Chapter 291 - 286: Another Short Break
Isabella stood there frozen for a moment after the match ended before dashing toward Artemia to check her condition.
''Just a light injury because her body couldn't bear the power of that Ninth Form. Even though this form was incomplete, to think Alex could stop it. He's not your average monster.''
After feeding Artemia a healing potion, Isabella moved toward Alex; however, just as she was about to reach him, the latter stood up and dusted his clothes.
''Fui! That headache is gone. I'm feeling a bit better now; however, I seem that I can't see with my right eye right now. I wonder how long it is going to last.''
''Huh? What is up, Isabella? Why are you silent?" Alex asked after seeing Isabella not saying anything; she was staring at him.
''Your right eye is bleeding; lets me help you. What happened to that eye?"
''No need, it will heal on its own.'' Alex stopped the incoming Isabella while at the same time thinking.
'It seems that she isn't are of what happened? Maybe I'm the only one that knows what happened? How can time stop like that?'
Touching his closed right eye, Alex thought, 'It happened because of this eye. How can such a broken ability exist? If this eye can really stop time, how strong it owner going to be? How powerful is the black gun going to be? I can't wait to unseal it.'
Isabella took a step back before saying, ''Alex, stop grinning like that; you're scaring me.''
''Hahaha! My bad, I was thinking about something. Let's wait until Artemia wakes up and get going.''
''Sure, we will do that.'' Isabella nodded before going back to Artemia's side; the latter was placed inside a small tent to avoid heatstroke in this hot environment.
While temporarily put it on an eye patch, Alex entered the tent he had just erected and asked.
'You have been silent for a while, Silveria; what are you thinking about?'
〖Nothing〗
After a moment of silence, Silveria answered.
'I can't force if you do not wish to talk about it. By the way, you must know what happened? Did my right eye stopped time?'
〖Yeah, it stopped time, even though it was for one second, it was undoubtedly your right eye the responsible. I never thought Big sister would have lent you help.〗
'Hoh? So it's thanks to your Big sister I was able to use that ability?' Alex couldn't help but get curious when he heard Silveria's explanation.
〖Yeah it was because of her. If not, you can't use this ability yet. She gives you a helping hand; it's so unlike her. I wonder what she is thinking? Well, all I can say is that she thinks highly of you, even more than how previous Master.〗
'I see, I'm outstanding; that must be why she is smart, unlike some dumb girl who shows no respect for this great me. Your Big sister must be a nice person; she's better than you, you foul-mouthed spirit.' Alex said and waited for Silveria's response.
It didn't take long for Silveria to respond; she was fuming.
〖Humph! What do you know? I'm better.〗
'Yeah! Yeah! You're.' Alex said, disinterested. He then asked Silveria a question.
'I guess I won't be using this ability soon?'
〖Obviously you will not. However, I believe you can after unsealing, sister.〗
Alex breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Silveria's response; he then asked her another question.
'How long my right eye will be unusable for?'
〖Don't worry, it will be back before you face that skeleton.〗Silveria reassured Alex as she knew what her master was most afraid of, not being able to use all his cards in the incoming fight against that Elder Lich.
'If it's true, then it's good.' Alex said before closing his eyes to take a nap. Previously he didn't show it, but he was tired. His headache might have gone, but he was tired physically; he didn't show it in front of Isabella, who was already busy worrying about Artemia. To add him on top of that would be unfair.
'To think she would still care about me after I outright reject her. What interesting girl.' Alex silently muttered before sleeping.
Just after Alex fell asleep, Silveria came out crouching down. She caressed her master's smooth face and said.
''Silly Master, obviously she will. You may have said not to fall in love with you but whether she followed your advice or not is up to you. Do you think after saying that, she will stop loving you? For the sake of Love, a woman can become obstinate. Let's wait and see how things will progress.''
Silveria's eyes pierced through the tent Artemia and Isabella were sharing; she observed the still sleeping Artemia for a moment before moving toward Isabella; the latter seemed concerned about something, seeing her seek peak in the direction of Alex's tent, Silveria laughed.
''If she survives and keeps progressing, maybe one day you will be the one chasing after her.''
Leaving these words behind, Silveria disappeared. While Isabella wasn't beautiful as Maria and others, she was not far from them; Silveria believes that she will become more beautiful as time passes and grows stronger.
Back in her dimension, Silveria sat on a silver throne, legs crossed, she said.
''Big sister, do you feel it too? Something is about to happen. It concerns our master. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it will be soon. I started to have this feeling for a while. I hope it won't be anything drastic.''
There was a long silence before someone responded; it was a voice so cold and emotionless that it could immediately alter reality.
'I feel it too. Someone is targeting him. I don't know the specifics, but they are after him. I'm preparing something.'
Silveria grinned when she heard; she couldn't wait to see what her sister has prepared.
Two hours later, the group woke up and was ready to depart.
En route, Artemia kept staring at Alex like a curious child.
Feeling uncomfortable, Alex was forced to ask.
''Go ahead, ask anyway.''
Smiling sweetly, Artemia asked, ''What was that ability? Time stop?"
Artemia secretly whispered her question.
Shrugging his shoulders, Alex said, ''If I tell that even myself don't know will you believe in me?"
''Answering a question with a question; Forget it, Tell me when you will be ready.''
''Sure I will,'' Alex replied.
Isabella on the side watched the two whispered to each other; she wondered what they are talking about.
'It's none of my concern what they are talking about. I need to get stronger, really strong.' She mumbled.
Chapter 292 - 287: On The Girl's Side 4
While Alex's group decided to take a short break after Alex and Artemia match, in another location, on Maria's and the other side, a battle was taking place.
The four were fighting against a group of tree monsters called Treant. They were surrounded by Treants, a forest filled with only them.
Dodging a Treant vine, Sakuya accelerated for a moment to arrive at the tree monster and cut it into multiple pieces.
Not too far from her, Maria froze two Treants into Ice status before breaking them with the flick of her fingers.
Luna also killed another Treant; however, the one who killed more Treants was Gracier; because her element happens to be the nemesis of the tree monsters, she slaughtered them in great numbers.
''Seriously, this floor seems to have been made especially for little Alexandra. I'm so jealous; who would have thought that the little lass would be an air breath from Rank 7 so soon? We must become Rank 8 before leaving, or else it will be too shameful.''
While killing another, Treant, Sakuya said. Maria didn't say anything; she just moved between another two Treants for them to become frozen.
Flick! Crack!
''My goal is to surpass Alex. I don't mind Gracier catching up.'' Maria announced before looking at Gracier; the latter happened to be looking in her direction.
''If she can, that is,'' Maria added before disappearing.
Sakuya and Luna look at each other before bursting into laughter.
On the other side, as if to respond to Maria's provocation, beautiful flame wings appeared in Gracier's back before she took the air and rained down arrows on the escaping Treants, the forest (mainly composed of Treants) was sent ablaze, like the Goddess of Fire, Gracier stood in the air and overlooked her masterpiece.
Sakuya and Luna jumped out of the blazing forest.
''Give me a break. Who would have thought the little lass would set the whole forest ablaze. I guess Maria's words must have provoked her.''
''It's you who started it.'' Luna rebuked Sakuya, who smiled in response.
After killing many Treants, Maria was forced to leave the burning forest as she started to feel uncomfortable; being an Ice element user, she doesn't like hot places too much.
Before leaving, she glanced at the floating Gracier. Heterochromia eyes clashed against blue eyes.
''It's your win and congratulations.''
''Thank you, Big sister Maria,'' Gracier responded.
A half-hour later, the Treant's forest was no more; what was left was a scorching barren wasteland.
The girls set up their tents on a lone hill overlooking the now barren forest.
After filling her stomach with food, Gracier decided to check her status and at the same time use his SP; she already had plans for it.
『[Gracier Alexandra Touch]
「 Rank 7」
Level 62
Class: Fire Empress
Age: 14
Female
Race: High Half-Elf
Experience Value: 5200/17100
Magic Power: 1810 (+25) ➤ 1835/1835
Magic: Fire Magic
Attack: 805 (+25 (+50 BP) ➤ 880
Defense: 520 (+25) ➤ 545
Agility: 420 (+25) ➤ 445
Intelligence: 410 (+25) ➤ 435
Luck: 420 (+25) ➤ 445
BP: 0
SP: 0
Gift: Ignia's Bracelet
Skills: [Cooking Level 4] [Sewing Level 3] [Fireball Level 5] [Fire Arrows Level 4] [Meteor (???)] [Fire Snake Level 4] [Flame Shield Level 5] [Presence Detection Level 5] [Chantless Magic Level 8] [Fire Lotus Level 5] [Archery Level 5 (+10 SP) ➤ Archery Level Max] [Blaze Steps Level 5] [Golden Arrows Level 1] (New)
Special Ability: [Dragon Eye Level 10 Max] [Flame Wings Level 3] [Dragon's Breath Level Level 2]
Titles: [Avenger] [Child of Fire] [The Awakened] [The Diligent]』
Gracier was pleasantly surprised to discover that she got a new ability after putting all of her SP to max her Archery skill.
Clicking on the Golden Arrows description, Gracier opened her mouth in surprise.
[Golden Arrows: Special flame arrows possessing destructive power.
Level 1: One arrow will multiple into ten and strike the target, can track and lock onto any target.
Range: Five meters
Consume 500 MP]
'While it consumes too much MP even without testing it, I know it's strong. I wonder if at level 10 it will mean that one arrow will become a hundred arrows?'
While Gracier was busy thinking about her new skill, the others observed her reaction, and judging from her reaction, they knew Gracier got a new skill.
''I wonder what skill our little princess got?"
Looking at Gracier, Sakuya asked.
''You will find out when she uses it.''
Luna said this. Maria was silent.
''Let's get going. Let's not waste too much time here.''
After hearing Maria's words, the group left, Gracier decided to test her Golden Arrows on the next floor.
Few minutes after the group left, another group entered; it was Leonardo's group.
Seeing the scorched earth and barren wasteland, Damien's mood soured; he ordered his group to camp here for today.
•••••
On the other side, Maria entered the next floor; they were surprised to find water everywhere.
