[Card Name: Mobius Bug]
Type: Spirit Card
Level: ???
Species: Insect Species
Attribute: Psychic-type
Mana: 1200
Attack: 0
Defense: 2000
Ultimate Moves: Mobius Ring, Energy Scale, Supersonic
...
A mere three-star Magic Guide Spirit had actually managed to withstand the impact of that tentacle!
The red glow within Devimon's eyes grew steadily brighter.
It seemed to catch a glimpse of "Shuckle's" shadow in this "Mobius Bug."
But compared with "Shuckle," the "Mobius Bug" undoubtedly possessed a completely different essential nature in its abilities.
The "1" that surfaced above its head was perhaps some kind of status-stacking marker, or perhaps a warning that it was bearing its limit.
Devimon did not understand this.
But for the moment, it seemed the "Mobius Bug" was far more useful than it had imagined.
So even if it returned right now, that should be fine, shouldn't it?
Casting a sidelong glance at Virt, who was still vomiting, and the other two, Devimon could not help but curl the corner of its mouth into a crooked arc.
"Three useless wretches!"
It sneered inwardly, its pride gradually overflowing.
...
"Sssahh!"
After retracting, that tentacle observed for only a few seconds before once again revealing its ferocity, launching a second impact toward this side.
But this charge was just like before—the force it had built up drained away almost instantly, the end that sank into the force field becoming soft and powerless, the eight-petaled maw flopping open limply, saliva dripping down.
Once again it recoiled its "head" in terror.
And Devimon, witnessing this scene, turned its back on the three—Virt and the others—raised a hand to make a "bye-bye" gesture, and its towering, sturdy frame vanished from their field of vision without the slightest warning!
...
Devimon's towering, robust body should have shielded them from behind like a solid mountain wall, granting them an endless supply of security.
And precisely because of that, its sudden disappearance caused an unexpected panic.
It was just like the city walls protecting a city suddenly collapsing—the moment the barrier between humans and beasts vanished, panic was inevitable.
"Where did it go?" Robert could not help but cry out in alarm.
Emma was somewhat calmer, but after her gaze swept across every corner and failed to find any trace of Devimon, the expression on her face finally began to crack.
"It very likely went back—after all, there's a tentacle over there too..."
"We can't hesitate anymore, prop Virt up!"
"If you don't want to abort this dungeon adventure early, then run!" Emma fiercely gritted her teeth and said in a low voice to Robert.
Robert's mind was still a tangled mush, but based on his trust in the academic ace, he instinctively moved according to Emma's instructions.
"Urgh—"
Virt spat out some more half-solid, half-liquid mixture and abruptly said, "You don't need to hold me up, I can walk!"
Robert's capacity for action at critical moments was still very strong. Judging that Virt could not possibly walk normally, he ignored him entirely, hoisted up his right arm, and started running.
Seeing them begin to move, Emma immediately started running as well.
In truth, among the trio, her physical stamina was the weakest. At this moment her legs were already nearly refusing to obey, and she had been gritting her teeth to hold on the whole time.
Still, to boost morale, she said in a heavy voice, "Faster—even though we don't know what its limit is, the length of that tentacle is definitely finite. As long as we run fast enough, we can always escape its capture range."
Robert felt hope, and sure enough his drive doubled; even while carrying Virt along, his running speed surpassed Emma's.
Soon...
The trio fled back to the place they had escaped to before. The traces left behind here made them unable to resist relaxing just a little.
Bracing himself against the wall, Virt turned his head and panted, "There's no sound—it doesn't seem to have followed?"
Robert turned back and listened carefully, and could not help saying, "Seems so. Did we get away?"
Emma, meanwhile, was bracing herself on her knees and gasping desperately for breath. It was a good long while before she said, "I don't know, but this place isn't safe. We need to run a bit farther."
Robert, however, muttered, "This should be enough, right? That tentacle from before retreated right here."
Virt chimed in too, "It actually makes quite a commotion when it moves. If it had really chased after us, we'd definitely be able to feel it."
"You two!" Emma could not help but flare up in exasperation, yet there was nothing she could do.
But in the blink of an eye, an extremely piercing sound wave came pouring into their ears, fierce as a surging tide.
"What's that sound?"
Virt suddenly let out a wretched scream.
