Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Without any fear, the red Minotaurs, which Vahn had chosen to classify as Berserkers, charged toward him with incredible momentum. Based on their movements, Vahn approximated their speed as just above Level 4. Their strength, however, remained a mystery since the moment they entered into the effective range of his Zhuque flames, they immediately burst into flame before dissolving into ash in an instant. Those that came in behind their kin showed a bit more caution, throwing their axes with enough force to create multiple shockwaves which, upon reaching Vahn's flames, once again turned into molten slag before breaking down and dispersing.Vahn was somewhat interested in the ecology of these monsters but knew now wasn't exactly the time to hold back and simply observe. Around the same time that the Onyx-Black Minotaur, which Vahn had decided to call a Berserker Chieftan, lifted up its colossal spiked-mace, Vahn had moved forward with [Shundo] and punched the 3m tall monster in its chest. His fist went straight through the blood-red armor of the Berserker Chieftan before continuing unobstructed as Vahn grabbed it's monster core and crushed it. This resulted in the Chieftan bursting into dust while Vahn looted the massive spiked-mace into his Inventory, comprised of enough Mithril to make more than a billion Valis worth of equipment.The surviving Berserkers, as if to give credit to the name Vahn had bestowed upon them, began to howl in concert with each other as their red fur began emanating light. Their size rapidly increased as they ran forward with an enraged charge, seemingly forgetting the results of their previous attempts to do so. Upon seeing this, Vahn shook his head disapprovingly before increasing the temperature of his surrounding and manipulating the Yang Elemental Energy to sweep through the chamber. This allowed Vahn to see a rather strange sight as the flesh and muscles of the Berserkers turned to ashes slightly faster than their skeletons. Seeing their skeletal figures for a brief moment, still in the midst of their charges, was a peculiar sight that had embedded itself into his mind...With the monsters dead, Vahn began to scan around the area with his [Eyes of Truth] before deciding it was best to follow his previous course of action. As a result, Vahn began moving 'through' the Dungeon's walls, cutting a direct path towards the center of the Floor. He knew there was a fair chance that a Juggernaut might spawn but, even if it was a little annoying to deal with, Vahn was confident in coming out ahead. Without needing to protect others, the means with which he could attack were functionally limitless...While doing his best to conserve his energy, Vahn cut through several walls of the Dungeon, ignoring the majority of monsters that spawned along the way. It wasn't until he came across an entirely new creature that Vahn advance was halted. He had entered into a large room that was a few hundred meters across with a ceiling nearly 200m tall. At the very center of the room, almost as if it had been waiting for him, there was an oblong spherical mass with a ruby-red coloration and a slightly translucent appearance. It looked very similar to a snack the girls liked to eat, known as jello, and it was jiggling slightly from the moment Vahn had entered the room. As for how he knew it was alive, Vahn could sense a very large amount of mana flowing in the creature's body, almost as if it was entirely comprised of pure Fire Elemental energy...It didn't take long for Vahn to realize this was either meant to stop him, or to determine exactly how powerful his fire-based attacks are. Since he was admittedly curious if his attacks would be effective against such a strange creature, Vahn created a fireball at the tip of his finger before aiming it towards the rotund monster and shotting it out like a vermillion laser. His attack struck against the surface of the monster, causing ripples as its color changed from ruby red to a slight vermillion coloration as hundreds of tendrils suddenly exploded outwards towards Vahn. This caused Vahn's brows to raise as he used [Shundo] to evade to the side, watching as the tendrils smashed into the walls and floor, leaving molten stone wherever they passed.This was an interesting development and, now that he had a better look, Vahn noticed that the monster was on a black platform of sorts that seemed resistant to the heat it produced. As for his attack, Vahn could see his energy coursing through the creature as it tried to 'tame' his flames and absorb them into its own body. Unfortunately, though it made some headway with the flames themselves, his Source Energy was wreaking havoc and Vahn could see its trembling had increased a great deal until it 'spat' out the foreign energy. From this, Vahn determined that this creature has an incredible fire immunity and, even though his Zhuque Flames could be classified as Tier 4, they couldn't completely ignore resistances while he himself was restricted to Tier 3.Now that his little experiment had concluded, Vahn evaded a few of the molten tendrils before sending a Shadow Lance towards what he had decided to call a Molten Slime. Vahn knew of the existence of Slimes, as they would very rarely appear within the large basin of water that was fed by the Great Fall. They had the same appearance and coloration as water and, while submerged, were nearly impossible to detect until you had the ability to sense mana. If you chose to swim around in the large basin, you could find yourself being swarmed by the 'invisible' creatures as they constricted your body and tried to slowly dissolve your flesh...Without any suspense, the Shadow Lance embedded itself into the Molten Slime before exploding outwards. Though it likely had basic immunity to physical attacks, Vahn's Shadow Emperor forms were an almost perfect counter to any creature that was dependent on magical barriers and general magic resistance. His attacks completely ignored such