''I have a bad feeling about this floor,'' Gracier said.
''Me too, let's-"
Before Luna could finish her words, the lake in front of them rumbled before a gigantic figure came out from the depth of water; it was eight meters tall Octopus.
Numerous tentacles were shot toward the girl; a green barrier appeared before Sakuya stopping one of the tentacles aimed at her before the tentacle was cut to pieces by her Katana.
Gracier burned the incoming tentacle while Luna smashed apart the one coming toward her; Maria was the one that didn't do anything; she dodged as she knew that simply cutting off the tentacles wouldn't help as this type of monster possesses high regenerative ability.
And as expected, those tentacles that were destroyed were restored in the blink of an eye.
''No way.''
As it was her first time facing such a monster, Gracier was surprised; Luna frowned while Sakuya cursed.
''Damn! It's why I hate this monster.''
''You girls step back; this is my stage.''
Maria's voice stopped the girls in their tracks, without asking anything they jumped back, they stood on the stairs that lead to the upper floor.
Cracking her neck while at the same time dodging the octopus tentacles, Maria shouted.
''Spirit possession.''
Boom!
A huge Aura burst from Maria's body, instantly creating mist on the lake's surface; the image of Ice phoenix appeared behind Maria freezing the octopus (because of fear).
Maria's turned white, like a queen, she declared.
''Absolute Zero.''
Under the startled eyes of the other girls, the whole lake got frozen, the octopus with it; however, the monster could still be seen struggling to escape from the ice freezing it.
''I knew you wouldn't die with such half complete ability. Then here I come.'' Maria declared before disappearing into a mist.
When she reappeared again, she was on the other side of the lake behind the octopus.
''Thousand Ice cuts.''
Shing!
Maria sheathed her sword, and at the same time, the frozen octopus was sliced into thousand pieces before turning into ice. This time the octopus could never regenerate no matter how high its regenerative ability was. The monster was frozen on the molecular level.
''I did it,'' Maria said before falling on the frozen lake.
Thud!
''Seriously, you are so competitive.'' Luna, who appeared beside Maria, couldn't help but say this.
Sakuya and Gracier joined them.
''Big sister was so cool that I want to fight her.'' Gracier declared.
Luna and Sakuya looked at each other before bursting into laughter.
While the girls were laughing, waiting for Maria to wakes up, Alex's group stepped onto the 25th floor. Strangely, they were about to experience the same situation as the girls when they entered this floor.
Chapter 293 - 288: 25th Floor
Alex's group slowly descended to the 25th; Artemia sneaked a peek at Alex and thought.
'If he had that ability, he would be a scary opponent. It is a good thing I'm not his enemy; I must never become his enemy no matter what.'
After making this decision, Artemia smiled.
''What kind of Boss will we encounter on this floor, I wonder? Alex, do you have an idea?"
Facing Artemia's question, Alex shook his head.
''I don't know. We will know once we get there. By the way, how many floors are left until he reaches that, you know what I meant.''
It was now Alex's turn to raise a question; his question made Isabella's body tensed up; it seemed that the Elder Lich left a pretty deep scar on our lady, Alex thought when he saw Isabella's reaction.
''Five floors after the next floor. That skeleton wouldn't be an easy opponent. I-"
''It is why we must use the next floors to get stronger as we can. Isn't it what you were trying to say?"
Alex cut her off and said, Artemia nodded before the group continued to descend, and they soon found the door to the 25th; opening it, they went in.
The group was dumbfounded to see water everywhere; even their feet were submerged in water the moment they entered, an electric current went through their bodies.
〖No good Master〗
''No good, jump back.''
Both Silveria and Artemia shouted simultaneously; however, it was already too by the time the others got that warning.
Boom!
There was a huge explosion that blinded everyone's sight.
''Shit.'' Artemia cursed.
Suddenly, Alex sensed an immense threat, so he instantly crossed his arms to defend against the incoming threat.
Boom! Crack!
''Guh!"
Alex groaned in pain as he got embedded on the other side of the dungeon wall.
Bang! Crack!
Isabella also shortly him, only Artemia managed not to get embedded, but her face was severe.
When Alex and Artemia became able to see what attacked them, they were shocked, speechless; no words come out of their mouths for a good minute.
''Wtf?"
It was the only thing that Alex managed to squeeze after a moment of silence.
It was understandable as the scene in front of him could shock anyone; standing not too far from Alex was another identical Alex whose right leg was raised, probably because he had just kicked the real Alex. If not for him being a little bit white-skinned, this Alex could have probably passed as the real one.
If it was only that Alex couldn't be that shocked, in that thing that has Alex's appearance was a silver gun, yeah, you hear right, that thing held another Silveria in his left hand.
''What the fuck going on?"
For the first time, Alex lost his cool and shouted. Facing this absurd situation, one can't help but lost one cool.
Isabella was so shocked to see another Isabella holding a spear that she could only open and close her mouth like a goldfish.
Artemia had it better as she understood what was going on after experiencing that electric feeling, facing another her, she was calm.
Taking a deep breath, she started to explain what happened for the other two to understand.
''This lake wasn't a lake; it was, in fact, a slime.''
''Dafuck! I never heard of slime that can turn into water, aren't normal slime an l-"
''No need to finish, this an Emperor Slime, an extremely rare slime. It can transform into anything that comes in touch with it, it can also copy the thing it touched abilities, not perfectly, but enough to pass as the real thing. The most troublesome thing is that this slime can copy your Gift to some extent and possess a huge MP capacity, meaning it can use skills to infinite without running of MP.''
Alex held his head when he heard Artemia's explanation. To think they would encounter something so troublesome here, Silveria has been silent for a while; however, Alex could feel a murderous Aura directed at the silver gun in the fake Alex's hand.
'I guess she is pissed to see a fake her.' He thought, indeed, Silveria was furious; she has a hard time controlling her anger, in the end, it burst out.
〖Master, let's go slaughter this bitch. I can't take it anymore. This little shit is sure cocky; I'm going to bust his balls.〗
'Calm doing, no-'
Before Alex could finish his words, he was stopped by the fake Alex who crossed his arms and looked at Alex's group, especially Alex like an Emperor looking at a commoner.
''This emperor this have so much time to waste. Come at me, you fake good, I'mma teach yer a lesson and bang those chicks after I'm done; even though they can't compare to the real thing, they are still hot as hell. There is no way I'mma let them go.''
Alex's face turned black.
''I forgot to say that emperor slimes are cocky,'' Artemia said.
''I can see it,'' Alex said before starting to crack his neck then his fingers.
''However, no matter what you have become, you will only be a cheap imitation. Imitation will always be an imitation.'' Alex said with a provocative smile; he even took a chair and sat on it, his legs crossed, slowly sipping a wine glass.
Seeing this, the fake Alex's temple twitched nonstop because he was the leader; the other two waited for his orders.
Being ignored, he could understand but wanting to act cocky in front of him, the emperor (A/N: Emperor Slime), he could never tolerate that.
''Kill them all.'' the fake Alex ordered; his face was so distorted that it doesn't look anything like Alex anymore.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Bang! Bang!
Both Alex's moved and clashed mid-air, exchanging dozen of kicks and punches.
''You are not bad,'' Alex said and looked at the fake Alex in front of him.
''Same goes for you.'' the Fake Alex replied with a smile.
Looking at Artemia and Isabella, Alex saw them facing their doppelgangers with serious expressions on their faces.
Chapter 294 - 289: Alex Vs The Fake Alex (Emperor Slime)
''Do you think that you have time to worry about others?" The fake Alex asked, annoyed.
Turning his attention on the fake Alex, Alex thought,
'It seems that this slime can't copy my right eye; hee only has my natural green eye. Too bad that I can't use my right eye right no; iff, not this fight could have been easier.'
''Stop talking and come at me you. Let's see how much you copied.'' Alex declared before shooting five normal bullets at the fake Alex.
Bang! Bang!!!
Bang! Bang!!!
Surprisingly, the fake Alex was able to offset all bullets fired at him perfectly. Alex's goal was simple; he wanted to see accurate this fake could be, and he couldn't help but acknowledge that he was almost perfect as him.
Boom!!
Both moved again and clashed mid-air again; this time, they used knives to fight; Alex got Razor and Reaper while the fake Alex only used two fake Razor created using its body. However, these two fake Razors didn't lose to Alex's weapons.
The two exhibit their knife skill to the limit making sparkle fly in the air.
Clangs! Clangs!
They seemed to be at the same level when it comes to knife mastery.
Swoosh!
Just as they separated from each other, Alex accelerated only his left leg by pouring MP into it to strike the fake Alex in the face.
The blow was so fast that normally, one shouldn't be able to dodge it; however, the fake Alex bent his body to an impossible angle to let Alex's deadly kick passed above its body.
As if Alex had anticipated this move, he poured more MP into Sleipnir to made his leg descend faster toward where he believes to be the monster's core.
Swoosh! Bang! Bounce!
Alex's kick got bounced back, almost throwing into the ground, and he knew he couldn't let that happen or else he would suffer greatly.
The fake Alex immediately retaliates by throwing a deadly punch at Alex; the fake Alex's fist was glowing white.
The fist almost arrived before Alex, in the split of seconds before it could reach him; Alex also threw a punch forward; it was not a normal punch; instead of usually using Sleipnir's unique ability as he does, Alex made the wind cover his fist making it glow green.
BANG! Boom!
A big explosion occurred that sent shockwaves in the air, forcing both of them to stagger back a couple of steps.
While the fake Alex also had Sleipnir on his feet, it was only limited to helping increase his speed not letting him do what Alex just did; it was why the fake Alex was surprised, he had thought that he could have injured Alex with that enhanced fist, breaking his arm before slowly breaking the rest of Alex's body. Unfortunately, his plan failed.
''It seems that you can't use Sleipnir's special ability judging from your surprised face. That's a good thing.'' Alex said after looking at how surprised the fake Alex appeared after he blocked his punch.
The fake Alex's body flinched.
Glaring at Alex, he spat, ''So what? You won't be leaving here alive.''
Boom!
Isabella was sent flying by the fake Isabella, and she crashed against the wall not far from Alex.
