The Paladin on the Infinite Tour

A clean and crisp sound that penetrated the chest sounded in the dungeon.

57. The delayed rescue

"Hey! Ace! You feel it, right?"

"Well, this way."

In a certain passage on the thirty-fourth floor.

Feeling some kind of movement coming from the lower level, Aisi and Bert kept moving towards the lower level according to the route in their memory.

The two of them were told to come to the dungeon this morning to look for Exia and Lefia, who had not returned home all night. Although Bert felt that just one or two little people were not worth the trouble to find them, but With Aisi already here, and with the request from the old woman in Riveria, Bert could only come over reluctantly.

However, just a few hours after the two entered the dungeon, when they arrived at the Adventurer Street on the 18th floor and were about to inquire about the situation of the two people, a loud noise from the lower level suddenly attracted the two of them. of attention.

As the two of them were moving downwards, several vibrations occurred in succession for some unknown reason, and as time passed, the vibrations continued to get closer, as if someone was fighting monsters while moving toward the upper level.

This is not a situation that occurs in a normal dungeon. Monsters generally do not leave the floor they are on, let alone move while fighting.

Therefore, in order to figure out why there was such a movement below, the two of them kept moving downwards.

And now, relying on the perception brought by Aiz’s wind magic——

"Damn! What's going on! I'm freezing to death!"

The moment he stepped onto the thirty-fifth floor, the sudden cold air made Bert shiver several times on the spot.

For some reason, the temperature on the thirty-fifth floor was frighteningly low!

"Is the temperature here actually so low?"

Bert has been to the 35th floor many times, basically several times a month. He knows very well the situation here. It is definitely not a freezing environment.

Something must have happened here, maybe it was related to the vibration that had been happening just now and didn't stop until a minute or two ago.

"...this way."

Ais, who was surrounded by wind, pointed in a certain direction.

Because of magic, Aisi can feel the breath in the wind to a certain extent, even though the accuracy has dropped a lot due to the ultra-low temperature on the 35th floor, and she can only feel it vaguely.

but......

"The taste of blood."

"(Sniffing) Ah, indeed, it smells like blood, very light."

Bert's nose moved. As a werewolf, he still had this sense of smell when he was serious.

There was a faint smell of fresh blood in the cold air.

The two of them walked in a certain direction following the scent they captured.

The entire thirty-fifth floor seemed to have been ravaged by a blizzard. Broken ice could be seen everywhere on the ground. Every time you walked, you could find walls and floors that looked like they had been destroyed by brute force... Could it be that the vibration the two of them felt earlier was caused by someone destroying these things?

"Very close..."

When she reached an intersection, Ais stopped. After feeling it for a while, she looked to the right, turned and walked into the corridor where the frost on the ground was obviously much thicker.

Then, at the end of the corridor, Ais and Bert immediately saw the figure leaning against the half-ruined wall.

No, it's two.

More than half of his body was covered with reddish frost. The white-haired boy seemed to be in a coma and lost consciousness. He sat slumped against the wall with his eyes slightly closed. His body was covered with broken ice, as if he was sealed by frost.

In mid-air in front of the boy, an [Alien] - Destroyer Zaganat - was frozen while maintaining a rather sprinting movement.

The blood-red ice sealed Jagannath like a shackle made of blood. The bright red ice gun in Exia's hand penetrated straight through Jagannath's body, freezing all time from the inside to the outside. Living.

"This kid...Ais, I remember he is the kid who fell from the sky, right?"

Bert's relationship with Alexia was not very deep. He was not very gregarious to begin with, and he had no interest in newcomers like Alexia who grew up very quickly.

When did he become strong enough to reach the thirty-fifth floor?

Ais came to Aixia and stretched out her hand to feel his breathing: "It's still alive...it should be him."

It can only be him.

Analyzing the current situation, the entire thirty-fifth floor was filled with ultra-low temperatures, and even the floors above could feel the vibration. It must have been caused by Exia's battle with the frozen monster in front of her.

Why would he fight such a monster? Why come to such a deep floor? Where is Lefia who is traveling with him? And most importantly...

"Why?"

Ais stroked the broken ice armor scattered on Alexia's body.

Why do you have such great power?

Why can you become so powerful so quickly?

Compared with various other things, this is the only thing that worries Ais more - the power of frost that affects the environment of the entire floor. This is undoubtedly Exia's masterpiece, but this kind of thing is even Riveria. No magic can do it.

Why does Exia possess such great power?

"Um...uh..."

As if she felt Ace's touch, Alexia's lips moved slightly with her eyes slightly closed, and she opened her eyes partially with great difficulty.

The golden hair caught Alexia's eyes for the first time.

"Well...you...are..."

"It's me, Ais." Ais gently held Alexia's hand, "It's okay, Bert and I will take you back."

