"So you like ballet? I honestly wouldn't have guessed that." Harvey took a bite from his burger as he spoke.
"Why?" Elizabeth replied with a sassy tone. "Are you saying you can't see the elegance ingrained in my flesh at first glance?"
"Yes."
"You need glasses then."
Harvey pushed open the door on the other side of the boss room, with the way the outside world was if Harlow wasn't lying about it, he needed to get stronger and the fastest way to do so would be to clear more levels of the labyrinth. At least enough to get him to level 60.
He slowly began to understand the way the labyrinth truly functioned, at first he had thought enemies came in waves, but upon further examination. They were randomly spawned from the same blue light that acted as a light source for the labyrinth.
It was also impossible to replay boss fights, he noted this when he was unable to reopen the door to the fifth floor even after he heard the boss respawn. "Random spawns, nonstop waves meaning I can only rest when I get to an area boss." Harvey equipped his blades as he stared down a gang of spiders.
He carefully put down Elizabeth's body before walking over to the spiders. He didn't want or have the urge to fight, but until he avenged her. The concept of rest was foreign.
"Its attacks include a silk splash and a web shot that immobilizes opponents," Harvey sprinted toward a spider, skillfully evading its silk splash before striking it.
With three spiders left, they simultaneously released webs to halt Harvey's movement. This wasn't his first encounter with these spiders, nor his second. Dodging the first two, he couldn't avoid the third, but swiftly nullified its effect, causing the webs to fall off like dust.
His ability was as broken as they come, but he hadn't met enough people to really know if that was true, especially since neither Harlow nor Arla had revealed theirs. "Maybe hiding it is the way to go?" He stabbed all three spiders in a row as he talked to himself.
He dropped his blades and they returned to his storage, there was a lot he needed to understand about the world and more he needed to understand about the game.
There was a manifest system and he had one, a zone amp manifest for that matter. Normally he would have read the tutorial of any game he would play, but because Elizabeth tagged along. He rushed through the intro.
"Okay, let's forget the difficult things for now, I can learn the manifest system later but for now." He looked at his hand, "I need to understand my innate technique."
Another wave of monsters came forth, this time Flyheads, they were medium-sized insectoids that spat out acid globs. They were the perfect prey to understand his ability on.
He could erase Cause and Effects, one or the other and there was a twenty-second cooldown. That he understood, but there were several unknowns in the power. What if there were two causes or effects in the exact same place? In order to test this, he'd line up to flyheads so their acid glob attack would conjoin as they went toward him.
"Okay!" Harvey said as he finally lined up the flyheads, he'd been at this for an hour. Yes, he's slowly going crazy. "Do your worst!"
The flyheads did as Harvey commanded, shooting out two shots of acid that combined in mid-air, not a perfect combination which was exactly what he wanted.
He raised his hand and erased a cause, he targeted the one at the left but just like he expected the one at the right had disappeared instead, he quickly jumped to his side and the ground melted, the effect of the ball he had erased still taking effect.
"Unless there's one cause, this isn't going to be easy." Harvey put a finger on his chin in thought but his eyes wandered toward the flyhead's and one of them seemed to be stunned, specifically the one he had removed the cause off. "Hmm."
Again for another experiment on effects, he grabbed a giant rock, it was made of cement and its durability was as low as it could possibly be. So if he threw it at a fly head and erased the effect what would happen? Would the flyhead not die and the stone break or would the stone not break and the flyhead live?
He turned to a flyhead he had left on 1hp, anything would kill it, so he threw the rock at it and right before impact he removed the effect of the rock hitting the bug and this time following his command the rock had not broken and the flyhead had not taken damage, meaning the effect of the rock was negated, however as it fell on the ground it shattered into multiple pieces. "So it's a 50/50 chance, is my technique actually bad?"
Harvey grabbed Elizabeth after quickly dispatching of the flyheads, continuing his walk through the downward spiral of the star idol labyrinth, the next floor was the tenth, hence why he had paused earlier to get a grasp of his abilities.
He stared at a larger door than he had in the previous boss room, Harlow was scared of this one and he hadn't leveled up enough to take it on. As the level requirements written on the door were lv 30-45. Even after all the waves of enemies he had defeated, he was still ten levels from level thirty. "Is this where my run ends?" Harvey sat down on a rock that faced the boss's door.
He had hyped himself earlier to stop himself from falling apart, he said he'd enact revenge on Harlow and Arya, but would that be possible if he died here? The old him would have probably burst through the door even with basic starter equipment and won, but now. He had something to fight for, something to stay alive for.
"Monsters don't spawn on this floor, let me..." He put down her body before sitting down on a rock, "Maybe I can rest-"
BOOM!
[Area Boss, Minotaur has spotted you]
A loud bang was heard and Harvey shot up, a minotaur with a giant mace burst out of the boss's room and judging from the icon over its head. It was definitely the boss. He quickly equipped his swords and dashed out the way of the attack
"How did it spot me? I didn't make contact with the door."
The boss rushed toward Harvey unrelentingly, crashing into the walls with both its body and mace. Harvey darted, weaved and dodged until eventually he was caught by the boss's mace, slammed so hard in the chest that he was propelled into the arena of the floor.
He coughed up blood and noticed his health go a considerable chunk down, there was no way he'd survive a second hit. "Tch, I let my guard down." Harvey sighed as he dodged another attack from the boss's mace.
He was more worried about the boss trampling over Elizabeth's body but it had passed where he had dropped her.
He ran alongside the walls, using them as a red flag the boss could rush into and just like a bull, it rushed toward it. Crashing horns first into a wall. Attempting to push itself from the walls, the bull extended its hands, but Harvey was quick to mount its back. Utilizing his second form, he generated a web of electricity, stunning the boss.
