“Icicle Edge!”
The resulting pillar of ice was monstrous.
It struck instantaneously, leaving her no room to evade.
A massive blade of blue ice launched directly in front of her eyes.
An arrow of light shot forth from Lefiya’s outstretched arm.
The single beam of light rose straight above her head before curving to run along the ground.
“Go…” Lefiya’s voice trembled.
Find her. Fly to her.
“GO!!” She screamed it this time, her eyes closed.
The arrow’s speed increased, almost as though responding to Lefiya’s cry.
“REACH HER!!”
And it did. Lefiya’s song reached all the way to Aiz.
And exploded against the incoming blade of ice.
“!!”
Neither Aiz nor the spirit saw it coming.
The arrow of light appeared from nowhere, slamming into the icy pillar in front of their eyes and diverting its path.
The spirit’s attack zoomed straight past Aiz, tousling her golden hair, deflected by the final cover fire of a girl who’d refused to stop singing.
The moment Aiz realized what had happened, her eyes flashed. Facing the bewildered spirit, she swung her sword of wind with everything she had.
“Gnnnghhh!!”
“Nnngh!”
With an astonishing reflex, the spirit managed to bring her arms up to block the oncoming sword and its vortex-like gale.
The wind screamed.
As the spirit gripped the body of the sword in both hands, the squall tore her vibrant gown to shreds in an instant.
The sword trembled, imbued with all that massive current, then gave a flash as it plunged straight through the spirit’s body.
Crimson blood welled from the creature’s green skin.
“—NO!!”
Her face contorted in pain and agony as the sword, propelled by the tempestuous winds, bisected her whole. She flung up a single tentacle in immediate response.
The powerful whip was quick to break through Aiz’s armor of wind, sending the swordswoman flying.
“AIZ!!”
Tiona and Tione, holding each other up, watched as the golden-haired, golden-eyed girl rocketed through the air in a shower of blood.
As did Riveria, standing there weakly.
As did Raul and the other supporters, exhausted and spent.
As did Tsubaki, supporting herself with her weapon.
As did Lefiya, still splayed across the ground.
As did Gareth, down on his knees.
As did Bete and Finn, sent flying by the flurry of flying whips.
The girl’s body whirled as it crossed above the Dungeon floor.
“”
But even as blood poured from her head, her perception had not diminished. No, not even a single bit.
Eyes still as sharp as swords, she used the momentum of her flight to travel all the way to the Dungeon’s ceiling—then landed.
She stood there, upside down, and drew Desperate behind her like a bowstring pulled taut.
“Rage, Tempest!!”
She’d unleash everything.
All the Mind she’d collected within her, everything loaded into the cannon that was her Airiel.
A windstorm more powerful than a typhoon.
“!”
The bloodied spirit directly below her immediately began weaving together a new chant.
“Light, gleam! Tear through the darkness! Your envoy beseeches thee, Lux! Incarnate of light! Queen of refulgence—!”
The ultrashort chant summoned a giant massive circle above her head to oppose the lone swordswoman.
Aiz’s gaze met that of the spirit below her, then she pointed the tip of her sword toward the ground.
She was ready.
All eyes were on her.
“Aiz…” Riveria murmured.
“Do it, lass.” Gareth’s eyes narrowed.
“Go, Aiiiiiiiz!!” Tiona and Tione cried out in simultaneous encouragement.
“Crush that bitch!” Bete asserted.
“It’s up to you now,” Finn said with a smile.
“—Miss Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz!!” Lefiya screamed from her spot on the ground.
And then.
“Li’l Rafaga!!”
She released the storm.
“LIGHT BURST!!” the spirit said as she finished her own spell at the same time.
Spiraling arrow of wind met massive blast of light.
There was a momentary pause.
Then the whirling kamikaze blasted through the gleaming white light, eliminating it completely.
“”
The unbreakable sword impaled the spirit from her head to her chest.
A single flash of wind traveled from her seemingly feminine upper half to her monstrous lower half.
As the silver sword sliced her in half, the spiraling gale gouged out chunks of her flesh. The spirit’s high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the hall.
Desperate passed all the way through, collided with the hard earth—and then exploded.
The wind thundered as the spirit turning instantly to ash, her magic stone shattered.
The resulting shock waves made the entire floor quake.
Still, the tempestuous gale continued, all the ash rising and whirling like a massive dust storm.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!”
The adventurers covered their faces with their arms in an attempt to protect themselves from the violent winds.
As the gale pushed them back, the brilliant flash painted their visions white.
The weapons thrust into the ground began to shake, resonating with the scream of Aiz’s sword.
And still the storm continued to rage and howl.
Then…
Once the trembling and the rumbling began to subside…
Tiona and the others looked up from their crouched positions…and saw a shadow moving in the center of that giant crater.
The young swordswoman slowly rose to her feet, pulling her silver sword from the ground.
She turned her golden eyes toward them, her long blond hair practically glimmering in the overhead phosphorescence—and they couldn’t hold in their cheers of pure joy.
“AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZ!!” Tiona shouted as she rushed forward, her body covered in cuts and bruises. How she still had any strength remaining was anybody’s guess.
