Chapter 49: Chapter 52 – Clotho Mountain Floor Two

“They’re a little stronger now, huh Leo?” Theseus told his friend. The Spider Beasts were getting larger and more powerful on the Second Floor of Clotho Mountain. On the first floor, there were weak Mortal and Sage Realm Beasts, but now, Royalty Realm Shade Beasts appeared throughout the abandoned mineshaft. It was extremely exaggerated.

“Yeah, we should wait for the others.” Leo responded.

***

“Those two defeated all of these beasts themselves?” Jezebel gasped. Dozens of corpses lined the path Theseus and Leo took, and the rest of the party followed the trail of blood to catch up.

“Hmm.” Agamemnon thought out loud. Theseus was simply too strong. If he wanted to take the throne of Oceanus, he had to be much stronger, or, he had to get creative…

“There they are!” Gemini pointed to Theseus and Leo, who were waiting on top of an old, rusty minecart.

“Don’t run off like that again! We don’t know what the Moirai have in store.” Taurus warned.

“You’re right. We’re sorry, we just got caught up in the excitement.” Theseus put his hand behind his head in embarrassment. Because he rarely got to have fun, his mindset was not where it should be. Theseus thought that the Moirai dungeon would be a classic style RPG dungeon like those in video games, but the second floor’s difficulty almost doubled from the first. Before entering the Dungeon, he was serious, but he and Leo rarely had as much fun as they did on the first floor.

For that reason, Theseus realized he couldn’t let loose anymore. He had originally thought that the Moirai were closeted fans of dungeon-based RPGs based on the style of the mineshaft, but maybe they were too old to remember video games or care about typical dungeons styles.

“Humph.” Elder Taurus angrily took the lead of the group, and they wandered deeper into the abandoned mineshaft.

“Why did it have to be spiders?” Scylla trembled. With a fear of spiders, Scylla was unhappy. Almost every monster they had encountered thus far was all oversized spiders and beasts that resembled spiders. On the walls, smaller spiders strung webs together, but they didn’t bother the party. Silky and slimy webs lined the walls and floors, and their frequency grew exponentially on the second floor.

At times, it was harder for the weaker members of the party, namely Ju Long, to keep up without being entangled in the webs.

“Do you think there’s a boss on this floor?” Leo asked Theseus, who had given him a run down on traditional dungeon crawling.

“Perhaps, I do sense a rather potent presence compared to the rest.” Theseus tried to sound smart, but no one else heard their conversation. Leo laughed at Theseus.

“Up ahead, I do believe there is a strong monster. It might have intelligence.” Theseus warned the group, who had a lesser sense of aura than him.

The party members nodded and followed silently behind Theseus. Soon, the group entered a small cave where the spiders were gathered.

“A spider’s nest.” Gemini deduced.

In the middle of the webbed cavern was a gigantic spider. Its Shade Aura oozed out of it as its eyes glared at the party.

“Finally, sustenance.” The beast grumbled with hunger.

“It’s at the D Rank Royalty Realm.” Scorpius got ready to attack.

“Wait.” Theseus stopped Scorpius.

“Let Jezebel fight it.” Theseus grinned.

“Me?” Jezebel didn’t like spiders either.

“Go ahead, your foundations are probably twice as strong as that Shade.” Theseus nodded, and Jezebel faced the Shade Beast alone. Turning away from her fears, she took this as an opportunity to show off for Theseus. Maybe if she caught up enough, he may give her a chance at love, one day.

Suddenly, her eyes glowed with lust.

“Chance!” She cackled and revved up her aura.

“Skill: Alure!” She tried to catch the spider off guard, but it didn’t work.

“Skill: Arachnid’s Feast!” The Shade was overwhelmed with hunger. Allure was a skill that played on charming the opponent, but ironically, the Spider couldn’t be charmed due to their incompatibilities romantically. The swarms of spiders from the walls pounced on Jezebel.

