章節 876: Solitude
Though the matter with Yggy had set back his departure for a short while, Vahn was even more confident about dealing with Enyo now. Instead of her aura being restricted to 40x her height, Yggy now affected an area that was always the cube of her height. This meant Yggy already affected an area of 1,000m but, unlike before, she could no longer spread her aura to be thin. Even so, the fact that her aura had 100% of its effect within a much larger region than previously already made her evolution incredible. Vahn had even been able to pluck one of her new leaves, simply called [Yggdrasil Leaf], a Unique item that had a similar effect to an [Effigy of the Hero].
The difference was that, while the [Yggdrasil Leaf] had no boost to a person's parameters, it also had no detriments to speak of. So long as you had one on your person, you could stand up after suffering a fatal wound based on the number of leaves in your possession. If not for the fact it took Yggy a hundred years just to sprout a single leaf, they would have had access to one of the most beneficial utility items Vahn had ever seen. Presently, Yggy had eight leaves on her main body, after giving one to Vahn, while her body back in the Hearth Manor had sprouted with nine. This meant, at the very least, they would have access to up to 81 leaves for emergency situations. However, as these leaves also served to enhance the effects of Yggy's aura, Vahn decided it was best they were left unplucked for the time being, as the benefits provided to everyone within her area of effect weren't something to look down upon...
With Haven's defenses shored up as much as they could be, Vahn spent a relatively long period of time parting ways with the girls before dawning his equipment, transforming into his Baihu form, and then absorbing Shizune's [Lanceae Umbrae] with his [Magia Erebea]. This was one of the few Magic Spells she had been able to learn over the last few years, allowing her to create spears out of Shadows that had the ability to penetrate through even Haruhime's magic barrier. Vahn had only used this form a few times before, and it was one of his 'secrets' that he had kept close to his chest for a long time. When combined with his Baihu form, Vahn called this particular raiment, 'Shadow Emperor: Nether Tiger' form.
Without making it known to the normal members of the Haven Defense Force, including even Finn, Vahn skulked through the shadows without any discernable presence whatsoever. Not only was he blending into the environment naturally, but Vahn was pushing his [Stealth] to the extreme. Though his appearance was rather striking, with the normal coat of fur having inverted to be black with white stripes. Vahn was able to move through the Dungeon's corridors without disturbing the mana in the surroundings even a little. He wanted to discern if Enyo's ability to track people was directly tied to the Dungeon's own detection systems or if their forces were entirely reliant on a separate system.
Thus, like a living shadow, Vahn made his way through the Dungeon with his [Khryselakatos] drawn as he silently moved outside the perception of most creatures. He had even managed to walk right by a Deformis Spide, passing within just a few meters of its hiding spot, without triggering its aggro at all. From their perspective, Vahn imagined he was like an 'illusion' or a 'daydream', something they were able to see but paid no real attention to, almost like a figment of the imagination. He had been able to conceal his presence even against very sensitive animals in the woods, walking right up to them, and it seemed to work just as well against monsters.
From these observations, Vahn wondered if the reason why monsters didn't attack each other was because of how they 'sensed' the presence of other monsters. They fundamentally lacked an ego so there had to be something governing their reactions and behaviors. Now that his presence matched the Dungeon itself, Vahn was able to pass without drawing any of their attention. He had even, in an effort to verify his hypothesis, walked right up to a Deformis Spider before placing his hand against its head. Though it twitched and began to move its mandibles, the rather large spider didn't make any attempts to attack Vahn at all, causing a small smile to spread across his face...
With this discovery, Vahn began to move like an actual shadow through the Dungeon, no longer concerned that he would draw the attention of monsters. Though he wasn't using [Shundo] to maneuver, as it would be a waste of energy in this instance, Vahn's natural speed in his Shadow Emperor: Nether Tiger form was rather extreme. It wasn't nearly as fast as his Lightning Emperor form, but the stealth capabilities and adaptability were far higher while the cost to sustain the form were significantly lower. This, added with the fact that the Dungeon itself was relatively dark, made Vahn's progress through the Floor unmatchable, at least while moving undetected...
