"The true test of strength is not the battle itself, but the courage to face it"
The door creaked open, unveiling a huge chamber resembling a throne room.
There was complete silence in the room, broken only by the low growls of countless monsters.
There was a faint smell of blood in the air, which was thick with tension.
The ceiling soared so high that it seemed to vanish into the darkness, giving an illusion of an endless void.
The walls shone with jewels, reflecting a silvery light similar to a clear night's moonlight.
A red carpet stretched straight from the entrance to the raised throne.
They team stepped inside, and their worst fears were confirmed, their eyes widening in fear as they gazed upon the sight.
There were masses of C-Rank monsters, B-Rank sprinkled in the ranks. But, the true terror sat on the throne, the overlord to all these monsters, a huge skeleton.
It's eyes glowing in an ominous red, inciting dread in whoever dared to gaze at it.
The skeletal king's power, they sensed, was bordering on A-Rank, a monstrous opponent they can only hope to win against.
The monsters were not a chaotic horde, but were arranged in a formation, as if prepared to fight a war.
Sukuna's keen eyes spotted spotted mages at the end, supposedly for ranged attacks.
Lurking in the shadows near the walls were archers, their presence barely noticeable, getting ready to rain down arrows on the intruders.
The atmosphere was thick with tension and anticipation, they had realized that this was no longer a dungeon, but a warzone.
"Well, shit." A deep voice echoed in the silence of the room, this was Sukuna.
His voice carried a nervous undertone, but was filled with anticipation.
Quickly forming a plan in his head, he turned to his teammates.
He pointed at Ryogaku and Johan, then to the masses of monsters, indicating that they should be the ones to take out the mob.
He pointed at Alexia and Anny, then back to the gate, wanting them to provide ranged support and healing.
He then pointed at himself, and then to the far end of the ranks, indicating that he was going to take out the ranged support.
They all understood his point, their breaths quickening.
"Are you sure we can do this?" Ryogaku asked, readying his sword for the incoming fight.
"No," Sukuna said, his voice a whisper, "But do we have a choice?"
Alexia was breathing hard, her voice stuck in her throat as she tried to calm down.
Johan seemed to be the most collected out of the four, itching for battle and testing how much he had grown.
"No danger, no fun, right?" Johan said this with uncontrolled eagerness in his voice.
"You get the point perfectly." Sukuna responded, a smirk plastered on his face as he readied himself to jump.
The skeleton king, starting the battle, raised its hand, a swarm of smaller skeletons rose from the floor, their bodies forming entirely of mana.
Noticing the start, the monsters also charged towards the team.
The ground trembled under the collective weight of the hundreds of monsters, the floor cracking as they got closer to the team.
The team put the plan in motion, Alexia and Anny retreated to the back, providing support spells to Ryogaku and Johan, who ran to face the horde by themselves.
Sukuna had jumped onto the wall, coating his hand with Cursed Energy, he dug his fingers into the wall for support as he tried to reach the back, avoiding the monster horde on the ground.
As he was crawling on the wall, his grip slipped and he fell right into the mob.
The monsters, noticing the arrival of a new victim, jumped up onto him.
But, as the monsters covered him, their bodies fell, divided into pieces, their blood raining down on Sukuna's face as he smirked, looking at the skeleton on the throne.
"Guess I didn't need to avoid ya'll," He said, his voice more menacing than ever, as he slowly picked up the pace.
"I can just cut you up, can't I?" He screamed, enjoying the bloodshed as he ran towards the throne, slashing any creature that came in his way.
As he was running, there was an explosion behind him, quickly looking back, it was Anny who did that.
Corpses of monsters flew around the room, a few coming towards Sukuna, which he had to dodge.
"Nice shot." He muttered, continuing to move towards the throne.
Reaching the back, he first took out all the mages, who were focused on healing the monsters and occasionally firing spells into the crowd.
Most archers were already killed on his way there.
He glanced back and saw his teammates doing pretty well, close to killing half of the monsters.
Turning to the boss, he saw it still sitting on the throne, not moving in the slightest even seeing all his subordinates getting slaughtered.
The boss was looking right at Sukuna, as if tying to gauge his true strength.
'Seems like I have piqued his interest huh?' Sukuna thought, him observing the boss in the same way it was observing him.
Thinking that his teammates had the mob of monsters covered, he rushed towards the boss, creating a little plan in his mind.
'This boss doesn't have a core, so I suppose he'll die if I damage him enough, and you know, I just LOVE breaking bones'
Sukuna ran towards the boss, taking out his cursed knife.
He jumped, his trajectory right onto the boss's skull, as he pushed his hands backwards, gripping the knife tightly.
'This knife creates a slash, its power decreasing as it travels longer distances. But, it amplifies the power if the distance is low enough.'
'Using it on distances more than 10 meters is useless, as the power of the slash at 10 meters is the same as if I did a Dismantle.'
'But, if the distance is zero, then how much is the Cursed Energy amplified?'
'The answer is...
by three times'
.
Sukuna put a lot of strength in this single strike, the air around the knife crackling with energy as it descended onto the skull of the king.
The skeleton king did not flinch, still looking at Sukuna in the eyes.
Suddenly, it shot itself off the throne, grabbing a sword kept on a table on the side. Its bones cluttered as it swung the sword onto the incoming knife.
The weapons collided, blinding, bright sparks flying around the point of contact.
A loud CLANG echoed throughout the room, alerting the other four teammates as their eyes darted around to find the source.
Sukuna fell back, his eyes widening as he looked at his hand.
The knife was...
.
.
.
...broken into half.
=======================================
If ya'll have illustrations for the characters, please give them to me, cuz I found NONE after searching for hours :<
I might just be being too picky xd.
Differences:
1. Additions to the fight scene
.
now, gimme gimme gimme POWER STONES