Chapter 43: Finally Over
Pink misty cadence overflowed the surroundings. At its midst was Vera in all her gorgeous glory, eyes brimming with rancor.
She took slow, brisk steps forward, her eyes trained on the soaring beast with a deathly intensity.
Before her, the cadence began congealing into something, taking the form of what seemed to be an oversized ancient rusty scale.
Vera knew her limits. This beast was obviously an abomination far above her grade. Just from its evolved stats she had gleaned, she was aware that in a careless fit, a simple attack from this beast could pulverize her. The fact that her items were off-limits didn’t help.
But even with this immense gap in strength, it couldn’t curb the immense fury brewing at the depths of her heart.
The monster had messed with her mind, giving the brain an illusion that it was dead, drowning her in an endless abyss of nothing.
Worse, she couldn’t feel anger, fear, sadness — everything was stripped from her, leaving her soul a hollow husk. Just recalling the feeling gave rise to goosebumps.
This she had to pay back. And though she couldn’t face the beast head-on, she still had means. Roy wasn’t the only Lord with cheat-like abilities.
Glancing at the ancient scale, a gold coin appeared in her grasp as she set it on one side of the scale.
"I dismiss flight!" Her words echoed as commands to the very rules of reality.
There was a brief silence, after which the boss monster’s slits constricted. Something was wrong!
As though the wind itself was against the poor beast, it was banished from the skies in a cruel manner.
It burst into a free fall, plunging uncontrollably into the rock-hard ground, kicking up a haze of dust and debris in its wake.
Grrrrrrrr...
The monster growled faintly in pain, as it was once more forced to crawl on its belly.
This was Vera’s ability — Absolute Exchange — the ability to exchange anything and everything. Even rules of reality and order weren’t exempt, as long as it wasn’t life or a living thing.
She could manifest her trade into coins, and just now she had manifested a whole lot of resources she had gained over the past few months just to pull this feat.
Exchanging for rules of reality like she did now required higher sums than other things. But even with the cost, she felt it was worth it. Another coin materialized in her grasp.
This was a manifestation of a huge chunk of her savings.
"You shall not move freely." As she spoke, a small trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her eyes and nose.
This was another side effect of her ability. Exchanging for rights of beings, especially those stronger than her, put a strain not just on costs but on her soul itself.
The beast, which was just getting into form and ready to lunge, suddenly felt stifled. It was as though gravity opposed its movements and its joints became less flexible than they were meant to be.
It could barely let out a growl in despair when suddenly a familiar visage was already upon it.
Roy was surprised at Vera’s arrival and impressed by her absurd skill, but he didn’t let that cause any hesitation. Like a predator waiting for a chance, he pounced.
Milky gold cascaded down his arm, the essence engulfing it, forming and taking the shape of a drill as it began to spin with intended intensity.
Once he was before the behemoth boss, his punch burst free, tearing into its scaled, struggling abdomen. The drill punch brutally ripped through with chilling ease.
When momentum died, Roy didn’t pull his hands from within right away. The Genesis force formed a blade, allowing him to pull upwards with a forceful jump.
Blood and organs leaked through the gaping mutilation as the monster flailed hopelessly and slowly. It could move, but its ability to defend itself was gone.
It couldn’t roar out loud, as even the movements of the mouth weren’t exempt, making spitting out deadly beams almost impossible. Worse, it had to pour more ether into regeneration, meaning some of its abilities might shut down.
Its massive jagged teeth clamped tightly as it held forcefully onto its illusion ability. By all means, it could still try to survive two... but if they all attacked? Who knew if there were more monsters like these two among the others?
It surely didn’t want to risk it, and so unknowingly it made the most fatal mistake of its life — it let the Blocking skill slip, and it deactivated.
Roy, who was about to go for another attack, felt the connection with his inventory return. A sinister smile crept to his lips as an item appeared in his hands in a blink.
He didn’t waste time reaching for guns or his baton, neither did he go for the legendary horn.
No — in his grasp was a plain-looking stun gun. The most dangerous of all his assets. It might be useless in the hands of others, but in his hands, with Electric Amp (SSS) that buffed all electric-based items by 1000x... let’s just say it was too overpowered.
He got in range and pulled the trigger...
The beast seemed to sense the stifling hold of imminent death slowly approaching. Its eyes widened as its body froze. So... so this was its end.
It didn’t get to leave this cage like it promised the overlord. It didn’t get to live up to the overlord’s expectations. It died in the hands of budding Lords. Amateurs. Indeed, it was a disgrace...
The stun wire clamped onto its scales, and it gazed down weakly, its eyes trailing the fast-approaching currents. And to the utter shock of both Roy and Vera, it spoke:
"A humiliating death this was..."
Its words echoed before the current penetrated through it with such scorching intensity that every drop of blood or fluid in its system evaporated in seconds.
Its heart was ravaged by the wrathful currents, leaving nothing but coal in its place. A dusty haze of ash exited its mouth as it took its final breath. Its lungs were carbonized, and the entire behemoth’s figure became blurry, pixelizing into drops.
Roy heaved heavily. Finally, it was over...