After choosing a path and walking through the long luminescent ice tunnel, they came out in an enormous chamber of glistening ice. In the middle of it was a hill of opaque ice, before it started shaking and cracking.
A few seconds later, the hill of ice exploded into many pieces with some of them flying in the group's direction, prompting them to dodge in different directions. In the spot where the ice hill was before, a large blue western dragon with blood-red eyes slowly emerged and roared to the sky, "Of all monsters that I've seen within the Dungeon, that certainly is the coolest thing. Literally and figuratively.", commented Kisuke lightheartedly.
The clear blue scales that reflected the light, the beautiful curve of its dark blue horns, the slender body and graceful wings that screamed majesticness. Just from its appearance alone, any man who had ever dreamed of fantasy would admire it.
However, Yoruichi wasn't a person like that as she immediately dashed under its belly, throwing her palm upwards, "Haah!!!"
Kuraokami's belly caved in as it was launched upwards and it screamed in pain.
The Ice Dragon immediately spread its wings out and stabilized itself in midair before looking towards Yoruichi with eyes filled with madness. But before it could even roar, it felt a thin line wrapping around its neck.
Switching its attention towards the culprit, it saw Kuroka, who was holding her black whip sword. Using a Magic Circle as a stepping platform, Kuroka jumped back as she pulled back her sword.
The blade of her sword immediately dug deep into the Dragon's neck, creating a large wound all around its neck before it returned to its master.
The incredible pain it felt from Kuroka's attack immediately attracted all of its rage and it forgot about the opponent who'd sent it flying.
Kuroka then saw how it inhaled deeply and immediately controlled her whip sword to form a spiral in front of her. The next moment, her ears and tails lit up with black flames and a striking blue tattoo appeared on her face.
From the gaps in her blade, the same black flames were ejected out, forming a solid circular shield in front of her.
The next second, Kuraokami opened its mouth wide and released a blue beam which contained an extremely freezing Magic Power towards Kuroka. However, even before it could land on her shield, the beam was dispersed in multiple directions, not doing any damage to its target.
At this sight, the Monster Rex became confused but it didn't have time to think as it felt a presence on the back of its neck, "Tesshou (Iron Palm)!"
Hitting just above the large, profusely bleeding cut, Yoruichi severed the Dragon's head, immediately turning it into a cloud of ash, leaving behind its undamaged Magic Stone and a few claws.
After immediately picking up the loot and placing it in her inventory, Yoruichi urged Kisuke, "Let's go. Before the others reach this place."
"Oh, right. That roar just should have alerted the people in the safe zone.", mumbled Kisuke as he ran after the girls towards the 34th floor.
More than 10 minutes after they left, splashing sounds could be heard from the room where they'd come from earlier. Soon after, four groups of people hurriedly entered the Kuraokami's ice chamber, only to be met with an empty place and piles of ashes.
"What's this? Wasn't it agreed upon that we'll take care of the two Monster Rex's this time? Who did this?" Fenia, one of the people who came down, asked in confusion and slight anger.
Not far from her, however, she heard a mocking snort, "Hmph! Stop this ploy, will ya? It's pretty obvious that you wanted to take the next respawn, too, by slaying this monster secretly. Too bad for you, we won't give up our right as the next one in line."
Fenia glared at the man who just spoke, "I could also say the same as you! This could have been your group's doing, thinking that you could get away with it!"
The man, a Weretiger glared back at Fenia, "Huh!? And where's your evidence!?"
The man is one of the Vice Captains of the Aruna Familia, Todd Bunce, a Level 6. But from the way he acted, he looked like a low-level ruffian.
The other man who came down with him, one of the executives of the Aruna Familia, Salvatore Borne, who was a Human and a Level 5, grabbed his shoulder in an attempt to remind him that they were at a disadvantage due to the fact that their Captain hadn't appeared in public for a month now.
