*Rumble—*
A violent tremor swept through the entirety of the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos.
Naturally, the shaking had not come without warning.
After all, when Dionysus had previously been sent back to Heaven, Knossos had likewise fallen into violent tremors, throwing many people into panic. On top of that, fierce battles had continued nonstop around the altars where the Demi Spirits resided. All kinds of vibrations, impacts, and quakes had never ceased, so to many people, this sudden tremor did not feel particularly unusual.
Yet with the appearance of this tremor, all the adventurers of the six great parties discovered in shock that the six Demi Spirits, who had been relentlessly attacking them only moments ago, had suddenly stopped.
*Buzz—*
All around them, lines of magical energy circuits flickered on and off, causing the surrounding rings to pulse and flicker as well.
Not long after, the magic circles that had continuously poured attack power toward the adventurers disappeared one after another, and even the omnipresent magical energy vanished, as though the source of a flowing river had suddenly been cut off at its origin.
At the same time, the chants of the six Demi Spirits, which had never ceased before, also abruptly came to a halt without any warning, leaving many people unable to react in time.
"What…"
"What's going on?"
"Why did they stop?"
All the adventurers on every battlefield could not help but stop fighting as well. They exchanged uneasy glances, not daring to act rashly as anxiety and unrest gradually spread through the ranks.
"…My thumb stopped hurting."
Finn, whose body carried quite a few wounds, licked his thumb while frowning tightly.
"What the hell is this? Are those monsters calling a truce or something?"
Bete violently kicked apart a brightly colored monster, then used his charred arm, which had been splashed by corrosive fluid, to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth while a fierce light still flickered within his eyes.
"Grand magic…"
Riveria looked somewhat disheveled as she tightly gripped her staff while standing atop a magic circle, not daring to lower her guard in the slightest.
"Haah…"
Meanwhile, Ais, who had been surrounded by a group of brightly colored monsters, subconsciously let out a breath. The dark flame-like glow in her eyes had dimmed somewhat, and she appeared slightly exhausted.
"Isn't this our chance? Let's charge in!"
"You fool! It could be a trap! Don't go rushing in!"
Just as Tiona was about to rush toward the motionless Demi Spirits, Tione roughly yanked her back.
"Hey, Finn, what the hell's goin' on right now?"
Gareth, the vanguard who looked completely drenched in battle, had clearly spent plenty of time charging at the front lines. At this moment, he held an Eye Crystal while questioning the commander of this operation.
"C-Could it be Mr. Riezel?"
Only Lefiya, who was on the battlefield of the sixth party, seemed to realize something. A hesitant yet delighted expression appeared on her dirt-covered face.
Including the fourth party led by Shakti and the fifth party led by Tsubaki, the fighting across all six battlefields had abruptly stopped, causing unrest and unease to spread everywhere.
At the same time, Orario had also fallen into turmoil—no, rather, ever since that pillar of banishment light that pierced through heaven and earth had appeared and shot into the night sky, Orario had already descended into chaos.
"Another god's return?!"
"What the hell is going on? Is the world ending?"
"One return after another... Is Orario gonna go back to the dark age again?"
"Hey, that red light disappeared!"
Whether mortals or gods, everyone was fiercely discussing all sorts of matters.
Some had even rushed toward the Guild, either seeking its protection or demanding answers from it, forcing the Guild to provide an explanation as soon as possible.
Without question, the Guild was destined to take the blame at a time like this, given that it was the official manager and ruling authority of Orario.
Now that strange incidents were occurring one after another, people naturally could only seek help from, or direct their questions toward, the official organization.
Under such circumstances, the Guild had completely lost its usual nighttime calmness. People crowded every corner of the building, especially around the employee counters, all of which had become packed to the brim, leaving the staff on night duty utterly overwhelmed.
However, the staff who had been deliberately monitoring the city's situation also discovered that the red light, which had appeared earlier due to the imminent completion of the Gate of Heaven, had actually vanished.
"Could it be… the operation succeeded?"
Quite a few insiders secretly muttered among themselves while silently praying that it was true.
And while the major battlefields and the Labyrinth City of Orario were descending into unrest, the 11th Floor of Knossos presented a scene of utter devastation.
Now, the place no longer resembled a labyrinth at all.
Ruined walls and shattered rubble covered every corner, while scorched black marks spread throughout the area, giving people the feeling that it was a miracle the place had not completely collapsed yet.
