Chapter 243

When Jeanne, who had transformed into her [True Form], entered through the door she opened, there was only a pure white space stretching before her.

And after all other members had entered their assigned sections, the open doors closed by themselves.

Then, the pure white space began to shimmer, and eventually, everything from the floor to the ceiling and walls transformed into a vast box-like space with a glossy glass-like texture in deep blue.

Afterward, seawater began to well up from the entire floor, eventually stopping at a depth of about three meters.

At that moment, a monster appeared about a hundred meters in front of Jeanne.

At first glance, its size appeared to be about twelve meters, equal to Jeanne in her true form.

However, this came with the annotation that this was only the currently visible height.

Its lower body was shaped like a snake's tail as thick as a giant tree, with a tail about twelve meters long coiling in the seawater.

The upper body had a human-like form with navy blue skin, highly developed muscles, and six arms. Furthermore, each of the five fingers on each hand had sharp blue claws.

The face looked like a whale's face stripped of flesh down to the skeleton, with thin skin stretched over it.

However, at its mouth were several sharp, shark-like blue teeth, and its upturned eyes glowed an eerie red.

"OOOOOOON..."

"NEIGH!"

Its cry was a low sound as if resonating from the depths of the earth, somehow stirring up human fear, with a voice that seemed to cling to one's body.

Jeanne whinnied loudly as if to blow away that sound, issuing a warning.

But the monster showed little reaction, just quietly watching Jeanne with its red eyes.

Although Jeanne furrowed her brow suspiciously at this, she understood that this was an entity that needed to be defeated, so she immediately entered a combat stance.

She brought out her new weapons - giant cleavers in both hands - and imbued them with dragon power.

Then, as both a test run and a feint, she released two slashing attacks mixed with wind and fire magic at reduced power.

While observing how it would deal with this, the monster crossed its six arms, showing composure, and opened its mouth wide.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

It canceled out the two slashing attacks with sound waves released from its mouth and vibrating its entire body like an instrument.

"NEIGH"

Even though the power had been held back, it wasn't such a weak attack that it could be cancelled out just by shouting.

Jeanne calmly judged that it must possess vibration-based attack skills.

While this was happening, as if it was now its turn, the monster thrust forward its six thick arms that had been crossed.

As Jeanne watched to see what would happen, water welled up in its palms, and six water-formed axes, each six meters in size, appeared.

Though they were certainly made of water, their realistic texture suggested they could be both gripped and cut with.

The monster then infused the six water axes with spirit energy and released six strengthened slashing attacks enhanced with water magic.

What Jeanne did then was...

"BRRRRR"

Like what had been done to her earlier, she crossed her arms and stood firm while fully deploying [Super Hardened Skin] and [Magic Reduction Particles].

The six slashing attacks lost their water magic due to the [Magic Reduction Particles], and the slashes failed to inflict even a single wound on Jeanne's hard skin.

"FOOOOOOOOOOON"

"NEIGH?"

Jeanne, who had successfully defended without a scratch, was about to make a smug face to provoke anger, but she tilted her head, thinking, "What's with this one?" at the completely opposite reaction she received.

Surprisingly, despite having its attack easily blocked, the monster distorted its mouth in what appeared to be joy, as if reuniting with a long-lost friend.

However, there was no need to keep watching this.

Jeanne activated tree magic as if to say playtime was over, covering her entire body in plant muscles.

Then she grew plant seeds with blade-like leaves using tree magic, launched them in large numbers toward the enemy using wind magic, and flew through the air in pursuit.

The monster, its mouth distorting even more happily at these actions, transformed four of its six water axes into water spheres, from which it released water bullets - or rather water cannonballs - in numbers matching the blade leaves.

And while the blade leaves were being steadily deflected...

Jeanne scattered the water cannonballs and swung down her two cleavers vertically with full force, enhanced by tree magic and mixed with wind and fire magic, trying to cut off its shoulder.

However, the monster wouldn't simply allow this to happen, transforming the water spheres back into axes and attempting to block with all six axes.

But Jeanne's strength prevailed, cutting through three axes in each hand and reaching the shoulder.

However, because the axes had significantly reduced the momentum, the blade only managed to slightly cut in.

But just as she thought to apply more downward force for a deeper wound...

The monster opened its mouth again and released sound waves.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"NEIGH!?"

At that moment, the pseudo-muscle fibers of plants covering her body crumbled from the vibration, and the cleavers touching her body started to chip.

Realizing this was bad, Jeanne immediately raised her cleavers upward and tried to retreat using dragon flight.

However, the monster fused its three arms on each side and, with two arms now possessing increased strength, delivered two strikes to Jeanne's abdomen as she retreated.

