This had never happened in the game.
A mechanical device made of clockwork gears. Jun felt a cold sweat trickle down his back.
Things I’ve never seen before keep popping up.
Every time that happened, it felt like reality was cracking its whip, warning him not to grow complacent.
And judging from what it said, it sounds like the Trial of the Ninth Floor didn’t suit us, so it brought forth the Trial of the tenth floor instead.
The moment he looked around, Jun realized that this wasn’t the theme of the fifth floor he knew.
Whoooosh…
A gust of wind swept by, carrying with it a stream of gray ash.
A gray world.
The sky, the ground, and everything upon it were all stained in shades of ash.
As if fire had ravaged everything, leaving behind only a world of cinders.
Jun immediately cast the [Scan] spell.
“There it is.”
The being caught by Jun’s detection magic was not far away.
It was a cocoon the size of a boulder.
The gray cocoon, hanging from what looked like a tree about to crumble at any moment, split open with a crack, and from within, a huge moth emerged, spreading its wings.
Void Moth.
A moth that lived within the void.
Its fully unfurled wings bore patterns that looked eerily like human eyes, gazing straight at the group.
“Eleanor!”
“Understood!”
At Jun’s shout, Eleanor unleashed a holy spell.
[Light of Life]
A divine light of life that protected against corruption rose like a sun above the party, shining down upon them.
Jun quickly tore open an enchantment he had pulled from his dimensional bracelet.
[Mosillas’ Severance]
An enchantment containing a mental defense spell Jun hadn’t yet learned. Something he had received from Charles on the surface.
“We’ve got some defenses up for now, but try not to look directly at the eyes on its wings unless you have to.”
Everyone silently nodded.
And at that moment, Jun shouted.
“Attack formation! I’ll intercept, Eleanor handles defense, and Aiden and Maya, you two take care of the others!”
In a world burned to ash, where could any other monsters even be besides the moth?
That answer revealed itself soon enough.
The Void Moth soared into the sky and wrapped its enormous wings around itself. Then, from its back, eggs imbued with a dark light began to fall.
Remnants of the Void.
On the back of the Void Moth was a gate. It was connected to the Void itself. Through it, remnants of that void spilled out into the world.
Soon, the black eggs, each varying in size, began to hatch. And from within emerged monsters of all shapes and forms.
“This fight’s going to be a long one. Conserve your stamina as much as you can.”
At that advice, Aiden and Maya both nodded and charged at the approaching void remnants.
Despite the odd name, “remnants”, they were not to be underestimated.
Each one radiated an intensity that far surpassed typical level 5 monsters.
They’re supposed to be level 7 boss monsters, originally…
Maybe it was due to what that gear-based machine had said earlier, but the monsters’ presence now seemed calibrated just slightly above level 5.
Still, they’ve been summoned intact. Which means their original abilities are probably fully functional.
Jun turned to Eleanor.
“Can you keep reinforcing the mental protection spell on us?”
“Ugh… I think I can manage. But is it really necessary to maintain it that much?”
“Yeah. Killing these monsters doesn’t mean it’s over.”
Just then, Aiden made the first move, swinging his sword.
The insight he had gained last time was fully integrated into his technique. And his self-named sword style was,
[Wind Storm]!
A savage wind, as if guided by will, wrapped around Aiden’s blade, amplifying the fire attribute magic granted by the “Blessing of the Salamander”.
In the blink of an eye, Aiden vanished like the wind. His sword was already cleaving through the enemy and slicing past it.
But then—
Fwooooom!
The body of the enemy he struck erupted like a smoke bomb, filling the area with a menacing black haze.
“Ghk…!”
Aiden involuntarily inhaled the smoke and furrowed his brow.
Fortunately, Eleanor’s divine power and the enchantment Jun had cast protected his body.
Whatever that is, I should not be breathing it in!
Just as Aiden’s instincts warned, the black smoke carried an effect that dulled the soul
And when the soul sleeps, the body follows. This would lead to death.
In other words, it was a lethal poison.
However, since it didn’t directly harm the physical body but rather affected the mind, Jun and Eleanor had cast mental protection magic.
“I’ll handle the big one. The rest are yours.”
“Got it. I’m counting on you.”
The number of enemies was overwhelming, but among them was one with a massive build, almost like an ogre.
Its strength didn’t quite match that of a real ogre, but at that level, it was something Maya could handle on her own.
Now I see why senior said this would take a while.
The poisonous smoke was an issue, but more importantly, that moth was constantly spawning new troops as they brought down more enemies.
So rather than overexerting themselves to reduce the enemy numbers here, it seemed more important to keep their attention focused.
Meanwhile, Jun, having finished preparing his magic, spoke to Eleanor.
“In this battle, we’re the tanks. Not them.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Void Moth’s main abilities are summoning reinforcements and ranged attacks.”
The two at the front were already struggling with the horde of monsters, so adding the burden of Void Moth’s ranged attacks was out of the question.
That’s why Jun had to draw the Void Moth’s attention himself this time, and Eleanor had to continue supporting the two of them.
“Haaah… Got it.”
As Eleanor responded, Jun’s magic was unleashed.
It was [Flare]. It was now practically his signature spell.
But this time, the [Flare] was strengthened by the insights Jun had accumulated.
Chwarararak!
The pages of the spellbook released from his dimensional bracelet tore and floated through the air, and the magic circles inscribed on them activated.