defenses and, being able to see the shiny red-hot core with his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn had easily dealt with the 5m diameter Molten Slime. Curiously, instead of turning into dust, it spread out like water from the bottom of a broken bucket and began to melt through the surrounding Floor before cooling down and turning into a black puddle a few minutes after Vahn had recovered the core fragments, nabbed the black slab, and took a sample of the 'slime' before continuing his journey.Ignoring the layout of the Dungeon itself, Vahn continued to make his own path once again until several auras entered into his perception. Since there was a big difference between an 'aura' and being able to sense something's mana, Vahn immediately identified these had to be sentient creatures. His ability to see aura might have been influenced by his general perception, but Vahn knew it was the 'View Affection' function that allowed him to see them in the first place. Since the creature would have to possess some degree of sentience for him to see their Affection, Vahn knew he had to be on the right track.Using his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn focused his eyes and began to peer through the walls until he was able to see into the room where the auras were. What he saw in that dark chamber was something Vahn would never forget for the rest of his life. It was such an extreme image that, even with his [Will of the Emperor] supporting him, Vahn felt extremely nauseous and began to dry heave mucous and stomach acid. He hadn't eaten anything in quite a while so his stomach had been completely empty, something he now regretted as it was more painful than expected to have 'nothing' in your stomach while vomiting.After regaining his balance and taking a few deep breaths, Vahn wiped his mouth and muttered, "Enyo, if you can hear me...know that I will make you pay for this...you've gone too far...!" Within the chamber Vahn had peered into, there had been dozens of Adventurers and what Vahn had assumed to be Xenos 'fused' together with a strange plant-like monstrosity. They had roots going into their bodies and seemed to be providing a constant supply of mana to the horribly misshapen entity, all while tubes pumped nutrients and water directly into their stomachs. These were enough reasons for Vahn to feel horribly perturbed by the existence these people had to suffer through, but it was the fact that each of them had their arms and legs amputated that caused Vahn's soul itself to tremble...As if to answer his words, a peal of laughter sounded from inside of Vahn's head before fading away with the word, ("Come..."). When he heard her laugh, Vahn felt like the ocean in his mind had become fiercer than the waves sailors would encounter during a hurricane. Each wave seemed like the size of a mountain, crashing against other mountains as Vahn's body trembled with rage even greater than what he had experienced after seeing Milan's state in the past. Though he had accepted his past when obtaining the [Magia Erebea], Vahn couldn't accept that others were put into a similar situation as himself. These people were being used for their mana, just as he had been used for his blood, all without their consent...they were living a nightmare without even the reprieve of death being an option...Before he even realized it, Vahn found himself in the room with these tragic people, tearing apart the mannequin-like monsters that possessed several mechanical blades and traps within their structure. None of these bought them any time, however, as Vahn mowed through them in an instant and was about to tear apart the monstrous flowering plant that had assimilated all of these people for its own use. Enyo's voice entered his mind at this moment, warning, ("If you kill my baby, all of these people will die. What will you do-"). Completely ignoring Enyo's words, Vahn tore apart the bulbous ovipositor of the giant plant, destroyed the small embryo-like eggs within, and destroyed the gigantic core that was located near the center without a second thought. Even if everyone outside died, Vahn knew they would likely be 'glad' for the relief, as some amongst them were even Elves with greying hair...As the massive plant turned into dust, the people and Xenos it had assimilated fell limply to the ground, painful moans and croaking voices sounding out wordlessly. Though they would undoubtedly die if left alone, Vahn could tell from this that Enyo's words had once again been a lie. Now, he had to choose if he wanted to save these 83 unfortunate souls and return them to the surface world. He could erase their memories and give them hope for a better life moving forward or take mercy on them now, putting them out of their misery and returning them to the cycle of reincarnation. They were likely considered dead back on the surface and he had already seen from how Rufina lived that it wasn't exactly easy to adapt to life without any memories, barring heavy support from others...Without thinking about it too much, Vahn decided it was only right to give them the option themselves, instead of choosing for them. Some of these people could have been trapped down here for hundreds of years, living the life that someone else had decided for them. He could return to them the freedom of choice and, though some would undoubtedly choose death, that was their decision to make, not his. There was also a chance that these people had living friends and family that would sincerely appreciate the safe return of their loved ones, even though the road to recovery would be very long...After releasing a deeply exasperated sigh, Vahn set about stabilizing these unfortunate souls, even though it was certainly unpleasant to experience having his own arms and legs ripped away several times in sequence. As for the people themselves, Vahn had put them into a very deep sleep with his [Hands of Nirvana] and temporarily blocked their pain receptors before the procedure had started. He had to go