บท 202: Anemone
Like Goliath, whom Isao fought on the 17th Floor, Udaeus was the Monster Rex, a special monster that only spawned every three months.
Yet, unlike Goliath, the level of this monster was several times above it, and it was a monster that was defeated by Loki Familia too, three months ago, but unlike before, where they faced it with several people, this time, Aiz decided to face it alone.
The ground shook again and again, even stronger than before.
"It could not be.."
The floor dipped in the middle of the chamber the moment those words escaped Riveria's lips.
Then—
Crank!
The rock seemed to scream out in pain as a gigantic fissure opened on the floor.
The space shook even harder as the crevice expanded. New cracks shot out in all directions as far as they could see. A massive pitch-black body so large that they couldn't believe their eyes rose from the crevice and stretched far above their heads.
Pieces of rock fell off the body one after another, crumbling down in an avalanche of dust and soil. The room wouldn't stop shaking. The noise was deafening; each echoed a crushing blow to the ears until, finally, its emergence was complete.
They watched the pitch-black monster rear back to face the ceiling hidden in the darkness.
"—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
The enormous being, so big that even the female-figured monster that appeared in Rivira couldn't hold a candle to it, announced its birth with an especially tremendous roar. The overwhelmingly intimidating aura emanating from its body puts that octopus-like creature to shame.
It could be nothing else but a floor boss.
The Monster Rex resided on the 37th Floor of the dungeon.
Level Six, Udeaus.
"So then, three months have already passed..."
Physically, Udaues was a Kletmon monster, a spartoi that had just kept on growing. Every bone that composed its body was jet black. Just looking was enough to make an adventure fear being sucked in. At the same time, they gave off an eery and ominous sheen.
The beast itself was over ten meters tall despite its lower body remaining underground. The bones that made up its spine leaned forward, each of its many vertebrae swaying to and fro like they had a mind of their own. Its skull was adorned with two horns similar to an ogre's and small crimson flames flickering like eyes in deep sockets that were otherwise pitch black.
An unusually large and thick magic stone sat protected by its sternum and rib cage in the middle of its chest.
The dark purple crystal sparked exactly where the heart should be, but there were no organs to be seen on this floor.
More importantly, different from the previous Udaeus, from its joints of the black fingers curled around the top of the black bone and yanked it free—a sword.
This Udaeus held a sword!
Daphne and Cassandra were already frightened as they couldn't say anything.
"It's fine. You don't have to face this."
When Isao said so, he stood before them as if protecting them, which gave Daphne and Cassandra peace of mind.
"Aiz, are you sure that you want to fight it alone?" Riveria asked uneasily, as this Udaus was different from the previous one.
"Um." Aiz nodded. "I have to try the technique that I have developed with Isao first."
"You have?" Riveria looked at Aiz, then looked at Isao strangely. Their relationship was impossible to stop, and she knew each other well. Or rather, their relationship was far deeper than she had imagined.
"Believe in her."
Even though this monster was strong and even one level above Aiz, more importantly, as monsters usually are stronger than mere adventurers, it was so risky for her to fight it alone.
Yet, even if Isao hadn't faced this monster, he could see its many weaknesses.
First, it had a huge body, and second, it couldn't move.
So, it was the perfect time to use the technique that he had taught her with her magic.
"Tempest!"
At that moment, all the winds moved into Aiz as if she were the center of everything.
Unlike normal magic, her magic was on a different level, as if the wind itself obeyed every one of her whims.
Or rather, she might be the wind herself.
While everyone was shocked and genuinely startled by the improvement in her ability, Aiz absorbed all the wind, improving everything, whether it was magic or physical ability.
This was something that she had never tried before or even thought of until she met him.
If she didn't meet him, would she understand all of this?
Probably not.
She would still be at a loss, confused, blind, and tramped inside the darkness.
Yet, as he appeared, a light appeared in her pitch-dark future. Their beginning might not be good. It might not be different from an obsession, wishing to get stronger and even despicable as she wanted to use him, yet as she drew into him, getting closer, she was the one who was trapped, wishing to fully own him.
Only for her, so this was the representative of her desire.
The ugly obsession that wished to obtain him only for hers~!
Raising her blade high, it became the beacon, a center of the windstorm that was able to suck in anything.
