Summoning a few of his Servants—two Undead Knights—who emerged from dark pools on the ground and bowed down to their king, Zane gave his order.
"… Go," he commanded, and the Servants obeyed.
The Undead Knights, as dispensable foot soldiers, headed forward first. Zane and the rest followed shortly after, descending into the darkness below.
Before long, the staircase leveled, and the group returned to flat ground. The journey wasn't over yet, however—up ahead, the first source of illumination they'd seen in a while appeared. On either side of the stone double doors in the distance, a lantern filled with blue light hung, shining brightly.
"…"
As Zane approached, he could feel the presence growing stronger. Without a doubt, whatever creature that was waiting for them would be beyond those doors. The Servants stopped, awaiting further orders, and slowly, Zane lifted his arm.
"Open it."
Immediately, the Undead Knights nodded and began walking closer to the door—slowly and steadily, aware of any surprises. Zane stood back so that he and Scarlet were safe, as they waited for their pawns to do the dangerous work.
Unfortunately, someone else was already on the job.
As soon as the Undead Knights approached the stone doors, they were blasted open, knocking the two warriors to the side in an instant and slamming them into the walls. Their weapons clattered uselessly to the ground and their life energy dissipated, turning them into lifeless corpses that soon faded away to nothingness. Not even a speck of movement remained.
Zane had no time to worry about them, however. Instead, his narrowed gaze was focused solely on the nightmarish entity that had caused this, gaze penetrating.
"… It really was you after all, huh?"
Slowly, he walked into the chamber, as Scarlet hissed in displeasure. Up ahead, a true monstrosity sat inside a throne of bloodied stone. Its figure was humanoid but like a behemoth in size, with thick armored limbs and clawed hands. One of its eyes were gone, but the other shone bright blue, shadowy fire blazing from its gaze, ominous and pupiless. Two large rings with iron spikes encased its shoulders, and from atop its head, a drill whirled.
Its figure was near completely black, with the only exception being its eye—but the signature symbol that allowed Zane to uncover the creature's true identity, was the massive steel club that it held in its hand. Now, it was stained with grime and gore, but there was no mistaking those silver spikes and weighted black metal body.
"… Dante."
Zane's worst fear had come true.
The towering creature showed no reaction. Clearly, it had lost its humanity long ago, and was now but a hollow shell of its former self.
Zane let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. It had been thanks to Dante that he was able to escape from this hell in the first place. In other words, it was thanks to Dante that Zane was even able to stand here today, and be as strong as he was. He'd never forget that favor deep in his heart—but right now, this creature sitting before him was not the Dante of his memories.
He was a Dungeon monster.
And just like any other, Zane would slay him.
Sensing a challenge, the creature once known as Dante stood up from his seat, and heaved the enormous bat over his massive back.
When he had been human, he was already taller and stronger than most other people. But now that he'd transformed, his size in all of its glory could only be described as colossal, towering many times over Zane. Of course, that meant his weapon had also enlarged accordingly, and would have even more force than before.
The increase in strength was quite noticeable—but Zane had made his own progress as well throughout the past few days.
He was ready.
[Dante, the Dishonored]
[Type: Taken]
[Level: 26]
[Class: Titan]
Zane narrowed his eyes. 'A 10 level difference? That might be a bit troublesome, but… I can take it.'
In the past, he would've been daunted. But a king never fought alone, and neither did a Sovereign. Dahrka and Azakiel were both still hidden at the moment, since Zane did not want to reveal them until it became necessary. The element of surprise was a strong one, after all.
The main problem here was that the enemy in question was a Titan-class—defined by their gigantic figures and hefty amount of health, these creatures could be called the 'tanks' of Dungeon Monsters. Zane's battle style, on the other hand, was made for quick skirmishes rather than long-stretched fights of both durability and stamina. After some thought, he quickly came up with a basic battle plan.
Had this place been a normal D-rank dungeon, the final boss would never be this high level. But for some reason, the Dungeon decided to recognize Dante as its boss, who had been a C-Rank adventurer during his lifetime. Naturally, when turned into a monster, he'd end up stronger than the Dungeon's 'supposed' difficulty level.
But if Zane wanted to make it back to the surface, defeating this monstrosity was the only way, as it guarded the only exit to this Dungeon—at least, according to Zane's [Cartography] skill.
'Fate really doesn't want me seeing the light of day again, huh…' he thought, narrowing his eyes. 'Well, I'm already used to it.'
It'd been this way since the beginning, hadn't it? Since the Day of Ruination, when his physique wasn't awakened right from the start, and he was forced to become a mere porter.
But since when has he let that stop him?
Compared to last time… compared to the horror he witnessed when his own party members began eating each other alive…
… This was nothing.
Standing his ground, Zane deemed the first part of his plan complete. The battle was—as ridiculous as it sounded—winnable, and with decent chances at that. With burning determination in his eyes, Zane pulled out [Bloodfury], and held the two crimson daggers out by his sides in preparation.
"Now then… let's dance."