Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Chapter 299 Looming Beast

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/Later…/

"Huff…"

Back on the Fifth floor, Dale closed his eyes, breathing in slowly as he gathered his strength.

/Shaa… Shaa…/

However, different from before, his right arm was now dangling in the air beside him, it was still chained, but the chains around it weren't connected anywhere anymore.

They instead laid on the ground, being pulled and shoved whenever he moved his arm, rattling against the ground eerily.

Beyond the mist and darkness, one of the Pillars was now broken in half, revealing its contents.

The chains were actually part of a greater metal structure that ran within each of the Pillars, like the support beams inside a concrete block, its skeleton.

And not counting whatever strange magic was used to reinforce these materials, if not for the lack of maintenance, Dale would have had no chance of escaping.

Even so, not long before, after gathering his strength for a few minutes, Dale went all in and pulled the chain, breaking it away from the main skeleton frame.

The chains were actually so resilient that despite all of the strength he put into them, they didn't break and instead, it was the frame that distorted and broke apart under Dale's pull, shattering the stone Pillar covering it as it was dragged into the open.

With it, he successfully removed his first limiter, raising his Level from 0 all the way to 10, recovering a great deal of his original strength while also reducing some of the penalties around his body, allowing him to easily resist the first wave of Mental Decay at the ten minute mark.

However, by breaking one of the Pillars, he received the greatest counterforce by far.

The Six remaining Pillars lit up with energy, sending down visible bolts of red lightning that ravaged his body, charring his skin and frying his insides.

The reaction was so strong that even the broken Pillar lit up with mysterious energy, albeit it didn't do anything.

Even as the minutes passed and now having only a minute left before the second wave of Metal Decay, Dale had yet to fully recover.

Strangely enough, by being able to move his arm, Dale essentially hinged his ability to heal by constantly opening his wounds, causing his arms to be worse than they should've been.

However, he couldn't stop, if he did, he would lose out…

After all, not so long ago, his foes… The Heroes descending the Catacombs to slay him were hot on his tracks.

…

[DING]

[The First Floor Dweller has been defeated and an Ancient Evil has been purged!]

[The Ritual grows stabler, the remaining restrictions grow stronger]

[It's Vitality is absorbed by the Ritual, strengthening all remaining restrictions]

[The Second Floor's Restrictions grows stronger]

[The Third Floor's Restrictions grows stronger]

[The Fourth Floor's Restrictions grows stronger]

[The Fifth Floor's Restrictions grows stronger]

…

They had already defeated the first sealed beast, and due to this, the Ritual became more concentrated, increasing the penalty on him even more.

He had already realized that with each Pillar he took down and with each Floor Boss defeated, each remaining Pillar would grow more sensitive and powerful, to the point he was afraid a single Pillar may end up having enough force to kill him even after he recovered most of his strength.

And due to him doing nothing but moving his own energy around, much less trying to break through.

If things went on like this…

That's right, Dale felt fear, but not the despairing kind, it was the kind of understanding fear that came from realizing the scope and respecting his opponent's strength.

But that didn't mean he would stop, when did he ever?

/Open…/

Instead, he opened his eyes… And pulled.

/CLANG!/

/C-CRUNK!/

Holding the chain with his right hand and pulling it with his left arm, Dale exploded all of the hidden energy he had gathered in the past few minutes to pull apart one more limitation!

The chains tensioned and vibrated up and down, the tug of war had started.

/Shine…/

But his time was already coming to an end, the Pillars were just moments away from activating…

The runes ignited, spelling his doom.

Ancient Curses and Powers, a torrent of power accumulated over Centuries was cascading down on him…

/CRACK!/

/BAM!!/

"HAAA!"

Exclaiming loudly, Dale pulled his left arm as it glowed blue, pulling the metal frame from within the Pillar brutally as it collapsed onto the cold ground of this tomb!!

/THUD!!/

/SHUAA…/

A large cloud of mist and dust was lifted up high, and although the Pillars started to grow extremely red, Dale smiled momentarily as he raised his arms to his neck.

