—–

Agustina soared through the skies, dodging snapping jaws and roaring wyverns. She smashed Fire Elementals with her Spirit Soul Forge hammer, extracting their cores to fuel her forge and reinforce her armor and weapon against the searing heat.

But that was not all.

“Wait—what is this?!”

Suddenly her heart began pounding faster and faster. Something inside her stirred. The more she fought, the more life-and-death situations she survived, and the more materials she absorbed and analyzed, the stronger the reaction grew.

Her heart was changing. Evolving. Slower than the others, but unmistakably awakening.

“Is my heart finally evolving into a Fantasy Heart now?!” she gasped in shock.

Unlike most members of House Frostbane, like Anastasia who was born of two Yggdrasil natives, Agustina was the child of an elf from Yggdrasil and a dwarf from Spiritias.

She did not qualify as a true “Sinner,” despite possessing many supernatural innate abilities.

Like Anastasia, she was classified as an “Anomaly.”

Yet who said Anomalies could not awaken Fantasy Hearts? The more they interacted with the Dimensional Labyrinth, Entities, other Anomalies, and everything connected to it, the more Fantasium accumulated within them.

Their hearts would slowly begin to transform through battle and energy regulation, eventually reaching the next stage.

This was exactly what Agustina was experiencing now, though the process was gradual.

To accelerate it, she needed to push herself harder.

“NGAAAAH!”

She forced herself to her absolute limit. Her Spiritual Forge overflowed with Spiritual Energy and Mana. Her armor liquefied and divided.

Using Fire Elemental Cores, wyvern bones and scales, and the sharp beaks of pterodactyls, she began forging.

“Spiritual Forge – Mass Production!”

Dozens of giant hammers materialized from her Aura, smashing metal into shape and rapidly producing dozens of armor sets.

The armors flew toward her nearest allies, Selene and Melisa first, her highest priority. Fiery red armor adjusted perfectly to their small bodies and abilities.

“Wow!”

“What’s this?!”

Selene immediately tested it. Her fiery red claws sliced through monsters with ease. Enhanced by the new spirit armor, she dashed across the sky, leaving trails of flame and destroying everything in her path.

Melisa flew freely. Her armor protected her and amplified her special ability. Her bright angelic wings turned fiery red and unleashed a rain of sharp, explosive feathers of flame and holy light. She soared higher and faster than ever.

Agustina continued producing armor as she flew, outfitting Anastasia and Timothy next, then Zorba, and finally Louis and Mirai.

“What is this?!” Timothy exclaimed. His plant magic and conjurations adapted to the new armor, now red, metallic, and fiery. Leaves became fire crystals, and spirit vines grew sharp, burning spikes. “Amazing! My plants aren’t burning anymore!”

“I feel much faster now!” Anastasia’s lightweight armor allowed her to unleash rapid strokes with her ice sword. Now infused with fire, she created storms of Ice Flames, freezing targets across a wide area and killing dozens with each strike.

“Hoh? Not bad! My Undead are immune to fire now?!” Zorba laughed in delight. His undead army absorbed the spirit armor’s power, turning bright red and gaining spirit scales. They became immune or highly resistant to most fire attacks and began tearing through the endless flocks.

“Hm?” Louis felt a sudden burst of power. At first he tensed, thinking it was an enemy strike, but he quickly realized it was Agustina’s work. “Agustina, you made this?!”

Stunning fiery red armor now covered most of his body, featuring a dragon motif with sharp spikes and claws. He looked like a Fire Dragon Knight from the fairy-tale books of Yggdrasil, the kind that served the Fire Dragon King Surtr in Muspelheim.

“Y-Yeah! It should help you resist the environmental fire better!” Agustina called, catching up to him and Mirai while smashing dozens of monsters along the way.

“Hah, it seems you’re beginning to grow stronger,” Louis said. He had never placed much hope in her before. She had always been something of an afterthought when he added her to his group for Sinners Academy. But now, he was starting to see her true potential.

“This armor’s great—hell yeah!” Mirai roared. She shifted into her more assertive personality, brows furrowed in a devilish grin as she burned, kicked, punched, and slashed. Blood and guts exploded everywhere. The armor enhanced her fire-based demonic abilities, serving primarily as an offensive buff, something she and Louis barely needed for defense.

“Agustina’s backing us up! Regroup! Charge together! Slay as many as you can!” Louis commanded.

For the next ten minutes they killed relentlessly, until the monsters finally stopped pursuing them.

They had reached their first destination.

Ding!

[You and your party have slain [Fire Elemental (Level 3 Anomaly)] x50+]

[You and your party have slain [Crimson Wyvern (Level 3 Anomaly)] x50+]

[You and your party have slain [Volcanic Pterodactyl (Level 3 Anomaly)] x50+]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 90 to Level 95/150.]

