The lich had another surprise ready for her.

The grimoire behind him lit up, and the skeleton started convulsing, something appearing inside its chest.

Lorine tried to attack either of them, but two exact same barriers protected both the lich, and the giant skeleton, who quickly began gaining a fleshy armor.

With furrowed brows, Lorine stared at the enemies before she accelerated her mana to the brink of its capability.

In her right hand, composed of countless magical circles, a long shaft with a sharpened blade at the end appeared. The magical, ethereal spear she held moved the mana around it, almost influencing it, all while the giant finished the abominable transformation.

Despite its gigantic size, the arm coming at her from above was deadly fast. If not for her heightened reflexes, Lorine would long have turned into a paste. Shattering the marble floor, the hand sweeped, crushing through the ground while going after the small witch.

Running through the enormous throne room with everything she had, she grasped the spear tightly, swiftly turning around to face the incoming, fleshy palm wanting to smash her.

The blue energy found in everything reverberated throughout the weapon, filled with it to the very brink. Using her lower body, the witch thrust the spear and a blue, concentrated ball of mana gathered at its very tip, instantly hitting the red streaks of muscle.

As soon as the forces met, a loud shockwave collapsed the area around them. With the marble under her feet crumbling apart, Lorine still held her balance, battling in a bout of brawn against the gigantic flesh abomination.

However, finally, the concentrated mana pierced through, and the girl hacked into a palm from which vibrant blood started pouring out.

Grabbing onto the spear’s handle harsher, she exerted the mana from her body. All in an instant, Lorine swung the spear upwards, cutting through the hand.

Despite her best struggles, it felt like nothing of importance in the very next moment. As though the monster was solely designed to keep on attacking without feeling any sort of pain, it smashed Lorine with its palm, making her fly through the room like a ball, crashing against the hard walls and completely shattering the mana shield on her body.

The vision in her eyes started to falter, the world around her spinning slightly. Touching her head, Lorine felt a warm liquid stick to her fingers. Still, she couldn’t give up. Staring at the fleshy monster that was standing, her sight was also filled with black dots becoming larger and larger.

With a gnash of her teeth, Lorine tried her best to stand up as fast as possible. Although she eventually succeeded, it was still a poor execution, hence why she needed to give even more to dodge the four black flames threatening to eat her existence.

She felt it, the powerless, ruptured muscles in her legs. It must have been during the strike from the hand, but she stopped the thoughts, wasting more unnecessary mana to move even a bit away from the fires.

Just as she was about to dodge them, however, they changed their trajectories. Unable to move so abruptly, the girl was going to be subjected to a world of pain when the fires directly hit her body.

The fires instantly spread before exploding, and she could only set up a barrier around her skin to mitigate as much of the damage to it.

Thrown to the side from the explosion, Lorine slid across the cold, hard floor, only stopping when her body hit a large column supporting the throne room.

She succeeded. Even though it felt like she was going to evaporate, the barriers helped greatly. Only the robes under the worldly veil had been destroyed, revealing her skin. As much as she dreaded it, the fire actually wasn’t as destructive.

Though, she had more problems to worry about. She stood up, supporting herself with the spear and staring at the giant running towards her.

With a shaky, almost awkward smile, she moved her mana, feeling a strong connection to it. Grasping onto the spear tightly, Lorine closed her eyes, small, bright circles appearing on the irises once she opened them.

A heightened mana sense spread around, almost reaching every corner of the expansive room. Right before her body, a red fist was about to splatter her against the wall, yet, it stopped abruptly, stuck in time.

An ecstatic, natural smile spread on the witch’s girl. For the first time in her life, she felt truly alive.

‘Is this how those bitches always feel?’

A profane, almost blasphemous for her standards thought appeared in her head, but she simply couldn’t help it.

With a single thought, all of the mana she had lost before was replenished, while countless magic circles engraved themselves into her muscles, repairing all of them and even temporarily enhancing them.

All of the intricate tattoos on her exposed skin lit up from their dark embrace, glowing to the melody of mana her show performed.

The veins inside her sang as the magic circles around her spear gathered. Rather than a spear, the accumulation of spells and circles made it look like a lance.

A simple, light thrust escaped her body in the timeless space, going right through the giant’s body, reaping apart the insides, all the way to the shoulder.

Although she may have lost that amazing grasp of mana, her eyes and body still glowed, and she wasn’t nearly done with her attacks.

With the time returning back to normal, it was mana’s turn to become hazy. Blue clusters formed around the room as Lorine sucked all of the control surrounding it, her core hurting from over-exerting itself, but Lorine continued doing what was needed.

The giant staggered back from the force exerted on its body, while the nine black flames began to falter, eventually dispersing, not being able to keep up the integrity of the spell inside the space near Lorine.

Ten thrusts were released by the girl, faster than the eye could see, all targeting the fleshy abomination.

