Jinma – 3
It took too long for to arrive here finally. How many tis had I returned to this room? Right here, where the door to the boss was before? This was all that was left now, and nothing was stopping from entering anymore.
“Alright.” Even though no one was around to hear , I talked to myself. Even after acquiring the wings of Jinma, I still felt nervous about going through this door. ‘What is waiting for inside?’
“No ti like the present.” I slapped my cheeks, forcing the thoughts that were forming in my mind like stormy clouds. I had no need for questions or hesitation; I just had to keep moving forward as I had been doing until now. I double-checked my equipnt. I had Blood Baptism, the sword I made using Blood Shadow, the Twilight sword, my charms of dark drops and illusions, and Herma’s bloodstone ring. I wasn’t wearing the ring currently; however, finding no need for it as it didn’t increase my abilities. I had plenty of ergency food left still, and my physical condition felt good.
I pushed open the door to the boss room, greeted by the sight of a large cavity in which gloomy purple fog swirled. It was dark in here, much more so than in the other rooms.
[Kii…who is this now?]
A voice rang throughout the room. I expected to be greeted by an attack, but it seed this one wanted to talk.
[Ah, yes… I’ve been waiting to et you.]
“Who’re you?” Reaching out with my sensing, I was able to locate my opponent and tell what he looked like. It was much larger than any other monster I had faced so far, even the one in the Rookie’s Battlefield, and was at least thirty tis my own size. However, its massive body was chained at the far end of this cavern from bound to the large wall. I couldn’t tell what sort of material the chain was made of, but it dug into the wall and bound all of its body. The only thing it could move was its fingers, toes, and mouth.
‘Why is he tied up? He still feels so overwhelmingly strong despite that…”
[Don’t know ? Don’t you know ? Hahahahahaha!]
“Khhh…” It was an attack. ‘Madness Noise? No, not quite…’ It was a higher-level skill than that, a terribly advanced technique that breaks the opponent’s will with a word, destroying their soul and stealing their body. If I hadn’t been training my resistance with L, if I hadn’t been learning how to interfere with the opponent’s force of strength and reduce its effect on , that would’ve been the end of it already.
[Was that the first ti you heard that one? It’s really a funny joke.]
I could feel the fog rising ominously, trying to reach out to . Thanks to my Predation of the elves and monsters on the Rookie’s Battlefield, however, I learned a few things about ice magic. I froze the fog before it could touch , but it continued to rise.
[I knew it. You are a fun one. What a noble sacrifice you have made, coming here, walking the path that you do.]
“Don’t kid around…” I decided to change my tactics, dropping the ice magic that I wasn’t familiar with yet and combining my fla magic with Demon’s Claw. I shaped the Demon’s Claw into a shield, evaporating the mist that ca close to as I jumped off into the air with Ubiquitous.
[That’s not fun.]
The fog united with a terrible purpose at the point where I jumped to. I managed to pull out of the way at the last second, but my mana took a hefty blow in protecting myself. As expected, the fog was his weapon, full of murderous intent and mana as it flowed throughout this space. It was fundantally the sa as the Wings of Jinma.
“Sa as …”
[What sort of form is that? A weak elf?]
I ground my teeth and leapt away from the fog. Ubiquitous was a bad matchup for this guy. This entire space was filled with his mana, so no matter where I tried to jump to, the fog would be there waiting for . It would be better if I just moved fast physically.
[Weak. Slow. How silly! Why did I have to wait here for soone like this?]
A sound wave spread out through the cavern to hit . The fog kept grasping onto wherever I was. No matter how much I evaporated, it just continued to increase and tighten around . The amount of mana here was absurd; if I hadn’t gone through Jinma’s Tower, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. My senses were working overti as I tried to attend to the flow of mana coming from the monster’s body, and throughout this space, moving all the while.
[What a sha that I have to wear this chain. It would be so much more fun without it.]
