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Everyone jumped down through the crack one after another.
While they were still midair, Merlin cast a barrier spell, wrapping the whole group in a protective shield so they wouldn't be injured by the impact when they landed.
Riveria watched Merlin work and felt stunned all over again.
If she remembered correctly, Merlin had already used a ton of support-type magic during the earlier battles, stacking buff after buff on everyone.
With his "Field Construction" and now this barrier magic, the number of spells he had was simply absurd.
Wasn't the Falna system supposed to allow only three magic slots at most?
She herself was called the Nine Magics Princess only because her three spells each had three stages, giving the illusion of nine different magics.
Could Merlin's magic also be multi-staged?
But even if that were true, this was too many stages. Just the support spells alone were already more than a dozen.
Aside from Riveria, Lefiya was also staring at Merlin in pure admiration.
Because even when releasing such complex magic, Merlin was still chant-accelerating at high speed. Lefiya couldn't help feeling envious. She desperately wanted to learn that.
Before long, everyone landed safely on the 49th floor.
Thanks to the barrier, not a single person was hurt. Even the lower-level members of the Loki Familia hadn't felt any impact at all.
The moment the barrier faded, they felt a heavy pressure in the air.
The source was the floor boss, Balor, a monstrous existence at Level 7.
But facing such a powerful monster, the group barely reacted. Some even looked relaxed.
Hard not to be, after killing a Level 8 Juggernaut earlier. Their confidence was soaring, and a Level 7 Balor didn't feel threatening at all.
Alex glanced at the Loki Familia. "Let's team up to kill it. Whoever lands the finishing blow gets all the drops and the magic stone."
Finn grinned. "Deal."
In that instant, both familias gained a competitive spark in their eyes.
Balor had barely appeared, hadn't even managed a roar to show off its might, when a dozen figures had already charged straight at it, unleashing their biggest skills.
The fight was over in about fifteen minutes.
Alex secured the final hit. He pulled Balor into his Unlimited Blade Works and finished it cleanly inside the bounded field.
The Loki Familia was impressed by the sheer strength of Alex's ability. They hadn't entered Unlimited Blade Works themselves, but even from outside, the power of that reality marble was obvious.
Per their agreement, all the materials and the magic stone belonged to Alex.
Bete and the others were annoyed, but since their captain Finn had agreed, they could only swallow their frustration.
With the floor boss defeated, both familias headed down to the 50th floor together.
This floor was also a safe zone. They set up camp near the entrance to the 51st floor.
The Loki Familia planned to rest for a full day before diving deeper.
Alex had no intention of going any farther. He'd rest the night and then head back.
Once he set up his tent, he went inside and lay down.
He'd been fighting nonstop from the 40th floor to the 50th without a proper rest. Finally, he could sleep.
And since they were camping with the Loki Familia, he and Merlin's group didn't need to take night watch shifts. If anything happened, the Loki side would notice first anyway.
He opened the chat group and skimmed the recent messages.
Everyone had been discussing their storylines, trying to figure out ways to change them.
Erza and Tsunade had it easy, since their worlds had saviors like Natsu and Naruto.
Busujima Saeko was also relaxed. Her world was already in apocalypse mode and she had no desire to go back. She planned to treat this universe as her new main world.
Ever since Yotsuya Miko had her spiritual vision sealed, she could no longer see ghosts and was living the peaceful high school life she always wanted.
During Alex's expedition, she often asked Hestia to post simple quests so she could come to Orario for small adventures.
Misaka Mikoto was preparing to save her twenty thousand Misaka Sisters.
Hestia was thinking hard about how to recruit Bell, Haruhime, and Liliruca Arde.
Tokisaki Kurumi was in the most dangerous situation, but since she was now part of Hestia Familia, Hestia had agreed to help her fight the Origin Spirit.
The only tragic ones were Shinobu Kochou and Takatsuki Izumi, whose fates were death. Everyone was brainstorming ways to help them.
How to find Kibutsuji Muzan and kill him.
How to create peace between humans and ghouls. How to destroy the Washuu family.