After having mapped a large section of the 51st Floor previously, Vahn quickly reached a staircase leading down to the 52nd Floor without having to fire a single arrow. He wondered if things would continue in this manner as, from the 52nd Floor to the 58th Floor, Vahn would have entered into the Dragon's Vase. Under normal circumstances, the Valgang Dragon's on the 58th Floor would begin to bombard him with their pillar-like flame breath. Had that been the case, Vahn would have gone straight down to the 58th Floor, bypassing the six preceding Floors entirely. Now, however, Vahn had already stepped into the 52nd Floor for a few minutes without a single sign that the Valgang Dragon's had detected him...
This confirmed his speculation in the past, that the Dragon's were likely linked to the detection system of the Dungeon itself. He had trouble believing that their natural detection range would have broken through several kilometers of Dungeon and, with no attacks coming his way, Vahn was able to confirm they were indeed reliant on the Dungeon. This opened up the possibility that other monsters were also tied to the Dungeon more intrinsically than was currently understood. Though entities like the Juggernaut were already evidencing that this was the case, the fact that the Valgang Dragons were currently ignoring him was a much larger credit to this fact...
Vahn realized that, by moving along through the Dungeon, his curiosity about many things had been piqued once again, much like when he first entered. When he started traveling with the girls, his focus had always been on protecting them and efficiently killing the enemy. He couldn't even remember the last time he had simply 'enjoyed' traveling through the Dungeon, outside of the time he spent with the girls. There were actually so many things that he was interested in and wanted to learn about, just like when he had first entered this record...yet, it was only at a time like this, when he was in deep meditation back at home and fully focused on the Dungeon that Vahn was reminded of this simple fact...
Feeling strangely melancholic being 'alone', Vahn released a small sigh before musing, ("Ever since I made my avatar, I don't think I've ever been alone...it feels rather strange...") In response to this, Sis giggled lightly before asking, (*Do you not consider my presence adequate company~?*). Hearing this, Vahn felt a slight bit of guilt before Sis added, (*I'm just teasing you, Vahn...besides, this is a good opportunity for you to experience being 'alone' once again. It is a feeling you will have to get used to at some point...after all, even if you take some of your subordinates with you to another world, it won't be easy summoning them to your side. Until your own power reaches the point where you can sustain them, it would cost a great deal of OP just to maintain their presence for short periods of time. Depending on the world, it may not even be prudent to summon them at all, even if your 'modify' will fix many of those problems.I'm just saying, if you truly wish to become strong enough to return to this world one day, much of your journey will be a very solitary path...*)
Though he had already had similar thoughts in the past, hearing Sis lay things out in such a manner caused Vahn to lightly nod his head in response. He had actually thought about it long and hard for what was very likely several hundred hours at this point. Since he didn't know how long it would take him to move through other records, Vahn had often thought that it would be 'better' for those like Fenrir if he simply left them behind. They wouldn't be aware of the separation at all whereas, if he took them with him, the chances of them spending long periods of time in their cores were very likely. Even summoning them wasn't necessarily a good thing, as it would put them in real danger and drastically increase the chances of something terrible happening...
Vahn knew that, as he moved to progressively higher tiered worlds, the amount of danger they would face increases exponentially. Since there were very likely to be entities that have some degree of omniscience, calling them into the world would draw a great deal of attention to Vahn while he is in a weakened state. Though they would undoubtedly try to protect him, there were some enemies that his subordinates simply wouldn't be able to face until Vahn himself grew stronger. In some worlds, it may take him hundreds of years to reach a point where they could safely be introduced into the world and, without a means to 'seal' away their perception, it would be a very lonely existence for any subordinates that traveled through the records with him...
Thus far, the only person Vahn had considered always taking with him was Fenrir, as he had promised not to leave her behind long ago. Though she would accept his decision, Vahn didn't want to be gone for several thousand years, only to return and have 'betrayed' the trust of one of his most faithful companions. It was also a simple truth that, even if he tried to deny it, Vahn had become very reliant on Fenrir, even when she had first transformed. She had also done so much for him over the past few years that Vahn simply couldn't see himself traveling through other records without her. It was a bit selfish of him but, for both of their sakes, Vahn didn't think he would be able to truly move into future records alone...
