Chapter 245 Thank You, Albis...
Sorry for the mistake. It's not released before.
The hero from the Age of Gods appeared as the boss of the Sky floor area.
It seemed that this being was there to test whether we, the explorers, were worthy to move forward. It was waiting for us at the deepest part of the 46th floor.
What appeared was the 'Spirit Archer Albis.'
As his title suggests, he was the hero from the Age of Gods who inspired the Unique Job 'Spirit Archer.'
However, one of us was also a 'Spirit Archer.' Glenda von Lorentz. Also known as 'The Lust Demon Glen.'
Albis suddenly began to spin several spirit arrows around him, preparing to shoot them. Glen smiled confidently.
"Leave this to me," she said.
And thus began their one-on-one battle!
With floating islands between them, the two faced off as hundreds, thousands of spirit arrows flew back and forth in an instant!
Flames, water, rocks, and blades of wind transformed into arrows, racing through the air like shooting stars, sometimes tracing impossibly complex paths as they aimed to pierce each other!!
Then, the moment of conclusion came in an instant.
Spirit arrows filled the sky like a barrage.
In that brief moment of opening, a precise shot like threading a needle was made.
It was Glen who fired.
As if she shot straight through Albis's blind spot, Albis didn't notice the arrow coming until it pierced his body.
"――――!!"
Albis slightly widened his eyes.
A sudden shock hit his chest. Recognizing the arrow that had struck his heart, Albis, with blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, smiled.
Glen, who was facing each other, looks. Albis, who should have been a being without self-awareness created by the labyrinth, was definitely moving his mouth.
――Impressive, isn't it...!!
The highest praise for his successor. Glen also smiled softly.
"You were amazing...!! I will never forget you...!!"
Right after Glen said that, as if satisfied with everything, Albis smiled gently――his body turned into countless particles of light and was swept away into the endless sky....
"Wow..."
Remembering that battle, I let out a sigh of admiration.
"That was incredible...!! Glen and Albis, one-on-one...!!"
"...My power-up event..."
"I can't believe you defeated the hero Albis all by yourself, way to go, Glen!"
"...My power-up event..."
"Yeah, that's right...!! You definitely powered up in this battle...!!"
"...My..."
"Yeah! You're amazing! I'm so moved!"
"Power-up event..."
"Alright! Let's get going! To the next floor!"
So we landed on the floating island where Albis had been, standing in front of a huge gate that glowed softly.
"Aaron, I think that's terrible..."
Lucia, who was being carried on my back, said something, but I pretended not to hear.
* * *
When the huge gate opened, instead of the unchanged view of the sea of clouds, a staircase leading down appeared.
It's not something I need to say now, but beyond the gate, the space was warped, leading to a different floor.
We clearly go down a staircase that is longer than the thickness of the floating island.
When we finally reach the bottom, we find ourselves in a dim cave.
As we step out of the cave, we see countless floating islands in the sky, but compared to the 46th floor, the scene has changed dramatically.
In the 46th floor, we were above the clouds, so the weather was relatively calm, but for some reason, in this floor, thick, lead-colored clouds are hanging over the floating islands.
Moreover, a fierce storm is raging, and not only is heavy rain pouring down mercilessly, but lightning also occasionally illuminates the dark floor with a loud roar as it strikes through the atmosphere.
So, in this floor, we need to explore while being attacked by storms and pouring rain.
Previously, when I came to this floor, I did a little exploring, and the lightning was especially bad. It felt like it was targeting me directly.
Therefore, we must prepare for the lightning, and for that, I borrowed Mr. Tyler's connections to gather a lot of 'Earth Elemental Treant cores' and created the "Rock Iron" series.
I confirmed with Io that if we defend with earth-element aura, we can at least block the lightning.
Well, I've distributed the "Rock Iron" to everyone who can use defensive skills or battle techniques, so we should be able to handle the lightning somehow. If we reposition the Shieldsmen jobs to cover the whole area, we should be fine.
However, even so, we will have to move at the pace of the Shieldsmen who are deploying shield skills above us, so our progress will likely slow down compared to today.
And――from here on, I'm in mostly unknown territory.
"Hey, this floor... the difficulty just shot up all of a sudden."
The drunken leader, standing at the entrance of the cave and looking outside, says with a grim face,
"Well, there is information about the monsters that appear here, but in reality, I don't know how strong they are. Today, we'll put a barrier around the cave and rest... We'll proceed carefully tomorrow."
I respond.
I've already heard from Lucia about the monsters that appear on this floor.
According to her, there are Thunder Dragons, Thunder Birds, many Angel-type Golems, Kelpies that are monsters with affinity for water magic, and a giant snake monster called Mizuchi. There are also Thunder Elemental Treants and Water Elemental Treants somewhere.
Lucia said that they are not our enemies, but I can't be sure until we actually fight... But, I think that...
"You know, it's not regular route, so there's no time to go and defeat them now."
"..."
That's talking about Water Elemental Treant and Thunder Elemental Treant, even I can understand it.
"...Of course, I know."
I acknowledge it with a heavy heart. If we hadn't received materials from the four major families, we would have been in danger.
By the way, I also asked Lucia about the purple clouds spreading far below the floating island.
"What is that? Clouds?"
"Hmm, it's a poison gas mist. There is a record of it being used in the early stages of the magical civilization. It's harmless to touch or swallow, but when it comes into contact with surfaces, life cannot thrive there. It was used as a cheap protective measure, and it became one of the major causes of a terrible incident until the development of 'Terraformer'."
In other words, if you fall into it, you die.
* * *
On that day, we set up a barrier in the cave and rested early.
"...my power-up event..."
Since Glen was feeling down, I decided to follow up as a workshop manager.
"Come on, look, Glen, do this. This is yours."
I handed over the "certain thing" that I had collected from the 46th floor in the storage ring to Glen.
"...this is...!!"
Glen received it with wide-open eyes.
I nodded strongly and explained.
"You see, after you defeated Albis, this was dropped."
"...what...?"
"Probably a rare drop, it's the bow that Albis used."
It was a precise structure bow that I couldn't tell what materials it was made of. Moreover, it seemed to have a mechanism installed to assist in the use of magic formulas. When 'Spirit Archer' uses it to make spiritual arrows, the power and accuracy of the spiritual arrows will increase.
Well, it's called a relic from the Age of Gods, I suppose.
"Albis, who you defeated at the end, must have left it for you, I'm sure..."
I said, looking into the distance.
"...is that so? Maybe..."
"Yes, definitely. There's no mistake."
I strongly asserted.
"...yes, that's right. ...un, that's right!"
Glen stood up energetically, held up the bow, and looked at it with bright eyes like a boy who had just received a new toy.
At that time, Lucia told Glen the name of the bow.
"By the way, the name of that bow is 'Divine Spirit Bow'."
"Divine Spirit Bow...!!"
Something impressive, I suppose. Glen's eyes shone even more.
Glen tightly grasped the bow, staring at it and muttering as if telling someone who wasn't there.
"Thank you, Albis... I will cherish this bow of yours. I will never forget the fight with you...!!"
Great, with this, Glen's power-up event is also complete!
"...not forget the fight that never existed...?"
"Shh, stop it, Lucia..."
Lucia tilted her head curiously, but Fiona shook her head, indicating that she shouldn't say any more.
Yes, Glen and Albis's fight did exist, in our...!!
In our hearts...!!
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