Chapter 404: Riya!? What are you doing!? Part-2.


    ?


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''It''s surprisingly empty; there aren''t even any traps here... strange...''


    After running through several dozens of corridors and hidden rooms, Rio still didn''t encounter a single trap in the area, which was extremely strange.


    ''That so-called prototype had more traps instead... Is this really the genuine ce?''


    Not seeing literally anything for so long, Rio was having serious doubts about what''s going on in this ce.


    ''Why is it so empty?''


    *AAARRRRRHHHHHH!*


    Just when Rio had reached the stairs leading downwards, an extremely loud voice resounded in his ears.


    It was as if someone was screaming in fear at the top of his lungs.


    *ARRRRRHHGGGGHHH STOPP!! AARRRHHH*


    Hearing those wails of pain and fearing from the lower floor, Rio hesitated from moving forward a little bit.


    ''Er... What''s going on here? Was someone else also teleported here beside me and got stuck in some trap or something?''


    ''The voice is a bit hoarse; otherwise, I would have mistaken that it was Link screaming like a maniac...''


    Rio has seen Link scream at the top of his lungs like a maniac forpletely random reasons, and only his screams are quite annoying.


    Thest time he was screaming was when Liam refused to give him those hand-made cookies as he wanted to gift them to Riya, saying he made them himself.


    In the end, Liam had to give him a few as his shouts were attracting a bit too much attention from everywhere.


    ''I wonder what''s going on down here though...''


    Rio tightened his grip on his sword and slowly moved downstairs one step at a time.


    This ce is simr to that prototype, so there might be golems here, which will cause trouble for him if he gets noticed by one.


    But to Rio''s surprise, there was not a single golem guarding the stairs, and the shouts wereing from quite far away.


    ''How loud is this person shouting that I can hear them from so far away?''


    Rio leaned his back against the wall and started to move at a steady and slow pace.


    The walls here are made up of mithril and adamantine, so unless it''s an SS-ranker, it''s impossible to break them and go past them.


    Rio is using the same method that militarymandos use in covert missions.


    Leaning your back against the wall means that no one can attack you from behind unless it''s an SS-ranker, this way he can move with great stealth.


    And in case something extremely strong shows up, Rio can just jump back and enter the hidden rooms behind the walls by directly bypassing the walls with his shadow robe.


    ''Hmm... this feeling... it''s miasma!!''


    Rio has dealt with miasma a lot, so he''s very sensitive to it nowadays; he can sense it from afar without any mistakes.


    Thus, the more he moved forward, the surer he became that there''s either a demon in front of him or there''s some other source of miasma there.


    ''Why is it that only I encounter miasma all the time?...''


    When they were enjoying the pic in Dragon Valley, Rio had asked the others whether they had encountered Miasma like him, but they all denied it almost immediately.


    None of them had to face miasma, and none of them got any so-called ''practice trials''; only he had received it for some reason.


    Later, Rio concluded that it was all set up by the ''Fragment'' from the start; that fragment was the one that was vaguely calling him from the very beginning.


    It must have been the reason why Rio had toplete that so-called practice trail. ''Thinking about it, that trial was named ''practice trial''... It''s almost as if that building knew I would end up going to the actual ''Spire of Ascension'' soon, and I needed a practice trial beforehand...''


    ''I guess all of this is because this body is still connected to the strings of destiny that the original Rio had...''


    Rio himself has no rtion to this world, so the strings of destiny can''t govern his path and can''t predict what he might do in the future, but this body originally belonged to this world after all.


    Moreover, there''s still a remnant consciousness left of the original Rio inside him; the strings of destiny can predict his future through this method, or they might even control him.


    ''I wonder if these so-called strings of destiny stop working on me after the original Rio''s consciousnesspletely disappears and he seizes to exist...''


    Looking at it from this perspective, Rio isn''t a full-fledged ''Anomaly'' yet.


    An ''Anomaly'' is something that can''t be predicted and controlled by fate and the rules of the world.


    ''Hmm, somethinging this way...''


    Suddenly Rio snapped out of his thoughts that had wandered off to random ces as he sensed something with his detection ability.


