He chuckled nervously and glanced over his shoulder. “Thanks for the save.”

  Bryn smiled beautifully and nodded. “Always at your service, Master.”

  She brought them back above solid ground and set them down on the floor. Grea grinned at the duo.

  “You know that he has wings, right?” She raised a brow at the Valkyrie.

  Bryn blushed almost instantly, casting her gaze to her feet. Asterios brushed his fingers through her hair while shaking his head at his teasing demon mate.

  “At least she did something instead of watching from the sidelines. I bet you would’ve had fun watching me fall.” He smirked at Grea.

  “Maybe.” Grea smirked back. “But I know you would have regained control in a flash.”

  “And if I didn’t, I would have been in trouble. I think Bryn deserves a reward for saving my life, don’t you too?” He grinned at her impishly.

  “Fuck. I should have moved,” Grea whined, biting on her bottom lip.

  The girls all chuckled while Asterios turned his face to Bryn. “Let me know if you think of something later. I wasn’t just joking.”

  She nodded faintly, getting a bit rosier over her noble face.

  “It’s finally time to go down!” Miria giggled excitedly. “Getting to the bottom will be a piece of cake right now!”

  “We’ll see about that.” Selene chuckled softly.

  “How are we going to descend?” Tina asked, peering into the chasm.

  “Dibs on Master!” Miria shouted and lunged at Asterios.

  They laughed together as he caught the joyful panthergirl into a princess carry. Miria purred lovingly and rubbed her cheek into his. She would never miss the chance to snuggle with her beloved master no matter what.

  “Well, which pretty lady wants to share the trip with me?” Grea put her hands on her hips.

  Selene, Tina, and Silvia all moved to the edge of the hole, preparing their own means of taking flight. Only Bryn remained but she stood next to her friend.

  “No one? Really?” Grea raised her brows at them. “Come on. I’m not that bad.”

  They still ignored the demon woman, evoking a groan from her. Grea then gasped as something began lifting her up and noticed the familiar pink mist surrounding her body. With an echoing chuckle, Aura carried her to the hole too.

  “Alright. I’ll be going back then. This is a tad too risky for me. I’d hate to be baggage to you,” Atra said, turning to Bryn. “And you. Have you?”

  Bryn furrowed her brows at her friend but quickly figured out the nature of her question and turned beet red. Atra sighed.

  “Last chance. You get one only because you are my best friend. There will be no more mercy.” The short Valkyrie pointed two fingers at her eyes and Bryn repeatedly before Umbra’s shadows consumed her.

  Trying her best to recollect herself, Bryn soon joined everyone by the gaping hole in the floor and everyone shared a nod. Asterios dove first and Bryn jumped in as the last person. They didn’t speed through the vertical tunnel since they had no idea what they should expect. The concurrent floors illuminated the shaft at regular intervals. Nothing stopped them from descending.

  Until it did.

  Asterios and Miria grunted as they slammed into some kind of an invisible wall, fortunately not flying fast. The others slowed down in time and came to a stop. They landed on the barrier, hitting the forcefield with their feet a few times.

  “Now what?” Grea asked, clicking her tongue. “We can’t deal with it like with the platform.”

  “Anyone knows how far we traveled?” Tina glanced around.

  “This should be the twenty-fifth level if I didn’t make a mistake while counting,” Asterios replied, setting Miria down. “I guess that’s as far as we go this way. Figured they wouldn’t let you just pass this easily.”

  “We might have to go through another trial,” Silvia suggested, poking her finger past the barrier shielding the outer edge of the shaft. “It’s possible to pass through from this side, just as it should be if this is similar to the Aegis, but we might not be able to walk back.”

  “Do we even have a choice?” Bryn sighed gently. “Wait. Is that another platform under us?”

  She created an orb of light and focused its glow. Just as she said, there was another elevator on the floor below them, about a hundred meters away or so. They had most likely missed it due to the regular flashes of light coming from the sides of the levels they had passed. Now, they could even spot the melted-off part of the other elevator stuck vertically in it.

