To attack Aurelianne, one must first deal with the female knight standing in her way.

Sapphirose suddenly leapt back, raised her long blade, and stomped heavily on the ground. Using the momentum, she lunged toward Gwen once again.

As her blade clashed with Gwen's sword, she suddenly sensed a powerful surge of magic building behind her.

[Fourth-Tier Magic: Words of Geb]

Accompanied by Cocotte's light chant, several sharp spikes of earth and gravel erupted from the ground behind Sapphirose, aiming directly at her waist.

Sapphirose instinctively tried to dodge but immediately sensed another threat.

Elsa had been lying in wait among the crowd for a long time, searching for the perfect opportunity. Now, she had finally found her chance to strike.

An assassin hidden in the shadows or among the crowd waits for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow.

She swung her massive blade and leaped forward with great force.

A cold gleam flashed, appearing at a corner behind Sapphirose.

At this moment, Sapphirose realized she had no way out.

Two attacks came at her simultaneously, but she could only choose to evade one.

However, there was not enough time for her to think of more options.

In that instant, Elsa's massive blade and Cocotte's magic struck Sapphirose at the same time.

A burst of white smoke erupted instantly.

Everyone's gaze turned toward the thick white mist.

As the smoke gradually dissipated, everyone was shocked by the scene before them.

The humanoid creature with long white hair now had her entire right side covered in dense, hard dragon scales.

Her right arm ended in a massive dragon claw, and even one of her eyes had turned from green to crimson, resembling a dragon's pupil.

The black wing on her back had transformed into a dragon-like fleshy wing, slightly tattered as it hovered in the air.

Her dragon claw firmly gripped Elsa's massive blade, while her left hand held her long blade, continuing to face off against Gwen.

Aurelianne, watching Sapphirose in this state, widened her eyes in shock.

"A... dragonkin!?"

"No, she's not."

Cocotte's lazy voice floated over as she crossed her arms, staring at Sapphirose.

"Dragonkin bloodlines aren't this chaotic."

She immediately recognized that the opponent wasn't human.

When the two attacks landed simultaneously, the opponent didn't evade but instead transformed into a half-dragon form to take them head-on.

Dragonkin are known for their unparalleled physical resilience.

Their resistance to both physical and magical attacks is among the strongest of any race.

Ordinary weapons are like wooden swords striking steel plates when faced with a dragon.

Their sharp claws can tear through steel walls as easily as through soil, and their massive wings can stir up winds that span hundreds of feet.

However, it was clear that this opponent wasn't a true dragon.

Cocotte felt a tinge of curiosity.

This humanoid creature...

Could even wield the powers of a dragon.

But no matter how unique she was...

"This ends here."

Three against one, the advantage was ours.

Cocotte straightened up, her lazy gaze sharpening with a hint of seriousness.

She placed her hands on the ground, letting natural magic flow around her.

"The will of Geb, born from the fragmented soil,"

"The natural spirits pray for your descent beneath the void of the night sky."

[Fourth-Tier Magic: Natural Rupture]

As Cocotte's chant concluded, a surge of powerful magic began to rise around her.

Numerous magical formations lit up beneath her feet, their patterns and runes intertwining.

The earth trembled violently, and green vines bristling with thorns broke through the quaking ground, completely entangling Sapphirose.

The countless thorns pierced her skin, even penetrating the tough hide of the dragon.

A crack slowly opened in the ground.

The vines hurled the bound creature into the fissure with great force, then dragged her back out and slammed her onto the surface.

Boom!

Countless trees were snapped, and a cloud of dust surged, enveloping the surroundings.

The crowd shielded their faces with their arms, feeling the intense sand and dust battering their bodies.

As the tremors underfoot subsided and the dust settled, they lowered their arms.

The devastated terrain around them bore clear evidence of the fierce battle that had just taken place.

However, the figure that had been restrained was nowhere to be seen.

Aurelianne stood in place, stunned, while Gwen calmly sheathed her sword, her expression unchanged as if she had expected this outcome.

Elsa also disappeared back into the demi-human ranks, blending into the shadows once more.

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Cocotte floated over to Aurelianne on her cloud and spoke slowly:

"She escaped."

This was an intelligent creature, and her strength was not to be underestimated.

Indeed, Cocotte could defeat her, but...

Given the strength she displayed, if she wanted to escape, Cocotte would need to prepare a powerful spell in advance to stop her.

Otherwise, she could slip away at will.

After all, the limitations of being a mage were evident.

Not every mage was like Viktor, who could casually cast war magic as if it were fireworks.

Cocotte glanced ahead at the massive door at the end of the thirtieth floor of the Monster Rift.

Beyond it lay the thirty-first floor.

The bottom layer.

Although the creature had escaped, she was gravely injured.

Dragging her wounds, she slipped through the door ahead.

Perhaps she was a monster from the deeper layers of the Abyss.

The lower levels had increasingly complex structures. If she was familiar with the bottom layers, leading the demi-human team deeper would make it nearly impossible to encounter her again.

Besides...

The immediate threat had been neutralized.