And indeed, Fenia sneered at them and used that fact, "I could ask the same, but I'll ask this instead. Where's your Captain? The people who are capable of this are all accounted for, except for your Captain. He could have come down here to do this and considering your reputation, it isn't a farfetched possibility."
Todd gritted his teeth as that didn't come to his mind at all. But before he could say anything, Salvatore spoke up first, "In the name of Aruna-sama, I can assure you that Captain Hadrian is within Zitta as we speak."
"Tsk.", Fenia immediately clicked her tongue and looked at others who were investigating the chamber, "So who did it?"
Not being able to contain himself, Todd immediately answered, "It's obviously your Astarte Familia! Your members are recently very active within the Dungeon and we have no way of knowing what they're up to once they're inside!"
But instead of Fenia, it was the Captain of the Amphitrite Familia who retorted at him, "Shut your loud mouth! Even if it was your Captain along with some other people, they couldn't have done this!"
Todd immediately turned to the Elf called Lelalia, the Captain of Amphitrite Familia and a Level 7, "What was that, hag!? Are you saying my Captain is so weak that he couldn't defeat Kuraokami!?"
Instead of Lelalia, it was Fenia's companion who answered him, "Take a look around. Aside from the small pothole in the middle, there are no other signs of battle. Considering that neither the Rex nor the people who killed it were here when we arrived, it's safe to assume that it was instantly killed and without much effort from its assailants."
The Elf, Yenna Lightwing, an executive of the Astarte Familia and a Level 5, then turned her head towards Todd and continued, "For everyone's sake, please don't go to an investigation if you're only going to run your mouth around and not use your head. You're only suitable for grunt work and you should just stick to that."
Editors:
28th00: That was fast. Kuroka has a battle-form too? Serafall will love that transformations have spread even more now I bet! The Aruna Familia seems to be mostly made of thugs, huh? It’s kinda amazing they’re that high level with that sorta mentality…
Alexander: Come on, Yoruichi. There should’ve been enough time to make at least a group photo. You have to take the time to appreciate the romance of fantasy.
The Weretiger instantly lost his cool and was about to attack when his companion immediately grabbed his arm and reprimanded in a low voice, "You can't do this, Sir Todd!"
Everyone was already touching their weapons, but what they didn't expect, however, was that the infamous and incredibly arrogant Todd Bunce actually immediately backed down and just clicked his tongue.
'Just my luck that this brainless idiot was the only one around when something like this happens.', thought Salvatore. They had to follow everyone else or they wouldn't be able to defend themselves if someone really defeated the Kuraokami in secret. More importantly, they couldn't give up their right to the Monster Rex that only spawned every two months since their Captain right now was at a very important juncture.
Looking around, Salvatore couldn't help but be frustrated at everyone looking at them with suspicion, 'Nevertheless, they can't really get any answers from me even if they ask. And what's wrong with us not making any trouble?'
Everyone took back their hands from their weapons, but as Salvatore thought, they were all suspicious that Todd would easily back down as they knew for sure that he was not afraid of them. However, they couldn't really ask them why and could only keep their suspicion in their mind.
"So who could have done this? All those who could are currently accounted for and I doubt that the Astarte Familia would really start this drama.", Zerelda Sawyer, a Sheep Person from the Lugh Familia, and a Level 5 asked everyone.
Everyone discussed it for a bit before a splashing sound was heard from the tunnel they came out of. Soon after, a Mercenary from the Poseidon Familia emerged and immediately went straight towards Lelalia before whispering something.
Nodding at her, Lelalia asked the Mercenary to dry herself off before facing everyone, "According to the witnesses, it seems that a group of three people came down moments before they heard the cry of Kuraokami, however, their identities couldn't be determined due to them wearing heavy cloaks."
But even before this information came to them, they already had a guess as to who they were, "Three people, huh... So chances are, it was Yoruichi Shihouin, Kuroka Toujou and the new addition to their party.", muttered Fenia while recalling their last encounter.
"If that's the case, then our initial estimations of them are seriously off. And with a new addition to their group, they could technically become another faction.", Zerelda crossed her arms and muttered in contemplation.
