Every Floor BOSS in the St. Marian dungeon was not something born without roots.
They were all manifestations of history, each having left a vivid, heavy stroke upon the axle of time.
Talen·Leon·Kainssatt had no way of knowing anything of its own past experiences.
But the instinct for battle still lurked within every cell of its body.
When seated upon the pale throne piled from withered bones, it would occasionally hear the war horns and the sounds of slaughter from the battlefield; broken memories entangled its mind, leaving it in endless reminiscence, eternally slumbering in darkness.
Until the iron gate of the treasure vault was pushed open.
The white light that shone in through the crack of the gate filled it with disgust.
But as that disgust surged up, more memories leaked out from the crack as well.
It was the season of the scorching sun beating down, a city-state shrouded in black mist.
The roars of monsters and the low growls of the undead ravaged the battlefield as the black mist spread.
Blood, sacrifice, slaughter...
When darkness blotted out the firmament, the world would know no daylight forever.
The glory of the Demon race would surely sweep across the continent.
Conquer...
Conquer!
...
The bull's head named Talen and the lion's head named Leon abruptly opened their eyes under the stimulation of the white light.
The bull's head's eyes were red as blood, brimming with madness and slaughter.
The lion's head's eyes were resplendent as gold, harboring reason and intimidation within.
The Two-Headed Demon named Talen·Leon·Kainssatt sat upright upon the throne of bones, the dark-red giant axe stained with bloodstains leaning aslant at its side, quietly awaiting the arrival of the uninvited guests.
...
The ten first-year students filed in through the crack of the gate.
Behind the iron gate lay an ancient and resplendent grand hall; the empty space, over twenty meters high, made the young students feel as though they had ventured deep into a land of giants.
The pillars standing within the hall were thicker than several people could encircle with linked arms, and upon the walls exuding a musty odor remained faint, blurred murals.
Although their value was greatly diminished by being too badly damaged, if one studied them with care, one might still be able to savor the lingering echoes of history from them.
After entering, Emma Metis was drawn to those murals carved all over the walls; she couldn't help but recall the entire set of murals she had recorded together with Dark, whose mysteries had yet to be deciphered—that remained the bond connecting her and him.
Sarah Swati, on the other hand, made no comment about it.
As the biological daughter of the Ancient Sage, she had already seen far too many similar things; ruins that weren't rare enough could no longer arouse her curiosity.
But more of the students still cautiously hid behind one Magic Guide Spirit after another, looking around and making a fuss.
Dark led at the front, with Devimon charging ahead.
In the instant they crossed the iron gate, there came a sense of déjà vu, as if crossing endless ages of time.
The white light shining in through the crack of the gate drove back the darkness of the hall, advancing continuously.
Half the hall was thereby illuminated.
The space of this treasure vault was even more open than imagined.
The depths the light could not reach still held a blackness so thick one couldn't see one's own fingers.
Casting one's gaze into it, it felt as though one would be dragged in and devoured by that darkness, with a faint terror lingering in the heart.
...
"Devimon."
Hearing the command, Devimon nodded slightly and immediately charged forward.
As the ever-faithful scout and vanguard, Devimon's "Teleportation" could let it break away from danger at the fastest speed and swiftly return.
Slipping into the darkness was, to it, no more than a fish taking to water.
Dark halted his steps, blocking the classmates who still wanted to continue forward.
His understanding of the classmates other than Diana and Rose was limited, and he couldn't reasonably coordinate based on their card decks in such a short time.
But what they were about to face was, after all, only a Floor BOSS on the second floor of the dungeon.
Under normal circumstances, this Floor BOSS's level would not exceed the second tier.
That is, six-star at the highest.
Although a Floor BOSS could draw a steady, inexhaustible stream of power from the dungeon, such that their base attributes were far higher than those of ordinary Magic Guide Spirits—especially the mana that represented life, which was astonishingly abundant—as long as it remained within the bounds of the second tier, there was no most-fundamental change.
Dark pondered the countermeasures, keeping his mind active.
But an instant later, his expression abruptly changed drastically as a wisp of streaming light flew out from that darkness and sank into the Magic Guide Card in his hand.
Devimon—dead!
...
In just a single exchange, before it even had time to make a sound, Devimon had already perished on the spot!
Dark didn't even have time to channel mana to inquire about the reason before he discovered that a vigorous bloody radiance had burst out from within that pitch-black darkness where one couldn't see one's fingers!
In an instant, the darkness was dispelled, and the crimson bloody light illuminated the greater half of the hall.
A surge of martial slaughter-intent, like blades, spears, swords, and halberds, shot straight up to the very ceiling.
