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The Moguro Sky Garden was a restricted area. Several police officers and a few sorcerers from the clan stood guard, maintaining a powerful barrier around the massive structure.

"Ah, thank goodness you’re here. Please proceed," one of the sorcerers said.

"Alright, this is where you go on alone," Olivia announced.

"Good luck!" Elayne added.

"Wait, Elayne, not yet," Olivia said. "All of you received an update on your runes, right? You must hunt down at least thirty monsters inside the Canvas Bleed Space. You also need to slay at least one Large Monster, a Boss-type creature. Keep your auras active at all times, scan every corner, take breaks when needed, and use your healing potions and magic."

"Okay then," Elena replied. "Let’s go."

The party quickly made their way into the Moguro Sky Garden, crossing the long bridge that led high above the ground. A beautiful, calm garden stretched out before them, yet an eerie silence hung in the air, as if time itself had stopped.

"Phew..." Elisa sighed once they reached the second floor.

In the distance stood the museum, eerily quiet, with no guards in sight but all its lights brightly on. From afar, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

"Looks like a plain old museum to me..." Elena muttered.

"Be careful," Matsuo warned. "Let’s not get lost. Unify your auras as we move inside. Ready?"

Everyone nodded and stepped into the seemingly normal, empty museum.

The moment they crossed the threshold, everything changed. What they had seen outside was merely a "curtain." Inside, they found themselves in a colorful, twisted museum that spiraled endlessly in every direction like a nightmarish labyrinth.

"S-So this is the Canvas Bleed Space phenomenon..." Matsuo muttered. "Unbelievable. It’s exactly like the domain of that thing that attacked us before..."

"Indeed..." Frank nodded, his eyes sharpening as he scanned the area. "And we’ve got company already."

From the pink, purple, and yellow corridors spiraling upward, the sound of something approaching echoed loudly.

RUMBLE!

Footsteps.

Enormous footsteps.

"Wait, don’t tell me..." Anna’s voice trembled as she stared at the creature that suddenly emerged from nowhere.

"ROOOAAARRRR!"

It was a Tyrannosaurus rex!

The name Tyrannosaurus rex translates from Greek and Latin as "Tyrant Lizard King" or "King of the Tyrant Lizards."

Henry Fairfield Osborn named it in 1905, with the "rex" (Latin for king) chosen to highlight its enormous size, its dominance as the apex predator of Late Cretaceous North America, and its unmatched bite force.

And now, this tyrannical beast has been revived through the power of the Canvas Bleed Phenomenon.

But how was that even possible?

"Get out of the way!"

Everyone scattered as the dinosaur snapped in the air, nearly tripping before it quickly regained its balance and roared again.

"GROOARR!"

It charged straight at the nearest target, Erika, and tried to crush her with its immense bite force.

Erika caught its jaws with her bare hands, stopping the deadly snap as she unleashed her half-transformation.

A layer of fur spread across her arms and body. She grew fifty percent taller and far more muscular, her canine features becoming sharper while still retaining her human appearance.

This was her Hybrid Form, also known as Kemono Form. It greatly enhanced her physical abilities without forcing her into a full werewolf transformation.

The partial shift helped her conserve energy, which was crucial for long missions like this one.

"Heh, you picked the wrong girl today, buddy!"

She smashed her fists into the dinosaur’s face repeatedly, then shoved the massive beast away from her.

"GRYYAARRR!"

Though it bled slightly from the blows, the creature seemed barely affected. Erika, on the other hand, felt sharp pain radiating through her hands.

"That thing is tougher than concrete! Be careful!"

As she shouted the warning and dodged the swinging tail, Frank shot forward through the air and delivered a powerful kick to the dinosaur’s chin, sending it crashing heavily to the ground.

CRASH!

"ROOAAARRR!"

The dinosaur opened its massive maw and fired a beam of rainbow-colored light, blasting Frank backward instead.

BOOOM!

"W-What?!"

"Woah!"

"It’s obviously not just a normal dinosaur!"

The group was stunned, but they quickly grew more serious. Elena summoned her Darkwood Swords along with her Phantasmal Katana. Using Shadow Step, she leaped high and slashed at the beast with a fluid mix of sword stances and razor-sharp cutting techniques.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

The dinosaur roared in fury, enduring the pain, and retaliated with a powerful headbutt that sent Elena crashing to the ground once more.

"It’s a boss monster?!" Elena asked.

"It’s a roaming boss, most likely!" Matsuo replied as he healed his friends. "I’ll distract it! Paper Shikigami Summon: Storm Formation!"

A storm of Shikigami shaped like small paper fairies burst forth, swirling around the giant dinosaur and distracting it. They clung to its scales and began draining its energy.

At the same time, Harumi summoned her Sanguine Relics from the shadows. The unique vampire weapons sliced through the air as she swung them against the beast. Several sharp, cutting strikes tore across the monster’s body.

Elena followed Harumi’s lead. She decided to conserve energy and focused on basic yet deep, vicious cuts rather than complex magic.

"GROOAARRR!"

The dinosaur roared in agony as blood poured from multiple wounds. Elena and Harumi tried to climb the beast and stab its neck, but it shook violently, throwing them off and sending them tumbling across the ground.

Erika and Frank rejoined the fray, attacking with raw physical power. Frank thrust his angelic spear while Erika slashed with her sharp, beastly claws.

The beast hissed in pain and staggered backward, only for its legs to sink into a trap carefully prepared by Monica and Elisa.

Monica’s magic of shadows, curses, and ghosts fused together and formed a devouring black hole. It slowly dragged the dinosaur into the darkness. At the same time, chains of crackling thunder from Elisa wrapped around its body, electrocuting it while the cursed shadows continued to weaken its strength.

"GYAAAAARRRGGHH!"

Unable to fight back and completely overwhelmed, the mighty roaming boss let out one final, deafening cry. It collapsed heavily to the floor, blood gushing from its mouth.

"It’s done!" Elena sighed in relief.

"Whew, that was tough," Elisa said.

"We did it!" Monica cheered.

"Hey, we’re a pretty good team!" Erika laughed.

"Yeah," Matsuo nodded. "Harumi, we’ll be counting on your shadow magic to store everything."

"Sure," Harumi replied, absorbing the giant monster’s corpse into her shadows. "That’s one boss down, right? Let’s keep going. This is just the beginning."

As the party advanced into a long, spiraling corridor lined with eerie, giggling paintings, a figure in the distance hid behind an immobile statue. It watched them in silence.

"Huh, so they’re strong enough to defeat even one of my brothers. Interesting... These young ones might be a delightful meal after all."

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