"AAAAHHH!"
"Less screaming, more running, Raul!" I said, holding off a thunder snake, pushing it down in the newly made hole by the dragon's breath with a kick to its head.
We were more than halfway through the fifty-fifth floor, well on our way to the fifty-sixth floor, but the closer we got to our objective, the fiercer the attack became, and with the dragon breath coming from below in rapid succession, it left no breathing room for us.
"Just a little longer!" Finn yelled, his spear stabbing through the Venom scorpion, standing in our path, creating a huge hole in the monster, crushing its magic stone in the process.
Tiona and Tione were stationed in the middle of our ranks just behind Alise, Kaguya, Lydia, and Asfi. In charge of intercepting any monster that tried to attack our supporters, they worked together to dispatch monsters that slipped past the first line of defense, quickly taking down a silver snack.
While Lydia worked with Alise and Kaguya, participating in the battle that erupted in front of our group, Asfi and Ryuu were working on the frontlines, adapting a hit-and-run tactic. And it's worked really well in conserving everyone's energy, as they would weaken the monsters first, leaving Finn, Ais, and Gareth to finish them off; this way, no single individual had to bear the full brunt of monster attacks.
Riviera was near the rear guard along with the supports, already casting her veil breath on the whole group and helping everyone to remain in top condition while also using her short chants to take down monsters in the distance. But even with all this, the monsters' numbers didn't seem to dwindle as new ones replaced their fallen kin.
"AHHHH! We are going to die!" Raul screamed.
"Raul, keep focus!" Rivera scolded Raul, "If you, the captain of the support group, behave like that, how is everyone going to remain calm?"
"I am sorry, Miss Riveria, but I can't help it—gufa!" Aki punched his stomach. Surprisingly, Raul didn't slow down even after being punched like that, as Aki spoke to Riveria, "Sorry, Miss Riveria, I will give him a stern talk later!"
Another loud rumble echoed around the dungeon, "Run faster!" I warned, and everyone started running even more quickly as the ground behind us exploded, leaving behind a large hole, but that was not the end of it. When another pillar of fire erupted below my feet, consuming me in the blinding light, "Arin!!" several voices called out.
"Keep running!" I replied, still protected by Riveria Viel's breath, I jumped out of the pillar of flames, my fire and cold resistance cloak was slightly burned, giving me an idea of how hot the dragon's breath attack is.
"Sh*t! You gave me the scares!" Lyra said, as others gave a sigh of relief seeing me unharmed.
"Those dragon bastards gave me the scares!" I said, still analyzing how injured I would have been without the Viel breath and the cloak. Sure, I wouldn't have died, but I still would have been injured a lot.
"That was so cool, Arin, you were like "whoosh" and "Ha!" and out of the flames!" Alise said, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Please focus, Captain!" only to get scolded by Kaguya.
"Are you okay?" Riveria, running a little ahead of me, asked.
"Yes, though my cloak got slightly damaged," I replied, examining the damaged fabric.
"You nearly died, and you are worried about your cloak?" Aki sighed.
"Hey, it's a good cloak, and do you have any idea how hard it is to make it!" I said, as Finn shouted from the front.
"Everyone, the stairs are right ahead!" he said.
"Almost there!" Lydia cheered. "Just a little more! We can do this!"
"Don't jinx it!" Asfi snapped.
As if on cue, a massive Thunder Snake burst from a side passage. It was easily twice the size of the others we'd encountered.
"Of course," I sighed. "Why would anything be easy?" But before I could conjure my magic.
"I'll take it!" Gareth declared, not even slowing down. He simply grabbed the snake by its head as he ran past, slammed it against the wall with enough force to shatter its skull, and kept moving. "Problem solved, kids!"
"No stopping for a break, we will keep going!" Finn said as we rushed past the exit of the fifty-fifth floor, running down the stairs, and entered the fifty-sixth floor. And kept running, but before we could advance further, we encountered an Ill Wyvern. It was a bluish-purple flying dragon about three meters long, counting the tail.
The moment it noticed our presence, heat started to gather in its open mouth, and it released a barrage of fireballs towards our group. I quickly summoned several arrows of blue flames and countered the attack. Both flames collided, shaking the dungeon floor from the resulting impact.
"Ais!" Ryuu called and ran towards the dragon while Ais took the hint, following beside her. Ryuu's blade pierced through the dragon's tough skin on its leg, breaking its balance, with Ais leaping towards its chest, her blade slicing through the chest of the monster.
"GUUWAAA!" the monster let out a dying roar, "it's calling the other dragons!" Just as Asfi Warrend, several shadows rushed from different directions, forcing our speed to slow down.
Seeing everyone engaged in the fight with several wyverns, I decided to jump into the frontlines as well. Silver and golden shimmered around my figure as I leaped over at the wyvern's face and stabbed my sword down on its head. The impact made the Wyvern's head collide with the surface. Instead of finishing it off, I lunged at another monster, injuring the monster enough that we could squeeze through them and save ourselves from the breath attacks.
But no matter what we did, they just appeared endlessly. Seeing this, I understood why Riveria and others struggle to go beyond this point—no choice but to do it. I thought.
"Everyone, start running on my signal! Ryuu with me!" I said, several balls of wind and fire hovered around me, while Ryuu, understanding my plan, also recited her magic chants.
"Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy!" Dozens upon dozens of green balls made of light and wind particles gathered around Ryuu, each of them holding enough power to take down several level-2 and 3 monsters, which I further strengthened with my own magic.
I waited until Finn and others fought the monsters, slowly pushing them into one place. "Now!" I said as Ryuu triggered the spell key, "Luminous wind!". We let our magic loose on the monsters, the ball of fire, wind, and light raining down on monsters like a hammer of justice.
Our combined magic created a devastating barrage that lit up the entire floor in brilliant blues and greens. The weakened monsters didn't stand a chance—they dissolved into ash before they could even react, while the sheer force of the magical assault knocked back the healthier ones.
"Move, move, move!" Finn commanded, and we surged forward through the opening Ryuu and I had created.
The remaining Ill Wyverns screeched in fury, trying to give chase, but Gareth turned around mid-run and hurled a massive chunk of rubble at the nearest one, sending it crashing into its companions.
"That should slow them down!" he laughed.
We ran for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, the sounds of pursuit gradually fading behind us. The fifty-sixth floor stretched on endlessly, its corridors twisting and turning in ways that made it hard to keep track of direction.
"There!" Asfi pointed ahead. "Another stairway!"
"Everyone still with us?" Finn called back, not slowing his pace.
"Barely!" Raul wheezed.
"That's good enough!" Lydia replied cheerfully, though she was panting heavily.
We descended to the fifty-seventh floor and collapsed near the entrance of the stairway, gulping water and potions, in the supposedly safe corner of the deep floors.
Alise suddenly jumped to her feet, her exhaustion seemingly forgotten. "Everyone! We're about to make history! The fifty-eighth floor—the deepest anyone's gone! Aren't you all excited?!"
"Terrified is more like it," Aki admitted.
"Same thing!" Alise declared.
"It really isn't," multiple voices replied in unison. She really is something. I noted observing Alise, seeing how she knew what to do to bring everyone's spirits up; her enthusiasm is almost contagious. Everyone's expression relaxed as we took a small break before Finn stood to announce our break was over.
"Gareth, you take point with me. Ais, Gale wind—right behind us, Arin, keep going as you have till now. Everyone else, maintain tight formation. Riveria, keep that Veil Breath active. We're not taking any chances," he said.
And everyone got up to traverse the unknown depths of the fifty-seventh floor that no familia since the fall of Zeus and Hera had traversed.