Shuckle had never felt such exhilarating release.
The way "Nightmare Space" slowed and accelerated speed was achieved by distorting space itself.
What Shuckle felt at this moment was like "shrinking the earth into inches"—with just a single backward swipe, the entire bug lunged forward across an extremely long distance.
Under these circumstances, it simply couldn't control its own speed—it was truly far too fast!
The wind rushing at its face made it squint its eyes despite itself, but it had locked firmly onto the tentacle's position the moment it set off, and the fist it threw out gained a sense of solid contact almost instantly.
"BOOM!"
That thunderous roar, which startled even itself, erupted in an instant along with the impact feeding back through its fist.
Destructive force that transcended the numbers bored straight through the tentacle's outer skin, shattering that skin to powder in the blink of an eye, and then, without the slightest pause, drove deep within, pulverizing the muscle tissue behind it into pulp!
This single punch produced a violent shockwave, forcibly shattering every part of the body within its radius.
A bloody hole, punched clean through from front to back, abruptly appeared.
Shuckle opened its eyes and gazed at the destruction it had wrought, even as that recoil force sent it flying backward.
The honest, steady child actually let slip a faintly smug little smirk.
And after that.
Gatomon, as if played back in slow motion, finally added a [Cat Punch].
As Gatomon's only attacking technique, the power of "[Cat Punch]" was beyond question.
The claw gauntlets on its hands were, by design, copied from the claw data of an Ultimate-level Digimon—SaberLeomon—possessing a sharpness that could tear apart anything.
Even if this tentacle's defense hadn't been halved, it most likely couldn't have withstood Gatomon's sharp claws.
And now it was broken open directly!
The rock-hard skin was like tofu before it, torn open with ease.
After this single claw strike.
The massive bloody hole that Shuckle had blasted into the tentacle was further widened, and half of its body was completely shredded.
The upper and lower portions of that tentacle were now connected by nothing more than a thin strip of flesh.
The upper half of its body therefore tilted and toppled over.
That tongue with the mouth growing on it let out a hurried, shrill screech.
A huge mass of pitch-black dense mist burst from the broken section of its body, attempting to reconnect the upper and lower parts.
But a black shadow flashed.
Devimon's towering frame appeared without warning behind the tentacle's severed surface.
Baring a savage grin, Devimon swung its sharp demonic claws at that last remaining strip of flesh!
...
"Meow!"
Gatomon used the momentum to spring back into the passage, and the instant it landed it immediately looked up, only to see that the upper half of the tentacle had already been completely severed and was about to plunge into the depths of the abyss.
And the lower half, now without its head, also showed a tendency to retract back into the depths of the abyss.
By gathering the strength of all four Magic Guide Spirits, they had finally severed this one tentacle!
But Gatomon understood the purpose of Dark's actions perfectly well, and its eyes promptly turned toward the passage opening in the left-hand wall.
That second tentacle was still burrowed within it.
And it was in this very instant.
An extremely piercing sound wave came from that direction!
Gatomon's hearing was already sharper than an ordinary person's, and that sound wave bored into its brain, instantly producing a stabbing pain in its head, making it clutch its head despite itself.
And Devimon, flying through the air, was also stimulated by that sound wave into descending, dark power overflowing from its skull.
"What's that sound?"
In that instant, Dark instinctively covered his ears, trying to reduce the effect of the sound wave this way.
Diana and Rose, along with the rest of the Magic Guide Spirits, all covered their ears as well.
Only Rose, while covering her ears, felt somewhat puzzled.
Although she had in fact never heard a sound like it, some unseen connection still made it feel familiar to her.
"Could it be the Mobius Bug?"
Just as both groups of six were puzzled by this sound wave.
Inside that passage on the left side of the wall, the surface of the second tentacle's body suddenly began to roll like ocean waves, and layer upon layer of countless wrinkles appeared across the sucker-covered skin.
And then that tentacle was actually blasted clean out!
It wasn't until its head too was blasted out of the passage, trembling violently from the unstoppable momentum.
Only then did the sound wave coming from within the passage abruptly cease.
...
"So it really was the Mobius Bug?"
Dark and the other two immediately confirmed the truth.
Rose gripped the Magic Guide Card in her hand tightly, sensing the mana of the "Mobius Bug" being depleted at a rapid pace, and amid her puzzlement she felt an extraordinary delight.
This was the first time she had sent out this Magic Guide Spirit of hers in actual combat.
The only Ultimate Move she understood best, having tested it, was the single one—"Mobius Ring."