through a process of cutting apart their atrophied muscles and opening up their wounds before he was able to perform a [Wound Transfer] to replace their missing limbs. Even so, Vahn tolerated the pain, ignoring Sis' advice that he could dull his own pain receptors so that the burden was lessened...During the very long process of stabilizing these people, there were several auras skulking about in the surroundings while a veritable army of the mannequin monsters tried to interfere with his efforts. Vahn didn't even turn his attention away from his work, instead, using one of his other trump cards by making use of his telekinesis to lift and spin things until they were broken apart by the centrifugal forces. There were very few things that had any resistance to telekinetic powers in this world, so long as their physical abilities weren't outright about to overcome the forces applied to their bodies. With Vahn's understanding of a target's body, however, the chances of them breaking free once he had caught them were incredibly low. All he had to do was make anchor points near someone's ears, the joints of their fingers, their eyes, or even individual teeth and any movement they made would be excruciatingly painful...(A/N: Jeez, imagine a psychic lifting your body up by your eyes...)After more than five hours of operations, Vahn wiped non-existent sweat from his brow before releasing a profound sigh and rising to his feet. His now greater understanding of the situation had caused any emotions he had been feeling to fade away by now. In the record of Danmachi, it was a simple truth that females had higher mana reserves than males. Of the 83 people he had 'rescued', a total of 74 were female and, amongst them, eleven had been pregnant. Vahn realized Enyo hadn't simply been collecting Adventurers for her purposes, but 'breeding' them for efficiency. Of those that had been collected, the majority were Elves while there were even two Demigoddesses and, at the very heart of everything, a High Spirit.Enyo had been using what Vahn identified as a Tree Nymph as a breeding bed and, even though she wasn't able to bear children herself, Enyo had found a way to artificially produce pseudo-spirit offspring. She had somehow been extracting the egg cells from Elves, fertilizing them, and then nourishing them with nutrients and energy from the High Spirit that Enyo had imprisoned. This didn't exactly make them the offspring of Spirits, but Enyo had been warping the minds of the strange embryonic Spirits to make them parasitize monsters, producing the plant-like creatures that had been assaulting the Alliance's forces...With these new revelations, the ire Vahn now possessed towards Enyo had reached an extreme and even he wasn't sure what he would do when they finally came face to face. For now, he was just taking a short break to recuperate his energy while watching over the sleeping figures of these tragic individuals. Though they had been kept alive by the nutrients pumping into their stomachs, the inability to move had made each of their bodies emaciated and lanky. Vahn had helped to stabilize them but it would be a very long road before they were able to recover completely. They would need months of physical rehabilitation while no amount of therapy would ever truly remove the trauma they had experienced in this dark and stagnant place...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'I'll be taking that...//[Steal] Development Ability Unlocked//','Well, at least it survived more than one hit...?','Empathy, Sadness, Rage, Nothingness...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

While Vahn was naturally recuperating on the 60th Floor, he had exited the Sub-Space orb on the surface to let the girls know what was going on. They had actually expected it to take several days for him to reach the 60th Floor so, learning that he was already 'saving' some of Enyo's captives, Loki, in particular, was very surprised. None of them were actually surprised by the fact that Enyo was keeping captives, however, even though Vahn only explained the truth of the matter to Loki herself. She quickly set about arranging a place for the majority of the victims to stay while the High Spirit and Demigoddesses would be tended to in a more secure location. Vahn also called Gros to his side, explaining the situation so they could facilitate the addition of seven more Xenos into their community. He actually expected the Xenos to recover much quicker than the other victims, as the Xenos community, in general, had a very therapeutic effect on the heart and mind...Most of these arrangements had been made in only fifteen minutes, as it was something of an emergency situation that needed to be dealt with quickly. Vahn had Emiru and Maemi take some of the other Maids to organize beds using the large training area on the north side of the Manor which, to this day, had gone unused. It had more than enough room for a hundred gurneys to be lined up side-by-side while Naaza and Preasia showed the girls how to prepare an Elixir-drip. After entrusting that matter to the girls, Vahn had ended up in the clearing next to Yggy's tree, learning of the situation on the 50th Floor while also updating Terra on the situation on the 60th.Terra didn't actually have enough mana to break through 60 Floors of the Dungeon with her [Void Movement], as even passing through twenty-four Floors had been very taxing. Vahn, however, had stored over 30 of the [Source Energy Crystals] in his Inventory and, at the very least, she should be able to make 30 jumps with them alone. For the rest, Vahn cut open his palm and filled several potion bottles with his actual blood, giving them to Terra to store in her spatial ring to refill her own mana. The crystals were more practical to use, as she could instantly use the energy contained within to power the teleportation, while the blood would allow her to quickly replenish her reserves while Vahn returned to the Sub-Space orb to act a battery for himself within the