"Even then, we can't really point our fingers at them since we don't have any evidence. They could just as easily say that it may be other strong wandering individuals who took care of it.", added Lelalia.
"Then how are we going to solve the allocation of the Monster Rex? We certainly won't give away our rights over it in two months.", asked Salvatore.
Lelalia looked at him and replied, "We can't decide a proper conclusion to that with just us here. Let's move to the surface and discuss this with everyone else."
Zerelda looked towards the path leading to the next floor and asked, "Should we send someone to scout them?"
"I'd advise against that. We don't know their full capabilities and it'll only put the scout in unnecessary danger.", replied Yenna.
.
.
.
As soon as they stepped into the 34th floor, the temperature became a lot better but the surroundings became even grimmer. With a thick mist covering the whole floor, it was impossible to see beyond ten meters. Without a good map or a guide, one would instantly get lost in this enormous labyrinth that could fit an entire city.
However, the most terrifying thing about this floor for the Mercenaries were the monsters that silently roamed throughout. A few minutes after stepping into the mist-veiled floor, they were immediately surrounded by floating translucent skeletons covered in tattered cloaks with their eye sockets filled with purple fire.
They were Wraiths, monsters that were incorporeal, which made them immune to physical attacks unless one hit its Magic Stone that was randomly placed inside its body. Their main attacks were mental disturbance and curses that made one weaker. If someone fell to their attacks without defending, they'd become mad and start attacking others or just outright kill themselves.
The only way to hurt these beings outside of damaging their Magic Stones was Magic, so without preparing a sufficient amount of Magic Swords and Magic Potions, it was just going to be suicide, not to mention that there were other stronger incorporeal being that lurked in the darkness of not just the 34th floor, but until 39th floor, too.
Of course, it was a different story for Kisuke's group. With a simple Kidou, Yoruichi could annihilate a group of them and Kuroka just needed to use Senjutsu and they would be destroyed from the inside. Even if Kisuke couldn't fight properly and couldn't awaken Benihime, just a slight cut from his blade would immediately purify the Wraiths.
Kisuke, Yoruichi and Kuroka didn't stop running until they reached the 40th floor, slaughtering not just Wraiths, but also Banshees and Revenants.
"That's a boring area for sure...", muttered Kisuke.
Yoruichi sighed and nodded, "I know, right?"
"Please don't say that, nyaa. It just happens that we're their worst enemy. Others could easily get wiped out if they're not careful.", Kuroka reminded them.
Kisuke then looked around at the large steaming tunnel and said, "Let's forget about that. It looks like it's a hot area this time. What're the monsters this time around?"
Since this was where he would spend the next three weeks, Kisuke didn't want it to be as boring as the previous area.
"There are many types and various monsters from this floor until the 46th floor, but generally, they are divided between two categories.", answered Yoruichi as she walked forward, "The first are obviously fire monsters and the second are poisonous monsters. Or it could be a combination of these two."
"As for the 48th floor, it's a safety point so we could set up our base there, nyaa.", added Kuroka, "Beyond that is a rainforest biome and I've heard that there are a lot of exotic fruits and vegetables over there, with some having some unique effect."
Kisuke smiled and said, "Now that's nice to hear~ Let's go set up our base first. Let's make our three weeks as comfortable as possible."
Yoruichi and Kuroka knew for sure that if not for his current state, Kisuke would probably make a modern skyscraper as their 'base' on the 48th floor. However, these two still underestimated Kisuke's enthusiasm in building 'bases' as he'd already prepared something just for the occasion.
'Now then... How tall should I make it?', thought Kisuke as he started thinking about the floor plans.
Editors:
28th00: Phis-chama learnt how to build cool ‘bases’ from Mr. Hat after all. I wonder how the mercs are gonna react to the monstrosity he ends up making?
Alexander: Behold, the full fledged seven star ‘Hotel del Kisuke’.