"Were you the one who injured the Golden Dawn?"
Asta pointed his massive demon-slayer sword at Mars, who stood before him, and roared with all his might.
His voice echoed through the empty corridor, filled with undisguised fury.
Mars' indifferent gaze fell upon the young man who had suddenly appeared.
"What if I was?" His cold voice was devoid of any emotion.
"The strong live, the weak die. They were too weak, that's all."
"You bastard!"
Asta's anger ignited instantly.
Mars didn't give them a chance to prepare.
Hum—
Behind him, on the ground and amidst the shattered wall ruins, countless crystals began to surge and gather.
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen crystal golems, identical to the previous ones, were constructed, completely surrounding the group.
Crystal Creation Magic: Talos Puppet Cluster!
"This again!"
Klaus gritted his teeth. He had almost suffered a great loss at the hands of these golems just now.
"Their numbers have increased." Yuno's expression grew serious.
"Hahaha! This is great! Now it's getting interesting!"
Luck's smile grew brighter, his body crackling with lightning, eager to fight.
Mars ignored their reactions, his objective was clear.
Quickly defeat these troublesome guys, then enter the treasure room.
With a thought, the dozen or so crystak puppets immediately took heavy steps, launching an encirclement attack on Asta and the others from all directions.
"Bring it on!"
Asta roared, ready to meet them.
But at this moment, a chill rapidly spread, enveloping the entire space. The moisture in the air instantly condensed, transforming into countless shimmering ice crystals, fluttering down.
"Hmm?"
Luck, who was excited, paused his movements and instinctively looked towards the source of the chill.
Ryoma had arrived at the front at some unknown point, visible white cold air swirling around his body, and the ground beneath his feet was already covered with a thin layer of white frost.
"Leave it to me."
Ryoma spoke calmly, his voice serene yet carrying absolute confidence.
He raised his hand and gently waved it at the charging puppet army.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The white frost on the ground suddenly erupted, and ice crystal barriers, formed from extreme low temperatures, shot up from the earth, instantly trapping all the puppets inside.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The puppets' heavy fists slammed fiercely against the ice walls, producing muffled thuds. However, the seemingly not-so-thick ice walls were unexpectedly sturdy, not budging an inch.
"So powerful..."
Klaus watched, dumbfounded.
He had personally experienced how strong these crystal puppets were.
Yet... they were all blocked so easily?
"It's not over yet." Ryoma's voice sounded again.
He slowly closed his five fingers, as if grasping something.
"Erosion."
As his word fell, countless smaller ice crystals began to spread wildly across the ice crystal barriers surrounding the golems. Like living vines, they quickly covered the body of every golem.
The extreme low temperature penetrated through the surface of the crystal, madly permeating its interior.
Creak... Creak...
A series of grating sounds filled the air.
The surfaces of the golems, which had originally shimmered with a hard luster, rapidly turned gray-white, covered in a dense web of fine cracks.
In the face of absolute low temperature, the hardness that the crystal prided itself on was a joke.
The extreme low temperature fundamentally altered the physical structure of the crystal, making them exceptionally brittle.
"What?!"
In the distance, the second hint of surprise finally appeared on Mars' perpetually icy face.
He could feel that the magical power link between himself and those puppets was being forcibly frozen and shattered by a brutal chill.
"Haaaa!!!"
Asta let out an earth-shattering roar, charging out like a cannonball.
"Hahaha! I'm coming too!"
Luck transformed into a bolt of lightning, following close behind.
Yuno didn't speak, but a violent whirlwind had already whipped up around him, carrying his body as he shot out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Asta led the charge, his demon-slayer sword barely needing to be swung with force. A mere touch of the blade against the brittle crystal puppets and—
Crash!
The entire golem completely disintegrated, turning into a pile of shattered debris.
On the other side, Luck's figure weaved through the golem army at high speed, his lightning-wrapped fists and feet, with every strike, accompanied by the explosion of a golem.
Yuno's wind blades were like the sharpest razors, effortlessly slicing the now fragile crystals into countless fragments.
In just a few seconds.
Mars' puppet army was completely wiped out.
And in the instant Mars was distracted, Asta had already broken through all obstacles and appeared before him.
"Fall... down now!!!"
The demon-slayer sword, imbued with endless fury, slashed fiercely towards Mars' body.
Mars' pupils contracted, he only had time to hastily construct a crystal shield in front of him.
Clang!!!
The demon-slayer sword struck the shield, which shattered with a resounding crash, but the sword's momentum continued, fiercely slamming into Mars' chest and sending him flying.
"That's great!"
"Did he get him?!"
Seeing this, Klaus and Noelle in the distance showed expressions of pleasant surprise.
"I told you, is that all you've got? You bastard!"
Asta landed a hit, looking at Mars, who had been knocked away.
This guy doesn't seem that strong after all...
However, that momentary lapse in vigilance cost him.
"Naive fellow."
Mars' voice was still cold, as if he wasn't the one injured at all.
The magic stone on his forehead suddenly lit up, and a terrifying surge of magical power, several times greater than before, erupted with a roar.
"Not good! Asta, get back!" Ryoma's warning sounded.
But it was already too late.
Crystal Creation Magic: Heavy Armored Titan!
Rumble—!!!
The entire dungeon seemed to tremble violently!
From the ground and ceiling, countless crystals surged wildly, converging towards Mars' body.
In an instant, a figure over five meters tall, completely covered in incredibly thick crystal, appeared before everyone like a giant.
And Mars was at the core of this heavy armor.
"Damn it!"
Asta's smile instantly froze, and an unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped him.
He hadn't even had time to react when the enormous titan suddenly raised its two massive palms, slamming them fiercely towards him from both left and right directions.
Shadow instantly completely swallowed Asta.
"Asta!" Noelle cried out in alarm.
It's over!
This was the only thought in Asta's mind at that moment. He couldn't even make a move to swing his sword.
Even more terrifying, countless incredibly sharp crystal spikes were rapidly forming within the giant palms, fiercely stabbing towards his body.
"Don't get distracted, you idiot Asta."
Just at this critical moment, Ryoma's slightly helpless voice clearly reached his ears.
"Eternal Ice Thorns."
The moment his words fell, centered around Ryoma, the thin layer of white frost on the ground suddenly turned a deep dark blue.
Countless cold thorns, shimmering with an eerie glow, burst forth from the ground. They didn't attack the main body of the crystal titan, but rather, at a more cunning angle, pierced into the gaps of the two clasped giant palms.
Crack!
The ice thorns grew and expanded wildly, the terrifying power contained within them forcibly prying open a gap between the two giant palms, separating Asta from those deadly crystal spikes.
The ice thorns immediately began to rapidly spread upwards along the giant palms.
Creak... Snap...
Crisp cracking sounds began to ring out densely.
The indestructible Crystal Titan, under the entanglement of the ice thorns, began to show visible cracks.
The crystal rapidly became tinged with a grayish-white hue.
"Now! Asta!"
Ryoma's voice, like thunder, boomed in Asta's ears.
"Haaaaa!!!"
Asta, pulled back from the brink of death, instantly transformed his fear into raging fury.
He broke free from the giant palms, which had become incredibly brittle from the cold, and leaped high.
His demon-slayer sword, aimed at the now crack-filled chest of the Crystal Titan.
There, where Mars' true body resided, the black greatsword struck dead center.
Crack!!!
The massive Crystal Titan instantly disintegrated from the point where the sword tip struck.
A figure was violently thrown out from the scattered rubble and ice crystals, slamming heavily against the distant wall, then sliding weakly to the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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