Chapter 415: Regrouping

Under the devastating rain of light, the four wyverns and everyone on their backs were instantly swallowed by a maelstrom of light and fire.

After the blinding flash and the deafening roar, a brief, dead silence followed. As the sweeping dust slowly settled, a landscape of absolute ruin was revealed. The purple-black earth was riddled with craters of varying sizes and depths, their edges scorched raw.

The four massive wyverns lay on the ground, whimpering in agony. Their tough scales were lacerated with wounds, and one even had its wing pierced clean through by a light beam, dripping with blood.

"Are you okay?" Aiden asked, releasing his tight grip on the pale, shell-shocked Furina and Artemis.

As for Aiden himself, the specialized travel gear Hermes had procured possessed astonishing defensive properties; he hadn't taken any substantial damage. The apocalyptic rain of light had ultimately spread its destructive force over too wide an area, meaning the actual lethality of each individual beam wasn't quite as terrifying as it looked.

Nearby, Robin and the others struggled to their feet. Though everyone was covered in dirt and looking quite worse for wear, fortunately, no one had lost their combat capability.

"W-what was that?! You scared me half to death..." Furina's legs were still trembling, and she practically hung off Aiden's arm in utter exhaustion.

"Looks like we narrowly dodged a bullet," Robin said, standing up and scanning the area, sighing in relief when she confirmed everyone was alive.

Hyacine immediately rushed over to the downed wyverns, pulling out Healing Spray to treat their wounds.

"What the hell was that light?" Daphne asked grimly. She helped a shivering Cassandra to her feet and yanked Hermes off the ground, eyeing the gruesome wounds on the wyverns.

"I'm afraid the target was me," Artemis said, a chill lacing her voice. "No, more accurately... it was the spear he holds."

Before she could finish, the purple-black earth around them began to squirm.

A chorus of sharp, venomous hisses erupted from all directions.

Without realizing it, they had been completely surrounded by a tide of black. Scorpion-type monsters were crawling out from the fissures in the parched earth, swarming in so densely that their numbers easily exceeded a thousand.

"Well, this is trouble," someone muttered. The group subconsciously backed up, quickly forming a tight, defensive circle.

"These monsters... they're different from the ones we fought before." Tifa stood protectively in front of Hyacine and Robin, her expression grave as she stared at the vanguard.

The giant scorpions before them were nearly twice the size of their predecessors. The crimson patterns on their pitch-black carapaces pulsed slowly like flowing magma. Worst of all, their heads bore a single, disproportionately massive cyclopean eye that glowed with a bloodthirsty, savage red light.

"Jeanne!" Aiden barked.

"Understood!" Jeanne knew exactly what to do. She slammed her battle standard into the ground and chanted her incantation. A golden curtain of light instantly rippled outward from her position, forming an impenetrable golden barrier that enveloped the entire party.

The scorpion swarm's first wave crashed against the barrier, sending ripples of golden light across its surface—but the shield didn't budge an inch.

The moment the barrier fully manifested, Aiden shot forward like an arrow released from the bowstring. The air warped before him, manifesting a magical array out of thin air. Reaching his right hand in, he violently drew out a massive greatsword wreathed in dark red flames—the Godslayer: Surtr.

Without missing a single beat, he gripped the hilt with both hands and unleashed a savage slash toward the densest pocket of the swarm.

A crimson light, compressed to an impossibly fine thread, whipped outward from the blade's tip. Everywhere it passed, space itself seemed to scorch and twist. A split second later, the destructive shockwave detonated, turning the vibrating air into visible ripples that spread madly in all directions.

The crimson beam swallowed every scorpion in a straight line. They didn't even have the chance to wail before the extreme heat instantly vaporized them into gas. No ash was left behind. When the light faded, a massive, bottomless trench ten meters wide scarred the earth. The walls of the trench had been completely vitrified into glass, radiating terrifying heat.

Along that path of absolute death, over a hundred purple Magic Stones clattered to the ground like discarded stars.

"Whoa," Hermes couldn't help but whistle.

Artemis was equally stunned. She knew Aiden was constantly growing stronger, but she had never expected him to reach this level of power. With a single strike, he had obliterated over a hundred monsters whose strength rivaled those found in the Dungeon's middle floors.

Aiden didn't stop. Facing the swarm surging in from all sides, his figure blurred into a crimson cyclone. Every swing of his sword carved out arcs of scarlet light; every step he took left behind a trail of burning afterimages.

In just a few short minutes, the terrifying swarm of over a thousand giant scorpions was wiped out completely.

As the final scorpion crumbled into black ash, Aiden stood tall and lowered his sword. The acrid stench of scorched earth filled the silent air, and hundreds of purple Magic Stones glimmered with an eerie light across the blackened ground.

In the midst of the quiet, urgent shouts echoed from the other side of the forest.

"Lady Artemis!"

Accompanied by cries of joy and panic, a group of young women wearing hunting garb burst out from the treeline, looking incredibly ragged.

The leader, a half-elf girl named Lante, immediately teared up upon seeing Artemis safe and sound. Disregarding everything else, she threw herself at her goddess, hugging her tightly.

"You're safe... Thank goodness, you're safe..."

The other girls crowded around as well, all talking over one another to express their worry and relief.

Behind them, a second party emerged—members of the Hermes Familia.

"Lord Hermes."

An icy call devoid of all emotion made a certain god—who had been trying to quietly turn around and slip away—freeze on the spot.

Hermes turned back awkwardly, holding up both hands and forcing a placating smile. "Ah, Asfi! Long time no see."

"You irresponsible bastard," the blue-haired, bespectacled Asfi hissed, marching forward with steps that seemed to stomp directly on Hermes's heart. She ground her teeth, her voice squeezing out through the gaps. "How dare you dump all the responsibilities on us and sneak off by yourself?"

"Calm down, Asfi, calm down!" Hermes waved his hands frantically in defense. "I told you I was going back for reinforcements, didn't I? Look! I found the one who can pull the spear!"

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