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Mortal Combat on the 6th Floor, and the Meaning of Strength – Part 08

Selyse had a question.

Why did Marius entrust the sword to her? Not to a party member, but to someone who was practically a stranger. Was it just because she was nearby? Because he trusted her as an old comrade? No. Selyse understood Marius’s unspoken intention clearly.

Marius considered the potential of the Blue Flash. What if the sword could be activated not only by magic gems but also by directly channeling mana into it? Selyse was accustomed to channeling mana into the White Ray Blade. Marius believed that in this situation, only Selyse could use the Blue Flash again.

The chimera’s insight was so sharp that he hesitated to voice this thought. So, he said nothing, trusting that Selyse would understand. And so, none of the Four Eastern Stars knew Selyse could use the Blue Flash.

And with Serika’s Grand Earth Rage, everything was set up. The mound served as a blind spot for the chimera. Thus, Selyse was able to conceal the activation of the magic sword until the last moment.

“Y-You did it!”

“That was amazing!”

“How did you do it?!”

Serika, Sara, and Sophie rushed over.

Selyse, having exhausted her mana, staggered, and the three helped her steady herself.

“I thought I might be able to use it like the White Ray Blade,” Selyse chucked.

“Gosh! You should’ve told us that!” Serika exclaimed.

“You really got me there,” added Sara.

“You were amazing, Selyse!” Sophie said, admiration in her voice.

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to explain,” Selyse replied. More than that, she wanted to keep the surprise attack a secret even from her comrades to ensure it worked. “Anyway, let’s go help the wounded.”

“Oh, right,” Sophie snapped back to reality and headed towards the cavern. Though the mound had partially collapsed, it was still hard to walk on, so Sara helped her navigate through it.

“What just happened?!”

“I think I saw the magic sword glow.”

“What happened to the chimera?!”

People murmured in confusion.

“Whew… we did it!” Serika said. She plopped herself down, completely drained of mana.

“Yeah, I think this floor is safe now,” Selyse responded with a smile.

“Hngh! I didn’t expect such an attack! I really thought we were done for! I thought I’d never get back to Japan!”

Selyse chuckled dryly. “I didn’t want the chimera suspecting anything. Thanks to your earth magic, we pulled off a perfect surprise attack. We all contributed to this victory.”

“Yeah, but still—oh…” Serika wobbled, steadying herself with her hands on the ground.

“You seem more exhausted than me. You should rest for a bit.”

“O-Okay… I will! But what about you, Selyse?!”

“I’ll help Sophie and the others. And I need to return this to Marius.”

Selyse helped Serika to sit against the wall. Serika closed her eyes, looking tired. She might fall asleep, but it was better for her to rest while she could.

Clink.

Selyse sheathed the Blue Flash. She studied the weapon. Without mana, it was just an ordinary sword. It was hard to believe it had just slain such a huge monster.

This is strength.

Selyse believed that everything she had built up was not in vain. It was mostly the power of the weapon, but with her wielding the Blue Flash, along with Sophie, Sara, and Serika, they could defeat powerful foes.

They had slain the chimera that even the Azure Blade Nebula, with the same sword, could not defeat. With weapons like the Blue Flash and the White Ray Blade, they were invincible. Becoming Rank A adventurers was within reach.

Selyse glanced to the side of the passage and saw an unbelievably large noxious crystal, about the size of a water jug, nearly spherical in shape. It was left by the chimera.

“Good grief. How long will it take to purify that thing?”

She felt like blowing it up altogether. Even dead, the chimera was still giving them a headache. Sighing, Selyse headed toward the cavern.

Sara nimbly climbed the mound, before helping Sophie up. Selyse thought it was quite a chore to climb alone. It would dirty the armor she had polished so carefully.

Selyse failed to notice the crystallized malevolence rolling, seemingly following her. Standing atop the mound, she tried to assess the situation in the large cavern.

“Huh?”

At that moment, Serika, who had been nodding off, suddenly woke up and noticed the crystal.

The mana inside was intensifying. As if the crystal itself had a will of its own. A crushing sense of humiliation coalescing.

“Selyse!”

The warning came a moment too late.

As Selyse turned, a burst of dark mana erupted from the crystal, causing an explosion. The blast didn’t radiate outward but was focused in one direction. It was targeting Selyse.

Thanks to Serika’s warning, Selyse managed to throw herself in the opposite direction of the mound and take cover.

The shockwave obliterated the mound and gouged the floor. Serika was blown away by the blast, rolling across the ground, but Selyse avoided a direct hit. The earth shielded her from harm. Her head was covered in dirt, and she couldn’t tell left from right.

“What is this?”

Suddenly, she felt the ground shaking beneath her. The tremors intensified until the ground began to give way.

“Aaahh!”

Thrown into the air, Selyse thought she was falling into an abyss. But what she saw as she floated she did not expect.