''Don't mind me, I'm fine. I will finish my fight right away and assist you.''
Leaving these words behind, Isabella shot toward the fake Isabella; numerous water spears appeared out of thin and were sent at the fake Isabella.
Shaking his head, Alex focused his attention back on the fake Alex.
''Time for some gun's dance battle.''
Alex declared before disappearing using Accel; the fake Alex also did the same.
Bullets tore through the air before crashing against each other.
Bang! Bang!
It became a high-speed battle where only bullets were seen, not the one firing them.
''Xeros''
''Xeros''
Four silvers guns appeared, making more bullets fly in the air.
Alex fired at the fake Alex who appeared behind him; he was surprised to find out that even this ability have been copied.
After another short exchange that ended in another draw again, the two separated from each other; Alex decided to use this chance to do something he hadn't done since the start.
'Appraisal,' He secretly muttered; at first, Alex was surprised by what he saw.
『Biggy The Slime
Age: ???
Male
Race: Emperor Slime
「 Rank 8]
Level 72
Magic Power: 6050/8000
Magic: Water/Fire
Attack: 1580
Defense: 1500
Agility: 1630 (+200)
Intelligence: 1200
Luck: 800
Skills: [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 3] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 8] [Mana Recovery Level 8] [Synthesize Level 3]
Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Berserk] [Xerox]
Titles: [King of Slime] [Copycat]』
''Sure imitation can only be an imitation,'' Alex said as he looked at the fake Alex before,
''Pfft! What with that name? Biggy The Slime? Pfft hahahaha. This is too hilarious.''
Alex couldn't help but laugh as hard he could; if not because of his current location and the ongoing fight, he would have been rolling on the ground dying of laughter.
''Fuck you !"
The fake Alex became furious, being mocked, he came attacking Alex, dodging the blows Alex counterattack by firing a phantom bullet at point-blank range.
Boom!
The fake Alex had his right hand blown off.
''As I thought, you can't use this bullet either.''
Alex said as he watched the fake Alex turning red with rage; before Alex could attack, that arm that got blown off regenerated in an instant, making Alex's face turn green of envy.
BANG! BANG!!
It was now the time for the fake Alex to attack; he fired two special bullets, probably using his ability to use two elements to create these bullets.
''Shadow Shift.''
Without hesitation, Alex used Shadow Shift to switch places with the fake Alex.
Being put in front of his attack surprised the fake Alex; however, he snorted, and just as he was about to deal with the incoming special bullets, his danger sense warned of extreme danger.
BANG BANG! Kaboom!
Two water bullets and Fire bullets clashed against the incoming bullets and Alex's Erase creating a gigantic explosion that destroyed the fake Alex arms and half of his face.
''Roarrrr!"
''Berserk!!!!"
Boom!
Before Alex could move, he got blown away and crashed against the dungeon wall vomiting blood; he hastily rolled on the ground to dodge the incoming fake Alex, who by now had turned red and taller, almost reaching two meters, the current fake Alex's body became more transparent.
Swoosh!
Seeing the berserk fake Alex disappearing, Alex took a radical decision.
'Silveria.' Alex called out.
〖I know〗Silveria responded as if she could read his mind; she followed his wish.
''Erase''
BANG!
Then came the berserk Fake Alex, letting its knife pierced through his body; Alex swallowed back the blood trying to come out of his mouth before droving his right hand into the fake Alex body, his clenched fist entered the fake Alex body.
Before the fake Alex couldn't understand what happened, his body started to shake violently after Alex released the thing inside his hand.
''Aahhhhhhhhhh!"
He wailed; his wail almost ruptured Alex's eardrums.
Jumping back, Alex spurt mouthful of blood as he couldn't contain it anymore.
Wiping away his bloodied mouth, he glared at the fake Alex whose body got transformed back into purple slime form, trembling on the dungeon floor as if having a seizure.
''Even if you can dodge it when fired from afar when it enters your body, there's nothing you can do.''
Fire bullet! Snatch!
Two bullets were fired at the defenseless emperor slime claiming its life while depriving him of some of his abilities.
Chapter 295 - 290: Rapid Progress
Alex, who just eliminated the fake Alex (Emperor Slime), sent a glance in the girl's direction, and seeing that everything was fine, that could hold on, on their own, he sat on the ground to rest.
The injury he received in the stomach has been healed. He had taken a risk; he knew the fake Alex could dodge Erase like he previously did; it was why he asked Silveria to condense Erase into a bullet; its original form was a bullet, to begin with. Holding this bullet inside his hand, he punched the monster and let go of the bullet; once his hand was inside the monster body, Erase disrupted the magic flow inside the Emperor slime, making him revert into his original form, significantly weakened as it was magical creatures, meaning without magic power it became extremely weak. Alex used this chance to finish it, not forgetting to steal some of the monster's abilities.
''Time to check what I got.''
Alex mumbled before summoning his status.
『[Alexander Kael Touch]
Class: Magic Gunslinger
Age: 17
Male
Race: High Human
「 Rank 8]
Level 73
Experience Value (XP): 500/19800
Magic Power: 5200 (+ 10) ➤ 5210/5210
Magic: None
Attack: 1660 (+10 (+20 BP) ➤ 1690
Defense: 1510 (+10) ➤ 1520
Agility: 1650 (+10) ➤ 1660 (+200)
Intelligence: 1510 (+10) ➤1520
Luck: 1290 (+10) ➤1300
BP: 20
SP: 0
Gift: Two Guns * Semi-sealed*
Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 1] [Item box Level 2] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 3] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 2] (New) [Mana Recovery Level 7] [Synthesize Level 6] [Shadow Shift Level 3]
Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive] [Death's Eye] [Envisage] {Erase} {Magic Bullet} {Snatch} [Hellsing] [Xerox]
Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one who can't use Magic] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn] [Shadow Nemesis] [The Slaughterer]』
'Not bad, I got that High Regeneration skill; even my Mana recovery skill level increased.'
Suddenly, Alex's expression changed. Even though he was busy checking his status, he had one eye on the battlefield; he was checking what was going on through his Divine Sense; it was how he knew that something was wrong; Isabella was about to be seriously injured by the fake Isabella.
''Shadow Shift!"
Without hesitation, Alex used Shadow shift on the fake Isabella and switched place with her; the latter was surprised; before she could respond, a bullet came, though she was surprised, her reaction was quick, lowering her body the fake Isabella managed to dodge Alex's bullet.
''My job is done,'' Alex said with a smile when he saw the fake Isabella dodging his bullet; since the start, he never planned to kill this monster to begin, this role should be left to someone else.
''Water Dragon.'' Isabella roared as she sent her water dragon at the fake Isabella.
Before the fake Isabella could recover, Isabella Water dragon swallowed her. To finish the fake Isabella once for good, Isabella attacked it with her spear.
''Gravity Crush!"
Numerous heavy spear thrusts were sent toward fake Isabella, crushing her.
''Ha! ha!!"
Isabella started to pant after successfully killing the fake Isabella. After a moment, she lifted her head to try to thank Alex.
''No need, I just saved a comrade in the need. Look, the princess is also about to finish her fight.''
Alex said while pointing at Artemia; indeed, she was about to end her fight; even though emperor slime could copy anything, there was a limit, the fake Artemia couldn't copy Artemia Nine Layered Chains ability to perfection, for example, that Nine Form.
''Nine Layered Chains Nine Form: Judgement Spear.''
''Nine Layered Chains Fourth Form: Chains Shield!''
Swoosh! Kaboom!
The fake Artemia was obliterated, leaving almost nothing behind by the Judgement Spear.
Alex gulped when he saw the result of this exchange, it was a good thing he managed to stop, or else he would have died.
The place where the fake Artemia stood became a huge crater. On the other side, Artemia could be seen sitting on the ground.
''That Ninth Form is sure powerful, and you said it isn't perfect because of your current strength and your Gift state. I wonder how powerful the real thing is going to be?"
Alex, who was approaching Artemia, asked while helping her stand up.
''Fufufu! Don't worry, in the future; you will see the full extent of this ability; however, the real thing is nothing compared to that broken ability of yours.''
Artemia replied while looking at him; Alex quickly glanced elsewhere and started whistling. Artemia could only sigh.
The two went to join Isabella, who was resting.
''You two must rest; I will go collect the slime cores.''
Alex declared before leaving, not giving the girls any time to say anything.
Searching through the location where the slime last died, starting from the closest one, Alex found a fist-sized crystal emitting dazzling purple light.
''This will sell for a quit of money,'' Alex said before storing away the purple crystal. Then he moved to collect the other two purple stones. While the three stones share the same color and have the same size, the crystal left behind by the Emperor slime Alex killed seemed more colorful; it was probably because this slime was stronger.
When Alex went back to the girls, he hands over their crystals; they decided to spend the night on this floor.
The next day the group moved to the next floor.
The twenty-sixth floor was occupied by a group of ferocious apes of seven meters; however, Alex's group didn't have a hard time dealing with these apes.
Seven days quickly passed, making twelve days since Alex and others entered this dungeon; they were about to step on the twenty-ninth floor.
A lot happened during these seven days. Alex, Artemia, and Isabella progressed; Alex was now Level 78 while Artemia was Level 90. As for Isabella, she shortly falls behind Alex by four levels.
Taking a deep breath, Alex looked at his comrades and said, ''Let's go.''
Chapter 296 - 291: Before The Final Boss
The twenty-ninth floor was dark; when Alex and the girls entered, it became brighter all of a sudden; there was only one monster in the room; it was huge, even taller than that skeleton, the Elder Lich. This monster was at least ten meters tall; it has a goat head and a snake tail.
''I knew I would encounter one as I progress. Talking about dungeons, Minotaur is a must.''
Alex mumbled to himself when he saw the huge Minotaur in front of them. The minotaur was holding a huge greatsword, at least taller as him.
Looking at Alex's group, his eyes glowed, turning red and then.
Bang!
The dungeon's floor under the minotaur's feet cracked as he disappeared, and when he reappeared again, the monster was at Alex's and others back, the greatsword coming straight to claim their lives.
Alex showed no sign of panic; without turning around, he aimed Silveria at the incoming sword and fired.
BANG! Clank!