That sound wave was extremely similar to the sound of fingernails scratching glass.
After the sound entered their ears, it was as if something were clawing at their skulls from the inside out, their entire heads seeming about to burst.
Virt desperately covered his ears, but it had little effect.
Robert and Emma likewise could not escape; visible anguish surfaced on both their faces.
Fortunately, it did not last very long.
Just when the three felt their heads were a hair's breadth from exploding, the sound wave coming from the direction of the abyss came to an abrupt halt.
Afterward, all around fell utterly silent.
There was not the slightest sound apart from their own gasping.
Before they knew it, the three were curled up on the ground, clutching their heads.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
After DemiDevimon returned, Dark immediately sprang into action.
As stated earlier, he did not know much about Rose's "Mobius Bug," and could not judge whether it could withstand that second tentacle that had appeared.
So in order to buy more room for Virt's trio to escape, he once again launched an attack on the first tentacle over here!
That chain of combo blows from "Shuckle" + [Magic Beast (Eevee)] + "Devimon" had in fact already given him a fairly clear understanding of the overall strength of the first tentacle.
Using that as a benchmark, by rough calculation.
That tentacle's attack power should be above 4000, but not by too much.
Its defense, meanwhile, was only around 3000.
Its overall strength approached that of an eight-star Magic Guide Spirit—but this was still only one tentacle!
If there were only this single tentacle, Dark would have crushed it here without the slightest hesitation.
But the second tentacle that had just appeared had already given a preliminary display of the terror of that thing in the abyss.
Were it not for the trio over there, he would never have attacked it any further.
Still, since the decision had been made, Dark would not hesitate again.
Once Devimon returned, he made a snap decision and summoned a new companion—Drifloon!
As the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card lit up with radiance, this Magic Guide Spirit, which had been refined not long ago, was summoned forth by Dark.
"Yowmi—"
The Drifloon, which counted more or less as an incarnation of "Lust," the moment it appeared latched onto Dark's face and rubbed against it wildly.
Somewhat awkwardly, Dark pried it off his face, then flipped out the next Magic Guide Card—"Lust III"!
At only three stars, with little mana reserve stored in the orb on its chest, Drifloon was of limited use in head-on combat.
But once it was successfully made to evolve, it would instantly become a nightmare upon the battlefield!
Dark's technique was swift.
Diana and Rose were still immersed in Drifloon's cuteness when they were shot down all over again by the other kind of cuteness Drifblim carried—one tinged with a touch of cold severity.
After summoning out "Drifblim," Dark quickly said, "Next, I'm going to have my Magic Guide Spirit deploy a field skill. When that happens, my and Rose's speed should increase, while Diana's might not."
Diana: "Huh?"
Dark did not explain, but continued, "In any case, the speed boost from this will be enough to support us in making a swift escape at a moment of crisis. The instant you sense something's wrong, don't hesitate—run immediately."
Rose nodded with a half-understanding look.
Diana still wore a face full of question marks.
Dark added, "Of course, that tentacle's speed should slow down."
Then he reached out and stroked Drifblim's head. Although there was a structure atop its head that looked like a mage's hat, that was in fact part of its body.
Drifblim narrowed its eyes and, as if savoring it, nudged against his palm.
As a Magic Guide Spirit that had only just been born the previous night, its mind at this moment was still as pure as an infant's.
Sending this Magic Guide Spirit, utterly without combat experience, into battle against an enemy did not put Dark at ease—but if it was merely to be used as a tool for opening up a space, then that much could be trusted.
"Let's begin."
Dark withdrew his hand and spoke up, "Nightmare Space, deploy!"
"Yowmi!"
Hearing its master's command, the light in Drifblim's eyes instantly converged; it had clearly grown serious.
As a single cry rang out, thick purple mist quietly emanated from beneath it, spreading out in all directions—seemingly slow yet actually fast.
In the blink of an eye, the mist had spread beyond the passage, enveloping even that tentacle.
The hallucinatory effect of "Nightmare Space" took hold, and that tentacle did not detect anything amiss in the slightest.
Even as it glared fixedly at this side, the wound on its body that Devimon had pierced through was rapidly healing.
Once that wound fully healed, it might well be the moment it launched another attack of its own.
But it would not get to wait for that moment.
...