In response to his concerns, Sis chimed in with a rather pleasant tone, saying (*You know, you don't have to put Fenrir into your Inventory when you move between records. Remember, you can always put her into an [Inactive] state through the Unit Management Function and store her away there. Her perception would be completely sealed in that case while the only requirement to call her back out would be 50% of her Loyalty. Though that sounds like a lot, Fenrir's Loyalty is always increasing at a rather extreme rate...I'm certain she wouldn't mind, either.*) Even now, Fenrir's Loyalty was generally increasing around 100 points every second, having long crossed over the boundary of one hundred million.
Hearing Sis's words, Vahn's pace slowly decreased until he was stationary within the 54th Floor. He then asked, ("Is it possible to use the Unit Management function to call my subordinates to other records...?") This time, even though he couldn't see her, Vahn felt like Sis shook her head as she explained, (*It should be possible to summon them to your side in between two records but, once you move into a second record, everyone on your Unit Management would grey out until you were between records once again.*) Just as there had been before he entered the record of Danmachi, there was a 'hub' that Vahn would return to, the place in his memory he referred to as the stone dais.
Though he felt a great deal of excitement at these new revelations, Vahn also felt a strange sense of incongruity and awkwardness as he muttered, ("I need to put more effort into learning the potential of my system functions. There are some I haven't even used a single time since unlocking them...") Because his focus was generally on other things, Vahn rarely spent much time wholly focused on trying to learn the ins and outs of his system functions, even though they were his most powerful asset. In fact, he was constantly learning new things about them, almost like each function was an Innate that he could master to great effect. Every time he 'realized' something new about them yet, until this day, things like the Upgrade function had gone untouched for what now amounted to years...
Once again, Sis gave sagely council, advising, (*This is why loneliness isn't always a bad thing, even if it is sometimes difficult to bear. Though you should never become accustomed to such feelings, it is during these moments when you have the most time to reflect. If you are able to maintain your focus, your self-mastery, the mastery of your Innates, and the mastery of your system functions...all of these will show a marked increase. After all, is it not when you are alone and trying your best to return to the people that you care about that your growth is the fastest...?*) Because Vahn's growth was highly dependent on his intentions and desires, he inarguably grew much faster with the proper motivation. When you were accustomed to being surrounded by the people you cared about, the desire to break away from loneliness could be a very powerful motivator...
Knowing that Sis' words were the truth, as she was inarguably more observant of his own life than even he was, Vahn found himself looking down at the floor. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular and just focused on 'experiencing' and trying to comprehend this one moment. Then, as if finding the answer to a complex question that had eluded him for a very long time, Vahn's face adopted a natural smile as the shadowy shroud clinging to his body slowly began to expand. As if it were a dense black liquid trying to fill up every available space, the shadows around Vahn continued to spread until they had filled every empty section of the 54th Floor in a 1.7km radius.
Those monsters unfortunate to get caught within this shroud of darkness found their bodies dissolving rapidly, just like the ceiling, walls, and floor itself. Vahn knew that this wasn't where he was meant to be and this entire fiasco with Enyo had gone on for too long...it was time to end this once and for all. Now, no longer concealing himself from the Dungeon, Vahn could sense several massive pillars of Fire Elemental Energy converging upon him. Though this wouldn't have been a threat to him, even under normal circumstances, this time the flames ate through the Floors below Vahn until they came into contact with his shadow. The moment these seemingly unstoppable pillars of fire made contact with the endless darkness, it was as if they had disappeared into nothingness. By the time they had faded away, this darker than black 'cloud' began to descend down the tunnels that had been created by the Valgang Dragon's breath, carrying the promise of death along with it...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Yggy-chan, banzai~!','Vahn is bad at exploiting the system~','Just imagine a 3.4km wide cloud of pure darkness falling towards you...spooky...')