The minotaur was pushed back; before it could even readjust his body, a tremendous pressure descended upon him, making him almost kneel; Artemia and Isabella distanced themselves from Alex and the monster as they didn't want to experience the power of his domain.
As he progress, his domain became powerful, his intent stronger as he slaughtered several monsters since the time he got into this dungeon.
Even though Alex's Hellsing had suppressed the minotaur, he was still a Boss, roaring until his muscles bulged to their limit; the minotaur was able to break free from Alex's domain and immediately launched an attack on Alex, however, just as it was about strike Alex, the minotaur body froze again.
The monster started experiencing what it could only be called hell. He saw the day he was born how he was bullied until that being descended on this floor to help him, give him power. Since that day, the minotaur who had no purpose finally got one, the purpose of serving his Lord, completing his lord's wishes and orders was his reason d'être; he wanted to always be there for his Lord, stay forever by his side because the Lord said he was important, his most important subordinate. However, the same Lord he vowed to serve happen to be the one that ordered the other monsters to be him; he had never considered him, he was only his pawn that could be sacrificed at any monster; this truth broke the minotaur heart, even though some part of him was whispering that this must be a trap, an illusion, it was too real to pass as an illusion, some details couldn't be faked.
Slowly the minotaur eyes lost their glow; Alex pointed his gun at his head and fired.
BANG!
A level 84 monster died just like that. Looking at Alex's glowing blue eye, Artemia quickly looked elsewhere not to suffer from it.
Recently, Alex learned a trick; while using his right eye, he will send more MP to him to make the effect of the eye stronger; it was only by chance he discovered this method when he was experiencing with Sleipnir.
After letting Artemia collect the body of the dead minotaur, Isabella asked Alex about his level.
''Level 80,'' Alex responded; on the previous floors, Alex and Isabella let Artemia have most kills for her to get stronger quickly.
''Great, let's take a short rest before continuing; our next opponent won't be easy,'' Artemia said before selecting a good spot to rest.
Alex did the same; he was well aware that their next opponent was nothing like what they faced until now; also, there is the possibility that some people may interfere as they do not wish for Artemia to achieve her goal.
Shaking his head, Alex closed his eyes before taking a deep breath, and when he reopens them again, they were calm like the surface of a lake; however, under such a calmness lay ferocious dragon threatening to burst out at any moment.
''Status'' Alex called out, and a window panel appeared right before his eyes.
[Alexander Kael Touch]
Class: Magic Gunslinger
Age: 17
Male
Race: High Human
「 Rank 8]
Level 80
Experience Value (XP): 0/20200
Magic Power: 5210 (+70 (+40 BP) ➤ 5320/5320
Magic: None
Attack: 1690 (+70 (+50 BP) ➤ 1710
Defense: 1520 (+70) ➤ 1590
Agility: 1660 (+70) ➤ 1730 (+200)
Intelligence: 1520 (+70 (+50 BP) ➤1640
Luck: 1300 (+70) ➤1370
BP: 0
SP: 0
Gift: Two Guns * Semi-sealed*
Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 1] [Item box Level 2 (+ 2 SP) ➤ Level 4] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 3] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 2 (+ 2 SP) ➤ Level 4] [Mana Recovery Level 7] [Synthesize Level 6 (+6 SP) ➤ Level 10 max] ➤ Crimson Bullet [Shadow Shift Level 3]
Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive] [Death's Eye] [Envisage] {Erase} {Magic Bullet} {Snatch} [Hellsing] [Xerox]
Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one who can't use Magic] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn] [Shadow Nemesis] [The Slaughterer]』
'Crimson Bullet? Why does Synthesize turn into this?' Alex couldn't help but get curious after allocating his BP and SP; as his Synthesize skill maxed, it turned into something he wasn't expecting.
〖I don't know why but this skill must be extraordinary, quickly read the description.〗
After answering Alex's question, Silveria urged him to check his new skill.
Alex sighed before checking Crimson's Bullet description.
{Crimson Bullet: A single destructive bullet faster than the light. It can almost kill anything. However, it consumes a massive amount of MP. When fired, it locks into the target and never stops until it reached its goal.
Consume seventy percent of the user MP to be created.
Note: It can be used with special bullets, making it more deadly.}
Alex was a little bit disappointed when he saw the cost of the Crimson's Bullet; however, seeing that this bullet could be used with special bullets such as Ice bullet, Fire bullet, and Water bullet (he got them on the twenty-seventh floor after a rare species that use the Water element.), his disappointment lessened, imagining Crimson's Bullet merged with Ice bullet and Fire bullet make Alex shudder in anticipation, it was sure to create a deadly bullet that can kill almost everything, especially that Elder Lich.
''Time to leave.''
After a moment of rest, Alex declared, Artemia and Isabella nodded.
The group had a severe expression on their face as they walked down the thirtieth floor where the Elder Lich was waiting for their arrival.
At the same time, elsewhere, a group had decided to finally make a move; they have observed their target enough. It was time to strike.
''It's time.''
Zero, who was standing atop a gigantic tree, said before jumping down.
Chapter 297 - 292: Against The Elder Lich 1
The moment Alex's group stepped on the thirtieth floor, clapping sounds could be heard.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Sitting in a throne made of countless bones was the Elder Lich. It was unknown how can a being made only of bones could make clapping sounds.
Standing on the left and right of the monster were two skeletons wearing black armors; their levels weren't low; they were both Levels 86, the one on the left held a ghastly black scythe, while the one on the right a great sword.
''I shall say congratulations for making this far. Hyahahaha~ However, do you think you will pass here?" The Elder Lich sat comfortably inside his bone throne and asked after clapping to congratulate Alex's group effort.
''For bones, you sure talk big. You must have been the talkative type when you were alive. Maybe it was your mouth who killed you.'' Alex responded sarcastically.
The two skeleton generals on the Elder Lich side-eyes glowed dangerously; they wanted to rush forward and hack Alex's body to pieces; however, they got stopped by the Elder Lich.
''Hyahahaha~ You sure talk lot for a weakling. I shall not get angry for your offense. This is not the place for you to talk.'' The Elder Lich said while emitting powerful pressure trying to crush Alex, make him bend on his knees.
However, Alex stubbornly refused to let the monster have his way. He gritted his teeth to endure the pressure. Glaring at the Elder Lich with his blue eye, the pressure lessened considerably.
''Hyahahaha! You are not bad, boy.'' the Elder Lich praised.
''Cut the crap and make your move. I will make you pay for your previous offense.''
Artemia finally spoke for the first time since she came in; she started to slowly walk forward while emitting a powerful aura that didn't lose against the Elder Lich's pressure.
The Elder Lich started laughing before flicking his bone fingers, ordering his subordinates to attack Alex's group; numerous bone soldiers emerged from the ground and surrounded Alex's group.
''Isabella, I will let you handle the weak skeletons; as for the two generals, I will take care of them. Artemia, can I let you handle that Lich for now?"
Alex said while looking at his companions; Isabella nodded her head and dashed at the skeleton soldiers. Meanwhile, Artemia started walking toward the Elder Lich.
''Time to take care of you two."
Alex said before dashing toward the nearest skeleton general thrusting his knife forward.
Clangs!
The skeleton general blocked the knife before switching to offense by aiming the butt of his scythe at Alex's crotch.
The latter jumped back before launching knives at the second skeleton general coming from his back.
BANG BANG BANG!!
Bullets tore through the air aiming straight at the monster behind him; unexpectedly, the skeleton general brought out a black shield to defend against the bullets.
Swoosh!
''Shadow Shift!"
Alex switched place with the skeleton general at his back when the other skeleton general brought down his black scythe.
Clangs! Crack!
The shield held by the second skeleton general got broken by the black scythe.
'Phantom Bullet.'
Bang! Crack!
Unexpectedly a black transparent shield appeared right before the Phantom bullet could strike the two monsters.
It was Alex's turn to be surprised as he had not expected that the monsters could still have the time to cast magic when his earlier move caught them off guard.
'They must be powerful when they were alive. Their instincts are pretty sharp, as well as their reaction speed; no wonder they are his generals.'
Alex remarked before dodging the second skeleton general greatsword.
Putting some distance between him and the two skeletons. Alex observed the battlefield; Isabella was fighting against the bone soldiers while Artemia and the Elder Lich were doing a staring contest; neither of them made a move yet.
''Gotta take care of these two before going to help Artemia,'' Alex mumbled before jumping back to dodge another attack aimed at him.
''Envisage!"
Alex used his eye power to predict where the attacks would be coming from; he couldn't keep dodging all time.
Alex's blue eye glowed; he was able to see where the two skeletons' attacks would come from.
The two skeleton generals enhanced their weapons to make it faster when it was about to come into contact with Alex's body; if he hadn't used Envisage, he would be seriously injured.
The two skeleton generals were surprised when Alex was able to dodge their attacks perfectly.
Alex immediately used Xerox.
Bang! Bang!!!
The two skeleton generals put their shields in front of them to block the incoming bullets; unfortunately for them, these bullets weren't normal, as if they have minds on their own; the bullets dodged the shields and struck them, pushing back.
Alex accel-ed to reappear behind the monsters wanting to attack; however, he hastily retreated before looking at his hand that shivered in an instant when he appeared behind them.
''What a dangerous domain. If I stayed more than few seconds, I would have become an old man.''
Alex mumbled as he looked at his hand that regenerates instantly.
〖That's a decay domain; most high-ranked undead creatures have this ability.〗Silveria explained to the clueless Alex.
'I see.' Alex said before looking at the two skeleton generals charging toward him; their speed was incredible, the green light flickering inside their eye sockets changed color, it became red, red aura covered their bodies, increasing their speed.
''Hellsing!" Alex shouted.
Boom! Boom!
Three domains clashed against each other, instantly offsetting each.
Suddenly, Alex felt a chill running his spine, a ghostly claw crept behind him, wanting to catch him; Alex knew it would be the end if he let himself caught.
'Ice bullet.'
An ice bullet was fired at the incoming hand at the last moment, instantly freezing it.
After freezing that claw, Alex's shadow shifted, with one of the normal skeletons trying to attack Isabella.
'Erase!'