Dungeon. If necessary, he would further supplement her energy with his avatar but, for the time being, these steps should suffice for the purpose of transportation...By the time all his preparations had been completed, less than a half-hour had passed when Vahn called Terra to his side with Unit Management. He noticed a 'shift' in the Dungeon's mana flow but it didn't prevent Terra from creating a magic circle with one of the [Source Energy Crystals] in her hand, transporting the High Spirit and the two Demigoddesses back with her. Though Vahn wouldn't devalue the lives of others, the three were inarguably the higher priority targets to evacuate in this circumstance. As if to verify this, Enyo's voice somewhat angrily sounded in his mind, ("Vahn Mason, you are beginning to try my patience. If you're not going to play with me, I'm not going to keep following the rules either, you know...?")Squinting his eyes, Vahn stated in an icy voice, "This isn't a game, Enyo. What you have done here is beyond recompense. When I find you...". In response to this, an eerie laugh sounded in Vahn's mind before Enyo responded, ("You're making such a big deal out of something so small...I had thought you were closer to a god than a mortal but it seems you have disappointed me, Vahn Mason. Can you not see that I gave these people a greater purpose...? Yes, they may have gone through hardship from the perspective of mortals, but it is only a few years of misery before they have the privilege of returning to the cycle of reincarnation. Their imprisonment is nothing compared to what we gods have experienced...no matter how much I make them suffer, it will not even amount to a fraction of what we have experienced...!")While continually calling Terra to his side so that she could move even more people away, Vahn snorted in response to Enyo's words, asking, "Is that what this is about, Enyo? You're envious of mortals and now want to destroy the surface world to vent? If you already understand they will simple reincarnate in the future, why even go through all this trouble? If you're so fed up with the lot you've been given, why don't you just let your existence fade away so that someone else can take up the mantle of Divinity...? You are just a mad and errant god, even if your Divinity had led you down this path..."This time, Enyo's laughter sounded like someone who had completely lost their mind before she loudly exclaimed, ("You know nothing, Vahn Mason! See, that is how mortals view the world, using their own limited understanding of the situation to pass judgment on others! Your mentality is exactly the same as every other tyrant who believes they can shape the world to their liking, only to lead it to ruin and stagnation in the end when your petty greed gets the better of you...! Even if you spent thousands of years trying to understand the greater purpose I aspire towards, you will never be able to see beyond your own limited perspective! What you're doing isn't fixing the world, it's making the world into your own personal playground!")Hearing Enyo's outburst, Vahn furrowed his brows, saying, "I'm trying to make a world where people can be happy. Even if my goals are selfish, I'm doing my best to prevent tragedies like what you've created here. No matter how you try to spin your madness to make it sound like logic, the fact you can't do anything without bringing harm and suffering to others shows how limited your own perspective is..." This time, Enyo's laughter was more moderated as she asked, ("And how is what you're doing any different, Vahn Mason? How many people have you killed? How many have suffered because of your actions, or your inaction? Every 'evil' person you've ever put to the blade was someone that became that way through circumstance and because they opposed the world view you have in mind, you killed them without remorse...tell me, what can YOU do without bringing harm and suffering to others...?")Vahn shook his head, a look of pure condemnation on his face as he retorted, "It is too easy to draw parallels between people, especially when you're acting to justify your monstrous actions. There is no true comparison between someone that takes lives to limit the suffering of others and someone that causes suffering just to take more lives. No matter how you try and spin it, they are fundamentally different things, something your egocentric mentality will never understand. My actions would lead to a world of general prosperity where the path towards greatness is open to everyone...yours would only lead to pain, destruction, and death...the fact you even try to compare us is sickening...!"For several seconds after he had finished speaking, Vahn heard 'nothing' within his mind before Enyo's voice sounded out in an icy monotone, ("You know nothing, Vahn Mason...your mindset is only possible because of your limited lifespan. I have lived for eons, watching the continuous cycle in both Heaven and the Mortal World. The natural state of the world is chaos and, by trying to resist this cycle, you would lead the world to ruin. Your plan sounds fine now, but what will you do when the population explodes? How will you deal with the innate nature of sentient creatures to seek war with each other? How do you prevent greed from running rampant and corrupting society? What will you do when resources run low, or when sickness begins to spread due to overpopulation? Will you slowly expand until the surface is completely covered with people, continuing outwards to conquer the seas, islands, and even other Continents? Your world view is restricted to a few thousand years of time passing, while the three realms will continue to exist for eons further...you call me a mad and errant god, but the number of people that we will have killed in the end will heavily favor you, Vahn Mason...I pray that you live to see the ruin your actions bring upon the world...!")With these parting words, Enyo's 'presence' faded from Vahn's mind, leaving him staring with a hardened expression toward