Chapter 293

Chapter 293: Chapter 293

"You really are something."

Riveria shook her head, ripples spreading across the calm lake of her heart for the first time in a long while.

If a junior could show that much ambition, how could someone of her generation allow herself to be outdone?

"—Gather, breath of the earth—my name is Alf."

She raised her staff and softly completed the chant.

A thin garment of light immediately wrapped itself around Ryuu and Jeanne.

"Veil Breath."

Veil Breath was a support-type defensive spell that increased both physical and magical resistance.

The resulting layer of light functioned much like heavy armor, allowing frontline fighters such as Ryuu and Jeanne to endure substantially greater punishment.

They were not the only ones receiving support.

After treatment from Kiriya and Riveria, Ais had already recovered from most of her injuries.

Once she downed a few Mind potions to restore some of her magical energy, she gripped Desperate and charged back into the fight.

The battle became exceptionally fierce.

Ryuu, Jeanne, Ais, and Riveria brought out everything they had against an enemy unlike anything they had ever faced.

As if that were not troublesome enough, the Corrupted Spirit continued summoning monster hordes from Floors 58 and 60.

It was practically cheating.

Yet the more brutal the battle became, the brighter the four women seemed to shine.

Ryuu used Astraea Record to draw upon the power of her former comrades from the Astraea Familia, dramatically boosting her abilities and growing more ferocious the longer she fought.

Ais continued enhancing her speed and attack power with Ariel, while Avenger made her so dangerous to a monster-type enemy that even the Corrupted Spirit regarded her with extreme caution and refused to let Ais approach carelessly.

Riveria, meanwhile, had Kiriya covering her.

With her safety secured, Orario’s strongest mage was finally free to display the full qualities of a living artillery battery.

"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"

"Rea Laevateinn!"

"Via Shilheim!"

One incantation was longer than the last, and each spell carried greater power than the one before it.

The monster hordes summoned by the Corrupted Spirit were burned, frozen, and wiped away almost as soon as they appeared.

If the monster’s petal shields had not been capable of regenerating while providing powerful resistance against both magical energy and spells, Riveria’s barrage alone might already have blasted her into pieces.

Compared with the dazzling performances of those three, Jeanne’s contribution looked almost understated.

She did not produce as many spectacular explosions or overwhelming finishing attacks.

But it was precisely because Jeanne stood at the center, continuously coordinating and directing everyone, that their individual strengths could overlap instead of interfering with one another.

Under her command, the four women’s combined combat power reached a level none of them could have achieved alone, leaving the Corrupted Spirit increasingly frustrated.

In the original course of events, the Loki Familia had thrown nearly all of its main combat strength into this battle.

Seven first-class adventurers had fought at full power, backed by Magic Swords and Tsubaki Collbrande, before Ais finally found the opportunity to unleash her ultimate attack and destroy the Corrupted Spirit clone.

This time, there were only four of them.

One Level 6.

Two Level 5s.

And Jeanne, whose raw physical abilities were comparable to a Level 6.

The fact that they had fought a peak-Level-7 Corrupted Spirit this far was already something worth taking pride in.

Of course, Kiriya’s Flying Thunder God Technique had also made an enormous contribution.

Without him repeatedly intervening whenever someone entered genuine danger, the accumulated damage would probably have brought several of them down long ago.

There was no helping it.

Space-time ninjutsu really was that unfair.

Even though none of them had suffered fatal injuries, however, countless smaller wounds and steadily accumulating exhaustion gradually began pushing the four women toward their limits.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

Ryuu, Jeanne, Ais, and Riveria were drenched in sweat.

Their stamina and mental energy had been nearly exhausted, and wounds of every size covered their bodies.

Meanwhile, the Corrupted Spirit continued devouring monster magic stones and rapidly repairing herself.

All four could only groan inwardly.

’Does this thing’s magical energy never run out?’ 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

More than once, they had tried to recreate their earlier success.