"Agh… ARGH… AAAAGH!"
Upon this devastated battlefield, the Corrupted Spirit known as Alaya was letting out agonized screams.
A closer look revealed that her beautiful appearance was no longer there, having been horribly ruined beyond recognition.
Her left hand was gone.
Her right hand had been burned until only a thin layer of flesh remained.
Her lower body had completely disappeared.
Her torso was covered everywhere in charred and mangled wounds.
Even her face resembled that of a demon now, as half of it was gone, and what remained was a bloody mess, causing her to roll across the ground while continuously shrieking in agony.
*Gu-lu—Gu-lu—*
Green flesh continuously wriggled across Alaya's body, seemingly trying to repair her ruined body.
However, despite possessing an extremely powerful regenerative ability, she was currently unable to recover from her injuries—or rather, the recovery was so slight that the wildly writhing green flesh accomplished nothing.
A closer inspection revealed that whenever the green flesh touched her wounds, flames immediately burst forth from them and burned the flesh away.
Embedded in her body, roughly where her heart should have been, was a black blade whose edge glowed with patterns formed from sacred text, pinning her firmly in place.
"It seems the effect of Sun Breathing, which temporarily disables the regenerative abilities of evil creatures, works on you too."
A calm voice quietly rang out across the ruined battlefield.
Riezel stood before Alaya, the cloak of flame around his body having already disappeared, while the faint light that had isolated him from the present world had faded away as well, leaving his entire demeanor peaceful and composed.
He simply looked down at her from above, gazing at the helpless Corrupted Spirit.
Only after a long while did he slowly walk toward her.
"Stay away!"
Seeing him approaching, Alaya screamed shrilly even as she cried out in agony.
Despite her shattered body and the black blade lodged in her chest, she desperately crawled backward in terror.
Clearly, she was afraid now, as fear toward the human boy she had previously never even placed in her eyes had already taken root within her.
Unfortunately, her fear and resistance were unable to stop Riezel from advancing.
*Pu-chi!*
After arriving before Alaya, Riezel directly reached out, grabbed the hilt of Hermit, and swiftly pulled it out of her body.
"AAAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Alaya immediately let out a short, agonized scream.
Sun Breathing not only interfered with the regenerative ability of evil creatures but could also inflict intense pain, and that characteristic was displaying its effects at this very moment.
Although Alaya was not inherently a member of an evil race, Riezel also possessed the special damage effect granted by Pioneer of the Sun. In addition, using Sun Breathing while Ignis was active seemed to do more than merely create synergy—it even enhanced the power of Sun Breathing itself.
As a result, when the current Riezel used the sword forms of Sun Breathing to attack, he could still produce the same suppressive effect against regeneration, which was why Alaya was suffering so much.
Now, the Sun Breathing enhanced by Ignis was suppressing Alaya's regenerative ability, while the special damage effect and temporary amplification of pain further intensified her agony.
Of course, the important part was that after seeing Alaya in such a weakened and miserable state, Riezel suddenly came up with an idea.
"Originally, I should've taken you out right here..."
Riezel spoke those words with exceptional calmness.
It went without saying that the existence of a Corrupted Spirit was simply too ominous.
Merely by splitting off fetuses, those fetuses and tentacles had already gained the ability to threaten the entirety of Orario.
If this main body managed to leave Knossos and reach the surface, she would undoubtedly become another king of monsters after the One-Eyed Black Dragon, bringing disaster upon the mortal world and the human race once more.
A single One-Eyed Black Dragon had already caused unimaginable suffering throughout the world, to the point where everyone desperately wished for someone to defeat it, and the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia had only managed, with great difficulty, to defeat the other two kings of monsters besides the One-Eyed Black Dragon—the ruler of the seas, Leviathan, and the king of the land, Behemoth.
If another existence like the Corrupted Spirit Alaya were added now, there was no telling how many people would fall into despair, nor how many would suffer tragedy.
Furthermore, one of the primary sources behind this entire incident was the Corrupted Spirit before him. As long as she was eliminated, the campaign to conquer Knossos could officially be declared complete, and Orario would truly be saved.
However...
"Even though you brought way too many disasters, you were originally a spirit who wanted to save the world. It was only because you entered the Dungeon and ran into misfortune that you ended up like this."