the center of the Floor. He knew there was actually a bit of truth to Enyo's words, as it had actually been a talking point during the Denatus. Loki had also mentioned similar things, talking about things like 'population control', resource management, and land allocation. There was undoubtedly a 'finite' amount of resources that naturally existed in the worlds, as even the power of a god was not truly without limit. If he truly wanted to keep 'order', at least with the record as it was, regulation, laws, and restrictions would have to be imposed. This would undoubtedly make it so that he was 'benefitting' from others, as the chance that these restrictions applied wholly to him, his family, and their future kin, were relatively small. Even if he wanted to avoid corruption from taking root in his bloodline, Vahn knew it was an inevitable fact, as 'karma' itself would always attempt to restore balance to the world...The only thing Vahn could do about the situation was to take a deep breath through his nose, exhale, and then simply 'let it go'. He would undoubtedly make mistakes over the course of 'eternity' but, so long as he always did his best to try and learn, there was time to correct his mistakes. As Enyo said, there were some things that were simply beyond his limited perspective and, only by experiencing these setbacks personally, could Vahn truly learn from them. Since he would continue to live forever, the number of people to die at his hands was functionally infinite, as he may even one day create entire multiverses with Death as a functioning Law. This was something he simply needed to accept; not something he should let Enyo use to sow the seeds of doubt within his mind...After around two hours, Terra had managed to move everyone out of the 60th Floor, leaving Vahn to mull over his thoughts in silence for a few minutes before he rose to his feet and changed back into his Zhuque form. Even as he rested, Vahn never dropped his Shadow Emperor raiment, as it would have unnecessarily dropped his combat potential, so he once again used the combined form to cut through the Dungeon. Vahn, while he had time to think, reasoned that this room was likely not the only one that Enyo had for producing the pseudo-spirit embryo. There were hundreds of doctored files within the Guild's archives and he suspected the number of Xenos she had captured, especially in recent months, had crossed into the triple-digits. Saving them all would be ideal but, with how much time it took just to move 83 people, Vahn wanted to deal with Enyo herself first.So long as he didn't encounter any such rooms along the way, Vahn could fool himself into believing that one room was the only one that existed. Though he empathized with the victims to an extreme, the revelation that Enyo had already begun her siege of Haven meant that the longer he delayed things, the more dangerous it was for the girls. He could tell himself that their defenses 'should' hold out for several weeks but there were never any guarantees in war. Enyo could have any number of means up her sleeves to turn the tides in her favor, especially with her propensity to rely on chemical warfare, mutated monsters, and other cruel means. The only way to stop her was to take decisive action and, now that he knew how 'warped' the errant goddess' mentality was, Vahn knew it was far too dangerous to let her continue acting as she pleased...With the desire to bring things to a swift end, Vahn tore through the walls until he broke into another large room, this one having a distinctly different layout than the rest of the Dungeon. The number of crystals lining the walls made it appear as though the Dungeon's structure itself was one massive geode. Here, the amount of mana was so dense that a mist was present in the air, causing Vahn's pores to open and greedily absorb it to supplement his own reserves. There was a malicious energy contained in the mana but Vahn's body naturally filtered it out, eliciting a synthetic voice to comment, "You truly are an anomaly, Vahn Mason..."Following these words, what appeared to be a Silverback that had been mutated by one of the parasitic plants, followed by a Lizardman with a similar state, jumped towards him with two peculiar golden weapons. They were shaped like a tool used to capture people and, upon entering into the range of Vahn's Zhuque flames, they were completely unaffected as they tore towards him with incredible momentum. Vahn, however, was long gone from the spot as the two continued forward with large holes where their cores used to reside. The same synthetic voice cursed, "Useless, useless, useless...!", the sound emanating from every direction without any apparent source.Using his domain, Vahn was slowly seizing control of the mana in the air and began to send 'pulses' through it, the same radar-like ability he had developed to detect invisible enemies in the past. With just the first pulse, Vahn found an 'outline' within his perception and, using [Shundo], immediately appeared next to the target with his hand reaching out. It tried to move away but was far slower than Vahn, allowing the latter to grab what felt like cloth that easily ripped away. Whatever invisible entity had been present tumbled to the ground rather pathetically, rolling to try and douse the flames that had ignited on the fabric of its clothing. Vahn felt like this person would be a good source of information so, while they were thrashing around, he lifted their body with telekinesis while 'pulling' away the flames that they had been unable to deal with.With the loss of their cloak, what was left floating in the air before him was a skeletal figure that was completely covered in red and black armor, tens of magical artifacts and accessories adorning their body. Other than the extremely emaciated and skeletal figure, with onyx-black bones, the most striking feature of this entity was the peculiar red and black mask the covered their face. Strangely, they also had a shaped breastplate that gave them a more feminine appearance, though Vahn had already identified the figure as a female from the bone structure. It was still very strange, seeing a living skeleton with an incredibly large amount of vitality contained within their bones, even though their mana was malicious to an extreme...(A/N: Alternate Titles: '*Casually traveling in and out of the 60th Floor*','Not even comparable...!','RIP Skeleton-chan...?')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

