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Chapter 311: The Strength of Deep-Floor Monsters
In the blink of an eye, Ryuu tumbled through the air, crashing into a massive cluster of crystals. Using the rebound to hastily roll and absorb the impact, she realized that the Lambton's long, massive body had completely submerged underground, vanishing without a trace.
Riding the last bit of momentum from her roll, Ryuu dropped to one knee before swiftly pushing herself up. She forced down the blood surging in her chest and barely managed to reset her stance.
Yet, when she looked up, all she saw in the center of the cavern was a bottomless, five-meter-wide crater still billowing with green smoke.
A deathly silence fell over the cave. No, it wasn't silent at all.
Ryuu stared intently at the pitch-black hole, raising Alv's Lumina and Futaba in front of her in a flawless defensive guard.
She could clearly feel it—from beneath her feet, from every direction—a series of rapid, increasingly distinct tremors echoing through the earth.
The giant snake monster was burrowing through the ground at breakneck speeds. It patrolled its territory like a true earth dragon, and she was the lone prey who had trespassed into its nest. It was biding its time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike from an impossible angle and swallow her whole.
Where is it? Where will it strike from? Ryuu's mind raced.
Her eyes darted frantically between the solid ground and the surrounding currents of water. Would it launch a surprise attack from the rocky earth? Or would it deliver a silent, fatal blow from the bottomless underground streams?
"Wrong guess, idiot."
Just as Ryuu focused all her attention on the ground and the water, Jura's mocking, disdainful voice rang out from nearby.
The very instant he spoke, an ear-splitting crack of grinding rock erupted from Ryuu's right side.
It was too fast, too sudden. Vanishing into the floor only to launch an ambush from the side wall—this completely irrational method of attack was more than enough to claim the life of any normal adventurer on the spot. But there was a reason Ryuu was known as Gale, and it wasn't solely because of her speed.
Facing the giant serpent already looming before her, close enough that she could smell the rotting stench of its breath, Ryuu displayed a near-miraculous reaction speed that surpassed human limits.
In that hair's-breadth of a moment, she didn't retreat, nor did she dodge. Her legs exploded with staggering power, forcibly reclaiming the fraction of a second she had lost to shock.
Her long green cloak snapped fiercely behind her as she broke free from the grip of gravity. In a bold, defiant leap, she threw herself mid-air, directly toward those gaping jaws. It was a suicidal choice that completely defied all combat instincts.
But it was exactly this choice that kept her alive.
The Lambton's massive, elongated body roared past just beneath her like a runaway train. High in the air, Ryuu executed a flawless emergency evasion, narrowly and beautifully dodging a strike that would have certainly killed her.
Her boots touched down smoothly, but her expression darkened.
This was her second time encountering a monster like the Lambton. The last time was during a deep-floor expedition with her comrades. But back then, the Astrea Familia had numbers on their side; the Lambton was quickly slain by the combined might of her powerful friends before she could truly grasp its traits.
Facing it alone today, she finally understood the sheer terror and persistence of this beast. Ignoring terrain, phasing through obstacles, striking from anywhere, impossible to predict—this was the true power of a deep-floor monster.
Its threat extended far beyond raw strength and speed; it lay in its bizarre, completely illogical abilities that couldn't be judged by common sense. It was on a completely different level of danger compared to the creatures of the middle and upper floors.
"Are you out of steam already, Gale?"
Catching the fleeting grimace on Ryuu's face, Jura let out a grating, hysterical cackle. He watched with the glee of a spectator at a magnificent play, savoring the sight of his favorite actor forcing the once-proud apostle of justice into a corner.
"At this rate, you'll end up in this guy's stomach, bones and all!"
Ryuu's expression hardened, her emerald eyes brimming with killing intent, yet her mind remained perfectly calculating. She knew that a prolonged fight against this lunatic and his bizarre pet would put her at a severe disadvantage. This had to end quickly.
In a split second, she made her decision. With a flick of her left wrist, she flipped her short sword, Futaba, into a reverse grip. At the same time, her pale lips began to move at a blinding pace. Concurrent Chanting.
"...wandering wind... traveling wanderer..."
Her clear, cold chant pierced the air. Meanwhile, her right hand tightened around her wooden sword, Alv's Lumina, her arm muscles pulling taut.
Instead of charging her magic to its maximum capacity, she recited only the shortest fragment of the incantation. She fired a hyper-compressed orb of light, no larger than a fist, shooting it toward the Lambton like a bullet. The projectile traced a straight, glowing line through the air, flawlessly striking one of the nine eerie holes on the Lambton's face.
"HSSSSS!" The Lambton shrieked in pain.
This magical intimidation wasn't particularly powerful. To a super-large class monster with thick, armored skin, the damage barely registered as a scratch. However, it was enough.
In the split second the magical assault drew the Lambton's attention, Ryuu moved. Dropping her center of gravity to the absolute limit, she pushed her legs to unprecedented speeds.
She was no longer dodging or stalling. Like a hunting falcon gliding over the earth, she charged forward with unstoppable momentum, rocketing straight toward the tamer who had been leisurely admiring the show from afar.
She slipped right through the narrow gap between the Lambton's massive, slithering body and the floor, her target clear, her killing intent absolute. To defeat the beast, she had to execute the master.
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