Retnan stood behind, sweating not from fear, but from the sudden increase in temperature. From ice cold to magma hot. The knight was unfazed; she used her ability to keep her cool.
No door to escape, and the heat seemed to be increasing each second. If Retnan didn't get out in time, he was going to get roasted. Standing alone.
The fight began. The beast, despite its huge body, was fast. It ran towards the knight, who held her stance. A single blade swung at her. She escaped it, the slash cutting through her afterimage as she ran towards the beast's leg. But another blade blocked her way. The beast's six arms made it easier to attack from any angle. She slid to the side. Her mana flared, her stance firm.
'Glaciem-craft: Blade of Crescent Thorns.'
Crescents formed on her blade like thorns. She sliced at the beast's sword it shattered immediately.
Retnan watched from afar; the way she went on par with the beast, their speed matched. His eyes widened watching her move. He wanted to help, not just stand there. But his wish wasn't working.
"Move!" The knight warned.
Retnan snapped out of his thoughts. A huge blade was flying towards him. He jumped out of the way, but it grazed his side. He sat on the ground, looking at the huge sword pierced into the earth.
'Next time I might not be able to evade that.'
The beast took the opportunity of the knight being distracted and attacked her with his six arms together.
"Glaciem-craft: Crescent Tornado!" she roared. Crescent-shaped ice formed out of thin air, then spun around her violently it formed a tornado, parrying all the attacks at once.
Retnan's eyes widened. He cursed himself for not realizing it sooner her incantation had a similar structure to Mava's. He also noticed the way she concentrated her mana differently depending on the situation. She concentrated it around her blade when she used Blade of Crescent Thorns. But when using Crescent Tornado, she spread it around her.
What if he flowed his mana into whatever he wished for and used the same incantation structure?
Retnan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could feel the mana deep inside, so he flowed it out around his body, guiding it to every bone and muscle. It was surprisingly less difficult than expected, due to his comprehension level.
When he was done, he whispered.
"Wish-craft: Body of my Wishes."
His mana flared. The sensation was alien he felt his bones strengthen, his muscles enlarge, abs toned. In real time.
Until was done, he held his concentration. Afterwards his mana calmed. He smiled. 'I did it.'
His body was exactly how he had imagined and wished stronger and better than his former athletic build. Taller too. He flexed his arm and stood to his feet.
When he looked ahead. The knight was still in battle with the beast.
Though he was strong now, he didn't possess superhuman strength. He tried to lift the beast's sword from the ground it didn't budge. Confirmed. Still mundane wishes. But with the strength of a heavyweight bodybuilder. With the endurance to match.
The heat didn't bother him as much anymore. He still sweated, but no longer felt like he was going to turn to ash.
Retnan stroked his chin, devising a plan. 'With my wishes I can bind the beast. I can wish for a chain, wrap it around it, and it loses its footing. Then she'll finish it off.'
'But I need a weapon for myself.'
He concentrated again, forming mana at his palm.
"Wish-craft: Sword of my Wishes."
With his words. A blade formed from the mana long, double-edged, white steel, razor-thin edge. Durable.
A screen appeared before him.
[Wishes points used: 2/2] [Reset: 5 Hours]
[Host needs to form his Nexus to gain more wishes points]
And Retnan's plan went down the drain. Could no longer wish for the chain. And neither did he have experience. Or time to experiment.
He swallowed hard. 'I have to fight.'
Retnan bounced on his feet, left and right like a boxer ready to fight. He tested his blade by sweeping it through the air perfect weight. He looked at the beast's sword, took a deep breath, and sliced at it.
It cut perfectly. A thin line. The other half dropped to the ground.
The beast paused and looked at Retnan. The knight did too. She raised an eyebrow, confused. He looked like an entirely different person but his face and strange clothes were still his. 'How is that possible.'
Retnan smirked. He took a deep breath, then charged.
The beast roared and spun its blade. Fire spread around it, the sword spinning end over end, forming a fire wheel twice Retnan's size. He slid to the side but the wheel came back at him. He ran, the heat burning at his back, but couldn't evade it.
Then the knight swooped in and froze it in an instant.
Retnan didn't stop running. He increased his speed. The knight ran beside him.
"Have a death wish?" she said, keeping pace.
Retnan smirked. "Nope. Here's what I'm planning I'll take its ankles, you finish it when it falls. You get it?"
