"[Twin Sword Art - Marauder Pandemonium]." muttered Angus in a low voice.
In a moment, everyone could see a gigantic, terrifying silhouette behind Angus. Suddenly, Angus' figure disappeared from the spot and appeared far away in the distance. At the same time, everyone finds the whole area turned into silence.
No one heard the roaring monster anymore. In the span of a few hundred meters away, the monster fell to the ground and slowly burned to ash from its slashing wound.
On the other hand, Angus breathes heavily as his twin swords stab the ground while still being held by his hands.
His clothes are already gone leaving only a few pieces of his pants. The surrounding area near him also slowly turns into hot sludge and magma with the twin swords as its center. There is a trace of a scorching wound in his entire arm that slowly healed.
A bright orange vein warped his arms from the burning hand and occasionally released a beating glow.
Every time the vein glows, the temperature in his surroundings increases and Angus feels unbearable pain in his entire arm. He feels like getting a muscle spasm while his whole arm is burning from the inside.
"Urgh.. Not now?!! I need.. move.. before Anna gets further!!" groaned Angus as he forced his exhausted body to move.
Fortunately, his location is not far from the hole Anna created.
Arriving in front of the hole, "ANNA!!" screamed Angus with all his might.
Suddenly, his arms glow again and give a scorching pain. Succumb to the searing pain and exhaustion, Angus fell backward. At this moment, a familiar warm, soothing presence catches Angus gently.
Angus looked at his lover Jayna with a rough breath and kept muttering Anna's name.
"Anna. We need.. Huff.. call her… Huff… Before it's.. too late." said Angus with difficulty.
The Fire phoenix didn't say anything, but her blue eyes had already turned into sharp, fiery eyes and touched Angus' arms. Suddenly, the bright orange vein magically recedes and back into the twin swords.
As the bright orange vein disappears, Angus drops the twin swords to the ground and turns their surroundings into hot lava. Fortunately, the couple has a high resistance against the heat.
Unbeknown to them, the monster's horde is not approaching them. No one knows if they fear Angus or the intense heat in their area. But everyone noticed the monster didn't dare to move forwards anymore while trembling in fear.
On the other hand, the masked person looked at the young couple in the distance in silence. Angus and Jayna didn't notice the surroundings before focusing on the small hole in front of them.
The hole created by Anna in the cave wall is too small for them. They also see it slowly closing up and crumbling away. Still, they could feel a slight tremor in the whole area from the hole.
"ANNA!!" called Angus and Jayna simultaneously.
Suddenly, the tremor stopped for a moment before it became stronger. *BOOOOM* A little black-haired girl appeared from the hole and got into the couple's embrace.
"Angus!! Big Sis!! Huaaa…" cried Anna loudly.
The little monster is in a mess as her dress has already completely turned ragged. Her hair and body were covered with blood and dust. Even her face turned ashy white as a lot of dust covered it. Yet, the couple was relieved as they didn't find any wounds on her body.
"Angus.. *Sob* Big sis… *Sob* Anna.. *Sob* Anna thought… *Sob* Angus and Big sis leave Anna. Huaa…" cried Anna loudly.
"Husshh… We never leave you. We love you, Anna." said Jayna as she tried to calm the little girl.
"Yeah. We will never leave you, Anna." said Angus as he cast a cleaning spell on the little girl.
"Pro-Promewice (Promise)??" asked Anna while still crying.
"Yeah. We promise." replied the couple simultaneously.
"Okay." replied Anna shortly.
The little monster suddenly stopped crying as if she had never cried in the first place before burying herself in the couple's arms while chuckling happily.
The couple only smiles at the little girl's behavior but lets her be since they know it must be hard for her to search them frantically for hours.
They know Anna still couldn't fully be independent on her own. She may be very powerful, but her mind is very fragile. This is also why the couple never leaves her on their own.
After calming down a little bit, "Anna, are those monsters made by you?" asked Angus while patting her little head.
"Monster?? Euhhh… What are those?? It's disgusting!!" replied Anna while giving a disgusted expression.
This reaction confuses the couple. They remember Anna only has this kind of expression when eating vegetables for the first time.
