The Second Demon King, Dam.
In the true ending of Ys Origin's Thor route, players must face a consecutive BOSS battle at the very end.
First, they fight Dalles, and then immediately afterward, they must confront Cain.
Dalles's transformation into a BOSS relies on his ultimate demon form, triggered by perfect assimilation with the Root of Evil.
Cain's conditions for becoming a BOSS are even more stringent; he not only needs to kill Dalles and extract the Root of Evil from him but also simultaneously acquire ownership of the divine artifact Black Pearl, insert both the artifact and the Root of Evil into his body, and completely abandon his human identity before he can transform into the strongest and most evil BOSS unit in the entire Ys Origin worldview—
The Demon King Dam, who transcends heavenly principles.
But now, he is far from the formidable state he achieved in the original worldline.
Not only could he not get his hands on the Black Pearl, but even the Root of Evil was incomplete.
However, this is where the backup plan comes into play.
The fact that he possessed a replica of the Black Pearl indicates that Cain's ambition had been brewing for much longer than just a day or two, and by leveraging his status, almost implicitly recognized as the leader of the Six Priests, over time, the replica in Cain's possession had absorbed a considerable amount of the Black Pearl's diffused demonic power.
Although it was incomparable to the genuine article, it still possessed a trace of the divine artifact's might.
And to activate them, a certain method was clearly needed.
For example, the magical fluctuations released when the goddesses personally activated the Black Pearl.
Cain's true intention was to snatch the Black Pearl, but he was also absorbing the magical fluctuations from the goddesses during their confrontation; Fina and the others felt that inexplicable pulling force during the standoff, which originated from the replica Black Pearl activated by Cain.
The ability to break through the dungeon's flight restrictions was due to that trace of special authority gained after activating the Black Pearl.
With the divine artifact replica in his hand, Cain could forcibly resonate with the Root of Evil, but the problem was that his Shadow Spear had been Midas-touched by Cheng Tian, and Dalles was still alive and kicking, so forcibly extracting the Root of Evil by killing him was not something that could be done quickly.
Most importantly, after the forced resonance, Cain discovered that the Root of Evil was incomplete.
But with the arrow already on the bowstring, Cain made a difficult decision—
He would refine Dalles along with the incomplete Root of Evil! To make them his own!
Only in this way would he have a chance to completely surpass the Twin Goddesses and the divine artifacts in their hands, and thoroughly seize everything that should have belonged to him!
As the evil magical fluctuations completely engulfed Cain and Dalles, all the players also received new notifications.
Warning! Warning!
"Inch-Stop Dark Demon Dalles" has been forcibly assimilated by the hidden BOSS unit "Cain Fact," and the player's objective has changed!
With the divine artifact replica "Black Pearl" as its core, ominous magical power reshaped the flesh and blood of the monster and human, and a large number of tentacles began to extend in all directions.
However, what was strange was that these tentacles immediately reached out towards the remaining monsters on the scene!
Under the gaze of the players, who all chose to keep their distance, black tentacles dragged a large number of monsters back, and the black core, like an insatiable gluttonous black hole, frantically devoured the monsters' flesh and blood.
With each one consumed, the eerie magical energy mass grew a bit larger.
This was the incomplete Black Pearl, instinctively devouring monsters of the same origin to fill its internal deficiencies.
However, the problem was that the missing part was in Cheng Tian's inventory, which meant that no matter how much it consumed, it could not satisfy this monster's appetite.
The tentacles even extended to the main entrance of the White Tower.
The Dark Clan members present, who possessed demon factors, were also chosen as targets for consumption.
Shura War Berserker Kisugal, who had fully demonized, and Dark Sorceress Saba, who was deeply demonized, were almost without resistance swept up by the tentacles and rapidly pulled back.
However, the two tentacles that reached out towards the brothers Yugo and Thor were jointly blocked by the Temple Knights and Sorcerers.
They knew the brothers were controlled, so they never truly tried to kill them.
After being interrupted six or seven times in a row, the tentacles finally gave up trying to capture the two brothers.
By this time, the remaining monsters within the range of the Twin Black and White Towers' converging battle lines had all been captured by the tentacles.
With the inclusion of Kisugal and Saba, the black sphere, which had originally been just a large mass of materialized fluid magic, also began to change in form.
Soon, a gigantic monster with numerous tentacles, massive clawed arms, a bloated body, goat-like horns, and other demonic features, with floating head-shaped familiars on both sides of its body, and one of its four arms wielding an enlarged Shura Battle Axe, appeared in everyone's sight.
The players' main quest objective has been forcibly changed to the theoretically final BOSS in the Ys Origin dungeon—Demon King Dam, beneath heavenly principles.
Due to the target's actual combat power exceeding the current dungeon's capacity limit, a new optional branch withdrawal quest has been added to the players' main quest—Escape the Demon King!
Note: Even if players choose the "Escape the Demon King!" branch, the space will not reclaim any permanent enhancements players have already completed in the current dungeon.
Whether to continue fighting or choose to withdraw, players should decide for themselves.
Ogrin Congming Tou, located at the very front of the battlefield and closest in a straight line to the final BOSS, took several steps back but did not make a choice immediately.
To be precise, he was waiting, waiting for Cheng Tian's move.
Although he only had a team-up experience with him in Metal Slug, Cheng Tian had left too deep an impression on him, to the point where his trust in Cheng Tian's choices was extremely high.
If Cheng Tian ran, then even if there was a strategy and a possibility of clearing, he would not hesitate to retreat; self-preservation was more important than anything.
Congming Tou had chosen the Shield Guardian profession, but this did not mean he would sacrifice himself for irrelevant people.
But if Cheng Tian still chose to stay, then this matter would most likely be very promising.
Congming Tou had experience, but other players had various thoughts.
Some, with a conservative and self-preserving mindset, immediately chose the withdrawal route and ran, which was very decisive.
Since the space said it could retain permanent enhancements to equipment, there was naturally no obligation to fight to the death for a reward whose exact amount was unknown; even Cheng Tian would nod and praise them.
But there were also those who embraced the 'others' fear, I'm greedy' mentality, and after a complex internal struggle, chose to stay, opening their personal panels to check their current status and remaining supplies.
"Is this what it feels like to abandon humanity and fully embrace demonhood?"
This was the first sentence spoken by Demon King Dam after completely abandoning his human form.
Those familiar could clearly hear that it was a blend of the voices of Dalles, Kisugal, Saba, and Cain, much like how the fused Vegito could simultaneously emit the voices of Goku and Vegeta, which was very peculiar.
Subsequently, Demon King Dam slowly looked down at the ground, and the remaining players and NPCs on the ground stiffened in unison.
"Humans, are indeed insignificant, like ants."
"What, are you planning to pee and flood the ant hill?"
And at this moment, a very discordant voice pierced through the air.
At this very moment, Goddess Reah of the Azure Moon and Goddess Fina of the Crimson Moon, far away in the direction of the White Tower, both wrapped Cheng Tian, who was at the center holding the Black Pearl, with their wings.
Magical fluctuations almost completely opposite to those of Demon King Dam erupted from their bodies!