Chapter 131
The black-and-red torrent slammed into the reef that was Kiriya—and in an instant it burst apart, exploding into a spray that filled the air.
"S-so strong!" A crowd of Level 3 and Level 4 adventurers stared, slack-jawed.
They couldn’t quite follow what had just happened, but somehow they simply knew it was incredible!
"No matter how many times I see it, that strike takes my breath away." A sharp glint crossed Finn’s eyes. "That last one already carried a hint of magic, didn’t it? Hard to believe swordsmanship alone could pull that off."
"Indeed," Riveria said with a nod.
"Tch!" Bete scowled, thoroughly annoyed. "Damn it—he’s showing off again!"
"So cool!" Tiona pressed her palms together and swooned.
For once, Tione didn’t fire back, because deep down she completely agreed.
And Ais... Ais watched the young man’s back too, an unusual light flickering in her eyes.
After holding his pose a moment longer and soaking up every last admiring stare, Kiriya finally readied himself to leap.
And then, once again, something strange happened.
A slender vine slid soundlessly up out of the water behind him and, quick as a striking snake, whipped out and coiled around his ankle.
Kiriya barely had time to glance down in surprise before a powerful force yanked him under.
"What—?!"
"Look out!"
The Loki Familia went pale with alarm, several of them lunging to dive in after him—until Finn stopped them.
"Stay put."
On dry land, every one of these adventurers was a force to be reckoned with.
But in these churning rapids, they were about as useful as worms—their strength cut to a fraction, with unknown monsters lurking besides.
He wasn’t about to let them take that risk!
Of course, that didn’t mean abandoning Kiriya. He simply had a far more efficient option.
"Riveria."
As a comrade of many years, Riveria was perfectly in tune with him. She hadn’t even needed him to speak as her incantation was already nearing its end.
"...Omen of the end, blankets of pure white snow. As the hour of dusk draws near, let the raging winds rise. Sealed light, frozen earth, blizzards sweeping across the heavens—the threefold winter. My name is—"
But before she could finish, the rushing water suddenly erupted, and a dragon of pure, glittering water burst upward toward the ceiling.
Kiriya rode along at the dragon’s belly, while the beast’s jaws gaped wide, clamping down on a green monster as a resounding roar tore from its throat.
"ROOOAAAR—!"
The long, ringing roar echoed through the entire cavern, freezing everyone in place and leaving them awestruck.
"Is that... a dragon?"
"No—it’s a construct of magic. Its whole body is made of water!"
"More precisely, you could call it.... ninjutsu."
Ever since his training sessions with Ais down on the eighteenth floor, Kiriya had grown more and more willing to use his everyday ninjutsu out in the open.
The others had seen it a few times by now, yet witnessing it firsthand still left them amazed.
Just then the water dragon surged toward the rock wall with unstoppable momentum, its immense pressure and roaring force blasting a massive crater into the solid stone—and the green monster was crushed clean apart, split into pieces.
"Haah—"
Kiriya landed on both feet, soaked from head to toe, and stared at the puddle of remains in the crater as confusion crept into his eyes.
’By all rights, after a beating like that, the thing should’ve dropped its magic stone by now. So why is it still lying here?’
’Don’t tell me... it’s not dead yet?’
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Kiriya’s hands flashed through their seals, and a massive fireball roared out of his mouth.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
The monster’s remains were about to be swallowed by the flames when—suddenly, they moved!
Each broken-off piece seemed to have a mind of its own, sprouting little legs and scattering in every direction at a startling speed.
’Damn it, they’re bolting!’
A curse flashed through Kiriya’s head, and before he knew it his legs had kicked off in pursuit.
But the pieces had split into far too many; on his own, he could only cut off a handful of them.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
A string of muffled thumps sounded through the air as the fleeing chunks were knocked back one by one, tumbling into a heap.
Kiriya raised an eyebrow, a smug grin tugging at his lips.
"Nice work."
"Obviously. You’re not the only one with skills around here, handsome!"
"That’s right~ We’re your comrades now, remember? Feel free to lean on us a little more."
"This monster’s actually kind of interesting. Enough to be worth my time."
"Hmm. Crafty little thing. Could it be... an enhanced species?"
"Most likely. No ordinary monster pulls tricks like these."
The elites of the Loki Familia closed into a ring around the moss monster, trading observations back and forth—until Kiriya almost started to feel sorry for the thing.
’Just how rotten does your luck have to be to end up cornered and gawked at by a lineup of heavy hitters like this?’
"So then—what are you going to do now?"
The monster, for its part, was thoroughly bewildered.
It was an enhanced species that had evolved by devouring magic stones, and it had come here for one simple reason: to ambush these adventurers and gather enough stones to complete its evolution.
The reason it had struck at Kiriya first was that, after watching him earlier, it had mistaken him for the strongest of the group and wanted to remove the biggest threat before anything else.
What it hadn’t counted on was that all its scheming left the human boy very much alive—and, worse, dragged a whole crowd of fearsome enemies down onto its head.
Staring at that pack of ferocious adventurers, the enhanced species would surely have been swearing up a storm, if only it could talk.
Its scattered pieces drew together and, in moments, fused back into a single whole—drawing impressed murmurs from the onlookers.
"Looks like plain physical attacks won’t cut it. We’ll need magic to destroy its body completely," Finn concluded.
"Then let’s buy Riveria some time—and don’t let this one slip away." Tione cracked her knuckles, a smile on her face that was anything but kind.
As they closed in step by step, the moss monster curled into a ball, seemingly scared out of its wits.
But Ais and Bete caught the spikes rapidly bristling up across its surface.
In the next instant, a downpour of wooden spikes came raining down.
"Careful!"
Kiriya flickered to Riveria’s side and whisked the speed-lacking mage out of harm’s way, while Ais and the others relied on their superb speed and agility to dodge and parry.
Even the rest of the Loki Familia reacted in a flash, raising shields or pulling out an assortment of defensive items to weather the barrage.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
The spikes flew fast and hit hard. Under their dense volley, even solid rock shattered to pieces.
With that sheer firepower, the monster managed to pin everyone down for the moment—but instead of pressing its advantage, it chose to retreat.
This crowd was far too dangerous, better to slink back to its own little nest. Once it had grown strong enough, it could come back and settle the score.
But just because it wanted to run didn’t mean the others would let it.
"Whoosh—"
Kiriya hurled the longsword marked with the Flying Thunder God seal.
It streaked out like a bolt of light and pinned the monster straight to the wall.
In fairness, none of this really counted as a serious wound for the creature.
It simply tore itself free of the blade and turned to leave—only to find Kiriya already flickering into place above its head, a gleaming orb two or three sizes bigger than his own head spinning in his hand.
"This is Flying Thunder God: Second Step!"
Kiriya said with a grin, then drove the Big Ball Rasengan straight down onto its head!
"BOOOOM—!"
The orb’s savage grinding force—strong enough to warp stone and steel—churned the moss monster’s body into pulp, and the leftover momentum tore on into the ground, wiping the rocky platform clean out of existence.