Facing Fron's overwhelming breakthrough power, a force so great that even the Lv.5, Violas couldn't stop it, Thanatos finally made his decision.
He gathered a large number of his believers and carried out a sacrifice, hoping that by such a cruel method he could hinder the opponent's advance and thus achieve the goal of delaying them.
In his view, as long as his partners took care of the Riveria and Ais attacking from below, then they could turn back and focus all their strength on completely crushing the greatest opponent here, Fron Argon.
Through the projection on the water membrane, looking at the figure in the image whose expression had drastically changed, as well as his own fanatic believers, Thanatos curled the corner of his mouth and let out a low chuckle.
"I have to admit, right now you're stronger. But… an individual's excessive strength separates you from the pace of the other teams, this is the best chance to trap you!"
Strike while the enemy is weak, Thanatos's methods were incredibly ruthless. The death of those people caused no ripple in his heart.
In his eyes, these souls were all part of his work; they would all return to the Tenkai sooner or later, so why obsess over the moment?
Death was simply another beginning.
Perhaps… this was the essential difference between gods and mortals.
The God of Death, Thanatos, true to his name. His disregard for life was chilling.
...
At this moment, Fron stared wide-eyed at the fanatics charging straight at him, his heart turning ice-cold!
He immediately shouted for the team behind him to retreat, if this went bad, the entire situation would flip!
"Damn!"
Cursing under his breath, Fron hurriedly retreated back toward the entrance. Every muscle in his body tightened as he gripped his weapon and entered Full Concentration!
As the skill activated, the world in his eyes slowed. Even the tiny motes of dust mixed in the air became distinctly visible. Naturally, by analyzing the subtle movements of the enemy's face, body, limbs, and gaze, Fron could instantly deduce their next move.
'Their target… isn't me? What are they trying to do? Wait… their goal is to destroy this passage!?'
The thought flashed through his mind in an instant, and Fron nearly cursed aloud.
If this connecting passage was destroyed, taking a detour to find another entrance would waste a tremendous amount of time.
'They want to stall me and wait for reinforcements? A two-choice question built entirely on time differences… I didn't expect Thanatos to find the breakthrough point so quickly.'
Fron calmly analyzed the situation and instantly pieced everything together.
'No choice, let's go! I have to win time for the other teams!' A cold gleam flashed in his eyes. There was no longer any hesitation.
[Witness the end, Ragnarok!]
Sensing that the auras behind him were already retreating quickly to the 12th floor, Fron no longer held back. His entire being ignited like a powder keg ready to explode!
Crimson flames and black lightning wrapped around him, transforming him into a scarlet meteor that shot toward the enemy formation at a speed beyond perception!
"For our wish!!!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH, "
"BOOOOOM BOOOOOM, "
In the eyes of these believers, no stronger than Lv.2, they had no chance to react to Fron's assault!
Before they could even pull their triggers, pillars of blood burst from the bodies of the people directly in front of them, splattering the ones behind.
Their gazes were filled with madness and confusion in their final moments, before their bodies were smashed away like sacks struck by a train.
"Mon, monster!"
"D-d-d-d-devil!"
To kill a man, first drive him mad.
Facing Fron's slaughter, clean and swift like chopping vegetables, the impact force flooding their bodies and the terror of death washing over them snapped the final thread of their sanity.
One after another, they shouted their slogans and pressed the triggers at their waists!
Fron's eyes reflected the sparks igniting from the fire-stones, then his entire figure was swallowed by the erupting flames.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
Like brilliant fireworks, the entire 13th floor shook violently under the massive explosions.
Anakitty and the others were on the 12th floor, nervously staring into the pitch-black stairway. They listened carefully.
First came the fanatics' frenzied shouts, followed immediately by screams… Then a violent shockwave and deafening explosions!
"What… what happened!?"
The members of the Loki Familia stared, dumbfounded, at the flames surging up from below, frozen in shock.
Cold sweat trickled down Anakitty's forehead. She was completely shaken.
Unable to make a decision, she pulled out her Ocular Crystal and reported the situation to their captain, Finn.
"Captain! Something unpredictable happened! When attacking the 13th floor, we encountered the Evilus' suicide strike, they detonated bombs made from fire-stones and triggers and blew up Fron along with the entire passage!!!"
"..."
Holding the crystal, Finn narrowed his eyes in deep thought.
"Captain? What should we do?"
Hearing Anakitty's call, Finn finally snapped back to reality.
"Trust Fron. He won't disappoint us. With a suicide attack like this, perhaps I, Gareth, or Riveria might barely survive but be skinned alive, maybe even seriously injured and lose combat capability. But Fron is fundamentally different from us."
"Wait for his orders. We'll also increase our pace and regroup with you!"
"Yes!"
With Finn's reassurance, everyone calmed down slightly.
"Fron… you better not be dead!"
...…
13th Floor.
In the darkness, heavy coughing echoed.
In one corner of a collapsed pile of rubble, Fron leaned weakly against the wall, breathing heavily.
His handsome face was pitch-black, as if he had just crawled out of a coal mine.
But looking closely, aside from the miserable appearance, he hadn't taken any real injuries. Even under that close-range self-destruction, he had survived.
"Damn… that almost went bad!"
Thinking of that moment, even someone with his experience couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat.
"Magic Dominator, thank you for saving my life… My stamina and mental power took a huge hit though."
The Evilus launched a desperate counterattack that almost sent Fron straight to his grave before he could react.
If not for his Magic Dominator, that skill allowing him to instant-cast magic by consuming mental and physical strength, he really would've died.
