As the mysterious noise continued, obscured deep within that dense jungle, all eyes of the frozen party went to their prum leader.
Spear in hand, Finn gave the order:
“Forward.”
That was all it took for the group to move.
Bete and Tiona took the lead as they made their way along the jungle’s one road, almost like a pathway carved through the trees.
Everyone’s eyes shifted back and forth from one tree to the next, keeping watch lest something spring forth. Lest they lose their wits.
A phosphorescent glow shone down on them from the ceiling some ten meders above their heads. This tiny glimpse of the Dungeon walls peeking out from so much green thickness was all they had to remind them that this strange floor was even in the same labyrinth they’d come to know.
Minutes passed as they continued through the trees, the ever-loudening sound in front of them drawing them forward.
Then, all of a sudden, the jungle disappeared around them, opening up to reveal—
“…What…is that?” Tiona asked as she readied her Urga.
It was a large, open hall of ashen earth, devoid of trees.
And at the center of that barren wasteland was a multitude of caterpillars and violas.
It was a nauseating, gut-wrenching amount, and they were all gathered around something—a woman with a giant plantlike lower half.
“Is that one of those crystal-orb monsters?” Gareth asked, wrinkles forming in his cheeks.
“Has it…absorbed a titan alm?” Riveria added, identifying the large, vegetative monster that called the deep levels its home. Known as the Corpse Flower King, it preyed at will upon adventurer and brethren alike.
The caterpillars were extending tonguelike organs from their mouths, offering up the vivid magic stones at their tips to the female body of the titan alm. The violas, too, had opened their giant, gaping jaws to reveal the magic stones in their mouths.
The woman fed upon the stones with fervor.
Her body very much resembled the female caterpillar they’d encountered up on the fiftieth floor. As its countless tentacles devoured the vibrantly colored offerings, the caterpillars and flowers, now devoid of their magic stones, rotted and turned to ash, one by one.
“You’re kidding! It’s already gobbled up that many monsters?” Tsubaki’s right eye widened as she took in the monstrous pile of ash, almost like salt, around the creature.
It was then that Lefiya and the others noticed it.
The ashen ground they were standing upon at that very moment was actually the countless carcasses of monsters turned to ash and piled up beneath them.
“Shit…!” Finn’s face skewed as the rest of the party trembled in fear.
“An enhanced species…?!” The tattoo on Bete’s face twisted with his grimace.
“”
And Aiz.
She could hear her own heartbeat.
It was screaming, so loud her ears felt liable to burst.
Her blood was churning at the sight in front of her.
Only then.
Something changed. Just as Finn and the others were about to respond.
“Ah.”
The faintest noise rose from the creature’s grotesque head as it raised its upper body.
Only halfway through its feast on the surrounding monsters, it began to writhe like a worm.
“Ahhhh.”
The repulsive-looking upper half still trembling and squirming, its flesh suddenly bulged.
She released a sigh of ecstasy. Finn and the others watched in amazement as the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen was born, emerging from all that ugliness like a butterfly from its cocoon.
“AhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” came the scream of pleasure.
The adventurers had to slam their palms over their ears at the overwhelming, high-frequency sound waves that threatened to rupture their eardrums.
The woman, having risen from that husk of flesh, bent backward and directed her eyes to the heavens.
Long glossy hair descended along the curve of her back.
Covering her supple arms, her curvaceous chest, and waist was a gown of brilliant colors.
The gorgeous face of the woman gazing up at the ceiling, still shuddering with pleasure, could rival even a goddess’s.
She was green. Every inch of her, from her hair to her skin.
Everything apart from her eyes, which were pools of gold that lacked pupils and irises.
It wasn’t only her upper, human half that changed, either. Her abnormal lower half also underwent a transformation, now sporting enormous petals and a multitude of tentacles.
From the middle of that fifty-ninth floor, the gargantuan half-monster, half-goddess let out its first cry.
“Wh-what is that thing?!” Tione groaned, still holding her ears against the creature’s raucous cries.
But no one knew what it was, even as it continued its song of rapture. All anyone could do was look on in horror.
“…No way,” Aiz said from among the din.
Forgetting to cover her ears, she simply stood there in blank astonishment.
Her lips were trembling, her ears buzzing, the rapid churning of her blood having reached its peak.
There was no way. Could that…? Could it possibly…? Could it really be—?!
The questions ran through her head one after another, her body swaying in resonance with the blood pounding through her veins.
Could she be feeling the same thing? Could she?
“She” turned away from the ceiling, head swiveling on her neck as she directed her eyes toward Aiz.
“Aria—! Aria!!” she shouted, her voice filled with joy.
Again and again, that strange, abnormal creature screamed the name.
And when Aiz’s eyes met those golden ones, she knew.
Her body froze in terror as her trembling lips parted.
“A…spirit?!”
“—Ouranos!” Fels whirled around at the image reflected in the crystal—the “eye” currently fastened to Aiz’s loin guard.
They were in the Chamber of Prayers beneath Guild Headquarters.
