บท 462: Hopeless
"Gather your strength, Ais! Give it all you've got! Finish it in one strike! Everyone else, protect Ais!" Finn commanded as they started running towards the corrupted Spirit with Ais at the back of the formation.
'That new species has appeared again... Against an enemy with countless offensive options and a fortress-like defense, we can only create a favorable situation for an instant... One strike, it'll all depend on it.' Finn devised their next moves on his head and gave out his final command, "Lefiya, start concurrent chanting! I'll let you decide which magic to use!"
"Yes!" Lefiya then started running beside the Amazoness sisters and just behind Finn, who was the forefront runner and started chanting the defensive magic she learned from her new friend, Filvis.
On the Spirit's side, however, the attention was not on Ais, the Spirit stared towards Sona's direction while muttering, [Ah~, what is this scent? I want you! I want to eat you! Become one with me~!]
Sona's expression became serious and thought, 'Did I attract it with my magic? This is troublesome... I have a feeling that it won't end with just defeating that thing...' With that suspicion in her mind, Sona crushed a token that would send a signal to Kisuke and Yoruichi. She didn't want their help as much as possible, but she just couldn't shake off the bad feeling. For starters, she warned Aika and Koneko, who we're dealing with the monsters around Riveria, that things might drastically change, so they should watch out for any weird thing that could happen and report it to everyone.
"...?" Everyone from the Loki Familia was confused, but that didn't change what they needed to do.
'A commander is no longer necessary. We only have one shot for this and everyone already knew what to do.' Finn used his right thumb to touch his forehead before starting to chant, "Magic spear, penetrate my forehead that offers blood. Hell Finegas!"
As he cast his magic, Finn's eyes turned blood red and his countenance changed drastically from a calm and calculating commander into a bloodthirsty warrior. 'What we need is a rampaging berserker!'
Howling through the enemy lines, Finn threw himself towards the army of monsters and madly swung his spear, creating a path for everyone else to go through. He was betting his everything to move forward.
His action caught the attention of the corrupted Spirit who looked back at them and only chuckled, [Ahaha. Still, it's over.]
Covering herself with her unusually sturdy petals, she chanted again, [Come, fire. Burn burn burn whirlpool of fire, wall of crimson, howl of hellfire, borrow the power of a gust of wind and close the world.]
"!!!"
"She's using magic again after strengthening her defense!"
However, Finn was the one who took action first. It was a reckless attack and far from any sense of reason. It was straightforward, rough, and like a beast's impulse, "AHHHH!!!!" Finn threw his spear towards the chanting monster with all his might.
A reckless move which could have put himself in danger, nevertheless, the spear went through a small gap within the petals and pierced through it, hitting the monster in its forehead.
[Gyaahh!!!] That hit resulted in an Ignis Fatuus. The explosion of magic power, which happened if someone failed to control it or their chant was interrupted unexpectedly. The resulting shock almost blew off the Spirit's head, however, it immediately regenerated.
Before it could even fully mend itself, the Spirit started to chant another magic with a creepy smile on her face, [Break through, spear of thunder, my name as an agent is Tornitus, avatar of thunder, queen of thunder.]
"A short chant!?"
"This isn't good!"
With her courage through the roof, Lefiya placed herself at the forefront of the rushing group and chanted as fast as she could, "Become a shield, holy grail of crushing evil!"
[Thunder Ray!]
"Dio Grail!" A magic shield manifested in front of Lefiya. She thought that she could block the enemy's magic if it was just a short chanted one, however, she almost buckled down immediately after receiving the attack, '!? It's so strong for a short chant! I can't hold-'
Just as she was about to be thrown away, the Amazoness sisters went in front of her magic shield and received a portion of the attack with their bare bodies and weapons, "Tiona-san!? Tione-san!?"
"Guhh!!!!" Both of them looked back to Lefiya and shouted, "Lefiya! Don't stop!"
"!!!" Lefiya's expression became serious as she gathered more magic power to her shield, 'I decided to move forward! I can't stop! I won't stop!' "I can do it too!!!"
Using her last bit of magic, she forced her shield forward and it exploded, reflecting a part of the attack back to the Spirit, [!?]
But in return, Lefiya, Tiona, and Tione had to retreat from the battle and leave the rest to their comrades as they fell to the ground, unmoving.
The others could only grit their teeth and move forward.
At this time, Riveria was about to finish her incantation and pointed her staff towards the enemy Spirit, "Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - my name is Alf! Rea Leavatheinn!"
A large red magic circle appeared below the corrupted Spirit and the other monsters before they were engulfed in whirling fire, [Gyaaa!!!]
After Riveria's magic calmed down, all that was left was the corrupted Spirit, with most of its tentacles and all of its petals gone.
