*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
When three consecutive thunderous explosions erupted inside the battered adamantite passage, not only did the entire passage shake violently, but flames also swept through it like a raging storm.
Three enormous fireballs slammed into the surging stream of green flesh, as if three nuclear bombs had been thrown into a green sea of flesh and then detonated one after another, blasting the filthy current of green flesh into fragments and sending countless massive chunks of meat flying.
"Firebolt!"
Riezel fired another thick bolt of flaming lightning, launching them one after another so that the blazing thunderbolts shot out continuously like red lightning.
*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Explosions rang out in rapid succession as the flaming thunderbolts blasted through the air, shattering the flying green chunks of flesh, blowing apart the incoming mass of green meat behind them, and finally even destroying the passage itself. Pieces of the adamantite ceiling crashed down and piled up into a mound, blocking the path of the green flesh and trapping the entire mass behind the rubble.
Such a massive disturbance naturally caused Ais and the others, who had been sprinting ahead, to stop in their tracks.
"I-It’s Mr. Riezel!"
"Mr. Riezel is here!"
"Great!"
Seeing Riezel, the familia members immediately burst into tears of joy.
"Riezel..."
Ais also revealed a rare expression of delight, and the body that had been tense from the beginning finally relaxed.
"...Mr. Riezel?"
In a state of near mental exhaustion, Lefiya struggled to open her eyes, trying to catch the figure of the person she admired through her blurred vision.
Riezel turned around, and when he saw his companions covered in wounds, utterly exhausted yet still looking at him with bright expressions of relief, his heart couldn’t help but tighten.
Especially when he saw Lefiya lying weakly on Ais’s back, her mind almost completely drained, unable to move at all yet still forcing herself to stay conscious, an unknown fire suddenly ignited within him.
Riezel could only suppress that unknown fire and release healing magic.
"Healing droplets, tears of light, eternal sanctuary. Compose a medicinal hymn-three hundred, sixty, and five."
"The melody of the healer’s almanac saves all things. Come, destruction of evil."
"The burial of wounds, interment of disease."
"Curses be gone in the light of vitality."
"In the name of all that is holy - I heal you."
A pure white magic circle immediately unfolded beneath Riezel’s feet and spread outward, covering everyone present.
"Dia Fratel."
As the top-tier healing magic was released, particles of light surged from the pure white magic circle and drifted into everyone’s bodies. At once, the injuries covering Ais and the others began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Unfortunately, healing magic could only heal wounds and could not restore the mind.
"Mr. Riezel..."
Feeling the warm, magical energy drifting through her body, Lefiya, whose injuries had fully healed, finally could not hold on any longer—her eyes closed as she fell into sleep.
"Lefiya!"
Ais called out instinctively, her voice filled with worry.
"Lefiya!"
"Lefiya!"
Noticing that Lefiya had fainted, the others also reacted, the joy on their faces vanishing, replaced by anxiety.
"Don’t panic. Lefiya’s fine."
With a flash, Riezel appeared beside Ais, then reached out and gently touched Lefiya’s delicate face before speaking.
"A typical case of Mind Down. Her mind’s completely depleted. Don’t worry, she’ll wake up after resting for a while."
As he spoke, Riezel shifted his gaze toward the others.
"I’ll take you out first. Get ready."
Riezel spread his arms, not giving them time to react.
"Mass Teleportation!"
He cast teleportation magic capable of transporting an entire group at once, carrying multiple people together to a nearby location.
*Swish!*
In an instant, everyone vanished simultaneously.
*BOOM!*
Only then did the filthy torrent of green flesh arrive belatedly, swallowing the pile of rubble blocking the path, then forcing its way through the space and surging into the passage, completely covering the entire passage.
===
*Swish!*
Outside the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos, Riezel returned with Ais and the others, and a dense crowd of figures instantly occupied what had previously been an empty space.
"W-We are...?"
"Outside?"
"W-We made it out?"
Everyone only felt their vision blur, their bodies swaying as if weightless for a moment. When the solid sensation of their feet touching the ground returned, the scene before their eyes had already changed—from the hellish labyrinth to the sewer outside.
