Chapter 99 93: Anomaly

Floors 81 to 90 of the Deep Down Dive were a unique area, unlike the other floors. In the form of a great cave underneath the ground, the first nine floors were all directly interconnected and did not need one to clear the previous floor and find an entrance, instead, moving to any floor at any point was possible, thanks to a giant waterfall that fell from the center of grey rocks in the dark cave.

In this blue-lit cave filled with bioluminescent kelp, the dozens of passages and their intricate layout with the waterfall had given rise to three different species fighting for dominance.

Three crazy fucking species that is.

I hid behind a small rock with my back pressed against the wall. The blue light from the moss and kelp around made the moisture on the rocks below glimmer as the sounds of light footsteps echoed in the distance.

Slowly peering over my shoulders, my eyes landed on the winged harpy walking around in the distance. Its jaws hung low as it shifted its gaze left and right, its madder red eyes glaring at everything around.

Crazy.

"I-I still can't get a read on them at all..." Titania muttered. It was lucky that only I could see her form or hear her voice, or those harpies would have gotten on our case already.

I had entered this floor with a wide stride after defeating the griffon that served as the eightieth floor's boss. It was strong enough for me to think I was finally reaching a good spot in this labyrinth, but as soon as I stepped in here, something absurd started happening.

"Eugy! Another harpy came up."

I quickly shifted my position and turned my back to watch. In the distance, another harpy with crazed eyes had located the previous one.

I held my breath and watched, holding in my presence as much as I could. In moments, the two harpies noticed each other and rushed into one other. The first one swung its claws as the second jumped up into the air. Like a crazy maniac, the newcomer harpy took the entire brunt of the attack on its feet and latched onto the nape of the first harpy.

It felt like I was witnessing a zombie apocalypse.

Without hesitation, the graceful yet tricky wind-attribute monster wildly sank its teeth into its own peer and tore off its flesh.

If it was just to this level, I wouldn't have minded much.

But the harpy swallowed the flesh in its mouth, and in the blink of an eye, the wound on its leg started to regenerate.

Healing after eating each other was fucked, but not as fucked as what those harpies did next.

Tears started to flow from the harpy's eyes as it gnawed down the corpse, over and over, biting its flesh and crunching its bones. The harpy turned into a sobbing mess, yet it continued to eat up the corpse until not a chunk remained.

As the last bit of flesh was swallowed, the Harpy suddenly stood up and walked away, as if it never cried in the first place, the harpy simply returned to find its prey, whether it was its own kind, and to swallow it whole.

"This is crazy..." Titania muttered, she too didn't look like she could digest the sight in one go.

This wouldn't have scared me much.

If I hadn't seen the harpy that just died get scratched in front of my eyes and turn into this thing.

"Maybe, this is a zombie apocalypse after all?" I muttered.

My voice seemed to have been a tad too loud.

No, it wasn't loud. It was the harpy that had its abilities doubled after eating another.

A clang rang out and the harpy that had just left returned to the blue passage in the cave.

"Fuck..."

The harpy's eyes glimmered, and it shot off the ground.

Its wings dyed red flapped like crazy as a cloud of dust was left where the Harpy stood.

I jumped ahead and rolled on the ground. The boulder I hid behind was completely crushed into smithereens by the Harpy. As I got back on my feet, the harpy was right in front of me again.

"KIEE!"

It swung its claws.

I took a step back and leaned behind. Then left, ducked, and then hopped, narrowly avoiding the monster's onslaught with each movement. I didn't even get the chance to catch my breath as I was forced to avoid even the scratch of a hair's breadth on my body.

The harpy swung with both hands and I hopped back.

The eye of alchemy hanging from my neck fluttered ahead as I jumped back, and it was caught in the Harpy's grasp.

***

"Ah, sir," the branch manager heard a knock in his room. Though three weeks had passed and most adventurers had come outside of the dungeon, two of them were still inside the public's interest in their adventures was still quite high. Even more so since they were just a floor apart at almost all times.

"What is it?" the branch manager asked, his muscles bulging.

"We just lost signal from adventurer Dusk."

***

It broke.

The eye monitoring me broke. I could have broken it myself, but it broke naturally.

"Eugy!! Run, this bitch is crazy!!"

I didn't heed Titania's warning as my mind cleared away. The pressure that would lead to my growth, I had finally found it.

As the Harpy narrowed the distance and swung its arms again, I lowered my head.

My feet pivoted on the ground as I twisted my body and spun, dodging the attack at the same time.

Ki filled my fingers as I grazed it over the narrow walls of the cave, with brute strength, I pulled out a fist-sized rock from the cave walls.

The harpy swung again.

Still turning, I shifted my head to the side and dodged the attack. With my hand back front, I maneuvered at high speed and stuffed the fistful of stone into the Harpy's mouth.

A magic circle formed on my other hand and I brought it close to the harpy.

"[Fireball]"

A ball of fire launched out of my hands and crashed into the monster right away. Its mouth sealed, the harpy couldn't even scream as it was launched away.

Before it could regain its footing, I pulled out my sword from my bag and rushed ahead. The harpy flapped its wings and dug them into the cave walls to come to a stop. This terrifying monster's mind was completely unaffected by any pain or damage.

As I charged, the harpy swung its broken wings.

Small magic circles formed over its wings as its feathers launched out of the wings.

"A ranged attack her—?"

I was forced to swallow my words as the feathers started ricocheting off the cave walls. They slammed against the narrow walls and grew even faster as they approached me.

"Eugy! Those things have the same energy as the monster's claws."

Fuck. So I couldn't be grazed by these high-speed laser feathers either.

I planted my foot on the ground and switched the grip on my sword. Purple ki filled its length and I twisted every muscle in my body.

"Haap!"

With a yelp, I threw the sword ahead. The blade cut through the air and went past the layer of feathers, cutting down everything that came in its way.

The harpy seemed surprised at first, but avoided the sword with a twist.

Right then, it noticed my palm on the ground, a magic circle already formed.

The harpy took a step back.

"[Intermediate Magic: Stone Wall]"

A pillar rose into the cave grounds, right where the harpy stood. Its toe was taken up by the high-speed stone wall as it slammed into the ceiling, but the Harpy avoided the attack's brunt.

"KIEEK!" It screamed.

I smiled and pulled my hand back.

The sword that had gone through the passage was already behind the harpy, the string of Purple Projectile Ki still connecting it with me.

Before the harpy could balance itself after the magic pillar, the sword pierced through its dantian and the stone pillar in succession before flying back into my hands.

The feathers all around fell limp as the source of mana was cut off.

I stared at the harpy slowly trying to get up as I panted and walked over to it. With a single swing of my sword, I pierced through its head vertically and cleaved all the way to its heart before pulling my sword out.

I sighed and wiped the sweat off my head. My feet carried me to the end of the small passage in the cave. The passage entrance disappeared and the world of the cave widened.

Intermediate Magic and Projectile Ki. This single harpy made me use most of my skills.

I covered the top of my eyes and peered down, with the sound of the waterfall flowing a total of nine floors down, flowed the blood of three different species.

All of them with madder red eyes walked around like crazed maniacs.

There was an anomaly in the dungeon.

I smirked, peering at the dozens of clueless monsters on the floors below.

It was an anomaly that I was going to clear out.