Chapter 583 The Anomalies Assembled
"Everyone here who knows who I am should also be aware that I'm contracted to a shadow elemental spirit as well, should they not?"
Right as he spoke, the figure of a blonde-haired and sapphire-eyed teenager emerged from the expanded shadow, casting a fleeting glance on the spear Evan was holding whilst twirling one around in her hands as she spoke.
"I thought you said Evan isn't in combat…"
[He isn't supposed to be.]
The voice of the Irregular Hero's contracted spirit rang out as the cat made his way up Eliza's shadow, letting the half-severed corpse of a lizardman that he had been holding fall back into the shadowy portal.
The appearance of these two new entrants brought a whole new colour of surprise to the faces of those present, as at a glance, it was obvious to them that Eliza's level was higher than most of theirs!
For those who possessed the common appraisal skill or an item with the same effect, the level they saw Kuro was at and the power they could sense from him did not correlate in any way shape or form.
Level 299s weren't supposed to have auras comparable to Level 400s, after all.
And then while they were still shocked that this relatively new party, the 'Anomalies', were this strong, another voice rang out in the area.
"Geh! I don't think I'd ever get used to the feeling of shadow travel."
Our resident Demon of greed emerged from the expanded shadow right after, his expression being one of discomfort as he quickly found his way to solid ground.
It was then that he finally bothered to look around at the people nearby, losing interest the moment he did not see nor sense his sister in the vicinity.
Unlike Eliza who actually kept her own power in a neutral state and required one to be close by to tell how strong she was, Greed didn't even bother doing that, causing even those who were hundreds of metres away, both reserve combatants and ones in the midst of battle to sense his presence.
Some airborne monsters even turned tails and flew away upon sensing the presence of a 'STRONGER' being they could not defeat.
"Pride's not here yet?"
"She's close. Just that she's busy dealing with a platoon of Senior Members. She'd be here when she's done with that."
Evan replied to Eliza's question as his shadow returned to normal, taking his hand off the Beast man's spear as well.
"A whole platoon? Where? I wanna go too!"
Greed's eyes sparkled as he heard the conversation between the two, but Evan shot down his proposition almost immediately.
"We'd be going into a dungeon soon; we should at least try and conserve even the tiniest bit of energy."
A smirk appeared on the boy's face as he glanced at the High Demon before continuing.
"I also don't wanna hear someone losing our race to the bottom because he was 'a bit tired'."
The hero's provocation seemed to work as intended as Greed silently shrugged his shoulders and tapped his foot on the ground lightly, creating a chair of earth for him and Milena before plopping down on it.
"As I was saying…"
Evan turned back to the BG and the others, with his intimidation effect increased slightly and spoke.
"…I want to enter with my party."
The BG had to admit that Evan's party was one of the strongest currently within the barrier. The boy himself was an A ranker who had S rank level strength, and there were two other genuine S rankers present.
'If the other one is as strong as them, and then you add in these spirits…they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. However…'
The man shook his head to indicate his refusal as he looked at Evan and spoke.
"It's still not enough to deal with the Lizard Lord."
And he was right about that. The Dungeon Boss was a monster of at least Level 500, so his assumption that they would not be able to take it given they were all at least 50 levels lower was right.
'In a normal case scenario, that is.
But this is not a normal case scenario, the Lizard Lord is far weaker. Meaning we can handle it with just our party.'
Such thoughts passed through the young hero's head, but outwardly he sighed in defeat and shrugged.
"Well, I knew that wasn't gonna pass."
Just as he said that, they all sensed an incoming mass of energy beelining straight toward them, breaking through the barrier one of the S rankers in reserve had put up since they assumed it was a monster attack and crashing onto the ground right in front of the group.
A cloud of dust threatened to form, however, a whirlwind swirled all the dust and dirt that rose up, billowing it toward the skies.
"Were we not supposed to head toward the dungeon? Why are you lot still here?"
The High Demon of pride made her spectacular entrance, strolling in casually while flicking off the blood of the dead Demonic Hand Senior Members and their contracted demons off her sword.
Even so, the mist surrounding the sword, and the blood-red lines running through it like veins still gave off a sinister vibe.
Unlike with Greed and Eliza, they felt no surprise about her power, only the feeling of one's expectations being met and even surpassed slightly.
"I'm just informing them of our intention to go into the Dungeon. Given the current circumstances, I didn't want there to be any complications."—was what Evan said outwardly, but...
'I was telling them we were going into the dungeon so when the boss is defeated, everyone is gonna know it's us.'—were his real thoughts being transmitted directly to Pride via their connection.
The boy had tried asking if he could go in with just his party as he didn't want any witnesses when they wiped out whatever Demonic Hand members were present, but that certainly was not going to be a decision they accepted.
Leaving aside the fact that the BG didn't want Evan dying within his country's borders (as he believed the boss was level 500+), he also didn't want a foreigner to come in and get all the credit for resolving such a serious matter.
'If Artemisia's information is correct, then we alone are enough to deal with both Maude and the Lizard Lord, though we'd have to go ALL OUT.
We'd still have time to recover after too.'
Pride pondered on his words for a few moments before shrugging and telling Evan to do whatever he wanted. She then moved over to where Greed was and sat down beside him, pulling out the book she was on and reading.
lightsΝοvel.cοm "Ah, those fools' blood got on it."
Her words made one question if she was actually reading a novel whilst fighting the Demonic Hand members, but Evan didn't bother asking as he knew that was probably the case.
"Okay, so you guys assemble the party that'd follow us, then. Not too many people though, as it might be hard to move with a big group in some areas."
It was not a case of 'Might' but 'Would', as the boy was aware of the new layout of the Dungeon, courtesy of Aidos Online.
Even though his memory was not perfect, the System Archive was there to make things easier for him.
Some of the Mages and adventurers present asked to see the 'artifact that would lead them to the boss room' so they could analyse it and Evan gave the thing he pulled to them without hesitation.
Thanks to Artemisia, their analysis skills and magic spells returned exactly what Evan wanted them to see.
"Hurry up with the selection, Floor 70 might break soon and the level 400s would start pouring out."
Evan gave that reminder to the others as he joined his party members to sit back and relax, taking the time to let his consumed energies recover slightly.
'Today's gonna be a series of battles after battle, after battle. Have to be in top form.'
Although things were not going exactly according to plan, it was still turning out quite unfavourably for the Demonic Hand, which meant the opposite for Evan's side of the scale.
Within a few minutes, the S rankers that were to follow Evan had been decided, and the young hero cast a fleeting glance of appraisal at them, noting that some of the top fighters present were coming along.
'Makes sense considering what level they believe the boss to be.
Well, they would not get to fight it, and if Kethyrilia reduces the limit of the spell, then they might not even be here by the time we're done.'
With that thought, Evan walked up to the BG and a few others, giving them some of the Demonic Hand brooches he had collected and having them pin them to the inner parts of their clothes, making sure they did not let the reinforcement soldiers that were already outside the barrier see it.
He then turned around and faced his gaze towards the Lair of the Lizard Lord in the distance, taking a deep breath before saying.
"All right, guys. Let's move."
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com