The scolopendra showed no mercy to its enemies. Before Chiara and Joao could stand, the creature slithered across the floor, closing in on them with terrifying speed.
A deafening shriek filled the room as the ice monster reared up, preparing to strike with enormous, deadly paws designed to pierce and destroy.
"Not on my watch!" Lars yelled, slamming his shoulder into the insect's torso to deflect its trajectory and save the pair.
"Thank you!" Chiara called out, but before they could catch their breath, the scolopendra’s tail lashed out like a whip, striking Lars hard and sending him crashing to the ground.
With unnatural speed, the ice creature raised itself again, coiling like a snake about to strike, its fangs aimed at Lars.
"Dammit..." Lars grunted, still dazed from the blow, unable to rise in time.
"Megaton kick!" Chiara’s voice echoed as she delivered a flawless dropkick, smashing into the scolopendra’s head and violently redirecting its attack.
But just as it had with Lars, the creature’s tail snapped toward Chiara, still mid-air. In an instant, Joao leaped in, using his bulk to absorb the impact, pinning the scolopendra with outstretched arms.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Joao roared, his strength holding firm. Planting his feet, he began spinning, using the momentum to leveraging centrifugal force to pull the scolopendra with him.
"Throw it toward the entrance! Elara’s working on hacking the systems!" Lars called, pushing himself off the floor. Joao heeded the command, hurling the creature toward the front of the heating room.
The scolopendra crashed into the entrance, shattering both doors. But aside from a few cracks in its exoskeleton, it appeared largely unharmed, quickly resuming its fighting stance with a menacing, guttural hiss.
"We’ve got your number now, you damn bug! Time to crush you!" Chiara shouted, her face flushed with anger.
"Your size, speed, and attack patterns make you tough, no doubt," Joao said, stepping beside Chiara and Lars. "But you’re not fighting one of us. You’re fighting all three."
"Normally, I don’t like ganging up," Lars grinned, raising his guard in a peek-a-boo boxing stance, "but for you, I’ll make an exception."
The second round between the three aspiring agents and the Scolopendra began, with all of them launching into battle simultaneously at at high speed.
Meanwhile, a little away from the chaos, Elara stood in front of the heating panel. Her fingers danced across the holographic keypad as she worked to unlock the ventilation controls.
The sounds of the fight behind her added tension to the air, but Elara’s focus wavered as she stared at the constant red error flashing on the screen. Frustration showed on her face.
"Dammit... If the security was this tight, why send a monster like that here?" she muttered, venting her irritation.
The panel’s security demanded a 25-character password entered via a key, but without the key, Elara was forced to hack the system. The task was proving far more difficult than she'd anticipated.
"Come on, guys, hold on... or better yet, take it down already," she whispered to herself, hoping her teammates would defeat the creature soon.
By this time, Lars, Chiara, and Joao were beginning to dominate the fight. They had figured out the creature’s predictable behavior—it would retreat into its thick carapace after an attack, then counter with a strike from its tail or legs.
Understanding this pattern, the trio coordinated their attacks perfectly: one would strike, the second would defend against the counterattack, and the third would move in to exploit any opening.
Chiara was the spearhead, using her agility to dart within the Scolopendra’s range and search for an opening to land a clean hit.
Joao acted as her shield, always ready to protect her whenever the creature lashed out. At those moments, Lars took advantage of the distraction to unleash powerful blows on the scolopendra’s vulnerable spots.
The creature’s agonized screams echoed through the metallic walls, proof that the trio’s teamwork had broken several of its legs and inflicted significant damage in a short amount of time.
"Yes! At this pace, it’s only a matter of time before it falls!" Lars shouted, confident as the scolopendra looked near defeat.
But then, the creature’s behavior shifted unexpectedly.
Chiara noticed first when it stopped targeting her. "Now!" she thought, convinced she could land the final blow.
"Megaton Punch!" the pink-haired fighter yelled, pouring all her strength into the punch. But just as she launched forward, a cold shiver ran down her spine—the scolopendra twisted at blinding speed, wrapping itself like a coiled whip.
In an instant, it transformed into a spinning wrecking wheel, using its legs to anchor and fling itself toward Chiara.
A thunderous crash reverberated through the room as the two forces collided. Chiara lost the confrontationwas. She was hurled across the chamber, slamming into one of the air ducts near where Elara stood.
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She was clearly unconscious.
"Chiara!" Joao shouted as he saw his companion injured, but there was no time to worry. The creature was still advancing, this time targeting Elara on the far side of the room.
"Lars!" Joao called, sprinting to intercept the scolopendra’s path.
"I'm on it!" Lars responded, rushing at full speed alongside him to catch up with the monster.
"Chiara, are you okay?" Elara asked, still furiously working on hacking the system.
Though she wanted to help, Elara knew she had to focus. If she didn’t unlock the heating system, all their efforts would be in vain. "Hold on, Chiara, I'm almost finish with this!" she muttered, biting her lip in frustration as a loud crash echoed behind her.
Lars and Joao had managed to intercept the scolopendra, bracing themselves to halt its momentum. The monstrous wheel of the creature kept spinning, relentlessly pushing against them.
"Hang on!" Joao grunted, straining with all his strength.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Lars shot back, struggling as his arms began to burn under the pressure of the scolopendra's spinning force.
The creature was massive, and in this state, it was channeling the full power of its legs. It was clear that Lars and Joao were losing ground; they couldn’t hold out much longer.
"Elara, we're out of time!" Lars yelled, feeling his feet begin to slide across the floor.
"Just a few more seconds! I’m almost there!" Elara called back, her voice steady despite the chaos.
Her blue eyes were laser-focused on the algorithms she typed, the world around her fading away. Her fingers moved at an unnatural speed, driven by adrenaline and determination.