Once each of the thrust touched the red muscles of the monster, Slashes of energy began running rampant against the body of the flesh giant, quickly swallowed by thousands of sharp blades that left nothing of it.

The fires inside the lich’s eyes wavered while seeing the phenomenon, quickly preparing sixteen black flames, which he was about to release, however, they instantly fell apart, all because of a girl already standing beneath his body.

Leaving dust behind her, large boulders of marble flew away as Lorine’s leg exploded with power.

Reaching the boss in a manner of an eye blink, she was already wielding the sharp spear, leaving a straight, blue line in the air as it descended down to the ground.

Before the lich could properly assess the situation, the light in his eyes died down, the skeletal body and robes cut perfectly into two halves.

Seeing a portal appear in the middle of the room, she was about to go back for a certain guy, however, her body opposed it with extreme resistance. For the second time already, she couldn’t properly feel her muscles, but this time, it felt as though the effect was squared.

‘Just a little longer, Conall.’

Losing consciousness, Lorine tried to hold herself together with the spear, but it also disappeared, and she hit the marble floor, rapidly regenerating through her giantess’ body.

…

His soul was about to perish into oblivion, forgotten through the dungeon and replaced by a mimic, yet, a certain mark suddenly glowed on his spirit’s forehead, enlightening the entire cave while blinding the reflection inside his body.

Like a spring in a critical point, his soul came back inside the body, throwing out the crystal, humanoid creature of his resemblance.

Flying through the cave at speeds invisible to normal eyes, the ancient curse hit the crystal walls, leaving an imprint of its body before falling down into the black substance flowing out quicker than ever.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Meanwhile, with solemn eyes, Conall stared at the giant crystal before him, aura spreading throughout his whole body.

Walking up to it slowly, he released an air-piercing kick, crumbling the mirror into millions of pieces.

“NOOOOOO!!!”

At the back of the cave, a thunderous scream resounded as the monster stared at what Conall was doing.

“What is this?! How are you not dead!?”

He asked, but Conall didn’t speak at all. Only after starting his walk towards the curse did his mouth move.

“I told you I'm here to kill you. Stand up.”

Fury filled the crystal Conall while he grit his teeth. He was done in by a mere human, and a Grade C at that. And once he felt the effects his body acquired because of fully leaving the mirror, he burst out maniacally.

“What the fuck is this body!?”

There was no mana core whatsoever while the aura itself was seemingly stuck in place, barely possible to be moved around. Even with his extensive experience over his long life, he had never witnessed anything like this.

Scratching his head, Conall couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.

“Is it that bad?”

“YOU! You were acting earlier. Because of you-”

“What? Because of me? You wanted to come out from the beginning, Kreon, no?”

Sitting on his knees, the king stared at the rough, crystal hands of his before slowly raising his head, glaring at the shining eyes of the human.

With a deplorable hatred, he scrunched his nose.

“Who are you?”

“Have we not introduced ourselves yet? Sorry, I happen to often forget.”

“I really must have killed your father, huh?”

“Eh, not really, I just hate calamity hunters. Though, I also pity how you fell to some curse.”

“I don’t really feel that.”

Standing up while clearing up the blood on the hems of his crystal lips, the king gestured for something with his right hand.

Seeing that, Conall unsheathed fang, its shiny exterior bouncing the countless lights off of it with a black contrast. Pointing it, he saw Kreon taking out a long sword with crystals intertwined in it.

“Can I take it afterwards?”

With a snort, the king replied.

“She doesn’t like when a peasant holds it.”

Crossing their swords, they didn’t wait long. Sparks came off the blades with their weapons meeting together, a loud clang spreading throughout the cave.

Their power was the same. From level, all the way to experience points and individual stats, everything was as exact as it could be.

Pushing with all of his strength, Conall tried to gain an upper hand in the clash of their weapons, but nonetheless, the crystal version in front of him did the very same thing.

Both exerting equal forces, they drew to a halt almost instantly.

“Where’s that confidence of yours gone to?”

With a grin, Kreon asked before lightly moving his feet and lower body. As though the boy faced an uncontrollable beast, he felt his body fly backward, unable to hold off the explosive force the king had released.

Catching himself on the ground, with his feet and a free hand, Conall quickly stood up, but his reflection was already before him.

As much as Conall’s constitution and soul restricted Kreon, the way they used everything was fundamentally different. From the method of using different muscles to hidden movement techniques, as well as raw experience, the king was superior in every aspect.

A master like him had no trouble adapting, however, he still had to condone the boy before him.

“Are you some masochist? My body hurts each time it moves.”

He didn’t even want to mention the usage of aura. Despite the small amounts he could muster up, it felt as though the body was being subjected to molten lava.

In spite of that, he poured it all over his sword, as one deadly move was more than enough to end this meager battle.

Yet, to his surprise, Conall was able to stop such a deathly advance coming toward his face.

Even more aura started flowing around his body and sword as he stopped the sword tainted with crystals. The air around them took on a hit as their auras battled each other, no one able to overcome the other.

