Even though the monsters on this floor were the same as those on the fifty-sixth floor, we were having more difficulty navigating through the maze with the limited information we had.
"Did we take a wrong turn again?!" Raul screamed, barely dodging the claws of the wyvern, which Riveria's flames swallowed moments later.
"No, we are on the right path!" Lyra replied, throwing several bombs toward the wyvern's eyes, blinding it. Ais took that chance to destroy its magic stone, turning the beast into particles of ashes.
"Ugh, there's no end to them!" Alise complained, slashing at the wyvern's legs, destabilizing the monster. Finn stabbed his spear into the monster's chest, killing it in a single blow.
"Ais, Ryuu, with me!" I said, rushing at the wyvern in front of us, while Ryuu and Ais attacked the wyvern from both sides. Seeing so many enemies, the dragon resorted to fireball attacks, which I intercepted with my magic, while Ais and Ryuu slashed at the monster from both sides.
Lydia and Kaguya worked in tandem, stabbing and slashing at the monster, weakening it, while it focused on the two warriors. Asfi took the chance to drop onto the monster, sword pointed downward, stabbing it in the head. She twisted her blade, destroying the monster's brain. The dragon thrashed around until finally it collapsed on the floor, dissolving into ash.
We kept fighting, trying to find a way to the next floor.
"Wh-why don't we just jump through the hole made by those dragons? Isn't that a clear shortcut?" One of the support members questioned.
"Doing that would just defeat the purpose of this expedition. We are doing this expedition to map out this floor for the future expedition." Raul explained.
"That's exactly right. Besides, if we took this shortcut now, then we could never claim to have conquered the dungeon in the truest sense." Riveria added further.
"I see the stairway!" I exclaimed, looking beyond the wyverns standing in our way, there was the staircase that would take us to our destination.
"Everyone, be prepared, the moment we enter the next floor, the battle will resume!" Finn cried.
Seeing the Wyverns flooding our path, I decided to carve a way for us as the wind gathered around my sword like a raging storm, Ais and others keeping the monsters from attacking me.
"Ais back off!" I warned her, and Ais, making use of her ultra-fast speed, disappeared in front of the monsters. I swung my sword, and the small storm burst forward, a violent torrent of wind that tore through the air like a beast unleashed.
The tornado of wind magic engulfed the wyverns in its path, their screeches cut short as they were caught in the vortex. The sheer force lifted them off the ground, their wings useless against the raging currents. The wind compressed around them, crushing scales and bone alike before flinging them against the walls with bone-shattering force.
"Now! Everyone, run!" Finn commanded.
We surged forward as one, racing through the opening I'd created. Ash from the destroyed monsters still floated in the air, and I could feel the strain from using such a powerful attack; nothing I couldn't recover from a potion or two.
"Almost there!" Lydia shouted encouragingly.
All of us rushed through the stairway, drinking potions and getting healed by Riveria's magic on our way to the fifty-eighth floor. The moment we entered the floor, the identity of the snipers, releasing fire-breathing attacks on us, was revealed in the form of several large dragons easily over 7 meters tall. Their size and number were enough to make this vast room feel small.
"GUAAAAHHH!!" The instant all the dragons looked towards us, they all let out a roar, shaking the whole floor, as fire gathered in all their mouths in perfect coordination.
"Virtue Nexus!" Ryuu activated her magic, forming a barrier around us, as the breath attack, which until now had been used separately at this moment united in the form of a death ray that collided with the barrier. A loud boom resonated around the floor. A few seconds after the collision and cracks started to form all over the barrier. The shield protecting us was destroyed, not before halving the power of the death ray, and buying Riveria enough time to complete her own chant.
The moment the pillar of fire, hot enough to melt steel in an instant, advanced further, only to be stopped by the barrier magic Riveria had formed, at level-6 Riveria magic was strong enough to stop an attack of this level dead on its tracks, especially after Ryuu's magic had already weakened it.
"Everyone, fan out!" Finn instructed, and everyone separated into small groups of 2 to 3. There were a total of four Valgang dragons, each one as strong as a level 6 monster.
"Gareth, with me on the left!" Finn commanded, his spear gleaming as he charged toward the nearest dragon.
"Aye!" Gareth roared, his axe already swinging.
"Ais, Ryuu, Kaguya—take the right!" Riveria called out, her staff glowing as she prepared another spell. "Alise, Lydia, Asfi—center with me!"
"What about me?!" Tiona shouted.
"You and Tione support wherever needed!" Riveria replied. "Arin, you're our mobile support—cover anyone who gets in trouble!"
"Got it!" I responded, already assessing the battlefield.
The Valgang dragons weren't just powerful—they were intelligent, at least more intelligent than the normal monsters we had faced. The moment we split up, they adjusted their positions, ensuring none of them could be surrounded easily. Their massive bodies moved with surprising grace, wings folded against their backs as they prepared for close combat.
"GUAAAHHH!" The leftmost dragon released another breath attack, this one aimed directly at Finn and Gareth.
Gareth planted his massive shield, and Finn took cover behind it. The flames washed over the shield, the heat so intense that the metal began to glow red.
"Now!" Finn burst from behind the shield the moment the flames subsided, his spear aimed at the dragon's eye. The dragon jerked its head back, but not fast enough—Finn's spear grazed its eyelid, drawing black blood.
"GRAAHHH!" The dragon swiped with its massive claw, forcing Finn to retreat.
