After defeating Fafnir and taking a short break, we resumed our exploration of the 13th Floor.
I was surprised to find that after going from underwater to the seabed and back to the surface, the passage continued all the way up into the sky, leading to small floating islands.
Where there are floating islands, there must be a way to reach them. I never imagined that a passage connected to the surface would extend all the way to the sea surface, connect to clouds, and that those clouds would form passages.
I had seen several such cloud formations before, but I mistook them for thick fog and overlooked them.
“A passage made of clouds… it’s something you could have imagined if you thought about it for a moment,” Mako said.
“I agree. How many did we miss?”
“I don’t remember, but at least three for sure.”
Mako looked as if she’d made a lapse in judgment, but I felt the exact same way.
Prim and the others seemed to have never heard of or considered riding on clouds, but since Mako and I have seen and known many such stories from Earth, it’s something we should have come up with.
“Does that mean we might be taking a detour?”
“More than a detour, we might be pioneering a wasteful route. Assuming this is the deepest layer.”
The possibility is indeed real.
While a labyrinth is considered cleared upon defeating its guardian, more hunters come for the materials than for the clear.
This remains true even in the deepest layer; in Type 1 labyrinths with low difficulty, this occurs only a few times a year, but I’ve heard of unions hunting in the deepest layers.
We too recently hunted in the deepest layer of the Solpreza Labyrinth, a Type 2 labyrinth with high difficulty in its lower floors.
“But we’re also surveying, so can’t we consider it a success?”
“I think so too. While it might be rude to others, other unions would struggle even with surveying, let alone us.”
“Without at least an Alliance, composed of Ancient Class individuals and involving the Orders, it would be impossible to even proceed, let alone survey.”
Well, that’s certainly true.
This time, we came with ten people: two Element Class and eight Ancient Class.
Since Prim and Mana evolved, we now have four Element Class and six Ancient Class individuals. Even so, the journey here has been arduous, and there were battles where even a slight lapse in judgment could have been fatal.
Around M-rank, Ancient Class individuals can defeat them solo, even among Catastrophe Species. However, it becomes more difficult at A-rank, and at O-rank, you’d likely be defeated if you didn’t face them in groups.
To make matters worse, these monsters appear in swarms, sometimes with others of the same or adjacent ranks.
Therefore, to survey this floor, we would likely need to gather all the Ancient Class individuals we have here.
However, due to national defense concerns, that’s not something we can realistically do.
“So, beyond these clouds lies the floating island, and it’s going to be troublesome again.”
“Indeed…”
Upon arriving at the floating island, we found that several cloud passages extended from it.
Looking down, I saw passages extending not only to the sea but also to several islands, and many extended to other floating islands.
Furthermore, there appear to be quite a few floating islands, and they seem to be of considerable size.
The large floating island we suspect to be our destination is not visible, but considering the vastness of this floor, that’s natural. Fortunately, our mapping is giving us an estimate of its general location.
“‘Mapping.’ The large floating island should be around here… Should we go there?”
“It’s not necessarily the shortest route, but it would be the safest.”
Mako and Eos, while looking at the map, are deciding on our path.
Looking from the side, I agree that we should take the third passage from the right that they’ve chosen.
But before that…!
“Even if that’s the route, first things first!”
“Indeed!”
Prim and Mana also ready their weapons.
It seems that several A-I rank monsters, an An variant of Feather Leon called Gryphon Lord, inhabit this floating island.
The number of Gryphon Lords attacking us now is… about eight.
Moreover, there’s one O-C rank Gryphon Caesar.
“Another O-C rank. It’s hard to tell if it’s an evolved individual or just normally inhabits this area.”
“Yes. But we can ponder that later. We don’t know what lies ahead, so let’s take them all down at once, Agatholam!”
“Understood.”
Mako pours magic into her newly created Agatholam and activates Starlight Circle.
The Starlight Circle, activated by the Engraving Divine Artifact, has increased power and accuracy compared to using Spirit Hexa Dipper, but its greatest increase is in density.
The size and number of light beams are more than double, just at a glance.
These beams are piercing the Gryphon Lords one after another.
“To survive a Starlight Circle… As expected of A-I rank, I suppose?”
“We could defeat them if we wanted to, but don’t you all want to join in?”
“Thanks for considering. Then let’s finish them quickly!”
“Agreed!”
Even though I could easily defeat them myself, the fact that Mako is prioritizing everyone else’s level-up and reinforcing our strength by letting them assist is truly admirable.
Oh, the Gryphon Caesar has been taken by Lydia and Ludia. If this continues, we won’t be able to attack the Gryphon Lords.
I quickly generate four Ice Edge Javelins and launch them at the Gryphon Lords furthest away.
The Ice Edge Javelins attack the Gryphon Lords from above, below, left, and right, with two hitting their mark.
The Gryphon Lords collapse immediately, though I didn’t expect them to dodge two even within the vortex of Starlight Circle.
I was worried they would escape, which made my aim unsteady.
