Just like before, we stepped in the cavernous room, the blue torches lining the walls burning with an eerie light. I saw the same red torch burning atop the stone pedestal in the center of the room.
"Alright Celine, I'll have you in the mid-range this time, while Tessa supports us in the back. I'll take the front and distract Lumiro. Hopefully I won't need to summon any other specters besides Levius," I instructed, my eyes locked on the fiery torch.
"You're not going to solo this one?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is this boss fight difficult for you?"
"N-no, there's a hidden quest Celine and I are going to complete," I replied, conscious of the fact that that was how others saw me now. "It restricts us to using the required swords and non-damaging Skills."
[System alert: Hidden quest added.]
[Quest: Defeat the Celestial Twin Snakes only having a Moonsnake or Sunsnake weapon equipped.]
[Requirements: Equipped Weapon temporarily reset to original state. No damaging Skills allowed.]
[Reward: Counterpart Weapon | Weapon Skill]
[Time Remaining: 00:03:45]
"Oh!" Celine exclaimed, implying that the same system message popped up for her too. "I see it, Luquier."
"Nice," I grinned, patting her on the shoulder. "Let's go kick some snake ass."
The dungeon rumbled, and as we got into position, two gigantic snakes slithered into view, one sparkling silver and the other fiery gold. Sevira and Lumiro.
"Remember," I told Celine, my eyes locked on the snakes, "no damaging Skills and no other weapons. Save your energy for the second phase."
Celine nodded, moving into position behind me as Tessa remained near the entrance doors, her form crackling with lightning and wind. She seemed a little confused, but the confidence Celine and I displayed reassured her.
[Name: Moonsnake Goddess Sevira | Level: 3027]
[Health: 26,000,000 | Strength: 13,000,000]
[Speed: 13,500,000 | Magic: 14,550,000]
[Description: One half of the Divine Celestial Serpent Twins. Cannot be slain as long as her twin lives.]
[Name: Sunsnake God Lumiro | Level: 3027]
[Health: 26,000,000 | Strength: 15,000,500]
[Speed: 12,990,000 | Magic: 15,650,000]
[Description: One half of the Divine Celestial Serpent Twins. Cannot be harmed as long as his twin lives.]
I smiled softly, glad that the stats were more or less the same with a million point difference. I assumed their second phase would be around the same level as the last time as well. I saw the twin snakes widen their eyes in surprise at the weapons in our hands.
"How despicable," Sevira hissed, her silvery scales glinting in the dim light. "You dare to use weapons made from our kin."
"How could you?" Lumiro roared, his golden body pulsing with anger. "But we shall not fall to such foul tactics!"
I casually spent 100,000 Risk points to summon Levius. The 30th floor boss cracked a smile at me.
"Ah, Immortal. I take it we are finally having our chat-"
"Er... sorry, but could you do one thing for me real quick?" I interrupted Levius, who looked slightly annoyed at the interruption. "Could you, uh, summon your three clones and have them fight those two?" I gestured at Sevira and Lumiro, who were staring at us in confusion and slight fear.
Levius blinked as he turned to the Celestial Serpents, then back to me. "Again? You know, I'm not just a puppet for your amusement, Immortal. Even if I enjoy battling against strong opponents, I expect a bit more respect."
"N-no, yeah, sorry," I stuttered, feeling the weight of the sass from Levius and the judgment from Celine and Tessa. "How about this: right after we defeat them, we'll have a proper conversation?"
Levius sighed dramatically, the sound echoing through the chamber. "Fine," he said with a flourish of his hand. "But I expect nothing less than an epic battle in return."
"Epic battle- I thought you wanted to actually talk?" I muttered under my breath, watching as Levius and his clones clashed with the Celestial Serpents alongside my clone. Celine took everything in stride, providing supporting buffs while Tessa safely used her storm manipulating Skills to hinder and annoy the twin serpents as much as possible.
To quicken the process, I casted a Rainfall empowered by Holy Element, further increasing the party's Speed stat. My doppelganger mimicked my actions, attacking with the same precision and skill as I did. Sevira and Lumiro hissed and roared, struggling to keep up with our swift movements.
Despite our prior knowledge, I could tell our progress was certainly a lot slower than back when we fought alongside Castor, Gretchen, and Eliwood. I considered bringing out another specter to help. Skalyt? She'd be a pretty powerful addition to our group. Or, now that I thought about it, I had other specters at my disposal. Lazarus, the Grudge, Lumiro, and Sevira. Not to mention Muriel, but the thought of summoning a human's specter didn't feel right.
