Chapter 39: I'll Lead the Fight.
....
Finn had positioned himself toward the rear of the formation to watch the battle unfold — standard practice for a captain who managed the overall picture. What he saw from Kihara was something he hadn't had a clear view of before. He'd known, in the abstract, that the man had put Bete on the floor with his bare hands. Watching him actually fight was a different kind of information.
No elaborate technique. No overwhelming physical dominance doing the work for him. The movements were almost plain — cut, thrust, hook, sweep. Four words that covered the entire vocabulary. What made them remarkable was the placement. Every strike found the precise point that forced a response, and the response was always wrong. A monster that chose not to defend died immediately. A monster that chose to defend found itself locked into a rhythm of blocks that gave it no moment to retaliate, absorbing hits from every angle until Aiz read the opening from the side and ended it.
"They work well together," Riveria observed.
"Don't you think, Finn?"
"Don't say that where anyone can hear it. If it reaches Loki, she'll be at Hestia's door at midnight."
"I said fight together. Who decided to interpret that differently?"
Finn shook his head with a smile. The floor was clear — men-fish and crystal sea urchins dissolved into their component magic stones and drops, which the logistics team moved in to collect. He began walking and talking at the same time, sharing what he knew about the deeper floors under the guise of general discussion.
It was, technically, Familia intelligence. Not something ordinarily shared with outside parties. But Kihara was the contingency they'd selected — the element that could, in a worst case, provide a stabilising force when Aiz reached her limits. That function required him to be strong, and strength required information. Loki had cleared the disclosure before the expedition departed.
Where Aiz was concerned, she was rarely careless.
Floor twenty-seven was Amphisbaena's territory — specifically a range spanning floors twenty-seven and twenty-eight, as the creature was the only documented floor boss capable of moving between levels. It had been ranging across both floors for as long as the Guild's records covered.
At present, both floor entrances were marked with burning torches. The floor boss had been killed. The regeneration clock was running.
Gareth leaned close to examine the crest burned into one of the torches, tugging his beard with a deliberate hand.
"This marking. That's the Freya Familia's insignia — Ottar's work, most likely."
Tiona pressed both hands to her cheeks.
"Orario's only Level 7 just... quietly took out the floor boss. No announcement or anything."
Finn drew his gaze back from the torch and clapped once.
"Someone cleared the road for us. That's useful. Don't let it make you comfortable — keep pushing."
"Sir!"
From the thirtieth floor onward, Bloodthirsty Dragons began appearing with regularity. The scales were hard enough to turn second-class arms, and the claws were worse. For most adventurer parties, the combination represented a serious threat.
This particular group had Riveria.
She began the incantation in a clear, unhurried voice:
"Omen of endings, snow that blankets all — let the gale rise at the twilight hour. Light enclosed, earth made still. Blizzard sweeping wide, the third winter binding all—
I am Alf."
Three streams of pale cold passed through the Bloodthirsty Dragons like something that barely noticed them. Crimson scales went white. Movement slowed by degrees and stopped. The creatures became perfect ice sculptures, frozen in the exact shapes of their final moments, and the party moved through them while the logistics team broke the ice to retrieve the magic stones inside.
Fairy Anfang. Riveria's signature attack magic — the ability to encase everything within a defined area in ice, with enough precision in her mana control to leave her allies untouched within the same radius.
Kihara opened his skill menu while she worked.
Combat Skills: Level 9. A fraction from Level 10.
He remembered what had happened at Level 5 — a random ability draw. Level 10 would almost certainly trigger the same.
The dungeon was the most efficient grinding floor imaginable. Every monster was experience waiting to be collected. He stopped holding back.
Kokorowatari came out. Ebony and Ivory. The Phantom Blade Combination engaged, and he moved through the corridor like something that had decided the dungeon's inhabitants were an obstacle to be removed rather than a threat to be managed. Every creature in his path came apart.
The Loki Familia members who had been watching with the confidence of people who knew how strong their own team was found themselves recalibrating.
Gareth accidentally pulled out one of his beard hairs. He stared at it with the expression of a man processing several things at once.
"He's not Level 5. That's not what Level 5 looks like."
Tiona looked at her own weapon — a double-bladed greatsword taller than she was, the weapon of a Level 5 adventurer — and experienced the specific feeling of standing next to someone who made it look like a prop.
"Move up! Don't let him get isolated in a monster swarm!"
Finn understood, watching this unfold, that what they'd been seeing from Kihara for the past six months hadn't been the ceiling. Something about the intelligence sharing, the floor maps, the accumulated context of the expedition — something had shifted his calculation about what warranted concealment.
The last monster before the thirty-seventh floor entrance dissolved into smoke.
Kihara dismissed his weapons and felt the familiar chime settle in his mind.
[Combat Skills have reached Level 10. One draw available.]
[Phantom Blade detected. Choose between: Ability or Weapon.]
A weapon draw.
He hadn't expected that option. He thought about it for approximately two seconds, then selected Weapon.
The reasoning was straightforward: Gensokyo Divine Music Arts already gave him access to the abilities of every youkai in Gensokyo. Adding another ability to that pool had diminishing returns. A weapon that could slot into the Phantom Blade framework was the more valuable pull.
[Drawing weapon—]
[Obtained: Hakurouken — Wavering Mist Sword.]
[Hakurouken: A divine-grade weapon forged from a maiden's feelings. Carries no offensive power. When deployed, creates a field of three-kilometre radius that nullifies all attacks and disintegrates weapons. While active, the wielder cannot move or release the sword. Recharge time: 12 hours.]
"That is an incredible pull."
He turned back to Finn with the energy of someone who has just seen an opportunity align.
"The floor boss on thirty-seven you mentioned — how dangerous is it?"
Finn's expression settled into the serious register he used for genuine assessments.
"Udaeus. According to the library's documentation — absorbs defeated enemies to strengthen itself, and deploys endless waves of skeletal soldiers to drain the party's stamina through attrition. Last expedition, we ran low on supplies before we could finish it. That's why we withdrew."
"Waves of enemies." Kihara processed this. "That's actually ideal."
He looked at the thirty-seventh floor entrance, then back at the assembled expedition.
"Udaeus — I'll take the lead on this one."
....
Thank you for reading.