"I found their trail!"
Lyra, who'd been on alert from the start, quickly picked up Rudra Familia's traces—though honestly, it wasn't like they'd been careful. Seeing that, Alise drew the longsword at her waist with a bright, heroic flourish.
"Let's wipe out the Evilus's remnants and bring Orario lasting peace!"
With a single command, she rallied everyone to pursue.
But the moment they moved, Takumi spoke—calm, sharp, absolute.
"Stop. Don't move."
The instant his voice fell, the girls froze in place.
They stood in the Jungle Ravine, surrounded by tall grass and thick trees, staring at him in confusion. Lyra's expression tightened first, instinct screaming that something was wrong.
"You spotted something?"
"Yeah," Takumi said, giving a small nod. "Something… little."
A faint clocklike mirage flickered in his eyes—his Foresight Eye spinning silently.
The second they entered this floor, he'd already sensed Rudra Familia. But that wasn't what worried him.
What he cared about were the Firestones buried throughout the floor.
At the same time, his Clock-Sight Eye triggered automatically—showing him a few seconds into the future:
Firestones detonating everywhere. The entire forest ravine turning into a sea of flame.
Two hundred and sixty-three…
Rudra Familia had gone completely insane. They'd hidden 263 bombs.
No time to explain.
Takumi gestured with his eyes and snapped a warning that made everyone's blood run cold.
"Everyone, get close. The blast is about to start."
"Blast?" Ryuu Lion instinctively stepped nearer, swallowing hard.
In the next heartbeat, Kaguya and Lyra both reacted, faces shifting.
"Firestones?!"
Firestones—the Evilus's slaughterhouse weapon.
Their last all-out attack on Orario had burned that memory into everyone's bones. If Takumi hadn't intervened then, casualties would've been catastrophic.
And right as the realization spread through the group, the shadows answered.
Rudra Familia detonated everything.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM!! BOOOOM!!!
A chain of explosions erupted across the Jungle Ravine—massive, violent, unrelenting.
And this was nothing like Orario.
This was a floor inside the Dungeon. The shockwaves couldn't vent outward—so they slammed into the walls and rebounded, amplifying the destruction. Worse still, the ravine was packed with trees—perfect kindling for a firestorm.
Whoooosh—whoooosh!
In only minutes, flames swallowed the entire floor.
Even Blood Dragon-class monsters—nightmares on this level—were reduced to ash inside the blast.
Alise and the others reflexively raised their weapons, bracing to cut down flying debris and scorching shockwaves—but then they realized something impossible.
The heat, the shattered stone, the splintered trees—none of it could reach them.
Everything slowed as it approached Takumi… then stopped, hanging there like the world had forgotten how to move.
"W-What is this…?!" someone gasped.
Takumi's tone stayed steady.
"My Limitless Technique. Think of it as a barrier. The closer anything gets to me, the more its speed drops… until it stops."
"That's cheating!" Celty—Astraea Familia's mage—couldn't help blurting out.
This wasn't just strong. This was unfair.
If it worked the way he described, then practically no attack could ever touch him.
"It's not that broken," Takumi said with a shrug. "Anything that crosses space directly can still get through."
Kaguya rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle she didn't sprain something.
"That's the same as saying nothing at all. Takumi-kun, stop flexing."
Lili didn't bother criticizing—she just worshiped harder.
"Takumi-sama protected us! Rudra Familia's trap can't hurt us at all!"
Alise, completely unbothered, actually sat down and poked the invisible boundary with childlike interest. The flames continued raging outside, unable to touch them. It was bizarre… and kind of hilarious.
When Takumi judged it was enough, he exhaled softly.
"Frostwind—Blowing Snow."
A cold breath swept outward.
Whoooosh!
The moment it passed, flames died. The blistering ground crusted over with frost, ice spiderwebbing across scorched earth.
"Ice magic… mixed with wind…" Celty stared at him like her worldview was collapsing. "How many elements can you even use, Takumi-kun?!"
Takumi lifted a shoulder helplessly, as if this was just an awkward personality trait.
"I only know a little bit more than normal. Like… I can use pretty much every element a little."
"…"
Celty shut her mouth so hard you could practically hear the click.
Miracle Hero, indeed—an existence that flat-out refused to fit inside common sense.
"Takumi-sama protected us—now it's our turn!" the black-haired girl Noin said excitedly, raising her hand.
The group's focus snapped back from this is insane to we're in a fight.
The aftermath was apocalyptic.
The ravine was ruined—walls torn open, the floor blasted into massive craters. Deep gouges and claw-like scars stripped away the phosphorescent glow, and the labyrinth sank into darkness as if night had fallen.
And then—Rudra Familia finally had no place left to hide.
When Jura saw Takumi's group standing there completely unscathed, he broke.
"WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!" he roared, voice shredded raw. "You Astraea women—damn you! Do you have any idea how many Firestones we used?! How much work we put into this?!"
He howled from within thick smoke and drifting embers, his face marred with burns and shrapnel cuts.
Even though they'd tried to shelter in the corners, a full-floor detonation still hurt them. Some of Rudra Familia's members had lost arms or legs, lying unconscious in pools of blood.
They'd buried over a hundred Firestones specifically to prevent "unexpected outcomes."
And it still didn't work.
The Jura who'd tried to hype up his people earlier now looked one breath away from shattering.
Alise stood, blade lifting—her expression bright, righteous, and terrifyingly resolved.
"I'll give you this, Jura… you really tried. But your tricks end here."
"Under justice, evil has nowhere left to run."
"Today, we end the Evilus—along with the era of sin."
Her words rang out like a recital, poetry made from condemnation.
Behind her, Ryuu and the others watched Jura and his remaining leaders with eyes sharp enough to cut steel.
They had Rudra Familia cornered.
Justice was about to fall.
And then—The Dungeon wailed.
It wasn't the cracking groan of monsters being born.
It wasn't the rumbling omen of an abnormal condition.
It was a high, unnatural, inorganic scream—like a blade dragged across a taut silver string.
The piercing sound made everyone's brows knit and in the same instant, every adventurer inside the Dungeon felt it.
Danger. Absolute danger.