Archon of Danmachi

After the party set up camp, Nox once again surprised them with the utility aspect of his magic, making simple alarms and protection from the elements thus allowing for a safer and more restful break before they got back into the thick of things.

"Your grasp of magic has already moved on far beyond mine." Riveria commented as she analyzed her former student's magic with keen interest and even some excitement.

"Well . . . My innate talents and Skills made it a whole lot easier than most." Nox replied.

"Maybe so but without the passion and drive to achieve more and your thirst for knowledge, you would have never reached such a level, even more so, as soon as you did." Riveria unabashingly praised.

"Thank you!" Nox heartfeltly said.

"Without your teaching in the beginning to set a good foundation, I would never have gotten as far as I have." He added as he slightly bowed.

Riveria was slightly irked for some reason. She was really not used to this sort of treatment from Nox and it made her uncomfortable.

Nox looked up to see Riveria's expression and immediately noticed she was uncomfortable.

'Was it what I said?' He pondered.

'Hmm . . . More like how I acted.' He deduced.

"Riveria-san . . . Do you prefer when people talk down to you?" Nox asked with interest.

"Eh?" Riveria wa shocked out of her discomfort.

"I mean . . . You obviously disliked the respectful treatment so I thought you might have those uh . . . sort of . . . "tendencies" . . ." Nox tried to carefully word his sentence.

'I never would have guessed that the respected Riveria Ljos Alf was into being talked down to and such masochistic tendencies from what I saw of her in the series . . .' Nox thought to himself.

If Riveria could read his mind, he might have had to start worrying for his chances of survival.

'Maybe after being treated with high respect and reverence her whole life, Riveria-san now lusts for the opposite?' He postulated.

As Nox lost himself in his thoughts, Riveria finally caught on to what the boy was suggesting.

She immediately furiously blushed, bringing about a cuteness Nox never associated with her and bringing him immediately out of his thoughts.

But then he asked himself in his mind.

'Embarrassment from denial!? Was I actually on the money!?'

This time, even without him saying anything, Riveria figured out what was going on in Nox's head and it only made her more furious at the implications.

"Hmph!" She snorted and walked away leaving Nox behind.

"Who would've thought . . ." He said in a low voice, almost making the high elfess slip when she hear him.

After that small interaction, one that led many to look at Riveria strangely, not because they knew the contents, but because she was acting weird when compared to usual, the party had their much deserved rest without incident.

As the luminous crystals in the dungeon floor ceiling started shining more brightly, signaling the coming of morning, the group packed up and, after Nox deposited everything in storage, they set off to find the Balor for the testing of Nox's maximum firepower.

The party wandered through the 49th floor, searching for their target and taking care of the roaming herds of Fomoires, bipedal goat like monsters the were actually quite large and strong, enough to match a level 4 to 5 adventurer depending on said adventurer's skillset.

Nox for example, would have zero problem dealing with a single one through area bombardment with his magic.

They traveled in huge herds however and so, they were quite hard to deal with, not for a party of some of Orario's best of the best though and the Loki Familia party made quick work of the herds through an efficient kiting strategy while allowing Nox to save his full firepower for the Balor.

Roughly around midday and three Fomoire herds later, it was finally found. A huge giant somewhat similar to a colossal Fomoire but more bullish. It was taller and stockier than the Goliath with a third eye on its forehead and a monstrous mouth filled with sharp spear like teeth.

According to info, it could unleash powerful magic from its third eye with both destructive capabilities and capable of inflicting abnormal conditions like poison and petrifaction.

Even without these though, it was a formidable opponent with terrifying strength and endurance to whether attacks.

Ottar, the mightiest adventurer in all of Orario, at least in the current times, was incapable of defeating it in single combat. This alone was a testament to its might.

Now, Nox was about to unleash the full power of his magic on it, without any regard for environmental damage he may cause since the 49th was so huge it did not really matter how wild he went.

They were still quite a distance away from the Balor when Nox requested them to stop.

"What's wrong Nox? Second thoughts?" Finn asked as everyone else looked at him.

"No. We're close enough, I want at least this much space to work with . . ." He replied while planning his attack.

"You can reach him from  all the way over here?" Tione asked with some disbelief.

"Yes I can now . . . let me make my plan of attack . . ." nox replied without much though as he went through his calculations.

Among his magics, Spirit Decimation was probably his most powerful, at least at the current moment since he never saw the need to create needlessly destructive spells he would not be able to use inside the Dungeon.

Even then, he always held back a fair bit in the amount of Mind he put into such large scale spells since a Juggernaut was possibly the opponent he feared the most in the dungeon despite not being aware of its actual capabilities.

Now though, he needn't fear such things so was prepared to go absolutely wild, the question was what element to use.

Decimation was nothing but a variation of the Spirit Bolt magic so, regardless of the element it was basically a powerful bolt the exploded with power incomparable to the other versions.

Powerful spells that took advantage of each elements uniqueness was not something Nox had put much focus on, with Invictus being the only one that qualified but, even it was mechanically similar between elements in the form the they were all auras with enchantment abilities.

Driving his Archon skill to maximum power, Nox's hair turned white with multi colored flashes of light coursing through it as his flowed in the air.

Multicolored lights flowed in circuit like paths across his body, increasing its power to the point everyone around him could feel him getting stronger and his presence becoming somewhat . . . holier. It was quite hard to describe for them.

Ais however, recognised it as a spirit's power that was comforting to her but, deeper within it, she could feel an unsettling aura, even though it was only for a split second as she knew in her heart that Nox would never harm her.

'Lux Decimation'

Nox began charging up his spell, magic circles appearing all around in a cocoon like manner with  large one forming in the Balor's direction.

Magical energy began gathering on the magical circles, both from within Nox and the environment all around him, all of is being channeled in the large circle as an orb of golden light started forming at its center.

It then started to grow bigger and brighter as all members of Nox's party could no longer bear to look directly at it.

'This power . . . How much further can he go?' Riveria asked herself.

Her finely tuned senses for magic giving her a clear picture of just how much power was being put into the spell before her.

Riveria could not put such power into a simple spell. Not because she liked the Mind to do it, but because her spells themselves have limits.

For example, in the original series, although Bell could create a more powerful firebolt than usual by using more Mind, he couldn't create a super powerful one by using most if not all of his Mind in a single cast due to the spell's own limit which he could use the Argonaut skill to surpass it.

In Riveria's case it was her skill which greatly expanded the limit of said power through the extension of the spell's chant, as well as her unique technique of chant connection that allowed her to actual do the extension and put more mind into a spell to further increase its power, that she could surpass this limitation.

Finn's sharp instincts and intuition also warned him of the danger of Nox's magic but, since it was not directed at them, he couldn't really feel the true extent of its power.

As for Gareth, Tiona, Tione and Bete, they could feel the power but hadn't the slightest idea of how it would actually translate to destruction.

The only other person besides Riveria to sense just how powerful and impressive Nox's display was, was Ais.

She could feel the massive spirit power gathering to Nox's command and empowering his spell. The feeling it gave her was incredibly warm and comforting, she almost wanted to close her eyes and just bask in the presence of his magic, forgetting the world around her.

As various thoughts went through the minds of everyone, the Balor obviously noticed the lightshow and turned towards the party's direction, starting to head closer to them.

Nox's orb of light was already three meters in diameter and as dense and saturated with magical energy as he could make it to the point he was actually running out of Mind.

Leaving only enough to avoid a Mind Down, Nox finished the charging period and finally, he fired the spell.

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