Sol and Amber were about to continue running, expecting the undead that had been chasing them to arrive soon, but when they glanced over, they realized that the undead weren’t moving. Instead, they stood at the end of the passage, as if waiting for further orders.
‘This Zombeast is only a creation of the Zomest, so they’re not behind this. It’s likely whoever is commanding all the undead ordered them to stay,’ Sol reasoned, noticing the turtle-faced Zombeast awaiting their response.
After checking the Zombeast’s tethers, he noticed that, unlike the other undead, it actually had a fully formed law technique. Sol couldn’t disable it even if he wanted to. Not only was Sol’s ability useless against it, but the Zombeast had an agility-type law technique, making it much faster than them, so running was pointless.
In this situation, even if the other undead stayed back, the duo wouldn’t last long against such an enemy. Sol only had one full-power shot left in the Tynamo Cannon, and with the Zombeast's instant bursts of speed, it wasn’t likely to get hit by it. His mind worked quickly to figure out a solution. He recalled everything he knew about the Zomest, the Zombeast by extension, and what it had just referred to them as.
‘A thief, hmm…’ It was clear to him what it meant, and if he was right, then there was a way out. He communicated his idea with [Telepathy] to Amber, who nodded lightly.
Amber leaped forward, swinging three distorted slashes at the Zombeast. The creature didn’t move out of the way, and the slashes only created metallic sparks against its scales. Unharmed, the Zombeast pounced down, slamming into Amber, splattering her and sending sand everywhere.
Sol did nothing as he and the Zombeast watched her quietly reform once more next to him.
The turtle head scoffed. “Give up, you cannot defeat us.”
“What do you want?” Sol asked.
“What WE want is for you to return what you stole.” The Zombeast emphasized that it was something the undead collectively desired.
“What we stole…” Sol scratched his head in an exaggerated manner, as if trying his hardest to remember what it was talking about. “I don’t recall taking anything from all of you. Are you perhaps referring to these?”
From his spatial ring, a small pile of soul shards, dark essence, and shadow roots appeared on the ground. These were the spoils they had collected on the past floors. While money wasn’t really an issue for them, they wouldn’t say no to free money.
The drake head opened wide and spewed a breath of corrosive green flames. Sol grabbed Amber as he leaped back, avoiding the flames that landed on the pile of items, melting them into nothing.
The turtle head frowned. “Don’t play dumb, human. It’s in your hands!”
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Sol glanced down and saw the Tynamo Cannon in his hands. With a shocked expression, he asked, “What? You mean this?”
“Yes! Hand it over!”
“I would like to give it back, but it's already been turned into this. I don’t think you want it anymore.”
The turtle head shook disapprovingly. “Stupid human, you can’t fool us. We know the void root is still intact inside.”
The Zombeast was correct. The Tynamo Cannon contained the fully intact void root inside. When Fabio made it, he didn’t tamper with or change the void root in any way but only built the cannon around it to amplify its abilities. While it was also possible to completely process the void root into a new form, it would lose much of what made it special, primarily its ability to absorb and transform energy.
Sol knew this as well but was only playing dumb, hoping they would take it at face value. He didn’t have high hopes that it would work, but it was worth a shot.
“What do you even need it for? And why not just kill me and take it?”
The drake head growled at the mention of killing, clearly preferring that option over talking. But the turtle head explained.
“We can, but Mother is still loyal to her creator, and she’s bent a lot of his rules today. You can return it peacefully and go back to exploring like the rest of the humans. If you refuse, we can at least say we tried. Mother’s creator shouldn’t get mad at her for such a thing. And as for why we need the void root, that’s not for you to know.”
‘Creator? Mother?’ Sol thought to himself before asking, “Do you mean the dungeon and Proteus?”
Both of the Zombeast’s heads nodded.
Proteus was the God of Transformation and the creator of dungeons. Though he hadn’t made any new dungeons in a long time, those he made centuries ago were still utilized today as optimal training grounds. Sol had long known of Proteus as he was a rather famous god, and there was even a brief mention of him in the book about Ophis. What surprised him was the way they referred to the dungeon as their mother, but it made sense. After all, it was what created all of them.
From this, Sol understood many things simultaneously regarding dungeons, giving him more confidence in what he was about to do.
Sol and the Zombeast stared at each other as Amber and the rest of the undead watched, ready to charge forward. The Zombeast waited for his final decision, somewhat displeased as this had dragged on for way too long. But knowing it would get the void root no matter what he chose gave it some comfort. Sol could tell exactly what was going through the Zombeast’s mind based on the expressions it failed to hide.
After half a minute, the Zombeast gave him the final ultimatum. “Choose. Now.”
“I choose… neither!” Sol confidently said as he pointed the Tynamo Cannon at the Zombeast.
“THEN DIE!” The Zombeast blurred as it dodged to the side, leaving only an afterimage where it once stood, anticipating the incoming void beam. But to its confusion, the weapon didn’t fire. It knew then that it had been tricked. Sol aimed again, but the Zombeast jumped to the wall, using its claws to latch onto it. After landing, it jumped once more, continuously doing so and creating multiple afterimages.
The Zombeast knew that if it stayed in one place or charged directly at Sol, he would shoot it. So, while staying in constant motion, it ensured he couldn’t attack. As the Zombeast bounced around the passage, looking for an angle to strike, it suddenly crashed into a wall, recoiling in pain.
“Argh!”
The Zombeast stumbled backward in agony as the drake head now hung motionlessly, showing no signs of life.
[You have slain a Lv 126 Zomest! Gained 134,348,526 Exp (460%)]
The remaining turtle head turned to the air next to him, as if something was there, and yelled, “How did you get here?!”
Sol smirked and said, “The cannon should be the least of your worries. Did you think I wouldn’t know how Zombeasts worked and that you were a Zomest talking through it the entire time? I was just buying her time.”
As if on cue, Amber next to him wobbled as she collapsed into a pile of sand that slowly evaporated back into mana.