Antagonist Protection Service

Shortly after eliminating a few more crystal lizards and climbing further up some crystal bridges, we had finally ascended to the 'violet layer'.

Right at that moment, as we stepped onto the last bridge leading towards the exit of the Floor, a bizarre sound like a whale's call resounded.

Snapping my head to the side, my gaze immediately fell upon the origin of the noise, rising up to approach from the empty air below.

With two pairs of colossal wings to carry it high into the air, iridescent radiance emitted from those ends, the reverberant calls continued as the emergent butterfly's attention was clearly directed towards us.

'Tsk, another one of these bugs...'

Of course, it wasn't the first time we had been attacked by one of these glowing butterflies, not at all, and so we did in fact move quickly to take it down, Nina readying her bow and Cassano casting out his Flare as they both hurriedly dashed to stand behind me.

However, that didn't mean it wasn't still a pesky foe.

Fwoosh~!

"Ack, again?!"

The scorching eruption Cassano shot out was effortlessly dodged as the butterfly simply moved to the side, clearly preparing for something with its magic energy charging up inside its wings.

In the meantime, Nina shot arrow after arrow, the basic projectiles undeniably contained a solid amount of power thanks to her strength and her bow, but not enough to take down the enemy in a single hit or two.

Although the butterfly was just that, it was big enough to withstand a few arrows even if they managed to pierce its wings or main body, and that's exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, it was a creature that could fly, and because of that, I wasn't able to reach it with my sword.

Simply for that reason alone, it was without a shadow of a doubt the most irritating enemy on this entire Floor.

"Gh, I couldn't down it in time! The attack's coming!"

Gritting her teeth and exclaiming that, Nina hurriedly put down her bow and ducked behind me, forcing the blatantly befuddled Cassano down with her, pulling him forcefully by the scruff of his neck.

In the following instant, the butterfly called for the third time, its wings now emitting a dazzling gleam of prismatic light.

At that moment, I braced myself, raising the Villainous Blade――

"...!!"

Suddenly, a tremendous beam of magic energy impacted the sword, my feet forced to dig miniature craters into the hard crystal beneath at the immense pressure.

Holding the hilt of the sword with one hand and the end of the blade with the other, I fought back against the force of the beam, split into two halves that barely washed over each of my sides as it connected with the black blade's edge.

Naturally, the incredible force of the attack caused the sword to rattle ceaselessly in my grasp―or perhaps that was just the continuous tremors of my body trying to withstand it.

It was surely only thanks to the Villainous Blade's Indestructible property that it was possible, but either way, I successfully fended off the powerful blow.

Once the main force of the beam had been blocked, the end of the attack weakly tapered off, the butterfly likely needing to recover for a short while before it went again.

That was our opportunity.

Now that it was in recovery from the powerful blast, there was nothing to fear about the butterfly attacking again, and so both Nina and Cassano took the chance to act―readying their respective bow and white fire, they unleashed everything they had.

"Flare...!"

Following the latter's exclamation, another burst of ivory flames surged forth, impacting two of its wings on one side, melting instantly through and igniting the rest of its vulnerable body to catch on fire.

Just after one side of the butterfly was essentially destroyed like so, it quickly began to tilt and falter in the air, soon to drop.

Still, things didn't end there.

As if to rub salt in the wound, or perhaps more likely to simply ensure that it would stay down, Nina shot an arrow I noticed was charged with a small quantity of magic energy, easily ripping into one of the only remaining wings and tearing right through, even managing to pierce the last of the lot as collateral before continuing off to penetrate the distant crystal wall of the cavern, where it remained half-buried.

Naturally, with all four of its wings ripped, torn, or having melted from intense heat, there was nothing the butterfly could do but fall endlessly down the multi-kilometre cavern, only having its fall eventually broken by a distant crystal bridge far below.

'So powerful even with just a small enhancement... Every time she does it, it's amazing.'

Peeping down, then back at the arrow still stuck in the wall, I couldn't help but admire the girl's skill.

It's not like the attack was so effective because she empowered it with so much magic energy or because her magic energy in particular was exceptionally potent.

The only reason it was able to exhibit such force, although it might have been tough for someone without an enhanced Heightened Senses like me to notice, is because her control and handling of her own magic energy was so outstanding.

I only knew of it thanks to Joádin's teachings, and it's not like I was an expert by any means, but essentially, it was possible to use a small amount of magic energy to exert a larger amount of force by utilising it efficiently.

No leakage of magic energy in the form of sound, heat, light, or anything else.

Just raw, focused power.

'She must have been training for a long time...'

It was to the extent that I, who had barely begun to be able to practice controlling my magic energy, could not even compare.

Thinking about it, I had never heard about any Awakened possessing an ability that was like an inherent expertise in manipulating magic energy, so she really must have just spent a long time practicing it.

Even though, for a newbie who must have only breached the Tenth Floor recently, it was certainly surprising.

Regardless, it was a decent showcase of the kind of skill I aimed to reach, and with that in mind, I came back to reality and continued on, no visible enemies remaining between our party's current location and the tunnel at the end of the Floor.

It was a good thing on all accounts―my very finite divine energy was gradually beginning to run thin; Nina's store of arrows was also not endless; and neither was Cassano's magic energy.

We each had our respective limits we had to abide by, and though I should have ordinarily been fine if it weren't for the demonic property of my magic energy requiring otherwise, unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

'I'm getting pretty hungry, too... Just a little bit further.'

Shortly after making it across that final crystal bridge, we looked down to see all the monsters and even groups of other Challengers far below.

It definitely put into perspective how far we had travelled, even if the total distance covered wasn't all that much.

'Anyway. It's finally done.'

After that final bridge at the top of the vast cavern, it did actually seem that there were a couple of paths leading off elsewhere, but they were likely just for the purposes of finding some hidden loot. Thankfully, neither of my party members seemed interested in that, and were focused only on clearing the Floors as fast as possible.

Naturally, that brought to mind the question of if they would become the next Protagonists after I eliminate John Pierce, but there was no need to be concerned about that, at least in my mind.

Frankly speaking, they were too weak for it to even be a consideration.

If I really needed to, even if I was a little reluctant to do so after climbing together with them for a while, I would have no choice but to stop them myself.

And, besides... I had something in mind to prevent that from happening, at least partially.

"...Hey, watch it. You've got no weapon, don't go off on your own."

Snapping back to the present at Nina's firm voice, I watched Cassano visibly flinch. It seems he had gone a bit further ahead on his own, but she wanted him to still be wary.

"R-right... But isn't it fine? We're already at the end, and the--"

"No, we're not. Until you see the notification, don't lower your guard."

Casting a glance between the two of them for a moment, I decided to make things simple and take the lead again until we reached the actual end. That way, at least neither of them should complain.

Aside from the other pathways that remained within the confines of the cavern, there was a single tunnel almost identical to the kind we had gone through to enter this Floor in the first place that appeared to lead outside, presumably to the next Floor.

Following it, the tunnel shortly began to open up, and we arrived at a wide chamber.

On the other side of the space, a single, stone door with strange symbols on it was present.

And before it, its appearance taking on a "humanoid-ish" shape, stood a crystal golem.