"Enyo, you're under arrest!"
Soon after, Finn led the first squad into the chamber.
"Your schemes end here! Surrender quietly!"
All adventurers turned hateful gazes toward Dionysus.
Every single one despised this evil god's existence. Were it not for him, their comrades wouldn't have died, and this city carrying countless people's dreams wouldn't have become a swirling vortex at sea!
"Hahahahaha—!!"
Dionysus covered his face, sweeping aside the golden bangs across his forehead.
Then he revealed cruel emerald eyes, his lips curling into a grotesque grin.
"What are you laughing at?"
Loki's gaze remained locked onto Dionysus.
Right now, she had absolutely no interest in learning what new depths of depravity this god without limits could sink to!
"My schemes have ended? Hahahaha! What nonsense are you spouting? The plan I've spent six years preparing—how could it possibly collapse over something so trivial?"
Finn's expression tightened.
His thumb suddenly throbbed with intense pain.
Bad!
This was very bad!
Some enormous threat was imminent—Finn's heart screamed this warning without any precursor.
"Even now, you still have cards left to play?!"
Finn's face darkened severely.
Had they still not reached the limits of a god's schemes at this stage?
"Isn't that obvious?"
Dionysus shot him a look reserved for fools.
"Don't equate divine wisdom with mere human intellect! The minds of gods exist on a plane beyond what worms like you could ever comprehend! A god's designs contain absolutely no flaws!"
He spread his arms wide, ignoring the adventurers' furious and shocked stares, arrogantly proclaiming:
"Come! The final stage has arrived! You've grown weary of waiting, haven't you? The curtain falls on our grand play! Come forth—Evil Dragon Nidhogg!!"
In an instant, pitch-black terror gripped everyone's hearts.
What?
Evil dragon?
Nidhogg?
Finn's mind blanked momentarily before horror set in.
Wasn't that the name of an ancient magical beast predating the Three Great Quests?
One supposedly annihilated by the six Primordial Great Spirits sent by the gods?
"ROOOOOOOOAR—!!!"
Suddenly, an ear-splitting roar erupted.
As if declaring its impatience, the thunderous bellow reverberated through most of the dungeon, startling even adventurers stationed outside the labyrinth.
BOOM—!!
A sound a hundred times worse than crashing furniture followed as the entire chamber violently quaked.
Amidst the tremors, an enormous shadow slowly rose.
A black body covered in dense scales.
Blood-red eyes brimming with cruelty.
Razor claws casually shearing through walls.
Gigantic wings stirring tempests with slight flaps.
"A dragon species?!"
"...You can't be serious."
"Why would such a monster appear now?!"
Adventurers screamed in terror.
The dragon's aura was overwhelmingly oppressive—even Finn felt suffocated by the sheer pressure radiating from it.
"Hahahaha! You were completely fooled by that laboratory, weren't you?"
Dionysus let out a hysterical laugh, his eyes brimming with triumph.
"You saw seven cultivation pods and assumed there were seven corrupted spirit clones! But in truth, there are eight! This dragon is the eighth corrupted spirit!"
Finn's gaze sharpened as it landed on the dragon.
Upon its skull, one could indeed see the shadow of a comparatively petite female upper body!
"Originally, I intended to keep her as the final safeguard for the bomb. But since the other six spirits have been defeated, there's no need to maintain the bomb state anymore. Change of plans, Evil Dragon!"
Dionysus shouted ecstatically.
"Absorb all the nutrients and become the ultimate monster to sweep through Orario!"
A cloud of despair loomed over the adventurers' hearts.
...
She was once an ordinary elf.
Like others of her kind, she forbade casual physical contact, only interacted with those she approved of, took pride in her purity, and possessed immense self-respect.
When the Evilus swept through Orario, she, as a member of a righteous Familia, fought daily alongside her comrades against the evil gods' followers.
Until one day, this Familia encountered the nightmare of the 27th floor.
The Evilus targeted a certain Familia, orchestrating a massive Monster Party to lure numerous adventurers, intending to deal a heavy blow to the righteous side.
But no one knew.
That blood-soaked battle attracted the malice from the deepest parts of the dungeon.
A monster from the deep layers awoke and set its sights on the adventurers there.
That monster was—the Corrupted Spirit.
"Filvis, run!"
Tentacles lashed out, grabbing her comrades and tossing them into a mouth full of sharp teeth to be chewed and devoured.
With a faint smile, blood and shattered bones filled the crimson maw.
Until his last breath, the captain kept shouting for her to flee before being eaten by the monster.
Whether from the righteous Familia or the Evilus, the Corrupted Spirit indiscriminately consumed the adventurers.
Fear overwhelmed her heart.
She knew she stood no chance against the monster and couldn't suppress the urge to turn and run.
But the noble elf couldn't allow herself to abandon her comrades and live on alone.
So the girl gritted her teeth and charged forward.
And met a gruesome death in the monster's jaws.
"So you mean...?"
In the Fifth Squad's room, Lefiya gasped in shock.
"That's right! I fought! Even against an unbeatable enemy, against such a terrifying foe, I fought bravely!"
Filvis shattered Bete's leg bone with a single punch, laughing maniacally as he staggered back.
"Who abandoned their comrades and ran alone? Who lived on by themselves? Who betrayed their allies? Who's the Banshee?!"
The tale of her abandoning her comrades was nothing but baseless rumors.
Yet those rumors pierced her heart like needles, tormenting her daily. Even her Familia comrades treated her with disdain.
Filvis had died at the hands of the Corrupted Spirit.
That was the undeniable past.
But for reasons unknown—perhaps the Corrupted Spirit had gone mad—she who should have perished awoke once more.
With a body tainted in filthy green and an iridescent magic stone embedded in her chest, she had unbelievably been revived.
According to the corrupted spirit, she possessed an extremely strong aptitude for becoming a freak, so she was revived as a subordinate to be controlled.
For a noble elf like her, this humiliation was ten thousand times worse than death.
She attempted suicide again and again—slitting her throat, piercing her heart, smashing her skull, even stabbing her magic stone. Yet no matter how peacefully she closed her eyes, she would soon awaken in despair.
"Someone once said... that Filvis looked like a walking corpse in the rain..."
Lefiya's voice trembled.
"Back then, I truly was a walking corpse. No—even a walking corpse would have been better. At least it wouldn't have shattered my pride!"
Filvis shattered Bete's legs with another punch, sending him crumpling to the ground with a despairing groan.