The moment both Ais and Judas were about to deliver the finishing blow...
"Ais... Judas..."
"Do it."
"Go!"
"Let 'em have it."
Everyone watching cheered for them in their own way., urging them forward.
"Ariel, Maximum Output!"
"Lil Rafaga!"
Ais shouted as spiraling winds condensed around her sword, piercing through the Demi Spirit and shattering its magic stone in an instant.
『...Divine Blade』
Judas swiped his arm down, and the giant sword hanging in the sky answered his command... plunging down and cleaving through the Demi Spirit's body, splitting it in half.
As the Demi Spirit disintegrated into ash, Judas let out a quiet sigh of relief and slowly descended to the ground.
'The Spirits of the past helped humanity and its heroes.'
'But most were injured… and killed… you were probably one of them.'
'You can rest now.'
A wave of exhaustion washed over him.
He sat down where he landed, closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
"Phew... that took a lot out of me."
...
"Yes! They did it!"
The twins erupted in celebration.
"Everyone alright?"
Finn asked as he made his way toward his comrades, his own body covered in injuries.
"Heh… according to a certain arrogant pallum, the only good thing about me is my durable body."
Gareth spoke gruffly.
Despite being riddled with holes, he still looked lively enough to talk.
Hearing this, Finn let out a small chuckle.
"We won! We're alive!"
Raul shouted, tears already streaming down his face.
"Goodness... I got to witness something incredible today."
Tsubaki said with a tired smile, dropping herself onto the ground.
Once Judas rejoined the group, he immediately cast his healing magic on everyone before they began heading back to camp.
...
On the way back up to the surface, the expedition ran into a monster party of Poison Vermis.
These creatures could spit a lethal poison capable of affecting adventurers with Abnormal Resistance ranked H or lower, and a significant portion of the expedition went down before anyone could react.
Moving the poisoned members back up through the floors while fending off everything else the dungeon threw at them was going to be a serious problem.
"To make things worse… the poison from these creatures is special and difficult to treat."
"Regular healing magic like mine won't work."
"Other than special medicine… the only person recorded to cure it in the current age is Airmid Teasanare with her high-level healing magic."
Riveria said with a frown, looking at the dozens of members lying on the ground while others worked quickly to set up makeshift beds for them.
"Fortunately... we have him now."
Finn said, turning his head.
Judas already had his arm outstretched.
『Detoxification』
A pure white light spread across the area.
Those afflicted by the poison were bathed in its glow.
Before long, their comrades began to stir... eyes fluttering open as they slowly regained consciousness.
Raul crouched down beside one of them and checked them over carefully.
"Captain... they're fine. They're actually fine."
He said, giving a thumbs up.
The relief that followed was immediate.
People cheered, clapped each other on the back and more than a few went over to Judas and patted his shoulder with a grin.
"Seriously, how many spells does this guy actually have?"
Gareth muttered, stroking his beard, before turning to Riveria beside him.
"Hey, elf. Does he ever make you feel a little useless?"
Riveria's lip twitched.
"I make it a point not to compare myself to him… yes, we're both mages, but he is simply different."
"So that's a yes then."
Gareth said with a grin.
Riveria wanted to smack him in the head with her staff but chose to walk away without responding.
...
With the poison situation sorted, the expedition continued its ascent and eventually reached the 18th floor, where they decided to camp and rest for a while.
From the time they defeated the Demi Spirits on the 59th floor until now… several days had passed.
The dungeon was vast... just the march from the surface to the deep floors took days on its own.
With some free time on his hands, Judas decided to take a walk through Rivira.
"Huh… everything's already repaired. It almost looks like nothing happened when I fought Revis here about a month ago."
The last time he had been here, the place had looked like it had been struck by a devastating storm.
When the expedition had come down, they hadn't stayed long on the 18th floor for him to take a proper look around.
"Everything here is overpriced, as always."
He glanced briefly at the goods on display and moved on.
When he turned a corner, two familiar faces appeared in his line of sight.
Well, three if he counted the person standing behind them.
"Judas?"
Belle blinked, then broke into a wide smile and jogged over.
"Mr. Judas... I didn't expect to run into you here."
Lili said, mirroring Belle's expression.
"Belle, Lili... so you two made it to the 18th floor."
Judas wasn't surprised.
He had a rough idea of just how capable Belle actually was.
"You won't believe it, Judas... we ran into the Goliath on the way down and we beat it. My first floor boss kill ever."
Belle said excitedly, clearly trying to impress him, sneaking glances at his face to gauge his reaction.
"Miss Belle, don't forget we had help from Mister Bors and the others."
Lili said, raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't say they didn't! And I did land the final blow."
Belle shot back, still watching Judas out of the corner of her eye.
"True. Though you were also the one who got injured the most. We had to sell more than half our loot just to treat you…"
"Seriously, the prices here are highway robbery."
Lili muttered, shaking her head.
"Hehe..."
Belle laughed awkwardly and scratched her cheek.
"Mind introducing me to your new friend?"
Judas said, his gaze drifting to the red-haired young man standing behind them.
"Oh. Right, we nearly forgot he existed."
"This is Welf Crozzo. Some weirdo we picked up along the way."
Lili said, her tone perfectly flat.
'So Belle still ended up crossing paths with Welf.'
"You have a real gift for making people feel welcome, Lil Lili."
Welf muttered, giving her a sideways look, before stepping forward and extending a hand to Judas.
"You must be the record holder, Veneratus Est, right? Pleasure to meet you."
He said with an easy smile. Judas took the handshake, though the way Welf had addressed him left him slightly puzzled.
"Veneratus Est?"
"Wait... you haven't heard?"
Welf blinked at him.
"That's your alias."
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