While Udaues, Riveria, Daphne, and Cassandra were shocked, Isao didn't feel surprised, especially when he knew Aiz's origin. The child of the hero and the wind spirit. If she couldn't even consume the wind and control it like her own limbs, then wouldn't she waste her ability?
Yet, somehow, he shuddered, watching the distorted expression that appeared on her calm expression.
"....."
Isao wasn't sure why, but he knew that he had to get stronger, or else he would be sucked deep into her wind.
The windstorm grew bigger and bigger until it reached 50 meters in height.
Her blade was fully enclosed in this windstorm that was rapidly rotating like a hurricane.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Feeling an immense danger that was about to befall it, Udaus begged its mother, the dungeon, for help, and soon, twenty or so spartoi, skeleton warriors, appeared at the same time, ready to take down Aiz before she was able to finish her technique.
"Let's go, Daphne, Cassandra."
That spartoi had always been his target from the beginning. Unlike Udaus, the spartoi was a Level 4 monster, and it was a suitable target for them.
"...." 2x
While speechless, the two followed him obediently. It might be their instinct or the way they had been trained by Isao, like an obedient dog that would follow the whim of their master!
Only Riveria was in a daze, watching Aiz, who had changed into something that she didn't know. Her hand trembled, feeling a terror from her power. Was she afraid? She lamented at how cowardly she was, but then, she understood why Aiz would stick to Isao all the time.
Watching the young man, who didn't even know the word fear yet, was somehow cunning and untroubled by the scene before him; Riveria was in a mess, wondering what she should do as an elder.
Should she let them, having such an improper and inappropriate relationship, ignore the feelings of her niece?
Once again, as she looked at Isao, she hoped that if he could be a little cowardly and ordinary, it would be better.
On the other hand, Aiz focused on all of her techniques, gathered all the winds, and compressed them even smaller.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"
Udaeus wanted to stop Aiz, sending many shards of black bones that were ready to stab Aiz to death, yet it was too late.
"Anemone."
For such a fierce technique, it had a cute name.
Only, the effect was distratious.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!
As the windstorm swung down, it razed everything.
The compressed blade was as sharp as the sharpest blade, and it had the impact of a powerful explosion.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
Udaeus screamed in horror and painfully as this technique ravaged its body.
On the other hand, Aiz thought that Isao was correct. Instead of trying to test the opponent's power, they fought slowly, and before the end, they used their strongest technique. It was better to end everything fast and just go all out in the beginning!
Still, it wasn't like she could use this technique on the Rivira as there were many of her friends, and she was afraid that they would be affected. More importantly, Revis' body wasn't as huge as Udaeus's, and Revis would probably dodge her technique.
However, for Udaeus, there wouldn't be any such problem.
The ground trembled, the entire dungeon shook, and Udaeus could only scream in horror as the wind destroyed everything.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Udaues raised its blade, but it kept being pushed before it could only let the wind destroy it.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!
The dust, gravel, and everything were mixed in the air.
As Isao, Daphne, and Cassandra defeated all the spartoi, the battle between Aiz and Udaues also ended with Aiz's victory.
Aiz panted, ragged, and breathed heavily as she used all of her magic, but then, soon, she sucked the wind on her surroundings and slowly recovered.
"...you can recover by using the wind, Aiz?" Riveria asked in a shocked tone.
"Um." Aiz nodded and said, "Isao told me."
"...." Riveria looked at Isao strangely, wishing to see what was on his head.
"Aiz, can I get the blade?" Isao asked, getting close to the Udaues, watching the large blade that dropped after the defeat of the gigantic skeleton monster.
"Um."
"I will make a sword for you with this."
"Really?"
"Yup."
Hearing his promise, Aiz smiled with anticipation.
Only, at this moment, was the quiet and happy moment destroyed by the croaky and unpleasant laugh.
"Gehahaha... it's amazing that you can defeat Udaeus, but you are as good as gone now."
"..."
As they turned, they saw a group of Amazoness led by an ugly, toad-like woman in full body armor.
"...Ishtar Familia?"
Riveria's expression became ugly as she was sure that they didn't come with good intentions.
---
Testing whether Webvenol is an error or not, so early update.
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