The world around Flain began to collapse. But not him. He did not beco part of the resonance. He beca a disturbance. The darkness around him began to swirl, and Flain’s smile widened even more.
And then the Absolute Resonance stopped. Its form began to shatter. Not because it was destroyed. But because it couldn’t read him. It couldn’t assign him a profile.
The Absolute Resonance ceased to exist. It didn’t die. It simply removed itself. Like a code that has no aning. It left Flain standing in the middle of nothing. And then everything vanished.
Flain stood once again on the stone floor. In the wall near the altar, a stone door had appeared, slightly ajar. No one clapped. No one praised him. But a strange calm hung in the air – as if the tower had accepted that he survived what should not have been survivable.
Flain looked up at the ceiling, laughter escaping his mouth. "I won, I won. Heh, what will you do to now, Defeated Resonance?" he muttered with a laugh.
His mind was not entirely in order yet, due to the severe damage caused by the Absolute Resonance, so it could be said that Flain was now a little less intelligent.
Flain looked at the door with wide, mad eyes. He expected it would teleport him or sothing like that, because every ti he completed a previous floor, it teleported him to the other students who had already finished. But Flain guessed it would probably teleport him once he passed through the door.
Although Flain was a little less intelligent and obsessed with the madness of victory, he still possessed critical thinking and could analyze the situation.
That’s why it occurred to him that this could also be another phase of the 10th floor or so kind of trap, so he decided to order Ghosty to check it out.
"Hey Ghosty," Flain called.
Ghosty erged from the wall and focused his glowing black eyes on Flain. "You haven’t had one of those crazy scenes in a while. Is it back again?" he muttered.
"You’ll have to get used to it. Anyway, could you please check what’s behind those doors? Because I really don’t feel like failing and repeating all of this again," Flain said with a smile.
Flain decided to change his approach to Ghosty so that Ghosty would like him. Because Flain already considered him a subordinate, and having a subordinate who doesn’t like you is dangerous.
"Alright," Ghosty said in a tone that clearly showed he didn’t want to do it.
He zipped over to the door and passed through it, then quickly returned a second later and floated up to Flain.
"Behind the door is a hall, and in the center of it there’s a glowing red crystal circle with so figure on it. It’s giving goosebumps, so you’re not getting to go any further," Ghosty said.
"I wonder what Athrylith wants? He hasn’t visited in a long ti—maybe he just wants to chat. But this is a strange mont, and last ti he wanted to chat, he simply ca to and didn’t make go into his hall," Flain thought aloud.
"Athrylith? You an that god? Heh, I think I’ll skip eting him," Ghosty said nervously and flew away.
Flain stepped toward the door, and when he opened it, he saw a hall he hadn’t seen in a long ti. This was the place where he first t Athrylith and realized how powerful entities could exist—beings that could erase him from existence with a single thought.
Flain stepped into the room, and he imdiately felt the air grow colder. He slowly walked toward Athrylith, his footsteps echoing dramatically throughout the hall.
When Flain reached Athrylith, loud clapping echoed through the entire hall, as if from nowhere, with Athrylith himself clapping as well.
"Flain, I must say that sothing like this hasn’t entertained in a long ti—probably because you’re similar to ," he said with a smile.
"Even though I said I wouldn’t help or harm you and would only observe and occasionally visit, I never said I’d actually stick to that. I intentionally made the tower much harder to make it more fun," he added.
"I figured sothing like that. It seed strange to that the academy would put sothing so extrely difficult in a competition for rooms—and also sothing that could make lose my mind, like the Absolute Resonance," Flain said.
"Anyway, I also have a reward for you for that show. The system should explain what it does," Athrylith said with a smile.
A ring appeared in Flain’s hands. It was a silver ring with a wolf’s head on the front, black eyes, and blood-red fangs. Flain placed it on his right hand next to the Erald Ring.
[Your armor has latched onto you.]
[You have equipped the Skinwalker’s Ring: An artifact that allows the user to transform their body into that of a creature absorbed by the ring, while the user’s strength and Stage remain the sa as in their original body. In order for the ring to absorb a creature, it must be dead. The ring can have only one absorbed creature at a ti into which the user can transform. If the user wishes to replace the creature, they must command the ring to destroy the current one, which will free up the slot.]
When Flain read this, a smile appeared on his face—this was useful. But unfortunately, he couldn’t use it now, because he already had a body in mind that didn’t exist, and Flain doubted he’d find a matching dead body like the imperfect one he was in.
There was also a significant downside: the ring destroys the body when Flain wants to transform into sothing else. That heavily reduces the artifact’s usefulness—but it’s still pretty good, even if not the best.
It’s also useful for impersonating anyone he can manage to kill. While Skinwalker’s Ring can’t mimic Stage, Flain can fake that using the Necklace of Deception.
"Thank you, Lord Athrylith. Would it be ungrateful of to ask you for an identical dead body to the one I’m currently wearing?" Flain asked.
Athrylith looked at him...
Reviews
All reviews (0)