CLANGG!
Another blade attack effortlessly bounced off the creature's thick hide, but Daisuke didn't relent. He immediately followed up with a skill known for piercing through the enemy's thick armor and bypassing their defense.
A familiar screech, sharp and high-pitched like a jet engine, rang out as Helix Bullet took form in Daisuke's palm. He lunged forward with the spinning sphere, only for the fiend to crush it effortlessly in its massive hand, as if snuffing out a candle flame.
A brutal backhand sent the puny assailant hurtling through several support columns before slamming into the wall. Blood and spittle erupted from Daisuke's mouth on impact, Impeccable Parry shattering like glass.
Cassius burst into peals of laughter, one hand dragging down his face as though he could barely contain himself. "This is it?" he sneered. "The notorious Haxks Starfrost—the one who's been endlessly meddling in our affairs? How utterly pathetic."
Daisuke spat the taste of iron from his mouth. That thing isn't a Field Boss but it sure as hell hits like one. I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from a high-ranking noble turned Hulk.
With a flick of his hand, he summoned a potion from his inventory and popped the cork from the glass vial.
In the same beat, Cassius snapped his fingers. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that."
At the gesture, a large magic circle in the ceiling illuminated.
DING!
[Due to a spell effect, the use of consumables is prohibited within a 200-meter radius.]
Both Daisuke and the viewers of the stream flinched in shock.
[Sausage_Party: Holy crap! Haxks just got cockblocked! 🤧
Vanilla_Punash: Pretty sure that's not how the expression is used 😑]
"I don't think you fully understand the situation you're in," Cassius said ominously. "In this chamber… is where you will die—"
Before the man could finish his sentence, Daisuke took aim at the magic circle and swiftly fired a Firebolt, scorching and defacing the intricate design.
Cassius let out a low snicker. "I'll give you this—your persistence is almost admirable. But it's pointless. That magic circle was nothing more than a catalyst for the spell.
If you truly intend to stop its effects, you'd have to kill both me and the homunculus." His smile widened, cruel and certain. "And that, of course, is far beyond your current abilities. So stop struggling, accept your fate… and die."
A muscle flexed in Daisuke's jaw. This bastard's the mastermind behind the entire operation. Even with all our fearmongering using the Absolution Guild, he probably still has plenty of supporters—and not to mention the kingdom's guards at his disposal.
His eyes flicked to the growling monster. I wanted to approach this fight conservatively… but losing access to potions changes everything. I have to take them both out quickly, before any reinforcements arrive.
[Lone Striker]
▪︎ After landing a skill-based attack, there is a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of a chosen skill. Can only occur once every 5 minutes.]
[Stat Reset]
Skill Cooldown: 10 Minutes]
While I was fighting against Cryosirentis, Stat Reset was locked for six hours prior to using Meteor Smash on the Treant. But I lucked out with the feature linked to my Lone Striker title and managed to refresh both it and Stat Reset.
But I can't rely on luck every single time—and assuming that 15% probability was actually 100%, that's still a 5-minute wait which is pretty much equivalent to five hours in actual battle.
Daisuke tightened the grip around his daggers. I'd be dead meat before that time elapses.
Cosmic Cutter, Meteor Smash, and Mana Storm are my risky, last-resort skills—but if I want to take down this damn abomination quickly, I'm definitely going to at least need Stat Reset.
Cassius snapped his fingers, ushering the lofty beast into motion again. "You can reflect on your folly as you burn in hell."
DING!
[The effects of Congenital Denizen have eased the effects of the current penalty seizing the battlefield. Consumables can again be utilized, but their effectiveness has been diminished by 50% and cooldown time increased twentyfold.]
Daisuke calmly stowed the potion despite gaining a bit of leverage. His eyes glinted as Stat Reset flooded his body, imbuing him with explosive speed and raw power.
Like a bolt of lightning, he streaked past the charging titan with twin daggers flashing, leaving behind a violent flurry of wind-like blades. The homunculus bellowed in agony as several deep gashes tore open across its chest.
DING!
[Due to the effect of the title «Lone Striker», 1872 points of HP have been replenished.]
[Lone Striker]
▪︎ Critical Hits restore 60% of Attack Power as HP. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds.]
