The Tainted Fairy

The terrain of the 59th Floor had been completely altered, which was surprising, but as Leo said, the Loki Familia had already prepared themselves for it and quickly regained their composure.

Chun remained completely unaware of the truth, wanting to ask but never having the chance.

Finn has already begun giving instructions, telling everyone to regroup.

Bete Loga and Tiona were still the forwards, Ais and Tione the center-backs, Leo and Riveria Ljos Alf the defenders, Gareth was there to provide close protection, and each of the supporters was assigned one person to each position. Finn and Chun were there to improvise. The group continued forward along the dense forest that had been cleared like a passage.

Along the way, they didn't encounter a single monster, only faint sounds that resembled monsters moving or gnawing on something.

This unusual scene once again told everyone that there was a serious problem with this floor.

After all, this is the Dungeon closest to the front lines. As an ultra-deep level, the monster spawn rate, appearance frequency, and even perception capabilities here far exceed those of ordinary places. There are even monsters like the Cannon Dragon that can detect enemies several floors above and snipe them from an extremely long distance. Yet, in this level, even deeper than the 58th Floor where the Cannon Dragon appears, not a single monster has appeared. Isn't that a huge problem?

Even in the safe floors where monsters don't spawn, there are usually some monsters from other floors, but here there isn't a single one, which is clearly unusual.

Even Ais, who is usually most sensitive to the presence of monsters, could not sense any danger at this moment, causing the girl to keep her face tense, with a faint sense of unease in her eyes.

They could only move forward with their breath held, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings as they traversed the dense forest.

Fortunately, the visibility on this floor wasn't bad. The dome, which was several tens of meters above the ground, was constantly glowing with phosphorescence, dispelling the darkness. However, most of the area there was covered by Green Flesh, which made people feel even more uneasy.

They continued walking forward for an unknown amount of time, until suddenly, the dense forest disappeared.

The group left the dense forest and entered a vast space with gray earth, where their view was no longer limited to the monotonous thickets of trees.

Then—everyone saw "that".

"----What is that?"

Tione murmured this, but received no response.

Everyone stared intently ahead at the scene that appeared in the center of the gray earth.

There, countless worm-like creatures and Man-Eating Flower plants roam in droves, occupying large areas of land.

Of course, what caused everyone's collective mistake was not these colorful monsters, but the presence that was supported by this nauseating horde of monsters—a female monster with the lower half of a giant plant.

That's right, it's the kind of female-shaped monster that appears after being parasitized by the Green Orb Embryo.

After encountering the worm-like female form on the 50th Floor and the octopus-like female form on the 18th Floor, the group finally encountered this female-shaped monster again on the 59th Floor.

However, this time, the host seemed to be some kind of giant plant monster that lived in the deepest areas. Its lower body was deeply rooted in the ground, while its upper body was an ugly female body. Countless tentacles were wriggling around it, reaching out to the worm-like monsters and Man-Eating Flower monsters around it, and taking pieces of colorful magic Magic Stone from them.

The worm-like monsters extended tongue-like organs from their mouths and handed the colorful Magic Stone at the tips to their tentacles.

The Man-Eating Flower monsters also opened their huge jaws, revealing the colorful Magic Stone in their mouths.

The female figure accepted all comers without hesitation, using her tentacles to collect the Magic Stone one by one and devouring them with a series of "crunch crunches."

The sounds of gnawing continued.

As for the monsters that lost their Magic Stone, they all turned to ashes and vanished, scattered on the ground.

Seeing this, Leo and his group all reluctantly understood.

The gray land before us was simply covered by dust formed from the monsters that had lost their Magic Stone.

The sheer number of monster corpses, reduced to dust, was extraordinary, cruelly telling everyone just how many monsters had lost their Magic Stone and turned to dust to create such a gray expanse of land.

It was immediately obvious that the monsters' Magic Stone had all been devoured by the woman in front of them.

"----How long did that person eat like that? And how much did they eat?"

