Amidst the swirling black smoke, the innumerable tiny pieces began to reconnect, tumbling and merging. The rough outlines of over a dozen massive figures started to take shape once more.
"Still can't kill them!"
Seeing this, both Claire's and Yves's expressions changed drastically. This time, without a shred of hesitation, they turned to flee.
"Wait!"
Yves stopped abruptly after taking only a few steps. He stared fixedly down the passage ahead, cold sweat trickling down his temple.
Claire froze, stunned for a moment, her fists clenching tightly.
Blocking the passage ahead, near the exit, stood another group of more than a dozen monsters. They were identical to the ones behind them – pitch black, towering at least ten meters tall, coldly "staring" towards Claire and Yves.
Faint rays of white light filtered in from behind these blocking monsters, hinting at the end of the tunnel just beyond them.
Vmm!
Yves slammed his hands onto the ground again. A shimmering, faintly iridescent film extended outwards from his palms, sealing the passage behind them.
Claire glanced back at the newly formed barrier. "Will that work?"
"Don't know. Have to try, right?" Yves replied, standing up and retracting the residual film from his hands. "Now… shred the ones ahead. We break through."
It was their only option, and Claire knew it. They had to cut through the monsters blocking their path and rush past during the brief window before they could regenerate. Beyond the exit possibly lay the lair of the mastermind behind all this.
Nodding grimly, Claire wasted no time. Her body twisted fluidly, and a barrage of purple energy slashes erupted from her powerful legs!
Behind them, the reformed monsters charged towards Yves's film barrier. Yves instinctively positioned himself to guard Claire's back, a thin membrane appearing in his hands as he coldly watched the creatures approach.
Roar!
One monster reached the barrier first, extending a huge black claw-arm from its amorphous body. Yves got a clear look at it this time – just a disgusting, shifting blob. It was the most fitting description.
The black claw slammed against the film. Yves didn't flinch or dodge, merely looking up coolly at the massive appendage descending upon him!
Screeeech…!
An ear-splitting sound ripped through the entire passage, like metal scraping against metal, or something being stretched taut to its absolute limit – sharp and agonizingly prolonged.
The black claw was stopped cold by the thin membrane barrier!
The film distorted violently under the immense pressure, the black claw coming to rest less than ten centimeters from Yves's face, separated only by the impossibly thin, stretched-white film.
Swoosh…! Swoosh…! Swoosh…!
Claire ceased her attack on the monsters ahead. She glanced back briefly at the creatures halted by Yves's barrier, then turned her focus forward again. "Let's go," she said tersely.
The two dashed forward towards the exit. Behind them, surprisingly, the monsters pressed against the barrier didn't continue their assault. Their featureless "eyes" merely watched the pair's retreating backs with cold, impassive intensity.
Thick black smoke began to rise from the bodies of the dozen or so monsters behind the film, and their forms gradually dissipated into nothingness.
"Those monsters… they're gone," Yves reported after glancing back one last time, his voice flat as he turned his attention forward again.
They were now rapidly approaching the section of the tunnel littered with the black fragments of the monsters Claire had shredded earlier.
A thick cloud of black smoke hung heavy in the air ahead, resembling the gaping maw of hell waiting to swallow them.
Hearing Yves, Claire also risked a quick look back. She made no comment, but her expression grew noticeably more grim.
Meanwhile, in the passage Bacon had taken, his situation had mirrored Claire and Yves's initially. However, his approach was far more direct. He hadn't stopped; he simply let the monsters chase him, relying on his Zoan fruit abilities. As an animal-type user, he had the stamina and recovery to afford it!
Consequently, he quickly neared the end of his tunnel.
And just like the others, a group of over a dozen monsters awaited him there, blocking the exit.
Thick white fur rapidly sprouted across Bacon's body as he underwent his Zoan transformation. His movements became strange, almost like a bizarre, shuffling dance.
"Awooo! My fighting spirit! You've ignited it!" he howled, a mix of animalistic cry and boast.
An invisible shockwave blasted outwards from his feet as he took a powerful step, his white, furry figure suddenly appearing high up near the tunnel ceiling. Grinning fiercely, teeth bared, he roared, "Die, monsters! Awooo!"
"White Claw Storm!"
Countless blades of wind erupted from his furiously swinging claws, whipping up into a veritable tempest!
Swish…! Swish…! Swish…!
The storm of razor-sharp wind blades instantly carved a path through the monsters blocking his way!
"Awooo!" Bacon roared again, leaping down from above! He landed with a heavy thud, cracking the stone floor beneath his feet.
"Die!"
The scene transformed into a spectacle: a massive polar bear, seemingly driven into a frenzy by excessive battle fervor, advancing with strange, rhythmic dance-like steps. His "White Claw Storm" continued unabated, translucent blades of wind tearing through the monsters' bodies, shredding them into smaller and smaller pieces!
"Awooo! Simply! Awoooo! Too easy!" Bacon bellowed mid-rampage. "You pathetic things! Awooo! Send ten more, a hundred more – makes no difference! The result's the same! Underneath the mighty Bacon-sama's claws… Awooo~! You'll meet your end!"
He charged forward relentlessly, his claws tearing through the monsters like paper, utterly unstoppable! But suddenly…!
His body froze mid-stride.
Somehow, unnoticed, a single black monster had appeared directly behind him.
"How is that possible?!" Bacon thought frantically, remembering the chasing monsters had still been far behind him moments ago.
The next second, the monster behind him dissolved its form. The viscous-looking black substance lunged, wrapping around Bacon in an instant!
"Help!!!"
His desperate cry echoed, cut short. His body was flung through the air as if ejected by some force. Bacon landed hard, heart pounding with residual terror, scrambling desperately towards the exit he had cleared.
He was deeply afraid. That sensation of being engulfed… it felt as if, once completely enveloped, he wouldn't be himself anymore. If not for a nearby wall he'd luckily managed to kick off at the last second, he would have been caught for sure.
Scared, so scared!
Any trace of Bacon's earlier battle-fueled bravado vanished without a trace. He ran towards the exit with everything he had.
His heart hammered in his chest as he sprinted past the area now littered with the black fragments of the monsters he'd destroyed.
Fortunately – maybe because he'd shredded them so thoroughly, or for some other reason – the pieces didn't react. He passed through the gruesome zone shaken but unharmed.
The exit was right there! Bacon poured on a final burst of speed, hurtling through!
Only to be met by a wall of the same black substance – viscous in appearance, though its actual texture remained unknown – rushing towards him head-on!
"Holy crap!" Bacon barely managed the exclamation before he was completely engulfed!
Hssssss~!
A low, strange, eerie laughter echoed through the vast underground space beyond the tunnel exit.
Within the swirling blackness that now held Bacon, a shadowy figure flickered briefly into view, then vanished again!
Hsssssssss! "Interesting…" a low, hoarse voice rasped intermittently from the darkness. "Using you all as nourishment… should certainly… speed things up, yes?" The shadowy figure flickered again, indistinct within the gloom.
This underground space seemed immense, its end nowhere in sight, perhaps stretching across the entire island. And within it… were endless hordes of the black monsters they had encountered earlier.
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