Killing Muzan was simple enough, but getting humans and ghouls to coexist peacefully was tough.
Even in the original story, only Tokyo achieved that by the end.
Alex found the discussions interesting. The girls had come up with a lot of clever ideas.
But honestly, the simplest solution was to call reinforcements.
If you can't beat something, just spend points and summon group members.
Hestia even declared that she'd take action for 100 points per intervention, guaranteeing a perfect resolution.
And then there was Esdeath. No one had expected her to be a villain in her anime, someone who enjoyed war for its own sake.
Naturally, the others in the group started excluding her.
No one could stand a personality like hers—sadistic, cruel, slaughtering innocent ministers and citizens for a corrupt empire.
Anime or manga version, her ending was always death.
No one wanted to help her change her storyline. Some even said she deserved her downfall.
Esdeath didn't care. With her personality, even knowing Tatsumi and Akame could defeat her, she felt no fear. If anything, she was looking forward to that final battle.
Seeing this, Alex felt a headache coming on.
Couldn't the chat group just get along for once?
Every few days there was a new argument. Exhausting.
He didn't bother reading further. He closed the window and went to sleep.
He slept deeply, peacefully.
But before the sky even fully darkened, a startled shout woke him.
He threw on his clothes and rushed out of the tent.
And then he saw it.
The entrance tunnel to the 51st floor was absolutely packed with monsters.
But those monsters weren't charging forward. They were fleeing—running for their lives—from a swarm of massive green caterpillars behind them.
The caterpillars were huge and unbelievably strong. They were biting through monsters like snacks, crunching them apart in a single bite.
The monsters native to the 51st floor were terrified, stampeding toward the 50th floor.
But the Loki Familia wasn't about to let them reach the safe zone. They spread out across the tunnel and blocked the fleeing monsters.
Which meant the giant caterpillars caught up easily and devoured every monster in sight.
After finishing their meal, they still weren't satisfied. They turned their sights on the Loki Familia.
A clash was inevitable.
The caterpillars spat purple liquid that corroded everything it touched.
Everyone dodged frantically, unable to fight freely.
Tiona rushed forward with her twin-bladed greatsword and instantly killed one of the bugs.
But the creature's blood was just as corrosive as the liquid it spat.
Her weapon dissolved instantly.
"What? No way! My double blades!" Tiona screamed.
That weapon was worth tens of millions, and it was gone just like that.
She didn't even have time to mourn before the caterpillar she killed exploded in a spray of corrosive blood.
The droplets melted everything around it—including parts of their campsite and several tents.
More and more caterpillars crawled out of the tunnel. At this rate, the safe floor would be completely overrun.
"We'll have to wipe them out with magic. Draw their attention and buy time for chant casting!" Finn ordered quickly.
The Amazon sisters nodded. Together with Bete and Ais, they rushed forward to distract the swarm.
Ais relied on her Desperate Sword's indestructible properties and cut through caterpillars without hesitation.
Just when Finn was about to order Riveria to cast, she spoke up. "Finn, I want to entrust this fight to Lefiya. What she lacks is only experience and a little courage. I'll take full responsibility."
Clearly the elven princess wanted to train her student.
But in this situation, one mistake could be fatal.
Finn glanced at Lefiya, who was trembling in fear, and still gave her the chance. "Fine. It can't get worse than it already is. If this helps her grow, that's a good thing."
"Thank you," Riveria said before stepping up to Lefiya. "It's on you, Lefiya. Start chanting. You'll be the one to wipe out those monsters."
Lefiya froze for a moment, then nodded.
She raised her staff and began to chant.
But she didn't even get halfway before a rushing caterpillar came straight at her, interrupting her chant.
"Lefiya!" Tiona shouted.
"Watch out!" Bete's expression twisted.
The caterpillar spat a burst of corrosive liquid at Lefiya. She froze, unable to dodge in time.
In that instant, a rapid-fire chant sounded right beside her ear.
Merlin appeared in front of her and raised a barrier, blocking every drop of the corrosive spray.
"..."
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