At the same time, Finn’s group also encountered a predicament.
While Riezel’s group had collided with Revis, Phryne, Argana, Bache, and even a Demi Spirit and had entered a fierce battle with them, Finn’s group likewise ran into enemies of their own.
Within an equally spacious square-shaped area, Finn and the others encountered Valletta.
If what Riezel and his companions had faced was obstruction from the Ishtar Familia and the Kali Familia, who were cooperating with Evilus, then what Finn and his group encountered was Evilus itself.
Valletta Grede was the current leader of the Evilus remnants, or rather, their sole survivor.
Fifteen years ago, when the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia failed in their subjugation of the One-Eyed Black Dragon and Orario entered a period of darkness, Evilus rose to prominence and, under the instigation of evil gods, disrupted the order of the city, plunging everything into chaos and leaving the entire Orario, and even the world, in turmoil, with bloodshed and slaughter visible everywhere.
At that time, Valletta had been one of Evilus’s representative figures and one of its primary executives.
No one knew how many plans she had taken part in that harmed the city and its citizens, nor how many innocent adventurers from various familias she had slaughtered, and the decline or even the complete disappearance of many familias could be said to be inseparable from this person.
For that reason, to those who opposed Evilus and stood as its enemies, Valletta was unquestionably someone who had to be eliminated, the ringleader of darkness.
Under such circumstances, five years ago, an Evilus subjugation campaign was launched under the leadership of the Guild, with nearly all of Orario’s core familias participating.
In the end, that battle brought an end to Orario’s Dark Age, and many of Evilus’s leaders, headed by Valletta, were subjugated one after another, including Olivas, with not a single one surviving.
However, Valletta had in fact survived.
Unlike Olivas, who had nearly truly died and had only survived through the gift of a Corrupted Spirit, becoming a Creature as a result, Valletta had faked her death.
As a result of that, Finn became the one Valletta hated the most.
Why?
No special reason.
In the Evilus subjugation campaign five years ago, the Loki Familia not only participated but served as the main combat power.
Ignoring the false-death ploys of Valletta and the others, Finn had led the familia members to raid every location suspected of being an Evilus hideout, not only heavily subjugating Evilus’s main combat members but also, with the power of the gods of various familias, successfully sending many of Evilus’s gods back to Heaven, who were collectively known as ’evil gods.’
Because of this campaign, the balance of power between Evilus and the familias of Orario tilted drastically toward the latter, allowing the familias to gain an overwhelming advantage and ultimately secure victory.
Needless to say, to the remnants of Evilus, Finn was the main culprit who had caused them to fall to their current state, and there was naturally no reason not to hate him.
Valletta thus harbored an intense hatred for Finn, wishing nothing more than to tear him into pieces, and because of that, she appeared before Finn’s group and led the Evilus remnants in launching a suicidal assault.
Valletta was Level 5, so by all logic, someone like her should not have been able to pose any threat to Finn and the others.
With Level 7 fighters like Finn and Gareth present, Bete, a Level 6, serving as a main combatant on the side, and Level 5s such as Raul and Anakitty accompanying them, a mere Level 5 leading the Evilus remnants should not have been able to bring about any danger at all.
Unfortunately, while Evilus possessed nothing else, its despicable methods were endless.
Suicidal fighters with Kaenseki bound to their bodies launched self-detonation attacks without hesitation, and even Finn and the others could not avoid being thrown into disarray.
From cracked walls, floors, and ceilings, vividly colored monsters poured forth and continuously pounced toward Finn and the others, causing attacks such as corrosive fluid and tentacle-like vines to fly wildly across the battlefield.
Finn and the others dealt with these assaults until midway through, when they realized that something was wrong as they felt their bodies becoming heavier the more they fought these suicidal fighters and monsters.
Among the suicidal fighters were assassins hidden within, wielding pitch-black weapons, and members who were wounded by these assassins found that their injuries could not heal at all, with their physical condition plummeting straight downward.
As a result, without realizing it, Finn and the others were surrounded by the enemy and forced into a corner.
Finn saw through the problem at a glance.
"Curse weapons?"
He immediately discerned the truth.
Yes, those pitch-black weapons were special equipment infused with curses, existences that stood in direct opposition to weapons created by magi, items that could only be crafted by professionals known as hexers.
Such special equipment was shunned and collectively referred to as curse weapons, and due to their peculiar nature, they were especially rare even among special equipment. Magic swords allowed their wielders to freely release magic, while curse weapons allowed their wielders to freely release curses.
Evidently, the curse weapons held by the assassins who appeared here carried a curse that prevented wounds from being healed—an incurable curse. Anyone who was injured by such curse weapons, whether they used potions or received treatment from healing magic, was unable to restore their injuries.
Moreover, within this spacious square-shaped area, Valletta had also set up magic that inflicted abnormal status effects.
It was the only magic Valletta could use, and its name was ’Shaldo.’
