"Congratulations are in order, Challenger, for having completed thirteen waves without moving. Because of how many resources you have used, sadly it has triggered an even greater upgrade in the Challenge system, which I did not know about. Waves 14 to 19 will be focusing on Themes, which will vary with each Wave. Do your best to not die. Our Patron is pleased with the strength both yourself and I am displaying here. Did you know most races who have Potential end up wasting it?" Clarence broadcasted through the Entry. "Oh, and everyone's been watching you in the Emergency Ward, and I am recording this for the records of humanity."
"Oh, joy. Thanks for all the information. Since I won the bet, I'm going to move and use more than just magic now..." Joriya coughed and wiped the blood from his lips. "Apparently, I might not be the 'True Protagonist' of this story, since I've damaged my body with how much mana and Ki I've pumped out."
Wave 14 - Undead Prowess
50 Zombies
50 Vampires
50 Wights
25 Abominations
25 Skeleton Mages
10 Liches
"Oh, okay, cool, let's just start out with something truly insane... I see the Challenge System either believes that I'm a much higher level than I am or it just doesn't want to play fair. Well, let's go..."
Joriya set a few spiraling balls of Ultraviolet Light spinning through the open room as he opened a pair of small portals, and charged [Light Ray] in both fists, planning to shoot them through the portals to strike the liches upon their appearance, but he frowns when they appear surrounded by the abominations, giant flesh bags that if they actually had humanoid shapes could be compared to Frankensteins. He fired the [Light Ray] and was disappointed as it merely scorched the exterior of the abominations that they struck, and the vampires that had exploded into flames gathered together, rather than inflicting any damage to the rest of the Wave.
He grabbed his longsword and channeled ki into it, the adamantium blade absorbing and changing from the plain design, morphing into a fusion of two of the most powerful blades from his childhood, the hilt and crossguard becoming like that of the Sword of Omens, while the blade expanded and flexed, altering to look like the Sword of Power. As he swung it, a wave of ki energy shot out, and he minimized the message of learning the Sword Technique [Blade Beam], which could now be used with Technique Points instead of Ki. The [Blade Beam] struck through a group of zombies and cut halfway into an abomination before it fizzled out.
With a roar, he jumped to the side, and slashed with his sword, grunting as he felt the adamantium absorbing his ki, tech, connection, and mana at a rate just below his full regeneration. There is another, more potent System chime that rang through his head, but he focused on not losing control of the channeling as he attacked, unlocking many more Sword Techniques as he dodged or parried attacks from the undead. Just before he had killed off the last of the undead, the buzzer sounded, releasing the next wave upon him without any break.
Wave 15 - Demonic Pride
50 Imps
50 Hellhounds
25 Succubi
25 Incubi
10 Beholders
5 Onis
Joriya entered into a Battle Trance as he was suddenly surrounded by over a hundred and fifty demons, with only fifty-five of them being bound to ground movement, instead of three-dimensional acrobatics. The imps immediately spread out and started launching fireballs, while the succubi and incubi started singing buffs and debuffs into existence. The Beholders floated high into the air and used various eye-beam attacks, while the Hellhounds gathered around the five elephant-sized humanoids which had weapons sized for their own usage. The onis had a spear, a claymore, a scimitar, a double-bladed axe, and finally a mace.
Joriya dodged, parried, and rebounded various attacks off his sword as he threw the daggers, each dagger taking out one or two imps depending upon how they lined up. He blinked and grinned. as it was almost as if the imps were just helium-filled balloon targets with how easily his blades carved through them. He jumped off the ground and using aerobatics and acrobatics managed to land on a succubus that got too close to the ground, his blade pierced her skull and he kicked off her, launching himself like a pinball.
The onis roared and attacked at him, their attacks not taking into account the positions of their allies, killing more of the demons than he had. When the spear-wielding oni overthrust, he landed on the spear and ran down the shaft, before lunging forward at the shoulder, throwing himself at the oni's eye and brain, drilling through with the use of [Lunge] and [Thrust]. He burst out the back of the oni's skull and landed right in the middle of the hellhounds, which he set about dodging and countering, throwing his daggers as they reappeared on his baldric.
By the time the buzzer rang, he had succeeded in whittling down the demons to only seven succubi, four incubi, two oni and three beholders, all of which were wounded.
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Wave 16 - Angelic Purity
75 Cherubs
75 Angels
25 Archangels
10 Seraphims
5 Asurans
With a flash of light signaling the arrival of the next wave, arrows pelted down on the demons, vanquishing them as the heavenly host arrived ready for battle. The cherubs looked like teenagers, while the angels were adults with two wings. The archangels had four wings, the seraphim six, while the only ground-bound units of the heavenly host were the six-armed, elephant-sized asurans who had three faces on their heads.
"You have done well, Challenger," the host spoke in unison. "We see that you are inside a Crucible of Forging for a new unique Artifact. We offer you a chance. Either fight us all and likely die, or accept the Ring of Honor and fight against our Chosen."
