Back to the secret floor, where Ophelia and the other students found themselves in the presence of Dugea, an A-rank demon and the overseer of the Unnatural Dungeon.
The black floor was covered with lots of marble, Dugea previously spread there.
As if she issued a command, she stretched her hand out to the marbles.
"?"
The marbles began to levitate and float around.
"Be on guard, everyone!" Ophelia shouted.
So marbles started to glow suddenly.
"Ack!"
As if it was a chain reaction, one after another yelped when the marbles near them launched magic attacks from different types at them.
Rachel tried to defend herself by creating a wall made out of her plant magic, however, when the first vines started to sprout from the ground, a marble sucked it in.
"What...?!"
Unfortunately, she was not the only one, who experienced that.
"!"
Taken by shock, Rachel montarily let her guard down and got hit by her own magic, which erged from another marble. But compared to her other comrades, she had no ans to defend herself as she lacked in the physical and weapon departnt.
Be that as it may, it did not look necessarily better for the others.
Ophelia, for example, was more agile than Rachel and could jump aside but she was not unscathed from all the surprise attacks coming from the marbles.
"It’s tough, isn’t it? Aside from getting haunted by your own attacks, attacks and weapons, I’ve stored in the past will also ambush you when you expect it the least." Dugea stated with a cocky grin.
There were even so marbles, which stored high-ranking monsters.
"Tch!"
Gritting her teeth, Tija cut down one of those monsters, however, she was ambushed by another one from behind imdiately.
"Hahaha!" Dugea laughed at the sight of everyone struggling.
But that laugh slowly died down once she shifted her focus to Sylvia.
"Hey, is she for real...?" she muttered taken aback.
While the others were desperately trying to dodge and fight back against her storage, Sylvia did not move an inch from her position yet.
Thorns were piercing her right upper arm. Because of a lightning attack, her left hand was still in shock. There was also a skeleton soldier attacking her with a cub, however, it pulled back after a while, wondering why Sylvia did not move.
Her body was covered in scratches, bruises and dirt. Blood flowed out from so places and her clothes were partly in tatters. And yet, her expression did not change.
"..."
Her skin appeared paler than usual. Her eyes colder. And whenever she exhaled, a cold breath ca out.
"A-attack her!" Dugea commanded that skeleton soldier near her.
At the sa ti, she activated the other marbles around Sylvia, which all stored magic attacks.
"!"
Dugea’s hand flinched.
Before the skeleton soldier could hit her and before the marbles could summon the magic attacks, everything near Sylvia froze completely.
"..."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to Sylvia, who was taking one step at a ti as she headed in the direction of the flabbergasted Dugea.
With each step, more marbles in her vicinity turned into ice.
"Then, how about this?" Dugea said fiercely as she activated marbles, which were still in her hands.
From those marbles, fire and lightning beams were fired off.
Yet, these attacks also did not touch Sylvia and got frozen.
"You’re kidding ..." Dugea murmured in disbelief.
And before she could even realize it, Sylvia was right in front of her, stretching her hand to her.
"..."
Dugea felt the cold and her body started to slightly tremble due to the cold.
"D-don’t screw with !"
She tensed up her body and threw a punch at Sylvia, who took it.
"Haa... Haa..."
Dugea’s breathing was slightly ragged. But was it because of the cold or because of her fear.
"Shi-"
Caught off guard, she turned around after she belatedly noticed Lisa behind her.
Lisa enhanced her speed with her magic and thrust her rapier at her.
"Keh...!"
It may have been only shallow but Lisa stabbed her in the right shoulder.
"Get lost!"
"Gah!"
With a backhand slap, Dugea sent Lisa flying, too.
But Lisa was not the only one, who made use of the opening Sylvia created for them.
From both of her sides, Asak and Tija ambushed her. Asak jumped high and rotated midair, launching a kick at her head, whereas Tija retracted her arm, preparing for a heavy sword swing.
In response to that, Dugea quickly threw one marble at each side and summoned thick walls to protect her.
"Ugh...!"
Still, those walls were not enough. Tija managed to cut through the wall, leaving a scratch on Dugea’s arm and Asak broke through the wall with sheer strength, landing a weakened kick on Dugea’s shoulder.
