if he could interfere with its own abilities any. Since he could see the flow of mana through the floor, Vahn had been trying to interfere with it using his own domain as a medium. Though it took a bit of effort, Vahn managed to get the rampant mana under his control after about two minutes.

The Udaeus released another roar that caused a shockwave to spread all the way to Vahn's position, nearly 400m away. The pulse of energy seemed intent to disrupt other 'magic spells' but it was unable to influence Vahn's domain at all. When Tiona landed on the ground, after evading the Udaeus' attack, she noted that there were no more annoying blades trying to cut up her feet and she began laughing cheerfully as she charged toward the Udaeus without any fear. Tione had quickly caught on as well while Ais bounced around on the wall and charged toward the raging monster like a loosed arrow.

Noticing its countermeasures had no effect, the Udaeus twisted its body and used the twisted blade-like bones of its forearms to try and strike at the two Amazons charging its front. True to Riveria's warning, even though they had evaded the strikes, both Tiona and Tione were sent flying by the shockwave that followed and were forced back nearly twenty meters in an instant. Ais, however, wasn't affected at all and managed to pierce her [Gram] into the Udaeus' shoulder before vaulting away to safety as it tried to counterattack. Having shattered one of the orbs holding its form together, the Udaeus' arm collapsed to the ground as a new orb slowly began to grow from the joint.

After cocking its head back for a brief moment, the Udaeus leaned forward and released a charged blast of energy from its mouth as it traced Ais's path through the air. Everywhere the blast struck, the hard bedrock of the Dungeon was cleaved and nothing but devastation left in its wake. Though Ais seemed to be dodging relatively easily, Vahn wasn't going to wait around so he used [Shundo] to get under the Udaeus' and shot a concentrated bolt of light elemental energy toward the huge magic core protected by its rib cage. The bolt slammed into the solar plexus of the Udaeus and began to erode the black bones at a visible rate before it tried to sweep up Vahn, who had long departed from the location with [Shundo].

Seeing that his magic had been effective, Vahn had a pleased grin on his face because it was turning out similar to how he had expected. The moment he learned that the Udaeus was a stationary creature, Vahn assumed the fight would actually be much easier than expected. He had already been able to 'freeze' the energy passing through the ground so the Udaeus couldn't make use of its most powerful ability any longer. Without the threat of the blades rising up from the floor, the Udaeus' only threat were the shockwaves it could generate from its mouth and the massive amount of power contained in its strikes.

Lifting its body with its remaining arm, the Udaeus looked toward Vahn's location with its glowing red eyes and sent a pulse of energy similar to the Juggernaut from the past. Vahn wasn't fond of suffering from the same attack twice so he erected a small magical barrier that dissipated the pulse of energy and turned it into a harmless breeze that struck against his face and distorted his hair slightly. Vahn knew the name of the skill was appropriately called [Resentment] and was a relatively rare skill that could only be used by a few powerful Monster Rexes and the Juggernaut. It was rarely ever used, however, because it took a large amount of willpower to perform and would leave the user vulnerable for several seconds...

As she hadn't missed the skill being used, Ais had drawn a beautiful arc through the air before appearing above the back of the Udaeus and shouting, "Lil Rafaga~!" and sending a tempest of magical energy through the unguarded back of the once fearsome monster. Though there was a brief moment of resistance, Ais eventually cut through the body of the Udaeus before jamming the tip of her sword into the massive monster core, causing the entire thing to explode into thousands of smaller cores in an instant. Other than a few bone fragments, which were worth a fair amount of Valis, the only thing that remained of the Udaeus was a veritable horde of magic cores that had buried Ais up to her neck as she wadded out of them with a complex expression on her face.

Vahn had already appeared nearby so she walked up and said, "Vahn, cleaning magic..." as she dusted herself off. Fighting the urge to laugh, Vahn began removing the dust that had completely coated Ais's body as Tiona and Tione rapidly approached their position. As if she didn't care Ais was dirty at all, Tiona jumped at her body and began clinging to her as she stated in a cheerful tone, "Ais, that last attack was amazing~!" Then, after doing a full revolution around Ais's neck, Tiona let go of her and jumped toward Vahn and began rubbing her cheek against his in an affectionate manner as she said, "I never thought the fight would be over so quickly with your help, Vahn~! How did you stop those annoying blades from appearing!?"