  “Well, we at least have to face the trial on this floor. If there’s a floating disc down there, the barriers might be missing too, just like at the top,” Selene pointed out.

  “And if so, we can melt through it again.” Silvia nodded.

  “Team decision, then. Do we step out?” Asterios asked, glancing over everyone’s faces.

  The girls nodded in unison and they walked out of the shaft. Just as they had predicted, the barrier didn’t let them go back. They were stuck on the twenty fifth-floor if they didn’t manage to beat the prepared trial. Since worrying about that was pointless, they moved out to search for the training grounds immediately.

  Unfortunately, it looked like this level was incomparably more swarmed with the Scourge than the initial two. The very moment they stepped into one of the beautiful, metal corridors, an army of monsters turned their faceless heads at them. There was no other way than to push through so Asterios and the girls got to action.

  Selene and Tina took the front this time, leaving protecting the middle and back to Miria and Silvia. Asterios stayed around Bryn while they both supported their teammates. They all utilized their deep bonds to keep an eye on every possible angle, sharing more than just flashes of their vision. At their current level, they were almost like one mind and one body.

  They didn’t have too much trouble clearing all those monsters but Asterios didn’t want the girls to exhaust themselves unnecessarily so he utilized the Runic Chips he had gotten from Endymion exactly for moments like this. Of course, he had a slightly limited choice considering the fact that they were in a spacious but still corridor deep under the ground.

  Still, powerful Transcendental Sonic Discharge dealt with all the enemies ahead of them with a single activation, sweeping the entire hallway clean. Maybe not that clean since an ungodly amount of black blood splattered over every surface when the violent wave of merciless vibrations rushed through the passage. Miria and Selene were reminded of the fun times they’d shared in the undead dungeon back in the day.

  Grea had a lot of fun with her crossbow and tested a few of the bombs to gauge their power. The elemental explosion coming from the merry spheres could easily cover the width of the corridor, catching a big group of monsters in its wake. Everyone understood that they had to be careful with those going forward. No one would like to be anywhere near one of Grea’s toys when they went off.

  With their joint efforts, it didn’t take them long to reach the open archway leading into the fighting arena. Tina volunteered to stay outside this time, letting Miria join everyone. She had a feeling that they would need someone with Miria’s experience in close-quarters combat. Bryn located the activation panel and started up the challenge.

  Just like the last time, a golden ring appeared on the ceiling. There were no silver streaks over the yellow path, though. Six square tiles receded from the walls and weird, wand-shaped metal sticks extended into the chamber. They were as thick as a person’s arm and a red gem figured at their ends.

  After angling themselves towards Asterios and the girls, the crystals began glowing brighter and brighter. The golden timer started dissipating and a crimson beam shot from every single ruby. Miria squealed as one of the rays almost touched her and she immediately broke into a run. Fortunately, the weird stream of light was quite slow.

  “Do we have to avoid them until the timer runs out?” Grea asked, walking away from the beam that followed her.

  Miria shuddered. “Not again…”

  Before Grea could request the panthergirl to elaborate a little on her reaction, the beams sped up and she had to actually enter a jog. Then, six more tiles uncovered another batch of wands and six more rays of crimson joined the fray, chasing after everyone in the room.

  “I should have stayed outsideeeeeeeeeeee!” Miria screamed while running for her life from four of them.

  “Don’t get hit no matter what. I have a feeling that just a single contact will fail us,” Asterios instructed them.

  “Easier said than done,” Grea huffed, dodging two. “I’m a fucking scholar, not a badass such as all of you. We would need to fuck like rabbits for me to get on your stamina level.”

  As the timer reached three-fourths, more tiles hid away, this time also on the floor and ceiling. But, instead of bringing out more lasers, they extended flat, shiny surfaces into the arena, also on rotating arms. As everyone expected, they reflected the red streaks.