Dugea gritted her teeth in annoyance and grabbed Asak’s leg.
"!"
Summoning all her strength, she swung Asak at Tija and catapulted them away.
"What the-"
Again, she was surprised when Harik sneaked up on her from behind and restrained her arms, leaving her front wide open.
"What are you fool thinking...?" she wondered vexedly as she gave him a cold glare.
But her attention instantly wandered to the front.
She sensed a familiar power coming from there.
"..."
Ophelia, who was charging at her with her gauntlets on, also mustered up everything she had.
"Bluergh!" Dugea groaned loudly when Ophelia’s vigorous punch connected to her abdon.
And because Harik let go of her just in ti, Dugea was flying to the back.
Nothing but darkness should have been there but Rachel was waiting for Dugea with lots of sharp and peaky roots erging from the ground.
Thus, she crashed into Rachel’s trap, causing dust to co up.
"..."
Nervously, Rachel tried to check on her.
"!"
However, from the dust, Dugea’s hand popped up and grabbed her whole face.
"Rache-"
Harik was about to rush over but before he could even call her na, Rachel was thrown right into him.
"As expected from soone of her caliber..." Ophelia muttered tensely as she broke into a cold sweat.
Dugea was in sight again.
"Hngh!" she moaned slightly.
The effect of Ophelia’s relic was activated but it seed like Dugea could deal with that.
"You..."
Blood ca out from her mouth.
"Now you’ve done it..." she grumbled annoyed, slicking her hair back.
She took out a sowhat larger marble.
"Tch... What am I thinking..." she muttered.
That marble showed the events of the sixth floor.
Even though it was pure luck, Dugea managed to catch the semi-transcendental being and put it inside her storage, aning that she could store and summon it anyti she wanted.
"Whatever... I can deal with them on my own!"
Dugea put the marble away as it would not sit well with her if she were to rely on it in a fight against Ophelia and the others.
"Those hits were just because of their luck and my carelessness..." she justified with a wicked smile.
anwhile, Ophelia nervously took up her fighting stance.
She took so deep breaths in order to focus again.
"So you’re-"
Dugea could not finish her theory as the floor was invaded.
"Yo, Dugea."
With widened eyes, she turned around.
"V-Vira...!"
Appearing on the throne, which originally belonged to Dugea, was Vira, a mature woman in a long black dress, which was mostly hidden due to her robe. Like Dugea, her eyes and short and middle-parted hair were black. She wore red lipstick and had a wide grin on her pale face.
"W-who is that...?" Rachel stuttered.
She began to sweat extrely like the others, who crawled back.
"...?"
Ophelia cast her gaze to her legs, which were shaking.
"Hm..."
Vira stared at them with an indifferent gaze for a mont.
"!"
Suddenly, the group felt imnse pressure, making them touch the ground with their hands.
"What are you doing here...?" Dugea asked while glaring at her.
"Why are you so on edge? Can’t I co to visit you without having a reason?" Vira huffed, turning back to her grinning face.
And as if it was natural, she made it comfortable for herself on the throne, crossing her legs and resting her elbow on the armrest.
"As if I could believe that." Dugea responded sternly.
"..."
Vira only smirked in response.
"By the way, I stumbled upon those people on my way here. Please arrange to have soone escort directly to you next ti. It’s a hassle to go through each floor, you know?"
"?"
Vira snapped her fingers.
Following that, four bodies fell down from above.
"Impossible...!"
Ophelia could not believe her eyes.
In front of her were the unconscious bodies of Lily, Belian, Sara and Mika.
"Sara!" Tija shouted concernedly.
"W-what now, Ms. Ross...?" Lisa asked anxiously.
There were two demons and Ophelia and the others were already exhausted. On top of that, they could not move yet as their bodies felt too heavy.
"Just how strong is that woman...?" she muttered in fear.
And to her surprise, Dugea answered her question despite trying to kill her a few monts ago.
The woman in front of them shared the sa title as Dugea and yet, they were worlds apart from each other.
"She’s Vira, the strongest demon among the A-ranks."
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