[Enchantment: Memory Page]
[Flare]
[Transformation Magic]
[Piercing Specialization] [Split] [Mana Maintenance]
As the [Flare] passed through the three newly added magic circles created in its path, it gained ancient magical attributes with each one.
When it passed through the final circle, [Split], the beam of [Flare] divided into five separate strands and launched at the Void Moth in staggered succession.
This guy’s seriously crazy.
Even while focusing on divine magic, Eleanor couldn’t help but be amazed by Jun’s spellwork.
Ordinary mages couldn’t just knead and reshape existing spells like clay the way he did.
However, Jun’s magic was astonishingly close to perfection in its transformation, and each spell was overwhelmingly threatening.
A brief image and the ancient magic that would replace it.
Perhaps sensing the danger, the Void Moth beat its wings violently and focused on evasion.
It deftly floated through the air despite its massive body, managing to dodge all five strands of [Flare].
[Detecting Target]
.
[Transformation Magic] [Mana Guidance]
But then, the [Flare], which had been flying in the opposite direction, suddenly curved. It was redirected by the targeting spell aimed at the Void Moth.
Even so, the Void Moth succeeded in dodging three of the [Flares], though two of them landed a hit.
Given the nature of [Flare] which doesn’t extinguish until Jun’s mana is depleted—
It was essentially a fatal blow.
However, the creature quickly circulated void mana through its body and nullified Jun’s magic, returning it to “nothingness”.
Considering Jun’s level of mana control, that was an unbelievable feat.
That’s basically a broken ability. Might as well exclude it from the equation.
The true nature of the void attribute lies in its ability to return everything to nothingness.
Therefore, there wasn’t even a proper counter-attribute, and the only way to overpower it was through a brute-force power struggle.
In other words, Jun’s mana capacity would have to overwhelm that of the Void Moth.
If amplifying mana works, maybe… but if not, I’ll have to consider the risk of going into overheat myself.
Void-type creatures didn’t mesh well with mages.
Not that they got along with warriors either.
Especially Maya.
The ancestral spirits were terrified of the void’s power.
After all, it was the most fitting ability to erase spirits that were never meant to remain in this world.
Shut up.
Maya let out a deep sigh. Her head was ringing with the screams of the ancestral spirits who had been yelling in her mind.
I’m not ready yet.
Thanks to Jun and Eleanor, she’d previously absorbed a portion of the World Tree’s essence and the abilities contained within.
Through its theory, she had reached a certain level of understanding, but it hadn’t fully settled into her.
Moreover, due to Maya’s nature of storing mana in her head, a single failure came with an extremely harsh cost.
So, she needed much more preparation time…
If only I could communicate with the old spirits, I might be able to calm them down.
Because of her nature, when the ancestral spirits fell into confusion like this, Maya was affected as well.
In the end, Maya clenched her teeth and chose to rely on Basai’s vision rather than the power of the Ancestor-Worshipping Tribe.
When Aiden drew the enemies’ attention using [Beast’s Roar], Maya slipped into the shadows and emerged behind them, assassinating them in a single blow.
She would then immediately retreat into the shadows to avoid the poisonous mist and repeated the process several times.
Still, there are just too many. It’s too much to leave everything to Aiden.
Even as she dodged Jun’s attacks, the Void Moth continued laying eggs and growing its forces.
Eventually, as if making up her mind, Maya reached into her coat and pulled something out.
Leader told us to conserve our strength as much as possible, but…
At this rate, Aiden would be the first to collapse from exhaustion.
At last, Maya threw the brush she had pulled out high into the air.
At a glance, it looked like nothing more than a brush with a thick head of bristles, but in reality, it was a steel-needle weapon Maya had spent her own money to have custom-made.
The moment she pulled the thread connected to the brush’s head—
Boom—!
The igniter inside exploded, unleashing thousands of steel needles toward the ground.
Most of them didn’t even pierce the enemies’ skin.
But to Maya’s eyes, it was all perfectly clear.
She could see the fine threads connected to the thousands of steel needles now scattered across the ground!
And the moment she activated her mana—
[Shadow Web]
The steel needles, all linked by thousands of threads, began to vibrate at ultra-high frequencies.
And the monsters tangled in those threads…what kind of end did they meet?
Crackle—!
The monsters shattered like clay and dissolved into poisonous mist.
“Ugh…”
She still had to rely on tools, and the mana consumption was intense due to her lack of familiarity, but—
It was a skill capable of wiping out enemies in a single strike.
The secret technique of the legendary assassin Basai had been revived on this battlefield.
“Thanks!”
Thanks to her, Aiden could finally catch a bit of a breather.
Each time one of the creatures died, it released a cloud of poisonous mist, making it a burden just to fight them. But thanks to Maya’s efforts, an opening had been created.
A brief moment of reprieve.
Until Maya recovered using a mana fluid, Aiden had to hold the line in her place.
The black poisonous mist had grown so thick that it was now difficult to see even a single step ahead.
And since they couldn’t fight while holding their breath, even the spells cast by Jun and Eleanor were starting to scatter and weaken.
Just then, Eleanor’s divine power surged once more, replenishing the protective energy surrounding the two of them.
Whooooom—!
Perhaps noticing this, the Void Moth turned its gaze toward Jun and Eleanor.
Though the battle had become a war of attrition on both sides, the Void Moth was gradually losing ground.
Sensing this shift, a wave of void energy began to gather around its antennae. This was a signal for the start of its counterattack.
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