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章節 877: Overwhelming
Much like his previous descent into the 58th Floor, Vahn carried a powerful killing intent that only made the Shadows around him 'burn' even stronger. Though the ocean in his mind was extremely calm, Vahn had 'decided' that Enyo needed to die. He had wanted to try and be discreet, in order to understand her capabilities a bit better, but that had changed after his conversation with Sis. Now, he would much rather resolve this matter as soon as possible, not just so he could spend more time with his family, but to allow him time to understand the functions of The Path in greater detail. When he moved to other worlds, The Path would be his most reliable asset and, the greater Vahn's understanding of its functions, the faster he would be able to return to his home in the future...
After falling for a few minutes, during which time several other Valgang Dragons wasted their breath against him, Vahn once again entered the 58th Floor proper. His eyes scanned the surroundings, unobstructed by the cloud of shadows that had already started to devour and tear apart the flock of Ill Wyverns. They may have an affinity for Darkness and Poison but their resistances against his 'shadow domain' only prolonged their suffering as the 3m long bluish-purple Dragons' bodies were torn apart, their howls soundlessly spreading into the Shadows that immediately filled their throats and insides...
Still falling, Vahn knocked arrows onto his [Khryselakatos] and began loosing them towards the Valgang Dragons below, creating a veritable rain of pitch black arrows that accurately pierced through their thick scales and destroyed the cores within. With his SSS-Rank [Archery Goddess' Blessing], combined with the Abilities of [Khryselakatos], every single one of Vahn's arrows landed true on his targets. Even though he was using simple Mithril arrows, they were suffused with his Shadow Elemental energy and carried with them the power to pierce through magical barriers, the thick scales of Dragons, and even several meters of the Dungeon's bedrock with ease. With more than half the arrows also dealing explosive critical strikes, Vahn had slain a total of 38 Valgang Dragons by the time he had landed.
Without wasting any time, Vahn made his way towards the large hole that was located near the center of the 58th Floor, which was a giant and expansive wasteland with few areas of cover. His shadowy domain moved along with him, appearing like a tidal wave of darkness that moved several times the speed of sound as it ate away at the Dungeon Floor below. The rate at which it devoured the bedrock wasn't that quick, but it still left a very noticeable path in the Floor as Vahn moved along. He was still conserving his energy as maintaining the Shadow domain would become significantly more difficult if he was moving while using [Shundo]. Since the shroud wouldn't be able to keep up with the instantaneous movement, Vahn didn't want to waste his efforts in producing it just by hurrying along too quickly...
Even with his natural running speed, Vahn only needed a few minutes to reach the large spiral staircase that would have normally led down to the entrance to the 59th Floor. That was the furthest point any Familia had ever treaded, at least according to the Guild's records. It was supposed to be a Floor nearly 300km in diameter that was comprised of a labyrinthine expanse of frozen tundra. There would be an endless blizzard assaulting you fought against sub-zero temperatures while trying to fend of ambushes from Snow Yeti, Frost Giants, and the very rarely seen Ice Elves. It was supposed to be one of the most inhospitable Floors, each monster possessing the strength of an average Level 4 Adventurer while the Ice Elves were archers that could easily reach Level 5 in strength...
As he leaped down into the stairwell, not bothering to use the actual stairs, Vahn mused that he was technically setting several records on behalf of the Hestia Familia. These thoughts faded away rather quickly, however, as he noticed that the temperature actually increased during his descent instead of decreasing. If there were truly sub-zero temperatures on the 59th Floor, there would have been a very noticeable decrease in temperature the closer he was to the actual entrance. Instead, by the time he landed at the bottom of the massive spiral stairs, Vahn found a cavernous entrance that had a steady stream of warm air, carrying with it the fragrance of flowering plant life...
Knowing that Enyo had the ability to influence the minds of others, Vahn couldn't help but wonder if there was ever supposed to be a frozen wasteland on the 59th Floor at all. It was very likely that the Zeus and Hera Familias had been wiped out upon entering the Floor and, before allowing them to return, Enyo had falsified the memories of the surviving members to suit her needs. By making the 59th Floor sound like an incredibly inhospitable place, she could have been trying to buy time for herself. If an Expedition had to pack a large number of supplies to allow for survival in such a harsh winter climate, their progress through the Dragon's Vase would be much slower...
