Chapter 86: The Mightiest Champion
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“Nobody has ever pushed me this far! I’ll have to end you, no matter what."
[The Final Boss of the Trial Dungeon: [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)] has been temporarily freed from his stone prison and transcended into his second form: {Divine Six-Winged Celestial Angel Spirit}!]
[All of his Offensive Stats have increased by +200%, his Speed Stats have increased by +100%, and his Defensive Stats have decreased by -90%!]
So by breaking his stone body, he is actually "freed"! He doesn’t have a flesh body, but he’s completely made out of what I assume is his own soul! Is this why his defenses drop so much, but everything else becomes even higher?
“You’ve surprised me more than I thought through this battle."
FLASH!
In a split second, he arrived right behind me, his sword made of light quickly dividing into several more swords.
“Because of this, I won’t hold back. I’ll show you all my strength! I’ll show you why I am the King of the Angels, Solomon!”
His face didn’t even have expressions anymore, shining brightly like a star. The ten blades of light he conjured swiftly flew towards my body. I moved almost by instinct thanks to my transformation, intercepting at least five with Gram and another with my dagger, only for the other four to hit my armor directly, exploding upon contact.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Ungh…!”
The power of the explosions sent my body flying away like a ragdoll. If it wasn’t for all the buffs I had and my Holy Item Set lowering the damage I take from Angelic-type foes, I would have probably died! I felt my body weakening severely, as if the explosions carried something more than that.
The divine energy was coursing through my body upon contact, infecting my insides and trying to destroy me. My Mana and Ki were leaking out rapidly.
I don’t think I have more than a minute before all of it is emptied.
“I’ve already seen through you; you’re not one of us; you’re something much worse! A human!” The king roared. “However… You’re strong! What’s wrong?! Show me what you’ve got, human champion!"
The king flew directly towards me, this time without trying to surprise me with an attack on my back. His swords danced with his movements as I desperately intercepted his blows while trying to break through and hurt him, even if a little bit!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“{Sunshine Blade}!”
Unleashing my strongest skill against him, I quickly unleashed the power of the Sunshine Blade once more, as Gram glowed with mighty divine light and unleashed a powerful slashing attack directly toward the King’s chest! There’s no way he’ll take that one so easily with his current defenses.
CLASH!
The impact left a huge scar on his chest. However, the scar instantly healed, and his aura of light seemed to grow stronger.
“Hahaha… Did you think the element I am made of would somehow hurt me?”
[The [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)] has absorbed your powerful attack and recovered health, mana, and divine energy as a result!]
[Additionally, all his stats have increased by a further +5%!]
[While on his {Divine Six-Winged Celestial Angel Spirit} Form, Solomon will absorb any Light, Holy Light, Fire, and Divine Elemental Attacks, healing his wounds, mana, divine energy, and also temporarily increasing his Stats!]
He absorbed my attacks?!
I had imagined something like this could be possible, but I didn’t want to believe it. If he’s really made of such divine light, then I guess it is obvious he would be immune to it now.
Dammit! What do I even use now?! Can my Frost Dagger work? My Thanatos Scythe might do the trick, but if I use it again, my soul might get completely eaten this time!
Solomon didn’t even let me think; his body was swiftly moving towards me with tremendous speed, and his eyes began to shine brightly!
“I’ll turn you into a beautiful stone doll and crush you into smithereens! Hahahaha!”
FLAAASH!
“Dammit!”
I quickly jumped to the side, bringing out my mirror from my inventory and quickly putting it in front of me!
[You have used [Gabriella’s Golden Mirror (A Rank)] to reflect the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed]!]
[The Magic Power of the Celestial Eyes of Greed rushes back to its owner, hitting his eyes with the equal force of magic power!]
[Uses Left: 2/5]
BOOOMMM!!
Solomon fell for it once more, his eyes beginning to bleed out some bluish-colored liquid as he screamed in agony.
“AARGHH…! T-THAT DAMNED MIRROR…”
[Due to having reflected the attack back into his eyes, the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed] Skill cannot be used for the next 20 seconds.]
[Because of taking direct reflected damage into his Soul Eyes, King Solomon's stats have temporarily decreased by -30%!]
“Take this!”
I quickly tried to buy time, running away from his range of attacks while firing pink- and gold-colored beams from my fingers, part of my [Super Beam of Love (D Rank Privilege)], a rather cringe name, but I didn’t have any other option for strong long-ranged attacks, as these calculated my Charm Stat for damage.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His beams of light and celestial swords constantly intercepted my beams as I ran around, swiftly utilizing my Eyes of Truth to seek some sort of elemental weakness I could abuse.
[The [Eyes of Truth] have been activated!]