The battle grew intense as the minutes ticked by. Levius and his clones fought with a fierce passion, their movements a dance of death that was both mesmerizing and terrifying. The room was a symphony of clanging steel and hissing serpents. Celine and Tessa supported from the middle and back, their combined efforts keeping the Celestial Serpents on their toes.
Meanwhile, I wove my sword strikes in between Levius's attacks, chipping away at the Sunsnake's Health using my Link achievement. My clone doubled our Speed stats with a Rainfall of his own, essentially making us impossible to be hit by the Celestial Twins.
Eventually, Lumiro roared in frustration as his Health dwindled down to a sliver. Upon noticing her twin's predicament, Sevira let loose her Petrifying shriek. Thankfully, having told them in advance, Celine and Tessa easily avoided it with their agility.
As the twins regrouped, a silver and golden light enveloped the both of them, signaling the second phase. The two serpents grew slimmer, but their power grew larger. The air was heavy with anticipation as we watched the transformation.
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The lights faded, and in their place stood Sevira and Lumiro, both in their humanoid forms once again. I smirked slightly, fingering my Ring of Collected Souls. Adding 50,000 points to Risk, I then used it to summon the Grudge of the Fallen's specter for the first time.
"Arise," I quoted a great piece of media I had read as the massive red flesh boss formed from the blue haze my ring emitted. The boss room was pretty spacious, but the Grudge specter easily took up a significant chunk of it with its monstrous size.
The Grudge took note of me first, its red eyes glowing with recognition. It had been a while since I had seen its grotesque form, but the same burning hatred was a familiar radiance. This time, however, it wasn't aimed at me or my allies. Perhaps it was just angry and hateful in general?
"Y-you..." It rumbled, its voice echoing through the chamber, "You who dared to conquer me!"
"Technically, your master gave me the abilities and items to do so, so I'd say it's more of transference of ownership," I quipped back, not bothered by the monstrous specter's anger. "But that's all water under the bridge now. You're with me," I ordered the Grudge, pointing at the Celestial Serpents. "Go fight them."
The Grudge seemed to contemplate my command for a moment before letting out a deafening roar and charging at the serpents. Sevira and Lumiro looked at each other, then at the Grudge, and then back at us, their expressions a mix of shock and disbelief. They hadn't expected a turn of events like this.
With fleshy tendrils and Evil-attributed beams of death, the Grudge of the Fallen barreled into the Celestial Serpents. The sheer power behind each hit was astonishing, pushing the serpents back despite their divine might. Sevira and Lumiro had to reassess the situation, their eyes narrowing as they watched the Grudge in action.
"J-jeez, Luquier... I heard you could summon the dead, but this is absolutely insane," Tessa whispered, her eyes wide as she took in the horrific form of the Grudge. "Not just the 30th floor boss, but the boss from the dungeon we cleared ages ago?"
Levius and his clones popped up next to me from the waters of the Flooded Kingdom they had casted. Each of the four specters had a frown in their faces.
"So, you had a sentient army at your disposal this whole time? And yet you continued to use me to distract your opponents?" Levius said, his frown deepening. "I am feeling rather undervalued."
"Er, sorry, Levius, that's not what I intended for you at all," I felt weird apologizing to a game boss, especially one that I had a history with. "But, I choose you because you're extremely strong, useful, and reliable."
Levius's frown eased a bit, and he nodded. "Fine, I accept your apology, but remember, I expect an epic battle when this is all done," he said, before joining the battle along with his clones. I could only watch after him, still taken aback that I had to apologize to a specter.
Shaking off the weirdness, my clone and I focused our efforts on whittling down Lumiro's Health, eventually closing in for the kill. The Sunsnake God was visibly strained, his fiery eyes flickering with fear as he faced the combined might of Levius, his clones, and the Grudge of the Fallen.
"Brother!" Sevira called out in desperation as I brought down the Silver Serpent for the final blow. The blade sliced through his golden scales, and Lumiro's form began to disintegrate into a swirl of light and shadow.
"Celine, now's your chance! Sevira can be killed now!" I called out over the din of the battle, my eyes never leaving the Moonsnake Goddess. She had watched in horror as Lumiro fell, her silver humanoid form quivering with rage and despair.
As Celine charged at Sevira covering the Golden Serpent in flames, I dismissed the Grudge and ordered Levius to switch to support so that there would be no chance of us stealing the kill from her. She also had the hidden quest after all.
The room grew eerily quiet as Sevira looked at her dying brother's light dissipate into nothingness. She turned her gaze upon us, and the sadness in her eyes was visible even as Celine brought down her Golden Serpent upon the Moonsnake.
----------------------------------------
[Unique Weapon Skill: Dawn & Dusk (100/100)]
[Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
[Requirements: Must have Golden Serpent & Silver Serpent equipped | Must be in the presence of other counterpart.]