After finally separating Tiona from his body, Vahn began explaining his strategy when the rest of the members of the first party had arrived. Riveria, having experienced Vahn's control over mana in the past, wasn't that surprised by the revelation that Vahn had interrupted the Udaeus' area magic. The thing she was most interested in was the light magic Vahn had used, which he once again explained away as a condensed bolt of pure elemental energy. Since the Udaeus was 'resistant' and not 'immune', Vahn said its defenses could be overwhelmed if you focused your attack on a single point. As for the corrosive effect, that was simply the result of opposite elemental energies mixing together since the Udaeus was almost entirely comprised of darkness elemental energy. Though darkness could corrode almost everything else, the opposite happened when light was introduced into it.

Just as he was finishing up his explanation, Vahn dropped a small bombshell on the group when he said, "Because it wasn't capable of moving, I most likely could have ended the fight in an instant if I made use of my [Enkidu]. The moment I wrapped its body in the chains, it wouldn't be able to move or use any of its magic at all. Since there are huge gaps in its skeletal structure, it would have been easy to destroy the core after it was immobilized..." Since Vahn knew where the Udaeus spawned, he could have easily entrapped it using [Enkidu] the moment it erupted from the ground.

Unlike other monsters, which would have been able to evade the chains, Udaeus was stuck in one spot so it was a relatively 'bad' matchup for the 15m tall skeletal creature. The only reason Vahn didn't do so was that it was important to fight against such enemies using your base capabilities in order to gain more exilia. He also needed to practice coordinating with the other members of the party since teamwork was inarguably the most important thing when it came to overcoming their future enemies.

Because it was a rather unique circumstance, it was decided that Vahn would receive the drops from the Udaeus because he had been regularly maintaining the equipment of the girls and he would be able to use the materials in the creation of future items. Riveria had also convinced Finn to give Vahn the majority of the monster cores, even though she didn't explain to him the reason why it was important to do so. Other than the residents of the Hearth Manor, nobody else knew about Vahn's 'creation' ability since it was a closely guarded secret that would cause great turmoil if it was discovered. As a result of Riveria's actions, Vahn received a huge boon of more than 783,000OP in an instant, which caused a large smile to appear on his face.

He hadn't been earning that much on the expedition thus far but the large influx had now pushed his current OP reserves over the four-million mark and allowed him to reach 4,013,754. Since it was Riveria's efforts that had caused such an outcome, Vahn made a mental note to reward her for her actions in the future. There were a nigh-infinite number of items within the system shop that would intrigue a girl like Riveria so he was planning to do a bit of research before picking out something suitable for her.

After breaking down the defensive line and re-establishing the convoy, the expedition proceeded through the large spiral staircase in the center of the 37th floor. Seeing how difficult it was to get the carts down the stairs, Vahn was sure it would be even more frustrating trying to reach the surface in the future. Unfortunately, without an inventory like Vahn's, people didn't really have a choice when it came to transporting large volumes of materials and it was considered a 'necessary' task to be performed by Supporters of large Familia. Fortunately, everyone worked together and the task wasn't too difficult to perform since people in the Danmachi record could even lift thousands of pounds if their Power parameter was high enough.

The 38th floor was similar in appearance to the 37th floor except, instead of circular walls converging into a Throne Room, it had now resumed the appearance of a wide labyrinth. Coliseums still appeared but the path leading to the 39th floor was relatively straightforward and the expedition managed to reach it after around two hours of travel. In total, it had taken the group 14 hours to pass through the 31st to the 39th floor, which was much faster than normal. The 37th floor alone typically took more than seven hours to clear, as a result of its complexity and the fact it was nearly the size of Orario above at 200km in diameter. Because they had easily been able to discover the entrances into the inner walls, with Vahn's scouting, the group had managed the trip in slightly under five hours.

