Chapter 35 - Nidhoggr II

Summer classes are ass. Don't have a single minute of free time right now.

Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

Thank you!

-SR_2027.

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Knowing full well that there was nothing I could do in the place I was in, I decided that instead of wasting my time thinking about unnecessary things, I would first need to be strong enough to break free of the beings controlling me.

They could easily manipulate my thoughts, even though very weakly due to the presence of System blocking their influence, but nonetheless, they could still manipulate it. So I first need to kill the Higher Dimensional Beings.

It was not that

With that in mind, I walked up to the door and pressed my ear to it, trying to understand or see if I could find anything peculiar that I could use to my advantage during the fight.

"..."

There was no sound coming from within. Maybe because the door is special, after all, it was made to contain a being that can instantly, and magically become stronger, the stronger its opponent is.

This was also the reason "R" proposed a deal with him.

'If I defeat the 'being' that was sealed inside, "R" will take me under her management, and had made a contract with me that if I complete the deal from my side, she will provide me with everything in her capacity, to aid my growth...'

It was too good of a deal, and I am sure that it was but a fake by 30%.

"..."

'I need to be prepared.'

Even though I am weak right now, the opponent will also be weak, due to its ability to be around the same level as its opponent.

*Creak*

Giving the emerald color door a small push, I peered into the small crack formed due to my movement.

*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*

My eyes peered into the crack, as I finally saw the creature I would be fighting.

It was weird... A creature that looked as if it had the body length of an anaconda, around 5 meters in length and a width of 1 meter. It was a mixture of an 'Eastern' Dragon, lizard, cat, and cat.

It had a single eye, with no visible mouth, with two wings that looked almost similar to its eye. Its body was pure unnatural white, turning dark blue as it reached its eye.

As soon as my eyes peered through it, it suddenly stopped eating. The crunching sound stopped and it started to tremble.

*Clank*

'...?'

And I found myself suddenly teleported inside the gate, as the door behind me locked itself. I almost fell to the ground if not for my gaining my footing; but ignoring all that, my eyes returned to the creature that was present inside the 'door'.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

A small sound of a clock hand moving forward was heard through my brain as I instantly knew that the timer in the system had started again.

*Huu~ Phew*

Taking a deep breath I took a step further, as I positioned myself in a defensive position as I channeled my Paradox Energy inside me to the whip of light I had.

As soon as the energy entered the whip, it instantly gave out a small bright light as it started to form two "Kusarigama" out of itself, connected by a huge chain. A useful tool which was ideal for hooking and can also be light.

**GRRRR**

I could feel the air vibrate as the small trembled, it suddenly floated down from the thousands of tree branches it was on and locked its 'eye' on me. But as soon as its eyes locked mine; my body started to tremble. 'Fear Inducement', I instantly recognized the reason.

Ignoring the 'fear' that was formed in my body I gripped my weapon tighter as I lowered my body, ready to react at a moment's notice.

My body was feeling lighter because of the new awakening, meaning that I had the ability to destroy a whole district with a normal punch. This may not sound much, but with the weapon provided to me, I am confident enough to kill this 'thing'.

Furthermore, with the newfound ability that I gained from opening my core, I was also able to fly by manipulating the space around me itself, but I had a plan in mind, and using my Paradox Energy just for something as small as this could be very wasteful.

"Kraaaa!", As if sensing its prey shrugging off his ability, it felt anger, as it released its claws from the branches it was on, as it slowly floated back down on the ground, and slowly started to close the distance while going around me.

I knew what it was doing.

As I was newly awakened, the body it had was very weak, barely reaching the lowest of the 'conceptual' level, and not even being able to use any sort of conceptual attacks, making it cautious around me.

"..." **Grrr**

We stared at each other.

It was a dark place illuminated under the glowing branches spread infinitely across the sky I was in, barely illuminating the beings under it.

A deep incomprehensible voice sounded in my ears, making me wince, but I knew it was harmless as my Core didn't warn me about it.

[The Tree is asking for help. It shall reward you for you have come to endanger your life for it.]