Riveria Ljos Alf uttered those words almost as a groan.

"Enhanced Species ----"

Chun's face turned ashen.

Even without knowing the inside story, she knew that only Enhanced Species could eat Magic Stones.

The female monster in front of us is an Enhanced Species that has consumed countless Magic Stones and accumulated an immeasurable amount of power!

This is probably the most terrifying monster that everyone present has ever seen.

That was the only point that everyone understood.

Including Leo.

He stared at the woman's figure and felt an unprecedented and terrifying sense of oppression.

This sense of oppression was far greater than that of Udaeus, the floor master of the 37th Floor.

Keep in mind that Udaeus is a floor master with potential abilities exceeding Lv.6.

A monster far stronger than that?

What level is that?

Lv.7?

Or is it Lv.8?

Leo didn't know; all he knew was that his heart was beating faster and faster, and a chill surged through his body, rushing from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Then, as if remembering something, Leo turned to look at Ais.

The blonde, golden-eyed girl stared blankly at the female-shaped monster, as if she were witnessing a nightmare that shouldn't exist and that she refused to acknowledge. She even stopped breathing.

She heard a heartbeat so loud it could rupture her eardrums, like a mournful cry.

She felt her blood churning within her, as if her body was instinctively crying.

How could this be?

Ais realized almost instantly what it was.

That's why she felt incredulous, bewildered, and terrified, as if experiencing a nightmare.

"How could such a thing happen?!"

Ais's voice trembled, as if she refused to understand what was happening before her. Her steps, which would normally lead her forward, now stumbled backward.

"Ais?"

"Ais, what's wrong?"

"Miss Ais?"

Everyone noticed Ais's unusual behavior and exclaimed in surprise.

However, before Ais could respond, the female monster suddenly stopped eating.

Ah----"

He suddenly propped himself up, and his hideously ugly head emitted a faint sound.

He began to tremble as if wriggling, and his voice gradually grew louder.

Ah ah----"

It sounded like screaming, it sounded like cheering.

With this commotion, the woman's ugly upper body trembled violently, and her flesh swelled up in one go.

Like an insect emerging from its chrysalis, the skin and flesh were torn apart, giving birth to a woman's body with exquisitely beautiful curves.

-Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

At that moment, an incomparably joyful cry erupted, transforming into a terrifying high-frequency wave that seemed capable of shattering human eardrums, sweeping around and causing Leo and the others to clutch their ears, their faces showing expressions of pain.

The sound wasn't unpleasant; on the contrary, it was quite pleasant.

However, even the most pleasant sound, if transformed into such a terrifyingly sharp sound wave, will only make people feel uncomfortable.

The torn and swollen flesh revealed "He" with his upper body leaning back, looking up at the sky, causing a beautiful, glossy, long head of hair to cascade down his back.

Her supple arms, chest, and waist, with their gently curvaceous body, were covered in colorful clothing, and she no longer looked ugly, but as beautiful as a goddess.

Its skin was green, its hair was green, and its entire upper body was green. It only had a pair of eyes that had neither pupils nor irises, and instead appeared as a dull, lifeless gold.

Its appearance was completely different from the previous female-shaped monster.

It wasn't just the humanoid upper body; even the lower body of the alien began to change structure, growing huge petals and countless tentacles.

The enormous creature, possessing a monstrous lower body and a celestial upper body, trembled with joy.

"What... what is that?!"

Someone was shouting loudly, but the sound was so piercing that no one could hear them.

Everyone stared at the jubilant, singing female alien with trembling eyes, as if they were witnessing something incomprehensible.

"----Impossible, impossible."

Only Ais remained standing there, not even bothering to listen, muttering the same phrase.

The turmoil in my blood was so intense it was about to burst my blood vessels.

A roar echoed deep within my mind.

She kept muttering "impossible," but the restlessness in her blood and the faint sense of resonance were telling her time and again that it was the existence she knew.

In a daze, Ais recalled the feeling she had when she first saw the Green Orb Embryo in Rivira Town on the 18th Floor.

