A New Path

"Leo! Ais! We're here!"

"... Looks like we're a little late!"

When Ais landed back on the ground, enveloped in the Vertical Shaft, as if they had stumbled into an amusement park rather than a battlefield, and came to Ais's side one after the other.

"Tiona, Tione."

Ais, holding the Desperate, looked at her familiar companions and called out softly.

"Miss Ais! Are you alright?!"

Lefiya Viridis was held in Tione's arms, and the magic gem on her wand still shone with a lingering light, telling everyone who the magic had just come from.

However, the elven girl had no sense of having done something great. She jumped out of Tione's arms eagerly and ran to Ais's side, chattering away with questions.

"Where's Mr. Leo? Where did Mr. Leo go?!"

Lefiya Viridis was still looking for Leo, and when she saw that Leo was not by Ais's side, her pretty face turned pale.

"Could it be...?!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a comet streaking across the sky.

"What? Can't you wish me well for once?"

Leo emerged from the dissipating Protective Starlight, speaking irritably as he walked towards Lefiya Viridis.

In the past, Lefiya Viridis would never have given him a pleasant look at this moment. She would have snorted coldly, turned her head away, ignored him, or simply unleashed a torrent of abuse at him with a dark expression, as if venting her daily frustrations.

This social elf is incredibly outgoing and cheerful when she's with others, and incredibly obedient, sensible, and nervous when she's with her seniors like Ais. But when she's with him, she never gives him a friendly look. Especially after he accidentally saw her naked in the Divine Room, her attitude towards Leo became worse than anyone else's. Even when they brushed past each other in the corridor of the base camp, she would deliberately snort and pretend not to see him, leaving him both amused and exasperated each time.

But this time, the elven girl revealed her frank side to Leo.

"I'm so sorry! It's all because of you..."

Lefiya Viridis approached Leo with a guilty look on her face, head bowed, her dejected appearance slowly dispelling the annoyance on Leo's face. "This has nothing to do with you. If anyone's to blame, it's that Deformed Spider, not you."

Leo patted the girl's slender shoulder, offering a word of comfort.

"No! If Mr. Raul and I hadn't been distracted..."

Lefiya Viridis seemed genuinely remorseful, or rather, unable to forgive herself for holding everyone back; it was clear she was starting to overthink things. "Alright, Lefiya Viridis, this isn't the time to talk about this."

Tiona stepped forward, took Lefiya Viridis's hand, and shielded her behind her.

"Yes, let's talk about it after we get through this."

Tione gazed at the horizon, her eyes gradually narrowing.

Leo and Ais had already looked up and saw the Evil Wyvern flying in from there.

We just wiped out a large group, but now another large group is coming, densely packed like locusts, which is extremely annoying to look at.

"So all the dragons from the upper floors have come here?" Tiona laughed without a hint of tension. "The bigger the commotion here, the more monsters from the upper floors will be attracted. This is going to be never-ending."

"It's not just that." Tione shifted her gaze to the front, sneering, "Don't forget, this floor is huge. Even if Leo and Lefiya Viridis unleashed their full magical power, they couldn't possibly eliminate all the monsters on this floor." Just as Tione said, the shadowy figures of enormous monsters could be vaguely seen approaching from other directions on this floor. Clearly, the monsters on this floor, and those on the floors above, had all been drawn to the commotion, making the group's situation dangerous once again.

At this moment, there were countless flying dragons circling in the sky and herds of beasts rushing in from all directions on the ground. There was absolutely no way to go up to heaven or down to earth.

Even more terrifying was that both the Cannon Dragon and the Evil Wyvern had flames rising and falling from their mouths, clearly ready to unleash a concentrated barrage of fire, just waiting for the massive onslaught.

This is an unprecedented crisis.

This is a truly deadly predicament.

This is, after all, the 58th Floor, the deepest floor that all adventurers in Orario have finally reached. And like the "Great Wilderness" on the 49th Floor, it is a vast, single space. There is no maze, and therefore no terrain or structure to block monsters or limit their numbers. As far as the eye can see, there are huge rectangular caverns depicted with black lead-colored walls and ceilings. All the monsters on the entire floor can surround you instantly, and even monsters from the floors above can come through the Vertical Shaft.

Here, the number of monsters is countless, and unlike the floors above, each one dwells in the deepest depths. In particular, the Dragon Species monsters almost all possess the potential to reach level 5, and some even have more.

