206 – Fighting faster than sound

Tendrils of darkness rose to meet my slow descent, wiggling and twisting all the way up.

“Form itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is form,” I continued reciting in infernal where I left off.

The shadowy tentacles quivered and dispersed like smoke blown away by wind.

Clumps of shadow moved deeper in the churning darkness, gathering below me and stirring.

Pillars supporting the platforms and bridges jutted out of the darkness like trees in tall grass, making for a bizarre sight.

A group of around thirty Chamberlain of Curses jumped out of the shadows toward me, ethereal limbs made of shadows outstretched as if wanting to catch me.

I swung my spear down at them, activating [Heavenly Punishment of the Conquering Golden Suns].

Bright gold and hot Solar-natured E'er gathered around my spear and took shape, projecting a five hundred meter long and fifty meter wide spear of solid sunlight that followed the arc of my weapon for half a second, hitting five Chamberlains of Curses.

“The same is true for sensation, perception, cognition, and emotion,” I chanted, watching as the monsters ceased to exist.

The rest of the group got dangerously close.

I spun mid-air to dodge the closest one and swung my spear at it.

The one hundred tonne weapon, now buffed with [Heavenly Rebuke of the Conquering Golden Suns], bisected the creature in half with a bright flash of light.

Dark smoke poured out of the dead monster like blood from a wound, but got snuffed out the moment it came in contact with my glow.

With that as proof that my weapon could kill them, I let [Third Heavenly Sun's Rightful Place] drop me down. “Hear, wise disciple: all aspects of reality are empty of characteristics,” I recited while falling.

More Chamberlains of Curses lunged at me from the depths of the darkness.

I dodged, using my wings as shields in case they managed to touch me.

The churning darkness at the bottom started thinning out the closer I got, going from a sea of black shadows at first to a thin gray fog.

My Glow, it seemed, dispelled magical darkness.

“They are not born or destroyed, nor are they stained or pure, nor do they wax or wane,” I kept it going, keeping the shadow tendrils from showing up again.

A particularly thick Chamberlain of Curses leaped to the pillar leading to the bridge I just jumped from and lunged at me from the side.

I let it close the distance, curious to see how my armor would react with the [Heavenly Rebuke of the Conquering Golden Suns] buff active.

Shadowy arms coiled around me like tendrils of smoke, and the creature crashed into me with the force of a boulder.

My armor responded instantly, flaring with a hot golden light. The radiant energy seared into the monster's smoky body, the burning shadow escaping as wisps of black vapor trailing off.

The impact hurled us both deeper into the dungeon, far past the jagged platforms and dangly bridges, sending us hurtling straight to the bottom.

I reached out with one hand, gripping the shadowy entity's form like a damp towel. Twisting midair, I jabbed my spear into it with precise, rapid strikes. Each stab unleashed a golden pulse, further eroding its shadowy body.

As the ground rushed up to meet us, I spun the Chamberlain beneath me, using its body as a landing pillow.

We slammed into the dungeon floor with an earth-shaking crash, my spear driving into the stone like a nail through wood.

The creature squirmed beneath me, pinned and unable to escape.

A tide of shadowy forms surged from every direction—hundreds of Chamberlains of Curses. They swarmed toward me with a mindless frenzy, limbs clawing and stretching, desperate to overwhelm.

“Therefore, wise disciple: in emptiness there is no volition, cognition, emotion, sensation, nor perception,” I intoned, quickly looking around me, then ripped my spear free from the impaled Chamberlain, its body unraveling into wisps of smoke before dying.

The first thirty Chamberlain of Curses reached me.

With a sweeping motion, I unleashed a storm of attacks, activating [Pierce], [Crush], [Shielded Thrust], and [Coiling Attacks]. My weapon danced with golden energy, cutting through the oncoming horde. Each strike sent bursts of radiant power tearing through their shadowy forms, shattering limbs and obliterating torsos in flashes of brilliant light.

Meanwhile, my [Heavenly Weapons of the Conquering Golden Suns] rotated thirty meters away, following a clean orbit around me.

Unlike the Deathbound Interlopers from the floor above, these Chamberlains of Curses weren’t bound by a single unifying curse. Their entire bodies were constructed of layers upon layers of curses, each woven tightly into their dark masses.

I stepped forward. A single step, but the ground cracked beneath my heel.

My spear arced out in a crescent slash, activating [Coiling Attacks] to sweep through the nearest dozen enemies.

They burst apart in golden flashes, their fragmented forms clawing at the air before vanishing.

Another step.

Shadowy limbs lashed out from every direction, forming jagged, claw-like shapes that sought to impale and drag me down.

My armor flashed like a strobing beacon as attacks bounced off its radiant surface.

Sparks and golden flares erupted as curses tried—and failed—to penetrate its Celestial buff.

I retaliated. My spear thrust forward with [Pierce], punching through seven Chamberlains in a single strike, their bodies detonating in smoky and brilliant bursts as the skill penetrated them fourteen times each, sending their shadowy bodies scattering.

