In the underground altar beneath the Guild—
Ouranos shot to his feet, his expression filled with disbelief.
"…What just happened?!"
His voice echoed in the silent chamber. Eyes wide, he fumbled for a spiritual bead and immediately opened a channel.
"Fels!"
Back on the eleventh floor, Leon was just about to leave and return to the tenth floor to check on everyone when a voice rang out from his chest.
"Leon! Something big has happened!" Fels' voice was urgent.
Leon froze.
"…What is it now?" He asked, a faint frown forming on his face.
Wasn't this situation already a crisis of the highest order?
What could be more serious than the Gate of Heaven?
"The Dungeon…" Fels' tone dropped, his words grim. "Something's happened inside the Dungeon and we need you to deal with it, now."
Leon's expression darkened.
"…So it begins." He muttered, eyes narrowing sharply.
"Dionysus… is this what you meant by rampage?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Leon, who had just released his Tenseigan Mode and Hyper Dying Will Flame, reignited both forms simultaneously.
A surge of overwhelming power exploded from his body as he turned into a streak of light and shot off into the darkness.
A while ago
"Fels, the corrupted spirit in the deep dungeon are going berserk."
"A large number of demi spirits are rapidly breaking through the floors… They're charging straight toward the surface!"
"Fels, contact Leon, have him find a way to resist them, stall them, anything! Just buy us some time, at least until the others free up their hands."
In the underground altar beneath the Guild, Ouranos' expression was heavy with dread as he issued the command through the communication orb.
"…What did you say?!" Fels, who was hurrying toward the Dungeon to meet with the Xenos, froze in his tracks.
He had been planning to take this opportunity to let the Xenos participate in the battle—to reveal their existence to the adventurers and show that the Xenos were not their enemies.
But before he could even take another step, he was contacted by Ouranos and the news he received shook him to his core.
"…What did you just say…?!"
Demi spirits.
Each one was a calamity-level existence equivalent to Level 7.
Orario had barely scraped through dealing with seven of them in the artificial labyrinth, requiring the full might of its strongest Familias.
And now… now you're telling me that more are coming from below?
Are you trying to scare me to death?
"Ouranos, how many?" Fels demanded in alarm after recovering slightly from the shock.
"I don't know what triggered it." Ouranos replied grimly. "But from what I can perceive… at least ten are surging toward the surface. They've already broken through to the lower levels and will soon reach the middle ones."
He continued in a more urgent tone, "Fels, contact Leon immediately. He's the only one who might be able to stop them, even for a little while. Have the others finish off the demi spirits in the labyrinth as quickly as possible and then reinforce him."
As someone who had used his divinity to suppress the Dungeon for centuries, Ouranos was intimately attuned to any major disturbances. He had sensed the appearance of the Juggernaut long before it became known to the adventurers. This time, the disturbance was no less intense.
The demi spirits had moved in droves. He could feel it in his bones. And with most of Orario's elite already committed to the artificial labyrinth, there was no force left to intercept this second wave.
The only hope now… was Leon.
Ouranos had heard from Freya herself about Leon's capabilities, how he had already surpassed Level 7 and now stood at the threshold of Level 8.
He didn't need Leon to eliminate the horde. He only needed Leon to stall them, slow them down long enough for the other adventurers to finish their battles and regroup. That was the only way.
"…Understood." Fels nodded sharply, his mind still reeling, and immediately severed the connection.
Without wasting another breath, he activated a second communication orb.
"Leon! Something's happened—somethingmassive!"
"Demi spirits!"
— — —
"What in the world could have driven the corrupted spirit to create ten demi spirits in one go?!"
"That level of mass production would cost an enormous amount of life force. It would be suicidal under normal circumstances."
"Even Dionysus only brought a handful to the artificial labyrinth! So why now?"
"Could it be… is this connected to Ais?"
Blazing through the depths like a streak of light, Leon soared upward through Knossos, the shock from Fels' message still fresh in his mind.
As he flew, he mulled over the situation. His brow furrowed. The corrupted spirit's rampage… it had to be tied to Ais.
Back then, when Ais awakened her wind-element magic, she had drawn the attention of the corrupted spirit. That awakening had stemmed from the half-spirit bloodline within her—the Wind Spirit.
In the original timeline, the corrupted spirit had remained dormant deep in the Dungeon. It had craved Ais's spirit blood, yes but it only ever collaborated with Dionysus. It never emerged on its own.
But now…
After Ais's reincarnation as an angel, her spirit bloodline had vanished. Perhaps that loss had sent the corrupted spirit into a frenzy. Perhaps it had gone mad.
Perhaps this entire mass production of demi spirits was its revenge—its final, desperate retaliation.
Regardless of the cause, Leon couldn't afford to let those demi spirits reach the surface. Not on his watch.
With power surging through him, he blasted upward, from the eleventh floor to the twelfth, and beyond—racing toward the eighteenth floor, the final level of the artificial labyrinth.
Buzz!
The veins of light spread out from his feet as he searched for the nearest path to the eighteenth floor. The artificial labyrinth had only been constructed up to that floor. He would have to exit from there.
But just as Leon honed in on the right passage, the entire floor suddenly shook violently.
He frowned. "…What now?"
A second later, his communication orb buzzed.
"Leon, where are you right now?!" Fels' voice crackled with urgency.
"The two fastest demi spirits have already broken through to the eighteenth floor, they've started attacking the adventurers stationed there. Lyd and the Xenos are doing their best to hold them off… can you get there now?!"
"…So that's what this vibration is." Leon's gaze sharpened. "Those two made it to the eighteenth floor already?"
No wonder he'd felt that tremor. It had been the demi spirits. They were already tearing apart the area.
And unlike the deeper levels, the eighteenth floor was teeming with adventurers—many of them unaware of the current threat.
If those demi spirits went on a rampage there, it would be a massacre.
Without hesitation, Leon surged forward like a comet. He didn't waste a second.
Zoom!
He cut through the labyrinth, his speed unparalleled, and in just half a minute, he crossed dozens of winding corridors and arrived at the gate leading to the eighteenth floor.
The closer he got, the more violent the quakes became. The air itself trembled, and distant explosions echoed up through the stone.
BOOM! BOOM!
Leon could now hear them clearly. The sounds of destruction. The sounds of death.
With a grim expression, Leon yanked out the key and flung the exit door open.
KA-CHAK!
The door creaked open and the full chaos of the eighteenth floor greeted him.
Explosions rocked the entire level. Screams tore through the air. Flames engulfed the once-serene landscape of the safe zone. The very earth shook with each blow.
A hellscape had descended on the eighteenth floor.