Chapter 466 – The Watchdog of the Depths

“Cerberus should be of Sub-Guardian rank. In other words, it’s likely the key defensive point of this sector,” Claudia said.

Sub-Guardian. True, it was a formidable opponent… According to Claudia… the Guardians and Sub-Guardians of the deep floors were under the command of the Last Guardian, and even Claudia couldn’t predict their placements.

“What about the Guardian?”

“…I think it’s fine for now. If Theodore were to lose, the balance of control would shift in my favor, so the Last Guardian might be wary of that.”

…I see. So it’s wary of having its forces taken away.

And the Sub-Guardian stationed here on top of that. Meaning it was the genuine article – a true watchdog permanently stationed here. It probably wouldn’t compare unfavorably to the original Werewolf either. In that case, naturally, I would be the one to deal with it.

As I focused on Cerberus and amplified magical power through Ouroboros, it seemed to have noticed me. It happily growled while scratching the ground with its front paws. I could see the gleam of fighting spirit across its entire body. It appeared to possess considerable physical capabilities.

But there were annoying pests. The Pumpkin Heads flying toward us, cackling while clacking their large pruning shears with both hands.

As if testing the waters, Irmhild fired Light Arrows two, three times, but the pumpkins quickly took evasive actions while predicting the trajectories, still closing in on us.

Monsters that appeared in numbers with that kind of movement. While they had a charming appearance, they weren’t something to let your guard down against as combatants. This was indeed the deep floor. But we also had the purpose of gauging the capabilities of this sector’s monsters.

“This should do—!”

Irmhild immediately nocked another arrow and fired it off.

The arrow was a whistling arrow—amplified for sound by Seraphina’s power, it tore through the group of pumpkins, disrupting their magical control and making their movements waver.

Then, without mercy, a rain of light poured down. Irmhild’s consecutive Rapid Fire. Some took arrows right in the center of their pumpkin foreheads and fell to the ground, while others, though their flight was disrupted, caught the arrows with their shears.

Some individuals handled it quite skillfully. As expected, this wouldn’t be straightforward. However, as their formation was disrupted, Sheila, and Grace who leaped out from the rearguard, charged in.

Cutting down those who parried arrows with their shears as they passed by, the two aimed for Amphisbaena.

The pumpkins spat Fireballs from all directions at the two charging through the center. But Marlene’s controlled Saucers acted as Shields, preventing them from reaching.

A moment later, Lavigne’s ice bullets and Eclair’s Lightning Strikes were fired from angles that wouldn’t catch the leading two in their line of fire. Following that, I myself charged in. My target was Cerberus. As I charged forward, deflecting several pumpkins at once with Ouroboros, it also turned its crimson gleaming eyes toward me, kicking off the ground and approaching while leaping left and right.

Ashley, Marlene, Claudia, and Rosemary constructed defensive positions for the rearguard. Dullahan, Ignis, and Pietro defended the rearguard.

With Pietro’s clones present, the rearguard’s defense was even thicker. I could advance forward with peace of mind.

Still at a distance from Cerberus. Cerberus’s three heads made a motion as if taking a deep breath.

“—Here it comes.”

I took evasive action in a gentle arc toward an angle that wouldn’t catch allies in the line of fire. The next moment, from three mouths, flames that couldn’t even be called mere fire—a blazing inferno—was unleashed.

Enormous crimson heat rays that mowed down the ground and cleared away the garden’s shrubbery—changing angles respectively, closing in from three directions to trap me. I changed my gently moving trajectory to a sharp, rebounding motion to evade. Then charged straight through. Cerberus, too, the moment it quickly sensed it had been evaded, raced through the air. It must have judged that it couldn’t be caught with ranged attacks from a distance.

Like the original Werewolf—it could fly too. Well then, that’s more than enough for an opponent. While scattering Fireballs that required no charging from the left and right heads, the center head focused on me and charged.

Amphisbaena shook the ground with its massive body, stomping as it charged toward Grace and Sheila. The upper half—the woman—had Magic Circles floating around both hands.

