"It's a trap!" Naruto shouted as if it wasn't obvious already.
"Come on!" Dante toss the shield into his spatial storage and ran through the hallway maneuvering the spikes. Naruto followed closely behind him mimicking his every move. He almost got a hole punched in him one too many times.
After successfully escaping the death trap, the two of them returned back to the hallway where they saw the barred off shaft earlier but was now opened up. The elevator takes Dante into a gazebo-like structure in front of a scenic waterfall.
"That was close" Naruto sighed in relief. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes he would be on a spike right now. Just thinking of it was already enough to make him shiver. His heart had nearly dropped somewhere back there. He doubted the kyubi's chakra would have been able to heal him if he had been stabbed through by one of those metal spikes.
"I know right. I wouldn't want to see you skewered on a spike. Or on second thoughts, maybe I do" Dante chuckled with a mocking smile. Naruto gritted his teeth wishing he could wipe that smile off his face but he just decided to ignore the man completely. He still hasn't forgotten about that little stunt Dante pulled earlier. He decided to bid his time. As the saying goes, revenge is best served cold.
"What? no comeback?" Dante questioned stared at naruto's back with a suspicious look. It wasn't the kid's style to take an insult lying down. He must be up to something.
'Or maybe I'm just over thinking it' Dante shrugged before following behind him with a small smile on his face.
However, once he got within arm's reach of Naruto, Naruto suddenly swinged purgatory at him, a move which Dante had already anticipated. Dante effortlessly ducked underneath the swing. Although his attack missed Naruto wasn't discouraged, he had already expected it to happen, that's why purgatory was only a distraction to buy him enough time to pull out limbo.
Naruto aimed the muzzle of the gun at Dante's face and pulled the trigger without a second thought.
Bang!
The loud gunshot echoed around the area. the bullet flying towards it intended target without pause. Naruto held a victorious smirk on his face as Dante was in close range of the gun. There was now way he could evade the bullet. However, a feeling of despair soon washed over him when he saw Dante display an identical smirk. At that moment time seemed to slow down as Dante deflected the bullet with the flat side of Alastor that had appeared in his hand at some point.
"Too slow. Stinger!"
'Shit!' Naruto immediately took a defensive stance when he heard the name of the technique. If he had an option he would have opted to dodge it but because they were in a close proximity he had no choice bu to defend against the attack. Dante zoomed at him in a flash leaving afterimages behind with Alastor held in a stabbing position. Naruto blocked the attack with the flat side of purgatory but the force behind it still sent him flying backwards.
Naruto stabbed purgatory into the ground to slow himself down creating a long trench in ground. Immediately he came to a stop he quickly raised his head only to see a blade appear in his line of sight. He looked past the longsword at the smug look on the face of it owner.
"You lost again. 37 to nil"
"Tch" Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance the stood up and fastened purgatory back to his back and said. "One of this days, Dante"
Dante scoffed at him before walking to the large crack in the wall. "Just keep telling yourself that. Hahahaha."
Naruto followed quietly behind him with a displeased expression on his face. Being reminded of his ridiculous losing streak was like a stab to his heart.
'I swear. One of this days, Dante'
Walking through the large crack led them out into a cliffside area where a Death Scythe resided. The death scythe immediately attacked them as soon asit saw them but it was quickly and efficiently dealt with.
After dealing with the death scythe they made their way down the cliff and through a tunnel which leads to a vertical area where they had to jump across a few ledge to reach an opened doorway at the top.
They passed through the doorway to reach a huge area with a narrow rope bridge. The sight however left them in awe.
"For a demon castle it sure has a nice view" Naruto smiled at the peaceful scene as they could practically see the sea from this side. The sea painted red by the setting sun. The view was almost enough to make him forget that they were currently in a demon castle.
They spent almost an hour moving through the large area before eventually finding the exit door leading to a courtyard area with a stair and a door at the end of it. The courtyard is also occupied by a large group of Marionettes, supported by Fetishes which took them a short while to finish them all. After which, they walk up a flight of stairs to reach a door at the top. Past this is a right-angle room followed by a circular room with a door.
What the hell?" Naruto gasped in shock as the door they walked out shockingly led them back to the main courtyard where they had first fought Griffon. "Did we just go all around only to end up back here?!"
Dante could understand the shock Naruto was feeling. He was also like that the first time he encountered something similar. "I guess we just took a huge detour"
Naruto turned to stare at Dante like he had just grown another head. Huge was a very big understatement. They could have probably avoided all of that.
Dante gave him a side look and smirked. "I know what you are thinking. But even if we had tried to follow this way before, the door wouldn't have opened."
"Ohhh" Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. That was what he was thinking. But it felt embarrassing to be so easy to read.
"There's no need to be ashamed. I remember there being another door around here. We should get going."