In other words, Leo and his group are currently in a situation no different from being besieged by countless Level 5 adventurers. In the past, Finn and his companions were subjected to cannon fire that ignored the floors above. After struggling to reach this place, they lost all their stamina, items, and even equipment for combat, and in the end, they had no choice but to give up and continue their conquest.

Even the Freya Familia, led by the [Brave], whose formidable warriors ultimately failed to reach the 59th Floor, could only arrive here before turning back.

Even the expeditionary force that fought alongside Finn, Riveria Ljos Alf, Gareth, Bete Loga, and others could only stop here. Now, only Leo, Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya Viridis remain.

It's easy to imagine how difficult it would be to survive here.

However, neither Leo and Ais, nor Tiona and Tione, showed any fear in the face of such a deadly situation.

"This is exactly what we've been waiting for!" Tiona twirled her large twin blades, smiling innocently, and said, "Let's seize this opportunity to catch up with Ais in one fell swoop!"

"The other monsters are one thing, but those Cannon Dragon must be dealt with. We can't let them hinder the captain and the others any longer." Tione no longer held the recurve sword, but instead picked up a heavy axe-spear, saying, "Last time we were forced to retreat here, this time we absolutely cannot lose again."

Both were highly motivated and determined to forge a new path here.

Ais didn't say anything, but silently walked to the front and stood in front of Tiona and Tione.

Although Finn and other clan leaders were not present this time, as a newly promoted Level 6, Ais felt it was necessary to stand at the forefront and stop the most dangerous group of monsters.

Only in this way can there be any chance of survival in this battle.

This is also why Finn resolutely decided to split his forces into two groups.

He believed that Ais, who had already been upgraded, was absolutely capable of taking on the heaviest responsibilities in place of them.

Moreover, don't forget, this time, there's another companion here who's in no way inferior to these veteran Lv.6 players.

"Leave the ones in the sky to me."

Leo looked at the roaring, charging Evil Wyvern and spoke thus.

"You can take care of the ones on the ground."

As he spoke, streaks of golden patterns composed of Divine Script slowly lit up on the Starlight in Leo's hand.

"Boom!"

Leo instantly activated his flight magic, transforming into a comet that shot into the sky, creating a gust of wind that lifted Lefiya Viridis's skirt, causing the elven girl to gasp in surprise and blush as she clutched her skirt.

"Tione! Let's go!"

"That's what I've been waiting to hear!"

The Amazon sisters couldn't hold back any longer and rushed past Ais from the left and right, their speed so great that their figures blurred into afterimages. But no matter how fast they were, they couldn't be as fast as Ais.

"[Wake up.]"

The blonde girl, who was chanting a short incantation, began to sway her hair and skirt.

The surging air currents enveloped the girl's body and also the silver military knife.

Ais, who unleashed the Falna of "Wind" without reservation, has surpassed even veteran powerhouses Finn and Gareth in terms of sheer ability.

As the monsters charged in from all directions, a dark flame inevitably ignited in the girl's heart, fueling her deep hatred for them, making the Falna on her back feel slightly hot.

Suppressing the burning sensation and desperately trying to calm the dark emotions in her heart, Ais, who was about to unleash [Avenger], stepped onto the ground and transformed into an arrow released from a bow, striking out like a storm.

The three girls quickly disappeared into the herd of beasts, causing roars, howls, and painful screams to erupt from within them.

Lefiya Viridis was left alone, left behind.

Left unprotected, she watched her predecessors charge forward, then looked at the unhindered horde of monsters behind her, her hand gripping her wand tightening. "I want some too."

The elven girl's face showed determination.

"I will fight too!"

The monsters behind them were still far away, which is why Ais and the others dared to charge together. Their goal was to eliminate the enemies in front before the monsters behind them arrived, and then turn around to deal with the monsters behind them.

As for the left and right sides, there are no Cannon Dragon there, so there's no need to worry about being suddenly attacked from a distance. We can deal with them last. Lefiya Viridis is safe here for now and doesn't need anyone to protect her.

But the elven girl was clearly not content with this.

"[Proud warriors, archers of the forest.]"

The elven girl began chanting a spell, causing a deep golden magic circle to spin beneath her feet.

She would use her maximum-output wide-area annihilation magic to reduce the number of monsters as much as possible before the enemies reached her, thus easing the pressure on her seniors in battle.

"Boom!!!"

Before long, a torrential rain of flames ripped through the sky, swarming towards the monster horde.

A comet streaked across the sky, heading straight towards the flying dragons.