A Juggernaut above.
An Amphisbaena below.
"With this treasure, I summon..."
Bell plunged down. Wind whipped across his face, ground rushing up at terminal velocity to meet him.
"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General..."
Juggernaut screeched, instinctively sensing danger. Its six limbs intertwined into a drill, nosediving straight for his heart.
"Mahoraga."
Just before its drill-like limbs could pierce him, the wheel above him rose even higher, a gigantic hand of pure white manifesting into existence.
BOOOM!
Drill and hand collided, recoil forcing them apart mid-fall.
More parts materialized, following that hand in moments. A torso, another arm, legs, and finally... an unhinged, grinning face mirroring Bell's own expression.
Bell backflipped from beneath Mahoraga, facing Amphisbaena below as Mahoraga grinned at Juggernaut above.
Both kicked their legs back in eerie precision.
BOOOM!
Their legs collided. Bell rocketed down toward Amphisbaena, while Mahoraga launched upward towards Juggernaut.
[Gusgam] ignited to life. Flames coalesced over Bell's crown, forming the silhouette of a lunging dragon with jaws wide open.
Mahoraga was not to be outdone; the Divine General brought its arms over the wheel in a wide arc, Its Sword of Extermination aiming at Juggernaut.
BOOOM! X 2
Twin explosions rocked the area as Bell and Mahoraga struck their enemies simultaneously.
ROOAR!
Bell's impact slammed into one of Amphisbaena's two heads, drawing a raging roar from its maw.
He used the recoil to land on a small patch of earth, the surrounding waters churning as other landmasses surfaced around him.
Mahoraga landed directly behind him with a heavy thud, their backs against one another.
Juggernaut followed moments later, crashing down ahead of the Divine General.
.
Bell raised his fist. Mahoraga's hand came down. Knuckles met knuckles between them—a single impact, as though one mind controlled both arms.
His left foot hit the ground. Mahoraga's right followed a half-breath later, their timing so precise it sounded like one step echoing after another.
A moment later, they were gone. The air where they'd stood tore in two, a white streak shearing everything down the middle, one half racing toward Amphisbaena, other rocketing toward Juggernaut.
.
Bell reached Amphisbaena in a blink, his flaming leg buried in its face before the creature could react.
BOOM-CRACKLE
Air shattered. A sonic boom cracked a second too late, conjuring waves across the water below.
He did not let up the pace. Vapor cones stacked on top of one another in rapid succession as he assailed the monster from every angle.
Meanwhile...
Mahoraga clashed brutally with Juggernaut. Its Sword of Extermination met the monster's limbs, scattering sparks in all directions.
The Divine General's two hands were enough to occupy all of Juggernauts limbs, dishing blow after blow without any mercy or hesitation.
They became mere indistinct blurs. A flash of silver limbs. A streak of black rust. Shockwaves from their clash hit the water below a full second after their bodies had already moved on to the next strike.
Yet... these monsters were not to be scoffed at. Once the surprise of their initial assault wore off, Amphisbaena and Juggernaut went toe-to-toe with Bell and Mahoraga, even firmly pushing them back.
Hampered by the surrounding water, Bell and Mahoraga were forced to leap back to a sizable piece of land to secure proper footing.
Amphisbaena lunged from ahead; Juggernaut pounced from behind.
Mahoraga turned sideways, Bell following its movements in harmony. In the next second, the Divine General's right leg pushed Juggernaut down into the ground, while its left hand held onto the snout of Amphisbaena.
Simultaneously, Bell's left hand came up to aim at Amphisbaena, his right facing Juggernaut.
Time ground to a halt as the wheel above Mahoraga spun.
Clunk.
The wheel turned... and something changed.
Not a power-up. Not a surge.
A rewriting.
Bell felt his mana twist, fold, and compress into something that didn't want to exist—volatile, unstable, eager to detonate the moment anything tried to contain it.
A flaming sword manifested in Bell's left hand, while his right dissolved into abyssal darkness, the shadows coalescing into a second blade.
His left eye shone ruby red; his right was swallowed by abyssal black.
Half-burning. Half-frozen.
Bell didn't care.
A flaming line cleaved everything to his left. An abyssal slash sundering everything to his right.
Amphisbaena and Juggernaut were hit dead on before they could dodge.
BOOOOOOM!
...
Yet...
They should not be defeated so easily.
As if confirming his thoughts...
ROOOAR! SCREECH!
The roars of both Amphisbaena and Juggernaut resounded once more, their injuries grave but not life-threatening.
Bell's face turned indifferent as his left side blazed with abandon. His right side dissolving fully into abyssal darkness.
He took a step in the Juggernaut's direction. Mahoraga's step landing toward Amphisbaena at the same time.
They switched opponents without communicating, darting towards their new prey.
.
Bell's blazing and abyssal swords crisscrossed over the thin film that absorbed mana overlaid across Juggernaut. His mana combusted the moment Juggernaut tried to feed it—too volatile to swallow, too unstable to be devoured.
The Juggernaut went mad in response and thrashed, its limbs colliding brutally against Bell, sending him flying backward.
On the other side... Mahoraga pummeled Amphisbaena from all sides, raining punches over the monster without stop.
The second head of Amphisbaena lunged towards it, Mahoraga responded by holding its open jaw in a tight grip.
Amphisbaena tried to struggle, but Mahoraga tightened its grip, both applying pressure onto the other.
That was the moment... Bell flew back towards Mahoraga, backflipping midair to land onto the Divine General's calves, he used them as a pivot to launch himself back towards Juggernaut.
Crack.
Meanwhile, Mahoraga transferred the force of Bell's pivot towards its grip, widening its hold forcefully, breaking Amphisbaena's jaw brutally.
Bell ignored the crack of Amphisbaena's jaw and flew back towards Juggernaut, half of his body alight with flames, other swallowing the surrounding light like a fathomless abyss.
He swung both of his sword onto Juggernaut's crown, making its protective film let out a trembling screech.
Juggernaut snuck out one of its limbs and grabbed onto his arm, throwing him back with a jerk.
Bell backflipped midair, landing onto a piece of land. He had barely composed himself when the lake surrounding him began to shake, tremendous waves forming across the water.
"Again!?"
Bell nearly roared as his footing slipped, Juggernaut and Amphisbaena stumbling unsteadily while even Mahoraga had to clutch onto Amphisbaena to not fall into the lake.
BOOOOOOM!BOOOOOM!BOOOOOOM!
"Who!?"
His questioned was drowned out by countless explosions resounding across the floor once again.
Bell, Mahoraga, Amphisbaena and Juggernaut all fell even further down.
Mid-fall, Bell looked up, his eyes catching a flash of that familiar hat of a certain god.
His whole body disintegrated into abyssal darkness as he was devoured by the dungeon.
His eyes turned absolutely indifferent, remaining locked above...
Clunk.
...
..
.
Nearby.
"Phew... That should do it."
Hermes stood on the last stable chunk of 28th floor, brushing dust off his cloak. He didn't look down into the abyss.
"Don't blame me, Bell Cranel. You only have yourself—and your monstrous nature—to blame." The god let out a long, trembling sigh of relief.
"We saved the lower world from another calamity, right, Ouranos?"
Only the sound of crumbling stone answered him.
...
..
.
Home.
A scream full of grief and agony pierced across the area.
"Bell... No...NO!...NOOOO!"
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Author's Thoughts]
I had to revise this chapter countless times, I just couldn't get the flow right, with four beings fighting simultaneously and all.
Anyway... Can you all guess where it'll head from here?
Keep supporting and I'll keep churning out one chapter each daily for both of my novels.
And thank you all for your support, it means the world to me.