"Just who the hell are you?!"
Cocona said coldly, lightning crackling continuously in her hands. The only reason she hadn’t attacked yet was because a faint hope still lingered in her heart—a hope that Eryon was Eryon, that he had survived and escaped Lucian’s scythe. It was a tiny hope, but it was enough to keep her calm for the mont.
Eryon smirked, and water suddenly surged out of nowhere, enveloping his entire body. When the water receded, it revealed the figure of a beautiful, elegant young woman—clearly Elena!
Boom! Bang!
Cocona nearly launched an attack on the spot, but her blows failed to land even a single strike on Elena. The powerful lightning she prided herself on seed almost afraid, unwilling to get close to her.
"Impossible!" Cocona roared, preparing to strike again.
Silvanus stared at the damage stats on his card, his expression frozen. He almost couldn’t maintain the act on his face.
Elena raised her hand and quickly spoke, "Alright, there’s no need to be so hasty. Do you really think you’d still be standing here if I wanted to do sothing to you?"
She smiled sweetly, but her gaze toward Cocona and the others was filled with mockery of their weakness and foolishness as re humans.
Cocona sneered, "You don’t know until you try."
Even so, she didn’t move to attack again. As Elena said, things wouldn’t be this simple if she truly intended to harm them.
Benjamin hadn’t forgotten that, for now, they might even be on the sa side as Elena. She wanted the fish scale, but she couldn’t touch it herself for so reason. She needed the help of humans. Her sudden appearance here was almost certainly related to the scale—most likely, she feared they would take it away without handing it over to her.
"Alright then, Lady Elena, what do you want?" Benjamin stepped forward a bit, facing her directly.
Elena kept smiling. "The only thing I want is right in front of . As you’ve seen, obtaining the scale is incredibly dangerous. I’m just worried you might not have what it takes to get it. That’s why I’m here—to make sure you don’t fail. Now, the treasure is very close. Hurry."
Her words were gentle, but her eyes brimd with nace—as if warning that any further delay would bring even more dangers upon them.
Drip drip drip...
A strange sound echoed again, accompanied by the noise of flowing liquid rapidly converging in one direction. The boiling crimson blood had given up attacking Benjamin’s group and was now rushing sowhere else at high speed. In the thick darkness, sothing terrifying was gradually taking shape.
"We have to get that fish scale!"
Benjamin quickly said, "I’ll use my power to shield it—Cocona, grab it as fast as you can!"
Cocona nodded firmly. They moved swiftly. Though they still remained wary of Elena, they had no choice but to go after the scale—it was their only chance to escape.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that mont, the ground suddenly began to quake violently. Sharp stalactites from the cave ceiling kept crashing down. Since Benjamin focused on controlling the energy surrounding the fish scale, he could no longer maintain the do-shaped barrier to shield them. Ron quickly raised his hand, summoning a gust of wind that blew away the massive falling spikes.
But that was only the beginning. The massive entity finally appeared before them, its form still hazy—but even so, they could clearly see its enormous, grotesque body.
That thing had a vaguely humanoid shape but with unnaturally tall, spindly legs and arms that dangled down to its knees. It was emaciated, its body ford from boiling pools of blood and sinewy strands of flesh that writhed beneath the surface—slithering like long, grotesque worms. Its mouth gaped wide, two vacant eyes bulging, and its maw resembled a black hole, with countless tendrils of flesh writhing endlessly in its throat. From it spewed a foul black sli that dripped to the ground.
Its body was so massive that even the cave felt cramped around it. It crouched, crawling forward toward the humans on both its hands and feet!
"Graohggggg!"
The monster’s roar shook the entire cavern. Even Ron couldn’t help but stamr, "What the hell is that thing?!"
Vale frowned. "I’m starting to worry... I don’t know if my power is strong enough to purify sothing like that..."
Elena—who could never set foot on the third level—was now watching the scene through the eyes of one of her servants, witnessing "herself" standing inside the cave, beside the rmaid scale and the humans.
Her eyes widened in madness. She shot to her feet, sweeping everything off the table as she scread, "Damn it! That’s not ! That’s not !"
Out of nowhere, water surged upward as if it ant to drown everything.
