Although Isagi and the girls had previously encountered special monsters that could coordinate attacks from near and far, or even form military formations,
this was still different.
There is a difference between "cooperation" and "cooperation."
The monsters before them were truly like an adventurer party. Everyone had a clear division of labor, had their own tasks to perform, covered each other, and one could even faintly discern some kind of "tactics" within their actions.
If the feeling wasn't strong enough for Isagi's side as bystanders, then for the red-haired woman currently under siege, it was already—
Revis was still dizzy with confusion.
'What on earth is going on?!'
'What exactly are these guys?!'
'Even if this is a so-called Special Dungeon, it should still be a "Dungeon," right?!'
But where was the semblance of a Dungeon now?
It was once again time for the classic "How did the Dungeon turn out like this?!" moment.
The red-haired Creature had absolutely no time to ponder these questions right now, because these damn guys were simply too difficult to deal with!
A Bearman Vanguard, a Boarman Two-Handed Swordsman, a Lizardman Ranger, a Dragonfly Archer, and a Mage hovering at the edge of the battlefield, continuously chanting magic!!
Revis had never been besieged by such an "adventurer party" before.
If one absolutely had to count, the previous raid on the Loki and Freya Familias could barely count as one time? But back then, she had led countless Violas (Man-eating Flowers), unlike her current sorry state of fighting alone.
Bang!
The woman slammed her fist onto the massive iron shield in front of her.
The burly Bearman only retreated a step or two and let out a muffled grunt, indicating that its strength was at least Level 5 or higher; otherwise, such a situation would be impossible.
It was precisely because of this that Revis had fallen into a hard struggle.
Being besieged by an entire party of Level 5 adventurers—who also had tacit understanding, coordinated well, and even slowly groped out "tactics" specifically targeting her as the battle continued—made the woman feel increasingly strained.
Suddenly.
The Bearman Vanguard holding the greatshield jumped back a step, then used that small distance to charge forward, smashing the shield viciously toward her in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the Boarman Warrior, who always accompanied it, swung the greatclub in his hands, completely sealing off her route to dodge to the right.
Undoubtedly, she could only dodge to the left at this moment, but over there, the Lizardman Middle Guard was definitely waiting for her.
And if she jumped up? The Dragonfly Archer in the distance would shoot arrows at her the instant she was airborne and unable to move.
Simultaneously—
The earth trembled violently. Following the Mage's chant in the distance, a thick earthen wall appeared abruptly behind her.
It directly sealed off the possibility of her retreating!
In the spark of a flint, Revis did not retreat but advanced, roaring as she swung her fist directly at the giant shield before her.
A Creature's body is completely different from a normal human's.
Crunch.
Terrifying force blasted the greatshield-wielding Bearman Vanguard directly away, but the price was the woman's arm, which instantly twisted and deformed due to the recoil force.
Ghastly white bones pierced through skin and flesh. The scattering crimson blood flowers would make anyone feel immense pain just by looking at them.
However.
Revis's hand was restored to its original state the instant it was injured. This was the Creature's recovery ability, twisted to the extreme.
Then, ignoring the arrows coming at her face—since there was no longer any obstruction in front—and the incredibly crimson giant fireball following behind them, the woman exerted force underfoot and slammed violently toward the left.
As a result, she never expected that the Lizardman wielding dual swords would be so excessively cunning.
With a flash of movement, it actually climbed up the earthen wall raised behind her, seemingly about to change direction in the blink of an eye and launch an attack from above.
But Revis was no pushover either.
As someone confident in capturing Aria (Ais) in a one-on-one situation, her own strength was equivalent to a veteran Level 5 adventurer. Therefore, against the monster adventurers before her, she would absolutely not be their inferior in a one-on-one scenario!
She turned simultaneously.
At the last moment, she grabbed the Lizardman's tail, then flung it directly toward the Boarman Warrior to the side.
If these were normal monsters, generally speaking, they would absolutely not care about their companions; they simply didn't have that concept.
The greatclub in the Boarman's hands definitely wouldn't stop; instead, it would smash the Lizardman along with everything else—
However, the Boarman stopped.
Not only did it forcibly change the direction of its weapon, but it even freed up a large hand to catch the Lizardman Middle Guard in its embrace, using its own back to block the arrows and magic originally shot at it.
