Anny turned to Nova with an excited expression. "Can I have this one?"

"Alone? Are you sure?" Nova asked, studying the massive chimera with concern.

"Yeah, there's something I've been wanting to test out," she replied, excitement dancing in her eyes.

Nova hesitated, calculating the risk. The chimera was enormous, at least ten meters tall with its three distinct heads moving independently as they assessed the new threats. The creature's muscles rippled beneath its hide.

"...Sure, be my guest. Let me know if you need anything," he finally agreed.

She started walking forward, sheathing her sword with a confident motion. "I just need you to close your eyes for a few moments. Now."

"Oookay." Nova did as he was told, squeezing his eyes shut and focusing on his other senses. He felt uneasy standing vulnerable in the presence of such a beast, but trusted Anny completely.

Anny's steps increased in pace as she charged toward the chimera. Nova noticed how they grew heavier with every stride, making the ground shake beneath his feet. The vibrations intensified with each footfall.

'She's turning again? But why would...'

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the steps transformed into thunderous impacts that shook the chamber. One set of footsteps turned into two, and understanding dawned on him.

Nova opened his eyes. A giant red beast had appeared between him and the chimera. Blood-colored scales covered its massive body, reflecting the blue crystal light in menacing gleams. Muscles bulged beneath the armored hide, moving like living steel with each step.

Anny had transformed completely into a drake. She towered seven meters tall and stretched twenty meters long from snout to tail. Despite being smaller than the chimera, she radiated power that seemed to make it hesitate.

'Ah, I had to look away as she removed her clothes,' Nova realized. 'That makes sense. The drake heart she received was grade eight, which should outclass this chimera. Combined with the physical enhancements from her Thousand Beast Sovereign technique, this should be an easy match. But still, I'm excited to see what she can do.'

Anny continued her charge without slowing, forcing the chimera to react. The dragon head on its right side reared back and unleashed a blast of flame that illuminated the chamber in bright orange light.

Anny didn't bother dodging. She ran straight through the inferno on all fours. The flames parted around her drake form like water around a stone. As a fire-breathing drake herself, Anny possessed natural immunity to flames. When he'd absorbed essence from the drake heart, he'd taken only the flame properties, not the resistance.

The chimera had no time to prepare another attack. Anny crashed into it with the force of a battering ram, driving the beast onto its hind legs and slamming it against the wall. Stone cracked behind the chimera's back, sending dust and fragments showering to the floor.

A thunderous boom echoed through the chamber from the impact. But the chimera wasn't as badly wounded as Nova expected.

Its snake-headed tail had twisted to absorb some of the force, acting like a spring to cushion the blow. The three heads roared in simultaneous pain, but quickly recovered and began snapping at Anny, who maintained her pressure against the wall.

(This was harder to control than I expected.) Her voice came through their mental connection, tinged with surprise.

(Oh, you still have the ring on? It shouldn't be able to expand that much,) Nova replied, watching the battle unfold with fascination.

(I put it in my mouth, just in case. Along with the spatial ring.) There was a note of pride in her mental voice.

(Well, don't swallow them.) Nova felt worry spike through him at the thought.

The chimera thrashed violently against the wall, trying to take advantage of its superior size. Anny held firm, massive claws digging trenches into the stone floor as she maintained her position. Her muscles strained with the effort as she pushed back against the struggling beast.

The snake head darted forward, aiming for her exposed flank. Anny swatted it away with one clawed hand, but the momentary distraction gave the chimera an opening. It twisted its massive body away from the wall, leaving trails of blood where Anny's claws had pierced its chest.

The lion head charged forward with jaws wide open as it aimed for Anny's neck. Simultaneously, the goat head fixed its gaze on her, glowing with an unnatural light.

Anny shook her head in sudden confusion, as if fighting off an invisible attack. Nova recognized the signs of mental manipulation—the goat head must possess some kind of mesmerizing ability.

