In Vanilla Ice's eyes on the other side, everything that happened during the time stop was invisible. He only saw Dio, who had been gaining the upper hand, suddenly fly backward covered in blood. Judging by the strange angle of his right leg, it was clear that Dio's right leg was also severely injured.
"See? Do you still think your Lord Dio is invincible?"
Takatsuki knew from the beginning that Jotaro was waiting, waiting for the moment Dio let down his guard, and that moment of relaxation was when he activated his ability.
And at that moment, Star Platinum would surely seize the opportunity.
"Damn you, Jotaro!"
Upon seeing this, Vanilla Ice no longer cared about stopping Takatsuki and the others. His upper body directly emerged from The Cream's huge mouth, driving The Cream, which also only showed its upper body, directly towards the direction Dio flew backward.
Because his purpose was to save someone, not to attack, he could only maintain this form, as The Cream's attacks do not differentiate between friend and foe.
"Armor, release!"
However, Jotaro was not the only one who had been watching for a weakness.
Before Vanilla Ice could react, a silver-white figure appeared beside him.
"What?!"
Vanilla Ice stared in shock at Silver Chariot, who had arrived at his side. He had completely underestimated how fast Silver Chariot was after removing its armor, and how far its range extended.
Although he was wholeheartedly focused on rushing to Dio's aid, if he himself died, helping Dio would be a joke. So, Vanilla Ice had always kept himself outside of everyone else's attack range. Avdol could attack from a distance, but his speed wasn't fast, and The Cream flying at full speed could completely avoid it.
Therefore, Jotaro wasn't the only one hiding his true strength.
Continuous stabs repeatedly drew blood from Vanilla Ice's body, and Vanilla Ice quickly tried to retreat back into his void.
"No! Too fast!"
If it were just for self-preservation, Vanilla Ice had countless methods, but what he sought at this moment was not self-preservation!
"For Lord Dio!"
The Cream directly extended its hand, meeting Silver Chariot. After paying the price of being stabbed several times, The Cream forcibly grabbed Silver Chariot's arm.
"Nani! You bastard! Are you crazy?!"
"But! Even so, with your current injuries, you won't live much longer!"
Polnareff had not expected Vanilla Ice to have such resolve. If the opponent had simply focused on escaping, he could have completely survived, and Polnareff, wanting to kill him before he escaped, had attacked frantically without holding back.
But the opponent was willing to suffer fatal injuries just to grab Silver Chariot.
"But it's useless!"
Polnareff had already seen the others rushing towards The Cream. Silver Chariot's greatest purpose was not to kill the opponent! It was to buy time!
"Mere fatal injuries, there's no time for me to care about such pain! I absolutely must save Lord Dio!"
Vanilla Ice also noticed the others who were rushing over.
"Avdol can't attack because of Silver Chariot; Silver Chariot's defense is much weaker than my The Cream. Emerald Splash still needs one second to hit me, and others will take two or three seconds to arrive… That's enough…"
Calculating silently, Vanilla Ice looked in the direction where Dio had fallen. The Cream's head tilted forward, and the Stand's speed fully erupted. Its back was hit by several of Kakyoin's Emerald Splashes, but he didn't waver in the slightest due to the attacks, continuing to rush forward.
Silver Chariot is a speed-based Stand, so its power cannot compare to The Cream. Once its movements were restricted, it was completely unable to dodge The Cream's life-risking blow.
"Ah!!!"
Polnareff's arm snapped into three pieces directly. The middle part of Silver Chariot's arm was completely swallowed by The Cream, which then casually dropped Silver Chariot's right hand and sword before rushing towards the direction where Diavolo had fallen.
Buzz!
Diavolo was temporarily unable to Stand up due to his leg injury, and the large hole in his chest also made his recovery speed extremely slow.
Vanilla Ice instantly swallowed a large hole beside him.
"Quick! Lord Diavolo! Please follow me!"
Looking at Jotaro, who was close at hand, Vanilla Ice carried Diavolo on his back and rushed into the underground cave.
"Oh no! They escaped again!"
Even though Jotaro used Time Stop to try and delay their escape into the cave, Diavolo could still barely move. Relying on two more seconds of action time than Jotaro, he used The World to drag Vanilla Ice into the underground hole.
After entering this sole tunnel, Jotaro no longer dared to pursue. Chasing The Cream in a one-way passage was no different from seeking death.
"Get out of the way! Jotaro! Let me do it!"
Avdol, who had been unable to act due to the battlefield situation, now rushed over.
"They escaped a long time ago before, so there was no way, but they just entered now, and with Diavolo there, Vanilla Ice cannot hide in the dark space!"
Magician's Red's figure revealed itself.
Intense flames burst from his body, pouring down the tunnel Vanilla Ice had dug.
"Then I'll pinpoint Diavolo and their location!"
Joseph was not idle either, starting to try and locate the direction Diavolo and his group had fled.
"Damn it! He escaped again! That guy is truly terrifying; he didn't even die from such injuries!"
At the cave entrance, Polnareff slammed the ground. His injuries had already been healed by Crazy Diamond, but for him, the minor injuries were not as important as Vanilla Ice escaping with Diavolo.
If losing an arm permanently could result in Diavolo's death, he would not mind at all.
"Don't worry, Polnareff, they definitely can't escape far. Takatsuki, we..."
Kakyoin was about to say something when he realized that the three people who had been by his side were gone.
He did not notice that there was a hole on the ground not far away, about the size of a cat, but it was very inconspicuous in this spacious underground palace.
And in this cave, there were three animals that should not have been there.
"Meow meow meow meow..."
A pure white cat and a black cat followed one after another behind a pangolin, meowing incessantly.
"Kiana, even if you meow, we don't understand. We just turned into cats, we don't speak cat language."
A black cat in the back row, with a Stand of similar size—Crazy Diamond—spoke.
"Meow meow meow meow meow..."
The white cat meowed somewhat discontentedly, but even if others didn't understand, they could probably guess her meaning, likely expressing dissatisfaction that her The Hand couldn't speak.
Takatsuki, who was in front, also remained silent. To track Diavolo, he had switched out his Stand ability for Koby, using Observation Haki to pinpoint the two escaping presences.
As for why the three of them turned into animals, that was thanks to the Monkey Talisman in his inventory. Because he had given Kiana the Monkey Talisman, Takatsuki had put it in his third equipment slot, originally planning to surprise Diavolo, as the Monkey Talisman's effect allowed for evasion.
However, after they fled, Takatsuki took Kiana and Mei and transformed into animals, chasing them by digging a hole.
With the pangolin's digging ability combined with the Ox Talisman's power, Takatsuki felt that he was getting closer and closer to Diavolo and his group.