There were a few tense moments where the party stared at Anemoray while the creature stared back. No one was moving a muscle. That thing was stronger than any monster they had fought so far, and it had a name, which meant it was strong enough to be recognized by the MAZE. However, that didn't mean they had no chance of killing that thing. Adriel wasn't someone who focused too much on fighting, but he was close to level 40. Shane and Mylo were just one level below the monster, sitting at level 35, and everyone else was at least level 32. They had the numbers, even if the creature had the size and level. Not to mention, it was very unlikely that the Anemoray would be used to fighting against people. During the past five months, Hera asked Yarnball several questions and found out that when the triton lived here, there were no slimes in the room. Or at least none that could pose a threat in any capacity. Back then, slimes were almost like prawns that would clean the ocean by eating carcasses and other small particles. It was only after the waste created by the mana generator contaminated the waters that the slime grew and became the dominant force in the room.

In fact, they had all the pieces of the history of this place already. There were three civilizations. All are made up of the same group of people. Tritons. They originated from Abyssia, but a large part of the raft and the entirety of Sky was already here from the beginning. Eventually, they split up and changed their focus. Sky would take care of tools and ways to make life easier. The raft, or Floatilla as it was called, focused on trade, culture, and farming using the greenhouse. Almost all the festivities that happened here would happen there so everyone could participate. And the people from Abyssia were the hunters and fighters. People who would catch the fish and creatures that lived in the water and protect everyone else.

After Jadas' reactor started, he tossed the waste back into the water and slowly poisoned everyone since most of their food and water supply would come from the ocean. It took decades for people to start feeling the effects and even more time until some of the creatures in the waters mutated and attacked Abyssia relentlessly. In the end, due to the lack of numbers and able warriors, since most were sick by the time the attacks started, the people of the depths were decimated. Next came those in the raft. They were able to survive for longer since the creatures struggled to move out of the water, but without the help of those in Abyssia, and with all their food sources being too close to the edge of the Flotilla, they also perished. Sky was the last group to survive, and most never had to deal with any of the mutated sea monsters. However, they had no way of getting food while up there, and coming back to the raft was a dangerous task. The Flying Slime Fish alerted the monsters, who were ready to attack at any moment. In the end, those who lived amongst the clouds and were the most protected from danger had the most prolonged suffering by starving to death.

The slimes only came a long time after that. Only when they fed on those mutated creatures that they started to become stronger and eventually were able to overwhelm the monsters. According to Yarnball, there wasn't a single slime, not even the supposed strong one that lived by a doorway, who was alive at the same time the Tritons were. This should also be true for Anemoray. Even if that creature faced the Naga who stayed here, there was no way it had fought with multiple people at the same time.

"Fight or rush to the doorway?" Blue, who was in the middle of the group, whispered.

"I don't think it will let us get to the other side," Mylo said.

"But that is a good idea. We don't have to kill the thing to get out of here. Not if the doorway leads to a room on this layer or below," Adriel added, but it seemed like this was the limit of Anemoray's patience. The monster roared, creating a sound more similar to glass shattering than to what a living being would create.

With that, Hera called out her entire court. Lurize and Nimbus already in their bipedal forms. The Anemoray saw this group preparing for a fight and decided to strike first. It lashed out with its tail going for a sweeping attack. However, Lurize, Nimbus, and Mylo jumped forward to stop the tail. They managed to block it and were pushed back a couple of meters, but the movement stopped, and there was little to no damage to them. Helena also helped by using her shadowgrabbers to pull the tail in the opposite direction. Thanks to the dark hands being sharp claws doing so also dealt some damage to this beast.

Before the monster could even react, Shane fired two bombs at it, trying to freeze the creature. Even if Anemoray was a water-dwelling being, it might not be able to deal with ice. Bonnie had a similar idea and tried to freeze the path under it so it would struggle to move. Alex and Hera rushed towards the monster pulling their weapons. The assassin was going much faster since she had just thrown a wind-blade spell while using her new skill to increase her speed. However, it was clear that she wasn't going as fast as she could since Hera wasn't trailing that far behind.