"So, I'll give you a second choice."
"A choice besides death."
As he spoke, Riezel revealed the two black bracelets worn around his wrists.
They were not particularly exquisite and even looked somewhat plain, yet their surfaces, sides, and inner layers were engraved with countless runes, making it obvious at a glance that they were no ordinary accessories.
As for what these two bracelets were, they were known as Monster-Taming Bracelets.
As the name implied, they were bracelets specifically designed to tame monsters.
During the era of the ancient magic civilization on the Akasha Continent, humanity and monsters had stood as opposing factions. After mankind gradually gained the power to resist monsters under the leadership of the Hero Clan, some people began to consider taming monsters and turning them into tools for human use.
Hence, the Monster-Taming Bracelet came into existence.
It was a powerful magic item capable of forcibly containing and taming monsters, and the core effect of the magic item originated from slave contracts. It was an item born from improving upon slave contracts, essentially functioning as a monster version of such a contract.
However, the strength of this contract far surpassed ordinary slave contracts. Once the forced containment succeeded, the tamed monster would never be able to break the compulsory slave contract, would obey the bracelet's wearer for its entire life, and would never be capable of betrayal.
Theoretically speaking, regardless of how powerful a monster was, as long as it was successfully contained by a Monster-Taming Bracelet, it would have no choice but to obey the bracelet's wearer.
Of course, the prerequisite was successfully containing the monster with the bracelet.
To successfully contain a monster with the bracelet, however, one condition had to be met: the monster had to lose its ability to resist.
If the monster still retained the ability to resist, weaker monsters would not be a problem, but once a monster possessed power comparable to that of a Sword Saint, it could resist the bracelet's force.
In other words, below Level 7, the bracelet could unconditionally enslave a monster by force, but once a monster reached Level 7 or above, the target first had to lose the ability to resist.
Even so, this was already an incredibly powerful item effect.
Regardless, the fact that monsters below Level 7 could be forcibly enslaved without conditions meant that, if placed within YGGDRASIL, monsters of Level 85 and below would have no ability to resist the bracelet and would be forcibly enslaved.
As for monsters above Level 7, forced enslavement could still be completed as long as the target was first deprived of the ability to resist.
With such power and such effects, even if the Monster-Taming Bracelets were placed within YGGDRASIL, they would at minimum qualify as Divine Items and might even be more useful than certain World Items.
As for the two Monster-Taming Bracelets Riezel had discovered inside Euryale's tomb chamber, they were mystical artifacts specially crafted by a great alchemist, making their effects even stronger than those of ordinary Monster-Taming Bracelets, as these bracelets were already capable of unconditionally and forcibly enslaving Level 7 monsters—that was, monsters at the level of a Sword Saint.
With effects like that, how could Riezel possibly not value them and choose to wear them?
And now, he intended to use the power of the Monster-Taming Bracelet.
"Do not resist."
After giving that concise warning, Riezel activated the effect of one of the bracelets.
*Zing—!*
In an instant, the mysterious runes on the bracelet around Riezel's left wrist all lit up simultaneously, then merged together and transformed into a halo-like collar, which immediately flew out from the bracelet and wrapped itself around Alaya's neck.
"NO!"
Perhaps sensing something, Alaya cried out in alarm and instinctively began struggling, causing the runic collar around her neck to flicker violently and unstably.
Seeing that, Riezel's expression turned cold.
"Wave of Pain."
An invisible black ripple emerged from his hand and struck Alaya's body, causing her to let out another miserable scream.
"If you resist again, I'll cut you down right here and now."
Riezel spoke those merciless words without the slightest trace of emotion on his face.
No matter what, Alaya had already fallen and become a man-eating monster. If she truly refused to appreciate mercy, then he absolutely would not mind eliminating her on the spot.
"Hiks... Hiks..."
After hearing Riezel's words, the agonized Alaya sobbed softly several times before ultimately choosing to abandon all resistance, allowing the runic collar around her neck to fully stabilize and take shape.
*Swish!*
In the next second, Alaya's entire body transformed into countless particles of light and was absorbed into the bracelet on Riezel's left wrist.
"Finally over..."
Seeing that scene, Riezel revealed a faint smile before concealing all of his accessory items once more.
Just like that, the campaign to conquer the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos had officially come to an end.
In other words, the Labyrinth City Orario had been successfully saved.
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[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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