Catacomb Hallways—-
The members of Sōkaidan each walked through their assigned hallways, checking the rooms and searching for clues. The further they got, the more the meter moved.
〈Exploration Progress: 21% → 36% → 45% → 57%〉
A small group walked into an abandoned section of the catacombs, which reeked of death.
"Ew! Did someone set off a stink bomb?"
"Stink bombs don't smell like that."
Inside the room was littered with corpses, each of their faces frozen in horror.
"I…think we found that guy's party. Or…what's left of them."
One took out her phone and snapped pictures. "Okay. Let's bring this information to Miss Yuka. Wherever she is."
Leaving the room, they continued down the dark hallways, not realizing a glowing black hand was dragging the corpses away.
〈Exploration Progress: 57% → 66%〉
Meanwhile—-
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Like a raging storm, Yuka held back the clones attacking her with furious waves of ice. Rui watched as she alternated between sending eagles at them and using her spider legs.
"Jugen-Mahōshi: Yukigumo Bukyaku—-Rampage!"
With her ice legs doubling in size, she used them as drills, stabbing into the ice clones and crumbling them to pieces. Surprisingly, they got up, piecing themselves back together.
"They won't just die," Rui explained. "They're ice!"
"So they are," Yuka acknowledged. "That means they'll break."
Rui snapped his fingers. "Jugen-Mahōshi: Bōfubuki no Honryū."
The clones all lifted their hands and fired a barrage of icicles from their palms, and Yuka had to use all her effort to block them.
"Jugen-Mahōshi: Shimotsuki Raisan no Washi!"
Using a combination of her eagle and her spider legs, she managed to deflect them without sustaining more than a few scrapes and scratches.
"Anything else?" Yuka asked, breathing heavily. "Or have you given it your all?"
Rui cracked his neck. "Not even close."
He began to spin in place, and a blizzard of snow formed around him, causing a whirlwind.
〈Use *Jugen-Mahōshi* repeatedly to interrupt Rui's *Lethal Skill.*〉
"Lethal Skill?" she questioned. "What is—-?"
As the room's temperature dropped, Yuka wasted no time firing off a flock of ice eagles at Rui.
"Jugen-Mahōshi: Shimotsuki Raisan no Washi—-Hailstorm!"
The eagles swooped in, attacking the blizzard.
〈Interruption Progress: 10% → 50% → 80%〉
BOOM.
The whirlwind shattered with a large explosion, revealing Rui, who was now encased in a spider-like body of ice, merged with his clones.
"Your raid ends here, Ice Witch."
Yuka wiped the blood from her lips, which were frozen. "That's going to leave a mark."
To Rui's surprise, a grin crossed her face.
"That means I'm pretty damn strong."
The ice legs burst from her back, lifting her into the air. "I'll have to demand we end this quickly. First place awaits."
Rui narrowed his eyes. "This woman…"
Meanwhile, the other kids were dueling their replicas, getting a mix of results.
"Jugen-Tōshi: Ansa Kyojin."
Baruto swung his sword at his replica, bashing the wall and causing rubble to fall off it. His replica flipped over it, growing his sword.
"Jugen-Tōshi: Ansa Kyojin."
Without looking, he swung his sword backwards, nearly crushing Baruto.
"Almost died."
"Yep."
"Let's keep going."
"Yep."
The metal could be heard banging as they met in the air. On the other hand, Shino was busy tackling her replica, pulling her hair.
"You classless little bitch!" the replica screamed. "Who seriously pulls hair?"
"I do!"
The replica kicked her off, aiming her fingers. "Jugen-Metsusha: Yubisaki Mekken!"
Shino tossed herself out of the way, and the vector hit the pillar behind her, erasing it.
"Okay, Shino," she thought. "She's using your move. Your move. No one does my move better than me. And I know she has to wait at least 30 more seconds to pull it out…so…!"
Shino immediately flicked her fingers. "Try blocking this! Jugen-Metsusha: Yubisaki Mekken!"
Her replica sidestepped out of the way. "Idiot. I don't need to block your puny attack to avoid it."
"Who said I was attacking?"
