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Chapter 56. A Final Stand
🕑 Added 2025-04-09 15:53:12 +0000 UTCDevila spun through the air like a mannequin. The only difference was her very human screeching. Rafe was there before she could land though, grabbing her out of the sky and helping her down gently.
She was looking at him, but she did not see him.
Shit!
Just like that, Rafe had lost the last member of his team. She was not dead. She was in shock as bad as, if not worse than Quinsia’s.
And thinking of Quinsia, he turned to where he'd last seen her only to see the beast hovering over her. It was staring in his direction, waiting for him to acknowledge it. It showed its teeth in another smirk as it lifted a paw lazily.
The beast crushed Quinsia's head like a watermelon.
Rafe stared at the sight for a long moment, a bit numb. He didn't understand the beast's actions. He didn't understand them one bit. What was the damn beast even trying to accomplish with its damn stunt?
The two met eyes over the bodies of two women. Rafe realised a moment later that the stars were not shooting anymore. No. Forget shooting. They had disappeared all together. The sky was clear again and the peak was dark.
“No! Rafael, we cannot fight a calamity level beast. They are enemies for the guardians. Not us. They are beyond us. No! Rafael, we cannot fight a calamity level beast…” Rafe looked at Devila as she chanted the words like a prayer.
She had tried. She had tried so hard. From the ill fated climb to the mad dash towards freedom, no one could say Devila had not given it her whole. In the end it hadn't been meant to be. But she was still alive. If Rafe killed the beast he could lead her out.
Only…he had tried. He had tried so hard too. He wasn't sure it was possible. He looked down at Devila, debated using the elixir he'd received after the first floor boss fight. He started to pat his clothes down, but then a bout of clarity struck Devila's face.
“Rafe…?” she called, using his shortened name for the first time. “Ha. I… failed, didn't I?”
“No. No you did not. You did your best, Devi, you—”
“This was your floor, wasn't it? You were the real one from the start,” Devila said, not exactly a question by the time she finished.
“Go then,” she continued after Rafe hesitated. “You are already the last one standing. Finish your trial. I… I will see you again, I'm sure… I-I will see you again.”
Rafe instead lifted his head to stare at the beast that was patiently standing over Quinsia's body. Devila followed his line of sight and she gasped lightly.
“The beast stopped its attacks, huh? You…you are not a simple man, Rafael Kingsley.”
She lifted a hand and touched his cheek. “Do not let it taunt you into attacking without regard for your safety. You don't have to kill it to win. You just have to make it to the safe room before it does. Do not try to seek revenge for the likes of us. We are but shadows, Rafael Kingsley. Please, survive. Win.”
And then Rafe was airborne and he couldn't see Devila under him anymore. He landed down gently almost ten strides away from where he'd been before. She had levitated him a full ten feet away in a second and put him down with such gentleness.
That control she had, the ability to manipulate mana of such quantities. It was insane. Also, where else could she have gotten that much mana that fast. He looked over and saw her attacking the beast. The beast which was frantically trying to search him out, ignoring her attack. The beast roared as the whip this time landed with an impact like thunder that could not be ignored.
As he watched her body start to wither and die, Rafe turned away and started to run. She burnt the pillar of her life force. And how bright it burned as hundreds of years of life were expended in seconds. Her body withered and thinned and soon she was skeleton thin and not long after her bones were visible.
She was going to ignite her soul, from what Rafe could see. A terrible explosion of Essence. She was going to ignite her soul and burn the beast or try to take it with her. The beast also seemed to realise just out lasting the girl wouldn't be enough to grant it victory. A star materialised out of nowhere inside Devila's veil.
And in horror, Rafe watched it - using his racial ability - expand and get ready to explode. Just like the star he'd had to run away from at the beginning of the battle. Devila died before she could unleash her terrible final card.
The beast blinked with its void black eyes, studying the place where Devila had been. She had managed to buy Rafe thirty full seconds which was impressive but nothing compared to his own contribution. He'd held the beast back a full minute before, and he hadn't even had to use his life force or anything.
He saw the moment the beast found his running body. It tilted its head in confusion for a second, but then a realisation had its eyes widening.
“Shit! It's onto me,” Rafe said but he couldn't prevent himself from grinning a little as he kept his Dash skill and his movement technique active.
He would not let Devila's sacrifice be in vain. Winning the floor wasn't important. Even if he died, he was sure according to this floor's theme he would just be given a score based on how much he had achieved, and he had achieved a lot. He had reached the final challenge of the floor. Only four others had gotten this particular floor and reached as far as him. Now he would reach further than even those.
This was not a life and death struggle for him. But Devila had sacrificed her life for this. Rafe had to win it. He had to.
The beast roared after him. He was confused at first. He knew the beast at the very least would not readily allow him to escape. So then what the hell was it doing letting him get this far? Instead of chasing it stood there roaring. Just when he had started to think this beast was too smart for its own good.
He started to grin but then he saw the unaspected environmental mana start to respond. A lot of mana and Essence. The beast started to shine even brighter, the star light fusing to look more like solar light, illuminating the way for Rafe as he ran.
He saw the beast's mana pool whirl with his ability to see the inner functioning of souls. It was separating its mana into individual elements.
Light, darkness, mirror - or maybe lunar mana because it made him think of a reflective surface - and space mana. Its innate mana was very complex.