Before the two skeleton generals could attack, a white bullet was shot at them, unlike previously when Alex's bullet got blocked; this one broke their shields before striking the closest skeleton general. Like a broken puppet, that skeleton general became momentarily frozen.
For the first time, the second skeleton general showed a trace of fear; his glowering green eyes flickered before he jumped back.
Alex appeared before the still frozen skeleton general; his right hand struck the head-crushing; Alex knew that the monster couldn't die even having its head crushed; to completely kill it, he needs to strike its core; however, the said core was protected by heavy armor.
Just as his right hand covering in green light was crushing the monster's head, with Silveria in his left hand, Alex fired an ice bullet at point-blank range at the skeleton; frost instantly covered the skeleton body. Alex opens his right hand, still covered in a green light, and used it like a knife to bisect the frozen skeleton.
Everything happened in an instant. By the time the second skeleton general could attack after fleeing, his comrade had been killed. He had his head crushed first before being transformed into ice status before getting bisected.
''Raarrrhhh!"
The last skeleton general bellowed; his whole body glowed red as if it was on fire. Alex astonished eyes, that skeleton general appeared right before him, his scythe descending toward him.
Just as Alex was about to step aside to let the scythe pass by air breath of his face, he was surprised to find out that somehow a black chain coming from the ground got wrapped around his feet, making it impossible for him to maneuver his body as he wishes.
Time seemed to freeze, Alex was able to see the scythe coming toward his head, even though he didn't know how he activated this state again, Alex immediately sprung into action, first by bending his body, so much that his head almost touched the ground, while at the same time firing a bullet at the incoming scythe, making the weapon deviate from its original path.
BANG!
Shooting another bullet, this time at the ground, to create an explosion that pushed his upper body forward, reading on the momentum, Alex head-butted the skeleton general. The latter staggered a couple of steps back.
Swoosh!
Having been released of that black chain, Alex immediately attacked by sending a kick at the skeleton general; the latter used the shaft of his scythe to block Alex's kick.
〖No good, Master. Artemia is in danger.〗
Just as Alex was about to continue attacking the skeleton general before he could regain his momentum, he heard Silveria's unexpected warning.
Using his Divine Sense, Alex got a clear picture of what was happening; he immediately used Shadow shift.
The first time to switch place with Artemia before using it again to switch place with the skeleton general, everything happened too fast, even the Elder Lich did not see this coming, so he inadvertently crushed his subordinate by releasing all his power, the whole floor trembled, all other normal skeletons got crushed leaving only Alex's group and the Elder Lich.
The fight was about to become serious.
Chapter 298 - 293: Against The Elder Lich 2
Alex's face was severe, while the Elder Lich just stood there doing nothing; the pressure he was emitting wasn't a joking matter. If Alex hadn't intervened, Artemia would have been seriously injured.
''Thank you, Alex.''
''No need, let's focus our attention on this troublesome enemy. I propose that you and I take care of him while Isabella will assist us from afar. What do you think?" Alex proposed.
It didn't take too long for Artemia to answer Alex's proposition.
''I think it's a good plan.'' She said; Isabella nodded her head.
The Elder Lich waited for them to finish planning before saying.
''It seems that you have done talking. Hyahahaha~ time to show what despair is. Come at me.''
Looking at the overconfident Elder Lich, Alex and Artemia exchanged glances before one went to the left and the other to the right.
Alex aimed Silveria at the Elder Lich and, without hesitation, shoot a phantom bullet at him; simultaneously, Artemia launched her Gift special ability, the nine layered chains, numerous coming from the ground shot at the Elder Lich.
Everything should have been perfect, leaving at least a minor injury on the monster; however, neither the Phantom bullet nor the lightning chains could reach the Elder Lich; he extended his bone hand for a dark purple shield to appear and block their attacks.
Even though Alex was surprised, he didn't stop his attacks.
In his next attack, Alex combined Dispel bullet and the Phantom bullet; the first was to reduce the Elder Lich magic shield for the phantom bullet to pierce through and maybe damage the monster; however, at the last moment, the Elder Lich created another shield.
The second shield momentarily stopped the Phantom bullet.
''Roarr!"
Isabella's water dragon crashed against the invisible bullet crushing the shield.
''Hyahahaha~ Not bad, but you got to do more if you want to injure me.''
Numerous shields appeared all around the Elder Lich, making it impossible for Alex's group attacks to affect him.
''Girls, from the ground.''
Alex wasted no time to warn the other two, who immediately jumped back.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!!
Just as they left, small fragments of bones shot out from the ground; if Alex hadn't warned them, Artemia and Isabella would have been injured.
''Not good,'' Alex shouted when he noticed the Elder Lich disappeared, and when he reappeared again, he was directly above Isabella; the latter froze feeling suffocated, catching Isabella by the throat, the Elder Lich lifted Isabella high into the air before slamming her against the ground.
''Gaha!" Crack!
Isabella's cry of pain followed by the cracking sound of her ribs breaking could be heard; she even vomited blood and fainted on the spot; everything happened too fast; by the time Alex and Artemia could move and rescue Artemia, it was already late.
〖Master quickly saves her, that skeleton is not done, his next attack could kill her.〗Silveria warned Alex.
Alex immediately aimed Silveria at Isabella and shoot a phantom bullet against the ground; not too far from Isabella; the explosion sent Isabella flying through the air before crashing against the dungeon wall.
A second after Isabella was sent flying, a bone spike came out of the ground; if Alex were late by a millisecond, that bone spike would have impaled Isabella's chest, destroying her heart which causes her death.
For the first time, the Elder Lich expression finally changed; seeing Alex rescue Isabella infuriated him, and before he could retaliate, black lightning descended from the sky and struck him.
Chi~ chi~
The Elder Lich's black robe got further torn off, the white bones underneath the robe got lightly charred.
'Alex, buy me a little bit of time.'
Artemia's voice suddenly reached Alex's ear, at the same time Silveria told him,
〖Master, it seems that the little princess is about to use her Gift's real ability. This is possible because the other half of her Gift is under this floor.〗
'I see. I understand. I will earn much time as I can.' Alex replied to Artemia before dashing toward the Elder Lich; the latter judged Alex's action to be foolish; however, just before reaching the monster, Alex accel-ed to reappear five meters behind the Lich before shadow shifting with the Lich.
''Futile.'' Bellowed the Elder Lich.
''I don't think so,'' Alex responded before successively shooting four special bullets, two Fire bullets, and two ice bullets; it was a half complete chaos bullet.
Kaboom!
The Elder Lich got blasted back after his shields got destroyed by the half chaos bullet, even he was not injured; being played like this made the Lich furious; raising his bony hand, he swung, more than a hundred small orbs appeared and were hurled at Alex.
Even without being told how dangerous these black orbs are, Alex moved; running in a circle, he managed to dodge some black orbs; piercing bullets shot down those he couldn't dodge.
Suddenly, the Elder Lich noticed that something wasn't right; Artemia didn't attack him again; it was only Alex attacking him.
''Hyahahaha~ I see.'' The Lich muttered and feigned attacking Alex while secretly searching for Artemia's location as she hides behind his throne, preparing her next attack.
''Bone domain.''
The Lich shouted; however, instead of using his domain where Alex was, the Lich specified the domain location as his throne.
Numerous bone spikes shot out from the ground, and soon they were about to reach Artemia; however, she could dodge in time as she was at a critical stage of her next attack.
Gritting his teeth, Alex shadow shifted with her.
''Guh!"
Barely managing to dodge some of the bone spikes, Alex had his left leg pierced, his back injured, even so, not to let the Lich accomplish his goal. Because if he were in the Lich's place after forcing Alex to use shadow shift on Artemia, he would kill her right in front of Alex to plunge him into despair.
Indeed, it was the Lich's plan; a dark, ghastly ghost head appeared right after Alex switched place with Artemia; this ghost head was about to swallowed Artemia, who still has her eyes closed; unfortunately for the Lich, Alex anticipated this, firing Erase at the ghost head, it vanished, this left the Lich surprised, seeing is one thing while experiencing it first hand is another thing, so, the Lich was surprised that there existed something that can erase magic.
That momentary pause was all Artemia needs to complete her next move.
Artemia suddenly began floating in the air without anything behind her back; her long blue hair turned golden before she opened her mouth; even her eyes have turned golden.
''Eighteen Layered Chains: Seventeen Form: God's Chains.''
An enormous magic circle covered the whole floor blinding everyone, then,
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!!!
Seventeen golden chains appeared out of thin air and bound the Elder Lich.
''W what is this? Release this lord! Release this lord at once.''
The Lich became hysterical after seeing that he couldn't move after being bound by the golden chains, his robe, a treasure, a high-grade treasure melted, his bones started turning black.
Alex was surprised when he saw the current scene; however, his expression suddenly changed, turning grave when he saw Artemia (the golden-haired Artemia) puking mouthful golden blood and staggered in the air, almost as if she could fall at any moment.
Alex brought a Mana recovery potion and gulped it in one go before pointing Silveria at the Lich; because of Artemia's condition, some of the golden chains binding the Lich started loosening.
[Crimson Bullet]
Alex staggered back before a crimson light burst out from the silver gun, going straight toward the chained Lich.
The Lich became covered in crimson light; the light was so intense that Alex was forced to close his eyes.
BOOOOM!
The entire space shook after the mega explosion.
At the same time, Artemia reached her limit; her hair reverted to its original blue form, she then fell onto the ground.
When Alex reopened his eyes, his jaw dropped to the ground, the thirtieth-floor original form was gone, except the place where Alex stood, Artemia's location and Isabella's location, the remaining place were gone, yes gone, only empty void could be seen, only darkness, the Elder Lich was gone, the stairs leading to the thirty-first floor was gone as well.
''Isn't it this a little bit too much?"
Alex couldn't help but question himself when he saw how much damage the Crimson Bullet had done.
Even Silveria was shocked by how powerful the Crimson Bullet is.
''I th-"
Before he could finish his words, Alex fell to the ground face-first; he lost consciousness probably because of how taxing the Crimson Bullet was; he didn't recover all of his MP before using that skill, so his MP got drained, it was because of sheer will that he was able to squeeze out few words before losing consciousness.