This means it's either a message from a higher-dimensional being or my opponent just has strong telepathic or mental stats. As I was contemplating, a small line popped up in the system window.

I quickly glanced at the message as I barely comprehended the message, not wanting to lose my guard against the being in front of me, who was now 20 meters away from me, 'Huh... Tree? A being eating branches or roots? Is this the World Tree, Yggdrasil? Does that mean that this being is...!'

[The Tree is asking for revenge, and it is requesting you for help.]

Before I could look at the message, my mind began to process the environment at a much faster rate, as I looked at my enemy who now looked ready to attack me.

"Gruff"

Its huge jaw expanded as it rushed at me.

I felt as if it almost teleported in front of me, making me barely react as I propelled my legs to jump, making my body float in the murky air, as the being rushed past my initial position, leaving behind crumbs of space.

Looking at it turning its body halfway, ready to attack me, I instantly threw the Kusarigama in my left hand, which precisely hit the area between its side jaw as it barely penetrated its scales, causing a few drops of golden blood to flow down its body.

"KRAAA!", Its body shook, for it had suffered a small wound, insignificant compared to its body, but formed nonetheless, making it instantly realize that I was much more than a weak prey.

It quickly shook off the Kusarigama stuck by the side of its long neck as it instantly rushed toward me, for I had a huge disadvantage of being in the air.

'Huff...!'

My mind instantly focused back, as once again I saw it instantly reach me, making me use my weapon and throw it to the ground getting it stuck, and using it to pull myself to the ground.

*Bang*

A small crater formed below me, as I landed on the musky soil.

"Ugh!"

But before I could do any action, I felt my body being hit from the side, as the creature had teleported in front of me again with its insane speed.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

I propelled my body and made a few hits on the ground to try and stabilize my body and attack the being again while getting some good distance.

"KRAA!"

'Shit!'

As soon as I stabilized myself, I instantly jumped to my side, as I felt myself losing the feeling in my left hand. "Ugh.", The creature had chomped off my left elbow, leaving behind an empty shoulder as golden blood flowed out of it.

The golden blood signified me being a higher conceptual being, as my body being purple, signified my element of control.

As the golden blood flowed down, I felt my Paradox Energy instantly move and heal the injury, leaving behind an empty arm.

'...'

The being had chomped off my Astral Body, a higher conceptual positioned soul. Just like how each body has a soul, each soul has the same Astral Body across the whole multiverse.

Damaging the Astral Body means either losing that part for a long period of time or using a lot of paradox energy to heal.

'This is going good enough, but I still need to look at the timer...', My eyes quickly focused on the timer for a brief millisecond, but I quickly retracted it and focused back my attention on the 'being' that was 'chewing' off my arm.

My arm was floating in front of its face, as it slowly disappeared into small purple crumbs, as I felt the beast absorbing the crumbs into its body.

[[0:49:19]]

[[0:49:18]]

[[0:49:17]]

The ticking sound remained in my mind, as I heard the beast growl after enjoying its meal. 'Time to get serious.'

<Reinforce >

As I used the Paradox Energy, I felt a tiny bit of energy flowing within my body being consumed as I felt stronger. The newfound power coursed throughout my body and finally reached the weapon in my arm, as it also got reinforced as I willed it.

<Regenerate >

My arm grew back as I once again used the Paradox Energy.

"HGRAA!"

The beast roared from an unknown body part, and its only eye stared at me.

We both knew what was coming.

"Hah." "KRAAA!"

We both launched at each other, but this time the beast's speed felt slow. Slow enough for me to react easily.

'I need to kill it at the perfect time.', Thinking so, I instantly reached the beast as it swiped its claws toward me, making me slide onto the ground, I instantly turned my weapon into an inverted sword trying to slash its stomach open.

As if feeling what I was trying to perform, it instantly used its hind leg to propel itself into the air and floated in the air as its eyes suddenly started to glow.

As if feeling a huge crisis, my body tensed.