Using this chance, Bete, Finn, and Ais jumped on the enemy, intending to finally end it. They could already see its fearful face, however, tentacles which were even larger and sturdier than the Spirit's emerged from the floor and created a wall between them.
This was their only opportunity and they couldn't create it for a second time. They didn't have time to go around the wall so they tried to break through it. Nevertheless, the wall was too sturdy and most of their attacks only chipped off a bit of it.
When they thought that their only chance was gone, Gareth ran past them while holding his axe in both hands and attacked the wall with all his might and shouted, "Are you all talk, Finn!?" Cleaving a large part of the wall through the use of his brute strength, Gareth was able to create a small hole.
Finn only smiled at his words. "I believed that you'd come. Don't make me say it."
"Whatever!" Striking for the second time, Gareth was able to make the hole even bigger, but his weapon was smashed into pieces along with it. Since the hole wasn't big enough yet, Gareth used his bare hands instead and punched through it, "You're in the way!!!"
Through all this effort, Gareth was able to breach the wall, but smaller tentacles, which waited on the other side, pierced through his body, "Gaha!" Still, while coughing blood up, Gareth disregarded the tentacles and grabbed the wall and used his brute force to open it further. "Too soft!!!", he roared towards his foe.
Bete, Finn and Ais managed to go through the opening he created, but they were met with innumerable smaller tentacles threatening to punch holes through their bodies.
Bete and Finn used their own bodies to clear the path for Ais, "Uohhh!!!" "Burn up!!!"
A small path was created, however, in exchange, Finn and Bete wouldn't be able to continue fighting due to their injuries, "Go!!! Ais!!!"
Ais had been charging her magic and through using the opening which everyone created for her, she aimed at the Spirit's head, 'I made it! I'll take full advantage of the opening that everyone made for me!'
Ais got face to face with the enemy, but the panicking Spirit suddenly smirked and opened its mouth, revealing a small magic circle, [Icicle Edge.] A spear of ice appeared from it and launched towards Ais.
Ais wouldn't be able to dodge and their last opportunity would come to an end. Everyone became silent as they became witness to this, however, a small voice suddenly resounded through the silence, "How predictable~." Before a spear of water knocked the spear of ice out of its intended path, [!?]
Ais then sent her wind towards the Spirit but it was able to dodge sideways and only its left arm was shredded, [No!] Ais was blown away by one of its remaining large tentacles until she hit the ceiling, "Gah!!!"
"Tempest!" Still not giving in, Ais renewed her wind magic and gathered it with even more force.
In response, the corrupted Spirit hurriedly chanted, [Flash, run through, cut apart the shadow, my name as an agent is Lux, avatar of light, queen of light.]
Using her remaining magic power and jumping off the ceiling, she recalled how Kisuke used wind magic, 'Focus it on one spot... Just one spot!'
[Light Burst!] Hands which looked like shadows, manifested around the Spirit and tried to grab Ais, but the wind around her became more and more refined, preventing it from touching her, "Lil Lafarga!!!"
Breaking through the magic and shredding the Spirit, Ais was able to destroy its magic stone. A few seconds later, what remained of the corrupted Spirit crumbled into ashes.
Cheers erupted from everyone, except from a few people.
Just as they were celebrating, Finn shouted to everyone, "Everyone! Let's leave! Now!"
Everyone was confused, but chose to follow him despite their aching bodies. Those who couldn't move were carried and they hurriedly ran towards the stairs leading to the 58th floor.
However, not even a minute later, new monster species came flooding in again, "Go through them! Use everything you've left!" Finn desperately commanded as he was taken over by a bad premonition because his left thumb started aching more than when they were fighting the corrupted Spirit.
"We're too late," Sona muttered as she felt two large magic signatures coming from the deeper floors.
A minute later, cracks appeared on the floor and two gigantic flowers emerged. When it bloomed, two more corrupted Spirits were revealed.
"T-that can't be..." Ais muttered in despair.
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I-am-getting-hyped-corner
Alexander: Man, I am so thrilled right now. I hope that my editor friends and author-san don't mind my little changes. I just felt like spicing the text a little up for the grand finale. So, what will the heroes entrance be like? Reusing the entrance scene with the Senkaimon? Maybe, punching a hole through the ceiling and performing a One-Hit Kill on one of the monsters with it? Either way, it's going to be interesting to read about their reactions as the entrance will definitely be epic/hilarious.
28th00: You talking about Hajime's entrance in Arifureta that is exactly that? Won't lie, I found that cool. Wonder what it would be for Kisuke and the girls? They're all stupidly fast… Would they even need to break holes in the floors?
Goyya: Sorry to disappoint you guys...
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