''Seriously, I'm such a good spirit.'' Silveria praised herself after appearing when Alex lost consciousness.
At the same time that Silveria was dragging Alex toward a good spot, a small black smoke appeared from the other side of the dungeon's wall and entered Isabella's body through her nose; nobody noticed anything, not even Silveria.
Chapter 299 - 294: Third Meeting
Silveria put Artemia and Isabella inside one tent while putting Alex in another one. She sat outside to guard them as they rest.
Looking at the destruction the Crimson Bullet caused, Silveria couldn't help but acknowledge that dungeons are pretty interesting, to think that in just two hours, the dungeon would have almost healed itself.
''It will good if we could go back at that time; unfortunately, not even Big sister can do it. Sigh! How pathetic to think we would be reduced to such a state.''
Silveria frowned when she recalled the past, their status; now everything was gone, almost everyone was gone; if it weren't because of certain someone, maybe she would have ceased to exist because of loneliness.
''Sigh!"
Silveria heaved another sigh and became lost in thought.
Inside Alex's tent, he had just woken, he felt refreshed, just before completely losing consciousness he experienced that feeling, the same feeling he experiences after every level, hence he knew he must have gotten stronger by few levels, eagerly he checked his status, and as expected he wasn't disappointed.
[Alexander Kael Touch]
Class: Magic Gunslinger
Age: 17
Male
Race: High Human
「 Rank 9]
Level 85
Experience Value (XP): 1900/20800
Magic Power: 5320 (+50 ) ➤ 5370/5370
Magic: None
Attack: 1710 (+50 (+50 BP) ➤ 1750
Defense: 1590 (+50) ➤ 1640
Agility: 1730 (+50) ➤ 1780 (+200)
Intelligence: 1640 (+50 ) ➤1690
Luck: 1370 (+50) ➤1420
BP: 100
SP: 0
Gift: Two Guns ????????
Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 1] [Item box Level 4] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 3] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 4] [Mana Recovery Level 7] [Synthesize Level 10 max] ➤ Crimson's Bullet [Shadow Shift Level 3]
Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive] [Death's Eye] [Envisage] {Erase} {Magic Bullet} {Snatch} [Hellsing] [Xerox]
Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one who can't use Magic] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn] [Shadow Nemesis] [The Slaughterer] [The Destroyer] (New)』
''Eh???"
Alex was so surprised that he exclaimed aloud, startling Silveria, who was outside; without knocking. She barged in to ask what was going on.
''Nothing! Just that I have become Rank 9,'' Alex responded.
''Just that?" Silveria asked, a bit annoyed; she didn't understand why her Master would act like that just because he advanced into Rank 9.
'Wait! Maybe it was because he was getting closer to completing Sera's requirement for her to work for him.'
After recalling Sera's condition, Silveria concluded that the reason for Alex's joy must be that. Unfortunately, she was wrong; Alex next confirmed this.
''Not that. There is no semi-sealed in front of my Gift, only some question marks. I wonder if this means that the black gun is unsealed or-"
''What did you just say?" Silveria stopped Alex and started questioning him, as she didn't expect this news.
''Calm down, let's check the second gun.''
Putting a hand forward to stop Silveria, Alex summoned the black gun, something he had not doing for a long time.
The moment the black gun appeared, the air inside the tent turned instantly cold; Alex felt goosebumps rising all over his body as if he was in a trance; Alex's right-hand thumb slowly moved toward the carving on the hand of the black gun, seeing this, Silveria immediately tried to stop him.
''Master, stop it!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late; by the time Alex hear her warning, his thumb had already touched that carving.
Boom!
A huge explosion happened inside Alex's mind.
''Huh?!"
That was the only sound that left Alex's mouth before he lost consciousness for the second time on the same day.
Silveria moved faster to catch him before he could fall on the ground; after putting him on the bed, Silveria looked at the floating black gun and silently muttered.
''Big sister, what are you up to? No, what you two are up to must be the most appropriate question."
However, only silence answered Silveria's murmur.
On the other side, Alex, who just lost consciousness again, what experiencing something surreal; numerous windows floated in front of him, there seemed to be memories, as for whom this belongs to Alex, didn't know as everything was blurred.
Suddenly, as Alex was getting immersed in the windows in front of him, his body, no his soul, got pulled somewhere. He instinctually tried resisting; however, he soon found out that any resistance was futile, so he left himself to get pulled.
Soon, Alex appeared somewhere; it was as if he appeared in space; a beautiful starry night greeted him; he could see gigantic stars moving in the sky.
However, it wasn't what caught Alex's attention the most; there was a gigantic throne made from unknown material, in the sky, and sitting in this throne was a woman, no adjective could be used to describe her, Silveria, Artemia could be called extremely beautiful; however, the woman in front of him goes beyond that.
Alex almost fell in love at first sight; however, he quickly bit his tongue so hard that it bleeds; by doing this, he could regain a bit of clarity.
While this woman was beyond beautiful, there was something different about her; there was an air of majesty around her like a supreme being ruling a whole world.
Even though the woman sitting atop the gigantic throne had her eyes closed, she was aware of everything that happened; seeing Alex quickly regaining his calm after seeing her appearance, she got to say, Alex wasn't half bad; they were another thing that made her evaluate Alex higher, it was how calm he was.
Finally, opening her eyes, which could be described as nothing but mesmerizing, there were rainbow-colored.
''How unexpected, you don't look very nervous.''
Observing the black-haired boy with heterochromia, the woman blinked her eyes in intrigue.
''At this rate, everyone will die. Soon, your first trial shall begin. Now, it is not the time. Soon, I shall see you again, the boy that holds the fate of all. Take care of-"
The woman's words got cut off as Alex was sent away. Unknown to him, something entered his body when he was being sent away.
Just as Alex left, the woman figure turned a bit illusionary, as if she could disappear at any moment.
''Go, see him. He may have something for you.''
Looking in the direction was going to, that woman muttered.
•••••
''Finally, you're here.''
A cold voice yet familiar echoed in Alex's eyes, rousing his consciousness.
Opening his eyes, Alex found himself standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down, only darkness could be seen followed by the sound of beasts howling, at his side was the person who spoke earlier, Alex couldn't be more familiar with him as he was the previous owner of his gun.
A handsome black-haired man with beautiful crimson eyes.
''Why do didn't you come at my first call?"
Silveria's previous owner couldn't help but understand why Alex didn't show at his first call.
''Huh!? What are you talking about?"
Tilting his head, Alex asked as he had no idea of what this man was talking about. It seems that his encounter with that woman had been erased; he couldn't remember it.
Seeing that the confusion on Alex's face was genuine, the previous owner of Alex's Gift went silent for a moment before murmuring.
'I see; it's must be that.'
''Must be what?" Alex asked as he could hear the man murmured.
The previous owner of Alex's Gift was surprised that Alex could hear what he said; he had not practically emitted any sound while he murmured.
'Ah! I have forgotten that we shared the same race; no, there's something different about him. This boy is like an upgraded version of the previous me, a better version.' the man thought.
''I say, senior, don't you have something you want to say to me? It's why I'm here. So, can you begin?''
Alex said to his predecessor; his words brought the latter back to reality.
''Yeah! That's true. Let go for a walk.'' The man said as he spun and started to walk in the opposite direction to the cliff.
Giving the cliff one last glance, Alex quickly followed the man.
Even after walking for about fifteen minutes, no word was spoken, only silence.
Looking at the man's silhouette again, Alex noticed something that he previously had not; it might be because he never really paid attention to it; there was a long scar on the man's right neck.
Feeling Alex's intense gaze and interest, the man chuckled.
''Are you interested in what happened? How did I get this scar?"
Alex would never say no to any chance to gain information, so he nodded his head.
''I got this scar from my fight with my best friend, the man you saw last time.'' the man explained as they kept walking forward.
Alex nodded his head; however, he was more interested in why two best friends became enemies, what happened; however, looking at the man beside him, he got the same vibe as when he was with Silveria; this person was not talkative when it comes to essential things. He didn't even know his name.
As if he could read Alex's thoughts, the man walking next to Alex paused.
''Come to think, I have never introduced myself; I'm Nicklaus.''
Chapter 300 - 295: Some Revelations
As if the man could read Alex's thoughts, he paused.
''Come to think, I have never introduced myself; I'm Nicklaus.''
''I'm Alexander.''
Even though he knew that his predecessor was aware of his name, Alex still introduced himself.
''Good, let's stop here.''
At the same time, they have arrived at their destination. It was a small hut; after entering, Nicklaus invited Alex to sit on a sample wooden chair; after pouring Alex a tea, he said.
''This is our third meeting. Unexpectedly, in the span of just four months, you have gotten powerful.''
''I'm still weak, far from my goal,'' Alex responded.
''It's good that you are not conceited. Some people become conceited just after gaining a lit bit of strength. There is always someone stronger than you; one must never become arrogant until you see the end, meaning until you are the strongest when you can dominate everything.'' Nicklaus said.
Alex nodded quietly, Nicklaus continued.
''You know I have a dream, not some lofty dream. I just wanted to live an unfettered life, bound by no obligation. However, fate refused to give me that. Disaster happened, and unexpectedly I got caught in something I shouldn't have, I become chosen.''
''You must have heard a little about our world.''
Alex nodded to acknowledge Nicklaus's words.
''I will talk a little bit about it.''
''Supreme beings created a world filled with creatures at their images, this world was really big, so big that it ends could not be seen. They called it Original World; this world was divided into layers, from the lowest to the highest layers lived the races, creations of the Supreme beings. I was the High Human's Race creator of the human race; High Humans are ranked Third among the races behind the Ancient dragon race and Angel race being the strongest.''
'Unexpectedly, it's not the Ancient dragon race the strongest but the Angel race.' Alex thought when he heard Nicklaus's explanation. Previously, when briefing on High humans, Silveria did not talk about the Ancient dragon race; maybe she had forgotten, or was there any reason for her not to say this?
Unaware of what was going through Alex's mind, Niklaus continued with his explanation.
''It's true that The Angel race was the strongest if you do not speak about them.''
Niklaus paused when he spoke until there.
