CHAPTER 17: Tower of Insanity (Part 6)
The gigantic serpent towering over 20 meters suddenly crashed to the ground before charging headfirst at the both of them. Its large jaws opened, revealing a set of fangs with poisonous liquid dripping from it. The violet eyes are glowing ominously as Isaac gazed at the fangs.
"Blood Magic: Crimson Knight's Protection" the color of the blood mist surrounding Isaac was getting lighter as blood started covering each of the parts of his body while coating his katana with blood. The crimson spikes on his back and red horns protruding are seen in the armor while the katana grow larger and wider to become a claymore made of blood.
"Body Technique: Searing Blood" Isaac felt stronger than before as he chooses his strength to upgrade to another tier. His eyes focused on the ramming serpent coming towards him. Before crashing towards Isaac, the serpent stopped before lifting its head and quickly spins around Isaac using its body. It seems to be trying to constrict Isaac and crush him by using its monstrous strength. After spinning around Isaac, it lifted its head once more to gaze at him who is slowly getting crush as it opens its jaw and started breathing poison smoke against him. The blood armor is starting to crack and crumble as he struggled to get out of the entrapment. He pushed himself to the side and tried pushing it away to no avail. The poisonous smoke is looming around his armor and if his blood armor breaks. He would be poisoned and crushed.
"Crimson Blade Style: Domination" his bloodlust manifested to reveal a crimson demon with 6 wings larger than the serpent itself. It roared as the serpent shakes and cowers. The constriction is getting weaker as Isaac can pull his hands up before the red claymore glowed brightly.
"Crimson Blade Style: Downward Slash + Forbidden Katana Art: Rapid Laceraton" he shouted on top of his lungs. Veins started revealing in his forehead and arms. His eyes were bloodshot while his body was covered in sweat. A bright red glowed blinded both Isaac and the serpent as an explosion larger than the last one can be heard. His arms ripping apart as he forcefully swings it with all of his might. An earthquake shook the ground as the mountains shifted and the snow melted in front of Isaac. 6 large and deep crevices revealed themselves as the serpent was obliterated, leaving only patches of blood and flesh. The crevices were covered with blood and stretched towards the cave. Blood splattered everywhere. The only thing left from the serpent was its head and its tail.
Isaac falls to both of his knees. He can't feel his arms anymore nor he can see them. The armor was broken while his katana lays on the ground. Blood marks covered his surrounding as Isaac gazed at his arms to see that it was no longer there. Only his shoulder remained. He chuckled as he fights to stay conscious. He can hear someone shouting and panicking but he can't hear it clearly. His eyes started blurring as he tried to rub it only to notice that he can't. With all of his willpower, he slowly opens his mouth. Incomprehensible words escaped from his mouth as he tried to speak and speak. His eyelids are getting heavier while the world around him is spinning.
The serpent's head and tail burst through to reveal a hundred little serpents trying to escape. He tried standing up to fight but he can't. Dozens of violet beams of light and flashes of spear creating dragon's head dazzled in front of him. 7 rings expanded around the man before dashing to kill the remaining serpents.
'Oh no…i ne…ed to…acti….vate….my Blood Magic….:Absorb Blo…od' Suddenly, all of the blood around the surroundings and even the patches of blood in the crevices started converging around him. The blood coagulated before shining a crimson light appeared where his arms should be. His shoulders started itching uncontrollably as Isaac falls to the ground before twitching and shaking. Slowly, his arms started to regenerate. His pale arm revealed itself since the robe and his sleeve were obliterated by his attack. Seeing that his arms were healed, he losses his consciousness while covered in snow and the bits of the carcass. It seems that his attack also removed the poisonous fog. The last thing he sees is the boots of someone panting and clearly panicked running towards him.
"Isaac! Isaac! shit..this idiot really is reckless. I thought we had a great talk about not sacrificing ourselves while trusting our companions" Kyle berated the unconscious Isaac as he carried him on his back.
"I was about to help you escape using a portal but instead you use a combination of weapon art and style. I don't know if i should be impressed or be angry" Kyle sighed. His eyes glistening with uneasiness and worry. Not before long, Isaac would kill himself for being reckless. Isaac was lucky that he collected a great amount of blood before fighting the serpent and the serpent released a ton of blood before its death because if not, Isaac will clearly die from blood loss. Even now, Isaac is too pale even in the cold wind.
That was a very dangerous situation, being constricted by a large serpent before breathing out poison would spell death to anyone unprepared or weak.
"I must admit that it was wise to use your bloodlust to weaken the serpent's grip to allow yourself to attack but you should've to escape instead" Kyle peered to look at Isaac but he was still unconscious,
"Damn, it's really no use to be complaining right now. It already happened what can i do" Kyle just walked towards where the destroyed shack is while carrying Isaac. The cold wind and the frigid air force Kyle to removed his robe and covered Isaac to avoid hypothermia since the sleeve of his winter coat and the robe were destroyed. His breathing can be seen as it seems that the surrounding area is freezing. Kyle can't help shivering from the cold as he pushed on. He also can't use the portal since he can't control where they are gonna go but he can adjust the radius of where the portal can reach. Slowly, they headed back to the destroyed shack. Since most of the items for survival such as tents, jackets, and other supplies are there.