After falling for around twelve seconds, and passing nearly 800m, Vahn landed rather explosively on the 60th Floor of the Dungeon. Looking around, he found that many of the corridors were very cramped and, instead of appearing like an organized structure, it was almost like he was in a system of tunnels used by ants. The ceiling itself actually dropped below 100cm at some points, making it almost impossible to pass through quickly while causing a slightly claustrophobic feeling to begin welling up inside his mind for a moment before being suppressed. Vahn imagined that, with the number of blind spots, the tight and cramped spaces, and having no idea if the tunnels you crawled down might lead to a dead end, this Floor would be a nightmare...for most people.While looking around, Vahn was mapping the complex Floor and quickly noted that, unlike previous Floors, the flow of mana within the surroundings was fundamentally different. Instead of flowing naturally, it was like the surrounding corridors were 'siphoning' away the Dungeon's mana and redirecting it. Though almost anything was possible beyond this point, Vahn didn't believe this was a natural occurrence within the Dungeon and, having passed through Knossos, Vahn speculated this was an artificial construct. It seemed like another method that Enyo had come up with to make passage into the Dungeon more difficult, as it would be impossible to travel with large groups in such confined spaces.After getting his bearings, Vahn's form began to shrink rapidly until he was only 110cm tall, looking very much like a young Pallum, even though his ears were slightly pointed. As a Progenitor, he could easily change his appearance just by shaping his body to match the image within his mind. Now, though it still appeared a bit cramped, Vahn was able to quickly begin moving through the snaking tunnels without much difficulty. However, after proceeding through a few dozen meters of rather abrasive bedrock, Vahn was brought to a very quick stop when a metallic rod jutted out from a small hole and nearly pierced his abdomen. He had been sliding down a chute of sorts and hadn't sensed the trap until it had been triggered. Fortunately, not that it would have mattered too much, Vahn's reaction speed was faster than the mechanism itself and he managed to create a small foothold to stop his momentum before sliding any further.Releasing a small sigh, Vahn looked up towards the direction he had come from while muttering, "This place is annoying..." If Enyo was truly on this Floor, and it continued like this the entire time, Vahn didn't know how many days he would be crawling around in these tunnels before finding her. Since the chances of this structure being artificial were very high, it was possible that these tunnels didn't connect to any important locations at all. She may have created this troublesome labyrinth just to make those that venture forth experience a sense of futility as they wandered aimlessly through the cramped spaces for weeks on end. He hadn't even sensed any monsters, as the flow of mana was being directed towards specific channels instead of reacting to his presence...At this point, Vahn had a choice to make about how he could proceed from this point onward. It wouldn't be that difficult for him to assume a form that allowed him to simply tear through the complex structure of this artificial Dungeon, such as his Zhuque or Flame Emperor Forms. Even if the surrounding stones were flame resistant, his flames would still burn through the walls and slowly melt them into nothingness. The downside to this was that Vahn knew for a fact that there were likely several victims of Enyo present somewhere on these Floors. If possible, he would like to remove her influence from them and, much like Rufina, give them another chance at all. Being forced to act against their will was a cruel fate and, so long as they weren't people like Olivas, Vahn wanted to liberate them.There was also the simple fact that Vahn had absolutely no idea what exactly Enyo had been up to while she was within the Dungeon. He didn't know what circumstances would result in a goddess being sealed away, nor why she would be seeking to bring ruin to the surface world. She had to have come up with this plan back in Heaven and, with how old the gods were, Vahn knew that Enyo had likely been scheming for millions of years. There had to be a greater reason behind her actions and, as she also held the secrets to Ais' past, Vahn didn't want to indiscriminately destroy the clues that would contain the answers he seeks. After all, Enyo may not even be the 'biggest' threat within this world, especially since entities like Leviathan, Behemoth, and the One-Eyed Black Dragon originated from within the Dungeon's depths. Vahn still had no idea how such creatures had even escaped the Dungeon, as there was simply no way for them to move through the confines of the upper floors with their colossal size...While he was thinking, Vahn also shrunk his body even further, gaining the appearance of a very young child who was only 80cm tall. He had to stow away his [Khryselakatos] long ago and now slipped passed the metallic protrusion to reach a small corridor below. Though there was almost no light within these suffocating chambers, Vahn's Baihu enhanced eyes were able to see relatively easily as he began to move forward once again. He had decided to at least try to map the area for a bit to see if he could find any enemies or potentially even reach the 61st Floor. If Enyo's words were true, she should be somewhere on the 60th Floor so he could at least surmise that he had gone too far. If he was unable to find any leads after a few hours of searching, Vahn would proceed with a secondary plan of action, chiefly destroying the surroundings while making his way towards the points where the Dungeon's mana was flowing...