''Them? Who are you talking about?" Alex inquired.
''I'm talking about Divine Race; they were reclusive, lived in their world outside of the Original World. Some said they are the first race to be created, closer to the creators, the almost perfect race. They have a special feature; they can transform into anything, any weapons.''
''What?" Alex exclaimed aloud when he heard about the Divine Race special ability.
''You mean to say that Silveria and other real identity is that they are from the Divine Race?"
To Alex's question, Niklaus smiled; it was apparent that what he said was right.
This revelation gobsmacked Alex. However, his surprise wasn't going to end just there.
''It could be said that if the Divine Race wanted they could rule the Original World, the ruler of the Spirit Realm (it's how they called their world) was a woman, an extremely powerful woman possessing unparalleled strength, the Spirit Realm Empress had two daughters.''
Alex's eyes widened; he could guess what would follow.
''One has Black hair, the second daughter has silver hair. The silver-haired daughter's original name was Nemesis.''
''I see; it was why she had that reaction after I gave her that second name; it is turned out that it was her original name. What it's Silveria's big sister name."
Alex inquired as he was curious about what name Silveria's big sister has.
''It's Nyx,'' Niklaus said after a moment of pause to drink his tea.
''The Goddess of Night. This name is associated with the Goddess of Night in our world.'' Alex said when he remembered the story talking about Nyx.
''I see, here, Nyx is associated with death, The Death Goddess, that is her nickname. Let's me continue with my little lesson.'' Niklaus said.
''One day, the Spirit Realm Empress took a radical decision, using her power to bound her subjects to other races to be used as their weapons; it was how Gift came to be. Shortly after they appeared, the civilization destroyer, calamity race, chaos Race. They have only one goal, which is destruction. These abominations seemed to have caused the death of numerous Divine Race people (We learned this later). If she had not made that direction, everything would have been lost. This race could infiltrate anything, corrupt anything. We fought, but we lost. I do not know their motivations apart from destruction, but if we do not erase them for good. Everything will be lost. Even the Supreme beings are afraid of this race as if after they exterminated everything, their next step would be to go after the supreme beings. Do you know the cost of our defeat?"
Alex shook his head even if he knew the answer; he wanted to learn the most he can about the past.
''Destruction of the Original World. The funny thing is that they made us fight each other; we could stay united to fight against the common enemy. Wife stabbed their husband in the back, brother killing each other, friends betraying each other. This race has numerous methods to use against its enemies. Can you believe it? The Daemon race got controlled and betrayed us. They are the fourth-strongest race, the creator of the demon's race. The Ancient dragon race rebelled. Everything would have gone extinct if not for- Forget it.''
''I'm curious about something, predecessor,'' Alex said after a long moment of silence to digest the information he got.
''You want to know where this race came from? I'm right?" Niklaus asked as he could guess what he wanted to ask.
''Yeah.''
Indeed Alex didn't deny it. Niklaus stayed silent before saying.
''We do not know where they come from. What is sure is that they weren't part of the Original races, not part of the Original World. Some speculate that this race was a fallen experiment of the supreme beings. Another one said this race was created by one of the Supreme beings to clash against the others because of a difference in opinions. Whether these speculations are true or not, nobody knows. What is sure is that, if we don't fight back, it will be the end.''
''What if everything is just the doing of the Supreme beings? What if everything that happened was some game to them? For entertainment purposes, of course. Have you thought about it?" Alex questioned Niklaus.
Niklaus's expression turned stern like that of a Big brother wanting to scold his brother when he did something terrible.
''You know, little Alex, something is better left unsaid for you to live longer. You are lucky to be in an independent space created by me, thus making it impossible for anyone to spy on us if I do not allow it. In my domain, I'm the Supreme. What you are thinking about, I also thought about it, the result I have failed miserably. I had the feeling that we are chess pieces on the cheeseboard, I failed to become a player. You can think about one time, they will take it as a joke, but you keep up, you won't end well. You are smart. You understand what I mean. Maybe you will succeed where I failed and truly stand at the summit one day. Too bad I won't be there anymore.''
Alex's eyes widened when he heard the last part of Niklaus's words; at the same time, he was relieved.
''Hehehe! What a rude junior. You don't have to be so happy hearing that I won't be there seeing you complete your goal.'' Niklaus teased Alex.
''Ugh!"
''I know that even as we talk, you are wary of me. Maybe I have an ulterior motive, for example, take control of your body someday, sometime in the future. I can assure you that your worries are unfounded. I'm but a mere soul remnant; I have truly died. This soul remnant is left to help my junior, nothing more, nothing less.''
Alex scratched his head in embarrassment when his thoughts got revealed like this.
Everything that Niklaus said was the absolute truth. Even though he was listening to Niklaus's story, Alex had been thinking about a method to get rid of him if he ever tried to possess him, as these kinds of things often happen in novels; this is not a novel. However, one should never be wary enough when dealing with a crafty old monster. So, Alex was making plans; even though he doubts their success rate, he could only try. However, now that Niklaus reassured him, Alex became less worried; he did not believe Niklaus's words as he might be lying.
''Good! Worthy of being this man's junior.'' Niklaus said after seeing that Alex did not let his guards down after hearing his words. If Alex did that, he would have been disappointed in him. Fortunately, Alex did not.
''Let's continue,'' Niklaus said with a smile.
Chapter 301 - 296: 31st Floor
''Alex, do you know that Gift has a name?"
Niklaus asked Alex; the latter was not surprised as he remembered that Leonardo's Gift is called Excalibur.
''Yeah, I know. However, I don't know my Gift name.'' Alex responded.
''I'm aware of it. Your Gift name is Death Guns.'' Niklaus told Alex the name of his Gift.
''Death Guns?" Alex was puzzled that his Gift got such a simple name. However, just as he was about to question Niklaus, he felt an intense pain in his right chest.
''Gah!"
Alex gritted his teeth to endure the intense pain his body was experiencing; it was as someone took a hot iron and started to draw a tattoo on his right chest.
He endured the pain for what seemed to be fifteen minutes before it went away; immediately removing his shirt, Alex observed his right chest to see a faint tattoo there, a tattoo of a skull.
''What is this?"
Alex asked Niklaus after staring at the faint tattoo on his right chest.
''She is about to wake up. Sigh! To think she would try to force open the seal. Still stubborn as always.''
Niklaus explained, however, the last part was said rather inaudibly.
''What?"
''Nothing. Nyx seems to value you highly; if not, she wouldn't have gifted you her eye. It would be best if you cherished it, cherish them, not to regret it later. Nothing is absolute.'' Niklaus warned Alex.
Alex nodded his head; while he was thinking about that last words, Niklaus seemed to hint at something; as for it's, Alex had no idea, he decided to postpone the matter for the future.
''You can think that your Gift name is pretty simple compared to others; however, sometimes I believe that simplicity is the best. There's a reason for them to be called like that; it is especially related to Nyx. I won't go into detail as I have said more than I should. The rest, you will have to find out on your own—however, a piece of advice from your predecessor. Don't ever let go of them, or else you will regret it, especially Nyx. She is so unique that sometimes I wonder if something like that should exist. I do hope you will follow my advice.''
''I understand predecessor. I will follow your advice.'' Alex promised after hearing Niklaus's advice.
''Good, I shall send you back. Others are about to wake up. Please take care of them, be forgiving and be understanding when dealing with them.'' Niklaus advised again, with the flick of his fingers, Alex was sent away.
Once alone, Niklaus sighed and said, ''Maybe this will be the last time I will see you.''
His body became illusionary and faded.
•••••
Back to the dungeon.
Alex woke up to find Silveria sitting beside him; she was surprised that he would wake up this soon.
''How are you feeling, Master? Is there any problem?"
Silveria asked, concerned. Alex felt touched, he decided to tease Silveria.
''No worry, I'm fine, your Highness.''
Silveria froze for a moment before sighing.
''You must have heard from Niklaus a lot of things, especially about our past,'' she said.
''Indeed, I have. Who would have thought that you were a princess? No wonder you act so bossily.''
''That is something from the past. Currently, I'm just a spirit serving her Master, nothing more, nothing less. Master, I will go out; I need to breathe some fresh air.''
Silveria said before going out. Watching her leave, Alex could only sigh. After packing the tent, he joined her.
Artemia and Isabella were already waiting for him outside; Isabella seemed happy than usual.
''Thank you all for saving my life again. I will surely repay you in the future. I will give you anything you want; say it.''
Isabella said the moment she saw Alex.
''No need. Just help me when I need your help.'' Alex stopped Isabella and said.
''How are you feeling, Artemia?"
''I'm fine, thank you for saving all of us.''
''What are you saying? If it weren't for you, it would be hard to finish him.'' Alex said when he saw that Artemia wanted to gave him all the glory, it was because she restrained the Lich that it became easy for him to finish the monster.
''Fufufu! That bullet of yours was mighty; it even gave me chill. As expected, you are truly unique.'' Artemia commented.
''We all are unique. That God's chains were also something. Let's not waste time here and complete our goal.'' Alex urged them; he wanted to finish everything here quickly as he could to join his sister and lovers.
The ominous feeling he was feeling didn't disappear even after killing the Lich.
''Indeed, let's hurry up. I miss the sensation of a real bed. I think I will go crazy if we spend another week inside this dungeon; let's go, your highness.''
Unexpectedly, like Alex, Isabella urged Artemia. The. Latter could only sigh helplessly before bringing the group to the thirty-first floor.
It was a simple room; in the middle of the room was a magic circle; floating above this magic circle was an illusionary sword with golden chains wrapped around it.
The moment Alex and others entered, this illusionary sword disappeared into the magic circle.
''Protect, I will step into the magic circle and complete my goal. Do not disturb me because I may die if you disrupt the ceremony.''
Artemia warned before starting to walk toward the magic circle with her two glaives.
Alex and Isabella nodded before standing respectively at Artemia left and right to guard her as she sat cross-legged in the middle of the magic circle.
'Sil, how long do you think it will last?'
To kill time, Alex decided to chat with Silveria, who became silent after knowing that Alex knows about their past.
〖I don't know because I have never experienced something like this, nor do I know anyone who has. Just wait, we will see.〗Silveria responded.