"Damn, is he still sleeping?" Kyle said. It has been 3 days after that incident and Isaac is still unconscious. He fought alone against yetis and serpents. His quick and fast spear attacks can kill anyone going near the tents while his spell Dark Beam and Dark Sweep destroyed the monsters far away from him. He also learned a new spell called Manipulation which allows him to manipulate items and objects to his will. He tried using his spear and used the spell to attack from long distances but the spear falls to the ground once it reaches 7 meters away from him. Meaning he can only use it to hold his spear while casting Dark Sweep.
The sun is finally setting as he walked back to the tents. Carcasses littered all around him but he merely glanced at it. His body is covered with blood, together with his own and the monsters. He summoned a health potion out of his Dark Cube before drinking it forcefully. The bitter taste still lingered but he didn't care. His only worry is that he has 5 health potions left. With Isaac, unsure whether he can fight or not is worrying. Tomorrow is the last day in this frigid winter but a final boss will appear before the afternoon strikes together with its army of yetis.
Kyle can surely fight them head-on but the next boss on the 25th floor is gonna be the hardest fight he will ever face. He can't afford to weaken and tire himself. Out of the corner of his eyes. In the tent where Isaac is sleeping, he can see someone moving their body as the tent stretched. Without delay, he quickens his pace to see that Isaac is now conscious.
"Sorry…i didn't wake up sooner" Isaac gave him a helpless smile.
"It's fine, i don't wanna talk right now. I'm too tired" Kyle said as he enters his own tent before changing his clothes. Even if he said that he can't stop becoming angry at Isaac. He knows that they should live their own life whatever they want but the fact that Isaac can't stop being reckless and doesn't trust him makes it harder for the both of them. Isaac can easily dodge out of the way just like Kyle did but Isaac decided to tank the hit and recklessly use a combination of art and style just shows how he doesn't trust Kyle at all. He doesn't ask for help and relies on his only companion. Kyle just shakes off the thought as continues thinking about it only pisses himself off, making it harder for him to sleep. As he closed his eyes to sleep.
The morning finally arrives. The hard cold wind crashes towards their tent as they woke up. Going outside, both of them looked at each other but didn't say anything. Silence enveloped the surroundings as the sound of wind coursing through the air is the only thing that can be heard. Shaking his head, Kyle decided to break the silence.
"This is the last day, there will be no monsters attacking us before the afternoon strikes. At that time, the final boss of this floor will finally arrive together with its 500 yetis. It's called the Snow king but it's weaker than the green serpent so it's possible that we can fight it with ease. The problem is the horde of yetis supporting the boss while weakening us. Every 10 minutes, 100 yetis will arrive to help the snow king recover some of its health by staying at the back and absorbing snow. Once it's fully healed, it will attack together with the yetis. If we can't kill it before fully healing itself. It will drag on to 50 minutes, by that time we would be too tired to continue" Kyle explained in clear detail. He can't afford to lose now, his plan should always succeed with the help of his knowledge in his past life. If he can't win and be defeated. They will surely die and his goal of revenge and saving humanity will be gone. He needs full cooperation with Isaac to survive and kill the final boss.
"We should exchange our status screen" Kyle suggested. His eyes staring at Isaac to see if he will trust him or not. This is necessary if they're gonna be fighting together. Knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses is vital when cooperating in a team while it's also one of the most dangerous things to do. With this type of information, one can ascertain if they can fight him or not. It's like knowing the cards of your enemy in poker. They can easily win once they decided to betray them or sell information to the people who buy those kinds of intelligence. It's a major risk just to gain someone's trust.
"I'm afraid i can't do that" Isaac said coldly with his deadpan expression. There's no way he can share that kind of information even with someone who has guided and taught him how to fight and other information. He can't just trust easily, his heart pounded to his chest as he grits his teeth just from remembering those awful memories. He sighed to calm himself before staring at Kyle.
"I see, i figured its gonna be like that" Kyle said while Isaac nodded
"Our plan is to hide in the snow to quickly kill the snow king. No matter how many yetis will swarm us, once the snow king dies. All of the remaining yetis will vanish just like the time we killed the goblin king. I demand that you won't use any spell or art that will incapacitate you. I don't want you to be unconscious while we fight the 25th-floor boss. You're just gonna be a piece of excess baggage. You can use your forbidden art once we are able to leave the tower but before that, if you use that again i will leave you to rot and die. Got it?" Kyle said. There is no change of expression to Isaac as he nodded once again.
"I hope you heed my warning" Kyle sighed before summoning 2 shovels out of the dark cube. He already planned on everything from the first floor to the 24th floor with his knowledge even when he was still in the city of Leylin but there will be no plan once they reach the 25th-floor boss since no one has succeeded in killing it when its mana crystal is still intact. He only learned about the title once he reached the demon king's castle in his past life but other than that. He fought that boss alone and killed it once he destroyed every mana crystal. He can't take any risk since it is one of the things he is uncertain about.
'Dammit, is it really worth it? We might die uselessly and without that artifact. If i die i will really die without any chances left. Dammit' Kyle pondered. He was scared for the first time in this life. Fighting something that has unlimited mana is close to impossible.
In the cave full of riches and blue crystals plastered to the wall and ceiling. A large diamond-shaped blue golem adorned with different colors of crystals is floating off the ground and glints dangerously as something moves towards the side only to be frozen by a flash of blue light before burned by a flash of red light and smitten to black pieces by the yellow light. It created rhythmic and drone noises as it loses its glow. Seemingly resting in the deep caverns of the 25th floor.