The Plunge

All around them, the deafening horrible noises blared. Guttural screeching screams that sounded like thousands of demonically possessed women howling their lungs out. Such an orchestra of terror sent shivers down the spines of even the most seasoned adventurers there. It sounded like one of the cesspits of Hell had been opened up, revealing a deep hole from which screams and blood flowed in equal measure.

The light-hearted would have most assuredly died from the experience.

But Lyze knew what these screams sounded like, or at the very least he'd heard something similar before. It was akin to the screams one would hear from the Dungeon before a Juggernaut would be conceived. This was much different however. This felt different...and several magnitudes worse.

The chasm Lyze had opened across the 49th Floor with Geranos began to split wider and wider apart as rubble and debris rained down from the ceiling and the red hue in the air became an even deeper red than before. He unsheathed both Geranos and Excalibur and lit them both up with the Flame. Glancing at his small dagger momentarily, he saw that it was still buzzing with energy from before when he slew Balor.

And now in the same place where the monster rex had died, a new phenomena was taking place...and a new horror was being unleashed. Every adventurer, regardless of their weary states and exhausted reserves of strength felt a sudden spike of adrenaline as the screams grew louder and the chasm grew wider. They clutched their weapons close to them, ready to attack at any given moment as they kept their eyes peeled on the chasm, waiting for the enemy they knew was coming.

It began with a great crack from within the chasm and an explosion of dirt and rock as a giant arm burst out of the ground, an arm even bigger and of greater thickness than Balor's entire body. At the moment the arm emerged, the screams of the Dungeon were cut short, and the creature decided to introduce itself by way of a ballistic roar, one so high in decibels that Lyze physically felt his eardrums almost rupture and he covered his ears to blot out the sound as much as he could.

The roar itself was just as much as terrifying as the screams, but it also sounded very strange. It sounded like the roars of multiple creatures and monsters rolled into one, as if that singular monster with its singular voice represented the rage and the hate of several species of monsters at once.

Lyze however was more focused on the strange appearance of the arm. It was shaped like a regular human's, only with very large forearms and stubby fingers. The appearance of the arm was familiar as it looked just like the arm of a Goliath, only several times bigger. Because the hand on that arm would most certainly be able to grab a regular Goliath entire body completely in its grip and instantly crush the monster rex to death.

There were two odd things about this arm though. One was that the flesh was completely black, indicating right away that this was a Black Variant of some sort. The other major difference though was what was situated on the upper part of the forearm...two large spikes of bones exactly like that of Balor's stuck out in sharp projections. Momentarily Lyze was taken aback with confusion at how such a thing could be when another much larger explosion of dirt followed as the new monster seemed to just rip itself out of the Chasm and had no regard for splitting the entire Floor in two.

Every adventurer felt heir jaw drop in both extreme fear and awe as their new adversary revealed himself fully all at once.

...

The arms were like that of a Black Goliath's but fitted with Balor's spikes. The torso was also like that of Goliath's but with an extra addition. What looked like the ribcage of Udaeus was fitted right of the torso's own ribs like some sort of armour, with Balor's thoracic plate in the middle of it all, like some sort of protection for the heart. From the navel downwards though, flesh gave way to scales as it was revealed that the monster had no legs.

Instead it's lower half ended in a long serpent tail with which the monster could slither around on, and Lyze recognised the shape of the scales were exactly the same as the ones he'd chipped off of Amphisbaena. Which meant the lower half was that of the water dragon and sure enough, there were crystal spikes on the back of that tail end.

The head was an interesting part. The head of a Black Goliath was situated on the shoulders but with another addition. Fitted over the flowing white hair was the upper skull of Udaeus like the perfect helmet to protect the abomination's head. And in the middle of that helmet's forehead was an eye exactly like that of Balor's. And little openings here and there on the collar bone, between the different ribs and at intervals on the tail half revealed bright white pits of light coming from within, like the red ones of Balor.

This monster stood at 250 feet tall, taller than any monster they'd even dreamed to come across. It was big enough to eat Balor for breakfast and still have room left for more food. But the worst development of all was still yet to come. From behind the monsters back stretched out 8 dragon heads, 4 on each side that had the head of an Amphisbaena on it attached to powerful long necks which stuck out from the abomination's back. The top 4 heads were ones that breathed fire and the bottom 4 were the ones that breathed out the red mist which dispelled magic.

