Chapter 443: Part 1 - The Acid Swarm

“No problem.”

“Yes.”

Aiden and Ais nodded almost simultaneously, their answers clipped and precise.

Having received clear orders that staved off any confusion, Bete’s group charged toward the crumbling walls in one fluid breath to intercept the enemy. As if reacting to their movement, fierce roars echoed through the room as over thirty Black Rhinos violently burst from the stone.

“Lefiya, fall back and start chanting.”

“Understood!”

Given her role, Lefiya nodded firmly. She swept the timidity and hesitation from her deep blue eyes and quickly retreated to the rear.

“Ais.”

“I know.”

Catching Aiden’s eye, Ais gave a terse nod. She stared down the only path they had come from, listening to the violent tremors echoing from the corridor, and whispered so softly it was almost inaudible:

“Tempest!”

Using the short chant as a trigger, she activated her Enchantment Magic.

The wind answered. The atmospheric flow instantly intensified until it was visible to the naked eye. Like a living spirit, it danced and wrapped around Ais’s body. Her golden hair, sparkling like stardust, generated an even stronger current as it whipped wildly in the gale.

“Ride Upon This Wheel of Flame.”

At almost the exact same time, a similar short chant slipped past Aiden’s lips. Flames seemingly gained a life of their own, erupting from beneath his feet and dancing joyously as they entirely engulfed his frame. The crimson fire leaped and surged, radiating a heat so intense it warped the air around him.

The moment their chants concluded, a massive body—easily mistaken for a siege engine—smashed through the narrow exit, shattering the corridor walls.

Letting out a frenzied howl like a broken bell, the monster turned its eyeless face directly toward Ais and Aiden.

Corrosive bodily fluids hissed and sputtered frequently from its repulsive yellow-green flesh. As it hunched forward, both the walls alongside it and the floor beneath it melted away. Behind it, an avalanche of caterpillar monsters flooded into the trap room. They varied in size—some as massive as the leading beast, others barely the size of Finn—but all of them radiated that same nauseating, corrosive stench.

On the other side of the room, Tiona and the others had already clashed with the Black Rhinos.

Facing down the terrifying horde before her, Ais simply and calmly swung her sword down through the air with a sharp whoosh.

The wind swayed.

“I’m going ahead,” she whispered to Aiden, before kicking hard against the ground.

With a muffled blast of air pressure, Ais’s movement kicked up a massive cloud of dust, her figure vanishing from where she stood.

The only thing capable of reacting to her divine speed was the massive beast leading the charge. Ignoring Ais’s impending strike, the monster aggressively unhinged its jaws and spewed its lethal acid.

Ais delivered a clean, decisive slash from a low angle. Using the violent gales wrapped around her blade as a shield, her god-speed strike effortlessly deflected the purple-black liquid. A silver arc cleanly tore through an attack that seemed impossible to defend against.

Closing the distance, Ais became an invisible gale, slipping through the parted acid. Before the enemy could even process its next move, she plunged directly into its guard.

She unleashed a vicious diagonal slash against the paralyzed monster. Blessed by the wind, Desperate bit deep into the enemy’s flesh without showing the slightest sign of melting. Instantly, massive amounts of fluid geysered from the wound, only to be entirely blown away by the powerful air currents swirling around her.

This armor of wind, perfectly blending offense and defense, was impenetrable.

Ais narrowed her golden eyes. Her sword arm suddenly blurred.

It was a merciless, storm-like barrage of continuous slashes. With breathtaking speed and peerless sharpness, she unleashed a tempest of rapid-fire strikes into the giant monster. Battered and torn, the beast howled in agony as marbled acid erupted from every part of its body, splattering in all directions.

Staggering off balance, the monster’s yellow-green skin swelled unnaturally before violently bursting apart.

On the other side of the room, Tiona brought her blade down, failing to cleanly sever a Black Rhino’s neck as the edge caught in the dense bone. Frustrated, she let go with one hand, clenched her fist, and delivered a devastating haymaker straight into the monster’s eye socket. As it roared in pain, she wrenched the half-stuck blade free, tearing out a massive chunk of flesh.

She fought like an enraged lioness, slamming her knees into their abdomens and dropping brutal elbows onto their spines. When another Black Rhino charged her flank, she didn’t even bother looking; she just delivered a vicious side-kick that sent the heavy beast stumbling, before spinning around to cleanly sever its front leg.

Her face was splattered with black monster blood, her eyes burned with fury, and a wild, unhinged grin split her lips. She wasn’t fighting—she was destroying. She was using the purest form of violence to vent her frustration over that soul-crushing 100 million Valis debt.