Ouranos simply narrowed his eyes from atop his pedestal, both at the black-cloaked figure’s cry and at the scene taking place within the crystal.
“It is true, then,” he muttered. “I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Could this really be one of the spirits of old that descended alongside us to Orario’s surface? That carried out our will and assisted the heroes?” His brow furrowed as he took in the sight of the laughing woman in the crystal.
—The spirits had acted as an antenna for the gods, carrying out their will between the time of their descent and the Ancient Times.
They were weapons released by a number of the gods to act as the civilized people’s guides, to expel the monsters from the surface world.
Something like the Falna of the present day.
The spirits bestowed humanity and many of its heroes with their divine protection. The voices of those women accompanied those heroes as they exterminated monster after monster.
Many of the spirits were sent into the Dungeon, into old Orario, the main source of the monsters, which was how the labyrinthine epic—the Dungeon Oratoria—came into being.
Its tales, still passed on today, recounted the history of those heroes who were guided by the gods via the spirits.
Fels took everything in with a strained gulp and returned his attention to the crystal.
Powerful spirits of the Ancient Times. Then this creature here, in the crystal, could only be—
“—A being that descended into the Dungeon, was presumably consumed by a monster, and yet has maintained its own sense of self for all these years.”
“That would mean it’s been alive for over one thousand years!”
“Indeed. And its current state depends on that of the monster that consumed it…”
It was survival of the fittest. Monsters had always fol
lowed such reason.
This spirit absorbed by a creature, too, had become a monster governed by primordial desires—feeding, stealing, indulging.
“An amalgamation of a child of the gods…and a monster. Is this, too, what this world holds in store?” Ouranos muttered, eyes closed as though holding something back.
Finally, his eyelids rose to form a narrow gaze as he took in the visage in the crystal.
“That which you see there…is already corrupted.”
“A spirit?! That freaky-looking thing?!” Tiona exclaimed in response to Aiz’s muttered words.
The group of adventurers couldn’t help but tremble as they took in the sight of the hauntingly, venomously beautiful woman.
It was almost as if she’d forgotten who she really was, wrapped up in her gown of many colors and residing atop the colossal chassis of a monster.
It was a strange combination of repugnant beauty and odious sanctity.
The party found themselves at a loss against the sheer dignity of the corrupted spirit and the overwhelming sense of aversion it engendered.
“Those new species…were they merely more of that thing’s tentacles?” Finn narrowed his eyes at the some ten-meder aberrant standing before them.
It was a good guess, considering how the caterpillars and violas had focused their attacks on other monsters. Perhaps magic itself was the necessary energy for this creature to survive.
Preying on monsters, collecting magic stones, and finally returning her to her true form. They really were nothing but “tentacles,” extra appendages doing the spirit’s dirty work.
Across from Finn, she continued to laugh. Again and again she called out to that certain swordswoman.
“Aria! Aria!!”
Her voice, almost like a child’s, faltered as she awkwardly formed the words.
“I missed you! I missed you!”
“…?!”
“Don’t you want to be together forever?”
Tiona’s and the others’ heads turned instantly at the words. Lines of tension appeared across their faces as though they already had an idea of where this was heading.
“—Won’t you let me eat you?”
And then the spirit smiled.
Instantly, the remaining caterpillars and violas turned toward them with ferocious jerks, setting their sights on the adventurers—on Aiz—as though manifesting her dark will.
At the same time, there was a thunderous boom from the direction of the exit as the opening closed up with green flesh.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!!” Finn instantly commanded.
It was enough to stir them despite the confusion, and the party was unwavering despite their lost escape route. Tiona and the others readied their weapons.
She let out a sharp peal of laughter, and the battle began.
“Ruuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggghhhhh!!”
The mass conglomeration of well over fifty caterpillars and violas rushed the group with a mighty roar.
The adventurers responded by unsheathing their Durandal weapons at the vibrant yellow-green masses.
“You want me to move up, Finn?” Gareth shouted as he jumped forward.
“Like this is any different from before! Time to squish some bugs!!” Bete followed suit, the two of them dodging the incoming acid and slicing the caterpillars into bite-size pieces.
Among the cacophonous cries of agony, Aiz remained rooted to the spot, heart pounding painfully against the walls of her chest. Quickly, she shook off the feeling of dread and forced herself back into the proper headspace before diving into the battle.
Flourishing her Desperate, she flew into the swarm of enemies, her body and sword a vortex.
“Lefiya, aim for that woman! Raul and the others will assist the rest of the group with their magic swords!!” Finn rattled off command after command with the same precision he enforced against floor bosses.
“U-understood!”
“R-roger!” Raul replied before he and the other supporters took off.
Staff at the ready, Lefiya began her first chant. Simultaneously, the group of supporters brandished their long magic swords and unleashed a volley of instant magic attacks.
Using the salvo as cover fire, Aiz dashed forward, pushing back the swarm of caterpillars.
“Like hell I’m just gonna stand around like some spectator!” Tsubaki announced as she plunged her blade into the throng of violas, her hakama fluttering.