Daisuke didn't pause to savor the stunned expression on Cassius's face. The floor cracked in protest as his foot shifted, propelling his body forward to inflict another blinding series of slashes upon the insufferable fiend.
"KWOOOOAR—!"
The creature answered with sheer instinct.
Its massive, plank-like toes clenched, pulverizing the stone beneath them as it swung its enormous palm downward, intent on crushing the insolent speck daring to stand before it.
But Daisuke was already in motion, his face carved from ice as he shot upward like a released spear. The fan-shaped hand filled his vision for a heartbeat—then crimson arced through the air.
His daggers flashed, carving clean through flesh that, moments ago, had seemed impregnable. Fingers flew free, tumbling like severed branches as the creature howled, its roar shaking dust loose from the ceiling.
And still, Daisuke didn't stop.
Not for a breath. Not for an instant.
Mana condensed beneath his feet, forming an invisible foothold midair. He pushed off it without hesitation, his body surging forward, then both blades plunged deep into the creature's swollen eye. The impact drove Daisuke close enough to feel its heat, its stench, its rage vibrating through bone and muscle.
Cassius's voice cut through the chaos, shrill with fury. "Kill him! Kill that worm—now!"
The homunculus reeled, shrieking in agony as it dropped to one knee. With both hands, it gouged all seven fingers into the stone floor, claws digging deep as if the earth itself were an enemy.
The ground groaned, then shattered. With a monstrous heave, it tore free a slab of stone nearly half its own size and raised it overhead, preparing to bring it down in a single, obliterating strike.
It never got the chance.
Daisuke flashed beneath the arc of the swing, blades singing. Several more fingers fell away, severed cleanly from the creature's last good hand. Before the massive stone could crash down, golden chains snapped into existence, coiling around the slab mid-fall.
With a sharp pull of his arm, Daisuke wrenched control away. The stone immediately shifted in trajectory. It slammed into the homunculus's face with bone-rattling force, pulverizing bone and flesh alike.
Daisuke landed lightly amid the settling dust, daggers still dripping red. Then he shifted the entire force of his smoldering gaze upon the detestable grand chancellor.
***
For a moment, the world itself seemed to hold its breath.
A Bearhound's jaws snapped dangerously close to Fay's face before it was reined in by its handler, but she didn't so much as flinch. All her attention was centered elsewhere.
All sound faded except for the resounding beat of her heart, and everything within her line of sight blurred—all but the smoldering scarf at her feet.
Fay dropped helplessly to her knees, her hand tentatively reaching for the almost unrecognizable keepsake. But just before her fingers could touch what remained, to be blackened by the ash now replacing the once soft material, one of the men clutched a fistful of her hair and callously yanked her back to her feet.
"Don't even try to resist, you little shit," the man warned angrily. "You're coming with us."
Another man scowled. "If you try anything funny, we'll feed one or both your legs to Reever here."
The Bearhound salivated eagerly.
Despite the dark threat, Fay was still laser-focused on the scarf. But no matter how much she stared, blinked, and denied it, reality wouldn't change.
In addition to losing her closest friend, the precious gift she had received was thoughtlessly destroyed before her eyes.
…And she couldn't do anything to stop it.
Slowly, her shoulders slumped and her grief settled. But from the purple haze of sorrow and despair, a red aura began swelling, stirring, growing in tandem with her rage.
Adrian glared down at her, infuriated that the girl didn't cower before him. It reminded him of Haxks—how smug, defiant, and infuriating the worm was, especially how difficult it was to corner and ensnare him.
Without a word, Adrian slowly came forward and trampled the scarf beneath his boot, reducing it to nothing but a lingering stain on the stone floor.
"I don't think you quite understand your situation," he said, clutching her cheeks in a bruising grip. "As of this moment, the only close and personal relationship you'll have is with pain and suffering. Everything else will be meaningless."
Fay finally snapped.
She screamed in outrage, her voice splintered between grief and fury. An explosive shockwave detonated from her body, surging outward like a solid wall bristling with razor blades.
The men howled as they were ripped from their feet, their bodies flung through the air while dagger-like currents of energy tore into them. Time seemed to slow as fingers, toes, and even an ear were severed in the violent upheaval.