Tsk—
For some reason, seeing the monsters before her "cherish" their companion like this made Revis feel a bit like vomiting.
It was too eerie.
However, now was a good opportunity!
After breaking away from the siege, Revis charged directly toward the Mage in the distance.
With one kick, she sent the Dragonfly Archer, who flew over in an attempt to intercept her, flying away.
Immediately, a deep purple dagger appeared in the woman's hand. It emitted an extremely bizarre light, and the "decorations" on the hilt, which looked like eyes, were actually trembling as if they were originally "alive."
A Cursed Weapon.
This was one of the "benefits" exchanged in cooperation with the Dark Familia, and also the direct reason why she could attract the believers of the Goddess of Murder to risk coming to Orario to oppose the city.
Daedalus was an architect who possessed the [Mystery] Development Ability a thousand years ago.
He single-handedly established Babel, which reached straight into the sky.
And, he built the [Artificial Labyrinth Knossos] modeled after the Dungeon. His bloodline was passed down through the power of a "curse" for generations, causing his descendants to continuously take over his mission and continue building the only "miracle" in this world.
Naturally, the power of [Mystery] was also inherited, so the successors of the Daedalus line could forge weapons possessing "cursed" power.
The deep purple dagger slashed toward the Mage's throat.
In this instant, the face beneath the cloak appeared before Revis's eyes.
'A Dragonoid?'
It was a girl with long, pale blue hair. Her skin presented a rather delicate gray-white hue, a deep red gemstone was embedded in her forehead, and a pair of golden eyes were sparkling.
There was no mistake. It was the extremely rare monster of the Middle Floors, a "Dragonoid" (Vouivre)!
"Ah!"
The girl let out a very pleasant, small cry of surprise.
And at the same time, the roars of monsters and the sound of breaking wind came from behind!
"!!!"
Sure enough, just as she arrived in front of this Dragonoid girl Mage, the other guys in the rear couldn't make it in time to support. Thus, the Boarman Warrior from just now directly threw the dual-sword-wielding Lizardman over.
Everything was within Revis's plan.
The dagger in the woman's hand flipped direction. Instead of slashing at the Mage before her, it turned into a deep purple streak of light, suddenly striking backward and scratching the arm of the pouncing Lizardman.
"Goodbye."
The wound was very, very shallow, but it was enough.
Deep purple slime began to spread. An eye representing the "curse" grew right out of the wound on the Lizardman's arm, then suddenly snapped open.
"Roar!"
In an instant, the Lizardman who had tackled her to the ground let out a wild roar.
Its eyes turned into an incomparably deep crimson color. Then, waving the dual swords in its hands, it simply pounced toward the nearest Mage.
This was the curse of "Frenzy."
Revis looked at the Bearman Vanguard and Boarman Warrior who quickly ran over to suppress the Lizardman.
She snorted disdainfully.
Then, quickly dodging an arrow from the Dragonfly Archer in the distance, she rapidly retreated. In the blink of an eye, she ran toward the depths of this rocky wasteland.
The woman fled.
That's right, this was Revis's true plan!
She wasn't sick in the head; why would she fight to the death with these monster adventurers? There was no benefit to killing them!
The most important thing right now was to find an opportunity to take Aria back.
Still obsessing over the golden-haired girl.
Revis hadn't forgotten her mission. Moreover, she felt that if she herself had to "give her all" in such a dangerous place, then Aria's squad would definitely find it even more difficult!
When the time came and they fell into a hard struggle, she would strike at the opportune moment.
Perfect!
As the woman ran, she felt she was simply too witty!
And as for now—
She planned to first gather those believers of the Goddess of Murder who had been separated earlier.
That's right. Those guys weren't all dead yet.
Revis remembered leading them out of that deep pit full of Goblin heads and arriving at a pitch-black fortress.
After walking in, there were twisted Insect Men everywhere.
Fortunately, their strength wasn't high; it was just that their numbers were scalp-numbing. After experiencing a small chaotic skirmish, they finally fought their way out of the dark fortress. Subsequently, they arrived outside in that forest which was lush with greenery, appearing no different from the [Great Tree Labyrinth].
It was just far too dangerous!!
Spikes shooting from who knows where; swamps hidden amidst the grass and seas of flowers; and those powerful Insect Man monsters wearing armor...
People were dying with almost every step forward.
