Chapter 295

Chapter 295: Chapter 295

"Damn it!"

With a loud cry, Tiona lunged at Tione again.

"This is all your fault, you greedy demon!"

"Give me back my half!"

Forget Jeanne—even Ryuu was at least a full size bigger than her. It was outrageous!

If her greedy older sister hadn’t stolen all the nutrients meant for her, she might at least have reached the average by now.

’Uwaaah...’

"Idiot, Tiona!"

Tione immediately fought back, and the two sisters began splashing water at each other.

Unfortunately, the fight quickly dragged several innocent bystanders into the crossfire

Before long, it had developed into a full-scale free-for-all among the girls, filling the river with laughter and excited squeals.

"By the way... nobody’s going to peek at us, right?"

Suddenly, Line from the Loki Familia raised the question.

The entire river fell silent.

There were girls of every build and type gathered here, each beautiful in her own way—and all of them were currently in a rather special state of undress.

It was hard to guarantee that nobody would get any ideas.

"Relax, relax. We’ve got strict security measures."

The catgirl Aki pointed confidently toward the female Familia members standing guard around the bathing area.

"But... what if it’s... Kiriya-san?"

Nobody knew who muttered it, but the atmosphere instantly became tense.

That was Kiriya.

Not only was he absurdly strong, he was also a perfectly healthy young man.

Faced with a sight like this, it would hardly be strange if he felt tempted.

Under everyone’s expectant gazes, Jeanne remained completely calm.

"Don’t worry. Kiriya isn’t that kind of person."

"Exactly."

Ryuu immediately backed her up.

"If that guy wanted to look, he’d just do it openly."

The moment those words left her mouth, Ryuu noticed everyone staring at her strangely.

A second later, she realized what she had just implied.

Didn’t that make it sound as though she had already been...

"N-No! That isn’t what I meant! H-He said that himself... I mean... um..."

The normally cool and aloof elf instantly degenerated into a useless mess, stumbling over her words.

"All right, stop imagining things."

As one of the more senior women present, Tione clapped her hands.

"He’s probably discussing something with Captain and the others right now."

At those words, Ais’s eyes flickered slightly, as though something had occurred to her.

...

"Kiriya, we really owe you this time."

Inside the expedition’s command tent, Finn spoke to him solemnly.

"If it weren’t for you, Ais and Riveria could have been in serious danger."

"Come on, there’s no need for that."

Kiriya waved it off.

"I was the one who invited them along as reinforcements. Of course I was going to bring them back in one piece."

He smiled.

"Besides, Ais and Riveria contributed plenty. Ryuu and Jeanne were helped a lot too. Everyone got something out of the trip."

Finn, Gareth, and Riveria exchanged looks before smiling wryly.

What Kiriya said almost sounded irritatingly modest, because the truth was that even without Riveria and Ais, he could probably have dealt with that Corrupted Spirit by himself.

Riveria and Ais had certainly played important roles during the expedition, but without Kiriya repeatedly supporting them with the Flying Thunder God Technique, they likely would have paid a severe price for it.

If anything, Riveria and Ais had been the ones receiving protection this time.

For Riveria, who was accustomed to being the protector, the reversal felt rather strange.

"All right, enough about that."

Kiriya clearly had no interest in dwelling on the matter.

"There’s something else I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Seeing how serious he had become, the three leaders of the Loki Familia immediately straightened and listened carefully.

"What happened on Floor 59 was only the beginning."

Kiriya looked at them.

"That kind of monster wasn’t the only one. There are at least six more hiding deeper down."

The words hit like a thunderbolt.

Finn, Riveria, and Gareth all shot to their feet.

"Are you serious?"

Finn stepped forward urgently.

"I sent a clone down to Floor 60."

Kiriya nodded.

"That floor... has already turned into an environment similar to Floor 59. And I sensed six presences identical to the monster we fought."

His expression became more serious.

"On top of that, they appear to be preparing some kind of mysterious ritual—the Sixfold Spirit Ring."