"Anna, aren't those similar to your terri.. I mean, the monster in the drawing?" asked Angus.
"NO! Nope!! Those things are not the same as Anna's super duper masterpiece." retorted Anna.
"*Sigh* It seems we still need to fight our way through. Anna, can you help us? Just give us some time to recover." said Angus.
"Umm… Ahh… Anna has a better idea. Go, Onyx!!" said Anna as the little snake came out from behind her hair.
The Ancient Beast snake hissed aggressively toward the monster. Unfortunately, the dimension restricts his body and forces him down. During this moment, the darkness in the surroundings envelops Onyx's body before everyone hears something is broken. *Crack*
The small snake beast turns bigger in a few seconds and emerges from the darkness. *GROOOARRR* Hearing the loud roar and the strong presence of the Ancient Beast, all the monsters instinctively run in fear. They feel like facing their mighty natural predator.
However, Onyx didn't stay idle either. Since entering this dimension, the ancient beast is frustrated as he gets restricted and can't fight properly. His defeat against Nabe really hurt his pride as the ancient beast.
Therefore, he didn't miss this chance given by his little master to vent all his frustration. The Zokline slithers away and begins its massacre of the surrounding monster without mercy.
"Well, I think this is also okay." said Angus before kissing the little girl's head.
"Hehehe…" laughed Anna while enjoying getting spoiled by the couple.
Angus knows Onyx should be restricted by the dimension. He guesses Anna does something about it and somehow releases the Onyx restriction.
In the meantime, Alder, Nabe, and Crimson Flash Extalia keep traveling through the dungeon maze at a fast speed.
"Tch… This place is completely a maze. Nabe, can't you locate the little monster?" asked Alder while butchering any monster in his way with a casual hand wave.
"With what exactly?? Didn't I say the dungeon was already out of my control long ago?!! That little monster already destroyed too many of the dungeon structures. I couldn't even know where the dungeon core was anymore." retorted Nabe.
"Wait… So, you are saying you could control the dungeon before?" chimed the Duchess.
"Er… Yeah. I actually could. But it was before we met. So, technically I am not lying about not being able to save everyone. Anyway, we should hurry to find the little monster. The miasma in the dungeon is already rising to a hazardous level." said Nabe, trying to divert the topic.
The Duchess wants to comment on it before they arrive at the big clearing cave area. Suddenly, a black thing launched into them. The Alder, who is in the front, already notices this and stops whatever is coming at them. *BAAAMMM*
"What the fuck is this?!!" exclaimed Alder as he got pushed back a few centimeters away.
This scene surprised both Nabe and Alder himself. They know how strong Alder's physical body is even without being enhanced by his miasma. Even Nabe's full-powered kick couldn't leave a scratch on his body.
Yet, this unknown thing in front of them could push Alder away. After a moment, they finally see the perpetrator and find it is another bizarre monster.
The monster has very dark skin and a weird body shape. It looks like a mass of black-colored body with mouths and arms all over its body.
The mouth has sharp white teeth, while the arms have long claws. Besides the mouths and arms, they didn't find other things, such as eyes or ears. However, the worrying thing is the three powerful figures couldn't feel the monster's core aura in it.
They feel it is made of a massive concentration of miasma, similar to an elemental creature made from magic spells. Despite not having a core, they still find the monster very terrifying. Moreover, the monster is also very fast and strong from the previous attack.
"GGGRAHHHH!!" Screamed the monster.
Suddenly, the surrounding area is covered by the thick miasma barrier.
"What is this?" asked the Duchess while looking at the monster.
"It's some sort of powerful barrier made of miasma." said Nabe.
"Tch… This is troublesome. The dungeon sweeper has already reached this stage." commented Alder.
Before the two women could ask more, Alder and the monster already charged and clashed their bodies against each other. *BAMMM*
Their clash releases a huge shockwave that destroys anything in the surrounding area. The only ones that weren't affected by the shockwave were the two women.
"This is bad!! That thing actually has the same strength as Alder. Crimson Flash, cover me. I need to break this barrier. We can't waste too much time fighting this thing." said Nabe before focusing on the barrier.