The Two-Headed Demon, over three meters tall, still sat upright upon the throne of bones, but the dual-wielded giant axe that had been leaning aslant at the throne's side had already been hefted up with a single hand, pointed straight ahead!
The power of darkness coiling about the axe blade was rapidly absorbed, making the bloody light on its surface all the more vigorous.
It stomped the giant axe downward, and a clang of metal striking metal spread outward.
Accompanying the spread of the sound waves, that thick slaughter-intent also burst forth in an instant, radiating outward almost in a form visible to the naked eye, passing straight through the bodies of the young Magic Guide Masters.
"Aah!"
Four students among Sara's group and Doron's group instantly turned ghastly pale; among them, that Magic House girl who had earlier been brimming with curiosity even clutched her head and, trembling all over, began to scream.
Her terrified screaming dropped the atmosphere to freezing point.
The girl in Doron's group couldn't help feeling afraid as well.
"Aaah——"
A second or so later, the chubby little Pistan also began to scream, but the moment he let loose his broken-gong voice, the girl in Sara's group instead stopped screaming.
The remaining young Magic Guide Masters, though tense enough that sweat beaded at their temples, all forcibly held it in.
The students of St. Marian were, after all, no ordinary people, and they doggedly withstood that terrifying killing intent.
Had ordinary people been here, they would likely have been frightened limp to the ground on the spot.
But even so, the brand of fear was still left within the hearts of these young Magic Guide Masters.
"So this is a Floor BOSS?"
Beads of sweat seeped from Dark's forehead.
The sheer momentum of this Two-Headed Demon was even stronger than Vampire Vlad's.
Even that Demon Dragon encountered while treasure-hunting in the secret passage had not possessed such momentum.
To say nothing of the Vampire Count that Vlad had summoned.
If one absolutely had to name a single thing that could compare with it, it would likely be only the Moon God that had revived back then within the Temple of the Moon!
And yet the pressure given off by it and by the Moon God were entirely two different sensations.
And this was merely a Floor BOSS on the second floor of the dungeon!
"Is it really only the second tier?"
Dark gave a soft call, and Gatomon had already come before him, gazing with full concentration at that Two-Headed Demon upon the throne of bones.
"It could instakill Devimon—it must have used that means of amplifying power that Senior Fernandi spoke of. The attack power that erupted in that instant must have exceeded four thousand points."
"And to make it so that Devimon couldn't even get off a Teleportation, it likely also has an Ultimate Move that grants instant control."
"The thing is, I don't know whether it's already on cooldown."
"And that giant axe of its also needs watching." In the midst of his deliberation, Dark suddenly concentrated his focus and at once barked out:
"Get ready, it's about to rise!"
...
Devimon being instakilled instead stirred up Dark's fighting spirit.
With a flip of his fingers, he pinched two Magic Guide Cards between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers.
And the rest of the students, after his reminder, also immediately made ready.
Emma summoned out the "Golden Insect."
Beside Diana, an orange-yellow giant bear had already appeared.
And in Sara's hand there was now an additional Secret Ritual Card.
Even Rose summoned out the "Mobius Bug."
And in this very moment, the Two-Headed Demon rose up from the throne.
Its physique was robust, its frame extremely broad, the muscles on its arms hard as rock, and its whole body was covered with thick, long beast-hair, with garments worn only below the waist and abdomen.
The bull's head and lion's head upon its neck were all the more ferocious and horrifying.
Although it bore no armor, this Two-Headed Demon's body was covered all over with scars—those were clearly symbols of meritorious deeds.
After rising, red bloody light burst forth from within the eyes of the Two-Headed Demon's bull head.
"Conquer!"
It let out a low, deep roar, its ferocious aura growing all the more violent.
The bloody light flowing out from beneath its eyes spread like blood vessels all along, flowing over its shoulder, coiling about its right arm, fusing and interweaving with that dark-red giant axe, like blood; like a totem, bursting out a bloody mist.
Its right arm swelled and thickened at a speed visible to the naked eye within the bloody mist, its power surging explosively.
It was likely the charged-up strike of this very arm that had instakilled Devimon outright!
And having completed a fresh round of charging, this Two-Headed Demon then strode forward, the giant axe held trailing in its grip.
Its legs did not move quickly, but the stride of each step was extremely wide.
After two or three steps, it abruptly broke into a run, crossing half the hall in but a moment, then leapt up with gathered force, the right arm holding the giant axe swinging round in an instant as it smashed down upon the crowd with unparalleled ferocity!
...
Without any superfluous prelude, this Floor BOSS didn't even utter the customary opening lines; in its eyes there was only slaughter.
But the young Magic Guide Masters, having prepared in advance, scattered in an instant amid Dark's shout.
