Kyle's breathing was ragged. His body was covered in sweat, his muscles screaming in exhaustion. But he refused to stop. He had to fight. There was no retreat. Not now. Not with so many watching.
"It's now or never," Kyle muttered to himself, his voice filled with both determination and desperation. He knew it was his final shot—the last ace he had up his sleeve.
With a deep breath, he let the mana surge through him, spiraling in his body like a storm trapped in a bottle. His aura flared once again, but this time, it was different—there was a sharpness to it, an almost tangible precision. Kyle's eyes glowed green, the color swirling with a strange intensity, signaling to all the hunters watching that something new had awakened inside him.
The hunters around the perimeter gasped. "He's reached the Power Flow state!" one of the top-ranked hunters shouted. The others, recognizing the significance, exchanged looks of awe and concern. This was no longer just power—it was mastery. Kyle had reached the pinnacle of his abilities, with complete and utter control over his wind-based mana. He was no longer a mere fighter; he was a force of nature.
"This... could be it," one of them murmured, clutching their weapon in anticipation.
For a fleeting moment, even the Dungeon Boss seemed surprised—just a hint of something unfamiliar flashed across its unreadable face. But only for an instant. No one else saw it. The giant beast was unfazed.
"Ready to meet your grave?" Kyle's voice cut through the air, steely and confident. Without another word, he launched himself at the Dungeon Boss, moving with such speed that his form was little more than a blur. The wind around him whistled and screamed as it compressed, forming a dense cocoon of air pressure that wrapped around him like armor.
In the blink of an eye, Kyle was in front of the Dungeon Boss. His fist, imbued with thousands of pounds of pressure and wind force, was already crashing toward the beast's face. BOOM! The punch hit the Dungeon Boss with such force that it created a massive crater beneath it, a shockwave of raw power rippling outward, sending everything within 100 meters flying. Crystals shattered, rocks cracked, and the very air vibrated with the intensity.
But as the dust cleared, the Dungeon Boss stood there, completely unmoved. Unscathed. The only sign of impact was the crater beneath its feet. Kyle staggered back, his face pale with realization. Even in this state, even after everything he had just unleashed—close combat was utterly futile.
"I need to do more." Kyle clenched his fist, his body pulsing with even more mana. He was reaching deep into his core, drawing from the very depths of his strength. His power skyrocketed, and a palpable pressure filled the cavern. The air around him began to warp and bend. Tyrone, watching from his distant perch, wiped sweat from his brow, nervously glancing at the swirling storm of energy around Kyle.
"Well, at least I'm safe over here..." Tyrone muttered, giving a nervous chuckle. "Thank my lucky stars Kyle didn't decide to seek revenge on me after all this!"
In that moment, the air around Kyle became a force of nature itself. Ten massive tornadoes, each reaching a towering height of 10 meters, materialized at his command, spinning wildly and ripping through the cavern. The wind howled, crashing against the Dungeon Boss with enough power to level entire cities.
Outside the dungeon, the viewing hunters gasped in disbelief. "How... how is he controlling that much wind?!" one of them whispered. Kyle wasn't just strong; he was an artist, weaving the elements around him like a god of destruction. But despite the magnitude of the attack, the Dungeon Boss stood there, completely indifferent.
Kyle's face twisted with frustration as he shouted,
"ARRGGHH!" With a final roar of exertion, he commanded the tornadoes to converge, the spiraling winds meeting above the Dungeon Boss with earth-shattering force.
The explosion was deafening.
The resulting shockwave obliterated everything within a 200-meter radius. The cave itself seemed to shudder and collapse under the sheer might of the attack, massive chunks of rock crumbling to dust. Even Tyrone, who had barely managed to avoid being swept away earlier, had to dive behind a boulder to shield himself from the storm.
Through the thick clouds of smoke and debris, the viewers clutched their seats, waiting for some sign of damage, any sign that Kyle's attack had worked. But as the dust began to settle, they were met with an impossibility: The Dungeon Boss was still standing, completely unharmed.
A low, menacing hum filled the air as the Dungeon Boss absorbed everything the vortex swirling above it once again, swallowing the wreckage and the wind alike. Nothing had even left a scratch.
Kyle stood frozen in place, his chest heaving, the weight of his failure beginning to settle in. But even as despair crept into his heart, he refused to give up. He wasn't ready to accept defeat. Not yet.
A final, desperate idea flashed in his mind. He could feel the wind around him, still swirling, still full of potential. With a shout, he gathered every ounce of power he had left and forced the air to condense, pulling it into a tight ball of swirling energy at his hand. The ball shrank, compressing to a near-impossible density, its light now burning so brightly it illuminated the entire cavern in a blinding green glow.
This was his last move the Ultimate Wind Sphere.
The air crackled with energy as Kyle hurled the ball toward the Dungeon Boss. Before the viewers could blink, the light exploded with an ear-piercing boom, a shockwave so intense it shook the very foundation of the dungeon.
But as the blinding green light clashed with the Dungeon Boss, everything fell silent.
The green light flared, blinding everyone watching, the explosion ringing in their ears. But just as quickly as it had started, everything was sucked back into the vortex, leaving nothing but the wreckage and a haunting, eerie silence.