[Dawn: Produces an aura that renders user & all chosen targets immune for 1 minute. Unable to attack or deal damage while active.]
[Dusk: Unleashes an aura returning all damage taken while under Dawn's effects. For 1 minute, user is vulnerable to 2x damage.]
Back in the simulation room, I studied the new Weapon Skill I had earned from slaying the Celestial Twins along with the two swords. For some weird reason, the system glitched or something, as Celine was able to get her own pair of swords while I retained mine. I wasn't sure how it worked, but it was fine by me, since it meant that Celine wouldn't have to go through the dungeon again with the restrictions.
Aside from that, the wording of the skill was interesting to me. The second portion of the requirements suggested that I didn't have to wield both swords in order to activate the skill, which meant I could equip either blade to Celine or someone else and still maintain the link to both swords.
I also noted that Weapon Skill didn't correlate to my level, which meant that I had no way of restoring the usage. Well, if I was a normal Player, anyway. I could simply use my Pendant of Offerings' ability to restore the usage, even though I didn't particularly need the Weapon Skill.
Finally, after clearing the dungeon, I only received two level ups, which was fine, since it more than made up for the Risk points I used earlier.
"That was... quite something," Tessa murmured as she and Celine walked over to me. The two of them were visibly shaken, and understandably so.
While they had the appearance of serpentine humans, the three of us couldn't deny the sibling relationship of Sevira and Lumiro. I wasn't sure about Tessa, but I knew Celine was rather troubled by Sevira's pain. It was one thing to experience that type of emotion through a virtual platform, but experiencing it firsthand in the real world was jarring. I think Celine took it a lot harder considering her relationship with her sister, and to an extent, so did I.
Having played a trial of the virtual predecessor, I never realized how human the NPCs were in the game, but with Levius, Lucinda... pretty much all the powerful NPCs, they had their own personalities and emotions, which was something I was definitely not prepared for. It was blurring the lines of fiction and reality for me, and I felt a bit conflicted in my role. On one hand, it was something I've always fantasized about, becoming a god-like video game character myself. On the other hand, the NPCs didn't seem any different from Players, intelligent and with emotions of their own. It was a little confusing, to say the least.
"So? Did you guys get whatever it was you needed?" Tessa asked, her eyes flicking to the two new weapons in both of our hands.
"I did, at least," I responded nonchalantly, slipping the swords into my Inventory and stretching.
"What about you, Celine?" Tessa looked to the Phoenix Saint, who was still clutching the Golden Serpent tightly, as if it was the last piece of her sanity.
Celine took a deep breath before speaking, "I... I did as well," she murmured, though her eyes remained distant. "But I'm not sure if I can use this weapon again."
Tessa flicked her gaze to me, a hint of concern in her expression. "I'll leave first. Luquier, would you like to have lunch with me?"
My stomach growled as I nodded, silently reassuring Tessa I'd be out soon. As she left, I turned back to Celine.
"I understand that they were monsters... virtual creatures made flesh. But still, it felt so human, so... wrong," Celine whispered, her grip on the Golden Serpent tightening. "Honestly, I've never quite killed an opponent so human-like. I thought it'd be.... relatively easy, seeing as you aren't as hesitant about it."
I made a face. "It's not that it's easy for me too, it's just that I look at it differently," I began, trying to explain without sounding cold. "They're just... part of the game, you know? If we don't kill them, we'll be killed instead. The difference is, they're always existing in some part of the system. We only get one life."
"Technically, you've been through several, have you not?" Celine replied with a faint smile. "But I get what you mean. I myself have resurrected a few times."
It didn't take a genius for one to understand that it was more than just the eerie similarities the Celestial Twins shared with humans. Their sibling dynamic was a reminder of Celine and I's own relationships with our kin. She probably started reflecting on her own relationship with Ophelia.
"Hey, we can process that later," I said, tilting my head towards the exit. "Come on, you hungry?"
[System alert: Floor 39 has been cleared. Floor 40 has been opened.]
[All Players, prepare for the World Raid...]
I stared at the message window in surprise. World Raid? Was this a new mechanic being introduced? Oddly enough, I felt Sephera's presence go quiet.
Celine's eyes also widened as she received the same alert, meeting my gaze with apprehension. Whatever this was, there was a good chance that it was something big.
****
[Updating…]
[Name: Luquier Vaunt | Level: 3026]
[Title: Infinite Immortal (S)]
[Health: 21.1+ | Strength: 21.1+]
[Speed: 21.1+ | Magic: 21.1+]
[Risk: 100,000,000 | Stat Points: 527,363,456] +200,000,010
[Experience: 56%]
[Weapon Skills]
[Dawn & Dusk (100/100)]