---Shortly after Vahn had cleared the 59th Floor, the swift-footed Pallum Scouts, who had been patrolling along the outer perimeter of Haven, noticed movement in the surrounding ashen forests. WIthout delaying and trying to confirm if there was an enemy attack, the first to notice this abnormality immediately pressed their palm to a small magic ward. Every similar ward around the entire wall lit up, as a result, causing those on the walls to beat a swift retreat toward Haven's inner walls. They had been trained that, even if it caused inconveniences, never delay the report as it was better to make a mistake than suffer the consequences of indecision.This ended up being the correct choice as, moments after their retreat had begun, thousands of the strange caterpillar monsters began to emerge from the woods as they charged forward. They hadn't triggered any of the proximity wards near the Floor's entrances and exits, instead, burrowing up from select parts of the Floor where mutated Viscum had bored through. They had first tried to emerge within the inner walls of Haven but found it impossible to do so with the reinforced magical wards that covered the surrounding Floor. Though forcing their way through was possible, this would actually cause the inevitable Juggernaut that spawned to target them, something Enyo would rather avoid since a Level 8 Variant wasn't easy to deal with.By the time the caterpillar-like monsters reached the outer walls and began trying to melt through them with their acid spouts, the Pallum Scouts had already retreated into the five fortresses. With their arrival, a large white barrier, more than 3km wide, spread out to surround Haven. Shortly after, five blue barriers emerged to protect each individual fortress while the adjoining walls had several layers of magic circles, each representing a [Reflexio] magic barrier. In total, it had taken less than five minutes for the entire Haven Defense Force to ready the defense, each wielding Magical crossbows, Magic Staves, Bows, and Ballistae. On the main rampart of each Fortress, Haruhime, Ryuu, Arnya, Mikoto, and Lefiya could be seen, a fearless glint in their eyes as they issued orders through a sound amplifying ward that directly transmitted their voices to everyone with a Defenders badge.Slowly but surely, the thick outer walls were being melted through by the caterpillar monsters but, just as the first group nearly broke through, the wards lining the inner walls activated. In an instant, all of the progress made by the monsters' acid was undone as the Dungeon Floor below rose up to repair the damage. This caused the giant Viscum to release guttural and wispy howls before large magic circles appeared neared each of their flowery openings. When she saw this, Lefiya's brows couldn't help but raise slightly as she activated her communication ward and said, "The enemies seem to have the ability to cast a form of artillery magic. Ryuu, please deal with them while I prepare a large-scale magic spell...!"Based on the structure of the magic circles, Lefiya knew the approximate effect of the Viscums' impending magic. It was the type that would cast beams of light that would explode and ignite on contact, much like her [Fusillade Fallarica]. It wouldn't be that useful against their defenses but the barrier would end up using a larger amount of energy trying to withstand such a wide-spread artillery strike. Though there weren't any major threats of their defenses being breached any time soon, Lefiya knew it was important to be conservative in a defensive fight. They just needed to hold out until Vahn had dealt with Enyo, something Lefiya believed wouldn't take too long since he had been rather fired up before leaving...After hearing Lefiya's message, Ryuu pressed her heels to the ground and activated the effect of her Magic boots. Four wings of light sprouted out from their sides, much the same as Asfi's, allowing Ryuu to take to the sky and stabilize herself before she drew back the glimmering string of her [Meteoron Imber] and loosed a beam of shimmering starlight towards the Viscum furthest from her position. Her arrow moved forward at around a third the speed of light, piercing through the monster's head and disintegrating it in a single shot as she prepared her second arrow. It took a few seconds for her to charge the attack but, by the time she released the arrow, it would spell the end for almost anything within her line of sight.Much like Ryuu, Lefiya also took to the sky, using her own fairy-like wings to support her as she held out, not one, but two different staves and began chanting, "Gather, 199 spirits of light, strike my enemy. Magic Arrows, Series of 199 Lights~!" Lefiya felt her mana immediately tank as a massive magic circle appeared behind her, forming 199 individual arrows of light. Her star-shaped pupils contracted into small points as Lefiya's eyes began to focus on each of her targets and releasing what she believed to be an adequate amount of magic arrows to deal with them. Once they began moving forward, several small shockwaves were created in sequences as the devastatingly powerful arrows instantly accelerated to hypersonic speeds. Before Lefiya even brought a mana potion to her lips, the majority of the Viscum had been obliterated as hundreds of the green caterpillars joined them...As awe-inspiring a sight it was to see Lefiya fling forth 199 arrows of light, it was impossible to see the outcome of her attack with the massive outer wall blocking their vision. The Defenders instead focused on their own tasks, even though there were several amongst them who were clearly worried. For many, this was their first real battle and, if not for the 'discipline' that had been drilled into them over the last week, some would have wanted to flee. It was their sense of unity that kept them at their posts, following the orders of those with higher ranks than their own while awaiting the surging enemy tides. Of course, for every nervous individual that was present, there was an equal number of people who were excited about the coming fight. They were one of the main reasons the morale had been kept high as, even without seeing the result of Lefiya's and Ryuu's attacks, the sound of explosions and the shrill howl of monsters was music to their ears...