The moment of weakness allowed the lion head to sink its teeth into Anny's shoulder. She screamed—a sound between a roar and a shriek that shook dust from the ceiling - and lashed out with her claws in retaliation.

Her strike found the lion's throat, tearing through flesh and bone with brutal efficiency. Blood sprayed across the chamber in a crimson arc as the lion head released her shoulder. It hung limply from the body, clearly dead. The chimera backed away with defensive roars from its remaining heads.

'Nice swipe,' Nova thought with satisfaction. 'Each head seems to have its own vitality. She'll need to kill all three before the body falls.'

Blood dripped from Anny's wounded shoulder, but the injury didn't seem to slow her. She snarled at the remaining heads, displaying rows of dagger-like teeth as she charged again.

The chimera tried to dodge sideways, but Anny's drake form possessed surprising agility. She pivoted effortlessly, keeping pace with the chimera's evasive maneuver. Her fangs aimed for another throat as she grabbed the creature's chest, claws tearing new gouges in its flesh.

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Her teeth found the goat head's neck and sank deep into its flesh. The snake head struck in desperation, but Anny was ready this time. Without releasing her bite, she grabbed the snake's neck with one hand and crushed it with a single squeeze. Then she pulled back violently, ripping the goat head's throat apart in a shower of gore.

Two more heads died within moments, leaving only the dragon head on the right side. Panic showed in its reptilian eyes as it breathed flames in all directions, a desperate last attempt at victory.

Anny remained undaunted. She charged again in a furious final attack. The chimera leapt into the air in a desperate attempt to escape, but Anny followed, driving her claws into its lower body and climbing up toward the final head.

Her jaws clamped onto the dragon's spine with crushing force. Nova heard bones shatter under the pressure of her bite.

The two massive beasts crashed to the floor with a ground-shaking impact—the chimera hitting first with Anny on top, fangs still locked on the dragon. The chamber trembled with the force of their landing, and small stones fell from the ceiling.

A familiar blue message appeared between them, glowing against the backdrop of the scorched chamber.

[Congratulations! You've completed Floor 7!]

[The reward will be evenly split between both party members.]

[Do you wish to continue to the next floor?]

(Quite impressive, Anny! I nearly forgot you could do that.) Nova sent through their connection, having honestly enjoyed the fight.

She released the mangled remains of the dragon head and turned to look at him. Her drake eyes held intelligence beyond that of a mere beast, but something seemed to trouble her. She began scanning the chamber floor, head moving back and forth in an anxious pattern.

"...Did you lose the rings?" Nova asked, immediately understanding her predicament.

She let out a low whine that reverberated through the chamber and nodded her massive head.

Nova sighed. "Alright. Since I can't use spells yet, we'll just have to look. Did you lose both of them, so you can't go back to normal?"

Another nod, this one accompanied by a sheepish lowering of her head.

Without the storage ring, she had no access to her clothes.

Nova began searching the chamber floor, scanning every area where Anny had opened her massive jaws. His eyes traced the pattern of her movements during the fight, trying to determine where the rings might have fallen. Blood and saliva marked various spots on the stone floor, each a potential hiding place for the tiny objects.

He turned his attention to the chimera's corpse. If the rings had fallen into the beast during one of her bites, recovering them would be far messier than he'd like.

'This is where she was bitten by the lion and screamed in pain... Ah, there's one!'

A glint of metal caught his eye beneath a dark red puddle. The storage ring lay half-hidden under a glob of congealing blood, barely visible.

"I found one," Nova yelled, plucking the ring from its bloody resting place. He held it up, showing the tiny circle of metal to Anny's massive drake form.

Anny turned her huge head toward him, staring at the small object in his palm. The skin above her eyes bunched together in what looked like a frown when she saw the ring covered in drying blood and dirt.

"I'll just put it here and turn around?" Nova placed the ring on a clean patch of the stone floor.

Anny nodded after a moment's hesitation. She moved closer to him with heavy steps that made the floor vibrate beneath his feet.

