While the entire Knossos was being affected by the light pillar caused by Thanatos’s death and was undergoing extraordinary shock and tremors, Riezel, who was inside the temple-like hall, found himself facing the most dangerous situation possible, because the light pillar had appeared right before his eyes, only about a hundred meters away.
Because of that, Riezel personally witnessed the appearance of the light pillar, watching as this wave of light that connected heaven and earth rose from a lower floor beneath them, shattered the floor, then shattered the ceiling, and turned into a surging torrent of light that pierced upward toward the surface.
One should know that the destructive power of this light pillar was far greater than the breath that the Valgang Dragons on the 58th Floor of the Dungeon had once blasted toward the 52nd Floor. It was unquestionably the highest level of energy that existed in this world, its very existence surpassing the logic of the Lower World and forming a miracle that only gods could cause.
Faced with this light pillar, no matter what kind of object it was—even adamantite or orichalcum—everything was as fragile as paper.
Consequently, anything located above this light pillar was swallowed whole, reduced to dust within the rushing stream of light, and vanished completely without a trace.
Riezel, who was closest to the light pillar, was blasted away by the exploding flash of light, and the shockwave stirred up by the pillar became a massive atmospheric tsunami with tremendous destructive power that swept across the entire hall, causing it to collapse in an instant.
"Tch!"
After finally stabilizing his body, Riezel saw this scene and, ignoring the cracking sounds his body made under the violent wind pressure, instinctively tried to activate teleportation magic and leave.
He had a feeling that once he was touched by that light pillar, even if he removed his limit and restored himself to Level 8, he would still be crushed into dust.
Riezel did not even dare to use time magic, mainly because his intuition told him that even if he used time magic to freeze time, it still would not stop that light pillar from returning to Heaven.
This was a miracle of the gods.
This was the power of the gods.
Compared to such divine power, any power system in the Lower World was as weak as a child.
Understanding this, Riezel did not hesitate at all and immediately prepared to activate teleportation magic to leave.
"Wait!"
In that moment, a voice stopped him.
"Hey, powerful warrior, are you planning to let us goddesses die without helping?"
Needless to say, the one who called out to Riezel was naturally Kali.
At this moment, the Goddess of War, who controlled blood and slaughter, was dragging the unconscious Ishtar with one hand while clinging to a stone pillar with the other, being blown around like a torn rag within the storm of shockwaves.
"Oh! Is this also one of the unknowns of the Lower World? Heh, this is the first time I’ve felt so clearly that death is right in front of my eyes!"
Kali was protecting both herself and Ishtar with all her strength, yet even though she looked extremely miserable, for some reason, she seemed strangely happy.
"...Is something wrong with your head, goddess?"
Riezel could not help but complain.
"Hey, that’s great disrespect," Kali replied before continuing, "Hurry up and save this dead weight goddess and me. I don’t want to follow that unlucky demon back to Heaven right after him!"
Hearing this, Riezel honestly did not want to bother with this goddess, and even less with Ishtar.
Anyway, they were enemies, not allies.
Since he could not slay gods, he might as well let them fend for themselves.
However, when he thought about how terrifying that single pillar of light already was, if two more pillars of light appeared, then not only his familia companions, who were very likely still escaping somewhere inside this labyrinth, but even he himself might not be able to survive.
"Tch, fine..."
Bringing these two goddesses along might actually be better, since Loki and the Guild could properly deal with them.
With that thought, Riezel flashed forward and arrived in front of Kali and Ishtar. Bracing himself against the storm of shockwaves, he grabbed one goddess in each hand and lifted the two who were clinging to the pillar.
Ishtar had already fallen unconscious, so she naturally did not care about being carried like that.
Kali, on the other hand, was somewhat dissatisfied with being held in such an undignified way by Riezel, but she did not bring it up and instead asked a question.
"Your name is Riezel Brynhart, right? Should I call you by your name, or should I call you by your alias, Liberator?"
Kali actually had the leisure to talk about something like this.
"Whatever."
Not paying Kali any attention, Riezel moved away from the edge of the shockwave storm, tossing out an indifferent response.
"Then, Liberator, I want to ask you a question."
Kali ignored Riezel’s indifferent attitude and pointed toward a certain direction as she spoke.
"What is that disgusting thing?"
When he heard this, Riezel, who had been about to activate teleportation magic and leave, suddenly froze.
Slowly, he turned his head and looked in the direction Kali was pointing.
Over there, within a shattered passage, green flesh writhed like a massive tumor, surging toward them as it pushed through and broke apart the corridor.
===
Knossos, 10th Floor.
On this floor, there were six extremely special locations where grand altars were used to place ominous objects and recreate the miracles once performed by spirits.