The fingernails on the hand grew into the sharp claws of Balor, and around the hip area stretched out the familiar layers of spiked membranes.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between all parties before all dragonheads and the main head itself lifted their gazes to the ceiling and roared that terrible roar again. This time, they could make sense why it seemed like so many roars of different monsters had become that one roar...because that was exactly what it had been.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Raul screamed aloud as the panic began to settle amongst the adventurers and some already began backing away, seeking a route to an exit.

Who could blame them? What they were seeing was amongst the most disturbing things one could find in the Dungeon.

"I DON'T KNOW." Finn shouted over the roars. "IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S BEEN MADE FROM DIFFERENT FLOOR BOSSES!"

The roar died down as the creature smashed its fists into the ground, shaking possibly the whole Dungeon with that show of anger as plumes of steam were ejected from its nostrils.

"Great heavens." Noir muttered as even he stared at this being with wide, petrified eyes. "Why does this thing even exist? What has befallen us?"

"It's disgusting." Riveria turned up her nose at the new monster's truly horrific visage. "It's an abomination, a thing that shouldn't even be allowed to exist. It's a desecration beyond all words describable."

"Desecration." Gareth snorted, though his knuckles had become pale white from gripping his axe too hard. "It's a good name."

"No time to worry about names!" Lyze yelled as he sensed a disastrous build-up of magic. "INCOMING!"

...

The Desecration lifted its main head and the dragon heads that breathed fire, and fired right towards them in their direction. Balor's energy blast converged with flame breath from the dragon parts of itself to form a powerful concentrated beam of just pure destructive magic that sought to rip the world apart. The speed of this blast was also phenomenally different as it rocketed towards them with velocity and speed even the executives couldn't comprehend.

Lyze who had managed to sense the charge up though was ready though as he brandished both his weapons and waited for the blast attack to come their way. Though even from a distance, the heat of the blast was punishing. He struck out with both weapons as a shrill bell sounded.

[Full Counter]

The blast attack that carried red and blue hues was sent straight back to its maker at double the speed and power. It collided with the monster head and sent it careening backwards but with not so much of a scratch even in the aftermath. It dug its fingers into the ground to find anchorage and held its place there as it caught its bearings, shook its main head and then let out deep rumbles which vibrated the very air that they all breathed.

"Bastard!" Tsubaki grit her teeth. "It barely did anything!"

"I'm pretty much out of magic." Riveria said. "If I cast any powerful spells now, I might go into Mind Zero."

"And without Lyze's blessing, I'm feeling quite lethargic at the moment." Noir said as he turned to the boy. "Is that a usual side-effect? Can't you do anything right now, like summoning that power again?"

"I'VE BEEN TRYING!" Lyze yelled as he desperately tried to channel Chaos the same way he always did. "It's not working! I didn't think we would need to fight so soon again either so I didn't replenish your magic reserves."

"Well we need to think of something!" Dain shouted. "Because its coming right back to us!"

True to his word, the Desecration began slithering across the Floor right towards them while also propelling itself by using its arms to drag its body forwards. The horns atop its head were levelled with the adventurers like it wanted to gorge right through them. Lyze paused and put away his weapons as he brought his hands together.

"What are you doing?" Finn asked.

"I can't access Chaos." Lyze said as he pushed Ais behind him. "But I still have my other power."

"Well if you're going to do something kid, do it now." Bara said. "We don't have a lot of time."

Lyze cupped his hands together and plunged every ounce of concentration and willpower he had into the Flame and opened up the seal on its power to himself. Immediately the raw energy from devouring Balor's soul flooded him and the blood vessels under his skin began to glow alight with bright silver as electricity ran up and down his form. A ball of fire formed between his palms as he poured more and more energy into the attack, lightning running between his fingertips as he kept pushing more and more power in from his newly acquired reserves.

It would have been much easier had he time to meditate and get the storm of newly harvested life-force to be tempered by serenity and focus, but he didn't have the time. So the only hope he had was to pour as much power into his channelling and hope that nothing exploded. The fireball grew brighter and denser until it lost fire form altogether, and soon there was a ball of pure energy humming in his grip.

Without a second thought, he pulled back his palm and allowed the attack to charge up further. Linking up his shot, he locked onto the Balor eye in the helmet and fired a beam of pure primordial energy right at the beast's face. The beam widened until it was large enough to engulf a district in its effect, and smashed directly into the monster's face. The creature yelped as its arms buckled and its momentum carried it on its face through the dirt.

Upon impact, the beam created an explosion of silver fire and wisps of origin energy followed the monster as it swam through dirt, trying to latch onto its soul so it could devour that too. Clearly, the beam attack had not had much effect but it was a much better start. And Lyze did not feel as if he had lost much energy at all...as a matter of fact, for some reason he felt had more...a lot more.