The knight studied him. The gown that had been slack on his body now fitted like a glove, and the sword in his hand where did he get it from? She pushed it aside until the fight was over.
"What's your name?" Retnan asked.
"Meliah."
"Retnan. I'm putting my hope in you."
She nodded.
Like they were in sync. The beast sliced at Retnan. The knight intercepted the block and used the blade as a step to run up the beast's body.
The beast's attention divided. It didn't know where to look. So it stomped its feet and the ground became magma.
Meliah was already in the air, her blade locked in its sheath as she gathered her mana for a one shot. She couldn't help now.
His legs sank into it. It burned. 'Argh.' Scalding against hot magma. He gritted his teeth and kept running. His wished body had high endurance but not supernatural. He still felt the excruciating burns. But the pain made him move faster. The beast's focus had shifted to Meliah, thinking it had taken care of Retnan.
Retnan dashed past. With one sweep, his blade bit deep into the beast's leg, slicing it through. The beast staggered. He didn't stop ran to the second leg and sliced it again. The body began to topple.
Retnan ran clear as the beast crashed to the ground, shaking the entire temple structure. He dropped to the floor, his feet charred and smoking. He held himself from crying out.
"It's up to you now… Meliah."
Meliah readied her stance. She hung upside down from the ceiling, ice hooked around her feet to hold her in place. Her blade clicked open and her mana pressure filled the entire temple the heat vanished. Magma hissed as it turned back solid. Her blonde hair went white. Her armor encased in ice.
She drew her blade fully and raised it high.
"Glaciem-craft: Full Moon!"
A blinding light flashed. When it faded, a dark outline of a massive sphere followed. Retnan's jaw slackened. Her mana had formed a huge moon beside her. The sight was ethereal as snow began to fall.
"Die, you abomination."
The attack shot towards the beast. It tried to form its own counter but couldn't. Boom. The impact hit the beast square in the chest. It froze then burst apart in chunks of ice.
A gust of cold wind washed over Retnan where he sat. He raised his arm against it.
The howl of the wind stopped.
When he lowered his arm, he saw a deep crater in the ground. Pieces of the beast's frozen body lay scattered around it.
"That was incredible!" Retnan rejoiced.
Meliah dropped down and stood before him. Her face was stern at first but then she smiled. "Good work. You really endured that."
"Well, it was either got my legs burnt or die. At least the burns feel better now thanks to your ice."
Retnan's eyes then caught the beast's body something was happening to it. Every chunk spread around was doing the same.
"Look what's happening?" He gestured behind her.
Meliah traced his gesture to the beast. Tiny particles, like dust, flowed out of its body. But with a red glow.
She faced him. "You don't know what that is?"
Retnan shook his head.
"That's flux," she said, watching to gauge his reaction.
"Oh! The goddess told me about it. I'm guessing you can't absorb it because of the affinity mismatch it's fire-related, and yours is ice?"
"Yes."
To her, his pretense was flawless. He really looks like he doesn't know.
She studied him for a moment. 'What kind of affinity allows someone to reshape their own body? Could it be a conceptual affinity? Is that why the goddess sent him here?'
Her eyes traced his new build. "What is your"
Before she could finish, the temple began to crumble. It started from the walls, then the ceiling but the stones vanished before it hit the ground.
Meliah shot to her feet. "Oh no."
When the whole temple crumbled, they were exposed to a new landscape. A vast graveyard. Headstones, slabs, and upside-down crosses. The clouds were dark purple, swirling in the sky like living ink. The land stretched far beyond what their eyes could reach. The air itself reeked of iron. Bones lay scattered around them.
"What's happening?" Retnan asked, heart drumming against his ribs.
"It's a double dungeon. We still have to fight."
Something appeared into existence before Meliah. It was the same statue they had seen inside the temple but this time, the child in its arms was gone. It looked down at her. Tears of ink streamed down its face, its features literally carved from stone.
The mana pressure it emitted was twice as heavy as the six-horned beast they had just fought and its stats solidified the feat.
[MotherStatue (SS-Rank)]
Meliah stood tall. Unintimidated.
Retnan's fingers stilled. He couldn't get to his feet. He wanted to help Meliah she looked confident, but her hand trembled around the hilt of her blade. And the mana flowing around her wasn't as dense as before. She had spent everything on that last fight.
"How are we possibly going to fight this thing?"