Chapter 186

The monster continues to grow before my eyes. It lets out a ground-shaking roar more powerful than any of its previous bellows. The sound waves that come out begin to crumble the stone walks and ceiling above.

I can feel the eerie sensation of mana begin to spread out into the air.

Broken pieces of support structures and fragments of glass fall from above, raining down upon me.

It lets out a visible shockwave of red aura that feels like an intimidation attack, but I'm positive that isn't one of its skills.

This must be some form of advanced mana control or a perk of its mana manipulation ability. The shockwave can be felt like pins and needles all over my body and deep in my veins.

I stop moving for a full second, watching the Black Suit of Armor completely crumble away and fall to the floor as a four-legged monster grows from within.

It falls forward, still gaining size while now standing on four legs. A long tail materializes from its backside and a shining white horn juts from its forehead, bending up and back to cover the weak points of its neck and spine.

Finally, I get a good look at this monster's face as it expands out from the red mana-imbued fog.

Its eyes grow bigger than my entire head and are a deep black color all the way through. The beast glares at me as it shows its rows of jagged white teeth dripping with saliva.

Not stopping its expansion in the slightest, the growing tail of the creature hits the back wall of the banquet hall and it begins to crumble and fall.

Its muscles bulge and expand, growing large veins that stretch its dark red skin to the point where it looks as if they're about to pop. Its dense striated flesh doesn't even look real...

Thick muscle mass lines its arms, thighs, and neck. Even its tail drifts back and forth powerfully knocking down massive walls with ease and grace.

Stone collapses as the Mosnter now grows to over 20 meters long. It's still glowing bright red and white, growing taller and bigger every second I wait...

The murderous cry almost looks visible in the air as it comes out of its massive gaping maw. This is the exact roar that I heard from the beast at the beginning of our fight.

Now, it seems I've finally met the real monster that guards the 20th floor.

This is the Floor Boss that separates normal hunters from those that the Association calls "Elites".

This is...

The Behemoth.

The entire back wall of the room collapses and the monster thrusts itself upwards onto its hind legs. All of the remaining stone bricks that make up the back wall fall to the ground and are crushed under the monster's heavy body.

Finally, the red glowing halts, and so does its expansion. The Behemoth in its final form is almost 35 meters long...

It towers above me, larger than any creature I've even dreamed of fighting in the past.

My eyes dart around the room to spot Ember through the open ceiling. He's watching the battle below commence with a patient stare.

Although frozen in awe for a moment, I snap out of it and devise a new plan.

I can sense Ember's eagerness to jump in the fight from here. The black-scaled dragon swoops down toward me without hesitation as I make eye contact with my partner.

I air-step upwards to meet him in the sky halfway. The Behemoth turns its gaze to watch us meet in the air. Standing on its hind legs, this monster sends out another shockwave that shakes me to the core.

I land on Ember's back as I feel the mana all around us twist, turn, and hum with a powerful presence.

I look down to see the stone walls of the castle's banquet hall we just left crumble to the ground and turn into a liquid state. The entire castle begins to bend to the monster's will.

It roars and moves forward.

The ground below bends and ripples as the monster takes another stride forward with its long claws swiping through the air. It attempts to swat us out of the sky.

I Dungeon Walk while on Ember's back, teleporting both of us to the far side of the beast.

Instantly, I let out a fully charged strike when we materialize into its blind spot. Just over 2000MP worth of fire-imbued mana hurdles at the monster's back.

It turns with astonishing speed. The beast's dark eyes lock onto us immediately, mere milliseconds after we blipped into existence behind its back.

I watch a dense shield of mana form over its bulging back muscles and my attack bounces off without much resistance at all.

There's a dim white glow, confirming that I've at least dented its shielding, but I didn't make it through. This new form that it's facing us in now is magnitudes more powerful than the puny Black Kight from before.

I thought it was the overconfident one... but maybe it was me all along.

I shake my head, then smirk, teleporting us to the opposite side of the beast as it swings its tail toward us. We disappear and it narrowly misses us, slamming down on the banquet hall floor below.

It doesn't crack the ground, but sends ripples throughout the floor.

I extend my All-Seeing Eye's range and witness the shockwave make the entire rock island we stand on bend and shake.

Another roar sounds from the monster as it turns to face are new position.

It begins to point its front claws at the ground.

My eyes widen as I watch the liquidated castle floor begin to cover its arms and legs.

The entire castle around us for at least 30 meters in all directions melts and forms a thick layer of stone armor around the Behemoth.

Its long white horn juts out of the top of its helmet, and a long tail is covered in a series of linked armor pieces, reinforced by the red glow of shielding.

The rest of its body looks similar to the Stone Knight I faced earlier, just 10 times taller...

The slit in its helmet shows off its beady black eyes and the entire stone suit glows red with visible mana shielding.

A roar rings out through another opening in its helmet to reveal its open mouth of serrated white teeth . I charge my sword, riding Ember's back around in the air, staring at the Behemoth in front of me.

It's truly a monster....

Defeating a beast like this will be a challenge worth the wait.

I smirk as the stone-covered monster swings its left arm. It's molding the liquid mana-imbued stone into glossy blades just like our last encounter.

Just much, much bigger this time around.

I reach into my item storage and pull out my wind dagger.

Not only does it give me a few much-needed base stat boosts, but it'll also let me launch double the attacks.

I jump off of Ember's back toward the oncoming Stone Monster's arm. I open our link as I air-step toward the incoming blade while glowing dark red from my right arm and bright white from my left.

"Ember, watch from the sky. Only interfere if necessary."

I grit my teeth, as a wide grin grows larger and larger across my face. I land with both feet onto the base of the monster's bladed arm, running across it toward its open helmet.

The monster lets out a roar, frustrated at its missed swing, but eager to catch me off guard. I feel the air pressure change from the incoming air and the putrid-smelling breath of the beast as I get closer and closer to its open mouth.

Channeling the Strengthening Fragment's power into both weapons, I charge up over 2300MP per blade.

Ember swoops down, then with a powerful flap of his wings, passing me on the left side before flying up into the sky.

"The fight is in your hands now, Master."

I let out a yell, swinging both swords, letting out two highly refined blades of mana. They head straight for the thin eye slit in its helmet.

The white and black crescents of energy are silent as they soar in at the monster's face. It stares straight ahead glaring and not budging at all.

I let out a laugh as the attacks make their way through the slit, and the monster doesn't even attempt to doge...

A blinding white light shines from within the armor, and a display of flames and wind collide with each other making the explosion grow even greater.

I stare straight ahead, eagerly waiting to see the damage my attack has done while charging up both blades for another round.

I instantly teleport to the opposite side of the beast, away from the growing ball flames.

The murderous roar of an injured monster consumes the dungeon again. It's followed by that same shock wave of energy that ripples through my veins.

I shutter reflexively...

I burst into flames brighter to brush it off, staring into the fireball before me.

To my surprise, the instant I Dungeon Walk away, a massive glossy blade of stone shoots out from the depths of my attack's explosion.

I Dungeon Walk upwards to dodge, but my eyes open wide the moment I do.

I whisper under my breath.

"My range is limited..."

With my All-Seeing Eye active, I spread out my senses to find the root of this new problem.

Usually, when I activate my Dungeon Walker Skill, I can see unlimited pathways to all the available teleport points in my mind.

For some reason, right now, the only place I can travel is within 500 meters of this beast.

That last surge of energy created an odd dome of mana around this island... It glows light red and gives off a similar light buzz and mana consistency of its fog. I can't sense anything outside, even my perception skill is blocked.

This fight just got a whole lot more complicated.

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