The others would create openings, draw the monster’s attention, and force a path for Ais to close the distance and land another decisive blow.

Unfortunately, after being nearly killed once, the Corrupted Spirit had learned.

She would rather take attacks from everyone else than allow Ais another clean opportunity.

Ryuu and Jeanne’s attacks were not strong enough to break through all of her defenses and reach the true weak point.

Even when they inflicted wounds, those injuries were healed almost immediately.

But if Ais’s finishing move landed cleanly—

The Corrupted Spirit really could die.

As for Riveria...

Her magical bombardments possessed extraordinary destructive power, but her opponent had originated as a Spirit.

Whether in total magical reserves, the quality and speed of chanting, or the ability to judge the exact timing for Magic, the Corrupted Spirit held an advantage over the Nine Hell.

Worse still, the Corrupted Spirit could summon monsters and devour their magic stones to replenish herself, while Riveria had to rely on potions for rapid recovery.

That meant even when Riveria managed to break through the enemy’s defenses, she needed considerable time to gather enough magical energy for another major spell.

She lacked a single attack capable of ending everything at once.

As the battle continued, her reserves only grew thinner and thinner until she was gradually being dragged down by sheer attrition.

"..."

Ais said nothing.

Her golden eyes remained fixed on the enemy, filled with frustration and anxiety.

’Is this as far as we can go?’

Pat.

A warm, powerful hand landed on her shoulder.

Ais turned around and found Kiriya’s familiar face beside her.

"You did well."

He smiled.

"Now it’s my turn."

There was a strange excitement in his voice, like someone who had been watching another person play a game for ages and had finally gotten hold of the controller.

Kiriya drew his sword and walked toward the Corrupted Spirit.

"Aria... Aria... Give me Aria!"

The Corrupted Spirit shrieked.

Dozens of tentacles surged from her body and reached toward Ais.

She had never been able to seize her earlier because Ryuu, Jeanne, and the others had constantly interrupted.

Now that those annoying flies had finally exhausted themselves, she had to take the Aria she longed for.

"Eight Gates. Seventh Gate: Gate of Wonder—Open!"

Blue energy erupted around Kiriya, unleashing a violent gale.

Then his body vanished.

His speed instantly climbed to several times the speed of sound as he charged directly into the mass of incoming tentacles.

Shhk-shhk-shhk!

Sword light intertwined around him.

The moment Kiriya made contact, the tentacles were shredded into nothingness.

The Corrupted Spirit’s pupils contracted violently.

With a shriek, she crossed every remaining tentacle in front of herself, weaving them together into an almost impenetrable shield.

But—

It was useless.

A defense sturdy enough to make even Ottar frown was as fragile as paper in front of Kiriya.

It broke apart instantly.

And Kiriya was already there.

Only a single meter remained between them.

Several hundred meters had become one meter in the blink of an eye.

Even the Corrupted Spirit could not react to such an abrupt change in distance, much less begin weaving another spell.

Faced with imminent death, she attempted to detonate the Magic still inside her body.

It was a desperate method of inflicting a thousand points of damage on the enemy at the cost of ten thousand to herself.

As long as she survived, she could always regenerate afterward.

Kiriya’s answer was simple.

He swung his sword.

"Blade Storm."

"Thousand Strikes in an Instant!"

With Kiriya’s current Level 5 base attributes amplified by the Seventh Gate, every single sword strike now carried force comparable to one of Ottar’s full-power blows.

And this attack incorporated the principle behind Daytime Tiger.

Every swing compressed the air into a violent cannon blast—

Or rather, a cutting shock wave.

In other words, each sword strike produced something resembling a miniature Daytime Tiger.

And in a single instant—

Kiriya unleashed a thousand of them.

"ROOOAR—!"

A gigantic white tiger formed from compressed force surged forward with unstoppable momentum and completely swallowed the Corrupted Spirit.

"Secret Art: Annihilating White Tiger."