AN: I'm sorry everyone! Please go back to the previous chapter! I messed up the scheduling
The last time that Sona used her Demonic Power was back when they went against the Minotaurs on Kisuke's arrangements and she was still very weak back then. Until now, Sona only utilized a bit of her Demonic Power while she used her magic with mostly Mana from the surroundings.
But this time, she removed that restriction, fully displaying her innate skill. A Mana that doesn't exist from any person or monster was unleashed on the world, "...What...are you...!?" Hence, Asfi's confusion and question.
Bete had asked Lefiya to help and deal with the situation as she's the only one who had enough firepower to annihilate all the monsters here. But as she and Filvis made their way towards everyone, both of them almost stumbled at the sudden change in the atmosphere, "What... is this!?" Both of them muttered.
Ignoring everyone's reaction, Sona told Asfi to let everyone gather around her. Since the situation was urgent, Asfi trusted Sona and called everyone, including Lefiya and Filvis who came.
"By the way, Lefiya-san. How much time would it take you to cast magic strong enough to defeat all these monsters?" Sona asked Lefiya.
Suddenly being addressed by someone who was emitting a weird magic power startled Lefiya greatly. But she's also aware of the situation and answered, "Five minutes... No, three minutes."
"I see. Three minutes. But by then, we would have a casualty or two."
Hearing that, Lefiya could only grit her teeth as she couldn't deny her.
"I have a magic that I can be used to turn the situation around, however, I would still be needing your help, Lefiya-san."
Lefiya looked up to her and asked, "H-help?"
Sona nodded, "Yes. Although I specialize in magic, it's magic based on manipulation and technique. I lack the necessary firepower to kill them all." Sona then faced her, "So we'd really appreciate it if you could start chanting now."
Lefiya is, of course, doubtful of her claim, however, it's also true that she has to cast her high-powered magic in order to get them out of this situation regardless of her abilities. Nodding to her, Lefiya started chanting her magic.
While it's true that Sona's magic is manipulation and technique type, it doesn't mean she doesn't have any way to annihilate these monsters. She asked Lefiya to do it mainly because she wanted to have insurance in case she failed. Another reason is that she wanted to experiment with her magic for a bit amidst this crisis. If others, who're risking their lives, were to know what she's thinking, a rain of criticisms would fall on her. But, of course, no one would think that she would be experimenting in this situation, except the other three who knew about her abilities and were watching her with a wry smile.
'She finally got Kisuke's bad habit?' Yoruichi, Aika, and Koneko all thought.
While fixing the position of her glasses, Sona took a look at the incoming army of monsters which numbered around 400-500 heads, 'Now then. First, I'll test my accuracy against moving targets.' Raising her arm towards the rushing Violas, five blue magic circles simultaneously appeared in front of her.
Everyone from the Hermes Familia and Filvis were preparing to intercept the monsters. They didn't know what Sona was planning, but they knew that she was a magic user and would need some time to cast her magic. However, they were frozen in place when five magic circles suddenly manifested in front of her.
It's a well-known fact that a magic circle only appears when one has Mage Development Ability. And even with that, it only appears when one is chanting and the magic is about to fire off. However, neither of those happened and what's more head-splitting is the fact that five appeared at once.
Meanwhile, Lefiya almost lost her concentration due to this, but she was able to continue her chanting despite being incredibly confused.
Water started compressing in the middle of the magic circles and a few seconds later, highly compressed water shot out, hitting the Violas' magic stone in their mouth, 'Five targets with 100% accuracy. Now onto next.'
The next moment, five more magic circles appeared. With ten magic circles around Sona, all of them started shooting highly compressed water, 'Ten targets, 80% accuracy. Let's add some more.'
Manifesting another five magic circles, Sona continued her experiment, 'Fifteen targets, 50% accuracy. This is my current limit, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.'
In the minute that Sona was experimenting, the Violas already reached their spot and everyone had to defend the magic casters. But this was not Sona's concern as she trusts her companions, especially Aika and Koneko to do a great job of fending off the monsters.
