At this moment, the people inside Knossos were also clearly affected—no, it would be more accurate to say that they were the ones most severely affected.
When the pillar of light used to force gods to return rose, the shockwave it produced, along with the power that pierced through several floors at once and broke through the surface to shoot toward the sky, was unbelievably immense.
As a result, the entirety of Knossos was struck by the impact and fell into violent tremors, as if a massive earthquake of magnitude ten or greater had struck. Even the adamantite walls began to crack and collapse.
Consequently, everyone in Knossos, wherever they were, was forced to endure the violent shaking and impact.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Valletta, who had been chasing after Finn and the others, screamed loudly, her voice filled with panic.
Just moments ago, she had felt the Falna on her back lose its power, and her Level 5 status had also fallen into a deathlike silence, causing her to fall from the lofty position of a First-Class Adventurer into nothing more than an ordinary mortal.
No one understood what this meant better than she did.
Several years ago, she had not yet been a member of Thanatos familia and had served under another familia, which was also one of Evilus, where she had been an important executive.
However, the god of that familia had been sent back to Heaven by Loki in the final battle several years earlier, causing Valletta’s Falna to enter a dormant state.
Now that the same condition had returned, it could only mean one thing.
"Damn you, Thanatos! You useless God of Death! You just had to die like that?!"
Valletta completely lost her composure and began cursing wildly, without any regard for her image.
"Ahhhhh!"
"M-My power!"
"Lord Thanatos! How could—?"
"No! Impossible!"
All around Valletta, the suicidal fighters who had been chasing Finn and the others alongside her shouted in terror one by one before being violently thrown to the ground by the powerful tremors and shockwaves.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Before long, the ceiling cracked open, and pieces of rubble of various sizes fell. Some struck the colorful monsters, while others hit the unfortunate suicidal fighters, triggering the Kaenseki attached to their bodies and causing them to detonate on the spot, dying meaningless deaths without the slightest value.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
Having lost her power, Valletta no longer had the ability to resist this disaster-like catastrophe. Not only was she thrown to the ground, but a massive boulder crushed both of her legs, making her cry and scream in pain and madness.
If this continued, she would definitely die.
Valletta, understanding this clearly, cursed the gods who had given her such a fate.
Whether it was the god of her past familia or the god of her present familia, they were all useless trash. Otherwise, why would she have to taste this helpless and powerless despair twice?
"No! I can’t die yet!"
A pitch-black flame burned in Valletta’s eyes—it was the flame of hatred born for the sake of revenge.
"Who the hell would die in a place like this?"
"If I died here, wouldn’t that Braver bastard laugh at me for the rest of my life?"
"If I haven’t cut off his limbs, crushed his eyeballs, and smashed that fake, self-righteous face of his, how could I possibly die like this!"
Driven by such an obsession, Valletta trembled as she took something out of her blood-stained clothes.
It was a colorful magic stone.
Before the Loki Familia invaded Knossos, Revis had given it to Valletta.
Now, it was time to use it.
"The power of those foolish gods can’t be trusted at all!"
"In that case, I’ll just take a monster’s power for myself!"
"I will never let you go, Finn!"
Growling these words, Valletta swallowed the magic stone in her hand.
===
"Captain!"
"Gareth!"
In a passage around the upper and lower areas of Knossos’s 2nd Floor—a passage blocked by an orichalcum door—Raul and Anakitty’s shouts rang out amid the sounds of cracking and collapse.
Looking closely, Finn and the others had all gathered here. Every one of them was covered in wounds, and some of the injuries on their bodies had not healed at all, as though emitting a black aura, leaving them looking barely alive as their companions in the familia either carried them on their backs or supported them as they moved.
"Gareth! Bete! Protect the injured!"
Finn was also covered in wounds, but he could still fight.
He held a golden spear in one hand and a silver spear in the other, spinning them like blazing wheels as he knocked away chunks of adamantite rubble falling from above.
"I know already!"
"Tch, always dragging us down!"
Gareth and Bete both complained out loud, yet their movements were swift.
One kicked away the falling adamantite debris with his metal boots, while the other smashed the rubble apart with his battle axe, protecting everyone present.
Raul and Anakitty assisted from the sides, helping protect the group.
In this way, the group rushed forward through the violently shaking and collapsing passage, knocking away incoming debris like acrobats.
"Finn, what the hell happened?"
Gareth ran at the very front, blasting apart piles of stone blocking the path while shouting the question.
"...I don’t know."