“Should we intervene?” Centos prepared to rush forward.

“No.” Zamani stopped Captain Centos.

“Skill: Demonic Abyss.” Jezebel’s eyes went black with void energy. Most Shades had a natural incline to use fire and dark attributed magic, and by using the powers of the shadows, Jezebel used her former master’s skill.

A crushing aura of gravity forced the spiders off of her and onto the ground. Even the main Spider Beast found it difficult to move through the attack. It was the twin ability to Aries’s Demonic Pressure, but it was even stronger. Aries stole the skill from Lord Ahab, but he was never able to master the true ability, causing it to be slightly weaker by using an unrefined version of it.

Jezebel, on the other hand, had some of Ahab’s memories in her Shade Core, and after learning his skills thoroughly, she was now one of the strongest Captains as a D Rank power with double foundations.

“You can’t hold me back!” The Shade Beast broke free from the attack while the other spiders perished. Since beasts were naturally more powerful due to their physiques, it was able to tank the attack.

Aries watched in awe as Jezebel prepared to attack again, proving her foundational dominance.

“Skill: Demonic Dominance.” She clapped her hands together, and a wave of Shade energy hit the beast, but the spider wasn’t done yet.

“Skill: Arachnid’s Web.” It started taking the fight seriously and tried to restrict Jezebel’s movements with a barrage of webs from its behind.

Jezebel dodged the attacks gracefully and prepared her next attack.

“Skill: Void Step.”

Moving as fast as the shadows, she appeared directly behind the spider.

“Skill: Demonic Dominance.” Sending another clap of Shade energy at the spider, its head was taken cleanly off.

Jezebel panted, exhausted.

“Impressive.” Agamemnon nodded. Her versatility had greatly improved since her time as a Suzerain Lord. In fact, Agamemnon thought that Jezebel was beyond his own match now if she went all out. As an F Rank with twice the normal foundations, he was strong, but he wasn’t that strong.

“Damn.” Aries sighed.

Although he grew a lot and even became an expert with Shade Runes, Jezebel had caught up to him. They were both D Rank Royalty Realm powers now, and their foundations were similar. At this rate, she would surpass him. He was slightly bitter that she continually rejected him in the past, but he knew that unless he was as strong and kind as Theseus, she wouldn’t even pay attention to him.

Scylla and Centos came over and complimented how strong she was as she recovered.

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Zamani locked eyes with Theseus. They both smiled.

“Wow, Jezebel is super strong now! I can’t fall behind!” Leo puffed out his chest at Theseus, who patted him on the head, acknowledging him.

Ju Long clenched his fist at the back of the group. He felt increasingly inferior as time went on.

“Is this how Theseus felt in Heaven?” He sighed. Although there weren’t absurd foundations in their old party, nor was the actual difference between them all that great back then, he and Berringer had treated Theseus like there was that big of a difference.

Theseus spoke.

“Good job Elder Jezebel! Looks like the entrance to the third floor is ahead.” Theseus didn’t let anyone dwell on Jezebel’s impressive display for too long.

***

Clotho Mountain, Floor Three.

As they left the mineshaft, more caverns full of boss type monsters spanned Theseus’s aura senses.

“Hmm, we have to face a whole bunch of things just like that now…” He contemplated. It genuinely felt like the dungeon doubled in difficulty every floor.

“There is probably a beast even stronger as the floor boss here.” Theseus told the party, who hadn’t realized the nature of the dungeon yet.

“How powerful?” Scorpius wanted to fight too.

“Who knows? For now, we will have to use our aura more conservatively. Jezebel won’t be able to fight at her peak for a while, so when we face similar beasts, we will take a combat formation.” Theseus wanted to use a similar formation to his old party.