<Reinforce > **Cheaw**

A small energy beam passed from the area I was in, as I propelled my body sideway.

'My body is at it's limit. I can only use <Reinforce > one more time before it reaches its breaking point. I need to be cautious and not power up uselessly now.'

The huge beam of energy instantly created a huge dividing line on the ground till my eyes could see. But as the beast tried to stop the beam and attack me again, my weapon instantly transformed into a harpoon with a chain connected to my other arm.

<Reinforce >

"HAAAH!", I ignored my painful right arm which was reinforced to the extreme, I instantly threw the huge harpoon at the beast. The reinforcement had damaged my Astral Body.

*Chek* "KREAA!"

The painful cries of the beast resonated in the dark silent world.

The Harpoon had pierced the upper half of the beast's body, causing golden blood to pour out of it.

Feeling extreme pain, the beast started to twitch as I used the brief moment of pause to pull my body onto the beast as my Harpoon was stuck on the Beast's neck.

"KREAA!"

The harpoon instantly transformed into two small swords as I instantly inflicted tens of huge piercing wounds that passed through its body and twisted my sword to create large grappling holes, damaging its body, soul, and even the Astral Body.

*Bang* "Ugh"

Even in pain, its long body didn't stop, as it violently twitched and used its hind legs and kicked me off its body.

Ignoring the pain, I propelled myself on the ground as I watched back at the beast that was staring back at me, in anger.

Its body had started to transform.

It grew a huge mouth as its eyes transferred to the side as they doubled in number. Its frontal and hind legs slowly merged back into its body as it got replaced by a pair of fins.

Yes. It had transformed into a fish-like creature.

'Why? This is a huge disadvantageous transformation... Unless it gives it more advantage than disadvantage.', Not feeling any 'invisible' body parts, my eyes narrowed down.

*Phew* 'I guess, here goes the third round.'

I could have interfered in the process by the process was nearly instantaneous, even with my reinforcement. For me, it felt as if I blinked and it had already transformed into the 'fish'.

Without wasting any more time, I instantly transformed the weapon into the harpoon again and launched it towards the fish, which it surprisingly dodged as it, once more gained more speed, reaching the point of original stalemate with the beast having more advantage.

'I guess, this is the final clash. The one who wins will decide who will win and who will die...', Thinking so, I dodged the beast and recalled the harpoon using the chains.

<Regenerate > <Reinforce > <Regenerate >

Regenerating, I finally used the reinforcement once more as my body felt a huge tension form on it.

My body was screaming. Very tiny, almost invisible cracks had formed all over my body as I felt each and every sense of my body improve by a huge margin. My mind cleared out, as my brain's processing power once again increased.

One more I will die.

Knowing that fully well, I focused my attention on the beast as it attacked me.

*Clang* "KRAA!"

*Clang**Clang**Clang* *Bang!*

"Ugh"

"KrRA!!"

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*"KRAA!"

"..."

"..."

[[0:02:03]]

[[0:02:02]]

[[0:02:01]]

*Haah* *Haah* *Haah*

Taking a deep breath I looked at the beast in front of me. Its whole body was covered with huge wounds.

The whole ground within tens of meters was covered in Golden blood, which seeped out of the huge wounds inflicted on its body.

'I am not in much better condition.', I was feeling my body reaching toward the breaking point. My body was not only covered in tiny cracks, which were now even visible to the naked eye, but along the cracks, golden blood kept slowly pouring out.

Ignoring the pain, I took a deep breath as I calmed myself from the pain I was experiencing because of the damage to my Soul and Astral Body. 'Just two more minutes...', I knew that it was all coming to an end.

The only thing that was going well for me was the timer.

Unlike the timer which followed the time around me, the timer perceived and calculated the time according to how I perceived the time period that has passed by.

In short, if I'm fast, then I'll perceive the time faster, so the timer will also count faster; and if I'm slow it will also count slowly.

I knew it, but my eyes kept feeling heavier and heavier.

The fragility of my body for constantly being in the state of triple reinforcement was too much for even my Astral Body, and not to begin of him using spacial manipulation that he used to teleport himself a few times to save himself.