Immediately, she flicked her fingers again, and a vector shot out, striking the replica.
"What the—-?"
"Just because I say my skill doesn't mean I'm unleashing it," Shino pointed out. "You dungeon dorks really are stupid."
The replica screamed and disappeared, while Shino flicked her hair out of her face. "Finally. Can't stand trash-talking myself."
〈Enemy Defeated: +1〉
Beside her, Bakuō and his replica were still stampeding each other, their horns slashing like blades at each other's flesh.
"Hmph!"
"Hah!"
Shino backed away. "Not gonna get involved with that."
Bakuō knocked his opponent into the wall, who shook it off and kicked him in the face with his hind legs. The two bison basically wrestled each other for control, neither giving an inch.
"Rah!"
With a powerful thrust of his horns, Bakuō gutted his opponent, grunting as he pushed the horns in deeper. The bison groaned before twisting and exploding into meat.
〈Enemy Defeated: +1〉
Bakuō shifted back to normal. "Ow…my head hurts…"
Shino patted him on the back. "You'll be fine."
They both shifted their attention to Baruto, who was engaging in a slow sword fight with his opponent.
"Dude, can you hurry it up?" Shino demanded.
"My sister says pick up the pace," Baruto repeated.
"Okay," the replica agreed.
The two began attacking slightly faster, blades bouncing off each other. With impassive looks, they both unleashed a flurry of slow attacks. Baruto grazed his replica's shoulder.
"You cut me," he announced.
"Yep."
Shino threw her hands up. "Okay, that's it!"
With a flick of her fingers, she erased the replica. Baruto blinked a few times, seemingly confused. "He's gone."
〈Enemy Defeated: +1〉
"Boys," Shino grumbled.
In the center of the room, Yuka and Rui were busy moving across the walls, the ice radiating off them sharp enough to kill.
〈Boss HP: ??? → ???〉
"Still no feedback?" Yuka questioned. "What are you?"
Rui knocked her to the ground with a spider leg. "You might have guessed, but I'm no normal Raid Boss."
"That was obvious."
"I'm one of the Mujinsha Elite," he told her. "Exalted Guardians of the dungeons. When I heard the boss of this dungeon would have Nyugawa and his colleagues coming through, I came to assist. After what he did to Raizen, chances cannot be taken any longer."
"Then what are you doing on the 341st floor?"
"Waiting," he answered. "For a challenge."
Right on cue, he swung a leg at her, but she used an eagle to fly above it and kick his ice construct in the face.
"Your reflexes are praise-worthy."
Icicles shot out from his body, two of which impaled Yuka through her arm and leg.
"But you're still human."
Yuka ripped the icicles out, not even so much as wincing. "Jugen-Mahōshi: Hyōga Sōmetsu."
A mountain of ice and snow rose beneath her feet, and sharp waves fired at Rui, slowly cracking his armor.
"I take it back. You're no normal human."
As the ice kept up the pressure, Yuka lunged on the back of the ice construct, stomping it and denting it. Rui responded by forming more ice legs, which grabbed and held her in place.
"Now, woman, enjoy an everlasting winter—-!"
Rui abruptly paused, his eyes flashing red. Suddenly, the ice legs melted, and so did the ice construct. Yuka landed on the ground as Rui slowly drifted to the floor.
"Yes. Yes. Of course."
He turned back to Yuka, his eyes returning to normal. "Sorry, Natori. Something else came up. Bigger priorities, you know."
"No," she refused. "We haven't finished yet. I'm still alive."
"Yes, yes, a pity. But one more dangerous than you is getting closer to places the master doesn't want him to reach, so I've got to call a draw for now."
He looked at Yuka's bloody body. "Well, really a win, but I'll be nice."
He stepped back, shaking before disappearing in a flash of red. "Until we meet again!"
And as soon as he was gone, the UI updated.
〈Challenge Interrupted. Exploration Progress: 66% → 100%〉
Shino, Baruto, and Bakuō approached Yuka.
"Miss?" Shino asked. "Did we…win?"
Yuka wiped the excess blood off her. "This is not a win. But unfortunately, I must admit, it's better the fight didn't continue."