[You have detected the Elemental Weakness of King Solomon!]
[As an Angel, King Solomon’s greatest weakness is all his opposites, the unholy. Demonic, Darkness, and Shadow Elements deal extra damage and may lower his stats if you successfully hit a weak spot on his Soul.]
Specializing in light and fire elements is coming to bite my tail now! I never thought I would be fighting angels, to begin with.
I’m out of buffs, I don’t have any more buffing potions, and my [Cosmic Transcendent] Special Transformation cannot be used if I don’t have 100 Cosmic Energy accumulated.
Sepa is sleeping, Gram’s Durability is already in the 2k’s, and my daggers aren’t any better. My shield is breaking. And worse of all, I don’t really have any kind of Shadow or Demonic Power to… Wait a second.
I do!
It's Gram!
“You’re wasting your time, girl!”
Solomon surprised me with a barrage of attacks as he moved swiftly towards me, tanking the beams I fired and reflecting them using his swords and beams of light. His celestials’ swords danced and circled around my body as I ran away, constantly attempting to impale my body!
“Ungh! GRAM! Can you go back to your Demonic Sword Form?!” I asked desperately, evading attacks and intercepting others with him.
[“I know why you want that, but it is impossible by now! That demonic power has been completely vanquished from within me!”]
“Really?!”
[“Well… if there could be some sort of catalyst, a material containing enough demonic power, maybe it could somehow awaken that power again."]
Gram clearly seemed to not want that to happen, but it wasn’t as if we had any other options anymore. I had to simply create opportunities with whatever I had at hand… and thankfully, I loved hoarding items inside my Inventory.
“I am getting bored of this chasing game!” Solomon roared furiously, suddenly gathering almost all his Divine Power into his hands. With such powers, he created a huge sphere of light, looking as if he were holding a star with his hands. “Perish. {Celestial Nova}!!!”
FLASH!
A blinding, destructive light covered the entire temple. It engulfed me and quickly began lowering my health. I couldn’t fight against it, but with whatever strength I had left, I borrowed two items from my inventory and quickly used them.
“It is a pity that I couldn’t see your body turned into stone... But your roasted body might just be enough!” Solomon laughed. “Now- Huh?!”
However, I was still somehow alive. My entire body was now covered in completely black armor, overflowing with a dark, demonic power.
[You have equipped [King of Wickedness Cursed Demon Armor (S Rank)]!]
[The power of the Armor’s [Wicked Demonic Armor] and [Angelic Enmity] Abilities has been automatically activated after equipping this item.]
[All Stats have increased by +100% while fighting Angelic or Holy-type beings.]
[Because you’re not a Demon, 1% of your HP will be drained with every second of wearing this armor!]
[Your senses are slowly beginning to go berserk. Because you’re not a Demon, prolonged usage of this Armor might cause {Madness}!]
“A Demonic Armor?!” Solomon spit saliva with his words, filled with utter disbelief. “How did a human like you get your hands on such a thing?!”
My mind was getting slightly foggy with each passing second, and my HP was also being devoured nonstop because I wasn’t a Demon, to begin with.
But I couldn’t care less at this point!
“You said I was a human champion.” I laughed. “Does that not answer your question?”
I raised a large red jewel I took out, and as I quickly rubbed it over Gram, dark and demonic energy flowed out of it endlessly, infecting the sword.
[The Demonic Powers of [Leviathan’s Embodiment Archdemon Core] has infected the [Divine Dragon Slaying Heroic Sword: Gram] into the [Wicked Demon Sword of Destruction: Gram]!]
[“G-Guuuaaargh! D-Dammit! M-My body is… it burns! ARGH!”]
“I’m sorry, Gram! Hang in there!” I roared, as his entire appearance quickly became demonic and monstrous in nature, the beautiful blue jewel on its handle became a red, demonic eye glaring at me.
[“EAT! I WILL EAT EVERYTHING! DESTROY EVERYTHING! KILL! I’LL KILL YOU, HUMAN!”]
The sword’s darkness surged from within, wrapping around my body to the armor I was wearing. My HP started being drained even faster.
I had to finish this off as quickly as I could!
“SOLOMON!!!”
I roared with all my fury, leaping towards Solomon and pointing my sword at him. I imbued a big chunk of my HP into it, which allowed it to activate its Demonic Powers.
“{Annihilation Blade}!!!”
SLAAASH!
“D-DAMMIT!”
Solomon looked completely afraid out of the blue, putting all his magic powers into motion as dozens of Celestial Swords were created one after another, trying to fight back against my attack. However, I had near-endless Demonic Power with this core I was holding in my free hand anyway. I let it almost devour my body, but it didn’t matter.