Thinking of this, Cocotte felt a wave of laziness wash over her body. She slumped back onto her cloud and waved dismissively.

"Forget it, let her go."

"It's time for us to head back."

Viktor's mission was simply to reach the end of the thirtieth floor. There was no requirement to capture any special monster.

Cocotte wasn't about to work overtime for no benefit.

It's time to clock out.

I, Cocotte, never work overtime!

Aurelianne glanced at the door to the lower layers, then turned back and nodded lightly.

"Understood."

As Cocotte said, her mission was only to reach the thirtieth floor.

Now that the task was complete, she could return.

As the demi-human team prepared to leave, no one noticed Gwen lowering her head and opening her hand.

Several white feathers were clutched tightly in her palm.

These had been plucked from the creature's body earlier.

Gwen had attempted to stop the creature's escape, but its speed was too great, leaving her only able to grab a few feathers from its white wings.

These feathers seemed to carry a faint magical energy.

After some thought, she chose not to discard them and instead tucked them into her armor.

...

Erica slowly opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling.

Her vision was blurred, as if a thin mist obscured her sight.

A dense and somewhat chaotic magic coursed through her body.

But she had no time to dwell on that.

"Hungry..."

She felt weak all over.

She didn't know how long she had been asleep, nor how long it had been since she last ate.

She was starving.

Where was she?

Wasn't she captured by that monster?

But she was so hungry...

Her body refused to move, as if weighed down by lead, too heavy to lift.

At this rate, she might starve to death.

Faintly, she heard voices outside the room:

"Professor, look at this!"

"This is the drop item from the boss of the thirtieth floor!"

The voice was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

Curiosity compelled her to drag her weak body off the bed.

Forcing herself to her feet, Erica shuffled toward the door.

Then, a more familiar voice replied.

"Yes, that's indeed the [Phantom Soul Corpse's Eyeball]."

"Class passed. You may rest now."

The moment she heard that voice, Erica froze.

That voice... She knew it better than anyone else.

She quickened her pace, suppressing the excitement in her heart, and pushed open the door.

Then, Erica saw him.

The man she admired and revered.

"Professor Viktor..."

But suddenly, something felt off.

When she opened the door, the entire room fell silent.

Several familiar faces turned to look at her.

She seemed to see Knight Commander Gwen, and even Princess Aurelianne...

Viktor's gaze also fell on her.

And there was an unfamiliar figure, who looked like an elf, sitting on a floating cloud.

"......"

What was going on?

In the prolonged silence, the unfamiliar elf was the first to break the awkward atmosphere:

"Viktor, I thought it was just a rumor."

"But it turns out you really do have a thing for minors, huh."

...

Monster Rift.

Thirty-seventh floor—

[Emerald Cage]

The surroundings were an endless expanse of eerie green, with faint darkness barely outlining the contours of the land.

Every ten floors, the scenery of the Abyss would completely change.

Sapphirose dragged her heavily injured body to an empty spot and sat down.

Her left side continued to bleed.

But under the green light, the true color of the blood was indiscernible.

Yet Sapphirose seemed unfazed by the pain, her expression stoic.

She looked down at her wounds.

A purple magical flame ignited over her body, cauterizing her wounds to stop the bleeding.

Around her, monsters continued to emerge, clawing their way out of the ground and extending their horns toward Sapphirose.

In this [Emerald Cage], the monsters had already reached fourth-tier strength.

But as these fourth-tier monsters approached within a few meters of Sapphirose, a cold gleam flashed, and the monsters fell lifelessly to the ground, their heads severed.

The corpses lay on the ground, and cracks began to form beneath them, reclaiming the bodies.

But before the cracks could fully open, a thorny vine shot out, impaling the corpse and dragging it back to Sapphirose.

Then, she tore the corpse apart and devoured the flesh piece by piece.

After wiping her mouth, Sapphirose slumped back into a corner of the land, feeling her injuries gradually heal.

Just as she closed her eyes, she suddenly became alert.

Her serpentine eyes locked onto the sky.

At some point, a black crow had perched elegantly on a branch.

"Interesting."

"I recall your name... Sapphirose, correct?"

At this moment, Sapphirose's eyes were fixated solely on the crow.

For some reason, her instincts screamed at her to flee.

[Danger Level of Target: Unable to Determine]

She tried to stand and move her legs, seemingly wanting to escape.

But suddenly, the green ground shimmered with a black, distorted formation.

Countless writhing tentacles emerged, quickly binding Sapphirose and holding her firmly in place.

At some point, a monocle appeared over Vega's eye.

The pitch-black creature donned an equally black suit, topped with a black bowler hat.

He resembled an elegant old gentleman.

"Hmm, if it were Viktor, he would certainly act this refined."

"Allow me to introduce myself politely."

In Sapphirose's eyes, a massive shadow of a black eagle appeared behind the elegant crow.

The shadow flickered and swayed, its eyes deep and vast as if containing entire worlds.

The shadow seemed to expand endlessly, enveloping her in darkness.

A deep, ancient voice echoed clearly in her ears.

"I am the Evil God—"

"—Habika."