Jonathan threw himself forward, and out of the path of the projectiles, as they splattered behind him. A tremendous hissing noise assaulted his ears as the ground was eaten away at rapid speeds, craters forming as the acid burnt through the rock. With a single, mighty leap, Jonathan shattered the ground beneath him, and rocketed up towards the serpent, his fist cocked back, and blazing with the light of the Void.
The monster reared back, and hammered its head towards him, a miasma of toxic vapors leaking from its eyes as it went, shrouding the serpent in a cloud of thick fog. Jonathan raised his free hand, summoning a black hole to it. With a quick flick of his wrist, he threw it at the fog. The orb of darkness sucked in the fog like water going down a drain, and the serpent’s head was bared once more, just as the projectile impacted the bony surface of the undead’s body.
Yellowed bone bent inwards, creaking as it was torn into the embrace of the black hole. Then, with a clattering boom, the orb of darkness exploded like a bomb, blasting a good portion of the monster’s head off. One of its eyes winked out, as a wave of the Void tore through the emerald flames. The beast reeled from the blow, swaying like a falling tree.
Jonathan continued to shoot through the air, but his trajectory was now set to take him over the top of the undead’s head. Shooting a rocket of the Void behind him, Jonathan altered his path, hurtling down towards the towering serpent’s head. His body accelerated to a blur, and he brought his hands together, clasping his fingers. Between them, a spike of Maw of the Void formed, lengthening until it was nearly a dozen feet long.
The world blurred by, and with a thunderous crack, Jonathan drove his weapon into the center of the serpent’s head. The bone beneath melted away, and the containment on the spear of the Void was loosed, turning it into an expanding cone of devastation. The entire head of the titanic monster vanished into the abyss, leaving the undead without any way to see. The rest of its body thrashed around for a few seconds, before falling to the ground, causing a localized earthquake. Jonathan let himself fall with it, landing on the broken husk. If even the boss monsters were this easy, he had long ways to go until he could feel a challenge.
***
At least, that was what he had thought. After the one hundredth floor, the difficulty spiked noticeably. While the monsters’ levels did not increase, their power certainly did. Punches and claw swipes that would have previously glanced off Jonathan’s armor now broke bones beneath it, and tore at his skin. By the 125th floor, most of the party was unable to keep up with the monsters. The only consolation prize were the riches in terms of essence that they had acquired. Jonathan was a full three levels stronger than he had been before the dungeon, while many of the others had gained even more.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
On the 130th floor boss, a hydra made of obsidian, with blood like lava, took out Elissa, Andovar and Hansel with a single swipe of its heads, snapping them up and grinding their bones to power, and their flesh to mulch. Luckily for them, all that had happened was teleportation out of the dungeon, but it was still a traumatizing experience.
One by one, the party dwindled, until, by the 150th floor, only Jonathan, Edgar and Arkanon remained. The three of them were bloodied and battered, with broken bones aplenty, and health pools stressed beyond the point of recovery. As the floor boss rose from the caldera of a volcano, a seraphim crafted of diamond and pure heat, Jonathan realized from the towering aura coming off it that this could very well be the end.
He used Greater Smite for the first time, his body exploding in strength as Divinity empowered his form. Arkanon and Edgar used their most powerful buffs as well, with Edgar creating a mantle of wind around all three men, sending their speed skyrocketing. It was an ability that the man had possessed since the very beginning, and had grown greatly in power since.
The three men waited for the boss to make the first move, and it rapidly obliged. Between its hands, a gyrating orb of pulsating fire and light came into being, dragging at the air around it. Equal parts red and white, it was blindingly bright, even to the Tier 4s. When the monster released it, the gravity seemed to rise exponentially, as pressure beat down upon the world. The ground below cracked, sagging as an immense force pressed the stone into dust, fusing it with the bedrock. Jonathan felt like his arms were being pulsed out of his sockets, and his legs forced into his torso. Still, with Greater Smite active, he was able to resist.
Loops of the Void gathered in the space before him, compressing into a tight orb. Arkanon thrust his hands forth, summoning his Supernova First into reality. An ever collapsing miniature star, the technique floated under his command. Jonathan forced his own Void energy to gird the tiny star, coating it in a layer of both Consumption and Negation. Finally, Edgar’s fingers danced as he built a cannon out of pressurized air, centering it around the supernova. With a shout, the man fired, and the immensely unstable ball of mingled elemental energies shot off, towards the seraphim’s attack.
