Chapter 264: Blade Soul Kazan
Orario Central Plaza.
At this moment, adventurers from every Familia, along with teachers from the Academy District, were rushing back and forth. Leon Vardenburg, clad in silver-white armor and carrying a massive two-handed greatsword on his back, was among them.
By sheer coincidence, today was the day the Academy had scheduled to pull all its floor monitors back to the surface. It was the worst possible timing. The floor collapse had thrown all of Orario into a frenzy. Teachers, students, and major Familias were all converging on the Dungeon.
The goddess Idun ran up to Leon, her face pale with anxiety. "Leon, please, you have to go save those children!"
Leon nodded. "We have a confirmed list of the students trapped. It's the Third and Seventh Squads from Baldr's class. The Seventh Squad is an elite team, so they should be relatively safe. The main concern is the Third Squad."
Leon offered a slight smile. "Please don't worry about that. The members of the Third Squad are strong, too. We just need to focus on what we must do now."
Knowing that Liam Moon was with the Third Squad, he knew the difficulty of this rescue mission had just dropped significantly. At the very least, the risk of casualties would be kept to an absolute minimum.
"I'm departing!"
Leon turned and took a step toward the Dungeon. In that single step, his figure blurred into a white afterimage. His speed was almost peerless; not even Allen Fromel of the former Freya Familia could compare.
Dungeon, 16th Floor.
Compared to the 15th floor, the monsters here were much stronger. Nina was praying inwardly, Please, don't let any more monsters spawn.
But it was as if the Dungeon was mocking her. In response to the girl's prayer, it simply summoned more monsters. A terrifying roar echoed from behind the party.
It was a Minotaur. And there were three of them.
A horde of monsters already surrounded Liam and his team. They were in a stalemate, and now three Minotaurs had just joined the fray. Their situation had devolved into a true death trap.
The three Minotaurs roared, charging toward them with astonishing speed.
Liam assessed the situation. Without blowing his cover completely, he decided to try a new skill: Blade Soul Kazan.
A crimson light flashed from his pale arm and spread outward. In that instant, Liam's eyes turned blood-red.
The next moment, Liam's consciousness arrived in an unknown spiritual world. It was a crimson hellscape, a mountain of corpses in a sea of blood, littered with countless severed limbs. This was a colossal meat grinder, the ground covered in arrows and broken blades.
An armored man, wrapped in chains and holding a sword and an axe, turned toward the suddenly-appeared black-haired young man, radiating hostility. Then, the armored man's gaze fixed on Liam's pale Demon Hand.
"Who are you!"
Liam opened his eyes, finding himself in a strange, unfamiliar place. He was in his true form. He knew the man in the distance.
It was the Oni God of Destruction, Blade Soul Kazan.
This is my first time using the skill, and it sent me directly into Kazan's spiritual world? Liam was genuinely surprised.
"My name is Liam Moon," Liam said. "I hope we can be friends."
"Friends? Beat me first, then we'll talk!"
An overwhelming aura of blood qi erupted. Kazan roared, swinging his greatsword down on Liam. Liam closed the distance, snatching two longswords from the ground, and immediately unleashed the Secret Sword Art.
Kazan's own unique sword art burst forth, a mixture of blood qi and spiritual energy coating his weapon as he slashed at Liam. Liam simultaneously unleashed his own sword intent, completely immune to the killing aura Kazan was emitting.
Kazan was strong. Ridiculously strong. Even as Liam, combining his Sword Soul template with his Level 6 Falna, he was still being steadily pushed back.
"Boom!"
Kazan slammed his greatsword into the ground. The earth trembled violently, and endless blood qi erupted from below, rushing toward Liam. Liam leaped into the air, slashing down with both swords at the surging tide of blood.
Illusion Sword Dance!
A phantom flurry of high-speed slashes spread out instantly. From the air, Liam rained down strikes on Kazan's position. His figure blurred into countless afterimages, and a net of sword qi collided with the blood energy rising from the ground.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion roared. Liam was sent flying again, a sharp pain radiating from his chest. He had clearly lost that exchange.
Liam moved at high speed through the air. The blood energy erupting from the ground had formed into dozens of blood-qi tempests, creating a web in the air to intercept him.
Is this Earth-Splitting Slash? Or perhaps a more advanced application of it? Kazan, as the Oni God of Destruction, was living up to his name.
Liam landed, and his Selfless Sword Aura expanded outwards. A pale blue-white ring of energy pulsed from his body like a ripple, washing over the thousands of weapons littering the battlefield.
"It works!"
Liam's eyes lit up. He threw his arms open wide.
"Extreme Ghost Sword Art: Tempest Style!"
Countless blades tore free from the ground, swirling into the air around him.
Kazan stared at Liam, a smirk playing on his lips. "Interesting. What's your relationship with Sodros?"
"No relationship!"
A massive blood-qi sword suddenly materialized behind Kazan. Countless orbs of red light flew from Kazan's body and into the phantom blade. In the blink of an eye, the blood sword transformed from a one-handed blade into a colossal greatsword.
Hundreds of Liam's controlled blades formed a perimeter, and Liam moved within it like a bolt of lightning, attacking Kazan from all angles. Kazan, wielding his sword and axe, constantly defended against Liam's assault. Within the storm of blades, Liam was just a streak of white light, but none of his attacks could land a single hit.
Kazan perfectly blocked every strike. Then, he released his axe, grabbed the blood greatsword from his back, and slammed it into the ground.
At the same time, the entire world seemed to shatter. The ground shook, and blood energy erupted into the sky like a volcano. Liam gathered all his remaining blades in front of him and launched them in a final, ultimate upward slash against Kazan.