Sheila briefly glanced at Grace, then headed toward the woman. Grace would confront the lower half magical beast.

And—the moment the woman was about to unleash magic toward the approaching Sheila—Grace’s axe, roaring as it flew, cut through right before the woman’s eyes.

Eyes wide open, the woman barely avoided it by twisting her upper body away. First throw. Hiding the timing, second throw. Her grasp of the timing for magic release was perfect. The magic that was delayed and about to be fired toward Sheila activated, and an Ice Shotgun swept through the completely wrong direction. Into that gap, Sheila dove.

“Shaaa!”

A hissing breath like a snake’s warning. Reptilian eyes.

The woman received the Pearl Sword’s strike with her elongated claws wrapped in fighting spirit. At a distance, magic. When closed in, she could handle close combat too. Surprisingly, no openings.

“—Not bad.”

Leaving trails of each other’s gleaming fighting spirit, Sheila and Amphisbaena exchanged Slash Attacks.

Meanwhile—the lower half magical beast roared, raising its dragon head and showing movements as if trying to crush Grace with the momentum of its charge. Grace, having thrown both axes, hadn’t retrieved her weapons yet. The approaching dragon head. The closing massive jaws. The sound of fang against fang.

Grace had—dodged it by flying diagonally. The dragon head pursued her. Grace immediately flipped in midair, landing upside-down while planting her Shield—.

“Any further—I won’t allow.”

Timed with the approaching dragon head—she threw her entire body into a flying tackle, driving a fist wrapped in fighting spirit. An impact enough to make the dragon head sway.

Amphisbaena’s movement, which had enough momentum to charge all the way to the rearguard, stopped—and whether due to shared pain sensation, even the upper woman’s expression twisted momentarily.

But the dragon, true to its Toughness, quickly recovered, glaring hatefully at Grace and unleashing a fiery Bless. Grace flew while shifting form. By that time, both axes had already returned to her hands.

Grace, enveloped in fighting spirit intense enough to scatter purple lightning around her entire body, focused on Amphisbaena’s torso which appeared defenseless. But—multiple Magic Circles floated on its back. From them, ice bullets were simultaneously fired toward Grace. Grace dodged left and right to avoid the countless ice bullets being shot upward. As the dragon head wrapped in fighting spirit approached, she slammed her axe into it as they passed.

Probably still feeling the effects of being punched hard earlier, the dragon head slightly altered its trajectory—and they passed each other. The scales were likely quite resilient, but they scattered shallowly from Grace’s axe strike. However, they immediately began regenerating as if the scales were regrowing.

Grace couldn’t pursue either. Because the ice bullets persistently tried to shoot through where Grace was located. She responded to the dragon head circling around while approaching as she dodged.

Dragon: fire. Woman: ice.

Amphisbaena seemed to handle opposing elements respectively, but the woman was continuing close combat with Sheila and wasn’t looking at Grace. The dragon head was setting the aim, while the actual magic execution was by the woman, it seemed.

But they couldn’t let Grace, who could break the equilibrium with one strike, approach the torso. They had to keep her restrained.

Since they used magic for torso defense and covering the dragon’s attacks, they seemed to have difficulty using magic in close combat with Sheila. The woman twisted her expression hatefully, but showed no signs of using magic against Sheila.

“That one is mine—!”

Ashley declared, sweeping away the Fireball barrage from the approaching Pumpkin Heads with a fierce blizzard. In response, magic threads, ice bullets, lightning strikes, sonic bullets, and Light Arrows were fired, and as if the mutual barrages meant nothing, Ignis charged in. It tore through pumpkins with its claws, slamming in its War Hammer. Still, the pumpkins fought back against Ignis. Charging at Ignis with shears imbued with fighting spirit, laughing while firing Fireballs at Ashley and the others… Their fighting spirit was quite vigorous, but receiving crossfire and a heavyweight charge, even they were clearly having their movements disrupted.

But then—as if slipping through the shrubbery, one new monster appeared.