  “I kneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew ittttttttttttttttt!” Miria whined, evading an assault from multiple angles. “I shouldn’t have compared this place to the dungeoooooooooooooooooon!”

  Asterios chuckled lightly. As much as he could while making flips and rolls in the air. He kept his eyes on Grea the most, knowing that this challenge was one of the worst possible for the demon lady. But, Aura was doing whatever she could to assist her Summoner in escaping the hungry rays of red energy.

  The rotating constructs sped up the less time remained in the challenge. More and more wands kept joining the test of agility and senses. At one point, they had to dodge over thirty beams at the same time, including the reflections bouncing off the mischievous mirrors even multiple times. Whoever had wings had quite an advantage at it but Miria and Grea struggled on the ground.

  Asterios did his best to assist them, creating footholds for his panthergirl mate to push herself off and make mesmerizing gymnastics in the air. As for Grea, he could only aid her reaction time through the technique boosting her senses, focusing his vision sharing with her the most. Aura took care of the rest, dragging her mistress around.

  During the last one-fourth of the golden ring, the lasers went into overdrive. The speed and number were inconceivable. Asterios and the girls zoomed around the arena so fast they passed by each other so often and so close that they scraped their skin together, barely avoiding crashing into each other. He began using Umbra’s shadows to avoid the worst situations, helping out Grea now and then.

  Just as they were starting to lose hope, unable to even glance at the timer, all the rays stopped. Startled and surprised by the sudden change, they all lost their balance and whoever had been on the floor, fell to the ground with a loud thud. That included Miria, Grea, and Asterios.

  “Never… Again… I… Swear…” The panthergirl panted heavily, shaking her head.

  Selene let out a ladylike chuckle. “I thought the mirror room was your favorite.”

  Miria shot her an angry glare, causing everyone else to chuckle too. They rested for about half an hour before moving to the staircase that had been unlocked. Asterios had to spend most of that time revitalizing the girls with his techniques, and with plenty of kisses full of spiritual energy. Bryn had hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she’d shared a few delicate pecks with him too, receiving Ast’s reinvigorating mana with a slightly shy smile.

  Just like earlier, they had to fight their way through the corridors, but fortunately, not so intensely. Dealing with countless monsters of the Scourge was starting to feel like an annoying chore that kept them away from the most fun parts of their expedition. While certainly fun, the trials were not that far after them.

  They reached the elevator chamber and confirmed that they could step onto the platform. Thankfully, the combination of Ast’s, Silvia’s, and Aura’s energies worked exactly the same as before and they cut a hole in the elevator once more.

  Asterios had expected it, but he was still just as disappointed as everyone else when another invisible barrier stopped them at the fiftieth floor. It was now confirmed that the shaft had been segmented into four even sections to inconvenience the invaders as much as possible.

  “Isn’t the fiftieth floor where that medical ward is?” Silvia asked as they stepped into the elevator chamber.

  “That’s right.” Bryn nodded. “If what we know isn’t misinformation, it should be located somewhere on this level.”

  “Let’s get moving and find it fast, then!” Miria bounced around. “It’s time to find out more about Master’s past!”

  Asterios chuckled lightly and caught up to her, scratching behind her adorable ears. Everyone exchanged warm smiles and they headed out for another objective on their quest in discovering everything about Ast’s origins.

  Chapter 38

  The Domain of Terror

  “This floor is already different,” Tina commented as they walked through one of the corridors leading out of the elevator chamber.

  Trying to use the layout of the other three levels they’d explored, Asterios and the girls had picked an exit in the same direction as those that had led to the main lobbies above. But, right away, they all noticed that the hallway wasn’t like the ones they had seen earlier. While the color palette remained unchanged, with dominating gold and silver shades, the width of the passages they wandered through grew significantly.

  “Should we take it as a good sign?” Miria asked, warily looking around before glancing at Bryn.