This let her know that this three-star Magic Guide Spirit of hers possessed defensive ability that surpassed its star rating.
But as for the "Energy Scale" and "Supersonic" that came after, she had only tested each one once.
Since the "Mobius Bug's" attack was 0, "Supersonic" had no attack bonus whatsoever, and its power was extremely limited—or rather, basically nonexistent.
As for "Energy Scale," it seemed to her more like a skill incidental to "Mobius Ring."
When "Mobius Ring" endured an impact, "Energy Scale" would rise.
From "1" to "7," seven scales in total.
Once it reached the top, it meant that the endurance capacity of "Mobius Ring" had already reached its limit.
Aside from that, it didn't have much use.
But if that burst of sound wave just now had really been released by the "Mobius Bug"...
Rose suddenly realized that her exploration of her own Magic Guide Spirit was very likely still far from sufficient.
...
But judging by the current situation.
The "Mobius Bug's" extraordinary performance was very likely not a good thing...
This was precisely the moment when Dark's Magic Guide Spirits had given everything to sever that first tentacle; although this second tentacle had been blasted out, it was clearly visible that it had not suffered any too-serious wounds.
Perhaps because it had been too thoroughly humiliated before the "Mobius Bug," it had not the slightest thought of burrowing back into that passage, and instead set its sights on Dark and the other two over here.
Even though that tentacle had no eyes.
It nonetheless gave a very distinct sense that it was peering over this way.
...
"But to put it another way, Virt's side should be safe now, right?"
"Surely they wouldn't go courting death again..."
Dark hastily shut his mouth—this was not a good flag to raise.
It wasn't that he was particularly nervous.
If they really couldn't win, then at worst they'd just run.
With Drifblim holding down the fort, it was impossible for that tentacle to catch up to them.
A tactical retreat was nothing to be ashamed of.
"Tactical retreat."
Dark took a deep breath, truly preparing to run.
Continuing to tangle with this tentacle was utterly meaningless, apart from gaining a little bit of combat experience.
Devimon and Gatomon received the order and immediately began to fall back.
Upon seeing this scene, that tentacle suddenly let out a sharp screech.
And then, like a venomous snake darting out of its hole, it lunged over in an instant.
This behavior made Dark realize in a flash.
This second tentacle and the first tentacle should possess independent consciousnesses.
They might truly be two tentacles of a single individual, but their form of existence should be rather different from the octopus or squid he had imagined earlier, and should instead be a structure similar to the snake heads of a Hydra.
The moment he thought of a Hydra, Dark thought of a possibility.
"There wouldn't happen to be that kind of trait where all the snake heads have to be severed at the same time for it to die, would there?"
He hastily strangled this thought of his.
The strength of this hidden space was clearly far above the level of the dungeon's second floor; even if the monster hidden in the depths of the abyss really was so powerful and troublesome, that would be a problem only the upperclassmen needed to face.
Put simply.
None of his business!
Yo-yo away!
...
"Let's go!"
Having made up his mind, Dark immediately scooped up the backpack and rusty sword at his feet.
When he'd let Gatomon do the carrying he hadn't felt a thing, but it was only when he shouldered it himself that Dark discovered this backpack was truly heavy...
The rusty sword, on the other hand, weighed considerably less than he'd imagined.
He gripped the sword in a reverse hold, letting Diana and Rose run ahead first while he himself prepared to bring up the rear.
Rose nodded slightly and channeled her mana into the Magic Guide Card.
As the Magic Guide Card's radiance lit up, that "Mobius Bug" turned into light and vanished, returning to the card's surface.
Diana shook the backpack on her body hard and braced her spirits: "Time to start running!"
This time she did run quite nimbly.
The two girls set off at the same time.
The supremely confident Diana was left in the dust by Rose in the blink of an eye...
"w（?Д?）w!"
Diana froze on the spot for a moment.
But seeing that Rose's retreating figure was rapidly disappearing, she hurriedly set off again.
"Wait wait wait!"
Even though they were fleeing, the atmosphere was unusually relaxed.
Even Dark couldn't help but laugh...
Oh, it wasn't fleeing, it was a tactical retreat.
In that case, never mind.
...
He poked his head out and took a glance.
The tentacle's screeching still echoed at his ear, giving the impression that it was extremely furious, extremely ferocious.
But at this moment, it was like a small fish on the chopping block, struggling and writhing within the "Nightmare Space."
The first tentacle earlier had actually been beheaded before it even had the chance to experience the wonder of "Nightmare Space."