As the Two-Headed Demon descended from the sky, the area shrouded beneath its shadow had only one person left.
Dark Demon had not scattered.
He looked up at the Two-Headed Demon plunging down at high speed, the look in his eyes terrifyingly calm.
At some unknown point, he had ceased to feel panic over danger of this degree.
"Meowth."
On either side of his body stood two cats.
On the left was the gray Meowth, and on the right the white Gatomon.
Gatomon, with a composed face, was gathering momentum and ready to strike.
Meowth, on the other hand, was visibly eager to have a go.
"It's time."
Seeing that the Two-Headed Ogre had already begun to descend.
Dark said calmly, "Meowth, Star-Shifting."
The moment the words fell, he and Gatomon together drew back, leaving only Meowth to face that terrifying Two-Headed Ogre alone.
"Meow!"
Meowth's cry was more spirited than ever before.
It stomped both feet, and its whole petite yet nimble body stood upright; fearlessly facing the Two-Headed Demon that radiated the momentum of a mountain range, it slowly raised both hands!
Although the scattered young Magic Guide Masters had already been informed by Dark, when they truly saw this scene of a mantis trying to stop a chariot, they still revealed looks of alarm.
The Two-Headed Demon's lion head simultaneously revealed a look of astonishment, while the bull head grew all the more frenzied, as though utterly enraged by this little cat's provocation.
The bloody mist on its right arm burst apart, and it actually swelled once more.
But seeing this scene, Meowth instead licked its tongue, revealing a bloodthirsty look.
White light bloomed within its palms, gradually enveloping its entire body.
Its languid eyes condensed a divine light, fixed intently upon the rapidly descending giant axe.
"Meow!"
A violent shout!
Meowth raised both hands and, with the technique of "catching a bare blade with empty hands," actually caught that giant axe, clamping the axe blade between its two palms and rendering it unable to budge.
Streaming light swirled within its palms, and the attack value displayed on the Magic Guide Card surged explosively, astonishingly already surpassing 4,000 points!
"Moo!"
Only now did the Two-Headed Demon's feet come thundering down to the ground.
The earth quaked because of it.
The bull head roared in astonishment, the right arm madly mustering strength.
Yet no matter how it exerted force, there was a strange, soft yielding sensation at the point of contact.
And that gray-furred Meowth, on the contrary, gave full play to its power, turning the strength borrowed from the demon's body back upon it.
Amid everyone's gazes, as if they had seen a ghost.
The petite Meowth, clamping that giant axe, actually used it as a fulcrum to lift up the Two-Headed Demon that gripped the giant axe!
Right up until its feet left the ground, the Two-Headed Demon still hadn't managed to react.
After its heavy, massive body was lifted up, it turned a circle in the air, then, utterly without the power to resist, was slammed in reverse toward the ground.
In that instant, the Two-Headed Demon felt as if it had fallen into a dream.
But the tremendous impact felt from being smashed to the ground was by no means false.
Delayed by nearly half a second.
Its two heads then let out anguished howls at the same time.
"Boom!"
The entire hall trembled with a shudder because of it.
The mana that, like a Magic Guide Spirit's, constituted its life, instantly plummeted.
The Two-Headed Demon's slaughter momentum was all the more forcibly smashed apart.
Even though its mana was in fact still quite abundant, its spirit and vigor had been ruined, and it no longer had the awe it had at its first appearance.
...
"Meow."
Having accomplished this feat, Meowth suddenly let go of both hands, flipped backward, and upon landing clasped its hands behind its back like a grandmaster, its bearing imposing.
The young Magic Guide Master who had kept his eyes fixed upon it suddenly saw stars; he actually saw that in the other hand it had stretched out, there was now an additional dark-red giant axe!
That giant axe, which the Two-Headed Demon had not let go of even when smashed to the ground, had inexplicably appeared in Meowth's hand.
Meowth revealed a smug smile; it could feel that this giant axe contained extremely strong power within it—if it could turn this power to use in its own armament...
But suddenly its palm went empty; the giant axe in its hand had already been snatched away by someone.
"Meow?"
Just as Meowth was about to fly into a rage, it saw that Gatomon had already dual-wielded the giant axe and, like a bolt of lightning, charged toward the Two-Headed Demon that was about to climb up!
Gatomon, having reached 2,400 attack power under the buff of the "Holy Ring," naturally couldn't possibly be unable to wield an axe.
In the midst of its dash, blood-energy overflowed from within its eyes, flowing down along the corners, coiling about its arms, merging into the giant axe.
"Boom!"
The bloody mist burst apart.
Gatomon's arms bulged, its power surging explosively.
A full 2,400 attack power surged in an instant to 3,400 points!
But its mana, too, was rapidly draining away.
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