“Shit!” I slashed at the fog with my sword and my Demon’s Claws. I tried to burn through it with flas or freeze it with ice; even black mine was of no use. I tried Lunatic Trickster, but it wasn’t possible to even activate here. It was a skill that set up traps and placed an area under your control, but his mana was already dominating this space. None of my skills were working on this fog, so I had to go after the body. I hit the floor running, burning away the fog around as I tried to swing my sword at his neck, but it was pointless.
[Weak, too weak!]
The closer I got to him, the thicker the fog beca. By the ti I neared his body, the fog in front of rose like a thick wall, threatening to crush . I couldn’t burn through it fast enough; it was endless. I had already burned through a big chunk of my ergency food.
[If this is all you can manage, then you might as well just beco a sacrifice for .]
The fog gathered in the air and ford huge spheres, a faint light emitting from the center of each of them.
“Pelcadia’s Jewel!” It was colorless and transparent, but I knew in an instant. It was the sa as the Jewels of Pelcadia I had collected so far. It held an imnse amount of power, however. I wondered if that was because of its user. Even if I put all of mine together, I didn’t think it would amount to that level of strength; it was too overwhelming. I had to find a way to get rid of that gem, but I couldn’t break it with my own power. It would be easier to just chop him up, but I couldn’t do that without destroying that gem.
[Are you done yet?]
The spheres flew in, at such speed that I had to wonder if they were using Ubiquitous. I had been able to read so of their trajectory and avoid the brunt of it, but so of my Demon’s Claws covering my body were torn off.
“Hrk!” I could feel fear squeezing my heart. Were those spheres really only made of mana? I had no clue how I would even get close to that level of power using the Demon’s Claw. I had no ti to rest, though, as the spheres kept up the attack and refused to allow room to breathe.
[Hahaha, it’s so cute watching you play.]
Level 199, Crimson Elf Chaos Claw. All the strength and experience I had acquired up until now, which felt so grandiose to , evaporated. No matter how strong I was, it all seed so useless in front of this enemy that was so much stronger than . It wasn’t that I couldn’t decipher their identity or figure out the trick; they were just overwhelmingly strong. Pelcadia’s Jewel materialized in the fog, continuing to consolidate its strength, filled with mana stronger than any weapon. With the fog and that jewel adding to this monster’s power, and its ability to detect wherever I was, there was no place I was safe in here.
[Are you feeling helpless? But I’m the one stuck here! What the hell are you doing?]
If I used Ubiquitous, it would all be over. The spheres would fly in without delay and destroy the mont I reappear. Maybe if it were a higher level than advanced, it would be able to trick him. I couldn’t ignore the power contained in his words, however. The spheres were pressing too hard to break down the power contained in his voice with my Predation. His words slowly poisoned my mind as I was unable to stop them fully. In the next mont, I focused on deflecting the ntal attack. It was enough for one of the spheres to find an opening, cutting away at my flesh.
“He’s too strong…” Even though his body was stuck there, this balance of offense and defense was superb. It felt as far away from as the heavens above. No matter how I struggled, I still felt like I was dancing to his tune. How could I evade these orbs attacking ? How could I get rid of the mana that was protecting him? I had no clue about the forr, but the latter ca easily enough. I had to bring out my own mana, the Wings of Jinma. It may be impossible to compete with him on an equal footing, but maybe I could break through for at least one mont.
The conclusion I had co to was that its body was weak, unlike its mana. It was decrepit and wounded. It made wonder if this boss was in pain, but I pushed the question out of my mind. It wouldn’t help now. The only thing that mattered was to reach him. If I could do that, if I could destroy its heart, then I could kill him. Now, how could I actually get there?
“Whoo…” I exhaled, thinking about the answer to that. I had to surprise him. In this realm filled with his mana, I had to hide sohow. If I pretended to be assimilated into his mana and slipped through unnoticed, I could put my sword in his heart. Out of the skills I had, I had one that maybe would work. I hadn’t used it yet, convinced that it wouldn’t work again if I used it once. But I had to trust my intuition. He was a different opponent than the ones I had faced before, both of us different in our absolute power of being. To deal with it, I had to raise my level a bit. But if I didn’t win this battle now, I wouldn’t be able to grow stronger. I’d be dead. ‘What a bad joke.’