Shaking his head a bit, Vahn internally remarked, ("I wonder, just how many lives have been lost due to Enyo's schemes over the years...") Given what little he knew of her, Vahn didn't find it difficult to believe that Enyo had indeed fabricated the reports of the 59th Floor. This almost guaranteed that Zeus and Hera had been manipulated by her, which made a lot of sense considering how 'weak' Evilus was rumored to be. Ryuu, back when she was only at the early stages of Level 4, managed to wipe out the majority of their standard forces all on her own. However, the two most powerful Familia, even though they had been crippled, were unable to oppose Evilus...? Even with other Familia banding together to exile the Zeus and Hera Familia, Evilus itself should have been relatively powerless to do anything to them...
Knowing he would find the answers to questions like these, and more, Vahn continued through the massive cavern that eventually opened to reveal an incredibly lush environment that was reminiscent of the Large Tree Labyrinth. There were tall trees, massive plants, dozens of different kinds of flowers, and a variety of other flora that could be seen from the very moment Vahn entered the Floor. Though his Shadow domain immediately began devouring it, Vahn was still able to take in the rather awe-inspiring sight. The most immediately obvious thing, however, was the massive 100m tall flower that was located in the exact center of the room...
As if it had sensed his presence as well, the ten petals wrapping around the top of the flower slowly unfurled, revealing the upper body of another beautiful woman, even though her skin and hair were different shades of green instead of a more 'natural' color. Vahn felt that this monster was either a Xenos or, based on the composition of her aura, a Spirit. She was somewhat similar to a Dryad, if he ignored the fact that her lower body seemed to have fused with a variant of the Corpse Flower, a rare monster that sometimes spawned within the Large Tree Labyrinth. If he hadn't previously seen another 'woman' fusing with the Cadmus previously, Vahn wouldn't know what to make of this situation...
Suddenly, the expression of the 'woman' turned into one of absolute madness as a seething and malicious aura began to spread, encompassing the entirety of the Floor in an instant. Vahn felt a bit of pressure on himself, causing his brows to furrow as he resisted the oppressive aura with his [Will of the Emperor]. At a glance, this plant-like monster before him was nearly as strong as Terra, at least if their auras were to be compared with each other. Instead of being afraid, however, Vahn stopped wasting energy on diffusing shadows through his domain and instead created a vortex that condensed the shadowy energy into a giant lance.
For the first time, the strange monster spoke, an almost synthetic voice sounding out, "You aren't Aria...! I was told Aria would be coming...ahhh, that bitch lied to me...hahahaha...tell me, do you know Aria...? Where is she? Bring her to me...!" Without answering her question, Vahn sent the 20m long spear of shadows towards the dangerous monster, causing her to fold her petals inward as a powerful nullifying aura covered her body. Seeing this, Vahn snorted through his nose and moved forward with [Koku Shundo] as the spear crashed against her defenses but, instead of breaking away as she likely intended, the shadows easily pierced her magical resistance and began to corrode her body.
With a loud and blood-curdling scream, the plant-like monstrosity spread open her petals like wings, shrieking in pain as she ripped them away from her body. At the same time, a seemingly endless ocean of the caterpillar-monsters began burrowing up out of the Dungeon Floor before spear-like roots pierced through their bodies, absorbing their blood and mana. Vahn didn't wait around to see the results of this, however, as he pressed both palms forward and sent ten [Lanceae Umbrae] tearing through the quickly regenerating body of the monstrous entity. He had aimed for her magic core and, being unable to provide any meaningful resistance to his anti-magic spears, the 'woman' became statuesque with a look of sheer disbelief on her face as she muttered, "I just wanted to be one...with Aria..."
The moment her words fell, the body of the massive plant monster turned into black and yellow dust that exploded outward like a tidal wave. Vahn quickly gathered up the massive amount of magic cores and threw them into his Inventory while standing in the air and observing his surroundings. There were still a seemingly infinite number of monsters in the surrounding area but now, instead of trying to attack him, they had begun to cannibalize themselves, devouring each other's magic cores in a massive feeding frenzy. Upon witnessing this, Vahn just shook his head before brandishing [Laevateinn] and sweeping massive swaths of crimson flames onto the Floor below. With the entire room being covered end-to-end with plant life, Vahn knew his flames would spread very quickly, especially if he guided them with his Fire Elemental manipulation.
