"Let me see that thing in detail…" I grabbed the book, as I tried to analyze it through the basic appraising ability every player had, which allowed us to see the information of every item.
However…
Ding!
[Corrupted data found…]
[Information cannot be analyzed.]
[Corrupted data found…]
[Information cannot be analyzed.]
[Corrupted data found…]
[Information cannot be analyzed.]
[Corrupted data found…]
[Information cannot be analyzed.]
[…]
"Ugh…!"
My head hurt like hell the more I tried to analyze the book, until I ended dropping it over the floor. Mark quickly came running to my side.
"Planta!" He caught me before I were to fall into the floor.
"Ah… My head…" I sighed. "W-What was that thing? Just by trying to analyze it, I got all these error messages, constantly! Each time! It felt like… something was trying to get into my head."
"What?!" Mark, Angelina, and Gandalf asked in disbelief at the same time.
"I guess I wasn't affected because I didn't try to analyze it?" Acorn wondered. "But I better… not touch that thing."
"Yeah…" I sighed, feeling better. "Don't touch it, whatever that thing is, not even the System can recognize it properly."
"Is there such a game item?!" Angelina was shaken.
"Well, I guess this item might have been made by an NPC or something…" Gandalf gave his own opinion.
"Are there any other books like these?" I wondered, looking inside the entire hall, but only finding normal-looking books with written words about the analysis of the chimeras growth and development. "Looks like this is the only one…"
Aside from the strange pentagrams made out of blood and the fleshy human skin leather cover, the book also had pictures of strange beings, perhaps demons I remember seeing as I passed through the pages.
It is certainly a very strange book, perhaps something much more valuable that they accidentally left behind… I better not leave it for anybody to get.
"I'll seal this book and encompass it on a bubble of barrier magic." I conjured several chains of light around it, and then put on a bubble-shaped barrier on top of it, storing it into my inventory.
It seemed to be just fine there, so I guess the book has some weird curse, but it is not a sentient being trying to devour my soul or something… I might be able to analyze it more if I show it to someone that might know about actual demons, though.
But this also makes me think that the Cult might have been doing other things than just playing by the rules of this world, they've been seeking something else than just creating things with the leftover pieces of a dead god.
They want something else than… just to create an army of monsters.
"Anyways, let's go. We can discuss this later I guess." I smiled. "There are monsters left to hunt… There are three more floors down there. I feel a gigantic presence on the fourth floor, probably the Boss. Let's speedrun this."
"Sure, let's do this." Mark nodded, his blazing fists eagerly clenching.
"Let's clean this place! I also want to warm up a bit, we've not fought for a while!" Acorn said, just as eager.
"That's right." Brisingra nodded. "I need to catch up to everyone's level too!"
"Lady Planta, let me stay in the frontlines." Nieve said. "I will protect you from the beasts."
She was so tiny yet so brave… I know she was saying these things seriously, but I couldn't help to find her adorable when she said that.
"Okay, fine, but don't push yourself too hard." I smiled. "Titania and Florie are waiting for you back home, remember? Value your life more and don't be reckless, Nieve."
"I-I know…" She nodded, quickly being caught off guard. "M-Maybe I'm just excited to be able to fight after a little while."
"Hahaha, I can tell! Okay, let's do this!"
I quickly led my party towards the next floors, now with the new addition of Angelina and Gandalf. The two were amazing fighters, Angelina was an incredibly fast, capable front-liner with the ability to easily fly, conjure destructive light magic, and attack at incredible speeds using her powerful spear techniques.
Meanwhile, Gandalf could conjure all sorts of interesting magic spells I had never thought about making myself. Not only from just spheres of electricity, but mirrors made of ice that could reflect one magic spell, chains made of flames to weaken and deal damage to foes and restrain them too, strong wind magic can blow up monster body parts by imbuing wind inside of their blood vessels, and more.
Angelina helped me clean the frontlines with the support of Nieve, while Mark and Brisingra were excellent tanks. Brisingra wasn't the toughest physically herself, well, she was very strong actually, but not as tough as Mark's gigantic body, but she made up for it using her amazing Divine Barrier Magic, channeling its powers through her mother's ring, she was able to both deal incredible damage and protect herself and friends from damage.
Combined with my own barriers, our hunting session became incredibly swift as we moved down. The next two floors had many more chimeras, but their shapes and forms didn't vary too much. There were the giant gorilla-armed ones, the snake-headed chimeras, and lastly the beastly chimeras with the bodies of either lions or wolves and many limbs, wings, or heads.
They were all Level 180 all the way to Level 195. After having fought Level 200+ Monsters, these guys weren't that much of a hard fight. They had tricky skills and magic spells, but my heroic swordsmanship techniques targeted their weaknesses, the miasma and nether inside of them easily exploding upon contact with the holy light of these sword techniques.
Unlike the Miasmic Aberrations, the strongest foes we've fought so far, these guys had very little control over miasma or nether, so they were mostly only physical fighters, with some basic magic spells such as Darkness Spears or Phantom Flames.
And with the support of our long-ranged attacks such as Gandalf and Acorn, and some of the familiars I brought such as Silver and Goldie to get them to train and get some levels, we managed to get to the last floor in like half an hour…
An enormous black gate stood before us.
[The Failure of the Laboratory of Madness feels your presence…]
[It is aware that you've come to free them from their life filled with agony.]
Several messages popped up the moment we reached the black gate, as I decided to open it quickly, revealing an enormous, dark gate.
Creaaaak…!
In the middle of the abandoned laboratory at the end of the dungeon, there was a huge broken metallic cage, and something gigantic sitting over it, perhaps over thirty meters of height.
"GRRRRHHH…"
The creature's many eyes opened, brightly shining with crimson light. It spread out its many wings, as its many limbs started to move.
The amorphous shape of a giant's torso with the limbs of many animals and monsters attached to it was revealed, with a handful of different beastly heads attached to its large neck.
It was a monster straight out of a Frankenstein movie…
"GRAAAAAHHH!!!"
[The [Abandoned Failure of the Laboratory of Madness: Lv225] roars with beastly fury!]