After she had enough testing her shooting skills, Sona moved to the next part. Putting her hands together, she gathered water from the surroundings and the very humid Dungeon air became obviously drier.
Not just from her surroundings, but Sona also caught Ais, Bete, and Revis's attention who're battling from the distance.
With a large amount of water in her control, Sona casted the magic she's most familiar with, shaping the water into beasts. Raising both of her hands and using most of her Demonic Power, Sona manifested five large hawks with sharp talons, three 3-meter tall wolves with sharp claws, two 5-meter tall valiant lions, and a 50 meters long and 2 meters wide serpent.
With her own army, Sona took on the army of plant monsters.
Everyone else stopped what they were doing because all of the Violas left them and attacked Sona's army because of its thick magic power, giving them enough time to think what the hell was happening.
"W-what is this magic?" Filvis asked herself. As an Elf, she did her study regarding magic and its different types. However, she never ever heard of magic that is capable of summoning monsters or anything that is remotely close to it, "A unique magic?"
Sona's water beast army wrestled with the Violas. Although they were outnumbered, these beasts were still bodies of water and physical attacks aren't that effective, which is the only way that Violas can attack.
The Violas skirmished with Sona's army for a good three minutes and the beasts managed to kill around 200 monsters and could very well have annihilated them if given enough time.
But Lefiya also finished chanting her magic so Sona recalled her army and dispersed them, absorbing back the Demonic Power she used, "My name is Alf! Rea Laevateinn!"
Using her teacher's magic, Lefiya annihilated the rest of the monsters and fell down due to expending all of her Mana.
Revis clicked her tongue when she saw that all Violas were already gone. Realizing that those 'weaklings' below already did their jobs spectacularly, Bete couldn't dilly dally anymore and made an opening for Ais by sacrificing his own leg.
Thanks to Bete, Revis' defenses opened up a bit and Ais was able to swoop in, slashing at her chest using her magic.
Revis flew out with injuries all over her body but she was still able to stand up, "You barely missed my magic stone... It seems I can't beat the current you."
'....? Although they're not fatal, she has a considerable number of injuries. and on top of that, she doesn't have any allies left.' Ais questioned her still apparent confidence.
Revis then touched the 'wall' behind her, "This pillar is the core of the pantry." She said while touching the crystal where she landed, "Do you know what'll happen if I break this?"
"!?" Ais immediately ran towards her as she knew exactly what would happen. However, she was already too late as Revis smashed the crystal, breaking it into countless pieces. Including the shriveled up Viscum, the crystal collapsed, and soon after, the earth started quaking.
Ais had to stop her steps as she looked to the roof, which was already collapsing. Boulders and rocks started falling down as the whole pantry slowly collapsed.
"You'll get buried if you don't run. Why don't you go tend to your allies who need your help?" Revis casually muttered.
Ais turned around to see everyone panicking and trying to escape. There were wounded people so her help was very much needed, but before she could leave her opponent, Revis told her, "Aria, go to the 59th floor. It's getting pretty interesting down there. You'll find some answers, too."
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't you noticed a little by now? Even if what you say is true, your blood should be telling you the truth. You'd save us some work by going there yourself." Revis then looked up, not towards the falling ceiling, but towards the surface, "Those on the surface are trying to use us. In that case, we might as well try to use them ourselves."
Urging came from Ais' comrades and she turned around after a moment of hesitation.
And so, the quest on the 24th floor was completed and they returned to the surface.
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Welcome to today's MVP award ceremony
28th00: Rocks fall, everyone dies. Sona has started to emulate her boyfriend, which means when she gets back to DxD, her peerage is going to suffer, immensely. But hey, at least they will be far from alone! There's a pretty long list of targets, they only have to suffer inhumane experimental training! They're not human, so it's A-okay!
Alexander: That's my So-tan! I can imagine the faces of her acquaintances, once they'll return. Especially Rias going like, "Who is this girl, what have you done to my friend, Kisuuukeeee?"
So that's the end of Volume 7~
Onwards to Volume 8!