As long as I can get to kill this bastard!
“Y-YOU WON’T WIN AGAINST ME!”
Solomon roared with fury; his chest shone brightly as a tremendous beam of angelic power hit me directly.
RUMBLE!
Somehow, I resisted the tremendous beam with Gram’s demonic powers, which slowly attempted to devour the light itself.
“{RISE}!”
With a loud scream, I summoned all the stones and crystalized souls of the fallen angel statues I had accumulated in my inventory. A dark and deadly power flowed into all of their hearts, suddenly shaping them into spectral beings in the shape of monstrous, horrid angels!
[The Effects of the [Ruler of the Dead (S)] Skill has taken effect!]
[The Crystalized Souls of the Petrified Angels have accepted your offering of Health and Mana!]
[You have raised several [Fallen Angels (A+ Rank)]!]
“SOLOMON!”
“YOU WICKED KING!”
“WE’LL TAKE YOU DOWN!”
“NO MATTER WHAT!!!”
The damned souls of those Solomon turned into statues roared with utter fury, attacking him all at once! Their phantasmal bodies seemed to ignore his radiance, surrounding him.
“W-What is THIS?!”
Solomon was left perplexed as he saw dozens of angels surrounding him, grabbing his limbs and biting his soul, weakening him while trying to drag him down to the floor!
“PERISH!”
“DIE!”
“HAVE A DOG’S DEATH!”
“YOU WICKED KING!”
“Let go of me, you dogs! You’re all long dead!” Solomon screamed, but it was futile. With all the souls of the damned dragging him down and weakening him, I finally found an opening!
Gram swiftly pierced his chest as he was distracted trying to move away all the Fallen Angels, tearing them down into pieces one after another with his swords.
CRASH!
When Solomon realized the sword pierced his chest and went right through his crystalized heart core, it was too late. His eyes desperately started shining as he attempted to petrify me and take me down with himself!
“I-I won’t die…! WITHOUT TAKING YOU WITH ME…!”
“UGH!”
I summoned the mirror right at that moment, as it swiftly reflected his eye lasers once more, hitting his face!
“DAMN YOU! TAINTED SOUL!”
BOOOMMM!!!
A huge explosion mixing celestial energy and demonic energy quickly covered everything as the entire temple started crumbling apart. The ceiling is beginning to fall over us.
“U-Unnggh… D-Damn you…”
Solomon was still alive, barely. He was already dying, without any sort of energy left; his soul was dissipating away; his eyes were bleeding; and his heart was shattered into pieces.
“S-Store…”
I stored my armor and Gram inside my inventory, falling to my knees. My transformation finished while I barely had like 20 Ki and Mana.
“Hahhh… Y-You were one tough bastard.” I looked at him.
“You… tainted soul… Filled with filth, yet also divine light…” He continued talking as if he were going insane. “Monster…”
“You’re calling me a monster?” I sighed. “This is what I’ve become so I can protect those I care for.”
“Hahahahh… Y-You… don’t know anything…” He laughed. “No matter how hard you try... You will never win. The Constellations are invincible… Your world, no matter what… is doomed to the same fate as ours.”
“I’ve seen the end of this story. And let me tell you, they’re not invincible.” I said with a smile.
Solomon glanced at me in disbelief, his face suddenly shaping a smirk.
“You’re… the most insane human I’ve ever met. Maybe…” He muttered, coughing. “Dying against your strength isn't so bad…”
FLASH!
His soul slowly dissipated into particles of light, and I suddenly felt surrounded by the presence of many people. I looked back, finding hundreds of angels smiling back at me, their bare souls.
“Thank you for… helping us avenge our families and our own souls.”
“This world is long lost…”
“Yet we’re happy we could find some closure.”
“Thank you, human."
The souls of the angels slowly faded away one after another as they flew into the blue, desolate skies. I noticed that they left something behind—a few white feathers and also a white jewel.
[You have stored [Grateful Angel’s Feather (A+ Rank)] x10 and [Celestial Angelic Soul Jewel (A+++ Rank)] x1]
[Both item's Quality ranks have increased by one!]
And lastly, Solomon’s dropped items... Or, well, what he left behind. His shattered heart and his sword, Oblivion.
[You have stored [Solomon, Celestial King of Greed’s Shattered Heart Fragments (S+ Rank)] x5 and [Divine Celestial Sword: Oblivion (S Rank)]!]
“Ugh…” I quickly took out a Panacea from my Inventory, drinking it completely before I finally saw a Dungeon Trial Completion notification in front of me.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Class Change Trial!]
[Due to your amazing merits in this Trial Dungeon, you’ve been selected to receive the strongest available Class!]
[Your Class has changed to…]
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