Chapter 495 - 495: Juggernaut

"Ais! Don't increase the wind any further!"

Bell shouted toward the center of the battlefield.

The gale roared. Bright red blood flowed from the blonde girl's body as though drawn into a vortex, swirling into waves of blood mist.

Wind and blood intertwined, and anyone could feel the pitch-black hatred pouring out of Ais.

Bell realized that if this went on, even if the blonde girl's body could withstand the wind and hold Juggernaut back, the erosion of her mind would be unavoidable for someone as naturally pure as Ais.

During the expedition, the Elf Princess had once said, "Ais used to smile too. Her expressions, her words, everything about her was much richer than it is now... Bell, please stay by that child's side. I hope that one day, she can recover what she lost..."

Riveria's words flashed through Bell's mind.

While charging [Argonaut], he shouted instructions to Ais, telling her to stop hurting herself.

"Bell..."

The sound of a bell echoed beside her ears, and a tear slipped from the corner of Ais's eye.

She did not understand the meaning of that warm drop. She could not even tell whether it was a tear from her eye or blood from the wounds Juggernaut had inflicted.

Warmth seeped into her heart. It was the warmth Ais had struggled so hard to gain. She gave up on igniting the black flames any further and decided to entrust everything to the boy.

Bell would find a way.

Perhaps a miracle would come to this place, and Bell's lost arm would return.

Yes. It had to be so.

Ais carefully guarded the warmth in her heart and kept swinging the Desperate Sword without pause.

"..."

White light gathered, and Bell breathed a small sigh of relief.

Emotionally, he did not want to see anyone here die, nor did he want to see Ais lose her feelings and fully become the doll princess people spoke of.

Beyond that, Bell had an even more rational reason for stopping Ais.

Would sacrificing the blonde girl really be enough to kill Juggernaut?

Bell believed the answer was no.

When Juggernaut had bitten off his arm and attacked again, the wall had shattered from the impact.

It produced tremendous explosive force when accelerating, so why had its first attack been completely silent?

From that alone, Juggernaut was clearly extremely cunning.

It was not a mindless monster. It was a crystallization of slaughter that carried the Dungeon's malice.

Even if Ais sacrificed herself and gained the upper hand in this exchange, Juggernaut could very well retreat for the moment, then strike again when the time was right.

The frost barrier could only be used to fend off the other monsters. Against the Calamity before them, it would be no help at all.

To kill Juggernaut, they had to eliminate any chance of it escaping.

With their current party composition, that was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

"Hail Dust!"

Alicia kept chanting her freezing Magic.

The blue-white ice projectiles were not aimed at Juggernaut in the middle of the fierce battle, but at the side passages and the huge cavity that had already been frozen over.

Wyvern fire slammed into the frost barrier above, melting away some of the cold.

What Alicia was doing was constantly pouring icy Magic Power into Riveria's frost barrier.

Only by doing that could they avoid interference from Wyverns and other monsters.

"?!"

As Alicia chanted, cracks split across the wall on the right. Several monsters had only just landed before they charged at the group.

Ryuu swung her katana and blocked the attack for the Mage casting Magic.

The situation could not continue like this forever.

Ais, Alicia, and Riveria were all burning through Mind at an alarming rate. Even if Riveria could hold out for a long time, the moment any one of them reached their limit, the front line would collapse in an instant.

When that happened, everyone here would die.

"Lefiya, your [Magic Power] is very abundant right now, isn't it?"

Two minutes had already passed, and Bell made his final confirmation.

Before [Argonaut] began draining all of his Mind, he gave the others their instructions.

In the hellish scene on the fifty-first floor, Lefiya had once said of her own accord that something felt "off" about her condition. Her amplified [Magic Power] was surging, and if she wove a spell, it would undoubtedly carry tremendous destructive power.

The golden-yellow elf believed in the boy. After realizing how dangerous the expedition had become, she pushed aside her embarrassment and revealed that crucial fact.

"Mm!"

Lefiya answered, her eyes brimming with tears.

Although her Status had risen considerably, there was very little she could actually do. In the battle just now, Lefiya had remained in the role of supporter, helping Alicia recover Mind.

"Start chanting your Arcs Ray Magic in two minutes and fifteen seconds. When the timing is right, fire it at Juggernaut."

Bell gave her precise instructions.

He knew Lefiya's chant time inside and out, and he laid out the tactic down to the second.

"...? O-okay!"

Lefiya froze for a moment, but quickly answered.

When her sky-blue eyes saw the empty space on the boy's right side, tears blurred her vision before she could stop them.

Lefiya hated that monster too.

But she had not chanted Magic at Juggernaut even once.

The reason was very simple.

Juggernaut could reflect Magic.

[Magic Reflection]. The Destroyer's indestructible shield, capable of reflecting all Magic.

That blue-purple shell was an object of absolute despair for Mages.

When Ryuu told the main members of Loki Familia this information, she had been tightly holding the boy's right hand. As though recalling the horrifying sight of her friend being swallowed by her own Magic, her body trembled faintly.

Speed beyond the limits of its prey's reaction time, strength enough to tear through armor and warriors' bodies, and an anti-Magic shell that countered adventurers' trump cards.

Together, those traits formed the terrifying monster known as Juggernaut.

Astraea Familia had been defeated by that first-encounter killing blow, and several young girls had fallen into the abyss of death.

Lefiya remembered the sight of the boy holding Ryuu's hand, and pain stabbed through her heart.

What kind of agony had Bell gone through?

What kind of despair had Ryuu felt?

Lefiya could not even imagine it.

When Bell gave her those instructions, Lefiya wiped away her tears despite her confusion and opened the Elf pocket watch.

All she had to do was trust the boy and begin chanting Magic at the exact time.

The bell rang on, and the movement of the second hand felt endlessly distant and sorrowful.

What surprised Lefiya was that the previously composed and dignified [Gale] suddenly rushed in front of the boy as if she had gone mad.

"Bell, what are you doing?!"

Ryuu's body trembled uncontrollably, worry and shock rippling through her blue eyes.

"Bell?!"

Ryuu looked at the boy pleadingly, desperate for an answer.

Under her gaze, Bell Cranel's crimson eyes burned with unwavering resolve.

Countless white particles were gathering around the boy, enveloping his entire body.

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