Tione was soon to follow, and Aiz could only smile softly at the broad smiles of her two Amazonian companions. Tiona practically leaped on her as the sisters wrapped her in their arms.
“…Are you all right, Gareth?” Finn inquired as he made his way over to the dwarf.
Gareth glanced up from his spot on the ground, skin and armor stained a bloody crimson. “I seem to remember some prum tellin’ me the only thing I had goin’ for me was this great lug of a body,” he replied, the corners of his mouth turning up in a knowing grin. Next to them, Bete closed his eyes with a laugh.
Far, far behind them, the supporters were hugging one another with tears of relief—even Raul brought an arm to his eyes as he let out a waterfall of manly tears.
“Lefiya, are you all right…?” Riveria knelt down to take the magic user in her arms.
“Lady Riviera…is…is Miss Aiz…?” Lefiya replied from against the high elf’s chest as she directed her watery eyes upward.
Riveria turned her gaze toward the swordswoman in question.
“She’s fine…thanks to your magic.”
Lefiya looked over to see Aiz stumbling beneath Tiona’s and Tione’s overwhelming embraces.
Aiz, in turn, looked back at Lefiya, golden eyes meeting azure.
Thank you, she mouthed silently.
“Oh…” Lefiya’s vision blurred as it took in the sight of that smile.
It was a true, genuine smile from the depths of her heart.
A single tear worked its way down her cheek.
“Goodness gracious! I’d
say I’ve seen about everything now!” Tsubaki rubbed at her eye patch from afar as she watched over Loki Familia in their celebration.
Then a childlike smile spread across her face.
The cries of victory echoed throughout the entirety of the fifty-ninth floor.
They’d done it. They’d overcome another expedition. And as the adventurers raised their voices, their weapons gleamed with a brilliant luster.
Aiz pulled her sword from where it stood protruding from the earth in the middle of the hall.
It glinted a dazzling silver in her hand.
EPILOGUE
SCENARIO GONE WILD
The battle on the fifty-ninth floor concluded, Loki Familia quickly began readying themselves for departure under Finn’s command.
Scraping together what items they could, they somehow managed to get everyone healed—at least enough that they could walk—before the lot of them began making their way back to the fiftieth floor where their base camp awaited.
Knowing they needed to move quickly if they hoped to avoid the next wave of monsters on the fifty-eighth floor, they dashed their way up and through the Dragon’s Urn.
“So…does this mean we can think of that creature as part of the advance guard, too?” Riveria asked Finn next to her. They were around the vicinity of the fifty-first floor as the party continued their full-steam sprint toward the camp.
“I would say so, yes.” Finn nodded in response as Tiona and the others took out any spawned monsters they encountered along the way with a vocal passion that fully demonstrated the wondrous power of healing items. “There’s no doubt about it. Both Aiz and Lefiya already witnessed that crystal orb leeching a monster and transforming into that feminine creature, did they not?”
“Aye, I’ve heard that, too. Still…” Gareth piped up with a wheezy voice from Riveria’s other side, saying nothing about the heavy wounds inflicting his body as he ran.
Neither he nor Riveria could hide their disquietude at the prum leader’s inquiry as they continued their exhausting advance.
“Then that would mean…”
“Indeed—”
“—The main body of that creature lies elsewhere,” uttered the voice in the Chamber of Prayers beneath Guild Headquarters, the torchlights flickering.
Ouranos and Fels had witnessed the entire battle unfold thanks to the magic crystal attached to Aiz’s loin guard.
“Then that means whatever it was that birthed that crystal orb fetus…the true form of that corrupted spirit…lies somewhere much farther down. Past the sixtieth floor and beyond…” Ouranos hypothesized, his voice low.
It almost seemed as though the spirit’s scream after her defense was shattered by Riveria’s spell had actually been a cry for help.
And the wall of tentacles that had risen up to protect her was, in fact, from a floor much farther below.
“Taking into account the way the terrain, environment, and ecosystem of the fifty-ninth floor was also completely transformed, I believe it’s safe to say the true form of this enemy dwells much deeper within the Dungeon,” Ouranos continued.
Fels listened in silence to the venerable god before responding with a sigh, his black robes shuddering. “This situation is even more unthinkable than we could have imagined.”
“Then those hybrid creatures. They’re a result of this corrupted spirit, too…To think that one of the spirits of old, sent to save humanity, would end up being the cause of everything threatening Orario now…”
“A bit ironic, isn’t it?” Fels murmured languidly. “There have been signs of this abnormality for many years now, but we’ve not been able to perceive its existence until now…Is it just as we thought, then? Could its recent increase in activity be due to Aiz Wallenstein?”
“We can only assume,” Ouranos replied with a nod, his brine-colored eyes narrowing. “There are, of course, a number of things we’ll need to determine regarding this corrupted spirit’s true form; however, that is—”
“—A problem for a later time,” Finn asserted as the party hurried its way through the Dungeon’s labyrinthine passageways. “What Aiz and the others witnessed up on the twenty-fourth floor…the crystal-orb fetus? Starved for meat and feeding off other monsters? It began consuming magic stones from monsters like those violas and evolved into a woman-like creature just like we saw below—or, should I say, a demi-spirit.”