“Heh.”
There was movement from the direction of the reborn spirit as her army of monsters was slaughtered around her.
Myriad tentacles rose from her titan-alm lower half, whipping forward with a wild celerity.
Tiona and Tione responded to the tentacle onslaught with a swift counterattack of their own.
“ “This thing’s tough!” ” The faces of the twin sisters twisted in identical grimaces at the speed and power of the incoming attack.
The shock was enough to rival Udaeus’s pile-driver attack, and both sisters’ hands tingled around the grips of their weapons. Even as they went to work pruning the raging appendages, the massive feelers remained unscratched.
The true deluge of tendrils was focusing its attack on Aiz some one hundred meders away. Combining their attacks with their companion’s, the two sisters fought back unforgivingly against the relentless cat-o’-nine-tails-like thrashing.
“Riveria, hold off on your spells!” Finn called out, stopping Riveria as she moved to join the battle.
“What?!”
The prum hadn’t even turned around. His back was to her, and his right thumb ached. There was a hint of distress permeating his voice.
“My thumb! It won’t stop throbbing…Something’s coming!” Finn’s usual mask of leadership was beginning to crack. “We have to be prepared for anything!”
His instincts weren’t to be taken lightly. He was the one person there most attuned to the battle.
And the creature—that goddess-like beauty—just smiled coyly in affirmation.
“Arise, flames.”
In an instant, the spell was cast.
“A chant?!”
A kind of stupefied terror shot through the group like a bolt of lightning as a magic circle formed around the spirit’s massive chassis.
In a flash, the brilliant red light of her spell rose up from the ominous pattern on the ground, enveloping her entire body.
“A monster? Casting a spell?! You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Tione cried out in exasperation.
It was impossible. It was unthinkable that a being that survived on instinct and brutal destruction possessed the ability to cast any sort of magic.
The reason and intelligence required of magic was a domain limited to people and people alone—it was not a realm where monsters could tread.
It might have been a spirit, but this thing still had the body of a monster!
The magic circle of crimson widened.
Then it burst, an outpouring of magic power surging forth from its light.
Finn’s eyes widened in surprise, but he formulated an order all the same. “Riveria! A barrier!” His voice had an edge to it the others had never before heard.
Instantly, Riveria began casting a spell, the desperation evident on her face.
“The rest of you! We need magic! Throw out everything you’ve got!” Finn’s commands continued one after another. Raul and the other supporters let out a roar with their magic swords as Lefiya voiced a spell.
“L-let her have it!!”
“FUSILLADE FALLARICA!!”
The supporters unleashed a simultaneous barrage from their magic swords as Lefiya released her fire arrows by the hundreds, all of them careening toward the spirit.
The entire floor was bathed in light. In response, the creature gathered its ten gargantuan petals frontward to protect her lower half. Smile never faltering, she continued her chant, and in front of her erupted a thunderous explosion, its shock waves leaving behind flash after brilliant
flash.
Lefiya and the others peered through the din of stray blasts tearing the ground and hurling fragments of hard earth, only to find the flower petals—and subsequently the spirit herself—unharmed and untroubled.
Tsubaki laughed. “Didn’t work, huh?”
They’d failed.
Not even Lefiya’s tremendous firepower could penetrate that thing’s exterior, and that thought alone was enough to convince them their every attack was useless. Lefiya, Raul, and the other supporters could only look on in terror as Tsubaki stared daggers at the creature’s impenetrable armor of flower petals.
“What’s that thing made of, anyway…?” she murmured under her breath.
“Rage, rage, RAGE! Vortex of fire! The crimson wall! Hellfire’s roar! May the ardor of the gale plunge the world into grief and misery! The sky shall burn! The earth shall ignite! The seas shall boil! The fonts shall churn! The mountains shall erupt! All life shall turn to ash! May the lives of the great ones serve as atonement for the coming choler and grief—!”
“Dance, spirits of the air, keepers of the light! Forge thy pledge with the forest’s protectors and envelop us in the psalm of the earth! Surround us!”
The two spells were chanted at the same time.
The ominous song met the sweetly ringing translucence of Riveria’s protection spell—both elves’ eyes trembling in horrified wonderment at the length of the spirit’s chant.
It was a protracted spell song.
Unbelievably long yet so fast, it overcame even Riveria’s rapid-fire words. A colossal mass of magic power surpassing human knowledge, unattainable by humans, cocked and loaded with the utmost of swiftness.
As the spirit’s alluring features crinkled in delight, the high elf’s visage twisted in alarm.
“We can’t even get close to it…!!”
Aiz, Tiona, and the others were still attempting to attack the creature directly, struggling to ward off the throng of tentacles as the magic shook the entire floor. The great, sweeping assaults mowed down everything in their path, monsters included, not allowing the adventurers to advance even one step forward. They already had their hands full keeping the tentacles and monsters away from Riveria.
The monster still chanted. “Your envoy beseeches you, Salamander! Incarnate of fire! Queen of flame—!”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4 Page 25