A few minutes earlier, in a dark corridor with a huge hole behind him, a Nartheis was running. This Nartheis was considered the second strongest in the dungeon.
'Damn it, damn it, I can't believe I really had to do this even with the advantage I have.'
He had no choice. He also would have preferred not to release that monster, but above him there was a creature even greater than all the Nartheis in that dungeon. Gideon ran and stopped to open a secret chamber with ten chains around the door. He made a hand sign, crossing the fingers of his left hand.
"Release first chain."
One of the chains broke, releasing dark energy. Gideon's body was badly injured; his right arm no longer existed, and there were seven holes spread across his thigh and back.
"Second chain."
The second chain took longer to break, making him impatient. He knew it would take time, but he was risking death if Renzou managed to defeat his own clone.
'He's simply a monster. How is it possible that he can fight a clone of himself with sixty percent of his power and me at the same time?'
From the very first moment Gideon saw Renzou, he went after him for fun, seeing that he was the strongest. When he realized that his opponent's level was higher than his own, he activated his two secret weapons. His unique ability called Living Reflection Mirror allowed him to summon a clone of a person whose reflection he had seen and copy sixty percent of all the opponent's total capabilities. The other weapon was the Golden Clouds, his second unique ability, which made the amount of mana spent by him and his subordinates be reduced by half when using his magic.
'I thought fighting together would be enough to kill him, especially when I saw that he already seemed tired for some reason.'
"Third chain."
The third chain finally began to break, releasing an even greater amount of black magic into the area. Looking back, he checked whether Renzou was nearby. He had left a second clone of Renzou with the same amount of power behind, along with a clone of himself. That meant his opponent was fighting three at the same time.
'I just have to release that damned thing that disobeys me and throw it at him. If it gets defeated, even better for me. I'll be left with that bastard much more exhausted.'
"Fourth chain."
The Nartheis behind that door was one that had surpassed his power over the years by devouring several stronger Nartheis that Gideon had given to it. Back then, before evolving, it had been quite obedient, but after failing to keep its mind intact, it became a Nartheis without reason. They had been forced to seal their subordinate in that place, suffering many casualties on their side.
"Come on, open already."
Looking upward, he saw a white barrier cracking. That barrier had already been broken before by Renzou, allowing his power to pass through part of the castle several times. The worst part was that this barrier had been made to have the resistance of the original world of Nerfe. Gideon himself could only crack half of that barrier, which was normal since his level wasn't that high.
'I didn't think he had the power to destroy an entire world so easily… I can only do that with time.'
Worse still, he seemed to be doing it effortlessly, which made Gideon sweat as he realized that his world was possibly larger than the one his Nartheis and he came from, considering the level of his clones, who would also be able to destroy their world.
An explosion began to occur above his head. Closing his eyes, he concentrated even more as he reached the seventh chain. Meanwhile, Renzou dodged several magical attacks launched by his clones and by Gideon.
'This is a bit difficult in my current state, but I can win.'
The barrier behind him cracked when the Nartheis's power struck it, followed shortly by the power of his clones, which opened a large hole in it, releasing some of the power downward. The good thing was that this barrier regenerated as soon as it was destroyed, and Renzou himself restrained the power of his clones a bit when it passed through.
'I can't let my daughters and my son-in-law get hurt.'
Gideon's clone advanced, using a combination of dark magic and cursed chains, but something was missing—a nearly invisible difference in the cadence of its movements, perhaps because it was a clone with a lower level than the original. Renzou noticed this from the very first step, and now it was time to end it.
Renzou adjusted his stance, dodging the strike. His fist pierced through the clone's incomplete defense, shattering the magical layer as if it were thin glass. A buildup of mana swirled around his fist; he was combining the magic of that portal with his own.
"Monkai-ken."
The energy sustaining Gideon's artificial existence immediately destabilized. Cracks spread across the false body like veins of uncontrollable black light. The clone tried to retreat, but the space around it was compressed by the pressure released from Renzou's strike, crushing the clone's magical structure from the inside out.
'Well, this clone is simply the weakest here.'
The clone's body disintegrated into fragments before even touching the ground, dissolving into unstable particles that were sucked into a void created by the impact. Its presence simply ceased to exist.
'The hardest ones are mine.'
Renzou remained still for a brief moment, taking a deep breath as his clones approached to strike together.
'Let's end this quickly. I don't know what he might do to my family down there, especially with this release of black mana coming out of the castle.'
The energy released by Renzou's strike echoed through the dungeon like a silent warning, reaching Gideon in the lower corridor at the exact moment another chain began to give way, making it clear that his time was running out.
'I'll have to take the syringe even though it's not ready yet for me to evolve to the level the ancient Nartheis spoke of existing in another world.'
"Tenth chain."
The door began to open, and Gideon immediately moved away from the area. The release of mana had already been immense by the eighth chain, so now the castle was beginning to rupture, with the Nartheis that followed the castle's rules activating all of its defenses.
'Hiding is humiliating, but in my current state after fighting that monster, it's impossible for me to face the Basilisk.'
When the door opened, a creature emerged from within, followed by black smoke. Normally, it possessed an immense length, perhaps reaching dozens of meters in the original story, but since it was currently inside the castle, everything was constrained, so it was only about ten meters long. It broke through the door as it rushed out and fell into the hole below. As it rose, it looked around, sensing all the nearby presences, especially one strong presence that seemed to be fighting.
'As I thought, it can't be rational. It seems to focus only on the strongest.'
Its scales were as hard as polished obsidian or dark, matte metal, varying from jet black to deep gray. Its skin looked moist and viscous, as if cold, stagnant abyssal water covered it. Its head was wide, diamond-shaped, crowned by a prominent bony crest resembling a crown or diadem. Gideon sighed and stood up to go after the syringe.
'No one weaker would want to face it, so this fight will be between the two strongest of both—'
"I FOUND YOU."
Hearing a loud, deep voice, Gideon turned in that direction and felt a Nartheis presence coming from a young person with golden hair leaping down toward the Basilisk with a dark smile.
"You will be my new pet."
The Nartheis itself seemed confused when he raised his arm toward it. When the Basilisk was about to release its magic, a black hole appeared in front of it.
"Void Magic: Devour."