It was perhaps a terrible stroke of luck that this battle of life-and-death occurred within the same day as the Raid Quest, having to deal with the Abyss Dragon and the general of the Reverse King back-to-back. To make matters worse, the mead in his stomach didn’t exactly bolter his focus.
Still, he stood there as the remnants of steam and the passed storm brushed against his light tufts of hair, feeling triumph flowing in his body alongside the feeling of loss.
‘Reverse King…You’ve made an enemy out of the wrong person. Throw whatever you want at me, I’ll trash your subordinates left and right–then you’re next,’ he promised.
–Amidst his thoughts, before he could even relax for a minute, he was shocked to be met with a new rumbling before witnessing a burst of fire erupt from the main source of steam in the shattered valley.
“--?”
“Raaagh…! Dammit!”
The familiar, abrasive voice was unmistakable, confirmed by the silhouette within the steam that stood there, swaying side-to-side. As the embers brushed aside, the golden-haired figure was revealed.
‘He’s still alive? He’s standing, even?!’ Jett thought.
Constantine stood there, a dozen meters across from him, though covered in bruises and cuts, bloody and beaten and clearly exhausted as he breathed heavily as blood dripped from a busted lip. All of that majestic armor was long gone, and all that was left was a half-dead, pint-sized warrior now.
“...I’m still kickin’, so ya better not be believing you won already,” Constantine groggily said.
Jett almost felt like laughing at just how comical the unbreakable spirit and body of his foe really was, though he conjured his dagger and sword into both hands before responding, “I’ll finish it now, then.”
Even if the power of [Zeus] was gone now, there was no doubt that his opponent, though more than double his own level, was straddling the line between life and death with how egregious his wounds were.
‘I was hoping that the last attack would’ve done the job…This guy is something else. I may hate his guts, but even I can admit he’s incredibly powerful. Still…I can do this. Somehow, I’m in better shape than him,’ he thought.
Still, even if the golden-haired warrior was covered in wounds, seemingly barely able to stand or hardly hold onto consciousness, there was no doubt in his mind that Constantine was dangerous all the same.
“Well, c’mon then!” Constantine shouted.
With nothing else having to be said, it was actions that spoke instead of words as Jett took the initiative, rushing forward as he swung his leaf-made blade against the air.
FOOSH
The rangeless slash carved forward, digging up the burnt soil as it howled straight towards the bloody-and-bruised general before he stomped down and swung his arm, deflecting the slash of air with a grit of his teeth.
“--Rraaagh!” Constantine let out, using his own limb to counter the sharp wind.
Though he expected a deflection of some sort, he hoped the slash would at least grant him enough time to close the distance, but he found himself on the receiving end of a radiant glare as Constantine’ eyes were overtaken by a solar glow.
“Nnngah!” Constantine yelled.
–Just then, Jett was forced to duck down and roll to the side as condensed beams of solar energy released from Constantine’ eyes, penetrating the air with a burning glare.
‘That was close…! That would’ve burned right through me!’ He thought.
It was only a brief instance of heat, though, as it seemed to be difficult for the wounded warrior to summon any of his system’s strength as he winced after unleashing the solar glare, closing his eyes and shaking his head as steam escaped his eyelids.
“Nngh…!” Constantine growled in pain.
There was no better opportunity to get close, having to strain himself as well as his body ran low on mana, yet forcing out a [Wind Burst] to close the distance, relying on his enhanced reflexes to give him the window of opportunity to strike.
FWISH
He aimed for Constantine’ neck with his dagger of frost, but the bloodied fighter proved to still possess the name swiftness and finesse as before, even with his eyes closed, as he leaned back to avoid the strike.
‘Shit…!’ Jett thought.
Before he could pass by, Constantine grabbed onto his ankle, using his momentum against him to slam him down against the barren soil harshly.
“--Yer really starting to piss me off!” Constantine angrily said.
Now that the youthful figure’s eyelids were parted again, Jett could see that Constantine’ eyes had grown bloodshot, still giving off steam from the solar emission. Even more, the accent that the general had seemed to grow more rough and without manners the more desperate he became.
Just as Constantine raised his boot to stomp down–
[Blink!]
Jett instantaneously reappeared behind Constantine, having an open opportunity to strike his foe from behind, except one problem:
“Gyak–!”
The strain of continuously pushing the limits of his mana left his muscles to cramp and blood to squeeze out from popped blood vessels in his nose, leading crimson fluid to leak out and interrupt his attack.
“You–!” Constantine spun around, going for a roundhouse kick straight to the gut.
Fortunately, Jett managed to defend by crossing both of his weapons, though it only absorbed most of the blow, leaving the aftershock to knock him back.
“Achilles…! Edith!” He yelled out.