Joriya closed his eyes and pushed aside his frenzy as the light radiating from all of the surrounding angels boosted his healing rate. "If I manage to best your Chosen in the Ring of Honor, will you teach me the ability to call the Heavenly Host to my aid?"
"If you wish to learn to Summon the Host, you must face the Chosen while he is boosted by the Heavenly Choir. Do you accept?"
Joriya shivered as this would be a reckless chance. However, it was a chance he felt he needed to take. "Bring forth your Chosen and sing your Hymns. I acknowledge that I am not powerful enough to defeat this arm of the host in the time before the next wave."
Wave 16 - Heaven's Chosen
1 Isekai Protagonist [Tutorial Time Warp]
"Oh fuck..." Joriya groaned as a stereotypical black-haired teenage asian youth appeared in front of him. A large blue arena barrier formed out of the ground, which he entered as the angels started singing, throwing huge buffs onto their Chosen. Joriya bowed honorably to the hero. "My name is Joriya Alvinos. May I know your own?"
The teenager opened his eyes, revealing black pupils as dark as the abyss. "My name is Morisoya Nakumigi. God said I had one final battle to fight before I would be returned after having defeated the Demon Lord. Are you this final battle?"
"We are here in this Ring of Honor. Apparently, my being in a Crucbile of Forging, whatever that is, made the Host offer me the option of a single duel with you or a fight with all of them. They appeared as the sixteenth wave of twenty in my Challenge against this Dungeon."
"I see... then if you can land a blow against me, or defend against my own strike, you will be considered the Victor, is it agreed?"
"I thank you, Morisoya-san for this Honor. May your Tutorial finish well," Joriya answered as he moved into a stance with his sword that he can easily parry and counter from, while the Isekai Protagonist moved into an iejutsu stance.
"BEGIN," the seraphim in charge of the Ring of Honor declared. Morisoya vanished from where he was standing, [Evasion] warning Joriya to go into the air, which allowed Joriya to barely avoid the iejutsu strike by doing a flip, and managed to tag Morisoya on the back with the flat of his blade as he passed under him.
"VICTORY TO JORIYA! HONOR TO BOTH!" the choir announced, golden energy flowing into the blade in Joriya's hands as Morisoya bowed and the buzzer rang with the vanishing of the heavenly host and the return of the sword to pitch black. A Chime sounded, letting him know that the Heavenly Host was added to his Summoning Magic as a variable cost summoning.
Wave 17 - Canine Pack
50 Werewolves
50 Polar Werewolves
50 Lunar Werewolves
50 Solar Werewolves
10 Alpha Dire Wolves
5 Alpha Werewolves
Joriya felt his energy pools refill as the blue barrier vanished, his sword now humming with the power it contained, including the divine blessings granted so long as he succeeds in the Challenge. An illusion of a night sky with a full moon took over the ceiling as the lights faded. The sword started to absorb the energy emited by the false full-moon and gained a soft silver glow as howls sounded out all around him. The next five minutes were a storm of claws, blades, fangs, kicks, and skin-of-his-teeth dodges.
By the time the buzzer sounded, the werewolves were down to five of each type, and one of each alpha. Joriya, however, appeared as if he had been through a sandstorm, with almost no part of his epidermus not covered in blood or scratches.
Wave 18 - Mighty Morphing
100 Slimes
75 Slime Lords
75 Elemental Slimes
10 Mimics
5 Doppelgangers
"Really, now, you're just forcing me to use them against each other," Joriya puffed out as he used the wolves as shields from the attacks of the elemental slimes, as well as kicking them into the jaws of mimics, striking at cores as much as defending against the wolves or slimes. He even managed to feed a doppelganger which took on a mimicry of his own form to a slime lord to keep it busy.
Eventually, he took up a defensive postion and then activated two Sword Techniques together [Whirling Dirvish] and [Blade Beam], triggering the unlock of [Concussion Wave], which blew all the remaining slimes away, slamming them into the walls and floor, their cores going flying and shattering. After quickly dispatching the chests and remaining doppelgangers, the buzzer rang, giving him thirty seconds to catch his breath.
Wave 19 - Arachnophobia
100 Giant Spider
50 Arachnes
50 Lightbinder Spiders
50 Frostborn Spiders
25 Pyrebringer Spiders
5 Spider Queens (one of each race)
1 Arachne Queen
"OH FUCK NO!" [Dragon Breath], [Dragon Breath], [Glaciel Burst], [Glacial Burst]. "WHY!? WHY!? BURN IT DOWN! PURGE IT WITH FIRE! OH SHIT! SPIDERS THAT ARE IMMUNE TO FIRE!? WHY GOD WHY!? [BLACK HOLE]!"
Joriya drove his sword into the ground, shuddering as he rapidly emptied out his mana and ki on the spiders, he grabbed onto his sword and used it as well as the last of his mana to create a [Localized Gravity] zone beneath his feet to keep him from getting sucked into the black hole he summoned to purge the most hated creatures of the universe from before him. The buzzer rang as he knelt gripping his sword and panting softly.