Nova turned his back and waited patiently, focusing on the far wall of the chamber. Behind him, he heard the strange sounds of transformation.

"THAT DAMN GOAT had a mean stare to him," Anny's voice began as a deep growl before gradually shifting to her normal childlike tone. "I got a really bad headache. Then the lion bit me while I was distracted. I was more insulted than hurt, honestly."

"I didn't expect anything like that ability to work on this floor, but maybe the essence doesn't have to leave the body to send visual attacks. But does that mean..."

He held his hand out in front of him, focusing essence into a small formation on his palm. Light gathered there, growing until his hand glowed like a miniature sun. Nova increased the intensity, directing the beam toward the wall until a blinding spot of white appeared on the stone surface.

"Oh, that's interesting. This doesn't count as essence leaving the body since it's converted to light first."

"Yeah, too bad we'll never have any use for it ever again." Anny's voice sounded flat, lacking enthusiasm for his magical revelation. "You can turn around now and help me look for the other ring."

"You don't have to sound so disinterested." Nova turned, finding Anny standing with her arms crossed over her chest. Her expression was unexpectedly gloomy. "...Ah, I was very impressed by the fight, by the way. You didn't hear me say it earlier since the ring was lost."

Her face brightened instantly. "Oh... Yeah, thanks. It wasn't great, really. I made lots of mistakes."

She looked away, suddenly interested in examining the floor for the missing ring. "But I enjoy fighting like that once in a while... Now, let's find the other one."

(...You really are cute.)

They spread out, examining different sections of the chamber. Nova checked near the goat head while Anny searched around the site of her final attack. The chimera's massive body took up much of the floor space, making their search more difficult than it might have been.

After several minutes of careful examination, Anny let out a triumphant sound. She stood by the lion head, reaching into its blood-matted mane with careful fingers. When she withdrew her hand, the small ring glinted between her fingers.

She slipped it onto her finger, adjusting it until it sat comfortably. Her eyes widened suddenly as she looked over at Nova. (Oh hey, it stores your messages. I guess you were telling the tru—)

She stopped mid-thought, staring at him with wide eyes.

'Ah, shit. I forgot that they could receive and store messages as long as they still have essence remaining…'

Heat crept up Nova's neck and into his face. He wasn't ready for his private thoughts to be heard like this, especially not that particular sentiment.

"...You're blushing," Anny said, looking away from him. Her mouth turned down at the corners, giving her expression a strangely bitter cast.

'...Why bitter?'

Nova stared at her, trying to decipher the unexpected reaction. If anything, he expected her to be happy.

'Did she take it to mean the same as it does when I speak of Millie? And, for that matter, did I mean it that way?'

He reflected silently, not expecting to be as confused as he was.

'Either way, we've spent enough time here. Millie is waiting.'

He turned back to the message that still floated in the air before them.

"You're fine to continue, right?" His voice came out steadier than he expected.

"...Sure." The word was short, revealing nothing of her thoughts.

"Yes, we will proceed." Nova addressed the system message directly, eager to move past the uncomfortable moment.

The wall behind the fallen chimera rumbled in response. Stone ground against stone as a section of the wall parted, revealing a stairway that descended into darkness. Cool air wafted up from below.

"Do you think you will sense her on the next floor?" Anny asked. The earlier tension had faded from her voice, replaced by quiet concern.

Nova closed his eyes, concentrating on the connection that should exist between his ring and Millie's. He reached out with his essence, searching for that familiar signature. Nothing. The silence in his mind felt heavy, oppressive.

"I don't know. Anything else would be… catastrophic."

He did not think lightly of descending to the ninth floor, but he absolutely would, if that's what it took. But the tenth…

'If I have to use the materials I received from the Rift Lord, I will. Even if I have to… absorb its heart.'

They descended the stairs together, walking side by side into the unknown. Each step took them deeper into the dungeon and closer to Millie. The blue crystal light faded behind them as they ventured downward, leaving only darkness ahead.

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