  “I don’t know. The floor plans of levels this deep weren’t too detailed. Save for the medical facility,” the Valkyrie responded, shaking her head. “It looks like we won’t be able to find the central lobby this easily. I think there’s this much more space due to how many people lived on this floor in the Spire’s prime. The other levels contain just challenges and some minor facilities, but here, I’m sure that we will be able to find living quarters even larger than those at the top.”

  “There might be something to that,” Asterios agreed. “We just need to look harder, and possibly deal with more Scourge.”

  “Shouldn’t we stumble on less and less of those monsters the deeper we go?” Miria tilted her head, scrunching her nose.

  Selene fluffed her black hair. “That might not exactly be true. We don’t know when these defenses were activated, and how far down the Scourge crawled through the main shaft without the barriers blocking their path. Since this floor might have had a lot more people, it should be safe to assume that it attracted a lot more monsters too.”

  “I just hope that whole miraculous healing center isn’t under some equally ungodly lockdown like this entire thing,” Grea grumbled under her nose. “Besides maybe the core and the Aegis, I bet that room was one of the most important ones.”

  “So far, literally every locked chamber has let us in when we arrived in front of the entrance,” Silvia commented calmly. “Though, we had to fight for our lives every single time too. I wouldn’t be surprised if this impressive magical facility does the same thing. No one said that it isn’t as deadly as it is helpful.”

  “Let’s hope that there’s only the kind side to it.” Asterios chuckled wryly, already imagining the carnage if something that insane was able to fight back with proportionate force.

  Everyone nodded and they continued their journey through the unknown, metal corridors. Wider hallways meant more space for them to get into the formation, but also a much easier time for them to get suddenly jumped on and surrounded from all sides. Asterios kept a wide-area spell slotted in his Spellslinger just in case.

  After about ten minutes of walking, they reached a massive area that seemed to have been a giant storage of some sort. Ceiling-high shelves filled the sizable warehouse, with a multitude of metal crates lying on top of them. To aid the valkyrjas in transporting heavy loads, crafty metal carts were part of the equipment waiting for its use between the many rows of who knew what.

  Miria poked one of them lightly and they all winced at the painful screech the old metal released, echoing in the distance. She giggled apologetically and glanced at Asterios with her ears laid down in shame. Those things clearly hadn’t been maintained for way too long. Having almost every single part made of metal didn’t help either.

  A moment later, another screech traveled through the air, but this time, it wasn’t any of the girls who had caused it. The noise reached their ears from far away and was followed by a bunch of other, quite worrying sounds. Something was definitely falling in the distance, striking the floor while releasing heavy gongs. More carts kept screaming in protest at being pushed aside.

  “It would have been too good if this floor had no monsters.” Grea sighed, taking a step back to hide behind Aura.

  “Be careful of the shelves. They have the advantage of terrain here since they are able to climb extremely well. We should back out into the corridor before—”

  Asterios didn’t get to finish his sentence as something big flew at them from ahead and everyone hastily got out of the way of the unexpected projectile, dodging aside through their own means. A heavy container the size of a carriage smashed into the shelves in front of which they’d been standing a moment earlier like a meteor, wreaking havoc in the close vicinity of the impact.

  Tina and Silvia quickly used their techniques to clear up the dust that had been kicked up in the process and they all looked toward the source of the attack. Rows of shelves shook and fell to the sides, pushed away by a charging monster of the Scourge. The issue was, that monster was thrice as big as they were. Seeing a giant, gray-skinned, faceless humanoid rush at them like that caused shivers to run down the spines of at least a few of the girls.

  “What the fuck is that?!” Grea shouted, pointing at the behemoth stomping their way while gaining speed. “We’ve seen some variation in height and general build but this is on another level! Did it fucking evolve or something?”

  “No idea but it certainly is stronger,” Asterios replied.

  “It’s so big. How did it even get here?” Miria asked.