Since the 39th floor was considered a safety point, though it wasn't nearly as safe as the 18th and 50th, the expedition set camp atop a large plateau that provided an overview of the surroundings. Unlike Rivira, which was full of lush greenery and various lakes and rivers, the 39th floor was nameless and looked somewhat dreary since everything was an ashen white color. Other than stone outcroppings, there was no noticeable scenery at all and, if not for the celebratory atmosphere of the expeditionary party, Vahn would have found the floor somewhat distasteful. Fortunately, he seemed to be rather popular amongst the gathered Adventurers and Supporters so any melancholy he might have felt was immediately washed away by the festive atmosphere...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Gareth OP','RIP Udaeus-chan...','Safe zone...')

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บท 461: Light Within the Darkness

During the stay on the 39th floor, Vahn spent several hours looking around the area in an attempt to find any passageways that could have been used by Enyo's cronies to launch an ambush against them. However, other than some natural pathways, Vahn couldn't find anything remotely resembling a connecting passage to the artificial Dungeon. He wasn't sure how deep the structure went, but Vahn hadn't been able to find any signs of its existence beyond the 27th floor. This was a little strange to Vahn because he knew Enyo was supposed to be beyond the 60th floor and it didn't make sense how they were able to navigate to such a depth unless they had a way to bypass the dangers of the floors...

After mapping the area of the 39th floor, Vahn returned to the encampment and began drawing out a detailed layout of the land before preparing for bed. Even if the Dungeon layout changed over time, Vahn didn't think it would be such a drastic change for wide open floors such as this one. Some of the 'secret' passageways were rather thin and Vahn couldn't see how they would be able to maintain their structure if the Dungeon was constantly reshaping itself. Even though the walls, floor, and ceiling, were made out of a very durable bedrock, it was still possible for cave-ins and such to occur during large battles. As the ground was littered with massive stones, Vahn postulated they had fallen from the roof at some point since it didn't make sense why the Dungeon would grow the outcrops on its own. He could see with his [Eyes of Truth] that, other than some ambient mana that could be found it all things, the rocks were relatively normal, at least for the time being.

Compared to the previous rest periods, that could last around 10 hours, the expedition had taken a total of 14 hours to prepare for the final push to the 50th floor. Vahn could tell everyone was far more tense than normal and it made it feel like the festive atmosphere from the previous night had been an illusion. As she had often done during the trip, Tione began explaining to appease Vahn's curiosity, "Beyond the 39th floor, it is almost impossible to know what the Dungeon will be throwing at us anymore. Once we reach the 44th floor, we'll even lose most of our visibility and only the fire coming from the walls will be able to guide us forward. In the darkness between those floors, that is when we typically lose the most people..."

Hearing Tione's explanation, Vahn furrowed his brows slightly because he expected such moments were ideal if their enemies planned to attack them. The fact more than three days had passed without a single appearance from them had been worrying Vahn a bit, as it was better to know the location of the enemy than have no idea what they were up to. Other than Enyo, the red-haired girl, and the strange earth mage, Vahn didn't even know what other forces they had at their disposal yet. Just the earth mage alone would be a major threat if they caught the expedition in an enclosed corridor...

After preparations were finished, Finn gave the order and the expedition continued into the 40th floor, which still had the same white walls, floor, and ceiling as above. Though he wasn't at the furthest point in front, where Ais was commonly found, Vahn stayed relatively close to the main party and maintained his own position in the formation as he scouted for any dangers. With the words of caution from Tione, Vahn had grown somewhat concerned about the members of his own Familia but they had been moved into the interior convoy at this point as it was too dangerous for Level 2's to fight monsters directly at these levels.

As a result, Naaza had begun using her bow to fire at any enemy within her range while Lili had been using a crossbow. Mikoto, as part of her training with Take' in the past, was also rather skilled with a bow so the three had made a small formation while Haruhime had been moved closer to the front. Her level-up magic would be a great boon during an emergency so she had been placed near Fenrir and they were surrounded by Riveria, Gareth, and Lefiya. Finn knew the 'importance' of every member of the Hestia Familia, as it had been stressed several times by Loki, so he had arranged for them to have 'relatively' safe positions before the expedition continued forward. Though he knew better than to mention it now, Finn was also concerned that Lili would be killed by a stray monster and this was an outcome he found unacceptable.