It was like that back then too; her heart would inexplicably race, her blood would suddenly boil, and her body would vibrate as if in resonance with the other person, making Ais feel extremely uncomfortable.

But the feelings back then were undoubtedly much weaker compared to now.

Therefore, at that time, Ais had no idea what the green jewel embryo was.

But now, she knows.

I found out, even though I was very reluctant to admit it.

That thing—that alien—that woman—

The sleeve—is the same as oneself.

They share the same blood.

That's why the Green Orb Embryo suddenly went out of control, screamed, and jumped towards the Man-Eating Flower to parasitize it.

That is why, at this moment, the female monster suddenly transformed and became the being before us.

Whether it's the green pearl embryo or the alien in front of her, they all react so violently because their blood resonates with hers.

She, who had been shouting to the sky, turned her neck toward Ais and called out again.

"Aria!"

"Aria!"

"Aria!"

She called out Ais's mother's name.

"What?"

Finn, Riveria Ljos Alf, and Gareth's expressions changed drastically.

"Aria?"

Bete Loga, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya Viridis, Raul, Alicia, Tsubaki, and the others looked bewildered.

Ais swayed and nearly fell to the ground.

"Ais!"

Leo caught the girl in his arms and helped her up.

Ais grabbed Leo's hand tightly in return.

"Leo! Leo!"

The blonde, golden-eyed girl spoke in a chaotic voice she had never used before, her words leaving the entire room in a deathly silence.

"That thing—that monster—is a celestial spirit!"

--"Fairy Spirit".

An avatar of God, a favorite of God, possessing miraculous power akin to that of God, and a naturally magical race that is even longer-lived, more mysterious, and more powerful than elves.

Such a sacred being, yet now, Ais says this----

"She's an angel!"

Following Ais's distraught cry, the entire arena fell into a deathly silence.

Leo, however, kept his eyes darting around.

In ancient times, before the gods descended to Lower World, human heroes fought monsters with the help of celestial beings.

They accepted the will of the gods and provided various forms of assistance to the heroes of humankind, thus acting as receivers of divine will.

To rid the Lower World of monsters, a group of gods were dispatched to guide the human race in the Lower World, and also...

It's a weapon.

In the past, fairies and spirits cooperated with many heroes to fight monsters and save the Lower World from its dire straits.

Especially in the Old Orario, which is located at the entrance to the Dungeon, the birthplace of monsters, the gods dispatched a particularly large number of fairy spirits to guard and fight here.

Naturally, this process will not be without sacrifices.

Some of the immortals perished in this Dungeon, along with the heroes who fought alongside them.

Among them was a celestial being who was devoured by monsters in the Dungeon, but miraculously retained its self and became a unique being that coexisted with the monsters.

She has always lived in this Dungeon, in this bottomless depths.

She must have existed for at least a thousand years, which is why she was unable to leave the Dungeon. After that, the entrance to the Dungeon was covered by a lid placed above it by the human race.

The Babel Tower, a divine tower, sealed the entrance to the Dungeon, suppressing countless monsters and preventing them from leaving.

Therefore, over the long course of time, the state of existence of the immortals who were forced to merge with monsters after being devoured by them was reversed.

She is no longer a sacred incarnation of God, but has been reduced to a demon dominated by primal desires such as devouring, seizing, and indulging.

"She" is a corrupted fairy, a defiled being, filthy and evil.

A fusion of immortals and monsters, a monstrous creature that would astonish, bewilder, and be incredulous even to the gods.

The strange people merged with the monster because of "her" power, becoming the same alien creatures.

Whether it's a worm-like monster or Man-Eating Flower monster, they are all just tools created by "her" to collect Magic Stone, Demonic Power, and food.

"She" might know Ais's mother, so she could sense the Fairy Blood in Ais's body and react strongly to her wind magic, which originated from the Great Fairy.

She wanted to devour Ais and seize the power of her former kind.

This is "her"----

A "Tainted Fairy".