On these six altars, the Demi Spirits, which were the avatars of a being that had once been a spirit, were placed separately. When the pillar of light appeared, these six Demi Spirits seemed to receive the will of the gods and opened their eyes one after another.
""Laaah~""
In the next moment, the Demi Spirits began singing together, singing a song that was extremely pleasant, extremely beautiful, and extremely ethereal, yet carried a strong sense of distortion.
Located in different places, the Demi Spirits sang together as if in resonance, causing the six voices to overlap.
At once, centered around these Demi Spirits, the six altars began extending lines filled with magical energy that spread outward from the altars in every direction. Soon, they flowed out of the spaces where the six altars were located, carving across corridors while connecting with one another.
No one knew how much time passed before the magical energy circuits fitted together perfectly, eventually forming a massive ring.
At the moment that ring came into existence, the bodies of the Demi Spirits began to swell, then split open as they spat out green flesh, while tumors began to grow from their bodies.
Accompanied by a squirming sound that caused both physical and psychological discomfort, the rapidly growing green flesh overflowed and began to erode the entirety of Knossos at a horrifying speed.
Hence, the green flesh surged out from the 10th Floor of Knossos and rapidly advanced toward the other floors, swallowing one floor after another, one passage after another, and one chamber after another.
Needless to say, the sight of it was truly revolting.
===
*BOOM!*
It was not the sound of a bomb or a magic explosion, but the sound of flesh exploding.
At this moment, the green flesh that was eroding every corner of Knossos turned into a violent torrent, rapidly spreading amid a series of explosive sounds.
It swallowed the walls.
It drowned the floors.
It covered the ceilings.
It devoured the rubble.
Like a violently surging green mudslide, the green flesh aggressively occupied everything and pressed toward Riezel, who carried a goddess in each hand.
"Firebolt!"
Riezel did not hesitate as he immediately cast magic and released a blast of flaming lightning that shot out like lightning and struck the incoming wave of green flesh.
*BOOM!*
Now, it truly was the sound of a magic explosion.
As the flaming lightning struck the green flesh, it instantly blew it apart while igniting it, burning it black, and destroying it.
Consequently, the wave of green flesh was temporarily stopped by the flaming lightning, but soon it became active again, writhing like insects that had smelled blood, moving in unison as it surged toward Riezel.
Seeing persistent waves of flesh rushing toward him from every direction, Riezel no longer held back and directly used high-powered magic.
"Maximize Magic - Nuclear Blast!"
As the name of the magic resounded, Riezel’s body began to shine, then—
*BOOOM!*
As if a nuclear bomb had been detonated, a massive explosion erupted within the hall, not only destroying the hall itself but also demolishing all the surrounding terrain. Large-scale explosions and collapses immediately occurred one after another, causing the entire area to sink and break apart as it continuously crumbled downward.
Before such a massive explosion, all things were equal.
Whether it was shattered stone rubble or the green flesh, everything was blasted into shapeless fragments.
Only then did Riezel activate flight magic and fly out from the destroyed, surging tide of green flesh.
"Amazing! As expected of the warrior I chose! To think you can casually use magic with such destructive power!"
"And just now, you didn’t even chant, did you?"
"It seems you still have many abilities that haven’t been uncovered yet. I’m becoming more and more interested in you!"
Watching this feast of destruction, Kali’s bloodthirsty nature was completely ignited as she let out excited shouts and even laughed while slapping her thigh.
"Shut up!"
Riezel clearly did not share the goddess’s good mood.
Seeing that Kali could still laugh in such a situation, Riezel immediately threatened her.
"If you keep making noise, I’ll throw you down there and feed you to those disgusting chunks of flesh."
Hearing this, Kali’s laughter stopped abruptly, and she immediately chose to shut her mouth without hesitation.
Even someone as carefree as she felt both physical and psychological discomfort when looking at that revolting green flesh. If she were thrown into that mass of flesh, she would rather kill herself on the spot and return to Heaven instead.
"Hmph!"
Seeing that Kali had finally quieted down, Riezel’s expression improved slightly as he snorted, then he looked down at the constantly emerging green flesh below.
In an instant, a cold light appeared in his eyes.
’So you have finally activated it, Enyo...’
Since Riezel knew the original story well, he naturally knew what this thing was.
Of course, that was not actually the important part.
What truly deserved attention was not the disgusting green flesh in front of him, but the thing that had produced it.
A transparent gleam appeared in Riezel’s eyes, as though he could see those six altars.
He could already faintly hear it.
He could hear the beautiful singing spreading through the air.
"Greater Teleportation."
After his eyes flickered several times, Riezel finally activated teleportation magic and left this place.