Despite landing critical hit after critical hit, the boss's life had barely gone down a quarter. Harvey leaped off, but before he could land, the boss swung its mace, striking him in the chest.
Harvey fell onto the ground, he had removed the hit's effect so the only damage he endured was from the fall. Retrieving a potion from his storage, he consumed it. Although he had planned to keep it for later, with his cooldown active, he needed all the help he could get.
"Two forms, half health, a decent amount of mana and stamina. Low durability on my weapons." Harvey stood still as the Minotaur began rushing him. "Man!" He groaned.
The minotaur's howl echoed, dislodging small rocks from the walls. It swiped its hand across its mace, the weapon now gleaming in a bright yellow hue, then swiftly charged at the motionless Harvey.
Harvey stared at the ceiling half expecting it to crash down on him, he had been given the burden of revenge. One he couldn't let go until his final breath. "Okay," He sighed, fixing his gaze on the charging boss, daggers ready. "Let's get this over with."
Swinging its mace, the minotaur targeted Harvey. Swiftly, he nullified the effect and vaulted onto the mace, using it as a springboard to leap onto the boss. Using his second form, he surged electricity through the creature, stunning it momentarily.
Repositioning on the boss, Harvey plunged his dagger into its head repeatedly. The onslaught continued until the beast seized him, hurling him toward a nearby wall.
"I'm guessing stuns don't last as long on large freaking monsters!" Harvey removed the effect of his crash but as he got out of the wall, the boss had already charged into him. Slamming the wall with its shoulder.
"Even if I fix my blades, I can't kill you with them," Harvey said as he ran across the ground, having slipped through the hole in the wall before he was pummeled.
"I need another weapon, fix— no there's no time... unless." Harvey stared at the boss's mace, it gleamed a yellowish color and although he had assumed it was an enchantment spell, it seemed it wouldn't disappear until it struck something. "Okay."
Harvey quickly readied his daggers once more, this was the final stretch of the battle and if everything went according to plan, he'd gain a mace at the end of it all.
Harvey rushed toward the boss, the blade had about two more hits before it broke but that didn't matter, without wasting any time, the boss made a move. However, before it swung its mace, Harvey removed the cause.
Just like he had noticed with the flyheads, whenever a cause is removed. The target is confused, giving him about a five-second window, and even though the boss didn't get stunned for long, two seconds was enough.
Harvey noticed his health fall down to one, he had suffered the effect of the swing he erased. However, his death was nullified, another showcase of Elizabeth's curse. "Even in death, you protect me?" Harvey laughed.
Ducking through the minotaur's legs, Harvey swiftly seized the mace from its hand. The boss, now awake, turned towards Harvey, who wielded its weapon. The boss growled as it reached out for its weapon, however, it was futile as Harvey had already struck a decisive blow that severed its head.
Quickly dropping the mace, Harvey felt the discomfort of its weight, not due to its natural heaviness but because he had chosen dual blades as his weapon of choice. This decision meant he couldn't equip anything else.
He bent over, grabbing the mace once more. This time putting it in his storage. "I'll store it until I can sell it then, who knows. A minotaurs mace could land me a fortune." Harvey laughed softly before coming to a stop when he glanced to his side.
[Floor boss, Minatour has been defeated. Victor: Hajun, 6,51.]
[4500 exp points gained.]
{4500 divided by 300 - 15}
[Character: Hajun]
[Age- 20]
[Level- 40] (+15)
[Experience: 1/500(till level fifty)]
[Class: Condemned]
[Clan: None]
[Cash available: 20 coins]
[Innate Technique: Cause and Effect, User is able to remove a specific cause before it happens, leaving its effect or remove a specific Effect before it happens leaving its cause. Cool down -20sec]
[Manifestation: Causma Nexus]
[Manifestation Type: Zone Amp]
[Stats].
Strength-40/99999(maxed) (+5)
Agility- 40/99999(maxed) (+10)
Intelligence-8/999(maxed)
Dexterity- 22/99999(maxed) (+5)
Toughness-30/99999(maxed) (+10)
Luck: 20/99999(maxed)
Health-160/99999(maxed) (+30)
Health recovery: 3/s
Mana-160/99999(maxed) (+30)
Mana recovery- 3/s
....
Elements: Fire, Lightning.
Skill points earned: 14 (-16) [Skills learnt)
Skills learned:
*Crit Induce(Greater Chance up): Increases the likelihood of Harvey landing a critical hit in battle, increasing his overall damage output.
*Double Impact: While random, Harvey has the chance to deal delayed damage with each attack.
Skills available to learn: Boost, 20sp, damage reduction, 25sp, blitz mode, 30sp, reflective barrier, 40sp.
Weapons equipped:
Forms learned: Form 1: Sun Splitter: Increases speed for a short duration while lathering the blades with fire.
Form 2: Thunderweave: Increases speed dramatically for a short duration, lathers blades in lightning and if blades are stabbed into anything a web of lightning would be sent into its brain, causing a stun.
Form 3: Impact Lightning: A movement that creates lightning clones, during the confusion. A flurry of attacks is dealt to the target.
Weapons stored: Twin daggers(basic) - durability: nonexistent. (can spend 20sp to repair)
Items stored: Low stamina potion, star idol card, Minotaurs mace.
Spells learned: none
Spells able to learn: Hellblaze(Seeker and Scattershot) 30sp, Striking Blue, 50sp. Thunderfall 55sp, Thunderfall Max, 70sp.
Harvey lifted Elizabeth from where he'd left her, cradling her once again as he walked away. Dropping his daggers, he pressed on with weariness, he was tired, drained but worst of it all. "I'm hungry." He muttered.