Chapter 151: Fifth Floor

"Have to say...the fifth floor is impressive..." Nio murmurs as she looks around. Exactly three things caught Nio’s attention the moment she arrived. First was the fact that the sky is literally pink, something that’s kind of strange when you think about the fact that this place is Hell.

Second was the colossal amount of Mana in the air. There is so much Mana in the environment that Nio can feel its weight in her lungs when she breathes, can literally see particles of it floating around, and can even touch it because so much magic has accumulated in tiny areas.

And the third factor was the immense city she is looking at. The city is so large that it doesn’t matter whether she flies up and looks toward the horizon, she only sees more city. And as Nioh explained to Nio, the fifth floor is where only powerful people live.

But it is also where most of those people "park" the ones who are strong and have no reason to try to return to life. They simply live on the fifth floor of Hell, making this the largest "city floor" in Hell. There are cities and even larger kingdoms on several other floors, but none as populated as this one.

Of course, that also means this is the floor with the greatest amount of fighting, chaos, and disorder caused by people. Overall, it can be summed up as a place full of magic and full of people.

The real danger of this floor in the past was the [Escarties], monsters that were born on this floor. The thing is, so many powerful people emerged on this floor and began living here that the [Escarties] were literally driven to extinction. An entire race ceased to exist, which is insane considering that this floor is also infinite, but so many gods passed through it that the fact that it was infinite hardly mattered.

"Haa...this floor would be amazing for us to find a staff, or something cool...it would be perfect...BUT WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE!!" Nio screams, pointing at Typhon, who waves at the two Nios from the other side of the plaza.

"Nio! I knew I’d be able to find you here!" Typhon calmly approaches the two with a gentle smile on her face.

"How are you already here?" Nio asks suspiciously.

"I knew I wouldn’t find you on the fourth floor. Your scent was too far away, so I thought I’d do the opposite and find you on the fifth floor. So I focused on leaving the fourth floor before you. I’ve been on the fifth floor for a week, waiting for your scent to appear," Typhon says with a confident smile.

’I can’t believe this woman got ahead of us...and why isn’t she angry?’ Nio becomes frustrated by her gentle tone.

"Aren’t you angry, Typhon? I attacked you and left you on the second floor." While Nio speaks, Nioh hides behind Nio, not wanting any contact with Typhon.

"No, I don’t see any reason to be angry. You have complete freedom to come and go as you please. If you wanted to travel on your own for a while, that’s fine..." Typhon deeply inhales Nio’s scent in the air, knowing that both Nios had sex with each other, but she decides not to mention it.

Unlike what Nio thought, that Typhon would be angry, Typhon had actually stopped caring after Nio convinced her that being married to Nioh was useful to Typhon, so Typhon is quite neutral about the two of them being intimate.

"Besides, Nio, I got a staff for you. It’s a pretty interesting weapon. I got it on the fourth floor..." Nio looks over Typhon’s body, not seeing any weapon.

"Where is it?"

"We can’t use our inventory, so I had to get creative..." Typhon tilts her head upward and opens her mouth, pulling the staff out from inside her body. She obviously doesn’t mention that this staff was made from the corpse of the Little Goddess she digested.

"...Eww..." Nio takes the saliva-covered staff, but the moment she touches it, she feels the absurd quality of the staff. It’s a long, white staff, one and a half meters in length, with a spiraled tip.

"Wow...it seems really good at channeling magic...what is it made of? It’s white, which is kind of strange. There aren’t many white materials that are good for making staffs." Nio swings the staff in her hands.

"...Just enjoy the gift, Nio. In your world, when you receive a gift without a price tag, do you ask how much it costs?"

"Well...no, right? That’d be weird..."

"It’s equally strange to ask what a gift is made of, unless you think I tampered with the staff."

"..." Nio makes a suspicious pout, as if the staff had a bomb implanted inside it.

"...It’s just a staff, Nio. You don’t need to be that paranoid...so let’s get to what really matters here. Nio, do you want to go to the next floor immediately, or stay on the fifth floor for a while?" Typhon tries to catch up on Nio’s plans.

’...Damn...I didn’t even have time to plan how to defeat Typhon. Most of the conversations Nioh and I had were on the third floor, but nothing concrete, really...’

"I’m not sure. I think we’ll stay on the fifth floor for a while..."

’Prana-chan should take a few hundred years to recover from the freezing effect. She isn’t a problem. I plan to leave Hell long before that. Besides, Prana-chan seems terrible at finding exit portals considering how long she claimed to have spent on each floor...’

"Alright...Nio, could you step away for a bit and give me some space to talk to Nioh?" Typhon makes a request that leaves Nio confused.

"...Alright." Nio agrees as Nioh gives a nod. She walks away along one of the roads while looking at the city’s architecture, which is largely made of some kind of grayish-white concrete.

"...Nioh, you seem uncomfortable with my arrival. Am I really that scary?"

"...What do you want with me?"

"...You smell like Nio now. That’s interesting. Do you like her? Have you fallen in love with your other half?"

"W-What?"

"You’ve always been quite wary of sex, traumatized in several ways, and I admit I am partly to blame for that. So your scent is curious. You like that girl, don’t you?" Typhon doesn’t stop staring into Nioh’s eyes.

"You don’t know anything. I don’t feel that way about Nio!"

"...Nioh, you know better than anyone that nothing can deceive my eyes. You’re scared, aren’t you? You’re afraid of being betrayed." When Typhon says that, Nioh bites her lip. Typhon has barely seen her for four minutes, and already knows everything she’s feeling.

Not because of some supernatural power or magic, but simply because she knows Nioh’s mind and body so deeply and obsessively that predicting her is simply easy.

"I understand. I understand very well. From what I’ve seen so far, Nio is paranoid, selfish, and above all someone who only seems to care about herself. You should be afraid of her. She will undoubtedly betray you if it benefits her."

"After all, I was carrying her and being quite kind to her the entire way, and as soon as she felt she didn’t need me anymore, she left me on the second floor." Typhon feeds Nioh’s insecurity like a snake striking at the slightest opportunity.

"Sh-Shut up!" Nioh simply runs away from her toward Nio, but the seed Typhon planted has already grown enough.

"...Heh, Nio is as hard as a rock and doesn’t understand a woman’s heart. What a shame." Typhon genuinely feels sorry for Nioh, at least as far as what she understands as pity.

"It’s not something I should resolve. It’s better for me if they distrust each other." Typhon walks toward them without running, taking only calm steps, completely confident that she could never lose either of them by their scent.