The expressions of the three "William family mbers" twisted, like possessed dolls tornted by pain yet incapable of resisting. They shook uncontrollably, their faces distorted, black sli oozing from their gaping mouths.
Elena’s fury had been transmitted to the monster.
"At all costs—kill that imposter and bring the rmaid scale back to !"
As for the humans not ntioned—re insects—dying in the clash of monsters was only natural.
The creature let out a deafening roar, then lunged toward the humans. Its arms suddenly stretched at a terrifying speed, growing massive in stark contrast to its withered body, and swung down toward them!
"Elena" curled her lips into a smirk and raised her hand—countless razor-sharp ice shards ford in mid-air and shot toward the monster at an unfathomable speed.
The freezing, densely packed ice instantly engulfed the monster, and the cold radiating from it made even the humans feel as if their bodies were turning to ice.
Cocona gasped sharply and shouted, "Benjamin!"
She felt as if Elena ant to bury them with the monster. Looking down at her fingertips, she could see them encased in ice, brittle as if they might shatter into dust at any mont.
"Now!"
Benjamin yelled, pouring all his energy into pushing the scale toward Cocona. She dove forward, catching it in her hands—but the mont her fingers closed around it, a hand gripped her throat!
Elena had seized her by the neck with one hand. The overwhelming force brought Cocona to her knees.
Elena smiled—that sa gentle, composed smile. Ice spread continuously along the cave walls, glowing faintly with an eerie blue light reflecting off her face and chilling eyes, giving her a beauty completely unlike what they had seen before.
There’s sothing... different about her now, Cocona thought in that desperate, life-or-death mont.
Elena leaned in slightly, bringing their faces closer than ever—one radiating cold, fierce anger, the other calm, gentle, and utterly in control.
Her long hair cascaded down, brushing against Cocona’s cheek.
"You’ve lost, Silver Warrior," Elena whispered.
[Aaaaaaaaaaa! Aaaaaa! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]
[Can I scream for three days and three nights straight?! Who can even process this mont?!!!!!]
[Beast mode! Beast mode! Beast mode! I challenge myself to crow like a rooster until this dungeon ends!]
[How is sothing this stunning even possible?! I didn’t think Elena could be this beautiful—is it because she’s being played by Nerio right now? Truly, charm that radiates from the soul, huhuhu.]
[Drooling here, seriously! I always thought Cocona was Bella’s prince, but now—Cocona is Elena’s loyal knight!]
[Knight × Princess, hahahaha! Okay, I surrender. So writing god out there, please make this a canon story!!!]
[Just look at this scene—this is definitely going to be a tragic ending full of tears for Cocona!]
[I’m crying... from laughter hahahahaha.]
[Ever since the gods showed up—especially Nerio—everything’s just gotten weirder and weirder...]
[Bro just admit you’re loving it too. No sha, lol.]
[...]
As Elena finished speaking, the fish scale—gripped with all of Cocona’s might—suddenly flew from her hands and landed firmly in Elena’s palm.
Cocona furrowed her brow, her expression twisted with strain from lack of oxygen. She let out a roar, and her body erupted with lightning.
"Boom! Crash! Kaboom!"
"Cocona, stop!"
Thunder roared, mixing with soone’s desperate screams. The lightning engulfed everything, shaking the cave to its foundations.
The blinding light was so intense that everyone had to shut their eyes.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
"Give it back! Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!!!"
A piercing scream echoed—growing more and more distorted, turning raspy like a ruined vocal cord—until it vanished completely.
When Benjamin and the others opened their eyes again, their world changed.
They were back on the third level, surrounded by piles of dry bones.
No cave.
No monster.
No Elena.
And, of course,... no rmaid scale.
Cocona panted heavily, her entire body steaming as if burnt out, collapsing to her knees with no strength left. Her eyes glowed with the light of lightning, and arcs of electricity still crackled faintly around her body. At that mont, she looked as though she had bathed in fresh blood—the scorch marks from the lightning on her skin resembled countless twisted roots from which blood slowly oozed.
"Captain, are you alright?!" Ron’s worried voice rang out, and at the sa ti, Alice’s gentle energy wrapped around Cocona, quickly beginning to heal her wounds.
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