"So powerful!"
After a brief exchange, Ais could feel just how shockingly strong the Spirit Soldiers were.
'Their speed surpasses mine—my eyes could barely keep up.'
'And their strength is immense, far beyond anything I could hope to reach.'
Strength had never been Ais's specialty, but speed was her domain. Yet even in the area she excelled most, she had nearly failed to keep up with the Spirit Soldier. That realization forced her to sharpen her focus even further.
She flexed her left hand slightly, finally shaking off the brief paralysis. Even so, Ais understood her disadvantage was still considerable.
Her lack of raw power meant she had to be extremely cautious when facing those claws. If it caught her opening even once, the wound would be disastrous.
The Spirit Soldier was assessing Ais in turn. Although it lacked true self-awareness, it still possessed battle instinct—something innate to nearly all Spirit Soldiers.
Then, like a beast stalking its prey, it moved.
In the blink of an eye, it appeared right in front of Ais.
Ais caught sight of the Spirit Soldier at the same moment. Holding her sword with both hands, she parried swiftly while kicking herself lightly off the ground.
"Clang!"
The claw strike was blocked again. Seizing the opening, Ais tightened her grip on Desperate and thrust toward the Spirit Soldier's abdomen before its overwhelming force could fling her away.
"Clang!"
The sound was once again sharp and metallic.
Ais noticed fish-scale-like plates rising from the abdomen that had stopped her blade. These scales acted as armor, shielding the Spirit Soldier's body.
'This is troublesome.'
Her eyes followed the movement of its skin and confirmed that these scales covered its entire body.
If those scales served as its armor, then without finding a weak point, defeating it would be anything but simple.
'First, I need to find its weakness.'
Having made up her mind, Ais no longer held back and unleashed her Magic.
"Awaken!"
A blue wind wrapped around her entire body.
The Spirit Soldier reacted instantly, growing tense—but the next moment, a bloody gash opened on its shoulder.
It spun, lunging toward the swirling mass of wind before it even touched the ground.
But this time it failed. Before it could reach the wind cluster, the winds scattered into a breeze and reformed behind it.
Ais, holding her slender sword, bent her arm back into a thrusting stance. Like her earlier probe—except now the blade was wrapped in a dense, airtight whirlwind.
"Lil Rafaga!"
A finishing technique that held nothing back, meant solely for annihilation.
All the wind converged at the sword's tip, forming an unimaginably condensed storm.
She drove that lethal thrust forward.
The moment the sword met its target, the storm capable of shredding everything detonated.
The explosion of wind consumed all around them, filling the corridor with an overwhelming roar.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The violent gusts swept endlessly, scattering dust and shards of stone far from her sight.
Wind-blade scars marred the floor, walls, and ceiling of the passage. Even the metal inner wall—known for its resistance to Magic—showed noticeable damage.
When the storm finally died down and the dust settled, a Spirit Soldier appeared, its torso hollowed out by a gaping hole.
The protective scales around the wound had shattered, proving that the strike had truly pierced the Spirit Soldier's defenses and dealt direct Magic damage.
"..."
The Spirit Soldier tried desperately to continue its mission, but its body trembled, turned pale, and then crumbled into a heap of white ash.
Only when she saw the Spirit Soldier collapse completely into ash did Ais allow herself a faint sigh of relief.
She barely caught her breath before her entire face turned pale.
The pain she had been suppressing flared sharply. Looking at the white ash on the ground, she sighed inwardly, 'Lucky.'
That strike had consumed nearly a third of her magic power just to pierce the 'Spirit's' body and inflict damage that was nearly irreversible. Had she hesitated for even a moment, that expenditure might not have been enough to penetrate the Immortal Spirit Soldier's body at all, let alone deal such damage.
Her "Lil Rafaga" had pierced straight through Udaeus's bones, yet when it struck the Immortal Spirit Soldier, it had only gouged out a bloody cavity.
'Without magic, breaking through the Immortal Spirit Soldier's outer defense is almost impossible.'
'If this drags on, my injuries will worsen, and my body won't be able to keep up.'
Her initial carelessness had already resulted in the wound on her back. If she failed to end the fight quickly, that early injury would inevitably turn into a far greater threat.
Ais loosened her shoulders slightly, though her vigilance toward this Stealth floor was now at its peak.
The 'Spirit Soldier' just now had been only one among fifty-four. That meant fifty-three other monsters of similar difficulty were still somewhere on this floor.
Only two paths remained for Ais.
The first was to turn back—return to the group as quickly as possible, deliver information about the 'Spirit Soldiers,' and alert everyone.
The second was to keep moving forward—trust that her companions could handle the crisis posed by the 'Spirit Elite Soldier,' while she continued investigating this unnaturally silent passage.
…
After standing in place and thinking for a moment, Ais made her choice.
Press forward.
She was certain Finn and the others wouldn't be defeated by the 'Fairy Soldiers.' What she needed now was to understand why this path was so unnervingly quiet. Even with 'Fairy Soldiers' present, it shouldn't be silent to this degree.
Ugh…
The scent of blood had been partly scattered by the wind during the earlier battle, yet Ais could still clearly distinguish its direction.
This time she didn't slow down. She accelerated.
After turning a corner, the overwhelming stench of blood hit her directly in the face.
"!?"
Even someone as battle-hardened as Ais was shaken by the sight inside the hidden room.
The floor was covered with human remains—organs, limbs, and even dozens of severed heads piled in stacks.
Ais noticed the flesh and blood were arranged in an orderly pattern, as if completing a specific ritualistic sacrifice.
Even she felt a deep wave of revulsion.
She wasn't unfamiliar with Evilus methods. In the earlier battle, countless Evilus soldiers had charged at them carrying "Flame Stones," detonating themselves.
But self-detonation and ritual sacrifice were two entirely different concepts.
Suicide bombing was at least a desperate means of resistance born from insufficient strength.
But sacrifice?
That was pure, unfiltered "evil."
...
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