'I see, let's wait for them.'
Alex said before closing his eyes like Isabella.
Time slowly passed. Suddenly, Alex felt an immense sense of danger, and without looking, he followed his instincts; he hurtled a knife to his right.
Clangs!
Isabella stepped back to deflect the incoming knife.
''Hehehehe~ As expected of the man I love. Your instinct is truly sharp.'' Isabella said while shaking the spear in her hand.
Alex glared at the girl to used to be his comrade, and now she was trying to disrupt Artemia's ceremony.
''Who are you? What have you done to Isabella?"
Alex questioned the thing that took control of Isabella's body because there is no way the real Isabella would go after Artemia's life; the bond between the two was genuine. Alex could attest it; at some time, something must have taken control of Isabella's body.
〖Master, I sincerely apologize for making such a big blunder, I must have noticed that something took control of-〗
'Do not blame yourself because you are not omnipotent. I'm at blame as well. Let's deal with the thing controlling her first.' Alex cut Silveria off and said.
〖Thank, you Master, to be so understanding.〗
In her world, Silveria smiled when she saw that Alex didn't plan to rebuke her for what happened.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
''You are truly something. I didn't take you a minute to deduct that I'm not Isabella. I wonder where I have gone wrong.''
The thing controlling Isabella inquired; Isabella's voice didn't sound like a woman's voice; it was a mix of female and male voices.
''It is simply because Isabella would never harm Artemia,'' Alex answered while observing Isabella cautiously.
''I see. Too bad that I have to kill you and this bitch. If she had stayed silent, not moving so soon to acquire this thing, we would have left her live a little bit longer. Truly a shame." The thing possessing Isabella said.
''I see, so in the end, you still planned to kill her? How interesting. Do you think that your plan will succeed?" Alex mocked Isabella.
''Sigh! Even though I know what you are after saying those words. It still pisses me off; I don't like being mocked.'' the thing controlling Isabella said while Isabella's face contorted like that of wrath.
'Is there any way to deal with the thing controlling Isabella without having to kill her? I know it's impossible not to injure her. What I want to know is that if there's a way to deal with that thing without killing Isabella.' Alex inquired while secretly dropping two Black Betty's on the ground.
〖Not sure, I'm thinking about a method to save this girl; if we do not act fast, she may lose her life after this thing is done with her. She might turn into dust after the possession ended.〗
Silveria's words made Alex sweat a lot. He must think of a method to keep Isabella away from Artemia until she successfully finished what she was doing while at the same time trying to save Isabella from certain death.
Thinking about everything makes Alex almost sigh.
Chapter 302 - 297: Their Past
Isabella suddenly attacked Artemia at a critical moment wanting to make her fail the ceremony she was completing; if not for Alex's quick reaction, the worst would have already happened.
Suddenly, Isabella's eyes turned red, and she disappeared.
Swoosh!
Clangs!
When Isabella reappeared again, she was already at Alex's back; Alex managed to block the spear aimed at his head; however, surprisingly, he got push a couple of steps back.
Before the possessed Isabella could express her joy, having won in the contest of strength, her expression changed. She used an unknown movement skill to quickly distance herself from Alex as two knives came flying toward Alex; the previous knives Alex dropped on the floor, he used Link to call them back.
Even he would have liked that the possessed Isabella didn't react such fast; his aim had been achieved.
Alex disappeared to reappear before the smiling Isabella; just as his knife was about to strike Isabella's hand, a red tentacle appeared and blocked his knife; even though it got cut, it regenerated instantly.
Jumping back, Alex warily looks at the possessed Isabella, who had more tentacles coming out of her body; it was creepy.
Just as Alex was about to speak, Silveria announced.
〖Master, I have found a way to deal with the thing controlling Isabella without having to kill her.〗
'Good, tell me.' Alex said.
After hearing Silveria's plan, Alex smiled; although it was a dangerous plan, the slight mishaps might occur in Isabella losing her life, Alex had faith in himself.
''Hehehe~ I wonder what makes you so happy, Dear~. Care to share it?"
''Disgusting!" Alex spat out before dodging tentacles shot at him.
''Dear~ you are so heartless, to think you will have the gut to injure this beautiful lady. Too bad my lovely tentacles are faster. I know you can bear to injure me seriously.''
The possessed Isabella proudly declared as she kept sending more tentacles toward Alex; the latter dodged them all and put some distance between them.
Looking at the smiling Isabella, her smiling face was so creepy that Alex had trouble holding himself from beheading her.
''You are mistaking about two things: First, your tentacles are not faster at all.''
Just after saying that, Alex shooted two bullets in quick succession, the possessed Isabella tentacles couldn't keep up to, her left shoulder got pierced, strangely it became impossible for her to move that arm, not the red tentacle special ability help the possessed Isabella to regenerate.
To the dumbfounded Isabella, Alex declared.
''And two, I won't hesitate to injure you if this means I can save you seriously.''
''Disable''
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Faster than she could follow, six bullets tore through the air and aimed at the remaining arm, feet of the possessed Isabella, two bullets for her right shoulder, two for her left leg, and the remaining two for her right leg, the possessed Isabella was disabled in a flash, Alex accuracy was scary.
Slowly, the possessed Isabella started to fall toward the ground.
Looking at the falling Isabella, Alex did not rush forward to help her even though the disgusting red tentacles disappeared; on the contrary, Alex aimed Silveria at the falling Isabella and shouted.
''Do it.''
〖Roger Master〗Silveria responded, and a white bullet was fired, going straight to Isabella's heart where a disgusting black thing was stored; it was wiggling like a worm.
''You-"
Before the possessed Isabella could finish whatever she planned to say, the white bullet entered Isabella's heart and destroyed the black thing; before it got destroyed, it made one last desperate attempt.
Isabella, who had her heart pissed, puked black blood before falling on the ground; something shot out from that black blood; it was a black needle, it went straight to Artemia's forehead.
''Shit!" Alex cursed before moving with all his strength toward Artemia; he managed to make it, placing himself in front of Artemia; he used his body to take the needle aimed at her.
''Gah!"
As if he got electrocuted, Alex cried before puking a mouthful of blood, quickly removing the black needle from his shoulder; Alex was astonished to see the injury got corroded, thankfully he possessed High Regeneration skill, the skill kick in and pushed out the bad blood before closing the wound.
Alex heaved a sigh of relief, unknown to him that blood that got ejected from his wound wiggled until it disappeared into the magic circle that Artemia was sitting on.
''Hehehe~ Alexander, I'll be sure to pay you today humiliation tenfold in the future.''
A sudden voice entered Alex's ears before disappearing.
''I'll be waiting,'' Alex responded; he was not surprised that that thing was not dead; he knew that it wasn't the real thing which was here; if not, he wouldn't have easily deal with it as he did.
After catching his breath, Alex moved toward Isabella; after feeding her a healing potion, Alex put her in a corner inside the dungeon, not forgetting to put a blanket over her body. She needs rest; from Silveria's analysis, she was possessed after falling unconscious in the last fight; she was mentally exhausted coupled with what happened; she became more exhausted and needed more rest.
''Sigh! I wonder how many I will have to save you?"
Looking at the peacefully sleeping Isabella, Alex couldn't help but ask this; it was almost as if he owned something in his previous life.
〖Maybe you owned something in your previous life.〗Silveria joked.
'Maybe it's that. Well, forget. Let's wait for Artemia to finish. This time I hope that anything will not go wrong, no more attack. I tired. I need to see my girls.''
Alex said while sitting behind Artemia to have more to have a perfect view of everything.
Strangely, Silveria appeared as well and sat on his left.
For a while, no one spoke until Silveria finally spoke.
''You know, I still remember what our life was back then. Although my sister's personality was a little bit cold, she could still smile, make friends, and even sometimes jokes. However, after that incident, she changed.''
Alex could notice the sadness Silveria was feeling through her voice. He stayed silent before asking.
''Can you tell me what happened? If you want, of course.''
''You know Master, normally in this kind of situation, you ought to console me because I'm sad.''
Instead of responding, Silveria decided to tease Alex.
''You would have been too happy if I did that. Well, playing the role of a listener is another way to console you. Do you think that I'm too good? Too gentlemanly ?"
In turn, Alex decided to tease her back. Silveria rolled her eyes at Alex.
''Sigh! My father betrayed us and stabbed her in the back, almost crippling her. It was the first time we learned about them. To think our caring father would act like that, my sister assisted at the scene; she was so shocked that she became mute for a while; she loved our father too
much. Assisting at such a tragedy broke something within her. Since that day, my sister has stopped smiling. And when that day comes she welcomed our mother's decision with open arms, fully knowing the consequences, to take revenge against those responsible for that day's tragedy.''
Silveria told Alex what happened back then; even though she tried to restrain her anger, Alex could still detect it. She might have says that Nyx was the most affected by what happened, but she wasn't less affected than Nyx was.
''What about you? If your sister's goal is revenge? What is about your goal?"
''I wish for my sister to smile once again. Even if this means slaughtering every one of them, I will try. I'm furious as well, furious that quiet life got destroyed, furious that we became the sacrifice, tools to be used, even if it was for a great cause, it still left a bad aftertaste in one's mouth. Some of our unlucky brothers and sisters suffered because they got poor masters. Hah! Let's stop talking about depressing stuff.''
''I wonder how long it will still take for the princess to be done?"
Alex asked when he noticed the bizarre atmosphere in the air. Silveria could only praise his quick witness; she decided to play along.
''Maybe it will last few days. At worst, we might have to spend weeks here.''
''That won't do. I need to see how the others are doing. I have this bad feeling I can't shake off no matter what. I hope everyone is fine. With Sera's presence, I'm less worried, but there's a lot of ways to deal with her, for example, separating her from the rest of the group, and by the time she caught up, they would have done what they came for.''
''Even though there is such a method, I believe that Sera will not go doing; she is full of resources after all. Don't worry; I believe she will be able to keep the girls safe until they finish or until we will assist them.'' Silveria said.
''I understand. Let's wait for Artemia to finish. I wonder how strong she will be once she completed this ceremony?"
To Alex's question, Silveria smiled.
''We will soon discover.''