At the same time, the Empress triggered the Elemental Strength spell across all of her court. Frost was covered in a layer of ice, doubling the size of the blade of the glaive as he started attacking the tail, making a few gashes that were quickly mended by the monster. Core glowed as the blade itself became a dense liquid, moving as if it was a chainsaw of fire, increasing his firepower and letting some of the lava sediment behind with each strike. Armory grew some spikes around her and became more sturdy, and any attacks aimed at her would return some of the damage she took. Scythe grew a small chain on the base of the earrings allowing any attacks to have a small chance to create a mirror strike that would deal a small percentage of the initial damage or bind the enemy momentarily. Ooze didn't have any visual changes, but as he moved, there was a sound coming from him that would reverberate with an impact causing some damage inside the target. At the same time, any ally who heard that sound would be more aware of their surroundings. Edge had a soft green glow around him that increased his recovery rate, and he was currently close to Hera in case the Empress got hit and needed some healing. Dao was once again covered in electricity, letting him move at incredible speeds. Nimbus' tonfas which were also affected by the spell, had a honeycomb pattern around them, being covered in small shields that could not just protect themselves but also be deployed to stop attacks. Lurize's zweihander was even bigger now, combining the Elemental Strength spell and the Venom Blade skill. From the tip, an orange liquid dripped but evaporated before reaching the ground, going back into the sword and making it even deadlier.

Lastly, Fang and Claw, the weapons that Hera was the proudest of for what she did with them. Using the Royal Seal, she tried to pass a skill instead of an element, and after some tests with random objects and even a couple of fish, she managed to come up with a way to pass her Naga Poison to the weapons. Everyone agreed that this only worked because of the weapon's origin. Either way, now, with the Elemental Strength spell, both blades would glow softly, and the scales became more apparent. But the biggest difference came when Hera attacked. Each blow would make the blades move almost like a snake and attack from a distance. Of course, hitting something with the actual weapon dealt more damage, but the distant strikes would still deal about 50% of what the blades could do. Another thing that surprised her was that she could even understand the weapons better, and using skills became much more intuitive than before.

Alex did a flip to jump over Anemoray as she slashed at the creature. The monster turned to the assassin, but before it could do anything, Hera and her court attacked the other side as a loud rattling noise echoed, signaling the use of the Battle Rattle from her bracelet. Aside from that, she also added Armory's buff totaling an increase of 15% in attributes for everyone plus 40% to all of her blades' weakest attributes. The impact of her multiple strikes seemed to deal some considerable damage, and they were not done. Blue sent out a bolt of lightning from a cloud she made in front of her and created a massive pair of cloud hands before going forward and punching the tail of the Anemoray with that spell.

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For an initial strike, that was about as good as it would get, and the damage was clearly showing on the creature. Or at least, that's what everyone thought. However, as soon as there was a small moment when the monster wasn't receiving any attacks from anyone, all the wounds closed up, and the creature seemed to be good as new.

"Now that's just not fair," Adriel said as he passed, flying on top of two of his drones carrying Bonnie on his back with the third drone, the one with all their tablets, following right behind him.

"Keep it busy. I'll check the doorway!" Bonnie cast a couple of defensive buffs on the party as she passed by.

The Anemoray seemed to notice the two in the air, but the rest of the team was quick on the uptake. Mylo, Lurize, and Nimbus started wailing on the creature's tail, which was now showing more of the silver strands that were inside its body.

'Empress, those strands might be the actual body. I think the black part is just something it controls,' Lurize said just as the creature slammed his tail against the three warriors. The impact sent them tumbling back, splashing in the shallow water, with Mylo landing on the small island where the main body of the Anemoray was located.

Shane fired a couple of shots with an electric net while running on the outer perimeter of this stone whale's stomach. Hera tried to use a spore field to hinder the monster's eyes, and it had some effect, but no one could tell exactly what that effect was. Seeing that, Daskka took a chance to transform into her silver mist snake form, which was now a three-and-a-half meter tall beast that was wider than Lurize with glowing red eyes. She wrapped herself around the Anemoray and started to squeeze. A pair of silver fangs that looked like daggers came out of her mouth, and she bit the monster, trying to poison it. At the same time, mist started to come out of her body, going straight for Hera and Alex. The two of them instantly felt refreshed, and some of the exhaustion they were feeling went away. This was the new way the herald had come up to help during fights. She would split into healing and supporting and becoming a giant monster that could put fear in their enemies.

"It's for the 11th layer! The name is weird, but we can go without a problem!" Bonnie yelled.

"Then go! Everyone, move to the doorway and just go. We don't have that much time!" Shane yelled back.