Yes, I will reflect deeply on this.
“Sister!”
“Leave it to me!”
Then, the Gryphon Caesar lost its balance when Ludia severed its left wing with her Foot Blade, and was then hit by her Unique Magic, Assault Blazer.
Ludia catches up to the blown-away Gryphon Caesar using Accelerating Magic and Flying in conjunction. She then enchants her Dragoness Sword with ice-attribute magic and her Dragoness Fang with lightning-attribute magic, slashing them in a cross shape.
At that moment, the ice and lightning blades shatter into pieces, and charged ice shards engulf the Gryphon Caesar.
Then, the charged ice shards take the form of a dragon’s jaw of ice and bite into the upper half of the Gryphon Caesar.
As the ice dragon disappears, the bitten Gryphon Caesar falls onto the floating island and ceases to move.
Lydia’s new Unique Magic, Dragbite Blizzard. I’ve seen it a few times, but it seems more stable than ever.
While familiarity likely plays a part, this can be considered complete.
Dragbite Blizzard, inspired by Athena’s and my Dragon Resonance Magic, Granbite Eruption, creates a rather large ice dragon’s jaw, but it couldn’t completely swallow the nearly 20-meter-long Gryphon Caesar.
It can swallow several ordinary monsters at once, but even for Ancient Class individuals, there isn’t enough magic power for such a colossal species.
“You seem dissatisfied, Lydia.”
“Of course. But since it’s not Dragon Resonance Magic, it won’t be like yours and Yamato’s, or Mana’s and Eos’s. I’ll try to find a way to use it more effectively.”
As expected, Lydia wanted to swallow the Gryphon Caesar whole.
The size of the ice dragon’s jaw created by Dragbite Blizzard depends on the initial size of the blading wrapped around the twin swords, so improving that is the quickest solution. However, enchanting each sword with a different attribute is quite difficult.
Regrettably, she’ll just have to get used to it.
“The appearance of Gryphon Caesar following Fafnir suggests we should assume O-rank monsters inhabit this floor.”
“Yes. However, judging by the encounter rate, their numbers might be small. That said, we can’t let our guard down.”
“Or rather, since underwater monsters are treated as one rank higher, monsters equivalent to O-rank have already appeared. And they’ve been swarming us.”
As Mana, Meena, and Mako say, we’ve fought monsters treated as O-rank many times.
However, genuine O-rank monsters possess more magic power and strength than those merely treated as O-rank. And the first genuineness O-rank monsters appeared on the 13th Floor.
We didn’t see any O-rank monsters yesterday or the day before, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see them in the future. Moreover, we’ve encountered two today, so we must prepare for them to attack in groups.
“I’d like to take a break, but I don’t see any Safe Areas.”
Honestly, I’d like to take a break, and it’s almost 4 o’clock. If there were a Safe Area, I’d consider ending today’s exploration.
However, after collecting the Gryphon Caesar and surveying the surrounding floating islands, it appears there are no Safe Areas nearby.
The Safe Area we used earlier is about an hour back underwater from here. So, depending on the situation, we might have to make camp there today, but I’d prefer to press on.
“I agree with pressing on. While I also want to rest, I don’t want to stay here forever.”
“It’s a Gryphon’s nest, after all. While they are delicious as materials, we can’t afford to be complacent given who they are. However, thinking about MARS, I’d really like to defeat one more Gryphon Caesar.”
“I know, right?”
“I understand how you feel, but we can’t push ourselves too hard, can we? The monsters on this floor are mostly A-rank on average.”
From the perspective of materials, or rather, magic stones, O-rank monsters are something you’d covet.
However, O-rank monsters, even if not Demise Species, are considered impossible to defeat. Therefore, no country possesses their magic stones.
Well, Amister has them because we supply them, but even so, only the Orc Emperor and Orc Empress have defeated O-rank monsters of the same species. And the Orc Empress’s magic stone is used for the Celestial Emperor’s Family’s Royal Celestial Globe, so there are no surplus stones.
I want to use the magic stone of an O-rank monster for MARS, which I devised and Flamu, Ludia, and Mako helped develop. However, the first one is a tribute to the Celestial Emperor’s Family, so we urgently need two more.
Despite O-rank monsters starting to appear, we’ve only encountered them alone or accompanied by lower-ranked species. So, as things stand, we don’t have enough magic stones for ourselves.
That’s why I’m hoping another one, be it a Gryphon Caesar or Fafnir, will appear.
“Regarding that, let’s discuss it as we proceed. MARS needs improvement, or rather, an upgrade, but as it stands, there are no major issues. So there’s no need to rush, is there?”
“That’s true, but as the creator, I want to improve it as soon as possible if I can.”
I feel the same way as Flamu, but as Prim says, there are no major problems at the moment.
Furthermore, we now know they inhabit this area, so even if we don’t obtain them this time, we can come back when we have more time.
Therefore, let’s switch our focus and prioritize clearing the area for now.