With a fed-up look, Kreon suddenly kicked him away, though it only made him falter back a step before composing a sturdy stance.

Tens of small crystals turned to powder as the king pushed forward, slashing his sword at the boy, who was also already swinging.

Once again, the blades met before sliding off of each other, their owners repeating actions while trying to kill the enemy with heavy intent.

Clangs and sounds of metals striking together reverberated throughout the space while countless images played out the same, monotonous scenario of one unable to overwhelm the other.

After a few minutes, a gnash of teeth could be heard as Kreon looked frustrated. Feeling pain all over his body while still not being able to swiftly kill Conall, it was starting to slowly enrage him.

He was supposed to have the upper hand here, he had been practicing the art for centuries in the past, incomparable to the runt before him, who just started swinging his blade.

For who knew which time, Kreon swung his sword diagonally, yet the movement of the actual slash was completely different, deliberately unable to hold its form. The chaotic slash held countless sharp fragments parting off from the straight line in which he attacked.

Despite his best efforts of fooling the enemy, Conall somehow found the veiled attack and deflected the sword away.

In the encompassing fury, their speed increased relentlessly. Kreon swung, leaving no openings to be found, while the boy took on the strikes mercilessly.

However, the lightning fast bout suddenly halted while the king looked speechless, having been tossed away after fang struck him in the collarbone.

A small crack spread out while heavy pain took him aback, panting with stiff breaths. The king rolled through the crystals until he stopped on his bottom, looking at the boy with shock.

Leisurely, Conall stared at him, with the blade gently touching the ground. Kreon couldn’t help but laugh at himself seeing this.

“You’re quite good, kid. Congratulations, you’ve gained my approval. Your sword style is quite unique, let me tell you that.”

He couldn’t remember how many times he thought the attack was going to hit, just to be either defended or averted away.

“Should I be happy about that?”

Conall asked, but there was no direct answer. Instead, the king gathered himself up, something glowing inside his abdomen.

He was supposed to have no cores, just like the boy, but it wasn’t something that could be influenced, as the aura core he held was the very dungeon core itself.

The light blue sphere inside the king glowed brightly and a large amount of aura covered his body. Earlier looking like a mist of some sorts, now, it looked like a proper, dense energy flowing through him, no shaky movement could be found in it either.

At the same time, looking at the careless smile on the king’s face, it seemed as though no pain could be felt despite the overbearing spirit.

Letting out a deep breath, Conall grabbed the sword with both hands, moving his whole upper body to perform the next swing.

Once again, their auras clashed when Kreon moved so fast it looked like he teleported from the place. Of course, he didn’t. His speed was simply so high he left a blurry smudge in the air.

With pure, brute force, he slashed at the boy, finally breaking his stance apart as he flew backwards at great speeds. Feeling the harsh crystals hit against his head and body, Conall gnashed his teeth, however, he still prepared another sideways slash of his own.

Still rolling on the ground, he filled fang with aura. Quickly getting a tight grip with his knees, the red-haired knight swung to the side at the incoming, crystal sword.

A small shockwave brushed against the crystals before dying down, two blades stuck against each other.

With a smirk on his crystal face, Kreon used the dungeon core’s power, overpowering the one he praised earlier.

Slowly bending the arms holding up the weapon, Conall’s defense had been pierced through, sending him flying yet again.

Tearing off the skin from his unprotected parts, he felt the crystals dig through him, leaving warm blood on top of them.

Finally, he could only stop when the wall filled with sharp crystals obstructed him. The uniform was only a menial presence of defense, and it couldn’t help but tear away when his back hit the cave.

Conall grit his teeth when the crystals penetrated his skin and muscles, but he couldn’t focus on that. His breath struggled to hold up under the agonal pain he felt, yet, the body moved on its own, trying harder than ever.

As much as he didn’t want to do it, it was needed. They were going to recover anyway, though it would be a temporary power loss after the fight.

After the last time he opened up the pathway, it shriveled up like a prune, aura almost not able to flow there at all. Nonetheless, he steeled his mind and spirit, forcing a section of his pathways to open up.

At the same time, Kreon was already running to finish him off when he noticed the pressure increase, a weird feeling surrounding him.

Using up even more of the almost limitless energy inside the dungeon core, Kreon lunged forward quicker yet.

Something eerie happened once he attacked, imagining slicing through the red head.

A blade quickly intercepted, blocking off his try. No matter how many tries, Conall never failed to surprise him. For the first time in a long while, he had finally felt something while fighting.

A desire to win the deathly duel. All it had ever been against the countless parties was a one-sided onslaught. The hundred thousand of Grade Bs amounted to nothing compared to this Grade C boy.

Letting a satisfied grin take over his expression, Kreon voiced his thoughts.

“Try to keep up, alright?”

The dungeon core inside his body spun quicker than ever, pouring out more and more energy. While his speed remained at the maximum, the king’s might increased.