Finn had not seen the returning light pillar, so he could not give a precise answer and could only let his eyes flicker.
He licked his thumb, and in that instant, his thumb sent intense waves of pain.
Such severe pain had only appeared once before—when he encountered the plant-type Demi Spirit on the 59th Floor—and it had never occurred again until now.
Needless to say, this told him that something major had happened he did not know about, or perhaps that an extremely unexpected development had occurred.
Based on that assumption and the intensity of the throbbing pain in his thumb, Finn issued an order.
"We can’t stay here any longer. We must leave this place."
Yes, now was no longer the time to think about how to suppress the underground forces or conquer this Man-Made Dungeon.
They had to think about how to survive.
At the very least, now that the Man-Made Dungeon had already begun collapsing and no one knew how far the destruction would spread, if they stayed here, they might be buried underground along with the entire dungeon.
To avoid that worst possible outcome, retreat had become necessary.
"What about Mr. Riezel’s side?"
Running beside him, Anakitty spoke immediately.
"Right! Riezel and Miss Ais are still inside!"
Raul also shouted.
"Unfortunately, this isn’t the time to think about others," Finn said rationally and calmly. "They’ll definitely find their own way out. We need to take care of ourselves first."
Hearing this, everyone fell silent, and no one could argue, so they simply lowered their heads and sprinted forward, rushing toward the exit of the labyrinth under Finn’s direction.
Even though they had no map, Finn had memorized every route they had taken when entering, thanks to his extraordinary memory, so he knew exactly how to reach the exit.
However, while running, Bete—whose speed in the familia was unmatched and who had unknowingly moved ahead of Gareth—suddenly cried out in shock.
"What the hell is that?!"
Hearing Bete’s shout, everyone immediately looked ahead, and the moment they did, their scalps went numb.
Because before their eyes, something incomprehensible had appeared.
===
At the same time, Ais and Lefiya’s group was also fleeing desperately.
Compared to Finn and his group, the tremors on their side were even stronger.
Not only were the stone plates on the adamantite walls cracking at a speed visible to the naked eye and rapidly peeling off—falling one after another from the walls and ceiling—but even the view ahead shook violently up and down.
Moreover, the ground beneath their feet would also collapse from time to time, causing several people to fall, and some nearly fell into the floor below.
"Arcs Ray!"
While running until she was gasping for breath, Lefiya released magic, unleashing a massive flash of light that shot forward and blasted away the piles of stone and debris blocking their path so everyone could pass through.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, however, Lefiya felt her vision sway and her head spin before she accidentally stepped into empty space, causing her to fall toward a hole leading to the next floor below.
"Lefiya!"
"Lefiya!"
Everyone cried out instinctively, some even letting out wails.
"Lefiya!"
In the end, Ais rushed over like a gust of wind and grabbed Lefiya in one swift motion, saving her from falling.
"M-Miss Ais..."
Only then did Lefiya seem to realize what had happened as she looked at Ais with difficulty, her eyes full of exhaustion.
"Lefiya, you’ve been pushing yourself too hard."
Seeing Lefiya like this, Ais could not help but feel distressed.
Indeed, the reason Lefiya was so exhausted was that her mind had been overused.
Since encountering the Ishtar Familia’s berberas and the Kali Familia’s amazonesses, Lefiya had been fighting nonstop, constantly chanting magic. During that time, she had also activated Sword Canon an unknown number of times, causing her mind consumption to reach an astonishing level.
If it had not been for Lefiya’s diverse magic support, someone in the group would have collapsed long ago.
Her presence might not have seemed very noticeable, far more low-key than Riezel, Ais, Tiona, and Tione, who constantly displayed overwhelming strength. Yet in truth, her contributions and role within the group were greater than anyone else’s—something even the combat-focused Riezel could not match.
Afterward, they had to deal with the colorful monsters, then march urgently like this while clearing the way for everyone.
Along the journey, Lefiya had used magic far too many times.
If Lefiya herself did not possess an exceptionally outstanding mind capacity, she would have collapsed from Mind Down long ago and would never have been able to endure until now.
"I... I’m fine... Staying here any longer will definitely be bad. Miss Ais, we have to escape first..."
Lefiya forced herself to stand and gave Ais a rather strained smile.
Seeing Lefiya like this, Ais felt even more distressed, yet there was nothing she could do but lead everyone away as quickly as possible.
But in the very next moment, a sinister presence quietly emerged ahead on the path.
"What... is that?"
Ais’s pupils shrank as shock filled her eyes.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]