"Sooo, did we complete the commission?"
The rest of Sōkaidan ran into the great hall. One hurried over to Yuka, holding up her phone.
"Miss! We've found the party! They're dead! Here, the proof is on my phone! Wait…Miss?"
Yuka sighed. "Yes. It would seem we have."
After making their way out of the catacombs and riding Yuka's eagle back up to the citadel, they encountered the lonely man once again.
"I trust you bring back news?" he remarked.
"Not the good kind," Yuka assured him. "Your crew is dead, slaughtered by some dangerous changeling beast below."
The man analyzed Yuka's wounds. "Ahh, alas I thought there was hope. Unfortunately, I was wrong. But anything that can do such damage to a Kaidanchō must be very strong indeed."
"Speaking of which," Yuka inquired. "He claimed a faction called the Mujinsha Elite. Any clue on that name?"
The man remained silent for a long time. "The vessels of the *Master.* His direct subordinates. Generals, in your human terms."
"And who is this Master?"
"Pray you don't find out. I wish you the best, Kaitansha."
The man stepped back into the shadows, disappearing.
〈Commission Complete. Relocating to *Next* Floor.〉
A UI popped up, and Shino pointed to it. "Miss, look!"
〈1st Place: Sōkaidan. Points: 350.〉
"So, it wasn't all for nothing," Yuka noted. "Good. Drawn blood with no purpose stains the air."
The gate appeared before them.
"Come on. Let us build this lead while I can still move."
Outside—
"And with that, Kaidanchō Yuka Natori and Sōkaidan have taken a 150-point lead for 1st place!"
Audiences watching from all over clapped.
"That's Queen Yuka for you!"
"How'd she survive such a high level? Why'd they put her against a monster like that?"
"Doesn't matter! She made that coward piss his pants and run!"
In Chiyoda, Hayate watched the screen, a conflicted expression on his face.
"Such power on only the 341st floor? This isn't like the other raid tournaments," he worried. "Thankfully Yuka was able to hold her own, if the fight had gone on, she'd have been killed!"
Hayate shifted his attention to another floor. "Only one person can make an opponent like that shrug off someone as strong as Yuka."
Sure enough, he watched the monitor showing Shinkaidan, who had just arrived on their next floor, a museum.
Floor 1,321—-
Omariro and his party walked into a refined museum, where a worker made of stone hurried to greet them.
"Welcome! You must be Kaitansha, right?"
Omariro nodded. "Yes."
"Thank goodness! Our boss needs to speak with you ASAP! The entire museum depends on it!"
"Pretty dramatic, aren't they," Zaria murmured.
"Lead," Omariro ordered.
The worker rushed them through the crowded display areas to a back room, where a plump stone man in a tuxedo was sitting.
"Pleasure, pleasure!" the stone man waved. "Ishimori-ō Gardorem here! You can just refer to me as Ishimori-ō."
"Why are they both made of stone?" Rei whispered to Rika.
"I don't know," Rika admitted.
"They look familiar," Han noticed. "Are you gargoyles?"
"Smart boy! Yep! This is the Gāgoiru Hakubutsukan. Well, it was, until thieves stole our precious statue."
"Let me guess," Zaria said. "You want us to hunt 'em down."
"Indeed! That statue is worth one billion sigils! Even one scratch on it can put us out of business!"
"Wait, say that again?" Rika interrupted. "One BILLION?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Okay, I'm in!"
Han and Zaria slapped their foreheads.
"Perfect! My guards last spotted them taking the Midnight Train. If you hurry, I believe you can catch it before it departs."
"We catch statue," Omariro affirmed. "We bring statue back."
"Thank you, good sir."
〈Commission Accepted: Retrieve the *Gāgoiru Koi no Shihōzō.*〉
"Guess that means we gotta go quickly, right sir?" Zaria proposed. "That ice woman's team just lapped us!"
"Woman no trouble," Omariro replied. "Head for train."
Once they made it outside the museum entrance, they noticed a large train in the distance, which had already begun speeding away.
〈Waypoint: 1000m〉
"Train on move. Run!"
——