[Already tired out? Nothing left to eat?]
“There’s one thing left for to eat.” I responded, calming my mind. From now on, I had to receive the brunt of his attacks head-on and conserve my mana for my surprise attack. It would hurt—a lot. But I couldn’t let it overwhelm before I let off my surprise attack. It didn’t matter how badly he broke my body, so long as I could get that attack off, I would win. For the first ti in a truly long while, I felt afraid. Fear that I hadn’t felt when I had been fighting those countless monsters or even with the Knight of Elakatra. Right now, I felt desperation born from facing death head-on.
[One?]
He asked the question as a sphere ca toward . I refused to blink as I watched the sphere approach, taking in a deep breath as I prepared myself. I lifted up my Demon’s Claw, pulling my soul back into myself and concentrating all my mana into one point. In the next mont, the sphere reached . My Blood Baptism was torn apart, my right arm disappearing without a trace. The pain of it was enough to whiten my mind and made want to scream. My regeneration started imdiately, but it didn’t make the pain any less terrible. I didn’t let out a single noise, however.
[Khahahahaha! Are you really determined to die? To give up your life as a sacrifice to ?]
The voice penetrated my soul, rotting from within. I was consud by the thought that I had to do anything he wanted to. I moved my mana quickly away from that part of my consciousness, however. As if I had no thoughts, as if I had no will, I took a step forward.
[Huh?]
Ignore it.
[This…you…?]
The fog rising from all over grabbed at my body, assimilating without resistance. My flesh was ripped off, my blood flowing freely into his mana.
[I can’t catch it.]
I walked through the darkness filling this space, using a shadow step that had not yet progressed to the highest level. However, with my surprise and fairy tales, it was enough to hide any trace of .
[Found it!]
A sphere flew forward, an explosion ringing out in the cavern as it collided at a point in the air. It was a display of mana enough to terrify anyone witnessing it, an explosion strong enough to destroy this dungeon. It was concentrated on one point in space that had been distorted, erasing everything that had been there.
Specifically, my alter ego who had taken the hit for .
[Am I free now?]
He was talking to himself. Ignore it and move forward.
[It’s been a long ti…a really long ti.]
Keep pushing through. The Wings of Jinma, which had assimilated all of the Tower’s mana and were now firmly enveloping my damaged body like armor, cut a path through the mana of this monster. I desperately raised the strength of my Surprise and Fairy Tales.
[Freedom. Now, I am free!]
His body was right in front of ; I could sense his heartbeat weakly pulsing throughout his chest. It made laugh how weak I could tell this body of his was. I put my sword through that weak heart, pouring out all the mana I had left.
[Kahak?!]
[Achievent! You have walked freely in the shadow of Jinma.]
[Advanced Shadow Step beca Lv10 and has beco the Highest Shadow Step.]
[Congratulations! You have satisfied the conditions to synthesize special high-level skills.]
[Kh….]
I had succeeded in killing him.
[You have gained 89,918,984 experience.]
[You have received 23,918 gold.]
[You have obtained Pelcadia’s Jewel (Nothing)]
[Quest completed!]
[You have gained 293,183,292 experience.]
Only
[You have received 50,000 gold.]
[You have obtained the Key to the Castle.]
[Level up!]
I swallowed the blood pouring out from him, his flesh a delicacy for to dine upon. The chain that had been restraining him ca loose, flashing briefly before disappearing into my inventory.
[You have obtained one half of the Sealing Chain.]
I moved out of the way of the falling body, no longer supported by the chain. I moved atop it and laughed triumphantly.
[Evolution is now available.]
And so, the final evolution of this dungeon had arrived.
Reviews
All reviews (0)