“No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind!!” I activated [Heavenly Order of the Conquering Golden Suns].

A five hundred meter wide wave of solid, burning gold light projected in all directions, igniting the Chamberlains of Curses.

Most died instantly, their vaporous masses dissolving.

Two survived, their bodies shining with a gold light that burned them from the inside.

I raised a hand and activated [Heavenly Weapons of the Conquering Golden Suns]'s alternative use, allowing the conjured weapons to home into the Sunburnt pair.

Ten golden spears sprung forth from behind me, flying at the pair at six thousand meters per second and impaling them to the ground instantly.

That killed them.

More Chamberlains of Curses showed up, their shadowy bodies effectively blocking my Glow.

“No sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or thoughts,” I continued, leaping at the oncoming horde. Landing amidst the carnage, I activated [Dragonclaw]. My spear blurred, moving faster than Mortal eyes could track, each strike carrying the weight of a mountain as I spun in place ten times in an instant.

The Chamberlains of Curses shattered like glass sculptures, their cursed forms unspooling into broken shadows under the relentless onslaught.

Arms reached for my neck.

I grabbed one mid-swing, crushing it in my fist as my spear sliced through a dozen more, then cut the one I grabbed into ribbons with ten swipes.

My weapon left an arc of gold behind with each swipe and thrust, probably cutting the remaining shadow around me or the magical silence itself.

I planted my feet, taking a stance and tightly grabbing my spear with both hands, then activated [Endless Rain].

Before acquiring my fourth class, the skill was not exactly faster than me swiping and thrusting normally, delivering eighty attacks per second.

Now, with increased stats and massively buffed attributes, the skill reached two hundred and thirty attacks per second.

Each thrust and swipe moved at six times the speed of sound, striking with the one hundred tonnes heavy spear and the skill's own added power.

“No ignorance or end of it, nor all that comes of ignorance. No withering, no death, no end of them,” I chanted, not taking a single breath or break since I started reciting.

The monsters hit by [Endless Rain] were decimated, each hit obliterating their shadowy bodies into crumbs of darkness.

I moved my wings and used [Heavenly Weapons of the Conquering Golden Suns] to protect my back and sides.

“Nor is there pain, cause of pain, or end of pain. No noble path to lead from pain. Not even wisdom to attain. Attainment, too, is emptiness,” I recited, killing hundreds each second.

The Chamberlains of Curses, unlike the Deathbound Interlopers, did not swarm me in absurd numbers. The shadowy entities far away in the distance did not approach unless I got closer.

So, I deactivated [Endless Rain] and activated [First Campaign of Eternal Conquest, the Heavenly Suns Descend] as soon as the Third Campaign finished recharging, aiming at a considerably numerous group of shadow monsters a good distance away.

Solar Energy gathered around me and propelled me forward in a clean arc, avoiding the few Chamberlains of Curses around me and in the way.

Upon clashing with the unfortunate monster that was the targer, the one kilometer long wave got released in all directions, hitting the thousands of Chamberlains of Curses around me in a bright flash of hot golden light.

“Because nothing is attained, the Enlightened One, through reliance on the profound path of transcendent wisdom, in unimpeded in his mind,” I carried on with speaking infernal, looking at the many pillars dotting the dungeon floor's bottom.

An idea popped into my mind and I lined myself up with six pillars in front of me.

I activated [Second Campaign of Eternal Conquest: The Heavenly Suns Seize], attracting the ones who survived with gravitational force.

Their bodies got flung toward me like puppets whose strings had been cut.

I thrust forward and activated [Heavenly Punishment of the Conquering Golden Suns], projecting a five kilometer long flare of hot and bright solid spear of light.

The skill vaporized the six pillars along with the many Chamberlains of Curses in that general direction.

The platforms came crushing down now that they lost their support, bringing with them the thousands of other monsters on them.

“Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and leaves hindranceful delusions far behind. Ultimately, Enlightenment,” I recited, spreading my arms and wings, dodging the boulders falling down.

Debris, boulders, rocks, and pebbles rained down, falling on top of monsters.

None died, the creatures pretty resilient at that high of a level.

“All Enlightened Ones of past, present, and future attain absolute perfect enlightenment through reliance on the profound path of transcendent wisdom,” I continued, kicking and punching Chamberlains of Curses to see if any would get crushed despite them surviving so far.

“Therefore, the profound path of transcendent wisdom should be recognized as the ultimate instrument of thought,” I chanted while moving away from the falling platform above me.

While I was strong and resilient, it'd be pretty silly to test it and end up dying to a big rock falling down.

The platform hit the ground, braking the ground, itself, and surprisingly, not having any effect on the thin gray fog the churning darkness became with my presence.

Wails immediately struck my ears, stopping ten meters around me.

“Recite it like this: Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Completely Beyond, Enlightenment, So Be It!” I chanted the last sentence of the mantra and gripped my spear tighter, floating up in the air to face the thousands of monsters that fell down.