"Come on, damn it... almost there, almost there..."
She muttered under her breath.
Unbeknownst to her, Elara's body had begun to emit a faint Synchro Aura, a sign of her rising tension and focus. But there was no time to notice—the scolopendra shifted tactics.
With a sudden movement, the creature uncoiled its tail and smashed it into the ground. Joao and Lars immediately realized what was happening as the immense pressure vanished.
The scolopendra had used its tail to launch itself forward, springing into the air. In one swift, deadly motion, it uncoiled mid-flight, aiming its sharp fangs directly at the control panel where Elara stood.
Elara didn’t even turn around as a green access screen finally blinked open in front of her.
It seemed like the end. Lars and Joao were completely overwhelmed, Elara was oblivious to the danger, and the Scolopendra was poised to crush both the control panel and her in one swift strike.
Everything was happening so fast.
"Final Megaton Kick!"
No one saw it coming. Chiara, her face bloodied from the earlier blow, appeared seeking revenge. With a furious cry, she delivered a powerful upward kick, slamming into the Scolopendra and deflecting its attack toward the ceiling.
"I did it!" Elara shouted triumphantly, pressing the final button just as the entire system activated. The metal walls began to glow red as the room’s temperature soared.
"Now, Joao!" Lars yelled, and both of them charged at the scolopendra, landing devastating blows from opposite sides. The combined force of their attack and the sudden rise in temperature resulted in a devastating blow that split the monster in two, releasing a shower of ice shards.
"Alright, let's go, now!" Elara commanded, wasting no time celebrating their victory. She grabbed Chiara's hand and started toward the exit.
"Wait, what?" Lars called out, bewildered by Elara’s urgency.
"I’ve overloaded the heating system! If we stay, we’ll get cooked alive!" she shouted over her shoulder.
"But—" Lars stammered, glancing at Joao, who burst into laughter and followed the girls.
"What’s wrong with you two?!" Lars grumbled, chasing after them.
Museum - First Floor
A chain reaction rippled through the entire museum when Elara overloaded the heating system. In seconds, hot air surged from the machines, raising the temperature throughout the building.
Upstairs, those battling the ice monsters immediately noticed a shift. Despite their exhaustion, their attacks were suddenly far more effective.
"Are they getting weaker? I thought we were done for," Katya said in disbelief after shattering the head of an ice baboon with a roundhouse kick. She collapsed to one knee, leaning on her staff to keep pressure off her injured leg.
"Fuck yeah, it’s payback time!" Lucas roared, launching a furious assault on a group of five creatures, obliterating them and scattering frost everywhere.
Soon, Ethan, Angelo, and even Sophie found it easier to take down the monsters as the temperature continued to rise.
Museum - Third Floor
Brennan and John stood in awe as they watched the three applicants in front of them battle the ice beasts that had ambushed them near the exhibition room.
Sven, Xin Hua, and Nova held the creatures at bay, taking control of the fight, while Brennan, John, and Frank looked on. Unlike the two older men, young Frank clenched his fists in frustration, desperate to join his friends but paralyzed by fear.
The boy's eyes were filled with longing. “If only... if only I wasn’t such a coward,” Frank muttered, feeling helpless.
Although the trio had fought valiantly, they had exhausted their Synchro Aura. For several minutes, they’d relied solely on their physical strength and were nearing the brink of defeat.
It seemed like one final attack from the ice beasts would finish them, but at that moment, a wave of heat swept through the third floor. The sudden rise in temperature weakened the creatures, giving the exhausted fighters a much-needed reprieve.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" The three shouted in unison, using their remaining strength to crush the weakened beasts. Xin Hua swung her tonfas, Sven slashed with his katana, and Nova pummeled with his mace.
Within minutes, the floor was littered with melting ice shards. Exhausted, the trio collapsed, gasping for breath.
“How many?” Sven asked between labored breaths, lying flat on the floor.
"What?" the others thought, confused by the Wusheng-style fighter's question.
"How many ice dummies did each of us take down? If you were just going to stand there and watch, you could’ve at least kept count,” Sven said, his voice dripping with disdain as he lay without even looking at the onlookers.
"Why does that matter?" Nova grumbled, still struggling to catch his breath.
“I want to know too,” Xin Hua admitted shyly, sitting against the wall, surrounded by ice animal mannequins. She glanced over at Nova, clearly eager to have defeated more than him.
Brennan and John broke into a cold sweat, despite the heat. "Mr. Sven, well... we—" they stammered, searching for an excuse, fumbling for words as they realized the intensity of the fighter’s glare.
“Xin Hua and Sven tied with 15. Nova got 11,” Frank interjected firmly, stepping up despite his earlier hesitation. Even though he hadn’t fought, at least he could contribute by keeping count, and that small act brought him a sense of relief.
“What?!” Sven and Xin Hua exclaimed simultaneously, both clearly irritated by the results.
Nova, indifferent to the competition, was relieved not to be the center of their attention.
“The test isn’t over yet. We still need to see who defeats the most ice creatures,” Xin Hua declared, struggling to rise. “I refuse to tie with someone like you.”
“As if I’d lose to a runt like you!” Sven retorted, wobbling as he pulled himself up and gripped his weapon. Both fighters, legs trembling, began to rush toward the exit.
Before they could leave, a faint tremor shook the museum’s foundations. Suddenly, the voice of Saito echoed through the space, listening from the elegant ice birds perched near the groups on every floor.
“One minute left. You’ve done well so far, but the life of an agent is far harsher than this.”
Across every floor of the museum, an army of low-level ice beasts materialized, ready to strike. For the next minute, these creatures would relentlessly attack, aiming to overwhelm the challengers who were already teetering on the edge of exhaustion.
