The woman clutched her nearly severed neck with her left hand, cold sweat streaming down her face.
That brush with death—she had never experienced anything like it before.
Her right arm had been completely severed by that strike, and even the severed limb had vanished without a trace.
She turned to see that the mountain of green crystal clusters had been sliced cleanly at the peak.
"So much destruction from just the aftershock."
"Was it magic? Or a skill?"
Looking at the absence of her right hand, she knew she had no choice but to retreat. She hadn’t retrieved the seed or Aria, and now she’d even lost an arm. The loss outweighed any gain.
"Damn it!"
Despite her frustration, she pushed off the ground hard and leapt from the cliffs surrounding the City of Rivira.
She had no choice now but to leave.
...
Half a minute after the woman vanished, four figures reappeared.
Bell watched her retreating figure, suppressing his shock.
’Far beyond Lv. 5... she might have reached Lv. 6.’
’That woman isn’t human.’
He was sure of it.
The strike he had launched, after charging power for four minutes, would have taken down even a Lv. 6 if unguarded.
Yet that woman, even after losing an arm, had forcibly disrupted the blade’s trajectory.
Her sheer physical toughness and durability were beyond belief.
Still, the strike had done considerable damage and severed one of her arms. Perhaps studying it could reveal how her body was structured.
To avoid complications, the arm had already been stored in the four-dinsional space the mont it was cut off.
Now, there was the situation in front of him to deal with.
He turned to the "Sword Princess," who lay unconscious with a broken right arm.
"Doesn’t seem like her life is in danger."
There was no killing blow—just external wounds and a faint from oxygen deprivation.
Bell also committed the na "Aria" to mory.
The "Sword Princess" was Ais Wallenstein. That na had no connection to Aria.
So, had the woman mistaken her?
No. Judging by her reaction, she had been genuinely surprised to see the "Sword Princess." She had gone out of her way not to kill her, opting to knock her out instead. That intent to take her away proved one thing—the woman hadn’t mistaken her at all.
Ariel’s wind confird that the "Sword Princess" was indeed Aria, and the "Sword Princess" herself was visibly shaken when the woman ntioned the na "Aria." It seed Aria was likely her elder.
"Thank you very much for your help."
Lefiya, tending to Ais, let out a small sigh of relief and glanced at the person before her with a touch of guilt.
"At first, I thought you were a bad person..."
"Don’t worry about it."
Bell cut her off, showing little interest in the apology. Instead, his focus shifted to the Chienthrope girl beside him.
"Hand over what you’ve got."
The Chienthrope girl paused for a mont but then obediently produced the item she’d been holding.
It was a green sphere, and inside it floated a strange, unidentified life form.
Bell’s expression imdiately changed the mont he saw it.
He reached out and lightly tapped the sphere’s surface. Several Runes flared to life across the outer shell, sealing off the creature’s life signals completely.
"So this is the ’seed’... What a dangerous thing."
Just now, when the creature inside had flared with vitality, Bell had nearly mistaken it for a being above Lv. 7.
"A mitic lifeform... an egg laid based on so other creature?"
"Normal monsters don’t look like this."
"The Dungeon shouldn’t be capable of producing sothing like this. So... is this the offspring of a monster?"
At that mont, a vague answer began surfacing in Bell’s mory.
Corrupted Spirit.
In the original tiline, this was the catalyst for the collective ascension of the Loki Familia to Lv. 6. It was also what Bell intended to use as the stepping stone for Finn, Riveria, and Gareth to reach Lv. 7.
Which ant the woman’s identity was now clear.
The guardian of the Corrupted Spirit.
Those new variants weren’t the Dungeon’s creations—they were spawned from the Corrupted Spirit.
’I should’ve paid more attention in my past life.’
Only now did Bell regret not knowing the full storyline.
Unfortunately, he only rembered a handful of details. He could recall what had been adapted into ani, but everything else... was lost.
For now, all he could do was make the most of what he did rember.
That made this seed critical to his future research.
"You’re from the Hers Familia?"
"Yes, I’m Lulune Louie, a mber of the Hers Familia."
"Does your Familia God know you took on this job?"
"Um... no, he doesn’t."
Lulune looked awkward. She couldn’t exactly admit she’d taken the job alone out of greed.
"So, the reward must’ve been higher than expected."
Now that she’d been exposed, Lulune looked even more embarrassed.
"Next ti, try using your head."
That line made her want to bury her face in the dirt.
After offering a brief scolding, Bell stored away the sealed Corrupted Spirit embryo.
"In three days, have your Familia God and the Perseus co to the Hestia Familia to retrieve it."
With everything said, Bell had no reason to linger.
At the sa ti, a strong sense of urgency struck him.
He was being forced into motion.
The feeling left a sour taste in his mouth.
But he couldn’t let the "Sword Princess" be taken away—she was part of Loki Familia and also a key piece in his forward plan. He couldn’t afford to lose her here.
That alone ant he had to protect the "Sword Princess."
So, reluctantly, he had stepped into the spotlight.
Still, things weren’t too bad yet. The damage wasn’t irreversible.
The only ones aware of what happened were the Elf from Loki Familia and the Chienthrope from Hers Familia—neither group was likely to sell out his secrets. But this incident served as a wake-up call. He had to grow stronger, fast. Otherwise, he’d be pushed into the spotlight before he was ready.
It wasn’t enough to resist Freya—he had to be strong enough to stand against Freya Familia’s captain, Ottar. Only then would he et the baseline requirents.
For now, his temporary goal was to reach Lv. 4.
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