"You got him." Ais said, as groans emanated from where the monster lay.

"But not good enough." Lyze said before he turned to Finn. "Should we close in on it while it's down?"

"I don't think we'll get the chance." Aki interrupted as she pointed. "Look!"

Everyone looked back at the Desecration to find that out of the resulting dust cloud of its tumble, the dragon heads rose. The fire breathing ones put their heads together as they opened their mouth to unleash their blue fire breath. But Lyze beat them to it as he condensed primordial energy even further, shaping it into a large blade before flinging it at the gathered heads.

A slash made out of silver fire that crackled with electricity shot towards the gathered heads, and with them all being so nicely placed together, it was only a moment before the fire blade sliced off all of their heads in an instant, making the necks go limp with no brain to support them. The heads bounced along the ground before dissipating into smoke.

"And you got him again!" Vira said. "Your fire seems to be very effective Lyze!"

"No it isn't." Lyze immediately said.

The necks suddenly straightened and stood upright again as the flesh on the ends began to bubble and smoke, and the heads began regenerating again as snouts pushed their way out of the neck stump.

"I'd once heard an old tale from the adventurers of Dim that a black monster could potentially regenerate." Finn said. "But actually seeing it...there's no way we're putting it down that easy."

"No we're not." Riveria said. "He's getting up again."

The Desecration began to moan as it pushed itself up and upright again, the wisps of Lyze's Origin Flame still clinging to it. The main head stretched its neck, and one could hear the thunderous popping of muscles. The Goliath Face then grinned all of a sudden as it looked down at the silver wisps on its body. Clenching its hands, it tensed and drew Lyze's interest.

He didn't like the happy smirk on the beast's face after seeing his fire...something was not right.

They watched as it seemed to breathe in and the wisps of energy left on its body were suddenly pulled through its pores and into its body. The spots where they entered momentarily glowed the same colour before fading and the beast started cracking its fingers.

"What is it doing?" Ais asked.

For once, Lyze wished he didn't have an answer because he'd already had a good idea what this was leading to. The Desecration lifted its arms high into the air as its forearms began to glow a bright silver...the same silver as Lyze's origin fire. Lyze's eyes bulged out in surprise as he sensed his own origin energy suddenly fill the monster's arms. Before he could make any comment however, the Desecration smashed its arms into the ground, shaking all the Deep Floors with that blow. A shockwave ripped through the area and swept everyone off their feet as for a moment, the 49th Floor sunk just a tiny bit deeper into the Dungeon.

---

(The Surface)

Nekros stood on one of the roofs of the Twilight Manor watching as dark clouds began gathering overhead and as far as the normal eye could see. Beside him was Loki who had just managed to climb after him.

"So?" She asked. "Mind elaborating what you said last? Something about a big spectacle?"

"Everyone knows how the Dungeon reacts when a god enters it." The Transcendental said. "And the gods of this world, though powerful in their own right, can only entice the Dungeon so much. But when it does spawn monsters due to the power of the god it has sensed, what do you think it will do when it senses Chaos?"

"Well the Dungeon has tried to absorb gods before...so maybe Arcanum was its goal?" Loki suggested. "But Chaos doesn't have that...does it?"

"No of course it doesn't." Nekros said. "It has something far more powerful. If the Dungeon were to obtain this very power, it would be given the power to rule over both worlds. Both that of the gods and the mortals. And I bet you it would do anything to obtain that Chaotic Force. Which is why with my newly appointed titles and authority, I have suppressed Chaos in the boy's body so it can't be siphoned out by a special monster that has now appeared in the Dungeon."

The goddess grimaced as she clutched at the area above her heart. Due to her Familia being so large, she was never able to focus on a singular child's emotions properly to sense what they were feeling. But right now, she was being flooded with second hand fear, trepidation and worry. More than tell-tale signs that her kids were in serious danger.

Especially Lyze, from the way this conversation was going.

"Is he fighting that monster right now?" Loki asked. "I can tell...That's why you're so serious?"

"It's no ordinary monster either." Nekros said. "It is a creature born out of desperation and no fixed position... an abomination even amongst monsters with only one overall concern and goal...to drain Lyze of his Chaos powers. It is an amalgamation of all the best traits of some of the most powerful monsters in the Dungeon. It would make sense for the Dungeon to target Lyze now, with him having not mastered the power and all completely."

"That doesn't sound good?" Loki said. "Does this abomination have a name?"

"Yeah...I gave it one. Give me the credit when it comes out."

"What did you call it?"

"I call it...Typhon."

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