"So it really was them?"
Dark and his two companions had only just arrived.
He was not surprised by the appearance of Virt and his two companions. Apart from themselves, the only people who could have rushed here at top speed were, by and large, Virt's group.
What did surprise him somewhat was that Virt's group seemed to be locked in combat with a monster?
Out of caution, Dark did not immediately step out of the passage mouth.
Diana and Rose were even more curious than he was.
Because they had never seen that "Blood Beast," they were astonished by the fact that such a powerful Magic Guide Spirit was actually being commanded by Robert.
And, of course, they were equally astonished by the matter of why Robert would command a Magic Guide Spirit to attack a stone.
From the vantage point they currently occupied, they could only see the side profile of that round stone, and could not make out what was so peculiar about it after all.
And for that reason, when the stone suddenly fired off a beam of light, they failed to react to anything at all.
...
The situation shifted far too fast—so fast that Dark and his two companions, who had only just arrived at this place, were utterly unable to react.
Only Gatomon, who always walked at Dark's side, strode out in that instant, at extreme speed taking up a guarding stance directly in front of Dark.
Immediately after, a beam of pitch-black light shot through with crimson cut clean across their field of vision, in a single instant piercing right through the very passage where Virt and his two companions stood!
"BOOM!"
The tail-end of the beam struck against the wall, producing a terrifying thunderous roar.
Emma, who had kept her body concealed against the side-wall of the passage, only saw the beam streak past before her eyes in an instant; the threat of death had, for the first time, bared its ferocious face before her.
Though the mere twelve-year-old girl was strong of will, in that instant she still could not help but scream with all her might!
"Aaah—"
The sound of the scream came belatedly, only after the beam had already struck the wall.
Various noises echoed back and forth through the space here.
And as for Virt and Robert, who had been at that passage mouth—they had already vanished without a trace.
Just like a grand magic trick.
The people were gone...
In this moment...
It was not only Emma, who faced death head-on—even Dark and his two companions felt a wave of suffocation.
Dark Demon's breathing froze, his gaze fixed for a long while on the spot where Virt and Robert had disappeared.
Rose, meanwhile, followed right after Emma, abruptly letting out a shriek.
The taut string in the girl's heart seemed to snap in an instant at the sudden sight of this horrifying scene of people vaporized, filling her with terror.
Diana too was stunned blank for a good while, until her dearest friend beside her suddenly screamed—only then did she abruptly come back to her senses, hurriedly turning to grab Rose's wrist, about to pull her back!
She had clearly made the most correct choice at the most critical moment.
At this point, whatever the reason Virt and Robert had vanished, it was no reason for the two of them to keep lingering where they stood.
She did not choose to comfort Rose; instead she pulled her straight into the passage, turning sideways to take cover behind the inner wall.
At almost the same time.
Dark Demon, too, came back to his senses.
But his reaction differed from Diana's. What he chose in that first instant was not to retreat, but to draw out a Magic Guide Card—a three-second summon.
"Mang-mang."
The Magic Beast: Ditto, its eyes solemn, appeared before Dark in an instant.
At the same time.
The round stone, sensing the presence over here, actually turned slowly around, rotating the face that revealed a slit-pupil toward this side.
Within the crack of its opened eye, the lines belonging to a pupil finally grew distinct.
No need to guess.
A moment ago it must have been from this very eye that the dark-red beam was released—not only instantly vaporizing the five-star Magic Guide Spirit "Blood Beast" that had pounced upon it, but also wiping out Virt and Robert, who stood along a straight line: the people were gone.
As for why they were gone.
The most likely possibility was that the "Dungeon Escape Device" had been passively triggered, teleporting them directly outside the dungeon.
Dark's understanding of the "Dungeon Escape Device" was a touch greater than that of his classmates. After all, ever since he learned that the treasure map left behind by Alvit was a type of "Secret Realm Escape Device," he had specially gone and looked up the relevant materials.
The "Dungeon Escape Device" would be passively triggered the moment it judged that its bearer was in mortal danger.
Its trigger reaction time was an almost zero-delay instant cast!
This was also one of the reasons it was so expensive.
Because to carry a "Dungeon Escape Device" was, quite literally, to have one extra life.
And life is priceless.
...
At this moment, Dark naturally had no mind to spare in pitying Professor Nini.
After witnessing that beam of light, beyond his shock, he also immediately realized that this must be the very attack the Drifloon had spoken of—the one that had killed it.