Revis didn't care about these guys, but to be fair, as believers of the Goddess of Murder and assassins, they were very professional.
That ruthless ferocity of disregarding their own lives—even if they died, they had to stab the opponent once—was indeed a very useful "weapon."
Thinking this, Revis ran swiftly through this wasteland full of gray-white rock walls.
After a long time, she really managed to find two black-robed "assassins" hiding behind a massive cover...
"Stupid meow, stupid meow, stupid meow! Look at what you've done!!"
"Don't be noisy, meow! Haven't we already made money, meow? Look at this, these are Cursed Weapons, meow! They can sell for a lot of money, meow!!"
That's right.
The two "assassins" hiding among the giant rocks were Chloe and Lunor.
Following the main force, having been chased by those powerful monsters to this place, the two girls were also dizzy. However, the Cat Person girl hadn't forgotten to pick up the Cursed Weapon carried by a certain leader of the assassins after he died.
No matter what, at least they made money! At least this trip wasn't in vain. The problem now was how to leave this ghostly place—
"Hey, you two!"
The woman's voice suddenly coming from behind gave both of them a fright.
It was Revis!
Turning back, they saw the red-haired woman walking toward them.
Not good!
No, it was just right!!
Chloe and Lunor exchanged glances swiftly.
At this moment, their original plan—sneaking into the Artificial Labyrinth to get intel on the Dark Familia to sell to the Guild or Loki Familia—seemed to have "failed."
After all, the most urgent thing now was to leave this hellhole!
No matter how much money you make, you have to be alive to spend it!!
However.
Not making money wasn't an option either. Otherwise, encountering danger and getting nothing in return—wouldn't that be a total loss?!
So, in an instant, the two shared a telepathic connection and thought of a "new plan"!
Revis was an executive of the Dark Familia. If they tied her up and sent her to the Guild, how much money could they earn?!
At this moment, even Filvis—who had originally deliberately guided the red-haired female Creature to the Special Dungeon, believing the "special monsters" here would be enough to kill or severely injure her, leading to her discovery and capture by Isagi and the others—never expected things to turn out like this.
"Have you seen anyone else?"
"No..."
Shaking their heads.
Both girls knew that Revis was at least a Level 5 fellow; even if the two of them attacked together now, they wouldn't be her match.
But it didn't matter; they could launch a sneak attack!
With the Dungeon being so dangerous right now, as long as they gave this guy a stab in the back at a critical moment, were they afraid they couldn't handle her?!
Both Chloe and Lunor thought so.
And meanwhile—
Isagi and the girls had been watching the battle between the red-haired woman and the monster adventurer party conclude, having absolutely no intention of intervening.
They had already seen it.
That opponent's bizarre "recovery power"—wounds and severed hands could actually recover in an instant. This was obviously not a "normal person," wow!
So, who was that red-haired woman?
Was she a member of the Dark Familia?
But Ais, Heith, and Senior Ryuu didn't recognize her at all!
Furthermore.
The weapon the opponent used was also interesting. The Lizardman scratched by the blade instantly went mad afterward, beginning to attack friend and foe indiscriminately.
And the other monsters actually acted with some scruples, only defending and suppressing the other party. Eventually, they tied it up with ropes woven from vines.
It was as if they truly regarded it as a companion, so no matter what, they wouldn't hurt it.
Isagi and the girls were left dumbfounded by the sight.
What exactly were these monsters before them? How did they really act just like adventurers!
'Anthropomorphizing and anthropomorphizing... could it be they will eventually truly turn into humans...?'
Isagi twitched the corners of his mouth.
It was fine for him, but for Ais and the others, it was a rather intense and massive shock.
No adventurer... no, no human would truly view a monster as a "life."
They were disasters.
They were the culprits of world destruction.
They were floods, earthquakes, gales, tsunamis... the only thing they weren't was "life."
The battle between humans and monsters was not a war between nations or races, but a fight against a natural disaster intent on their extinction.
Even though they had followed Isagi and encountered talking monsters in the Dungeon before, the girls also knew that those were just guys "conjured" by the Dungeon. When the boy left the Dungeon, they would disappear; they were not truly existing beings.
'The guys before our eyes are the same, right?'
The girls couldn't help but wonder in their hearts, because it was too "real," even to the point of making people uncomfortable...
____
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