    *ARRRRHHHHH*


    Rio stopped moving, and a demon crawled out from the corner where the corridor ends.


    It''s entire lower body was missing; its guts were spilling out everywhere, and a look of absolute horror was stered all over it''s face.


    The demon was trying its best to crawl with it''s hands and run from something with all it''s might.


    Seeing Rio the demon misunderstood him for a demon as Rio was covered in miasma from


    head to toe and spoke,


    "R-run.... D...don''t.... coe....he-"


    Before the demon could finish his sentence, a strange liquid came flying and fell on it''s body.


    *AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!*


    The liquid worked like an extremely potent acid! The demon''s entire body started to melt like crazy and turned into a pool of blood and flesh in a matter of seconds.


    ''What the...''


    [Er... I think we should listen to him; l-let''s leave this ce fast... I-I have a bad feeling about it...


    Even Rio felt a bit hesitant after hearing Shadow''s words.


    The demon crawling on the ground was likely a pseudo S-ranker, and for it to be reduced to such a state in a matter of seconds, that''s not something someone ordinary can do.


    ''Is there an SS-rank monster wandering around here? Maybe I should retreat after all...''


    ''No! If it were an SS-ranker, they would have already noticed my presence by now! If they have already noticed my presence then, there''s no point in running away now...''


    ''I need to figure out some method to trick the other party and escape in one piece...''


    Rio clenched his sword tightly and slowly moved forward.


    *Shiirrrr*


    The moment Rio reached the corner, a magic circle lit up on the ground.


    ''Hmm? Healing magic?''


    Rio has seen Riya use healing magic from very close range, so he can distinguish between the


    magic circles of other types of magic and healing magic at a single nce.


    The moment that magic circle activated, an immense amount of healing magic started to


    pour into his body.


    [Ding! True Immunity triggered! You are immune to healing overdose!]


    ''What? Someone''s using healing magic to deal with demons?''


    Rio entered the next corridor vigntly, and a shocking scene appeared in front of him.


    Corpse upon corpse piled everywhere.


    Hundreds of demon corpses were piled upon each other in the entire corridor!


    Some of them had their lower half destroyed, some were missing their heads, and some had


    massive holes in their chest.


    Demon innards and limbs were scattered all over the ground, and some were even melting into liquid as the healing magic on the ground was purifying everything around.


    A young girl with white hair stood on the piled-up corpses, a demon''s head in her hand.


    Her white hair had turned bright red as they were covered in blood all over, and a cold expression hung over her face.


    "If you are going to scream, why evene here? There''s no end to them; where are so many demons evening from!"


    Only now did Rio understand why the upper floor where he started was so empty.


    And why he was hearing so many loud shouts and wails while walking around the corridors.


    "Uh? Riya!? What are you doing!?"


    Rio just couldn''t believe his eyes. Riya seemed like a goddess of death at the moment; she was


    covered in blood all over, and none of it was her own; it was all from the demons she


    ughtered.


    In the past half an hour, she has ughtered enough demons that the upper floor''s demons


    had toe down to deal with her after she emptied her own floor!


    "HAAH? Another one?"


    Her ears had lost hearing already as demons were shouting at her face like crazy, so her


    eardrums burst apart, thus she didn''t hear Rio at all.


    The moment she noticed him, she also misunderstood him for a demon as he was covered in


    miasma from head to toe.


    [Advanced Healing Magic: Tide Type: Overflowing Healing Tide!]


    "I am sick of you guys; just disappear from my sight!"


    Riya pointed her palm towards Rio, and a gigantic circle appeared in front of her.


    A gigantic tide made up of condensed healing elements rushed out.


    Healing magic poured out of the magic circle as if it were water and spread all over the


    corridor, flooding everything.


    All the demon corpses were melted away in an instant, and even the blood on her body was


    melted away.


    Rio immediately deactivated his miasma and didn''t bother dodging at all.


    Healing magic is harmful for demons, and excessive healing magic overload can kill others


    too, but Rio doesn''t have to worry about all this.


    The tide of healing elements hit him and did not damage; he stood there just like before.


    Then he deactivated his shadow robe to reveal his face too.


    "Er... I didn''t expect you could also look so scary; I guess you learn something new every


    day..."