After nearly seven hours of travel, the expedition arrived at the entrance to the 44th floor and Vahn could feel the tensions of everyone in the convoy increase greatly. Even the stairs led down were much darker than the previous stairwells and Vahn could smell a pungent sulfuric smell rising up from the below. Not only would general visibility be low, but many of the monsters in the new few floors were of the golem class and wouldn't have any discernible scent. Since they often disguised themselves among other rocks, it was difficult to tell them apart from the common backdrop of the Dungeon. It was common, such as it had been on the 25th floor, for parties to simply fire an arrow at any large rocky outcrop in an effort to flush out anything hiding amongst the rubble.

However, with Vahn's inclusion in the party such things were unnecessary and, now that he had seen how the expedition was reacting, Vahn had decided to make a spectacle out of the next few floors. Once they descended the stairs, Vahn felt the temperature had increased by several degrees and there was now a foul smell all throughout the air. The floor, walls, and ceiling, were now constructed of a hazy red bedrock that made people feel hotter just looking at them. Interspaced through the red rocks, there were carbonized black lines, almost as if magma had run through the cracks at some point, and Vahn could see a 'dangerous' light glowing from within them.

As Tione had mentioned, the only thing lighting the way forward was the 'fire' contained within the cracks. With his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn could see veins of fire energy that flowed through the wall like an actual volcano so he began to exercise even more caution than previously. There was far too much to take under his personal control since the source was the Dungeon itself and not a monster, but Vahn wanted to avoid areas where the fire veins were closer to walls. Just imagining a geyser of flames erupting and encompassing the convoy made Vahn feel a bit of a chill pass through his body. Unlike the majority of people present, Vahn was 'immune' to fire but that didn't bring him much comfort since he was more concerned about the others.

Once the entire convoy had entered the floor, Vahn nodded his head slightly before infusing [Enkidu] into his own domain, without actually summoning the chain itself or locking down the surrounding space. The space around Vahn, reaching outward for more than 487m, became infused with an awe-inspiring golden glow that pierced through the darkness and allowed everyone in the expedition to see. Though only slightly, Vahn also infused a mild stimulating energy through his [Hands of Nirvana] to help everyone overcome any nerves they might have been feeling.

Though they were confused at first, some of the people had experienced Vahn's 'aura' before and a small stir quickly passed through the convoy as word spread. Unlike the previous times they had passed through the somewhat nightmarish floors, the expedition now had Vahn in their midst and, just as he had done on the previous floors, he was certain to scout ahead for the safest path for them. Now that he had also started lighting the way, everyone began to feel a bit of excitement welling up inside of them, blissfully unaware that it was provoked by Vahn himself. Seeing the morale of the convoy bolstered, Finn smiled and thanked Vahn for his help before giving the order to move forward.

True to expectation, Vahn marked every disguised Flame Rock along the way before they were quickly dealt with by Ais, Tiona, and Tione. Flame Rocks could be anywhere between 200cm tall to 400cm tall and they took on the appearance of red rocks, very similar to the floor itself, there had the same fiery lines drawn across them. When people approached, they would attempt to launch surprise attacks and reveal the fiery core at their head. Since Vahn could easily differentiate them from the normal rocky outcrops, the pace of the expedition had increased by a fair amount. He had originally tried to kill each Flame Rock on his own but, once their numbers began to increase, Vahn simply marked them for the girls to deal with. Naaza had even offered to let him use her [Yi's Bow] but Vahn was actually trying to conserve as much of his source energy as possible since the drain of using [Hands of Nirvana] across the convoy was a little intense.

As they passed through the 44th floor, there were more threats than just the Flame Rocks that the expedition had to be aware of. There an 'elite' species of Hellhounds that called the floor home, known as Greater Hellhounds, that would roam in large packs that had speed comparable to a Level 3 Adventurer. Because of their numbers, it was impossible to prevent them from breaking through the vanguard but, since they had seen the group approaching from afar, there was adequate time for Finn to issue orders and, in less than a minute, those at the front of the convoy had made a shield line that spanned the entire corridor as those behind took up spears and bows. Even when the Greater Hellhounds used their flame breath against the defensive line, the Adventurers held their ground without flinching as those with spears deal with anything that got close and crashed against the immovable line. Behind them, those skilled in ranged combat would support and, when the enemies numbers were too great, the mages would step forward and begin their chants.