This meant that this stone-like, enormous eye was, without a doubt, a body part left behind by that monster at the bottom of the abyss.
"A single eye can one-shot a five-star Magic Guide Spirit?"
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the fingers gripping the Magic Guide Card trembling slightly.
That was not fear.
It was excitement!
When a person hits a desperate situation, each reacts differently.
Dark had always believed before that he would be the type to play dead in a hopeless corner.
But in fact, it was exactly the opposite.
"It just unleashed an attack approximating [Hyper Beam]—the odds of it releasing a second one with no interval are not high."
"There's light flickering within its eye, but it's not strong."
"The Level III "Major Sin" cards are mostly on cooldown; only that "Lust III," transmuted from the Moon Goddess's "Lust," is still usable."
"Paired with a "Pride II," it shouldn't be a big problem."
"The Magic Guide Spirits that can evolve using "Lust III" are, respectively, the already-degenerated DemiDevimon, Eevee, and—barely counting—the Magic Beast: Ditto."
"But Black Gatomon and Umbreon are of limited use, so let's go with the Magic Beast: Ditto."
"Use the Magic Beast: Ditto as the main axis, Gatomon as support, and probe first."
"Then summon other Magic Guide Spirits depending on the situation."
"As for "[Paradise]"..."
Composure, wisdom, and courage.
These qualities, which Dark had not possessed in his past, were gradually budding forth as he walked the path of study all over again.
"Gatomon!"
"Meow!"
Gatomon abruptly crouched low, its two paws assuming the opening stance it had learned from Hawlucha.
And then, as though their hearts were linked.
It planted its feet and pushed off, the whole cat suddenly setting into motion, almost like a streak of white lightning. As it neared the round boulder it instantly leapt, the cat-claw gloves on its right arm flashing with a frigid, sinister light.
Ultimate Move—[Cat Punch]!
...
Even though the hardness of this stone before it very likely exceeded imagination, Gatomon still had the confidence to slice it apart.
But when its cat-claws raked down from above, the three claw-marks that spread out from the void slashed into a polygonal shield of blood-light!
"Sssrk!"
An ear-splitting sound rang out instantly.
That blood-light shield was torn open by the cat-claws, yet it stubbornly endured without being ripped to shreds.
The torn portion was also swiftly mended, recovering to its complete state.
With its single strike a failure, Gatomon twisted its posture in mid-air, delivering a flying kick at the shield and using the recoil to spring backward in retreat.
At this point, being airborne, it clearly saw that the blood-light flickering in the eye of that round boulder was growing faint.
Evidently, the blood-light shield it had raised in time had also drained its energy reserves.
And reasoning by normal logic.
If the attacks continued, the weakening continued, then there was a high probability of preventing it from firing off that frightful dark-red beam once more!
Gatomon's heart was clear as a mirror.
The notion of withdrawing back to Dark's side instantly shifted course; instead, after landing, it tapped the ground once more and, with extreme agility, charged up again.
...
Gatomon's performance accorded with Dark's thinking. He quickly used "Lust III" and "Pride II" to perform a star-upgrade operation on the Magic Beast: Ditto.
This rapidly boosted the one-star Magic Beast: Ditto up to four stars.
And upon reaching four stars, the Magic Beast: Ditto entered the second tier, and could thus fully copy the data of Magic Guide Spirits within the second tier.
A single, separately-listed eye was not very likely to exceed the second tier.
Dark judged from the intensity of that beam that a level around six-star was a fairly fitting possibility for this eye.
Of course, even if this eye were one or two star-levels higher than the six-star he reckoned, the Magic Beast: Ditto could still copy part of its data.
"Magic Beast: Ditto, Transform!"
"Mang-mang!"
Receiving the command, the Magic Beast: Ditto's morale ran high; its soft, squishy body swelled and deformed at extreme speed, soon becoming the exact same shape as that round stone.
Although the Magic Beast: Ditto's star-level would not change with it, through sensing the information of the Magic Guide Card, Dark still successfully confirmed the level of that round stone—it was indeed within the range of the second tier.
In other words.
In terms of level, it should be inferior to those two tentacles from before.
But those two tentacles were like high-star blue cards, possessing only a single ordinary skill of spewing corrosive fluid.
Whereas this round-boulder-like eye was a purple card—perhaps even an orange card.
The beam it released was equivalent to an ultimate technique capable of crossing tiers.
Which of the two was stronger and which weaker could be told at a glance.
But for him, this was without question a piece of good news.