"FOOOOO!!"

"BRR!?"

The attacks unleashed from those two thick arms certainly had considerable power.

However, it wasn't enough to break through Jeanne's armor.

Yet those fists cracked Jeanne's armor and accurately inflicted damage internally, sending her flying backward.

Apparently, the fists were generating even stronger vibrations than those released into the air, seemingly breaking through with a combined attack of physical strength and vibrations.

Standing up after splashing into the seawater, when she checked the two points on her abdomen where she was hit, her proud armor clearly showed large fist marks.

Furthermore, the two giant cleavers that Leah had made for Jeanne were chipped and damaged in parts closer to the tip than the middle.

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEIGH!!"

To make the monster pay an even greater price, Jeanne released a dragon horn wind fire spear blade, adding wind and fire magic to her dragon horn spear blade while letting out a battle cry.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON-"

That slash attack, incomparable to what she had released with the cleavers earlier, broke through the wall of sound waves and gouged out the monster's abdomen.

Blue blood sprayed grandly, dyeing the seawater, but water immediately welled up from its body and covered the wound, stopping the bleeding.

But at that moment, the tip of its tail sharpened like a needle extended toward the cracked part of Jeanne's armor, trying to pierce through.

"NEIGH!"

Jeanne dodged it with a side step while raising water spray and used fire magic to evaporate the seawater, blocking the opponent's view with steam.

Not missing the moment when the monster hesitated whether to launch a second strike or retreat, Jeanne drove her left claw deep into its tail.

However, it wasn't just a simple stab.

At the tip of the claw was something Tatsuro had made for Jeanne.

Seeds improved through a mix of tree and darkness magic were held there, and she used tree magic to make them grow rapidly inside the tail.

"--BOOOOH!?"

The seeds grew in a spiral pattern through the flesh of the tail, extending and twisting toward the monster's torso.

But that wasn't the only secret of these seeds.

This was the real deal. The part Tatsuro had most carefully improved wasn't the growth rate.

Jeanne released hellfire from her claw tips using fire magic.

"NEIGH!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOHHH!?"

This plant was unusually flammable, burning like a fuse--or rather, like gasoline-soaked cloth, blazing inside the tail.

Even as the base burned, the growing plant tip continued to advance in a spiral toward the torso, turning the flesh inside the tail to charcoal as it went.

In the midst of that intense pain and the fear of having its body burned up from the inside using its own tail as a conduit, the monster made a decision.

It summoned water from its six arms, combining them all to create a massive water axe, which it then swung down at its own tail.

"OOOOHH"

"Neigh..."

From the cut end of the severed tail, the spiral plant burst out, followed immediately by flames.

Using those flames, it cauterized the remaining part of its tail to stop the bleeding.

Jeanne was completely taken aback by this, thinking, "Wow... that must have hurt."

But the monster seemed quite angry about what had just happened, its smile vanishing and replaced with an expression of rage.

The monster returned the large axe to a water sphere, then added more water to create six five-meter water cannonballs.

Furthermore, each cannonball was connected to each hand by sturdy, extendable chains made of water, and after spinning them around itself to build up centrifugal force, it threw all six at Jeanne.

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

"NEIGH!"

Jeanne used dragon flight and wind magic to rapidly ascend and dodge them.

However, since the cannonballs remained connected to the six hands by water chains, they were immediately made to pursue Jeanne as the arms swung around, sending water spray everywhere.

Since Jeanne's flying ability wasn't as high as Cardina's, she barely managed to weave through the storm of cannonballs with the help of wind magic.

While the power of each individual strike wasn't too concerning, like the fists that had broken through Jeanne's armor earlier,

They also carried powerful wave energy conducted through the chains.

So, taking a direct hit would likely crack her armor again.

"Brrrr..."

Jeanne internally clicked her tongue, having thought she could win without getting close, only to find that it even had powerful long-range attack capabilities.

And to make matters worse, although she had been firing dragon horn wind-fire spear blades since earlier, they were being dodged thanks to the monster's surprisingly quick movements despite its large body and shortened tail.

The long distance of the attacks also seemed to be helping it avoid them.

At this rate, not only would time run out, but she might not even be able to settle things.

With these thoughts, Jeanne concluded she had no choice but to close in again.

So she used wind magic at full power to manipulate the wind and accelerate all at once.

Leaving all the chain-connected cannonballs behind, she circled around to the monster's back and charged in to deliver a direct dragon horn wind-fire spear blade.

The monster, judging it didn't have time to either pull back the cannonballs or generate new weapons, merged its arms into two thick arms, three on each side, and braced them straight ahead.

Then, while releasing water, it covered its hands like gloves.