Their two attacks collided. A shocking explosion and pulse wave followed.
Liam's figure was completely engulfed by the tide of blood energy. Wracked with intense pain, he fell back to the ground.
He had lost.
This was the first time he had been truly defeated. Kazan looked down at him.
"Am I dead?" Liam asked.
"This is my spiritual world... I assume," Kazan replied.
"No wonder. My true strength is far beyond this. But here, I can only exert power equal to yours."
This confused Liam. "Then how did I lose?"
"Have you not noticed the massive gap in our understanding of that power?"
It was true. Compared to Kazan, his swordsmanship and his control over his power were worlds apart.
"Go back," Kazan said. "It just so happens I'd like to see your world through your eyes."
Liam returned from the spiritual world. So much time had passed in that internal battle, but in the real world, only an instant had gone by.
Just as the three Minotaurs were about to reach them, Liam unleashed a crimson aura of blood qi and killing intent. A red magic circle appeared at the feet of Liam, Nina, and the rest of the squad. In the center of the circle, the armored, ghostly figure of Kazan materialized.
Nina and the others immediately felt their strength and mental power skyrocket. The enemies that had seemed so powerful just a moment ago now looked laughably weak. Reche also discovered that not only was she stronger, but the power of her magic had been amplified as well.
Faced with that insane killing intent, the three Minotaurs froze mid-charge. Their bodies went limp, and they began to topple over. Liam stepped forward and cut them down. All three Minotaurs dissipated into smoke.
With that, the irregularity in the Dungeon stopped, as if it had jammed. Even the Dungeon's malice had its limits. Spawning three Minotaurs on the 17th floor seemed to be as much as it could manage.
"So strong!" Reche and the others were in awe of Liam's display. Within the bounds of the buffing magic circle, Iglin and the others easily slaughtered the remaining monsters.
So, after fighting him in the mental world, I can use his skill properly.
Liam glanced at his Sword Soul template. On the skill page, next to his swordsmanship tab, a new "Oni God" skill tab had appeared. It was completely dark, and he couldn't see any other skills inside it.
Blade Soul Kazan. It increased his and his designated targets' Strength and Intelligence. And the version Liam had mastered wasn't just a simple buff; he could mentally control the amplification range and the circle's position. He could either anchor it to himself or fix it to a specific area. This skill was incredibly useful.
Iglin and the others ran over, their faces flushed with excitement. "Gieg, what in the world was that magic? It's too strong! Seriously! My strength is just... overflowing!"
"And my mental energy was boosted too!" Nina added, looking at Liam with excitement.
Reche just nodded, saying nothing.
"I leveled up recently," Liam lied, "and just developed a new application for my magic."
"No way! How is your magic talent so strong?"
Normally, students at the Academy could only learn three spells. Developing more required massive amounts of study. It was a process based on developing one's own potential, aided by expensive magical equipment, potions, and knowledge, all to shape a new spell. The goal was generally to make a single spell capable of producing two or more effects.
"I call this magic 'Oni Power,'" Liam explained. "Its first function is to buff myself and be released as a ranged attack. Its second function is to summon a specific magic circle that buffs both me and my allies."
"Incredible!"
Nina and the others were practically glowing with excitement. They were trapped, unable to return to the surface, and forced to venture into an increasingly dangerous Dungeon. Discovering that their partner had just powered up could only make them happy. Because Liam was stronger, their own safety was that much more guaranteed.
Liam took out the maps for the 16th and 17th floors and studied them with the team. Then, they moved out again. Since the pitfalls spawned in random locations, they had to follow the regular path. Eventually, Liam found one, and the team climbed down its walls. After confirming their position relative to the 17th floor, they leaped down, landing on the floor below.
Before long, they arrived at the main artery of the 17th floor: the Great Open Road. The passage was wide, and the ceiling was incredibly high. They moved quickly. Even if the floor boss hadn't respawned, it was clear Nina and the others wanted nothing to do with the place. Added to that was Liam's warning that the Dungeon could become irregular at any moment. Anything could happen.
"Gieg, can we speed it up a bit?"
It wasn't just Liam; Nina had also noticed something unusual. It was too quiet. While this was the floor boss's room, it shouldn't be this quiet. Normally, there would at least be some small fry.
"Run. And keep the noise to a minimum!"
Liam's order made the whole squad break into a sprint. Iglin and the others had clearly sensed something was wrong. No matter how you spun it, the Dungeon was one of the world's three great uncharted regions. No one had ever cleared it. No one knew how many twists and turns it held.
Quiet. It was too quiet. Even the sound of pebbles kicked up by their running feet seemed to be swallowed by the silence. In this eerie atmosphere, the team could only run faster, praying in their hearts that the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen.
Finally, they reached the central area of the 17th floor: the Wall of Sighs. The surrounding walls and ceiling were made of twisted rock, but the floor and the walls directly beside them were perfectly smooth. It was like a cavern made of crystal, the walls as smooth as mirrors.
And inside the mirror-like walls, a tall shadow was slowly appearing.
It was the floor boss, Goliath.
"Don't stop! Run!" Liam urged.
The others kept running, but they couldn't help but look back at the figure of Goliath. It was such a shocking sight, a giant sealed in ice, and they all prayed it would remain asleep.
But the wall began to crack.
Like breaking glass, the sharp, crisp sound echoed from behind them. That sound became a funeral dirge, pounding on each of their hearts. The crystal wall shattered, a symphony of death, a roar of destruction.
A massive figure broke free from its crystal prison and let out a deafening roar.