Dark swiftly examined the "Magic Beast: Ditto" Magic Guide Card, and soon learned the name of that earlier beam—"Evil Eye Ray"!
And that round boulder was named "Evil Eye."
"Evil Eye" was a very common name, not possessing much in the way of distinguishing features.
So Dark was unable to deduce backward from this name any information about that abyssal monster.
But this had little bearing on the battle at hand.
His main purpose in having the Magic Beast: Ditto transform into the Evil Eye was to let it release the "Evil Eye Ray," and thereby turn the enemy's own method back upon itself, slaying it.
However, when he was about to issue the command, he was stunned to discover that the Magic Beast: Ditto's mana was actually insufficient to release the "Evil Eye Ray"!
"This is bad now."
Dark could not help but raise his head to look at the field.
Gatomon was sparring with the Evil Eye.
Even without using its Ultimate Move [Cat Punch], Gatomon's ordinary attacks were still not to be underestimated.
After the Evil Eye's "Magic Light Guard" was struck, there was a distinct flicker of light, and the blood-light continuously gathering within its eye would dim by a degree, never able to reach the point of "robustness."
From this it was clear that Gatomon had done a fine job of suppressing it.
This gave Dark more time to think.
Mana flowed at his fingertips, information continuously interchanging.
"The minimum mana requirement for "Evil Eye Ray" is 1,000 points of mana, and the Magic Beast: Ditto's mana is only 400—let me see..."
A thought stirred in Dark's mind, and he immediately reached for his card-pack.
Although he had rarely used them since transmuting them, in fact his card-pack did indeed hold a kind of charging card—and a full five of them at that!
...
Card Name: Energy Potion;
Type: Item;
Effect: Restores 200 points of energy upon use.
...
Magic Guide Spirits are a marvelous kind of pseudo-life-form.
When they receive charging from Magic Guide Cards such as the "Energy Potion," if their own mana is already full, the charge can be stacked directly on top.
Although it is not infinitely stackable, the general limit is extremely high.
Without the slightest hesitation, Dark took out the "Energy Potion" and used five in a row on the Magic Beast: Ditto, causing its mana to abruptly rise to 1,400 points!
Though 1,400 points was not a lot, it nonetheless somewhat made up for the Magic Beast: Ditto's shortcoming.
Moreover, with these 1,400 points of mana, it could finally release the "Evil Eye Ray"!
...
After this round of operations, the corners of Dark's mouth tilted up slightly, a trace of excitement showing in his eyes.
"Magic Beast: Ditto, begin your performance."
"Mang-mang!"
Upon answering, the Magic Beast: Ditto opened its slit-pupil, the blood-light in its eye gradually swelling.
As mana gathered, a terrifying aura diffused along with it.
Dark reminded it: "Gatomon, prepare to pull back."
"Meow!" Gatomon, which had been treating that Evil Eye as a target to pummel, instantly answered aloud.
It abruptly exerted force, and with a flash of white it pulled away and withdrew.
The Evil Eye that the Magic Beast: Ditto had transformed into released the "Evil Eye Ray" in but an instant.
But unlike the dark-red ray Dark had seen earlier, what the Magic Beast: Ditto released this time was a pure, pitch-black ray, unmixed with any blood-energy!
The dazzling pitch-black magic light pierced through the field of vision in the blink of an eye.
"Kreee—"
That Evil Eye actually let out an insect-like shriek in this very instant.
The blood-light of the "Magic Light Guard" flowed into the Evil Eye's eye, and actually allowed it, before the Magic Beast: Ditto's "Evil Eye Ray" could strike it, to likewise release an "Evil Eye Ray"!
But this "Evil Eye Ray," cobbled together in its moment of crisis, was, before the Magic Beast: Ditto's "Evil Eye Ray," like a counterfeit—thin and short.
There was utterly no suspense whatsoever.
The Evil Eye's thin, short ray was instantly devoured by the Magic Beast: Ditto's thick, long ray.
Immediately after, the rocky outer shell of the Evil Eye's main body also swiftly dissolved within the ray.
The shattered stone fragments rapidly shrank within the pitch-black ray, until at last only pitch-black powder remained.
By the time the Magic Beast: Ditto closed its slit-pupil, the place where that Evil Eye had been held only a small pinch of black powder.
...
Dark was astounded by the might of this "Evil Eye Ray," and could not help but feel immensely grateful for the vigilance he had maintained throughout ever since mistakenly wandering into the hidden space.
...
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