As the Nightmare Space fully unfurled.
Both Devimon and Gatomon could not help but frown slightly.
These two exceptionally fast Magic Guide Spirits, within the Nightmare Space, were like creatures mired in a quagmire, each step a struggle.
That tentacle's speed was only faster than theirs, not slower—so it was probably even more miserable.
Shuckle and Eevee-chan, by contrast, grew lively.
However, although Eevee-chan had been raised to two stars under the effect of "Pride II · New," its base stats were still insufficient to support it in playing an active role in this battle.
And Shuckle's "[Power Split]" had already entered cooldown; the only active Ultimate Moves remaining were "[Guard Split]" and "[Power Trick]."
"Use '[Power Trick]' to swap attack and defense, then use '[Guard Split]' to lower that tentacle's defense, which will bring its defense down to a fraction of its original value."
"Seizing this artificially created instant of vulnerability, Shuckle's 2200 attack after swapping attack and defense will be enough to deal it a heavy blow."
"But that alone is still not enough."
Gatomon set down its backpack and, at Dark's command, walked over in front of Drifblim.
Drifblim circled around it twice, and only when Gatomon's brows had clearly knitted did it grinningly shake out a patch of thick purple mist and wrap it up.
And then, in everyone's eyes, Gatomon's figure vanished completely from sight.
It immediately put its "cat" advantage to use, moving without a sound.
With both "Lust III" and "[Pride III]" already used, Gatomon was now, in terms of stats alone, the Magic Guide Spirit in Dark's hands with the highest attack.
If Gatomon could approach that tentacle without being discovered.
Although its speed had become extremely slow due to the influence of the "Nightmare Space," facing a tentacle that was even slower, it could surely coordinate with Shuckle to land a fatal blow.
And the speed Shuckle could attain within the "Nightmare Space" rivaled that of a high-speed train!
According to the basic theory that "the greater the speed, the greater the kinetic energy converted," the punch it threw in this state would also far exceed the limit attainable by an attack power of 2200!
...
Combining all factors, calculating every possibility.
Maximizing the attack.
Dark's line of thought was terrifyingly clear.
And his Magic Guide Spirits possessed intelligence high enough to carry out this plan.
Light flickered in Shuckle's eyes, poised and ready to strike.
Gatomon crept forward, soundless and silent.
Devimon, meanwhile, drew the tentacle's attention head-on, prepared to deliver a finishing blow at the critical moment.
"Yowmi—"
Drifblim drifted over to Dark's side and rubbed against his shoulder.
Dark immediately understood—Gatomon had already reached the edge of that abyss.
That tentacle's position was separated from the small stretch of platform extending out from the passage mouth by a distance of less than half a meter.
The east wind blows, the war drums roll.
"It's up to you now."
"Bachi!"
Feeling a super speed that seemed able to cross hundreds of meters in a single thought, Shuckle's confidence burst forth as never before.
After nodding in assent, a tremendously intense white light suddenly bloomed from within its eyes!
The instantaneous burst of psychic power caused its attack power and defense power to swap.
[Attack: 0] - [Attack: 2200]
[Defense: 2200] - [Defense: 0]
Then it poked its head out from behind the wall and abruptly glared at that tentacle.
That tentacle's body was once again shrouded in the light of psychic power.
The tier gap between the two sides meant the effect of "[Guard Split]" could only last for an extremely brief time.
But "Shuckle's" speed at this moment was enough for it to seize this instant of "vulnerability."
The four tentacles beneath it gave a sudden sweep, and its entire body transformed into light!
And Gatomon, the moment the light of psychic power lit up on Shuckle's body, immediately bent its knees and leapt, soaring up abruptly into the air, throwing a "[Cat Punch]" toward that sucker-covered tentacle body!
The purple mist on its body instantly dispersed as it took to the air, exposing its snow-white form.
In the eyes of Dark and the others, its movement was as though projected in slow motion.
But the reaction that tentacle made upon discovering it was slow to the very extreme.
As the white light of psychic power lit up on the tentacle's body, Dark Demon's golden flash—Shuckle—had in an instant already raced its way over.
"Bachi!"
The tentacle muscle it raised bulged out, hard as bedrock, and amid a violent roar it struck the tentacle whose defense had been halved.
"BOOM!"
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