"What is that?"

All three looked at him curiously.

"Back in ancient times, a black dragon called Nidhogg escaped from the Dungeon and ravaged the surface, causing untold devastation."

Kiriya explained.

"To kill it, six Spirits sacrificed themselves and activated the Sixfold Spirit Ring, summoning a pillar of light from the heavens. The attack destroyed Nidhogg and pierced through the Dungeon all the way down to Floor 60."

The expressions of the three leaders grew steadily darker.

"The ones performing the ritual now aren’t pure Spirits, but Corrupted Spirits, so the power will be significantly weaker."

Kiriya paused.

"But even then, wiping the entirety of Orario off the map wouldn’t be difficult."

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Who could have imagined that such an enormous danger had been hiding in the deepest reaches of the Dungeon?

If the Loki Familia had blindly pushed downward without knowing any of this, even one of Orario’s so-called strongest Familias might have suffered catastrophic losses.

A complete wipeout was entirely possible.

"Let me ask you something."

Finn suddenly seemed to realize something, and his eyes lit up.

"Kiriya, what are you planning to do?"

Riveria and Gareth immediately caught on as well.

Kiriya had shown far too much enthusiasm toward the monster on Floor 59 for them to believe he would simply ignore the six on Floor 60.

"Heh."

Kiriya grinned.

"Obviously, I’m going to bring some reliable companions and wipe all of them out."

Seven enormous walking experience packages.

Like hell he was going to let those go.

"Just the Hestia Familia?"

Finn immediately recognized an opportunity.

"Do you have enough manpower?"

He continued without hesitation.

"If this is about protecting Orario, then the Loki Familia naturally has to lend a hand."

Kiriya blinked and gave Finn a suspicious look.

For a second, he wondered whether this guy’s surname had been Chu in a previous life.

The thought vanished as quickly as it appeared.

He nodded.

"Not just the Loki Familia. The Freya Familia is coming too."

Kiriya snorted.

"We’re not going to do all the work while they sit comfortably on the sidelines watching the show."

There was a reason he wanted both of Orario’s strongest Familias involved.

There were six powerful monsters on Floor 60.

Each of them possessed strength of at least Level 7.

And those were only clones.

The true body of the Corrupted Spirit had yet to reveal itself.

To be safe, they needed enough people to restrain the battlefield and prevent unexpected attacks.

If the true Corrupted Spirit suddenly appeared and launched an ambush, Kiriya himself would be fine.

The others might not be.

So this time, Kiriya intended to bring everything he had.

Finn and the others were not surprised.

Since Kiriya had already brought the Freya Familia under Hestia Familia’s control, there was no reason he would leave such a powerful fighting force unused.

"So when are you planning to move?" Riveria asked.

"One month from now." Kiriya answered.

He wanted to raise Ryuu and Jeanne’s Status as much as possible before the expedition, allowing them to maximize the benefits they could gain from the coming battle.

"A month?"

Finn, Riveria, and Gareth hesitated.

"Will we really have that much time?"

Would the enemy simply wait an entire month for them to prepare?

"Of course."

Kiriya curled his lips.

"The Sixfold Spirit Ring is a ritual spell that requires an extremely long chant before it can activate. More importantly, it also needs a complete network supplying magical energy to the formation."

The three immediately understood.

"So if we disrupt the energy supply to the ritual, we can delay its activation?"

"Exactly."

Kiriya nodded.

Of course, there was another, even more important reason.

The evil god manipulating everything behind the scenes had an utterly twisted sense of entertainment.

What he wanted had never been simple destruction.

He enjoyed watching humans—heroes in particular—begin with confidence, struggle desperately, overcome one hardship after another, and then finally fall into despair anyway.

So he would not activate the Sixfold Spirit Ring immediately.

He would first take his time enjoying the prisoners’ struggle.

Only after they had fought desperately enough would he destroy everything.

It was a good concept.

A dramatic script.

Unfortunately for him—

He had run into Kiriya.