Chapter 480 - Breakfast of Champions (Patreon)

Lily and the twins scrunch their faces, painful expressions appearing on them. Their postures wobble, and their control of mana wavers, caused by the effects of the disruptive field and something else.

My domain encompasses them, smaller but more powerful, declaring anything related to mana within it under my control.

“It’s trying to communicate with me,” Lily groans, picking up first. “It sounds just like my dad…”

Working together, the twins also regain their composure. Seeing how they do it, it really was an attempt at communication and not an attack, something they could probably handle even without me. Probably. But I'm not going to risk it. My [Mana Domain] strengthens even more, and I change it a bit to be better suited to counter this kind of stuff that’s similar to the twins' [Connection].

“To me, it sounded like our mom when I was really young… it’s disgusting.” Dennis spits these words. “It talks, begs, cries.”

I nod. “It’s been down here for hundreds of years. Judging by the state of this… prison, its mind probably isn’t in the best shape.”

“Prison…” Lily adjusts the ax on her back and studies the skeleton. “I don’t think it’s sane anymore.”

The green acid rain from the ceiling keeps falling and splashing against the bone, sizzling and melting anything that regenerates.

That’s also when the Witch decides to appear, forming a tunnel, and she enters the cave on the opposite side of us, the bound skeleton between us. She is followed by only Babyface who holds a crystal dagger covered in blood. The erratic, desperate behavior she showed before is still present and even strengthened—pain across her face, dried blood under her nose, and corners of her eyes.

Her crown rotates wildly, the mana inside it feeling chaotic, the cell's field attempting to disrupt the skill and making the usage of that immense mana even more difficult. She spots us at the same time we spot her, and, followed by the man, starts walking around the edge of the room in a half-circular path, heading toward where we are.

I take a step, doing the same, and going to meet her, with the rest following. Other than the sound of the roaring molten rivers behind the walls and the sound of dripping acid, it is quiet in here, and our steps echo from the walls.

A minute later, she stops, and I stop as well, just a few steps between us. From up close, I can even clearer see the hint of craziness in her eyes, her forearms showing bloody wounds as she digs the flesh out with her nails alone.

“Give me your sword,” is the first thing she says.

“It will kill you if you try to use it.”

“I… just give me the sword.”

“You didn’t come here unprepared. Why do you need the sword?”

Instead of an answer, more confusion appears on her face, and I can see she’s having a hard time thinking normally.

I push, “Did you break the two chains? Do you even remember doing so? Just how much has it messed with your mind.”

Her mouth opens and closes, and in a slip of a moment, my domain encompasses even her, and I take another step closer, “Just how much longer can you endure before your mind breaks under its influence? Are you ready to die?”

The same pressure that connected to Lily and the twins before tries to connect to me, but it can’t. It can’t because of all my effort to not allow myself to be controlled, and it can’t because of my arcane passive that guards my mind.

I continue, “It knew you wouldn’t keep returning every ten years to break another chain. So, when it saw this sword, it wanted you to use it to release it in one go, even if it costs your life.”

She neither confirms nor denies my theory, but a sudden pulse of mana bursts from her crown, tearing through my domain that had reached her. I intensify my efforts to keep it contained around the four of us.

The Witch moves her six arms, spreading them, four opening their palms, mana from the crown seeping and floating around her. From the ground, stone rises up, forming into two long spears she grabs with the other two hands. Mana swirls around her, dangerously, threateningly, yet even now in an amazing show of control. With her mind confused, with the pressure of the field around us.

Her eyes clear, and her posture straightens.

She declares, “My name is Melel, and as a Champion candidate, I challenge you, a fellow Champion candidate. My wager is….”

The challenge fails. So she tries again.

And it fails again.

And then once more.

She is incapable of declaring a challenge, the system likely not considering her in control of herself enough to do so.

Melel laughs desperately, as if finally confirming something, the connection to that being intensifying while pain deepens across her face. I can see she’s straining to break that connection with everything she has, even if it means dying in the process.

Babyface forms a dagger in his hand, and the armor made of crystal surrounds his body, a ring of similar material on his finger. He moves in very quickly, the dagger pointed at her head. His face is blank, the same expression of pain on it as was on hers.

Even in this situation, Melel notices it—stone arms emerging from the ground to grab him. He dodges a few, but then a stone dome forms around him, trapping him inside.

When the dome shatters, only his body remains, torn to pieces. So easily.

Melel, still partially under control, attacks me. Huge stone arms move toward us, but I freeze them mid-air by absorbing their kinetic energy. The pressure from her crown presses down, countered by my domain, yet she keeps pushing relentlessly.

Well, that should be enough.

With my left hand, I grab the sheath of the sword, and with my right, I grab the handle, then pull the sword out in one smooth movement.

Lily and the twins immediately put distance between us as the blade shows itself to the world.

[Resonance] activates to its full power even before the sword is out, focused on keeping all the distinct forces working together. Without it, the sword would break almost instantly.

The blade itself is made out of hollow molten white sand and bone. Inside it, a combination of gray and black swirls, seemingly alive.

Immediately, the palm of my hand starts disintegrating, and my mana gets sucked into the sword without anything I can do.

In an instant, nearly all my mana drains and I use Wraith Dance, dodging the stone arms, projectiles, and slashes tearing through the air, severing the Witch’s connection to the skeleton.

A backlash hits her, making her groan in pain as she staggers back. Another step, and I reach her, the sword stabbing into her crown and breaking the surface with ease.