“You don’t mean…” Gareth responded somewhat fearfully.
“I do.” Finn nodded. “Our enemy is using those portable crystal orbs, growing them using magic, and sending them to the surface…almost as though they’re hoping to summon a fully mature spirit aboveground.”
Even Loki Familia, the strongest familia in Orario, had barely been able to eke out a victory against the demi-spirit on the fifty-ninth floor.
If one of those things were to make its way to the surface—or even worse, if there were multiple crystal orbs already making their way to the surface…
The city would be destroyed. It would never last against one of those feminine creatures, let alone an army.
Riveria’s and Gareth’s faces hardened at the news.
“It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say Orario would be doomed.” Finn smiled bitterly as he licked his thumb. It wasn’t too difficult at this point to read into just what Levis and the remnants of the Evils were plotting. Riveria and Gareth, too, began to realize the gravity of their situation.
“We need to get this info to Loki. As soon as we’re ready, we’ll head back to the surface.”
“Right.”
“Understood.”
There were no objections as the adventurers headed for the exit.
“Soooo…what exactly’s goin’ on here, huh?” Loki eyed the other gods sitting with her at the circular table. She appeared decidedly miffed.
They were at their usual high-end establishment, three of them in total gathered in one of its soundproof rooms.
Across from her sat Dionysus, with his eyes closed, and Hermes, a delicate smile coloring his face.
“We’re all victims of the same crime, are we not? So we’re all in the same boat. Wouldn’t it make sense to share whatever information we can?”
“Enough of the Mister Nice Guy act.” Loki didn’t even hide her dubious expression as she studied the sweetly smiling Hermes.
Bodyguards for the three gods waited a short distance away from the table against the wall, standing with their eyes closed as they monitored the proceedings in silence. Dionysus had brought Filvis, Hermes had brought Asfi, and Loki had brought one of the lower members of her familia.
“You’ll tell me what this is all about, won’t you, Dionysuuuuuuuuus?” Loki pouted.
“I apologize, Loki, but you’ll simply have to trust us. I’m afraid I’m as unwilling a participant as you are,” Dionysus replied equally as despondently, his eyes closed. Finally, he let out a sigh. “For the time being, shall we return to the conversation at hand?”
Reluctant as she was, Loki began relaying to them what information she knew.
She explained the series of events that had taken place in the mere three days Aiz and the others had been gone on their expedition.
“Even if remnants of those Evils have infiltrated Orario, those creatures and their friends probably reside deep, deep within that Dungeon…Alas, people like me have no way of searching for them! But no! The more I learn, the more serious this situation becomes! So I thought to myself—maybe I shouldn’t poke my nose in after all?”
“Oh, please, Hermes. We’re beyond your ‘explanations’ at this point.” Dionysus continued, “And yet…this being who’d dare take the name of ‘Enyo’…? It’s almost like a declaration of war aimed directly at the gods of Orario.”
“Could also be a warning to the Guild. At any rate, right now we pretty much just hafta wait fer Finn and the others to return with more info.” Loki added her own musings to the pile as the three gods spoke one by one. Their guards continued to stand in silence, sim
ply listening to the discussion unfold.
When it seemed they’d covered most everything, the gods took the conversation up a notch, approaching the main issue at hand—
—What exactly they needed to focus on right now.
“Those black cages the Evils were trying to cart around on the twenty-fourth floor…with the violas inside them…” Hermes pondered.
“I think it’s safe to say they were attempting to bring them to the surface via the Babel tunnel,” Dionysus replied.
“Yeah, but even if the Guild turned a blind eye to ’em, there’s no way they’d be able to haul those giant things out without gettin’ seen…yeah?” Loki said.
The three of them exchanged glances.
“Which means…”
“I’d say so.” Loki nodded toward Dionysus before continuing. “Babel’s not the only one. There’s another one—at least one more.” Her red eyes opened from a pair of thin slits as she got to the core of the matter. “One more entrance.”
That one and only giant tunnel leading into the Dungeon might not actually be as “one and only” as they thought.
Almost as though confirming her suspicions, a tiny throb began pulsing, on-off, in the back of her mind. Her godly intuition was never wrong.
Afterword
The first act of this spin-off is now complete.
There’ve been a few more ups and downs than the original series, but I was given the opportunity to write not only what I wanted to write but what I wanted to read, which is what brings us now to this fourth volume.
I’m often hit with ideas when I’m taking a walk or listening to music. They suddenly appear in my head like scenes from a manga or movie.
Scenes like…the main character going up against an unbelievably powerful bull; a leader, his back to the viewer, encouraging his stricken subordinates in the face of an all-powerful enemy; a heroine unleashing the final blow from the sky after her companions have cleared the way for her.
I have a habit of coming up with plots based on these kinds of powerful scenes that spring into my head and that I, myself, want to read. The characters, the world, the details of the setting—all of that takes a back seat as I write whatever it takes to reach those scenes I already have planned in my head. Calculating backward, in a way. Rather than starting from the story’s foundation, I start from the points I want to reach.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4 Page 29
