Grandeur Fantasia 2

Chapter 258 ~ Reverse Scale

Despite being the same floor, the inner section of the Dungeon of Wrath's eight floor was unlike its outer section.

Instead of massive lakes of magma like the ones they've seen on floors above or from the outer section, large mountains, cliffs, canyons, high walls, jagged pillars, and massive pieces of land were numerous in comparison.

No wyverns flew through the sky near the tremendously high ceiling of the floor. Instead, full-fledged, genuine dragons of various sizes ruled the sky. The smaller sized dragons, from ones slightly larger than a wyvern to medium sized dragon, flew through the air with their giant, fiery wings beating powerfully, exerting their dominance from the sky above.

On the ground, no Volcanic Earth Dragons were present. Instead, large dragons that had claimed a massive cavern they've carved themselves or a massive piece of land ruled the ground.

The difference was obvious to them from the moment they entered the inner section of the eight floor. But a more alarming difference stole their attention.

Miasma. The ever present yet faint, dark aura that surrounded dark monsters like wispy shadows and jet-black smoke emanating from the volcano above them, had become thicker and more powerful as they neared the source of it all.

No longer was it a simple aura of darkness.

The corrupted magic at this concentration was now enough to slightly obscure vision like volcanic ashes, and without proper protection, a whiff of this miasma would be enough to bring any creature into madness and kill the weaker ones.

The only reason why monsters within this dungeon had not completely lose their sanity was due to the blessings they've received from the Demon Lord of Wrath before he had become consumed by his own sin.

"The miasma has become extremely thick here as expected... We need to proceed with even more caution."

Drakon said, his gaze transfixed on the sight before him. Lilith, Sonya, Aura, Vivian, and Bellona also looked at the sight before them with concern painting their faces.

"Uwaaah... This looks even worse than I expected... I've never seen such thick miasma from anything."

"Uhn... I could feel tingling all over my skin..."

Lily nodded to Mia's words as she held her arms together. If it wasn't for her enchanted equipment and the divine blessings from her future mother-in-law, she knew she wouldn't even survive for a minute in the midst of this thick, malevolent, corruption-filled miasma that filled the air around her.

Leon also frowned at the sight before him. He had expected the miasma to become thicker and thicker as they descended, but this was... worse than he had hoped.

He turned towards Freya, and took her hand into his grasp and held it tightly. Freya turned towards him and the two looked at each other in the eyes.

"Freya, I'll be counting on you to protect them from this. Please be careful."

She nodded and gave her beloved a brilliant smile.

"Of course, darling~! Leave it to me!"

Leon nodded with a smile and turned to the rest of them.

"All the enchantments I've made to your equipment didn't only account for your protection against fire and combat, but also this miasma. Mother has also given us blessings to protect us against it, but keep your vigilance. With our vision obscured, rely more on your sensing magical presence and keep yourself hidden."

Everyone nodded at his words.

"Vyra, Alex, and I will go ahead and secure the route as usual. Char, can you come along as well?"