Since there were still things he wanted to investigate, Vahn didn't just let the flames burn freely and instead guided them while systematically annihilating the horde of monsters below. He was looking for any landmarks or points of interest that might provide some answers about how he should proceed. At a glance, there didn't seem to be any exits that would lead down to the 60th Floor and, other than the massive mushroom-like pillars, Vahn found nothing of interest in his first sweep. Even so, he made a few passes over each region of the Floor before deciding that anything of interest was likely further down.
With that thought, Vahn allowed the flames to burn freely before taking a seat in the air and watching as the ocean of fire ceaselessly burned the fire-resistant creatures. It wasn't his intention to make them suffer but, based on how they didn't seem to have a reaction to pain whatsoever, Vahn didn't feel the need to kill them at the expense of even more energy. These were 'monsters' that not only devoured other monsters within the Dungeon but even cannibalized their own kin in order to increase their strength. As he watched them burn away in the flames, still trying to devour each other in an effort to evolve, Vahn felt nothing but contempt, not for the monsters themselves, but that Enyo had engineered them in such a fashion...
By the time the flames had nearly swept the Floor clean, Vahn was entering into the evening of his first day of subjugating Enyo. More than half that time had been him running around on the 52nd-54th Floors, while the rest had been the result of his preliminary search of the 59th. Now that most of the plant life had burned away into ash, Vahn began a secondary search to see if he could find the entrance to the 60th Floor, starting from where the giant plant-like monster with the upper body of a woman had been located. In retrospect, Vahn realized that he may have been able to get some information out of the woman but, remembering the look of 'madness' in her eyes, this was very unlikely. Had he waited any longer, things would have become marginally more difficult and, if not for the fact that Shadow Elemental energy could tear through magical barriers with ease, the fight could have been a lot harder.
Unfortunately for her, Vahn's Shadow Elemental energy had also been suffused with Source Energy, making it impossible for her to regenerate from the wounds he had caused. Now that he had the [Yggdrasil's Champion] Skill, Vahn was even more perceptive of Vital and Nature energy than before, allowing him to discern that the large monster would have likely regenerated almost completely in a short moment. Since he had long ago learned that his Source Energy could outright prevent such regeneration, even as far back as his first fight against an Orc on the 10th Floor, it was a rather unfortunate matchup for Enyo's pawn. Though this would have given Enyo even more information about his capabilities, Vahn didn't think it would matter now that he was this close to her 'heart'...
After sifting through the ruins and ashes, Vahn finally found a secret passageway under a stone slab that looked to weight several hundred thousand kilograms. It would have been very difficult to move it but, with his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn quickly found the mechanism to make the massive slab shift out of the way revealing not a set of stairs, but a shaft that led straight down into darkness. This seemed more than a little strange to Vahn since, unless Enyo had the power to change the Dungeon's layout, the fact that there were no obvious entrances into the 60th Floor was abnormal. Vahn knew that the Dungeon went much deeper than the 60th Floor, as they were pushing into the 70s in the Divination, so this was a troubling revelation...
Upon considering what Enyo had done to make it more difficult for people to reach her on the previous Floors, Vahn found it rather likely she would have made it so that an Expedition couldn't proceed with their supplies beyond this point. Before the introduction of his spatial artifacts, any group that got this far would have have been forced to make camp and leave their supplies behind while their advance party scouted the Floors below. Since many people were unnecessarily afraid of heights, they would have been even more cautious about taking the leap into absolute darkness. He, however, had no such inhibitions and, after a cursory pass over a few other areas, Vahn jumped down into the darkness below, wondering if his encounter with Enyo would be coming soon...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Shadowy Descent, the Moon Goddess' Champion~!','TFW you're a big bad Mage who can use Expedition wiping spells and you come across an immortal who can use anti-magic magic...','The unexplored 60th Floor...')
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