“Huh?”

The sky. The blue sky and the sun. Below her stretched a series of red-brown canyons.

She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Wasn’t this a dungeon? Why was there a hole in the sky, and why was she falling through it?

If Hikaru were here, he might have said, “Oh, so the 7th floor is a canyon area.”

Serika’s magic had caused widespread disruption to the dungeon floor, the chimera’s breath and body slams had dislodged the earth, and finally, the crystal’s explosion had broken through the ground, revealing the floor below.

But Selyse didn’t know this. She only knew she had to deal with the immediate danger.

She was falling fast. Her cloak flapped wildly. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Falling. Falling. The ground below was rapidly approaching. If she hit the ground, she was dead. Selyse’s body was being pulled into a crevice in the ground.

What could she do? What were her options at this moment?

“Guh!”

Selyse drew the Blue Flash and discarded the scabbard.

“Haaah!”

She channeled all her remaining mana into it. There was a burst of blue light, and she thrust the sword into the cliffside with all her might. Going against the force of gravity sent a tremendous shock through her arms and shoulders. But letting go meant death. The blade tore through the cliffside.

“Aaaaahhh!”

Her mana was draining rapidly. Overwhelming exhaustion coursed through her entire body. But she had to keep her mind focused if she wanted to live.

The blue light began to dim. It flickered. Sparks flew from the blade as it scraped against the rock.

“Ugh.”

Her speed had decreased considerably, but ultimately, the Blue Flash shattered, unable to fully stop Selyse’s momentum. She was thrown into the air again.

“Ah…”

She had no mana or strength left in her body. There were still about twenty meters to the bottom of the cliff. A fall from that height would undoubtedly be fatal. But Selyse had no strength left to use or any tricks up her sleeve.

What’s going on?

That accursed chimera had set this up at the very last moment.

Had she let her guard down? Was defeating the chimera supposed to prove her strength and lead to a happy ending?

I don’t know anymore.

Selyse continued to plummet. Was she going to die without understanding?

“Huh?”

She bounced off something, then again on something elastic, and finally slid and landed heavily on the ground.

“Wh-Wh-What was that?”

She had indeed hit the hard ground, but what did she bounce off of?

When she lifted her upper body, she saw a massive creature she hadn’t noticed before. Its height was twice that of the chimera, covered in purple scales, with a mane running from its head down its back. An entity every adventurer had heard of and dreamt of defeating at least once.

“A dragon?”

The creature, which had been sleeping at the bottom of the cliff and awakened by Selyse’s fall, slowly opened its eyes. It arched its neck and let out a deafening roar.

What is strength? Was it weapons like the Blue Flash or the White Ray Blade? Teamwork with comrades? Or was it political power?

Selyse had searched for strength through what she had built up. When they defeated the chimera, she felt a sense of strength.

I don’t stand a chance.

But in the face of this dragon, she felt genuinely powerless.

Even if the broken Blue Flash was in perfect condition, even if she had the familiar White Ray Blade in her hands, she believed she couldn’t defeat this dragon. There was something about this creature that made her feel this way. It possessed an imposing presence that dwarfed the chimera. Its mighty roar failed to blow her away, but it ruptured her eardrums, and pinned her in place.

She knew she was going to die. There wasn’t even a one-in-a-million chance of escape. When she had fallen from the sky, she had clung to a shred of hope, but she couldn’t even think of such things anymore.

The dragon was such a powerful being that she accepted death without resistance.

It’s just like that day.

The day when the Lightning Wolf attacked and she lost her parents. The day she was frozen in place, unable to do anything.

A long time had passed since then. She thought she had become stronger.

Was that just a misconception? Because even now, she couldn’t do anything.

Back then, Sandra came to my rescue. But here…

There was no one around. There couldn’t be. This was the unexplored seventh floor.

“Help me,” she murmured.

Her voice sounded weak and feeble as a little girl’s, just as it had on the day the Lightning Wolf attacked. But no one responded.

The dragon opened its massive jaws. A breath attack was coming.

“Guh.”

But the certain future Selyse envisioned never came to pass.

The dragon’s eyes lost focus, and it toppled forward. The ground shook. Dust rose.

“Huh?”

She had no idea what just happened. Just before the dragon fell, she thought she saw a spurt of blood from its head.

“Ah, what a racket. If it weren’t for this cloak, my eardrums would be gone.”

A figure leaped down gracefully. A young boy.

His smooth, silken cloak was decked with a mysterious jewel that seemed to hold a whole galaxy within, and most notably, he wore a silver mask under his deep hood.

“You okay? Well, I guess not. You fell from the sky and survived. Talk about a stroke of luck.”

Selyse knew this person, but she had no idea why he was here, or how he had killed the dragon.

The dragon lay still.

Silver Face approached Selyse casually, as if he were merely continuing his stroll.