Although they had not returned to the surface, leaving the labyrinth and returning to the sewers still made everyone feel a sudden sense of relief, and they looked around in all directions with astonished expressions.
"...We’re back?"
Even Ais stood there in a daze for several seconds, almost unable to react.
"Ais!"
In that moment, a voice called out to her.
"Riveria..."
Only then did Ais notice Riveria running toward them, along with the members of the support group.
"Thank goodness, you’re safe."
Riveria looked at the unharmed Ais and first relaxed her expression, but the moment she noticed Lefiya lying unconscious on Ais’s back, her heart tightened again.
"Mind Down?"
As the strongest mage in Orario, Riveria immediately recognized Lefiya’s condition, which made her realize that Ais and the others must have gone through a fierce battle.
After all, Lefiya possessed magical energy second only to Riveria’s own and was the elf mage whom Bete called a ’magic idiot,’ so the sheer size of her mind was something ordinary mages could hardly imagine.
For someone like Lefiya to fall into a state of Mind Down, just how many times had she used magic?
Riveria immediately felt a surge of concern.
Lefiya was, after all, the disciple and successor personally chosen by Riveria, so to Riveria, Lefiya’s position was second only to Ais, who was almost like a daughter to her.
"Let them rest well," Riezel said calmly to Riveria. "I’ll go bring the captain and the others out."
"Alright."
Riveria knew that time was critical, so she did not waste words and nodded.
"I’ll go with you!"
Ais immediately handed Lefiya over to Riveria and spoke to Riezel.
"No, it’s fine," Riezel said, shaking his head. "It’s faster if I go alone. Just wait here."
Right after saying this, he did not give Ais a chance to reply as he activated teleportation magic and returned to Knossos once again.
"..."
Ais stared at the place where Riezel had vanished, her gaze lingering for a long time.
"Are you alright, Ais?"
Riveria placed a hand on Ais’s shoulder and asked cautiously.
"I’m fine..." Ais lowered her eyes and replied softly. "She... Riezel defeated the red-haired Creature."
From this single sentence, Riveria sensed many complicated emotions, and she naturally understood why.
Because the Creature that had called Ais ’Aria’ was no longer here.
"Don’t think too much about it," Riveria comforted Ais. "Those Creatures had nothing to do with your mother. They only targeted you because of the Corrupted Spirit."
Whether it was Revis or Olivas, neither had any connection to Ais’s mother, since the one who truly had a connection with Ais’s mother—the one who knew of the Great Spirit Aria—was the Corrupted Spirit.
Perhaps she had once been related to the Great Spirit Aria while she was alive, but she was no longer the spirit she had been. Now, she was merely a monster that had lost its reason, fallen into madness, and sought only to destroy Orario, return to the surface, and devour everything.
"Don’t cling to her too much," Riveria said gently. "She was just a criminal who tried to strike your vital point while you were injured. Think of her that way."
Hearing this, Ais lifted her eyes again.
"Mm."
Ais nodded, indicating that she understood.
"I’ll kill you!"
"If you can do it, then come."
Behind them, Loki and Kali were still arguing, and their quarrel eased much of the tension in the scene.
===
Thankfully, the search for Finn and the others went far more smoothly than Riezel had expected.
After returning to Knossos, Riezel immediately used Locate Object to detect Finn’s spear, Gareth’s battle axe, or Bete’s metal boots, and soon the magic returned a response, revealing their location.
However, when Riezel teleported to Finn and the others, he discovered that their situation was far worse than that of Ais’s group.
Before fleeing, they had encountered Valletta and had been injured by suicidal attacks from the remnant members of Evilus. Most of their wounds had been inflicted by cursed weapons that carried incurable curses, making them impossible to heal, and as a result, they had been forced to keep fighting while injured, their condition deteriorating rapidly with every passing second.
When Riezel found them, even the executives—including Finn, Gareth, and Bete—were covered in wounds, and even though the incurable curses kept their injuries bleeding continuously and staining their bodies red, they still had to fight against the approaching green flesh, pushing their condition into an even worse state.
