Chapter 431: The Endless Monster Tide

At the same time, the door was quietly pulled shut.

Artemis leaned against the wall out in the hallway, listening to the increasingly outrageous noises coming from within. She let out a long sigh, her beautiful face flushed with a faint shade of red. She cast a glance down the corridor toward the children whose attention had been thoroughly captured by the banquet, then smiled helplessly.

"Honestly... Looks like I'll have to keep watch for them tonight."

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Roars echoed through the cavernous underground space like rolling thunder. Close behind followed the heavy, chaotic thunder of rushing footsteps—a ground-shaking tremor that felt as though it would trample this desolate earth into dust.

Giant, twisted horns resembling those of a ram rose above hideous equine faces. Heavy breaths blasted scorching air from their nostrils as blood-red eyes rolled wildly, locking onto their prey. Living up to their monstrous classification, the massive bodies launched into a brutal charge. Dozens of these black behemoths raised crude, heavy blunt weapons high into the air and brought them smashing down.

"Shield wall, hold—!!!"

Deafening crashes erupted in perfect unison with the command. Dozens of heavy greatshields locked together seamlessly, absorbing the entirely of the monsters' devastating assault. The sheer force of the impact was like a cruel joke; the dwarven warriors in the front row were driven heel-deep into the rust-brown earth, blinding sparks bursting across the surfaces of their shields.

"Vanguard, maintain a tight formation! Rearguard, keep up the attack!"

Meeting these ferocious monsters head-on was a massive expedition team comprised of multiple races. The heavily muscled dwarves holding the greatshields let out low, furious bellows. Behind them, elves and beastmen unleashed a relentless barrage of howling arrows and brilliant magic. The agile Amazon sisters darted through the gaps in their own firing lines like sprinting cheetahs, delivering fatal slashes to the monsters' vitals.

In the center of the formation, neatly dividing the vanguard and rearguard, two flags snapped sharply in the swirling dust. One bore a grinning jester; the other depicted a scale and a droplet of water, symbolizing justice and judgment. These were the banners of the Loki Familia and the Focalors Familia.

Unlike their previous probing expeditions with a small elite squad, this was a full-scale joint expedition between the two great Familias, driving their blades directly into the Deep Floors of the Dungeon.

It was a barren, lifeless expanse. Everything here—whether rock or gravel—was steeped in a rust-brown hue. Deep within the dust-obscured landscape stretched massive walls that reached high into the distance, capped by a stone ceiling that sealed off the sky like a timeless vault. This was the true "underground depths," with dozens of floors stacked heavily above it. Amidst roars that could never hope to reach the surface, a bloody war between man and monster raged on.

"Starlight, Tione, Tiona, go reinforce the left flank."

Standing on a protruding rock, the Prum commander Finn calmly observed the battlefield, having already seen through the flow of combat. His voice wasn't loud, but it possessed an undeniable piercing quality that reached everyone's ears. His eagle-like gaze had long since captured the rapidly shifting state of the war. Whenever the front line began to buckle or a gap appeared, it was swiftly patched under his precise command, restoring the precarious balance.

"I know, I know! Ahhh, I'm completely swamped here!" Tiona complained loudly as she swung her massive Urga.

"Cut the chatter and hurry up," Tione snapped, not hesitating for a second to execute the order while scolding her younger sister. When it came to Finn's commands, she demanded absolute obedience without a single word of complaint.

Tifa's actions were even more decisive. The instant Finn's order dropped, she transformed into a brilliant streak of starlight, rushing straight from the main camp to the left flank. Having leveled up to Level 5 and become a First-Class Adventurer, her raw speed had surpassed even the Level 6 Amazon sisters. Within the Loki Familia, perhaps only Ais and Bete could rival her in sheer velocity.

In the span of a single breath, Tifa's phantom-like silhouette brushed past three massive monsters. The roaring behemoths suddenly froze. Their gigantic bodies fractured inch by inch like weathered rock before crumbling into a cloud of ash, leaving behind only three darkly gleaming Magic Stones that clattered against the ground.

"As expected of Starlight... So fast..." an adventurer from the Loki Familia swallowed hard, his eyes filled with shock and awe.

But even with such displays of power, the battle remained grim. Monsters surged from the dark depths of the caverns like an endless, suffocating tide. Even as the frontline adventurers kept their heads down and slaughtered without pause, they couldn't stem the approaching black wave. Relying on their absolute numerical advantage, the swarm sought to devour this expedition team that had dared to delve so deep.

The monsters, classified as Fomors, possessed bodies so massive that even burly beastmen could easily be stepped over. They swung thick, fossilized bone clubs with reckless abandon, their heavy strikes contorting the faces of the shield-bearing warriors in agony. The steel defense line, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, trembled violently as it was pushed backward. Their once-expanded semicircular formation was being forced into a tight, precarious cluster.

"Riveria! Are you still not ready?!" Tiona's anxious voice pierced the chaotic battlefield, directed toward the rear heavily guarded by the vanguard.

There, surrounded by a constant barrage of magic and arrows, a beautiful and tranquil voice was weaving an incantation without a moment's pause.

—Release the flames, at once.

Emerald hair flowed over an elegant, white-themed magician's robe. She held a staff radiating brilliant silver light horizontally at her waist. She possessed a peerless beauty that surpassed anyone else on the battlefield, her long, pointed ears serving as a testament to her noble lineage.

Quietly approaching flames of war, inevitable destruction. The horn of battle echoes through the heavens, and tyrannical conflict devours all.

The powerful, beautifully rhythmic chant echoed over the battlefield. The magic circle expanding beneath her feet flared with radiant emerald light as countless particles of luminescence manifested from the air, dancing around her. Her delicate brows furrowed tightly. Maintaining the subtle movements of her lips as she chanted, she locked her gaze onto a single point in the distance.

Descend, crimson flames, merciless raging fire.

Listening to the chant pouring out like a rising tide, every adventurer on the battlefield tightened their muscles, bracing for the impending, devastating strike.

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