The last floor of this dungeon was a plain chamber with colored tiles on the ground and an interface in the middle.

We approached it and a message popped up.

“Welcome to the last floor of the mana control dungeon.

There are four challenges to clear before fighting the final boss.

During the first challenge, challengers must channel mana into the tiles and move them one at a time until making single-colored vertical lines.

You must clear this challenge in less than 20 moves. In case of failure, you’ll get thrown out from the dungeon.”

“Let’s take a look first at all the tiles and decide what to do accordingly,” I said.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

We moved in different directions to check all tiles and their respective colors. There were 82 tiles spread over a rectangle of 9*8 and eight colors.

At first glance, the colors were spread randomly over the field, so we decided to group the same colored tiles in the same vertical line with the most number of tiles of that same color.

We didn’t want to move them carelessly, so we kept note of the tiles that we wanted to move and calculated the number of moves.

We spent several hours trying until we got the right number of moves and cleared this floor.

During the second and third challenges, the setup of the room changed to different puzzles that we had to solve using efficient mana control.

During the second challenge, we had to inject mana inside balls and destroy moving objects using those balls. The mana used inside the balls must be the right amount or else they would end up destroyed before reaching their targets. The necessary amount of mana differed from ball to ball, so it needed a lot of attention and control to get it right.

During the third challenge, we had to find missing objects by going after mana trails left in the air. The mana trails were hard to find and sometimes divided into many paths that led to nowhere. After finding the missing objects, we had to keep them maintained with mana and put them in their right places at a limited amount of time while trying to find those places using different mana trails.

After the third challenge, we were extremely exhausted physically and mentally. Kamui had no more mana left, while I still had some reserves. Luckily, we had a few mana potions left that he used to replenish half of his mana pool.

The final challenge was different from the previous puzzles. This time we had to defeat dozens of beasts immune to any type of damage except for mana attacks, and in a limited time. For only two warriors, it was an impossible task. All the beasts were B-rank. We had to kill them as fast as possible while maintaining our strengths for the final boss.

“Kamui, leave these beasts to me and keep replenishing your mana for the final boss. We will need all the powers we can muster to face him. We can’t afford to lose both of our strengths now.”

“We can finish them quickly if we join our powers.”

“But we will be without any mana left when the final boss arrives. We don’t have any more mana potions.”

“You have a point. I’m sorry and I’m counting on you here.” He retreated to the back.

“Well then, this will be a test of endurance for me,” I smirked.

The beasts spawned in a pack of seven at a time. I tested their defenses by launching a few ‘Air Slashes’, but they didn’t do much damage. Therefore, I decided to go for big attacks.

The seven beasts jumped at me with their big fangs and claws from the same direction.

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Crescent Cut.” I killed them all in one swing.

The second pack, however, was surrounding me from all directions and attacked.

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Tornado Slash.” They didn’t see this turning attack coming and cut them in halves.

I defeated the next packs with the same skills but needed more mana attacks here and there to finish them.

When the final pack spawned, I had mana enough to launch one final strike. The beasts were much stronger and resilient than the previous ones.

“I think I’ll have to use this skill if I wanted to certainly kill them.” I gritted my teeth.

I transferred some of the mana I had left to my legs to increase my speed and held my sword with both hands while cladding it with all the mana I had left.

The beasts attacked me all at the same time from different directions.

I closed my eyes to concentrate on their movements, dashed towards them, slashed each once, and moved to the other.

My movements were swift and efficient; I went for their necks and cut them. “Dragon Slash.”

When I finished my moves, the monsters’ heads were severed.

Dragon Slash was a move that used concentrated mana on the sword and quick moves to finish off the targets. It was more of a mana skill than a physical skill.

Kamui was impressed by my feat, but the system interrupted his celebration and the setup changed.

We were this time at the end of a cliff of a big mountain.

Suddenly we heard growls from the sky, and a big winged beast descended. The beast was a huge gryphon.

“I guess you’ll enjoy your time with him while I recover a little bit.” I pushed Kamui.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to show off and kill him before you could make a move.” He smirked.

“Challenge accepted.”

The gryphon flew high in the sky and attacked with his claws. Kamui parried the attack and tried to counter it, but he dodged.

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Then Kamui blocked a dive attack of the gryphon with his sword. The force of the beast pushed him off the cliff, but he held on to his wing and pulled the winged creature with him down.

The gryphon struggled and flapped its huge wings to fend off Kamui but the swordsman stabbed his sword on the back of the monster and held on to his wings to avoid falling off. The monster flew up again but kept turning around itself in order to throw Kamui from its back.

He kept holding tightly even when the winged beast tried smashing his back on the side of the cliff.

They flew higher in the sky and the monster kept rolling over itself at a tremendous speed until he created a tornado over himself and crashed on the ground near me.

The gryphon stood up and dug its huge claws on Kamui’s chest. He was furious and ready to kill his prey.

“This is my chance. Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu Ougi, Flash Slash.” I cut the gryphon on his chest and he screamed and flew back.

I pulled my teammate and gave him a potion to heal his wound.

“Are you alright? “ I asked.

“Kind off dizzy. That monster was ruthless and desperate to take me out.”

“Drink that potion and rest a bit. I’ll take care of things until you’re in a good condition.”

“Thanks, mate.”

The monster dashed at me with his big claws that I blocked and parried it with a slash at the same wound I inflicted a while ago.