Gareth didn't give it a moment to recover. He charged forward with a battle cry, his axe aimed at the dragon's leg. The blade bit deep into the scaled flesh, but the dragon's hide was thick—it would take more than one hit to bring it down.
On the right side, Ais, Ryuu, and Kaguya were engaged with another Valgang dragon. Ais's Ariel wrapped around her like a protective storm, her speed increased to the point where she appeared as nothing more than a golden blur.
"Tempest!" Her wind-enhanced strike carved a deep gash across the dragon's flank. The beast roared in pain and anger, its tail whipping around to catch her.
"Ais, above!" Ryuu warned.
Ais twisted mid-air, avoiding the tail by mere inches. Ryuu was already in position, her blade—Alvs Justitia—striking at the tail's base with precise force. The dragon's tail went limp for a moment, nerves disrupted by the perfectly placed attack.
Kaguya appeared on the dragon's other side, her katana gleaming. "Don't forget about me, you lizard!" Her blade flashed in a series of rapid strikes—one, two, three, four—each one finding gaps in the dragon's scales, drawing blood with surgical precision.
The dragon tried to take flight, its wings spreading wide, but Ais was faster. She leaped onto its back, running along its spine toward its head. "Stay down!" She drove Desperate deep into the base of its wing, and the dragon crashed back to the ground with a thunderous impact and started to thrash around, making them retreat.
In the center, Riveria's group faced its own challenge. The Valgang dragon they confronted seemed stronger than the others.
The dragon's eyes tracked Lydia's movement, and it released a breath attack—not at the group, but at the ground between them, creating a wall of fire that separated Lydia from the others.
"Lydia!" Alise started to move, but the dragon was already lunging at the main group, its jaws wide.
"Not so fast!" Asfi threw a volley of explosive knives that detonated in the dragon's face. It recoiled, shaking its head, momentarily blinded.
"Everyone, focus fire!" Alise commanded. "While it's wounded!"
Through the wall of fire, Lydia charged back, her body protected by Riveria's Veil's breath magic and the special cloak. She emerged from the flames and struck at the dragon's injured side, her blade finding the wound Asfi bombs created and driving deeper.
The beast let out a howl of pain, its claw coming down on Lydia with the intent and strength to tear her apart. Asfi, making use of her flying ability, rushed to her side, barely pushing Lydia and herself out of the dragon's deadly claws.
Before the dragon could attack them again, I hurled several spears of pure blue flames, stopping the dragon dead in its tracks. Just as the dragon's eyes turned towards me, clearly intending to attack me, Alise and Riveria intercepted the dragon, turning its attention back on them. Lydia and Asfi also jumped into the battle again.
The fourth dragon, seeing its companions engaged, made a tactical decision. It ignored the fighters and focused on the supporters—Raul, Aki, and the other who were staying at the edges of the battlefield.
Noticing that, I moved, creating a foothold of air and launching myself across the battlefield, blue flames gathering around my blade.
The dragon's maw opened, fire building in its throat as it prepared to incinerate the support group.
"Not today!" I appeared in front of the dragon, my sword wreathed in flames. I swung with all my might, and my fire met the dragon's breath attack head-on.
The collision created a massive explosion of heat and force that sent shockwaves across the entire floor. I was thrown backward, tumbling across the ground, but I'd successfully disrupted the attack.
"Arin!" Ryuu's voice called out with concern.
"I'm fine!" I called back, getting to my feet. My arms ached from the impact, but Riveria's Veil Breath and my cloak had protected me from serious burns.
The dragon turned its full attention to me, perhaps recognizing me as a threat. Its eyes narrowed, and I could almost see the calculation in them. The next moment, it fired the breath attack again, this time towards the ceiling, creating a massive hole, as several wyverns poured out from it.
Shit! I thought, as the wyvern kept pouring out from the ceiling, several of them had already started engaging with our main group, fighting with the Valgang dragons.
"Raul! Bring out the magic swords!" I instructed Raul behind me.
"Understood!" he replied as they all brought out the magic swords we had brought with us. And started firing magic on the Wyverns falling from the hole above.
While I engaged with the dragon in front of me, the same time attacked the wyerns that escaped from the barrage of attacks from the magic swords.
But I knew this was not the best way to deal with this situation, as a dozen of them still escaped from us and started attacking the group; slowly but surely, we were being pushed back.
"Riveria!" I called out to her only to find her already chanting her spell. "Everyone, gather around!" I warned everyone as we all rushed to Riveria's sides.
"Sweep completely, bring a close to the great war. Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - my name is Alf! Rea Laevateinn!" Riveria's wide area annihilation magic shook the dungeon floor, and several tornadoes of crimson fire erupted from the ground, swallowing the wyverns flying around along with the Valgang dragons. The monsters let out a death cry, and they turned into ashes.
When her magic stopped, we could see that all the wyevnrs had been wiped out, and even the Valgang dragons were severely injured, their wings and scales completely burned.
"Everyone attack!" Not wanting to miss the chance, I commanded, and everyone rushed towards the dragons. And another fight ensued, and I also started my battle with the dragon.
"GUUAAAA!" But it seems that was not the end of our troubles, as another wave of Wyvern dropped from the ceiling hole; their numbers were fewer this time, but they were a nuisance nonetheless.
How do we deal with this… I thought, looking at the hordes of monsters dropping from above.