A cacophony of impacts followed as bodies struck the floor one after another. Fay didn't linger. As much as she wanted to make certain Adrian was utterly erased for the atrocities he'd committed, she knew better than to trust her unruly power—or to stand her ground against a bloodthirsty horde of bandits reeling from her brazen retaliation.
Allowing one last fleeting glance at the scarf, she mustered her energy to run—but to where? The stairway was choked with men, and those she had knocked aside were already rising, vengeance burning in their eyes.
Fay didn't think.
On pure instinct, she sprinted for the balcony.
She barely had time to register the decision before white-hot agony tore through her ankle as the Bearhound snapped its jaws shut around it. Her scream caught in her throat—but that pain was nothing compared to what followed.
A blade drove into her abdomen.
She cried out as steel bit deep, the vengeful strike stealing the air from her lungs and sending her world spiraling into agony.
The bandit's frenzied gaze made it clear—her survival no longer mattered to him, even if killing her shattered their ultimatum and cost him his livelihood.
With a feral snarl, he wrenched his sword free and drove it forward again, intent on running her through. Nothing else existed in that moment. Not reason. Not consequence. The searing pain and blind fury gnawing at him would not dull until he saw her draw her final breath.
Without thinking, Fay continued backing away until both her and the hound were clutched by gravity. Her breath hitched and her stomach sank as they pitched over the edge of the balcony and began plummeting toward certain doom.
"NOO!" Adrian bellowed, lunging toward the balcony, eyes wide with panic. He didn't even notice the blood trickling from the gash above his brow.
The girl was his insurance policy—the sole leverage that could let him outmaneuver Haxks Starfrost and finally be rid of him. Seeing Fay tumble from the tower was, in his mind, the same as sealing his own doom. He was certain the streets—and the gutters—would be his final resting place for such a failure.
Before despair could claim him, before he could slit the throat of the bastard who had doomed him—
WHOOSHH!
A wyvernling rose beside the tower, its small wings flapping with surprising force, sending several bandits hurtling through the air like ragdolls.
"W-What is that thing?!"
"A dragon?!"
"No, it's a small wyvern!"
Adrian ignored the panicked shouts around him, forcing himself to stay rooted in place. Relief and dread collided in his chest as his eyes landed on Fay, unconscious and dangling helplessly in the creature's talons.
What he didn't realize—what hadn't yet registered through the shock—was that his greatest danger wasn't the green-scaled reptile, nor the fact that it had supposedly intended to turn his own meal ticket, his prized asset, into prey. It was the furious canine perched atop the beast's head, eyes blazing with unrestrained wrath.
Zephyr's fury exploded when he spied Adrian among the miscreants who had hurt his friend. A heartbeat later, his jaws snapped open and a wave of hell fire spilled forth. Yielding to the deity's command, the wyvern also summoned its own flames and attacked.
Adrian wasted no time.
The instant the canine's maw went aglow, he immediately turned and started bolting down the spiraling staircase. He could feel the searing flames licking at his heels, hear the blood-curdling screams of his pawns as they were engulfed in the vengeful flames, but he never once slowed or glance back.
The once white stone walls of the Obelisk Tower were blackened by the roaring fire. Flames, both beautiful and terrifying, cascaded around the structure like fallings stars, catching the attention of the citizens on the ground and sparking a panic.
Zephyr ceased his onslaught in response, his hackles still raised as he glanced down at the scurrying dots hundreds of feet down.
Adrian was surrounded by the flames and his followers had been reduced to ashes—all he needed to do was pursue the bastard and finish him off.
But.
Fay was gravely injured, and his rampage had already drawn the attention of the kingdom's soldiers. If he stayed, they would inevitably be forced to confront a specialized military unit of innocents—or worse, Fay might succumb to her wounds, and the blame would rest squarely across his back.
With a low, frustrated snarl, Zephyr telepathically commanded the wyvern to halt its assault and retreat. Yet even as the creature obeyed, the canine couldn't hide his scowl, sensing the foul aura lingering within the tower.
He absolutely loathed the idea the insufferable bastard would continue breathing—and scheming—for a little while longer.