“Grim Reaper!”

Claudia’s voice warned. What appeared was a skeleton with glowing eyes clad in tattered rags—a monster with a Scythe, appearing like the god of death. While similar to spirits or fairies, its nature couldn’t be called benevolent. Classifying it, it would be an evil spirit or evil spirit. Since it wasn’t undead, it might be fine to lump it together with monsters.

A monster with a vague existence, whether it had substance or not, moving while floating, able to slip through obstacles. This was the same in close combat—normal attacks didn’t work, and its Scythe could ignore the opponent’s weapons and armor, slicing only the flesh.

But when Dullahan charged in, Grim Reaper caught the approaching Greatsword with the handle of its Scythe. It seemed Dullahan, being a spirit, could interfere. As the neighing horse ran alongside, Dullahan and Grim Reaper made the sounds of clashing blades ring out.

While spinning my body like a drill—evading Cerberus’s scattered Fireballs at the last possible distance, using Nemea and Capella’s physical strength to charge through the shortest distance at maximum speed.

An absurd relative speed. The center head approached rapidly. Red sparks scattered within its opened massive jaws. It was putting fighting spirit into its bite. If it hit my flesh directly, it would likely be a blow that would gouge out everything including bone. But—!

“Take this!”

Using the momentum of my charge, I amplified magical power and met it head-on. When I slammed against its fangs, circulating magical power and fighting spirit interfered, exploding with sparks.

Cerberus’s center head was knocked away. The left and right heads, with this much weight difference, probably never thought they’d be overpowered in pure Power—their eyes widened.

But Cerberus didn’t flinch. Baring its fangs, the left and right heads bared their teeth from angles that couldn’t be handled with a single Staff, pressing in to crush me.

Form Shift. Immediately above, the sound of fangs clashing echoed, and a gale passed by. One head swept with its front paw claws while the other head rapidly repeated attacks. Evading while spinning two, three times in midair, at the moment we passed at close range, I released Balor as if kicking a soccer ball.

A trajectory that seemed to uppercut the jaw. Cerberus’s head swayed from receiving Balor—but. Roaring, it immediately raced past as if to pass by, then instantly Form Shifted. It charged in as if to start over. An agility unbelievable from its massive body. And a resilience due to fighting spirit surging throughout its entire body.

During that charge—flames dwelled within its black glossy fur. The aim was probably to inflict damage from the Blazing Heat just from crossing or approaching paths.

I blocked the heat with multiple layers of wind fields. Combined with Tephra’s Blessing, I completely shut out the heat. Standing my ground, I met Cerberus head-on.

Deploying a massive Shield, I caught Cerberus’s body slam. A heavy impact. But the Shield itself was also enhanced. It wouldn’t be broken.

Not caring that its charge had been stopped, Cerberus tried to forcibly push its massive body in as if clawing through the air. But—that was a bad move. I slammed a Magical Shockwave through the Shield with a Palm Strike. Cerberus, having received the impact, flew backward while spinning its body.

Quite… it possessed impressive resilience and agility. It was on a completely different level compared to the monsters of the Glacial Forest.

We faced off from a distance. The fighting spirit Cerberus directed toward me after landing showed not the slightest decline.

But I didn’t feel like I was being overpowered in terms of Power. And yet—no matter how high its fighting spirit, with this reaction. I should judge that it still had a hidden card in its hand that made it believe it could defeat me even after crossing blades like this.

Certainly… while Ouroboros was enhanced, my own durability hadn’t improved dramatically. It was true that taking a direct hit would mean unavoidable major damage.

But that was business as usual. More than enough for an opponent. A monster with this much Toughness. To properly crush it, I would likely need to unleash Great Magic.

Returning Balor to hand, I charged it with magical power. Ouroboros further amplified and sharpened the magical power. Light wings deployed, pale Spark Light scattering.

Seeing that—Cerberus rather happily twisted the corners of its mouth. Excellent. I smiled too. Battles were starting here and there. Each side’s enemies were identified. I too—would focus on the fight with this one.