'Was I defeated because I tried to block the Spirit's magic?'
When Riveria realized the Spirit could use magic, she understood immediately—she was the only one in the expedition team capable of resisting it.
If she didn't appear during the later stages of the battle, it would mean she had already been taken out.
That realization pushed Riveria's wariness toward the Spirit's clone to the highest level.
Ordinary magic could never break through her barrier spells. Unless… the Spirit's magic had already surpassed the limits of what she could defend against.
If that was true, then this expedition was in serious danger.
Spirits were exceptionally skilled in magical combat.
As avatars of the gods, Spirits inherently possessed powerful magical abilities. They could wield various kinds of magic unrestricted—unlike adventurers, who were bound by natural limitations.
As allies, Spirits were the most dependable partners an adventurer could ask for.
But once a Spirit turned against adventurers, their magic became a weapon of despair and fear.
This kind of information should have been crucial to their battle plans. But when the gap in power grew too wide, even valuable intel began to lose its weight.
'I'm afraid the Spirit's power far exceeds our original estimations.'
'Damn it. Didn't they say the fetus needed an enormous amount of energy to grow? The Dungeon isn't even operating right now—so where's all that energy coming from to raise the Spirit fetus?'
A wave of irritation rose in Riveria's chest.
They had originally chosen not to act, believing the Spirit was still in an unstable condition. But the clearer Cassandra's prophetic visions became, the more Riveria felt that all their preparations had been for nothing.
'No. It wasn't meaningless. Finn's decision wasn't wrong. When we had no idea what stage the Spirit fetus was at, letting the expedition team recover was still the best course.'
'But where did all the energy to nurture the fetus come from?'
It had already been confirmed that raising a Spirit fetus required an immense amount of energy.
The food storage on the 24th floor had been seized by Freya's Familia just to drive those people off. That alone proved how desperate the Spirit fetus's energy deficit was—enough to target the quartz energy within the food stores.
So how could the Dungeon, in its current state, provide enough Magic Stones to fuel the fetus's development?
'The problem is energy.'
Riveria sighed, then looked over at Cassandra, who was still sitting on the bed.
"Cassandra, get ready. Once you're up, come to Finn's tent."
"I understand."
With that, Riveria left the room. There was a question weighing heavily on her mind—where exactly had the missing energy come from?
With that doubt in her heart, Riveria made her way to Finn and Gareth's tent.
Inside, Finn and Gareth were already waiting, expecting Riveria to bring back an update.
When they saw her return, they both looked like they wanted to ask something, but after catching the expression on Riveria's face—puzzled, slightly disturbed—they held their questions back.
Riveria entered the tent and met their gazes.
"Cassandra's dream was the same as before, but this time the details were more vivid. And… I also learned something important: the Spirit can use magic."
"That's… not good news."
Finn's expression darkened.
Magic was a force capable of deciding a battle in one blow—and Spirits were especially proficient in its use. If even the Spirit fetus had the ability to use magic, then they were facing a serious problem.
"That's not even the worst part. Something else even more troubling came up."
"Something worse?"
"Yes."
Riveria didn't beat around the bush and quickly explained.
"We're locked in a difficult fight with the Spirit. All of us are facing serious danger—even the risk of death. That was what Cassandra saw in her prophetic dream before the Black Dragon's roar. She saw it again today, only this time in even more detail."
She briefly summarized that portion, giving Finn and Gareth a clearer picture of the combat situation.
Then Riveria brought up the question that had been bothering her most.
"Why does the Spirit fetus still have enough energy?"
"!?"
That one question immediately made Finn realize what she meant—and why she had brought up the timing of the dragon's roar.
"You're right. That's a huge concern. Before the roar, Cassandra foresaw part of the future. But after the roar, her dreams showed the same events—only in more detail."
"Given the current state of the Dungeon, where no new monsters are spawning, the Spirit fetus shouldn't have enough energy. So how come it suddenly does?"
Gareth, not quite keeping up with the others, gave the two a confused look.
"Couldn't they have stockpiled enough Magic Stones beforehand?"
"Impossible."
Finn shook his head slightly, bringing his thumb to his lips, gently biting down—a habit that helped him think.
"Freya's Familia went to the 24th-floor food vault and drove out the Spirit faction that tried to take the quartz energy. If they'd had enough reserves, they wouldn't have targeted that place."
"I'm guessing they'd already poured all Magic Stones into the fetus and still came up short, which is why they turned to the 24th floor for more."
"Bell-kun also mentioned that raising a Spirit fetus isn't easy. That one the Ganesha Familia retrieved had likely been nurtured for a long time by the Spirit faction. Losing it is probably what caused them to react so drastically."
"And now that they're trying to raise a new one, they'd naturally be facing a major energy shortage. On top of that, with the Dungeon halted by the dragon's roar and no new monsters being born, the energy gap must be even worse."
This was the conclusion drawn from all available intelligence.
Finn was confident his reasoning was sound. Nurturing a Spirit fetus required an enormous amount of energy. Even if the Spirit faction wanted to raise another one quickly, it wouldn't be feasible.
And if the fetus required that much energy—wouldn't the Spirits themselves need it, too?
From any angle, the problem boiled down to a critical energy shortage.
"So… it wasn't the Spirit faction themselves that filled that gap. Someone else helped provide the energy needed to raise the Spirit fetus!"
"!"
Riveria and Gareth froze for a moment—then a single name came to both their minds.
The Evilus!