Several members had already collapsed from exhaustion and were being entangled by the tendrils extending from the green flesh, and if Raul and Anakitty beside them had not desperately cut those tendrils apart again and again, some of them might already have been dragged into the green flesh and turned into its nourishment.
Everyone was fighting desperately like this, without even the strength left to escape.
If Riezel had not arrived on time, within a few minutes, they might have been completely wiped out.
*Schwing—!*
Seeing this scene, Riezel immediately drew his sword without hesitation.
*BOOM!*
Flames ignited across Riezel’s body as he stomped down, shattering the floor beneath his feet and transforming into a streak of fire as he shot forward.
"Sun Breathing - Sixth Form - Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
A vortex of flames was slashed out by Riezel as he dashed to the front of the group—it spun and surged, instantly covering the incoming green flesh.
*BOOM!*
A thunderous blast erupted as the flaming vortex, like a steel blade shaped from the sun itself, repeatedly cut through the green flesh, first slicing it into chunks, then burning everything away in a single sweep, completely clearing the mass of green flesh.
"Riezel!"
"Riezel!"
Finn and Gareth shouted one after another.
"Ri-Riezel!"
"Mr. Riezel!"
Raul and Anakitty were overjoyed.
"You’re damn late!"
Bete, who had just rescued a member from the tendrils of the green flesh, shouted provocatively when he saw the flame-covered Riezel rushing toward him, yet his expression clearly relaxed slightly.
"Flame Dance!"
Without turning around, Riezel swung Fool, its blade wrapped in flames, and slashed two perfectly circular fire blades toward the end of the corridor, where more green flesh was pouring in, slamming forward and exploding again with a roar.
"Are you all alright?"
Only after clearing the green flesh did Riezel turn around and run toward Finn.
"As you can see, not really."
Finn gave a bitter smile, his face somewhat pale.
"Riezel, can you use the magic of Dea Saint?"
Gareth, covered in blood, forced himself to endure as he asked in a low voice.
Although his face was not as pale as Finn’s, Gareth’s injuries were the most severe, indicating that this dwarf warrior had fought fiercely, acting as a shield for many and blocking numerous fatal attacks. If it were not for the incredible physique of a dwarf, injuries this severe would have already left him at death’s door.
’If I remember right, that magic can remove curses, right?’
Riezel naturally understood what Gareth meant.
"Healing droplets, tears of light, eternal sanctuary. Compose a medicinal hymn-three hundred, sixty, and five. The melody of the healer’s almanac saves all things. Come, destruction of evil. The burial of wounds, interment of disease. Curses be gone in the light of vitality. In the name of all that is holy - I heal you."
Not wanting to waste time, Riezel chanted the top-tier healing magic at high speed.
"Dia Fratel!"
A pure white magic circle unfolded once more, and the healing radiance flowed into everyone’s bodies. Under that light, the incurable curses that had been tormenting Finn and the others finally turned into black smoke and disappeared from their wounds.
Dia Fratel could not only remove curses, but it could also restore stamina and detoxify poison. Even if someone had lost an arm or a leg, as long as the severed limb was still there and placed back at the wound, bathing it in the light of this magic would reattach it.
Aside from not being able to restore the mind, this magic was practically omnipotent and extremely versatile. For this reason, even after acquiring Tier Magic with even stronger healing effects—magic capable of regenerating severed limbs—Riezel still frequently used it.
Thanks to this, Finn and the others were finally healed as color returned to their faces, and even the blood they had lost was replenished.
In just a few seconds, everyone had nearly returned to perfect condition.
Cheers then erupted among the group.
"Amazing magic!"
"So this is what Dea Saint magic’s like?"
"Finally got rid of that damn curse!"
Everyone spoke at once, clearly filled with hatred for the incurable curse.
"Good thing you learned Airmid’s magic."
Finn also let out a sigh of relief.
"Everyone, gather close to me. I’ll take you out."
Seeing that everyone’s wounds had healed and the curses had been removed, Riezel wasted no time and gathered them all around him.
"Mass Teleportation!"
In the next moment, under the effect of Riezel’s magic, everyone disappeared, completely leaving behind the hellish labyrinth.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]