Seeing how well everyone worked together, Vahn could understand why the Loki Familia was considered the current Rank 1. Though they didn't have as many elite forces as the Freya Familia, their cooperation was impeccable and they were, from Vahn's perspective, fearless against the veritable tide of monsters. Even when someone grew tired, there would always be someone else to take up the burden as they retreated to safety and healed up with consumables. Thus, with Vahn's assistance, the expedition had been able to clear through the 44th floor in a record time of 53 minutes without suffering a single casualty. Vahn had been in his Xuánwǔ form the entire time and had been transferring wounds to his own body whenever someone took a bad hit. His own durability was much higher than most people and his regeneration, especially with the use of [Senzu Beans], would shock anyone that didn't commonly associate with Vahn.

Those that had actually suffered the wounds were very confused and word began to spread through the crowd about the 'miracles' they had been experiencing. There had even been a man that took the projectile of a Flame Rock to their chest, which broke several of their ribs and burned their chest, yet, when he rose to his feet and tried to treat his wound with an Elixir, the man found his wound had vanished in its entirety. His companions had quickly arrived at his side to assist him and were confused by his miraculous recovery which quickly disseminated to the rest of the expedition. The more astute Adventurers had seen a similar occurrence when the members of the Hestia Familia were fighting previously so it didn't take long for people to deduce it was another miracle created by Vahn.

Finn was constantly paying attention to the state of the expedition and he could see the somewhat fervent gazes many in the convoy were giving Vahn. As for the boy himself, Vahn stood tall at the front of the convoy with a calm look on his face as his glowing blue eyes constantly scanned the surrounding for more danger. He would periodically draw back his bow before loosing an arrow at another hidden enemy before trusting others to deal with it as he maintained his vigilance and looked for even more enemies.

Finn had known Vahn would be a great boon to the convoy, even without knowing about the size of his 'storage magic', but he hadn't expected Vahn's impact to be quite so 'drastic'. It was easy to see that Vahn's reputation within the Loki Familia had increased greatly in the short four days they had traveled together and Finn began to suspect that, by the time they returned to the surface, they might even begin to idolize the boy. Though it was a little worrisome, Finn knew it was a good thing since it would increase Vahn's reputation in the City and would likely please Loki...

Other than a single instance where one of the walls collapsed and spewed forth lava, the trip between the 44th-48th floors had been relatively uneventful. Even when the wall had collapsed, Vahn had cautioned about its existence so Riveria was able to freeze over the entire thing with her [Vas Windheim]. Avoiding a potential tragedy, the mood in the expedition had improved greatly and, instead of the solemn expressions everyone had previously, most people had smiles and were chatting amiably with each other. This didn't mean they were being complacent, however, as the vast majority of the expedition was populated by veteran Adventurers that took their duties very seriously.

At the entrance to the 49th floor, Finn had stopped the convoy before climbing to the top of a cart and addressing everyone. The 49th floor was home to a group of monsters referred to by some as the 'wave' since they would often charge forward like a veritable tide. The monsters themselves were known as Fomoire and they were humanoid goat monsters that formed massive groups similar to actual armies. It wasn't uncommon to encounter an entire battalion of the creatures at a time with several variants among their ranks. They weren't particularly strong, nor did they have any powerful skills, but their numbers and 'suicide' tactics were difficult to deal with.

Other than the wave, the biggest threat they needed to be cautious of was the Monster Rex of the 49th floor, which was known as the Balor. It was a giant golem-type creature with a massive glowing eye that was capable of using powerful area magic. Unlike other Monster Rexes, it didn't have a designated spawn area other than the fact that it was always near the entrance to the 50th floor. This meant it was somewhat difficult to deal with since the expedition would have to react to its presence the moment it appeared. With Vahn in the expedition, they shouldn't be caught off guard by its ambush, but they still needed to be careful. There were only three mages capable of casting barrier magic, excluding Vahn, and their coverage was only a 50m area at most. Failure to react to the Balor's attacks in time could quickly shift the momentum of the expedition and it was encounters with the beast that brought many of their expeditions to an early end since their supplies would generally sustain a great amount of damage during the battle...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Caution', 'Idolatry','Balor's Wrath...')

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