The eighth floor greeted them with cool air and the promise of challenge. This floor would contain beasts with an average Soul Power of seventy thousand, more than either of them.

'The only thing saving us from defeat on this floor is our body cultivation. And our experience, admittedly.'

The blue screen welcomed them as usual, glowing gently in the air.

[Floor 8 - Special Effect: Climb.]

[Objective: Find and defeat the Floor Guardian.]

[Party Size: 2]

[Note: All loot is shared evenly among party members.]

"Climb?" Anny frowned, studying their surroundings with new wariness. "What does that mean?"

"Let's find out," Nova replied absentmindedly, walking ahead. He reached out with his essence, desperately trying to sense Millie's presence through the rings. His mind stretched through the magical connection, searching for any response. Dread built in his stomach as silence met his efforts.

But as soon as he left the blue veil, his body fell backwards into the barrier, meeting it with a thud. He felt gravity shifting his body at a ninety-degree angle, making the way forward stand straight up. The corridor ahead was no longer a corridor but a vertical shaft, with walls transforming into floors and ceilings.

"Ah, so that's what it means…" He quickly adapted, getting up on his feet and walking to the side of the barrier. The sensation was disorienting—standing sideways against what had been a wall moments ago.

"How are you doing that?" Anny asked, watching him through the veil. She still stood normally on the other side of the barrier, watching Nova defy gravity.

He barely heard her question. The ring connection still gave him nothing—no response, no signal that Millie was anywhere nearby.

"FUCK!" He stamped on the ground, sending cracks in every direction. The stone beneath his foot splintered, with lines spreading outward like lightning.

"...Still nothing, huh?" Anny's voice softened.

"I just don't understand it! Why is she so far below us?!" Fear clawed at his chest. The thought of Millie alone, terrified, facing monsters she couldn't possibly defeat… It was pressing down on him, more with every new floor they reached. He slammed his fist against the wall beside him, leaving a small crater in the stone.

Anny was silent. She jumped through the barrier and landed on her feet once the gravity turned, having figured out the rules on her own. The abrupt shift didn't even make her stumble. Then she put her arms around Nova's back, embracing him from behind.

"We'll find her. We will!" Her arms tightened around him, warm and solid.

Nova took a deep breath, forcing his panic down. The smell of dust and stone filled his lungs. "...Yeah. Yeah, we will… Let's get to it."

"The monsters here will have higher mental aspects than us, so we need to be extremely careful to avoid getting surrounded. But you have your magic back, so use it wisely." Anny released him from the embrace, moving to stand beside him. Her hand briefly squeezed his shoulder.

Nova nodded silently, looking up at the room above them. His sylph wings appeared on his back, erupting in a shimmer of translucent energy. A cloak of wind formed around his body, whipping his white hair around his face.

He activated his life detection spell, scanning for enemies. Like before, he could only see through thin walls, so the results didn't help much. Only one large signature showed above him, in the next chamber.

"I sense just one creature in the first chamber. Either there's just one, or they're spread apart. Can you hear anything?"

Anny stood with her eyes closed beside him. Her ears stretched and transformed, becoming longer and more pointed, like a rabbit. They twitched and rotated toward the passage above.

"I can hear…" She kept her eyes shut, focusing on the sounds. "Scraping. Claws on stone. Big ones."

"How far?"

"About thirty meters up. A large chamber, judging by the echoes." Her transformed ears swiveled slightly. "Water dripping. Heavy breathing. More than one creature."

Nova looked up the vertical shaft. "I'll scout ahead first. If I find trouble, I'll call for you. But if they're too large to fit the passage, I'll come back down so we can plan ahead."

Anny opened her eyes. She pulled her sword from its sheath with a metallic whisper. "Be careful. Escape if they start to group up on you."

Nova nodded. He pushed off with his wings, flying upward through the shaft. Through the enhanced air-sensitivity of his spell, he noticed a subtle current of air flowing past him, moving downward through the shaft.

'Ah, is the air falling due to the changed gravity? If that's the case, we might struggle with thin air near the end of the floor… How would I counter that?'

Thirty meters up, the shaft opened into a vast, elongated chamber filled with outcroppings and holes along its sides, easily a hundred meters in length.

'The chambers are getting surprisingly large… I guess that's a hint of what we're facing.'

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Nova slowed at the entrance, hovering silently as he observed his surroundings. Then he saw the creature his life detect had sensed.

A giant centipede clung to what should have been the ceiling—now a vertical wall in this twisted gravity. Each segment of its body was the size of a cartwheel, with a combined length of twenty meters. Countless legs ended in curved claws that anchored it against the warped gravity. Its head turned slowly, revealing multiple eyes that glowed with cold killing intent.

'It hasn't seen me yet. But Anny said there should be others? Where?'

He floated closer, staying in the shadows. Three more centipedes slowly came into view from different areas of the room, each as massive as the first. Their segmented bodies twisted around pillars and stone outcroppings, radiating energy that far exceeded what they'd encountered before.

'About seventy thousand Soul Power each, like I suspected. Dangerous, but not impossible. They will fit throught the passage, so luring one down won't work.'