"What? Why?" Blue asked.

"Because this thing is moving, and we have no idea where the invisible wall is!" Hera replied as she used her flaming poison needle rain to pepper the Anemoray with attacks, hoping the poison could do something, even if it was a very long shot.

"We can still help!" Adriel started preparing a few lasers from his drones, but a shadow wall blocked his vision.

"Just go! If you attract the monster there, we don't have a way of going through!" Helena was also running towards the doorway. Her voice came from behind Hera, but not a single one of the blades managed to see the mage.

"I…" Adriel started, but Bonnie's voice came right away.

"Ok, we are going. You better be right behind me!"

Nimbus and Lurize rushed to Hera's side, already attacking the creature. The tendrils from its eyes grew and were now gripping Daskka, squeezing her the same way she was doing with it. Alex jumped to the side and pierced one of the silver strands. This finally made the Anemoray react. It roared in pain and came down on the assassin with all its rows of teeth. But she was too quick for it. She managed to move to the side without worry. The impact pushed Blue to the side, making her fall on the water and hit her head. She quickly got back up, but she was stumbling.

"I'm going!" Shane yelled.

"I'm right behind her," Helena was already there even if no one could see her.

"Blue, Alex, go!" Hera called.

"What, no, I'll stay." Blue punched the Anemoray with her cloud hands.

"Mylo can handle being hit more than you do, and I have the numbers. Alex has its attention, and we can use that to get closer to the doorway," Hera yelled.

Blue huffed, "Fine," it was clear that she wanted to say something else, but she didn't. Instead, she just ran to the doorway. The Anemoray tried to get Alex again, but Mylo slammed his staff against its head, making the creature lose its target.

"Alex…" Hera started but was quickly cut off.

"After Blue gets out, I'll go there and lure the monster before going myself. That way, you two are close," Alex smiled. Hera glanced towards her with a smile, but seeing the black veins pulsating made her even more worried than she was about the monster.

Alex sent out a couple of Wind Blades from her scabbard and jumped to the opposite side of the creature. Mylo liked that idea and went to the front forcing the Anemoray to move its head around every time it attacked a different target. Daskka was still around it, but she was struggling. The tentacles coming from the eyes were squeezing her too much, and she had to drop her giant shape. She could pretend to be a monster, but the Anemoray was still out of her league. The snake moved back towards Hera, healing Mylo, who was already bruised. With the tail, the monster managed to catch Alex off guard and sent her flying to the wall of this area. She managed to lessen the impact and saw Blue disappearing from the room after touching the doorway.

"I'm going!" Alex yelled and tossed a Wind Blade at the doorway to use her new skill to run after it. The Anemoray chased after her with Mylo and Hera right in its heels. However, the monster wasn't able to get to her in time before the assassin vanished in a glowing white light. The monster roared in anger and looked around, focusing on Hera.

"Mylo, go!" Hera realized that this left a perfect opening for him to leave.

The fighter hesitated for a moment but did that without saying a word. This wasn't a good moment to argue. The Anemoray tried to bite Hera a couple of times. He missed the first by a hair, and the next was blocked by Nimbus and Lurize. Then the eye tentacles reached her and burned her arm as if they were tentacles of a jellyfish. Hera groaned as her arms spasmed but managed to get away, thanks to her court, who all cut the tentacles off.

"Push it away from the doorway!" Hera told her blades.

The entire court started attacking the Anemoray just enough to stop it from moving while Nimbus body-slammed the creature, trying to push it away.

'Mr. Beetle! You're up!' Dao and Frost yelled in Lurize's mind. The Royal tutor activated his golden beetle form and followed up the body slam. Together with Nimbus, they managed to push the monster far enough away to leave room for Hera to run. She triggered her [All In] and dashed to the doorway as fast as she could, almost breaking her wrist when she slammed onto it to stop her movement.

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Would you like to be transported to

The belly of the beast - 11th Layer

[Yes] [No]

You cannot enter your private room through this doorway.

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She glanced back with her finger on top of the yes to recall her court. At that moment, she saw everyone coming towards her, not by running, but because they were being dragged by an invisible wall. Quickly recalling everyone, she pressed yes and felt the warm feeling that she had missed so much before vanishing from the room. Just behind her, the Anemoray had no way to escape this place and was completely destroyed as the invisible wall of the room reached the end of the stone whale's belly.