Danmachi:a new face

Chapter 48: Fragmented Trust

The exit to the temple was sealed off by the same fleshy substance that covered the walls of the temple. Before we could even react, the egg like objects opened, revealing those same scorpion like monsters.

All of the eggs that were on the roof opened up, leaving us surrounded. 

"Quick, cleave a way through them." Ryu exclaimed.

"Flame lance." The lance of fire that appeared in front of me was sent flying through every one of the monsters, making a clear path in front of us. "Let's go." I said as I threw a crystal onto the grown, revealing the Megapede that I had captured at the sleepy hallows. "Once, you deal with them, catch up with us." I said to the Megapede.

The deeper we ventured through the temple, the more scorpion like monsters appeared. Aoi, the War Shadow, the Frog Shooter, the Killer Ant, the Eurypterid, the hive mimic, the dungeon worm, all of the armored monster that were found on the 17th floor.  All of these monster were sent out to support us in the fight. 

Asfi threw a vial that contained a substance at the monster and right as the vial cracked, the scorpion was engulfed in flames. Unfortunately the flames has no effect on the monster. 

"My Burst Oil doesn't work?" Asfi stated in disbelief.

"Its self-reproductive and self-evolving." Hermes said to himself.

"Excuse me WHAT!?" 

With each scorpion that was killed, another two appeared. We were overwhelmed. 

"Lili, do you still have some blight sticks?" 

"Yeah." She said as she fired off a bolt from her handheld ballista. 

"Start to use them, just remember what I told you, before shooting them, get a clear image of what you want them to turn into." 

"Got it." And just like that, there where many blight sticks flying right into the exoskeletons of the scorpions. each and every one of the projectiles were different, they ranged from daggers, knives, darts and many more objects.

As that was happening, I shot many aquashard icicles into the scorpions and shot many Acid Orbs. The icicles injected the venom into the scorpions and the glowing orbs of acid melted the scorpions exoskeleton.

Everybody took this opportunity to attack the scorpions and eventually we got them down to a manageable size. We all took this opportunity to go deeper into the temple. 

The sound of a roar echoed throughout the whole temple, the deeper we went, Artemis was getting more weaker with every step. We eventually arrived at a humungous room. 

In the center of the room was a gigantic version of the scorpion monster, except it had a more humanoid appearance. It let out another roar, as a dark energy floated up to the moon that stood above us. Just as the dark energy disappeared, Artemis was struggling to stand up.

"Hey, are you okay?" I helped Artemis off of the ground.

"You both must kill it...You have to kill it." 

Me and Bell both looked over at Antares. It opened its chest where it heart would be, revealing a toothed mouth with a gem inside. What laid inside the gem shook me to the very core. 

"Another Artemis?" I turned back to face Artemis. "W-What is this supposed to mean? Are you the real Artemis or is she the real Artemis!?"

"Acro, I can-"

"What about everyone else!? You said that they'd be waiting for us here, and yet I haven't even seen them yet!"

Many bolts of magic came flying out of the sky, causing lost of debris to come crashing down on everyone. When all of the dust cleared, It was only Me, Artemis and Bell. We where blown into another tunnel. 

The only thing that I could smell was the overwhelming smell of blood. I looked over at Artemis and Bell...They weren't bleeding at all, in fact they seemed as if they couldn't even smell the blood yet. 

"Who are they?" Bell asked.

"My children." Artemis replied.

Ah, is this what Hermes meant by 'They will meet us there.'