Invoking the two familiars from [Void Inventory] as he was knocked back, he was caught in the arms of the golden-armored warrior.
“Gotcha!” Achilles assured him.
–Meanwhile, the silver-haired spellblade rushed in directly to combat Constantine, enchanting her sword with an aspect of fire as she swung it rapidly at the golden-haired man.
Constantine was forced on the backfoot with his wounded body, evading the edge of the blade but feeling its heat drawing near, and the heat of passion emitting from its wielder.
As the one that summoned her, Jett could feel it; Edith was boiling with anger, the same emotion he felt.
“...I’ll kill you! For hurting Master! For killing Gunter!” Edith shouted.
Constantine sidestepped an overhead strike, jumping back, “It’s not very maidenly to make those sorta of threats, is it?! Besides…If your “Master” listened, this all would’ve been avoided–!”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
A lesser radiance armored the knuckles of the reincarnator as he took the silver-haired girl by surprise with a burst of speed, but was intercepted by a unison of Achilles and Jett, who forced Constantine back with an offense of their own.
“Virale!” He shouted.
Though he and Achilles had missed their strike, he didn’t let up the opportunity as he summoned the elven archer into the fray, who didn’t spare a moment already pulling back the string of his bow and unleashing arrows towards Constantine.
“Nngh–!” Constantine, pushed to his limits, angrily caught one such arrow before it entered his ear.
SQUELCH
–Another arrow came, uncaught by Constantine and hitting him right in his left arm, managing to penetrate his skin but failing to go deeper than any deeper than a superficial wound. Even still, it was a sign–a sign for both Jett and those that fought alongside him: the general of the Reverse King was susceptible to their attacks.
“Tch!” Constantine clicked his tongue, ripping the arrow from the skin of his arm before shattering it in his fist.
More arrows were launched by the precise, diamond-eyed archer while Jett rushed in alongside Achilles and Edith, coming in from angles all around their foe. They closed in from all around as Constantine looked side-to-side before gritting his teeth and stomping down with a booming force.
Lifting his foot from the ground, Constantine slammed it down with thunderous force before any of their attacks could reach; with his sheer physical might alone, he created a shock wave that blew outward.
–Even if he was wounded, even if he was deprived of stamina, the unshakeable reality of it was: Constantine was still [Level 50].
“--!”
The arrows along with those who rushed in were blown backward; though Edith and Achilles caught themselves quickly, Jett wasn’t at luxury to waste spells to catch himself.
‘Go!’ He thought.
Aiming his leaf-made blade at the ground below him as he was blown back, he caused the air strike to propel directly beneath him, resetting his momentum with the close-range experience with wind as he bounced to his feet.
“Just fall already…!” Constantine shouted.
Before Jett could even get his bearings, he looked up to see the radiant figure forcibly invoking solar power once again as Constantine’ stomach housed a visible heat before it rose up his throat then—
“—!”
Like a dragon, Constantine’ shot the beam of pure, solar energy out of his mouth as a roar, swiping it across the valley as it carved against the closest mountains.
Not taking any risks, he clenched his fist to invoke [Void Inventory], opening the shadowy portals to save his familiars from the scope of the sun-empowered breath.
“Master–! No!” Edith reached out, not wanting to leave him alone in the battlefield, but alas, she was placed into the pocket realm.
There was no time to think as he had stumbled forward, falling down purposefully as he both felt and watched the unstable pillar of burning energy soar but a meter over his head. It was so close that he swore some hairs on his head were turned to ash, but there was little time to lament such inconsequential things.
‘...I need to finish this now! I’m burning out! He’s burning out! It’s a battle of who burns out first—!’ He thought.
He had already crossed the threshold of his limits, but if he failed, he’d die anyway, leading him to shoot past that limit even more–
[Blink!]
It felt as though every muscle in his body cramped the moment he activated [Blink] again, though it was an invaluable move as he vanished from the solar breath and reappeared to the left of Constantine.
“Ngh…!” He winced.
Pushing past the exhaustion plaguing his body as blood leaked from his nose further, he pushed himself even further beyond as he activated [Burst].
The split-second amplification of all of his physical ability caused his eyes to go bloodshot as he swiped his frost dagger across the side of Constantine’ body.
“--!” Constantine reacted.
Though the golden-haired warrior managed to flip away, the slash had landed, and it definitely managed to bypass his tough exterior as a bleeding and coldened gash was left on Constantine’ left side.
“Fuck…!” Constantine grunted, holding his side.
It was hard to tell by the youthful general’s contorted expression if he was wincing in pain or simply enraged by the fact he had been cut by the person he saw as far beneath him in strength, either way, he didn’t take it idly.
“Ghh!”