I feel the pressure on me alleviate for a moment as the sword focuses on the crown, but it immediately comes back even stronger with all the mana it absorbs.

[Resonance - lvl 58 > Resonance - lvl 59]

The entirety of my right arm disappears in a blink, and a piece of my shoulder too, just a skeleton remaining. Bones endure longer thanks to [Bone Knitting] and dense mana threads woven through them for added strength.

My arm immediately heals, Lily’s mana flowing through my body, and my effort to keep [Resonance] at full power strengthening.

I can’t even use mana, all my focus on staying alive as the sword becomes stronger and stronger, gray and black swirling inside the blade wildly, and more cracks added to the glass holding it.

When Melel tries to stand up, my kick hits the side of her head, making her stagger to the side, and I try to pull Fracture away from her crown, thinking it enough.

The sword refuses to move.

More cracks appear on the surface, and a wave washes over me, disintegrating all of my arm, half of my chest, part of my leg, and face, just the bones remaining before Lily’s healing restores them in a blink.

And then again, mana from my reservoir gets sucked in this time as well as the crown, the hungry weapon refusing to let go.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 59 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 60]

Finally, Wraith Dance pulls me away from the others, bringing me right next to the skeleton. Lily and the twins immediately in battle with the confused, absentminded Melel, who attacks them as the fight breaks out over there—but I trust them to handle it.

Kinetic energy shoots high up, encompassing me, stopping the acid rain from falling, and making it just float there. A shockwave splashes acid away from me, and the monster, now without the constant acid shower, starts quickly regenerating.

Tendons, veins, flesh—all forming over that skeleton. Having muscles covering the bones, the monster moves for the first time, golden chains ringing as it does so while blood keeps dripping everywhere.

Fracture smashes against one of the four remaining chains, disintegrating the material, all the connections cut and mana unwound.

The monster moves more, all of its body covered in flesh.

Another step, another chain destroyed—along with parts of my own body—only Lily’s healing allowing me to wield the weapon with as much mana as it’s absorbed. But all this power demands immense amount, and Fracture starts to weaken, leaving the third chain only partially damaged as I slash against it.

My crown appears over my head, and mana from it gets absorbed as well. The third chain gets destroyed.

Brown fur covers the flesh, and the monster stands on its four legs, releasing a loud roar full of hate and craziness making my eardrums burst and heal a moments later and then burst again.

An attempt to connect to me is even stronger now, and I feel the pressure increase and become stronger as antlers start growing from the monster's head. The longer they are, the stronger the feeling is. But they stop growing, the beast while it's still far off being fully healed or regaining its original power, with the thickest golden chain still holding it back.

(Free! Free me, human. It hurts. I’m scared. Please. Help me, child.) Words finally sound even in my head, taking on a voice that is a combination of my mother and Victoria.

Words repeated without any real understanding their true meaning.

(Help me, my child. I’m dying. It hurts so much.) Over and over again voices of my mother and sister mix in these cries.

After hundreds of years, or millennia, the mind of this being broken under torture. Once a majestic beast, now reduced to this—repeating these words with. Brief flashes of clarity, solely used to manipulate others.

This being won’t help us. It can’t be bargained with, and it can’t be let free.

A sword in my hand pulses for the last time, and I slash toward the monster's neck, all the remaining force I’m capable of containing releases, breaking my body, but the monster as well.

Connections get severed, mana unwound, and flesh and bones disintegrated, not healing.

With great effort, I push Fracture back into the scabbard, feeling the pressure ease but still strongly reminding me of its presence. My entire right arm, though healed and restored by Lily, continues to bleed, torn and scarred, with the healing much slower than before.

And the monster still lives.

(Hurt! Save! Victoria, please…Nathaniel, my beloved.)

It keeps pulling from my mind, but it staggers back, its legs burrowing into the floor as it pulls on the chain with great force. I can feel its attempts to use mana are still being blocked.

Then it stops moving, its eyes expanding, and a barrage of words continues even quicker as purple tentacles reach from the ground and grab its leg, slowly climbing higher and higher.

(Die for me! Protect me! Heal me, Lily my child! I always hated you, Aaron. You will never amount to anything, Dennis. Melel, my beloved.)

Over and over again it screams as a dark shadow surrounds it. A flickering mass of something huge that covers it in darkness until the entirety of the monster disappears. Within that darkness, a dark growl sounds, and two huge purple glowing eyes open wide at the height where the trapped monster’s neck was.

The golden chain that leads into the darkness rings and stretches as the monsters gets pulled away, deeper into the darkness. It is soon followed by a screeching of the tied monster and a crunching bite. The entire cave starts shaking, and all the molten and acid rivers are redirected, all heading there to bury the monster held by the last chain only.

Again and again, that monster screeches, trying to escape, its mind attacking all around. All until these mental messages stop.

Then there is silence, filled by the cave breaking apart.

[You have defeated Nightwraith Stag - lvl 471]

[Lvl 293 > Lvl 294]

[Lvl 294 > Lvl 295]

[Lvl 295 > Lvl 296]

[Lvl 296 > Lvl 297]

I´m unable to hold it anymore, the acid starts falling again as I take a step toward the shadows that are already disappearing. Within it I grab Biscuit, who seems to be passed out or sleeping. I use Wraith Dance and move to Lily and the twins, who are ready.

“Nat, please, her as well!” Lily shouts, pointing at the unconscious thylarin woman they defeated.

Meeting Lily´s eyes, I disrupt the natural barrier around Melel, and with the remains of my mana I pull from the surrounding area, I use my [Ley Line] and teleport us as well.

***

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