"No...three..."

Alexia reluctantly said one word after another, and at the same time raised her frozen arm, pointing down with difficulty.

"Three, thirty...eight...layers..."

"Ah? The thirty-eighth floor? Is there anything else there?" Bert frowned, "Could this kind of monster be an enhanced species from the thirty-eighth floor?"

No, that's not right.

Alexia's voice did not continue to speak, but her mouth opened and closed. According to the shape of his mouth, Aisi had difficulty reading two or three words.

Lei, Ya, Fei...Lefia?

"Lefia is on the thirty-eighth floor?"

"..."

He was speechless, but Alexia's head moved slightly up and down, which should be confirmation.

"Burt, take him back to the 18th floor first." Ais stood up, "I'll go to the 38th floor to save Lefiya."

"Ah? Hey, Ace, wait!"

Before Bert could agree, Aisi ran towards the passage leading to the thirty-seventh floor wrapped in the wind, leaving only Alexia and Bert staying there - and maybe a quilt. Jagannath frozen into ice.

Glancing at Ikexia, then at the surrounding situation and the new monster he had never seen before, Burt curled his lips and said, "Tsk, you owe me a favor...name me Ike." Is that kid from West Asia here?"

58. Family tradition: I stabbed you twice

In the boundless darkness.

Alexia stood in the invisible space and slowly opened her eyes.

All you can see is darkness.

"I...this is..."

What's wrong?

My body feels so heavy, and my body feels so empty, like a container with nothing empty...

Feeling of emptiness?

(right......)

It’s the feeling of emptiness.

A strong sense of emptiness came from all directions and from the boundless darkness, surrounding Ixia's whole body and hollowing out his entire inner being. At the same time, as if countless hands stretched out from the darkness and wrapped around him, the feeling of [sinking] couldn't stop pulling at Alexia.

What happened to yourself?

(I remember I was...)

The broken memories were pieced together intermittently from the depths of memory, and Exia gradually recalled what she had done.

(By the way, I remember I was with that monster...)

[Destroyer] Zaganat, Exia doesn’t know its name, he only knows that it is a monster, more powerful than Udaios and Otta, and powerful in another field monster.

After penetrating several floors of the dungeon, I fought with it that suddenly appeared. After using all my strength, instinct and rationality, I was still almost killed by it.

However, in my memory, I am not dead.

At the very end, he thought of a temporary move to unseal the wound that he had frozen on his own initiative, and turned his own blood into a gun blade to stab it out at zero distance.

That was the last resort. I don’t know whether I did it actively or subconsciously. Ixia lost all consciousness after stabbing the last blow. She seemed to be vaguely similar to him. It was Ais's person who spoke, but he couldn't remember this part clearly.

"I...again, did I lose?"

Alexia couldn't help but ask herself.

lose.

According to Exia's standards, that does not refer to one's own defeat, but to whether one's goal has been achieved.

The purpose of his fight was to protect Lefia and to bring Lefia back to the upper level.

To this end, he regained his power and defeated Udaios with an overwhelming advantage. Then he fought an unknown new type of monster, luring it away from the thirty-seventh floor, and blocking Lefia in the In the passage on the thirty-eighth floor.

With her magic, she should be out of trouble by now, right? And that monster might have been defeated by him, and people like Ais should have heard what he said... Then in the end, he should be able to say that he won, right?

But...what is this feeling of loss about?

What is this unstoppable feeling of emptiness all about?

Alexia stared at the darkness in front of her with extremely longing eyes. The battle was obviously over, why was she still longing for it? Why are you not satisfied yet?

"Buzz~~~~"

A flash of light suddenly lit up in the darkness.

It was a flash of red light.

No, it's not light, that's...

"Eye?"

After staring intently at the light, Alexia vaguely saw that the body of the light was a pair of eyes, a pair of scarlet eyes that looked like snake pupils.

snake?

Why are there snakes in this darkness?

Where exactly is this place? What is this dark space?

【Swiss, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish...

Suddenly, like a broken TV, a sound whose content was incomprehensible came from the direction where Snake Tong was.

【Swiss, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish... ..Legacy...]

"What? What are you talking about? Are you talking?"

Alexia looked up at Snake Eyes.

"Do you know where this is? What do you want to tell me? Who are you?"

[Card...shashashasha...first...shashashasha...beep——]

As if the signal was interrupted, the sound suddenly stopped, and then the snake eyes disappeared, the red light disappeared, and Exia's world returned to darkness again - but it was slightly different from before.

In the direction where the snake pupil disappeared, some light spots remained, and as if guiding Ixia, the light spots continued to spread in a certain direction and disappeared.

It seems like guidance from someone that could disappear at any time.

(Could it be that voice left behind?)

Alexia frowned and tried to move towards the light spot.