---Unaware of the battle that had begun on the 50th Floor, Vahn continued mapping out the complex tunnel system for around three hours before stopping for a moment to think. Other than a few traps, the most annoying of which was acid flooding the tunnel he was in, Vahn hadn't come across any enemies. He had been following the flow of mana for a while now and had begun to suspect that Enyo was altering the flow to keep him moving in circles. It was when he zoomed out from his three-dimensional minimap that Vahn realized what was going on. The flow of energy was making a spiral shape and, though he was going deeper into the Dungeon, Vahn suspected he was moving further away from his goal. There was a large 'gap' within his map, almost as if he had been moving around on the edge of the Dungeon's Floor instead of venturing into the inner catacombs...Deciding that he would rather not continue going around in circles, Vahn took in a deep breath through his nose and, by the time he had exhaled, he had transitioned from his Baihu form into his Zhuque form. Now, though he remained in his Shadow Emperor raiment, Vahn's figure had wisps of vermillion flames that formed runes over his body. He could see his own appearance through his domain, having a shadowy visage with glowing vermillion eyes and a mixture of black and red feathers covering areas of his body. Though he had to change out of the equipment he had been wearing, Vahn's 'petite' figure looked strangely tyrannical with his forearms and feet glowing with a fierce vermillion light...To avoid wasting his Source Energy, Vahn had contained as much of his Zhuque flames as he could inside of his own body, fusing it with the Shadow Elemental energy of his [Magia Erebea]. The expenditure was still rather extreme, eating around 2% of his reserves every minute, but Vahn was able to supplement this with his main body meditating in the Sub-Space orb while the dual blessings from Yggy also provided a minor assist. She had mentioned giving him the blessing all nine times in order to 'help'. something Vahn found rather adorable at the time and was especially grateful for now...Once his energy had stabilized, Vahn allow the heat to emanate from his body until it had created a small sphere of Yang Elemental energy 5m in diameter. He then began to fly forward at a moderate pace, instantly melting the obstructive Dungeon and clearing a path for himself. Shortly after he had done this, Vahn felt the Dungeon trembling around him as a large volume of whitish-purple liquid began filling up the porous caverns, almost as if it was trying to extinguish his flames. From this, Vahn could conclude that Enyo had not only been watching him, but she had some degree of control over this artificial Dungeon. He noticed the flow of mana in the walls change, now spreading in all directions, while parts of it began to flow into nearby chambers. Instead of spawning monsters, however, a tidal flood of the whitish-purple fluid began to fill every available space.Though this could have been disastrous for others, Vahn continued to fly forward at the same pace while the liquid that came into contact with his sphere was immediately evaporated. This caused a very powerful explosion due to the difference in temperature and the instantaneous conversion of the liquid into a gas. However, other than making the sphere feel slightly more compressed, Vahn didn't experience any real setbacks as he pressed forward until, after a few minutes of flying, he broke into a vast cavern as a veritable waterfall of the whitish-purple liquid emerged from the hole he had created.Ignoring the high-pressure flow, Vahn moved into the giant chamber and began to look around, noticing that his surroundings looked 'normal', with healthy mineral rich stone making up the surrounding walls. There were also numerous blue and green crystals, very similar to to the roots found in a monster pantry, which created a rather pleasant ambiance that lit up the caverns. Vahn assumed this was the 'real' 60th Floor, as the flow of mana within the walls was being absorbed by the ashen grey bedrock that seemed to be encroaching on the main Dungeon. Seeing this, Vahn felt like Enyo had to have a Divinity related to Corruption or something, as she seemed to be trying to assimilate and corrupt the very Dungeon itself for her purposes...Releasing an exasperated sigh, Vahn looked around with his [Eyes of Truth] and began to move towards what he felt to be the 'center' of the Floor based on his earlier spiraling. He didn't make it that far, however, before mana began to coalesce on the nearby surfaces, shattering the walls as monsters began emerging en masse to attack him. They had the appearance of 3m tall red Minotaur with pitch black horns and dark red eyes. Similar to Lizardman Elites and Mermen, they actually had equipment covering their bodies, consisting of shiny black armor while the majority dual-wielded battleaxes. The only exception was the Onyx-Black Minotaur in the back, who had blood red armor and a spiked mace that seemed to be made of several hundred kilograms of pure Mithril...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'By the time Vahn reaches Enyo, he will only be 30cm tall~!','Defenders, to your positions! Here, at this moment, we stop the forces of Evil in their tracks...!','Enyo keeps leading Vahn around...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Chapter 879: Nothing