“Leo and I will support the party with buffs. Scorpius will tank while Scylla also supports. Centos and Aries will scout the next rooms. Gemini and Agamemnon will do damage. Jezebel and Zamani will also do damage and tank. Taurus and Ju Long will also support.” Theseus explained. Using three pairs of supports and one for scouting left the bulk of the work to Scorpius, Gemini, and Agamemnon. With seven supports, the buffs on the three would be astronomical, but there wouldn’t be that many powerful monsters to begin with. These intelligent spiders knew only a few skills at the most. Leo was more oriented for a tank role, but Theseus felt it was a good opportunity to test his knowledge of supporting.

Although he was the most powerful person by far, he actually had the most experience in a party setting as the leading support. As a past Navigator and Guide, his mind was more suited for strategy and preparation than as a fighter. Since he could delegate a party the best from a Navigator’s role, it made sense for him to dictate the battles like a general rather than one shotting every opponent and wasting precious aura.

This way, when they got to harder floors, he could use his aura in a more meaningful manner.

Expertly, the party made their way through the third floor and towards the boss room. With a whole party of Royalty Realm powers working together, they were extremely efficient in using as little aura as possible to take down the Spider Beasts. Once they got to the boss room, Theseus deduced its power level.

“B Rank Royalty Realm.” He muttered.

“Everyone, we will take a slightly different approach. This time, Leo and Gemini will take on the boss together.” Theseus declared.

“Can they defeat a B Rank?” Agamemnon sneered. He had heard Theseus muttering about the boss and didn’t think they could face something like that. After all, it was rumored Gemini was at the F Rank, which was around his own level. Agamemnon hoped Gemini would die right here and now.

“I will also go in.” Theseus told the skeptic, who couldn’t say anything else after that.

Entering a vast cavern full of a horde of spiders, Scylla felt fear.

“Can we really defeat all these Royalty Realm monsters?” She shuddered. Lined from the walls were hundreds of low Royalty Realm Beasts, some with intelligence, and others without.

“Come on now, when is Clotho going to show herself?” Theseus called out into the cavern, which soon echoed.

“Hmm, this cavern is bigger than I thought.” Theseus realized they were vastly outnumbered.

“Okay you two. We are going to use a different kind of skill, so be prepared.” Theseus warned.

Gemini’s eyes went big.

“Oh no, is it what I think it is?” Gemini thought in a panic.

“Skill: Oceanus Puppet.” Theseus grinned at the scared Gemini.

Holding the two like puppets, Theseus forced the two into battle alongside himself. In the past, Theseus used this skill to help the two learn how to use skills felt through Theseus teaching them how the aura felt flowing through them and into a skill. It was an advanced technique Theseus created to take control of their bodies and aura capability through Oceanus Founder, but it was never intended to be a true combat skill. It was uncomfortable for both Leo and Gemini, but it helped them learn a multitude of skills that grew their foundations extensively.

Now, though, Theseus thought this skill was perfect for this scenario. They were vastly outnumbered, and what he needed was an area of effect skill that used as little aura as possible.

“Skill: Holy Judgement.” Theseus used Elder Virgo’s skill but channeled it through all three of them, allowing him to use less aura overall and passing the aural burden to the other two as well.

Three pillars of light irradiated from the trio, and over half of the beasts were immediately eradicated.

Agamemnon’s eyes almost dropped out of their sockets.

“As expected of the Zero Elder.” Taurus nodded.

However, the fight wasn’t over yet. The main Shade Beast reared its ugly face.

“Who dares defile this sacred place?” It roared.

“Shut up.” Theseus laughed and set his friends free.

“Skill: Oceanus Judgement.” Theseus looked into the beast’s sinister, black eyes and used the attack. Since he could manage its output, he was able to use just enough aura to defeat the beast.

The whole room was consumed in a bright, white light.

Scylla’s mouth dropped in shock. She had never seen an attack this powerful in her whole life apart from seeing the aftermath of the battle between Oceanus and Lord Darkin.

Everyone stood in awe at the attack, which was beautiful yet deadly.

Theseus stretched.

“Come on guys, let’s go to the fourth floor!” Theseus grinned.

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