Chapter 294

Chapter 294: Chapter 294

The Corrupted Spirit disappeared.

Its humanoid upper body, along with the enormous mass that formed its lower half, simply vanished as though someone had taken a powerful eraser to a painting and wiped the entire figure from the canvas.

The raging sword force continued onward without losing momentum, carving a web of savage intersecting scars across the ground.

"Did we... win?"

Ais stared at the scene.

Even though she had already expected Kiriya to be overwhelmingly strong, she still could not keep the shock from showing in her eyes.

’The gap... keeps getting bigger.’

"Is that your true strength?"

Riveria narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

"We won..."

Jeanne finally relaxed.

Her legs weakened beneath her, and she sat down heavily on the ground, breathing hard.

"That guy..."

Ryuu still wore her usual cool expression, but the corners of her lips had already begun curling upward beyond any hope of suppressing them.

Rumble—!

Just as the women began relaxing and preparing to rest, the ground of Floor 59 suddenly began shaking with the sound of a stampede.

Everyone turned toward the source.

Large numbers of strange worms, Man-Eating Flowers, and other monsters were still converging on their position.

For some unknown reason, even though the Corrupted Spirit had been destroyed, the monsters it had summoned did not disperse.

They continued stubbornly advancing toward the adventurers.

"Haa... I’m completely out of Mind."

Riveria tapped the butt of her staff against the ground in frustration.

If she had been at full strength, this collection of leftovers would hardly have been enough to trouble her.

At that moment, Kiriya’s Shadow Clones appeared in four directions, two to each side.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage."

"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work."

"Compound Ninja Art: Flame Wind Wild Wave."

With Kiriya’s Tailed Beast-level chakra behind it, the combined ninjutsu reached a level of power that was difficult to imagine.

Rolling waves of flame surged outward in every direction.

Whether they were strange worms or Man-Eating Flowers, the monsters barely had time to scream before they vanished one after another, leaving magic stones scattered across the ground.

"You can use an attack like that and still have this much magical energy left?"

Riveria stared at the Shadow Clone beside her.

"Are you actually a monster?"

She looked increasingly suspicious.

"Your real body isn’t secretly some kind of Spirit, is it?"

It almost seemed as though only a legendary race like that could possess such absurd reserves.

"All right. That takes care of everything."

Kiriya and his clones clapped their hands, then each placed a hand on one of the women.

In the next instant, everyone vanished from Floor 59.

Using the Flying Thunder God marks he had left along the route earlier, Kiriya began moving the entire group back toward the upper floors.

...

One day later, Floor 50.

"...This feels so good..."

Clear river water surrounded Ais’s entire body, its coolness seeping into her skin until every cell seemed to sigh with pleasure.

"Haa~~"

Blub... blub...

Without thinking, she opened her mouth and breathed out.

Underwater, the escaping air became a stream of bubbles, rising with soft popping sounds that brushed against her ears like gentle fingers.

The girl known as the Sword Princess floated horizontally beneath the water.

Her long golden hair spread around her like liquid sunlight, contrasting beautifully against her ivory skin and adding even more brilliance to the shimmering river.

If someone with artistic talent had witnessed the scene, they might have immediately reached for a brush, desperate to preserve this almost otherworldly image on canvas.

The tension that had remained wound tightly inside Ais gradually loosened.

Her stiff limbs relaxed.

Her mind seemed almost ready to drift free from her body and float away into the vast world around her.

The feeling was so pleasant that, for a moment, Ais wished time could simply stop here forever.

"..."

Suddenly, the light above her dimmed.

Ripples spread through the water.

Someone seemed to be approaching.

Ais opened her eyes.

Lefiya was standing nearby, covering herself with one arm while wildly waving the other.

Her mouth was moving at incredible speed as though she were desperately trying to explain something.

"Hm?"

Ais’s face naturally shifted into confusion.

Because they were underwater, Lefiya’s voice came through as little more than a muffled blur.

Ais adjusted her position and raised her head above the surface.

Only then did Lefiya’s frantic voice become understandable.

"That’s not what happened, Ais-san! I absolutely wasn’t staring! And I definitely wasn’t thinking about painting what I saw... I mean, if I actually had the talent, then of course I’d want to preserve such a beautiful scene forever, but please believe me, I’m nothing like Loki! I don’t have any of those improper thoughts! I was simply admiring how beautiful Ais-san is..."

Blah-blah-blah...

Babble-babble...

Lefiya became so flustered that she eventually stopped making much sense at all.

By the end, her face was bright red and imaginary steam practically seemed ready to rise from her head.

Unable to take it anymore, she abruptly plunged herself into the river and refused to come back up.

"???"

Ais tilted her head.

A long string of invisible question marks practically appeared above her.

She was not particularly worried about Lefiya drowning.

After all, she was still a Level 3 adventurer. A river barely over a meter deep was hardly going to kill her.

Instead, Ais’s attention was drawn toward the lively sounds farther away.

In another stretch of the clear river, a group of girls were happily playing around.

"Waaaah! This feels amazing!"

Tiona burst out of the water and shook her head violently like a wet puppy.

Water droplets flew everywhere, many of them landing directly on Tione’s face.

"Hey!"

Tione immediately shouted.

"Are you a dog or something?"

"Huh? You dare challenge me?"

Tiona refused to back down.

"Take this—Dragon Claw!"

She instantly reached toward her older sister with both hands.

"Eek—!"

Tione let out a startled scream at the sudden attack.

But before the embarrassed older sister could retaliate, Tiona herself suddenly sank into a defeated crouch, her entire body seeming to turn gray with despair.

"N-No way... the difference is way too big..."

Tione stared at her.

"..."

Was her little sister an idiot?

Tione was the one who had just been attacked, so why was Tiona acting like she had suffered some devastating emotional blow?

"What difference?"

At that moment, a gentle voice sounded nearby.

The girls in the river turned toward it.

Almost immediately, several admiring voices rang out.

"So pretty..."

The newcomers were Jeanne and Ryuu Lion, who had accepted the invitation from the Loki Familia girls and come to bathe with them.

Ryuu’s beauty hardly needed explanation.

Even among the famously beautiful elves, her appearance ranked near the top.

Combined with that cool yet easily embarrassed temperament, she resembled a snow lotus touched by the colors of sunset, naturally drawing the eye.

Jeanne beside her was no less striking.

Her delicate features and almost otherworldly presence gave her a beauty entirely distinct from everyone else present.

Of course, what drew the most attention was not her face.

It was the Saint’s uniquely generous... proportions.

So broad.

So abundant.

Among all the girls present, only Tione could truly stand on equal footing with her. Everyone else could only look on with envy.

"W-What is it?"

The girls’ gazes were far too obvious.

Jeanne instinctively hugged her arms closer around herself.

Unfortunately, that only made certain features stand out even more.

"Waaaaah—!"

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