He tried to fly back again, but I launched two ‘Air Slashes’ the moment he flapped his wings. I concentrated all my attacks on the same wound.

He fell back and let out a scream.

“I just have to keep him on the ground and everything will be fine,” I muttered.

As if he heard me, he dug his claws in the ground and opened its big mouth.

“Is he challenging me on the ground?” I questioned. “Well, bring it on.”

He absorbed the wind inside his mouth and fired a big windblast at me before I could make my move.

“His attacks became faster.” I transferred mana to my sword and tried to block the upcoming attack.

The force of the windblast was enough to push me to the edge of the cliff, but I held my ground.

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Crescent Cut.” I launched my attack inside the windblast and cut it in half, and the slash hit the monster on its face and cut it from the surface.

“The power dissipated with the windblast. It’s a shallow wound.” I said.

The winged beast shrugged his head and got ready to fly. “Damn, I have to stop it again before things get complicated.” I got ready to use another ‘Flash Slash’, and then a huge slash hit the beast from behind.

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Crescent Cut.” Shouted Kamui.

The beast screamed its lungs out and fell to the ground.

“You’re already back on your feet?”

“Of course I am. I can’t let you have all the fun.” He smirked. “So is he dead?”

“Of course not. He is a very strong B-rank monster. It will take more than this to take him down.”

Suddenly the earth started shaking and a wind torrent appeared around the body of the beast.

The gryphon appeared out from the torrent and he got some new additions to his body. He had another set of wings, golden claws, and an armored head. On top of that, he healed all the wounds we inflicted on him.

He turned around himself and created a wind tornado faster and stronger than the one from before. He hit the cliff and it was destroyed immediately.

We kept free-falling for a long distance. We were sure to die if we hit the ground at this rate.

“Shiryuu, do you have any safety plans?” Screamed Kamui.

“It’s risky, but we have to do it,” I replied. “I’m going to blast off what remains of the cliff and use the blast to jump and hold on the side of the mountain. Use your sword for that. I’ll rely on you for this.”

“W-Wai…”

Before he could argue, I imbedded my sword on the destroyed cliff and injected mana directly into the rocks. “Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Bull Tackle.”

The cliff was destroyed and we were blaster directly at the side of the mountain as we were falling.

Kamui was the first one to reach it and stabbed the side, but he kept sliding because of the impact. He used a lot of mana and power to hold himself and stop the sliding, then caught me with his other hand and pulled me to where he was holding me.

“That was too risky.”

“But it was a success.” I smiled.

“The danger is still lurking around us. We’re not safe yet. We are mid-air and don’t have anywhere to run if he attacks us.”

I used a ‘Dragon Head’ skill to create a hole big enough to house both of us inside the mountain. “How about now?” I smirked.

We jumped inside the hole and the gryphon followed us.

“Damn, he saw us going inside.” Cursed Kamui.

“I have another risky plan to take down that monster,” I stated.

“We have nowhere to escape, so I’m with you in whatever you want to do.”

“Well then hear me out.”

I told Kamui my plan and he agreed to do it. Afterward, the monster rammed into the hole and his head and arms managed to enter the hole and nearly grab us, but his huge body was stuck.

“Now it’s the time,” I shouted.

Both Kamui and I put our swords at our right sides, tilted our knees and upper bodies a bit, and absorbed a huge amount of mana from the environment, and transferred what we had left to our swords.

The monster kept struggling and growling while we were charging our attacks. Then he understood that he couldn’t get out if he didn’t destroy this place, so he charged a windblast from his mouth.

Before he could launch his attack. We finished our preparations.

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu Ougi, DISASTER TYPHOON.”

We swung our swords and launched thousands of mana blades in the form of a big moving tornado.

A thousand blades destroyed everything it touched and the whole hole was destroyed.

The gryphon took the attacks at point-blank range and was swept away inside the moving tornadoes.

The armor on his head was shattered and he was being cut repeatedly inside the thousand blades until he was torn apart, from flesh to bones.

After a while, the dust cloud that formed in the destroyed cave cleared out and we were unscathed.

Before we used the secret skill of the third branch, I told Kamui to gamble everything on the secret skill and kill the monster with it. If he tried to attack us, he would be stuck and that was our chance to finish him for good with our strongest attack.

He agreed to do it but thought of something that may protect us. He suggested that we make a second hole deep inside the mountain to hide in if the cave was destroyed and crumbled down on us. That way, we could raise our chances of survival.

We combined our plans and everything worked in the end.

“The dungeon was cleared.” A message popped up.

We high-fived each other and celebrated our win and got our rewards.

****

Somewhere in the world:

Inside a castle surrounded by thunderstorms, sat a mysterious figure on his throne made of bones. A big door opened behind him and Adramelech entered.

“Sir, did you call for me?” Adramelech bowed.

“You kept me waiting forever, Adramelech.” The mysterious figure stood up from his throne.

“My apologies Sir, I was filing my report to your highness.”

“I heard the news. You’ve failed to get the machine and lost to a mere kid.” He walked towards Adramelech slowly.

“I’m extremely sorry Sir. I was caught off guard and let the machine get destroyed, but I didn’t lose, even if my opponent was a Mythological Weapon user.” Adramelech started sweating.

“I don’t want to hear excuses from you. You failed your job and that’s the only fact.” The mysterious being shouted. “Get him to the torture room. I’ll be there in a moment.” He motioned to the cloaked guards near the door.