[60th floor of Beast Challenge Dungeon]

The final floor of the beast challenge dungeon, and all there is to it is an empty and long corridor leading to the final boss room. There isn't any monster, there isn't a single sight of the devilish ants nor does it house any one of Drant's minion. No, just a plain simple long corridor, which is good since we can actually rest for a bit, drink up one or two mana potions before heading to the boss room. Alas, it actually gives me anxiety, like the calm before the storm

From a far, without the door to the boss room, we can actually make out a silhouette of a woman, standing, holding what appears to be

"Drant? But how?" [Kara]

Since we had saw Drant once in the past, we can actually make out that is indeed Drant's head, with gooey fluid leaking out from it. It spasm a bit here and there, indicating that the window of time before its death is fairly recent. Above all

"Does that mean, we fail?" [Karon]

"No" [Aries]

"But, the head is right there, so how could..." [Mara]

"Drant is dead, yes, but you failing? No. I don't think so, as I could feel Drant's mana even below us" [Aries]

"What do you mean?" [Elise]

"Who knows, but there is still a glimmer of hope, so don't give up just yet" [Aries]

"If Mother Aries said so, all we gotta do is believe in her!" [Singa]

And taking a bigger step, the silhouette holding Drant's head finally becoming clear. It shocks us all as

"Knowing that Sadistic Saintess Angela, I shouldn't even be surprise, and yet, here I am, near speechless" [Aries]

It's Mother Aries, or at least what appears to be Mother Aries. Similar height, and physique, even holding a large lance and a shield. Only difference will be the hair colour, with Mother Aries having blond hair colour while her imitation having black hair. Also, addressing the elephant inside the room, there are jaws protruding from both side of the imitator cheeks, and lastly

"A homunculus huh..." [Rean]

"Just like Lara and Nara..." [Farhah]

"This will be tricky" [Zerolith]

"Still, how generous of her, letting her magic core getting sensed by us" [Savel]

"Either a fool or she has confidence on her strength, my bet is the later" [Charlotte]

"It doesn't matter! Everyone, get ready to fight! Judging by her miasma strength, our opponent will most likely be one of the ten devil commanders! Our objective is to defeat her!" [Rean]

"Let's go!" [Aries]

Charging ahead will be Mother Aries with her lance and shield, deflecting the incoming attack from her imitation. The way they fight are similar. Like how Mother Aries will thrust her lance, so does her imitator do. Even the stance Mother Aries took as she uses her shield is the same, albeit, all of us can tell that Mother Aries is actually weaker. Mother Aries age is one thing, but the blessing from the fallen god really make the imitator strong. Not to mention, I heard about Saintess Angela and her crazy experimentation, so I'm sure that further boost the imitator strength

"Steel magic: Land of sword and shield" [Imitator]

Thrusting her lance to the ground, countless weapon, ranging from steel sword to a long halberd protrude out from the ground, targeting each one of us. The craftsmanship might not be there, but the weapon protruding out are hard. Hard enough that even Karon having a hard time countering it with his mini earthquake magic

"Roar!" [Behe]

"Behe! Just make yourself smaller!" [Charlotte]

Due to Behe size, she become an easy prey for the magic. Poor Behe. His feet are pierce by the countless steel weapon. Even when it attempts to take flight inside this boss room, the weapon will simply be aim at a higher velocity to reach him, piercing his wings and leaving him wide open.

"Cure!" [Charlotte]

Not only physical damage, Behe also sustain severe earth status ailments. His claws are now petrified, while part of his wings become turn into a dust. His temperature also spikes up, and I can easily feels his heart beats steadily rising, most likely due to earth poison. For now, I focus my attention on healing Behe while sending off my golems to help the other

"Steel magic: Lance of judgement" [Aries]

"Steel magic: Lance of judgement" [Imitator]

The two lance collide, with Mother Aries getting pushed back quite easily, but

"Take this!" [Rean]

A fiery slice from Rean Katana, but it quickly get block by the miasma surrounding the imitator, before grabbing Rean left leg, crushing it and smacking Rean into the floor before throwing him into the wall.

"Why you! Ice missiles shark! Freeze dry!" [Charlotte]

Just when my ice missiles sharks wanted to open their mouths, the imitator throw her shield, hitting each one of them before grabbing that very same shield and smack Savel and Singa back. They attempt to land a blow while the imitator is preoccupied with the ice missiles sharks, but alas they fail

"Is this how Mother once fought during the succession war?" [Kara]

"Indeed. Saintess Angela modeled it based on that, albeit I can tell this imitator here is simply more aggressive than I am" [Aries]

"I don't know how you fight during the war, but even I can tell that she emphasize more on offense rather than your usual shielding style" [Mara]

That might be true. As far I can tell, I usually saw Mother Aries using her shield more often than her lance. She will usually take the role of a protector, trying to shield those under her from sustaining any damages. If anything, this really is a more aggressive version of Mother Aries, so I wonder, how should we beat her?

"Impressive, but let me tell you something, dear imitator" [Aries]

"..." [Imitator]

"Individual strength is important during war. There are some example of a war being won because of an insanely powerful person, but, there are even more countless examples of victory being claim by those who are weaker as well! If you think an imitation like you can overpowered me with your strength alone, than that sadistic saintess really don't know a damn thing about her ex-paladin!" [Aries]