Pressing a hand against his heart, feeling it pound wildly with loud thump-thump beats, Fron leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths as he adjusted his state.
It had been a long time since he'd encountered such a thrilling and dangerous situation. His originally well-trained vigilance had become greatly dulled.
And today, the Evilus had taught him a very real lesson.
"Monsters follow instinct. As long as you figure out their patterns, you can greatly improve the efficiency of clearing and hunting them, making the process stable, efficient, and controllable."
"As expected… compared to monsters born in dungeons, even those lower floor monsters with some intelligence or mutated strengthened variants, when it comes to schemes, plots, and adaptability to ever-changing environments, they're still far from humans."
The world Fron lived in during his previous life was far more complicated than this world where gods walk among mortals. Compared to his previous life… he even found the people of this world somewhat naïve, earnest, and adorably persistent.
"Heh… this Evilus has finally shown a bit of competence."
With a self-mocking smile, feeling the exhaustion in both body and mind, Fron hurriedly took out the super-recovery potions Amid specially made for him and poured them down his throat like crazy.
Compared to his other companions, Fron's parameters were all beyond standard limits, so he needed stronger potions to recover quickly.
It couldn't be helped, his mental and physical stamina pools were bottomless. High endurance and explosive output came with a price. Ordinary mass-produced recovery items simply couldn't meet his needs; only special-grade products could.
This was why when buying recovery potions, he always chose the Amid's custom formulas.
Of course, he also studied Alchemy and Mixing during his spare time, but unfortunately, his success rate and potion effectiveness were nowhere near the level of the healer.
And with this mission being urgent and heavy, he eventually gave up on crafting his own and instead relied on Amid.
...
Fron had temporarily escaped danger, but because the Evilus had blown up the passage connecting the 12th and 13th floors, the massive collapse blocked the entire tunnel.
As a result, the original plan for his spearhead unit to break straight into the enemy core had completely fallen apart.
Of course, due to the overwhelming performance of Fron's spearhead unit, they had completely outpaced the other three units behind them. So in terms of timing, the setback had no impact on the overall situation. Fron had already achieved what he needed.
On the surface, the vanguard acted as the spear, clearing obstacles for the other teams, drawing the map, and performing fire reconnaissance.
In reality, according to Finn's instructions, they were also responsible for drawing enemy fire and were expendable.
The mission was extremely dangerous. To avoid causing pressure or panic among others, only Fron and Anakitty knew the true importance of their unit.
Throughout this assault, they were attacked by Evilus remnants far more frequently than any other unit. Even the number of monsters they encountered was the highest.
And to stop Fron's breakthrough, the enemy had gathered two consecutive waves of large-scale suicide assaults.
So Fron's purpose had already been fulfilled, to attract the enemy's attention and create opportunities for the other teams!
Thinking this, Fron smiled, closed his eyes, quietly recovering while waiting for Anakitty's support from the rear.
...
Finn ended his communication with Anakitty. After understanding Fron's situation, he instantly pieced together the battlefield layout and enemy movements.
"They took the bait. As expected, nothing beats Fron taking point."
"Captain, what did you say?"
Finn smiled at Raul, who was directing the members nearby.
"Fron's vanguard unit has already completed their role. They've won us a huge amount of manoeuvring space. Now it's our turn!"
"Yes!"
...
Through real-time transmission via the eye crystals, the other units also learned about the vanguard's situation.
"I knew it. The ones we've been facing were all small fry. Turns out everything tough got sent to that brat Fron! Hahaha!"
"I'm telling you, old man, that guy steals all the spotlight. Don't you feel frustrated at all!??"
"What nonsense. Seeing the younger generation grow stronger makes me happy!"
"Tch..."
"Quit grumbling and get to work! Pull out those Violas!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, we're doing it! Don't rush us!"
...
"I see. So Fron's under more pressure than I expected."
Maintaining a massive magic circle and continuously casting healing magic, Amid couldn't help worrying about Fron.
"Don't worry, Amid. We all know exactly how strong Fron is. That guy is the real monster. Those leftover Evilus lunatics blowing themselves up is already enough if it slows him down a bit."
"Actually trying to bring him down? That's more unbelievable than an Amazoness giving birth to a boy, pff hahahaha, ow!"
"..." Although Tiona's joke was cold, every word was true. It eased Amid's tension a bit, and she refocused on the battle at hand.
"We must accelerate. We can't let Fron wait for us!"
"You heard her! Move it!!!"
"Yes!!!"
...
With Fron attracting nearly all enemy focus, the other units, led by their commanders, increased their assault speed yet again!
This scene, reflected in a certain person's eyes, left him completely speechless.
"..."
Barga, the inheritor of Master Daedalus' lineage and actual holder of the artificial labyrinth's "control authority", was struck dumb by the sight before him. His already-stiff thoughts crashed entirely, failing to function.
"Too fast. Something's wrong! What the hell are these Allied Factions doing!!!"
"Leaving that troublesome Fron Argon's vanguard team aside, why did the attack speed of the other units suddenly jump!? Even the logistics unit has reached the 8th floor!"
It had been half a day since the factions began their assault on Knossos . No, strictly speaking, only a few hours had passed.
The strongest, most enduring vanguard had already reached the 13th floor.
Other units had also reached the 8th floor, and the mostly-beastman unit, faster on foot and led by Bete's berserk attacks, had even reached the 9th.
"Each unit is separated by labyrinth zones and 'doors'. How are they transmitting information this fast? How can completely unrelated units coordinate like this? And how are they reacting so quickly?"
Barca never imagined that Fron's makeshift knockoff artifact had indirectly crippled his entire control network...