The Dungeon Boss remained untouched.
The explosion's aftermath had barely settled when Kyle noticed something that sent a chill down his spine the vortex above the Dungeon Boss shifted from its usual deep blue to a bright, blood-red hue. Kyle's eyes widened in horror. "This is bad." His instincts screamed that this was the turning point, the moment where things would go from terrifying to apocalyptic.
Before he could even brace himself, the vortex released an enormous blast, the force of which was unlike anything Kyle had felt before. It was stronger than all his previous attacks combined. The ground beneath him cracked, and the air itself seemed to tear apart as the blast surged toward him.
Kyle's heart raced as he quickly surrounded himself with a wind sphere shield a last-ditch effort to withstand the oncoming destruction. The blast hit him with the force of a tsunami, pushing him back, 150 meters away from where he had been.
"Damn it!" Kyle grunted, his body feeling like it was about to collapse under the pressure. He knew then that he had only one option left he had to go all in.
With a primal roar, he rose to his feet, his body glowing a vibrant green once again. The wind around him swirled violently, creating a massive tornado at his feet. The tornado roared to life, sucking in everything in its path rocks, debris, and even the air around him. The wind screamed as it spiraled higher, and Kyle stood at the center of it, like a god of storms.
Nearby, Tyrone, who had been watching the chaos from his safe perch behind a tree, felt the immense pull of the tornado. "Oh hell no!" he yelped, clutching the tree for dear life.
"I knew it! I KNEW this kid would come for my head!" He grumbled, looking up at the swirling vortex. But in a strangely comedic moment, he also whispered to himself, "But seriously, how do I always end up in the middle of all this mess?"
At the same time, Wolfram Dreigas, the leader of the Darkface Guild, watched from his remote location with wide eyes. He could feel the weight of Kyle's power, and his expression turned serious. "This... this kid has done it. He's touched a level that even most SSS-ranked hunters could only dream of," Wolfram said in awe. "If only he had been patient, he might have had a chance to actually beat that damn Dungeon Boss."
Meanwhile, in a quiet monk shrine far away, an elderly monk meditated peacefully. His eyes snapped open as a strange energy seemed to ripple through the atmosphere. "Something has shifted," he whispered to himself, his voice calm yet filled with anticipation.
Back in the dungeon, the Dungeon Boss finally seemed to take notice of Kyle's overwhelming power. For the first time since the battle began, a faint smile appeared on its massive, monstrous face. "Interesting," the Dungeon Boss mused, almost as if it was intrigued by the storm of power that Kyle was creating.
Kyle, seeing the attention he had garnered, felt a surge of confidence. "Here it comes!" he yelled, sending the massive tornado racing toward the Dungeon Boss. From the center of the storm, three serpentine heads of pure storm and lightning coiled and whipped through the air. They hissed and crackled with raw energy, lashing out with deadly speed.
But then, something unbelievable happened. The Dungeon Boss, which had previously been almost lifeless in its movements, finally raised its hand. With a single wave, the serpentine storm was instantly dissipated into nothingness.
Tyrone, watching from the outside, couldn't help himself. He leaned back and muttered in disbelief, "Did... did he just swat that away like it was nothing? It's like the Dungeon Boss is sending Kyle back to school on how to use wind powers properly!" His voice dripped with mockery as he looked on in amusement.
As Kyle stood there, stunned, his will began to waver. He had given everything. Every ounce of energy he had left. He felt his knees give out, and he collapsed, exhausted and defeated. But as his eyes drifted upward, a horrific realization dawned on him. The Dungeon Boss wasn't done.
The beast floated above him, its tail whipping through the air as tornadoes began to form around it 30 serpentine heads this time, each one more ferocious than the last. The storm crackled with lightning, roaring toward Kyle with an unrelenting fury. Kyle froze, realizing he couldn't defend against it. His body trembled.
But then, just before the serpents could reach him, the energy around him suddenly dissipated. The tornadoes vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but the still, oppressive silence.
Tyrone, ever the opportunist, couldn't resist making one more quip.
"The Dungeon Boss is teaching him how to do it right! This is like a lesson in 'Wind Powers 101,'"
he laughed, barely able to hold back his chuckles.
However, what happened next made Kyle's eyes widen in utter disbelief.
As he looked up, still in shock, he saw something even more absurd. He had peed himself. His legs were shaking so violently from the fear and tension that he hadn't even realized.
Tyrone, zooming in on Kyle's pitiful state, did a double take. "Wait... what?" He stared at the screen in disbelief. "No way. Humanity's strongest warrior... peed himself?!"
The viewers erupted in laughter, watching Kyle's humiliation unfold in real-time.
Kyle, still in shock, barely registered the enormous wave of energy that followed. With a wave of the Dungeon Boss's hand, a force more powerful than anything Kyle had experienced blasted through the dungeon. Everything was sucked in. All the hunters, the Shadow Clan, Tyrone, and Kyle himself were pulled from the dungeon and flung back into the human world as the portal shut behind them, leaving only silence in its wake.
"You're kidding me..." Tyrone muttered as he was sucked through the air, his hands flailing helplessly. "Not even a proper goodbye?! What a disaster!"