Through the mental link of their matching rings, he called to Anny. (There are four giant centipedes here. Seventy thousand Soul Power. I don't think they have any special abilities.)

(Need help?) Her response came instantly through the connection.

(Not yet. I'll try something first.)

Nova gathered essence between his palms, focusing it into a dense ball of energy. He targeted the isolated centipede, shooting forward with a burst from his wings. The creature sensed him too late, turning as he struck.

He drove his essence-charged fist into the junction between the centipede's head and first body segment. The impact cracked the stone wall behind it, sending shockwaves out from his spot.

The monster shrieked, piercing Nova's ears with painful intensity. Its body thrashed wildly, smashing against the floor. Stone fragments rained down from the impacts.

The other centipedes turned toward the noise immediately. Their massive bodies uncoiled, orienting toward Nova. Multiple eyes fixed on him while mandibles clicked in anticipation.

'Shit, that wasn't enough to kill it? I'll have to try piercing spells, then. Or electricity. Can't have Anny doing all the work again…'

The injured centipede recovered faster than expected. It lunged at Nova, attempting to seize him with serrated mandibles. Nova dodged it rather easily, but another centipede had already managed to get close from his right.

(I could use that backup now.) He called her through the ring before twisting between the creatures, avoiding their coordinated assault.

A third centipede shot forward. Nova hurriedly created a barrier, but he managed to dodge it in time by dodging into a wall. The barrier absorbed the impact as he slammed against the stone.

The last centipede surged toward him, mandibles open wide enough to swallow him whole.

'Damn shits! Give me some time to retaliate, will you?!'

Anny burst into the chamber in her drakeling form, with her sword drawn to the side. "How many do you want me to take?!"

Nova dodged yet another attack by flying between two of the centipedes, momentarily halting their advance. "Let's split them fairly! I just need you to distract two if you can't beat them!"

"Hah, let's see who finishes first instead!" She intercepted one of the creatures lunging for Nova with her shield, forcing it to change directions. The impact echoed through the chamber like a thunderclap.

Nova righted himself. "Thanks for the save."

"These things don't die easily." Anny pushed back against the centipede, digging deep furrows in the stone with her clawed feet.

Two of the monsters surrounded each of them, circling with unexpected intelligence. Their massive bodies moved in perfect synchronization, each taking a different position to cut off escape routes. Mandibles clicked in anticipation as compound eyes tracked every movement.

Finally having some time to breathe, Nova started focusing more on retaliating. He knew a simple electric shock would only be a short distraction, so it needed to be powerful.

'Converting this amount of essence into electric power always generates a wide magnetic field. Good thing I don't have armor on anymore.'

Complex patterns emerged in the air, forming circles of runes. The formation took shape rapidly, humming with obvious power.

His hands opened wide, aiming the formation toward one of the centipedes. The creature reared back, sensing the buildup of power. Its armored segments flexed, preparing to dodge whatever attack might come.

The air around the formation and in a long cylinder forward suddenly gathered to the center, leaving nothing but a vacuum around it for a fraction of a second. Dust particles and small debris were sucked toward the focal point, creating a visible distortion in space. And once the air was at its densest, the electrical energy shot forward.

'It's not easy to use, but it's damn effective.'

The spell unleashed with a thunderous crack that echoed throughout the chamber. The raw power of it made Nova's hair stand on end, his skin tingling from the residual charge. Light flashed so brightly that shadows disappeared for a split second.

The poor creature had no time to react once the spell was fired, only seeing a bright flash in a single moment in time. And it was the last thing it saw.

The glowing energy struck it directly on its face, leaving nothing but a tiny scorch mark. But the mark was deceiving, as the energy wreaked havoc on its insides. The energy was so great that flesh and liquid boiled in an instant.

Two of its sections simply exploded from the sudden expansion of gases, blasting the beast into two pieces. Chunks of carapace were sent flying in all directions, splattering the walls with steaming ichor. What remained of the creature collapsed to the ground in a twitching heap.

[You have learned the skill: Finger of Zeus (Master - 52%) {Grade 9}]

[A magical spell that focuses a million watts into pure destructive energy. It is aimed by insulating the air with a vacuum, ensuring it finds its target with pinpoint accuracy. The energy twists and turns once it finds a target, preventing most of the power from leaving into the ground.]

Nova felt the massive drain on his essence reserves. The spell had taken far more than he typically used for a single attack. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool air of the dungeon.

'Hah, maybe that was too much! But it did take nearly forty percent of my essence, so I guess it's to be expected.'

While he had prepared his spell, Anny had already severed another of the centipedes in half. Her sword moved with that strange, distorted weight that defied normal physics. It took her a few consecutive slashes, but the carapace eventually gave out under her onslaught.

(Why are you attacking its strongest point?) Nova had to ask through their mental connection, though he felt he knew the answer. The sword strike should have targeted joints or less armored sections, not the thickest part of the carapace.

(To prove that I can!) Anny replied with a mental shout of triumph. Her mental voice carried a note of fierce joy that made Nova smile despite the danger still surrounding them.

Indeed, he did already know the answer. It was so like her to choose the hardest possible approach just to demonstrate her strength.

'Oh well, as long as she's having fun. It's going to be a long floor...'

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