"NEIGH!"

"FOOOOOOOOON--"

Thinking such defenses couldn't stop her, Jeanne confidently manipulated wind and fire to form a tornado of flames around her body while adding rotation to increase momentum.

The monster's fighting spirit was also high, fully intending to catch the attack as it thrust its two thick arms forward to brace for impact.

"HIHIHIIIIIIIIIN!!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The moment Jeanne's massive body came before it, scattering flames, the monster tried to entangle her and stop her momentum by releasing water chains from its hands.

But the chains, weakened by evaporation from the flames, couldn't stop the rotation and were torn apart.

Yet the monster didn't give up, catching the horns with both hands as if performing a serious barehanded catch, and even as its palms were gouged and arms burned, it sent wave energy trying to break them.

One step forward, one step back. It was exactly the kind of situation that phrase perfectly described as neither doubted their victory, maintaining complete focus without any carelessness, Jeanne desperately trying to pierce through while the monster frantically tried to destroy her horns.

However, such a state would come to an end due to one side reaching their limit.

--Crack. Such a sound echoed from Jeanne's horn--at that moment.

Jeanne's horn broke with a sharp snap.

"--!?"

"OOOOOOOOON!"

Jeanne's eyes widened in shock at having her horns, which were both her pride and strongest weapon, broken.

In complete contrast, the monster raised a cry of joy at succeeding in breaking the horn.

But that unpleasant cry of joy rekindled Jeanne's fighting spirit that had nearly disappeared.

"NEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!"

"OOOO!?"

Jeanne drove her left and right claws hard into both arms of the monster, which had let its guard down after breaking her horn.

Then, from the tips of both claws, she planted seeds and made them grow rapidly.

These were the same plants that had forced the tail to be cut off earlier.

They carved through the flesh in a spiral pattern from the arms toward the torso.

Jeanne set them on fire. And that flame too began to recreate the same nightmare as before.

"O-O-O-OOOOON!?"

The monster tried to return its arms to six in panic, but they wouldn't separate as they were sewn together by the plants inside.

The monster quickly decided on the worst measure. Yes--amputation.

To cut away what had become nothing more than a source of intense pain, it opened its mouth to bite its right shoulder, tearing the flesh with sharp teeth, swinging its head to break and tear off the bone.

It did the same to the left shoulder, and somehow managed to prevent the complete invasion of its body.

"FOOOOOOOOON...?"

Then. The monster, now relieved, suddenly wondered. Why hadn't it been attacked while it was frantically tearing off its arms?

However, that answer would soon become clear.

Until now, it had been too frantic to notice, but it sensed an overwhelming killing intent from in front of it, unlike anything it had felt since being born.

This monster, which was the first to be created and placed as the master of this dungeon, having lived through thousands of years.

While experiencing a spine-chilling sensation, the monster slowly turned its sideways gaze forward--and there was Jeanne, who, like itself had lost her arms and wings.

However, at the tip of her nose grew a horn much larger and more magnificent than the one broken earlier, wrapped in wind, and blazing with fire fueled by plants created with tree magic, glowing bright red.

And Jeanne stood on her two hind legs in a forward-leaning stance, and after taking plenty of time to compress the wind, she launched herself forward as it exploded.

The monster, though overwhelmed by the fear of killing intent, scattered wave energy at full power without regard for reserves, evaporating the seawater with vibrations.

Jeanne was exposed to that attack, cracking armor all over her body.

But her fighting spirit didn't waver as she drove her massive horn into the monster's chest like a gale.

"O-O-O-OOON!"

"Hi...Hi--HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!"

Though Jeanne's momentum stopped after stabbing into the chest, she still pressed forward, moving her head to tear up the inside.

The monster realized its death was near, but still determined to take her with it, it bit into Jeanne's right shoulder where her armor was weakest and sent wave energy directly.

The armor on the right shoulder completely fell away, and Jeanne's exposed shoulder was blown off.

But at that instant.

She released the wind she had quickly recompressed after her momentum was stopped, struck a dragon tail flash backward with her raised tail, and with that momentum, broke through the monster's chest and emerged on the other side.

"--O"

"Neigh..."

As they faced away from each other, the monster with a hole in its chest breathing its last, and Jeanne fell forward into the seawater.

But it seems the outcome was completely decided.

|You have Reached [Level: 50]|

|Acquired title [Fornellius]|

|Class changed from Guardian Knight to Holy Dragon|

|Acquired skill [Dragon Holy Sword]|

Jeanne floated on the sea surface, having lost her right shoulder and both arms, with cracks all over her body.

Eventually, she forcibly transformed to [Child Form] and fell into a healing sleep.