Shaldo was both a barrier magic and an abnormal-status magic, and its effect was to reduce the statuses of those within its area of effect.
Anyone without the caster’s permission, as long as they remained inside the barrier, would have their strength and movements forcibly reduced, and the reduction occurred every single time they took an action, making the effect astonishingly severe.
As long as one stayed within this magic barrier, whether the targets numbered one, ten, or even a hundred, their status would be reduced in accordance with the number of actions they took, and thus the more Finn and the others fought, the heavier their bodies felt.
Because they had to continuously deal with the suicidal fighters’ self-detonation attacks and the vividly colored monsters, Finn and the others had no chance to stop, remaining locked in battle inside Shaldo the entire time.
As a result, by the time they came back to their senses, Finn and Gareth’s statuses had already dropped to the equivalent of Level 5, while Bete and the others had fallen to Level 4 or even below Level 4.
Needless to say, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse as Finn and the others were driven into a tight corner.
When Finn finally resolved himself and launched an attack on Valletta together with Gareth, intending to eliminate the caster of this barrier magic, a Creature appeared.
Thanatos and Valletta called them Ein.
Ein was the masked figure who had once appeared in the Pantry on the 24th Floor, hiding in the shadows and continuously watching Riezel, causing Riezel to vaguely sense a trace of threat from the darkness.
Although Ein was a Creature of the Corrupted Spirit, they obeyed the city destroyer, Enyo.
On this battlefield, Valletta and the suicidal fighters who launched self-detonation attacks were the remnants of Evilus, the vividly colored monsters were the servants of the Corrupted Spirit, and this Creature named Ein was a subordinate of Enyo, the representative of the final force among the underground forces.
What made it worse was that the level of power possessed by Ein was Level 7.
If not for having the strength of this caliber, Ein would not have made Riezel, who had suppressed his strength to Level 5 at the time, feel threatened, nor would Revis and Olivas have retreated before them.
As soon as Ein took action, Finn and Gareth, whose status had already plummeted, were almost instantly overwhelmed. In this way, Finn and the others fell from a difficult situation into utter desperation and, in the end, could only retreat, fleeing from the area.
"Don’t even think about running, Finn!"
Valletta naturally had no intention of watching her mortal enemy escape, so without hesitation, she led the suicidal fighters, assassins, and vividly colored monsters in pursuit.
Ein, meanwhile, vanished without a sound, disappearing to who knew where.
At this moment, Ais also led Lefiya and the others as they escaped through a blasted-through corridor made of adamantite, and like Finn’s group, they were hunted by the omnipresent vividly colored monsters while being forced into a desperate running battle.
"Yes, yes, this is how things are supposed to go."
Seeing the scene, Thanatos, who had been frightened by Riezel’s performance, finally let out a sigh of relief, and even Ishtar’s expression looked noticeably better.
"Just force them straight into a dead end like this."
As Thanatos spoke in such a flippant manner, he had Barca manipulate the control pedestal, continuously creating traps throughout Knossos.
Sometimes, the orichalcum doors dropped down, cutting off the path ahead.
Sometimes, the floor suddenly opened, spewing flames or frost.
Sometimes, it was poison...
Sometimes, it was arrows...
Just like that, Knossos revealed its demonic nature, endlessly creating obstacles for the members of the Loki Familia.
As a result, Finn’s group and Ais’s group truly appeared to be driven into a dead end, repeatedly brushing past death, and if not for Riezel’s magic still protecting them, and for Finn and Gareth having already reached Level 7, they would likely have fallen already.
In the original story, Finn and Ais had nearly died here, and Gareth and the others had come within a hair’s breadth of total annihilation, so compared to that outcome, the current situation was undoubtedly much better.
Meanwhile...
*BOOM!*
Within the ruins that had turned into a sea of fire, when the wind wrapped around Riezel disappeared and was replaced by fiercely blazing flames, the battle could already be declared to have entered its final stage.
"Sun Breathing - Thirteenth Form..."
Second by second, the surging flames continued to swell and burn, eventually converging entirely into an unsheathed black blade, to be absorbed by its edge.
"Blooming Radiance!"
A blazing sun bloomed above the sea of fire.
A godspeed flame slash erupted across the battlefield.
When the blazing sun transformed into a slash and flashed across the entire battlefield, even the flames that had been endlessly burning within the shattered ruins seemed to be severed, splitting in two and extinguishing in an instant, yet the temperature of the air skyrocketed, surging to an almost unbelievable height.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!!!"
Within the ruins of the severed sea of fire, Gugalanna screamed as her massive body was cleaved in two by the godspeed flame slash.
*Peng—!*
When the magic stone within Gugalanna’s mouth shattered, she finally dissipated into nothingness, vanishing without a trace.
*Click—*
Standing amid the ruins, Riezel slowly sheathed Hermit, not sparing even a glance at the Demi Spirit behind him as she turned to ash and faded away.
Immediately afterward, he burst out of the ruins and rushed at top speed toward the location of his companions.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]