[All of your Stats have increased.]

Louis nodded confidently and charged toward his target, a mountain along their path.

CRAAASH!

With a powerful kick, he shattered the entrance, revealing a vast interior glittering with glowing red, orange, and yellow crystals, along with precious red, orange, and bronze-colored magic metals.

At the center of the enormous cavern lay a steaming hot spring of natural water.

Surrounding it were dozens of elephant-sized creatures resembling giant salamanders, dark brown with bright orange streaks.

They moved sluggishly and barely reacted to the intrusion. Louis swiftly cut them down with his spear. While the EXP was not substantial, he knew their meat, oil, and organs were excellent for crafting elixirs and potions that enhanced Fantasy Hearts and Spirals.

He also knew of a recipe that could awaken his Fantasy Sea ahead of schedule, further accelerating his growth as a Spiralwalker and expanding his range of abilities.

“So what do we do here?” Mirai asked. “Do we have time?”

“We still have ten full hours,” Louis replied. “This secret cavern is packed with valuable ores and crystals: Fire Spirit Crystals of all three types, Burning Mithril, Volcanic Orichalcum, and Fire Gold. All precious. Let’s take everything we can. Agustina, extract as much as possible and absorb it into your Spiritual Forge.”

“Understood!”

Louis and the others began smashing walls, ceilings, and floors, uncovering dozens, then hundreds, of large ore veins and crystal clusters overflowing with fiery red energy.

Pandora swallowed everything she could. After fifteen minutes, they had stripped the cavern almost completely bare.

“We’re done. Let’s move!” Louis ordered.

“Wait—can’t we enjoy the warm water?” Mirai asked.

“It’s tempting, but we’ll come back another time,” Louis said with a small smile. “We need to hurry, unfortunately.”

“I see. Well, I’ll remember that then!” Mirai nodded.

House Frostbane swiftly moved to their next destination, another mountain covered entirely in natural Sword Trees and Sword Plants.

From there, Louis harvested Sword Metal and Sword Crystals imbued with the rare Element of Swords, originating from Yggdrasil itself.

On their way toward the Hellfire Salamander Mountain, they encountered another large swarm of roaming monsters that immediately turned hostile and launched thousands of fireballs.

“Careful! We’ll go straight through! Kill whatever gets in our way!”

Without hesitation, the entire team charged forward, clashing against the beasts.

Volcanic Salamanders the size of school buses, Hot Spring Crabs as large as cars, monstrous Volcanic T-Rexes, Crimson Wyverns, Great Fire Elementals, Volcanic Golems, and even Volcano Cyclopes shook the ground as they converged.

As hundreds of beasts closed in, Gungnir’s Rune of Slaughter was primed and ready.

“Clear the way!”

Louis surged ahead. He thrust his spear forward and unleashed the full accumulated power of the Rune of Slaughter in one devastating strike.

BOOOMMM!!!

RUMBLE!

A colossal thrusting attack tore through the ground and sky. A massive shockwave obliterated everything in its path. The army of over five hundred monsters was reduced to fewer than one hundred in an instant. A gigantic crater scarred the volcanic landscape, piercing straight through the Hellfire Salamander Mountain and leaving a massive fissure.

“I-Insane!” Timothy gasped.

“So that’s his power?!” Anastasia whispered.

“No, he can’t do this constantly,” Zorba explained. “This is the power of Lord Louis’s Rune of Slaughter imbued into his Soul Weapon! It’s devastating but lasts only a few seconds!”

RUMBLE!

RUMBLE!

RUMBLE!

As if responding to the provocation, the entire Hellfire Salamander Mountain began to collapse. From its burning ruins, as eruptions raged everywhere, a gigantic salamander emerged.

The “boss” of this floor, usually avoided by most due to its absurd difficulty, size, regeneration, and abilities.

“GROOOOHHHHHHHH!”

The monster after which the mountain itself was named.

The Hellfire Salamander King, a Level 4 Anomaly!

As a boss, it possessed power, size, and abilities rivaling even stronger entities, despite having only a single heart and lacking the ability to manipulate reality or minds.

But with its sheer size exceeding one hundred meters, immense defenses, rapid regeneration, and the power to control the volcanic landscape around it…

The Hellfire Salamander King was truly the undisputed sovereign of the Fourth Layer.

“You woke up the boss already?!” Agustina panicked.

“Looks like we’re fighting the big one right away. We skipped the boring army!” Anastasia laughed.

“Heh!” Mirai transformed into her demon form, brows furrowed in a savage grin. “Think fast, losers!”

BOOOM!

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep