"Why... why did you say you were waiting for us?" Enatsu trembled. Taking courage and trying to get helpful information for his team, the fearsome merchant spoke to the hooded man.

Ogai made no answer, and his hands moved. First, they came back along the flanks, then they got up, opening outwards. As if he wanted to be struck by Shioko, the mysterious man stood still in front of her with open arms and legs. ​​

"Come on. Do you want to hit me? Come on, what are you waiting for?" he spoke. His face was plunged into darkness. Meanwhile, Kenji slightly distanced himself from Yoichi, ready to activate its enhancement.

After Ogai's statement, Shioko's expression darkened. That hooded man seemed not to fear the archer's magic arrow at all, so much so that he was ready to be shot.

Beside him, the massive beast with the horn on its muzzle began to snore again. Its breath sounded as before, heavy and steady.

Realizing that something out of the norm was happening in the last room of the dungeon, Yoichi chose to intervene. The young tamer stepped forward, overtaking Enatsu and stopping next to Shioko. The red-haired girl looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"My friend asked you a question. Why did you say you were waiting for us? I think you got us all wrong. We've never seen you," Yoichi affirmed in a severe tone. With those words, he tried to understand the stranger's true intentions while perceiving intense hostility.

Ogai lowered his arms, slowly turning his face towards the young blond-haired tamer. I have something to offer you and your friend. An offer that you can not refuse," the man remarked in the usual relaxed tone.

The three tamers opened their ears well, suspecting a trap and preparing for a turn of events. Enatsu, listening to the man's words and noting that he had not been included in the sentence, looked around compulsively.

The merchant's eyes observed the rocky walls, focusing on the few spots not impregnated with the dark mud. He hoped to find a secondary exit or something that could help them in such an ambiguous situation.

"Don't say nonsense. You don't know us. The reason we're here isn't about you, so get out of the way. We're going to kill the boss and get out of the dungeon," Shioko commanded, continuing to stretch the arrow over her bowstring.

Unlike other times, this time, the light arrow did not turn into a spear. Shioko was able to handle Nobu's light energy regardless of the loading time of the attack.

Void Summoner? What's that? I don't remember ever hearing that word. This mysterious man exudes pure wickedness, and the air around him is frosty, even more so than the tunnel we travelled to get here, Yoichi pondered. On his arms, goosebumps.

"The things you don't know are so many, poor tamers. You believe you know true power; you believe you are invincible alongside your demons. But, as a matter of fact, you have never known true invincibility", Ogai stated. As if having an arrow pointed at him did not upset him in the slightest, the hooded man continued his verbiage.

"From the gruff way in by which you're talking to me, I doubt that you have ever met a Void Summoner. My power goes beyond your imagination, so I suggest you show me due respect", he added, staying motionless in the same position.

"Respect? Who the fuck do you think you are? Look, I don't know what you are playing at, but my guild does not pay me to talk to hooded strangers senselessly. If I am forced to kill a man I don't even know, believe me, I won't hesitate any further!" Shioko grunted as her patience was reaching its limit.

Without leaving the hooded man time to answer, she bent her knees and aimed, ready to release the bowstring. It was so stretched that it left its print on her fingertips.

Moments before Shioko could shoot the arrow, under the powerless looks of Enatsu and Yoichi, something never seen before happened. Ogai immediately raised both his tattooed arms, pointing his palms to the archer.

At the same time, a plethora of black arms sprang from the mud beneath her feet, generating sudden chaos. The mud hands forcefully grabbed Shioko's arms and legs, forcing her to drop her bow to the ground and stop loading the light arrow.

Before Yoichi could intervene, they continued to pop under the archer's body, grabbing her belt, her quiver, and even her hair, dragging it all down.

In less than a second, the situation had completely turned upside down: Shioko, who believed she had everything under control, found herself unarmed and kneeling in front of the Void Summoner.

Her bow and magic quiver were on the ground, less than a metre from her. Her hands and legs were trapped by muddy limbs popping from the ground.

"Fuck! Kenji!" Yoichi yelled suddenly, activating the power of his Oracle. Emitting its reptile roar, the little dragon enhanced the arms of its tamer, who lashed at the enemy.

Instinctively, as if they had perfected that tactic for months, Enatsu began running towards Shioko. The merchant's goal was to take advantage of the enemy's moment of distraction to free his fellow archer.

Shioko's head was slightly raised high while a large black, sticky hand pulled her hair towards the rocky floor.

Kenji's black scales popped up on Yoichi's arms, covering his skin from his shoulders to the fingertips. Reaching both his hands, one of them clutched in a fist, ready to strike the enemy and force him to give up his grip.

Ogai turned his gaze hidden towards Yoichi, moving his head under the hood: other dark hands popped up under him, grabbing his ankle.

"Aaargh!" – trying to leap forward, Yoichi escaped the grip: the fingers of the hand that was still forming under his feet were torn, but a second hand succeeded the first.

His leap was interrupted, and other dark hands were fired from the floor, grabbing his pants and belt and starting to immobilize him.