–Even now, it was difficult for Jett to perceive those wicked bursts of flashing speed that came unexpectedly, finding himself on the receiving end of four knuckles slamming against his cheek. It was enough force to cause him to spit blood out, though there was little doubt in Constantine’ quickly vaporizing strength by the fact his head wasn’t torn off by such a blow.
‘...I can do this! I have to finish this…now!’ He thought.
Before another blow could slam into his head, he ducked down, feeling his body screaming at him as his muscles ached and cramped as he called upon a burst of mana once again. He sucked a large breath of oxygen into his lungs in that split-second before looking straight at his foe.
“--!” Constantine’ eyes widened, seeming to realize what was coming.
[“Sonic Scream”!]
Unleashing the sound-shattering yell from his mouth as it hit Constantine point-blank, using it as his exhausted and deprived state led it to rattle him from the outside as the magnified sound wave left his throat.
Though it left Constantine stunned for a moment as he stumbled back, the effect of it wasn’t felt safely by the caster anyway as Jett coughed up blood, having his throat cut from the inside by the force.
‘...Now!’ He thought.
At his fingertips, he began coiling the electricity of a spelt that had been unknowingly altered, only realizing it at that moment: [Lesser Bolt] had evolved into [Greater Bolt]; a change that no doubt was born from temporarily accessing the authority of [Zeus].
Even just preparing the spell in that moment made his body suffer consequences as blood poured from his nose quicker, turning from a shade of red to a deep-black as his eyes strained further.
‘This is it! It’s over–!’ He thought.
–However, just before he could snap the final lightning bolt from his fingertips against the shaken warrior, “something” arrived.
FWOOOOOOOOM
A gargantuan wind arrived upon the landing of an unexpected guest to the climactic battle, pushing both Jett and Constantine off of their feet by the powerful gust.
“Nngh…!” Jett winced.
After being knocked back, he rolled across the ground without any control over his own body, landing harshly as he coughed out.
‘What the hell was that…?’ He questioned.
As he picked himself up from the ground weakly, feeling his limbs at their limit, he looked up as the dust cleared that was picked up from the winds brushing against the barren soil.
The sight before him made his stomach drink, witnessing a beast that occupied the valley with a size that made the Abyss Dragon seem like an infant in comparison:
It was a dragon that was layered in pitch-black scales that infused the nearby wind with a thick, smoky aspect, standing upon the ground and casting a shadow over most of the valley. Its scales almost seemed double-layered, as if naturally armored in darkness; abyssal spikes protruded from its intimidating body.
[BOSS | “Calamitous, Guardian of The Abyss” | Lv: 200]
‘A dragon…? That level…What is it doing here?!’ He thought.
Fortunately, the attention of the absolutely massive creature was not on him as it lowered its head, setting its cottage-sized eye upon Constantine.
“Tch,” Constantine tiredly clicked his tongue, “...I can finish this. I’m not done yet.”
It seemed like Constantine was talking to himself as he spoke directly to the dragon, since he seemed to grow more frustrated and change his words.
“Huh?! Yer saying I’m done here?! But I’m–!”
Before Constantine could say another word, he was picked up like a toy by the massive digits of the dragon, hoisted up and dropped atop its back, which no doubt was the size of a village itself.
“Hey…Wait!” Jett got up to his feet, beginning to stumble forward.
As the colossal dragon’s wings lifted, they slammed down, creating a massive shock wave of wind before it lifted off.
The residual wind blew him off of his feet, but in anger, he rolled back and caught himself, manifesting his aquatic bow from his [Void Inventory].
“I’m not done with you–! I told you I’d kill you! Don’t run!” Jett yelled out to the skies, angrily and sloppily unleashing water arrows towards the massive figure that began to take flight.
Constantine peered down from atop the dragon, though he couldn’t be seen from around the colossal figure, “...This isn’t over, Jett Levine! I’ll admit it–you won this time, but next time will be different! If it ain’t me, another general will come! You won’t escape the grips of his Majesty!”
The promise echoed from the wounded general’s lips, reaching the ears of Jett as he finally stopped shooting as the overleveled dragon flew off, each flap of its wings causing the neighboring mountains to shudder.
[BOSS: “Constantine, The Twelfth General of the Reverse King | The Erupting Star” | DEFEATED!]
[EXP: +30,000]
[Level Up!] [Level 23 -> Level 30] [1000/10000]
[ATK: 40 | DEF: 40 | MAG: 50]
[New Skill(s) Acquired: Familiar Enhancement | Weapon Enhancement | Disenchant]
[New Summon Banner(s) Available! | SPECIAL SUMMON: “Knights of The Round Table” | SPECIAL SUMMON: “Mythology: China”]
[New Item Obtained !!! | x1 [SSR] Select!]