/PULL!/

That's right, instead of acting once every time, taking in the damage, and minding his every move, Dale understood that the best course of action was to just break as many restraints as possible while he still had the energy.

He already knew that he wouldn't be able to resist the accumulated counterforce of six Pillars, and if he let it ravage him, in the end, even if he freed himself, he would be left with a mingled body for what was likely a Super Party of Elite Adventurers.

At that point, it would be better to instead focus on healing rather than trying to lift his seals, at least that way he would be able to put up a fight.

He didn't need to speculate much on the difficulty of this mission, whoever the chosen Heroes were, only the best of the best out there would be even qualified to challenge such content…

And only the best of the best would make the System choose him as the Final Boss…

He treated this encounter the same way he treated his last Duel in the Arena.

It was a do-or-die situation…

/SHOCK!/

Red lightning quickly gathered in the chains, running through them as it made its way to him.

The world seemed to slow down, but even in this slowed world, the bolts of energy reached Dale's body in the blink of an eye.

However, it was too late, his momentum had already been gathered.

/PULL!/

/C-CRUNK!/

But Dale wasn't going to stop, immediately exploding his internal force with a speed fast enough to put his past self to shame.

After being zapped dozens of times by the Pillars, he had already become considerably faster and more efficient with his utilization of energy, and he was showing it now.

Right now, even if Dale committed a mistake, it would only happen once before he fixed it and improved it, reaching a new level of control and manipulation.

Within minutes, the Reflection achieved what would otherwise take months to master.

It was his Perfect Self after all.

/CRACK!/

With one last pull, Dale pulled the Chains connected to the third Pillar, shattering it into pieces as he freed himself from another seal.

Four Pillars went by just like that in the first twenty minutes of the mission, only three left to go…

/ZAAAAP!/

"GUHH?!?!"

But now, he was left with an incredibly powerful wave of pure energy to deal with…

So he gnawed his teeth as he persevered through the pain.

…

/Meanwhile… A few floors above…/

"Is everyone ready? We'll be going in within 3 minutes." The main tank asked as he checked his shield

"... Does anything change if I say I'm not?" A man asked on the side, he held a large bow in his hand

But as he looked at his arrows, he let out a sigh, he barely had half left, and of that, only a third were still intact.

Most of those arrows he recovered from the aftermath of the fight, and given the intensity of the fight, most arrows showed some degree of damage.

He even tried making more with the body of the monster, but they didn't have time to butcher it, although even if they had, they wouldn't since they can't bring materials out of these missions.

He wasn't the only one thinking such things as everyone had some degree of damage, despite the quality of their equipment.

Scratches all around, dirt, torn clothing, chipped weapons…

And what couldn't be seen with one's naked eyes… Such as their internal energy and injuries.

They were still recovering, but they didn't have the time.

The Second Floor's Boss would be unsealed at the 25 minute mark, and they were almost at the 20 minute mark.

Technically speaking, they were risking a lot just by staying here, but they decided that a short rest was necessary if they wished to minimize losses and maximize gains.

Running in front can be quicker, but taking one's time and preparing can prove to be more efficient in the long run.

The problem is… Did they have such time?

[DING]

[The Fifth Floor's Dweller has broken free from its Second restriction]

[To keep it contained, part of the Ritual will be redirected to the remaining restrictions]

[The Second Floor's Dweller grows stronger]

[The Third Floor's Dweller grows stronger]

[The Fourth Floor's Dweller grows stronger]

[The Fifth Floor's Dweller has broken free from its Third restriction]

[To…]

""...""

The entire Raid team went silent.

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Notes

Sorry for the delay, recently I've been having severe internet problems where my main PC is at, because of this I've been forced with editing and writting these chapters in my Laptop atop a bed... Not entirely as confortable as my previous Office setup.

Anyway, thank you for reading another chap, we should be ending this minor Arc soon with a cool fight before jumping in with finishing the last thing at Babylon...

Using the Challenger's Key and figuring out the secrets of Babylon!

See you there, peace!