Complex mana, Rafe found himself reflecting. Complex mana like the mana the mud elemental he'd fought against on the first floor had. He remembered thinking a mixture of different primary elements shouldn't produce something that much stronger than the original. He'd in fact thought the elemental was a special case as it was mutated. Now he was starting to understand complex mana. Complex was stronger than primary mana.
He did not know how or why though. It was something he would have to ask a mage scholar if he found one. He would have talked about these things with Devila and the others, but they hadn't been the most welcoming.
With a suddenness that jarred Rafe from his thoughts, the beast disappeared from his racial ability’s radar.
He continued to run even as his hackles rose. Its invisibility had been useless when faced with his ability before. It had been a non factor in their fight so far. Somehow the beast had…
Shit! The beast was standing just ahead of Rafe. He had been so close to the deep darkness that couldn't be pierced even with the beast's light.
Assuming that was the safe room, he was not even ten feet from it. Now the beast was resting on its ass, its front limbs erect as it surveyed him in anticipation.
Rafe didn't stop running. The beast got up as he came closer. It started to growl. Rafe studied what he could of its soul. Its mana was spent. It was going to turn into a brawl. That was his favourite. Rafe grinned.
He threw out a sword barrage, the beast attacked from above with a swipe of its paw. He tried to deflect with his sword. He was pushed down instead. Down and under the beast's chest, into its guard. He smiled again as he launched himself upwards with the earth shattering technique in its true form.
With a heavy blow infused technique, Rafe hit the beast's belly. And bounced right off. The beast roared in more than a little pain. Rafe crashed into the ground.
He was up a second later, avoiding a claw swipe from the beast at the last second. He palmed his dagger. The chest had been stronger than he'd expected, the veil faster too. Rafe frowned at that. His weapons had too little offensive rating to leave any meaningful damage on the creature's body.
He needed to find a weak spot. He flipped backwards as the creature kept up its lightning fast attacks. With a dagger in his left hand and his sword in his right he charged again. He deflected a few claws and was pushed back each time, but he was getting better at predicting the beast's patterns.
With how weak his specifications were, Rafe was not really good at anything. At least he wasn't supposed to be. With his techniques though, Rafe had strong offensive potential, especially with how he used his skills to augment his fighting style. His defense was still non-existent. He was almost like a glass cannon. So of course he had to run around a lot. That was the only way he could keep in the fight long enough. He had outlasted Devila by almost three times, the strongest post system era warrior he'd seen so far. And he was even lower leveled than she was.
Suddenly, the beast's mana pillar lit up again and Rafe wasted no time trying to escape. His precognition kicked in and he was diving forward, a bit of sharp shrapnel taking him in the back. The beast's paw destroyed the piece of rock he had been on.
A short range teleportation skill! Rafe cursed, having gotten the beast was likely a capable spatial mage using skills were above the epic tier.
It was already coming for him again before he was ready. For the first time since he'd gotten it, Rafe found his precognition doing work, helping him weave and Bob out of the way just in the nick of time. The part of the peak on which they fought was as loud as a mine, and perhaps just as dented and devastated.
It was what he imagined a missile strike in an empty field would look and sound like. All Rafe could do was avoid the hits at the last critical moment. He had no stable ground, only finding a few seconds to rest on floating pieces of ground. The fight went on. The beast slashed, Rafe evaded. He retaliated, the beast roared, sparks flew, steel rebounded off rock hard fur. Again and again they fought.
Then with one last burst of mana the beast opened its mouth and Rafe gaped in horror. Something wet and red came out of the corners of his left eye and flowed down his face. His sight in that eye was red. That was when he decided to acknowledge the headache that would have caused him to pass out before his time in the Skyholm trial.
Energy swirled in the beast's mouth. The Essence in the atmosphere joined the mana from the beast's body. An attack that could level a country from a level ten god beast.
There was no way Rafe could dodge or block it. Even just the residue heat would be enough to burn his skin straight off his bones. Maybe he could stay alive but he wouldn't be functional as far as he could tell.
He had to attack now. He had to attack in the half a second he estimated it would take the beast to complete its spell. He had to attack its eyes.
“Ah!” Rafe screamed. And then he charged with a shout on his lips. “Ahhhhhhhh!”
Slashing a hundred, a thousand times, Rafe ran towards the beast's head once it was distracted fighting the after images of his barrage. He jumped up at the last moment. The beast let its beam out. Rafe was already behind its open mouth though, his sword and dagger going downwards with all the momentum of his Dash and Earth Shattering technique and heavy blow skill.
He hit the beast's eye dead on. He did not feel the satisfying penetration he'd expected. He was instead sent flying head over heels and just above the beam of exploding mana. The beast just had to tilt its head upwards and Rafe would be toast.
‘Ding’ Your skill swordsman's footwork has reached level 280.
Your skill steady footing has reached level 310.
Your skill Aeon's Sword mastery has reached level 765.
Your skill Dash has reached level 25.
Your skill Heavy blow has reached level 248.
Your skill Acrobat has reached level 12.
Your skill Puppeteer's Rubber Body has reached level 53.
You have learnt the skill Dodge (lvl.1). You are able to avoid attacks sent your way 5% easier. Efficiency increases with skill level.
You have gained 1 stat point to agility and 1 spec point to defense.