This second tentacle, on the other hand, had the good fortune to experience it for a while.
But the moment it charged into the range of the Nightmare Space, its movement speed became abnormally sluggish.
Gatomon and Devimon had been quite wary at first.
They never expected that the ferocious, imposing tentacle would suddenly turn into a snail.
The two Magic Guide Spirits both quietly let out a breath of relief.
Although their own movement speed had slowed somewhat too, compared to this tentacle it was still within an acceptable range.
The two Magic Guide Spirits then retreated to the corner, disappearing from the tentacle's field of view.
"I'm counting on you for what comes next." Dark stroked Drifblim's head and said solemnly.
Drifblim, thoroughly pleased, nodded its head, indicating that it found this absolutely delightful.
"Just like me."
Dark smiled faintly, took Gatomon and Devimon along...tactical retreat!
As for the Magic Guide Spirits other than Gatomon, Devimon, and Drifblim, he recalled them into the Magic Guide Cards.
Before long, Dark had run out of the range of the "Nightmare Space."
But he failed to notice that, once his retreating figure had completely vanished from view, that Drifblim grinned wide.
"Drifff—"
Although it had reined itself in considerably after evolving, the inner essence of Drifblim was still that same mischievous, prank-loving Drifloon.
It tilted its head and stole a glance at the tentacle still struggling to writhe forward, and then, bold as brass, drifted out from the corner.
"（?^__^?） Hehe..."
After getting a clear look at it, that tentacle slowly opened the eight-petaled mouth at its tip and let out a menacing screech at Drifblim.
But Drifblim shrank its neck, glanced left and right, and after discovering that the "screech" was just a "screech," it once again worked up the courage and flew toward that tentacle.
Drawing near, it raised the ribbon-like part hanging down in front of it and, like a hand, poked at the tentacle's gaping mouth, then with a "boop" retracted it again.
As if it were touching something scalding hot.
"Driff?"
After realizing that it had suffered no harm, Drifblim grew even bolder.
It began to touch the fine, dense teeth within that eight-petaled mouth, the sticky saliva flowing within the mouth, and the corrosive fluid squeezed out from inside it.
In short, wherever it was curious, that was where it poked.
After all, within the "Nightmare Space," this tentacle's speed could never possibly catch up to it.
Its giggling laughter drifted into the abyss, echoing from time to time.
It practically groped over every part of the tentacle's body.
The wretchedly humiliated tentacle displayed an intense intent to struggle.
Drifblim could clearly feel its own "Nightmare Space" beginning to waver slightly as a result.
It was evident that, so long as the force was great enough, it was possible to break through this space's binding and restore its original speed.
But it felt no fear.
The very nature of Magic Guide Spirits determined that they faced little danger of "death."
Once Drifblim had figured this out, all restraint vanished from the depths of its heart.
Stick your head out, take a blow; pull your head back, take a blow.
Either way, no matter how it acted up, it wouldn't die.
So why not act up to its heart's content?
And so it promptly started playing the little game of "pat-a-cake, one, two" with the tentacle.
Of course, the only one getting patted was that tentacle.
...
As the first tentacle was severed and fell, and the second tentacle was trapped and humiliated.
The black mist in the depths of the abyss, after lying quiet for a good while, finally stirred once more.
When those two familiar red lights shone up, it heralded the sudden strike of the third tentacle!
"Splash!"
As though boring up out of water, the body of that third tentacle had a large amount of slime flowing over it.
Drifblim instantly stopped its teasing, leisurely drifted over the head of the second tentacle, and looked toward that third tentacle.
"Driff?"
It tilted its head slightly, its face full of curiosity.
"Jii—"
Accompanying the appearance of the third tentacle, the struggling of that second tentacle suddenly grew far more violent.
The purple mist within the "Nightmare Space" all began to roll because of it.
Drifblim drifted in the air, its light body swaying gently to and fro, the three gems embedded upon its body glowing faintly.
It did not panic excessively just because the "Nightmare Space" had become unstable.
But immediately afterward, the third tentacle, thicker and longer than the second, split open into eight petals at its tip in turn.
The same pattern, but the head of the third tentacle, after splitting open, resembled a flower of flesh and blood even more than the previous two tentacles!
It aimed that flower of flesh and blood at Drifblim, and at the position of the central pistil, an eye quietly opened.
All at once, a pitch-black beam of light blazed across its field of vision.
Drifblim merely felt a slight pain, and then its body was pierced clean through by the beam of light!
...
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