'I might need to take at least a week to recover back into my previous state...', My Paradox Energy was almost half of its original amount. Knowing that the next 2 minutes would decide everything, I looked sharply at the beast in front of me.

As if feeling the end of the battle approaching, it also let out a weak growl.

The previous fish had transformed into an eldrich horror with tens of tentacles sprouting from its body.

We, once again began to slowly walk toward each other.

"Hahhh!" "KRAAA!"

I instantly formed Kusarigama from the whip of the weapon I was carrying as it also used several of its tentacles to try and injure me as it flashed towards me.

*Tring!*

*Bang!*

*Tring!*

*Tring!*

*Tring!*

*Bang!*

'NOW!', My eyes sharpened as I instantly calculated everything, from the smallest detail to the largest one.

<Teleport >

I instantly teleported to its head, but as soon as I reached its head, a sharp tentacle instantly shot out of its head area penetrating my chest.

*Cough*

I coughed golden blood, but gritting my teeth, I instantly used my weapon to cut off its tentacle and stabbed the left Kusarigama of the pair into its head, as the right side of the pair instantly formed a huge Whaling Harpoon Gun with a peculiar arrow that it was almost blunt.

The Harpoon Gun was so huge and heavy that it instantly penetrated the beast's head even when I put no pressure on it. But before I could pull the trigger, two more tentacles shot out of its body again aiming for my head and heart.

Knowing full well that I could die, I instantly tilted my body, causing the tentacle attacking my head to pass by, missing its target, but the tentacle aiming for my heart instantly penetrated my stomach again.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

<Regenerate >

"Ughh! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Ignoring the pain, I once again grit my teeth as I finally pulled the trigger of the gun in my hand.

*BAAAAANNNNGGGGGG!!*

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

<Regenerate >

The gun was so strong that it instantly penetrated the beast's brain, making it twitch so violently that the blood sprayed around the whole area, once again paining another layer of golden blood.

The countershock from using the Whaling Harpoon Gun was so huge that it propelled me off its body and sent me flying a few meters in the air.

'I almost blanked out.', Despite having huge control over my mind and body, I felt the most vulnerable that I felt at that moment in time. It felt as if I couldn't even move my body at all.

The fragility formed was so heavy that I was struggling to even keep my eyes open.

'The beast has died...', Even with heavy eyes, I looked at the beast, who had now crashed down on the ground. 'Why is there some white gas forming out of the wounds?'

Even when it was dead, a white stream suddenly poured out of its body as it filled the few meters of area with an unknown white smoke.

Within a few seconds, the white smoke had covered a few hundred meters as it was so 'smoky' that I was barely able to see what was a few meters below me. 'What is going on...?' I was so tired that I barely had any energy to fight another round with that beast.

Knowing that full well, my weapon once again transformed into a spear, readying myself to counter any attack coming my way.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

[[0:00:45]]

[[0:00:44]]

[[0:00:43]]

After falling for tens of seconds, I frowned as I felt my strength returning, but before I could make out anything, I heard a huge cracking sound.

[The Tree is warning you for your final adversary. Be cautious as it will end with one attack.]

*Crack**Crack**Crack**Crack* *CRASH!*

Looking at the message, I instantly ignored it, as the whole world suddenly burst into thousands of shards, and I was hit with a huge void, but the scene in front of me almost made me hold my breath for a second.

There it was, within the deep dark void, a huge fish...

.

.

.

.

.

It was the size of a universe.

Its flesh integrated into the infinite void, which I barely processed because of my spacial power.

'Is this the end?', Looking at the huge fish in front of me, I felt my mental exhaustion catch up as I stared at the being approaching me as its jaws opened, ready to devorve not only me, but the realities itself.

'My end...?'

'My end...?'

"My end...?"

"My end...? Hehehe... HHAHAHAHA!", I felt my stomach ache due to the damage formed over my body, but I cluched at it and continued laughing. But my laughter instantly died down, as I sharply looked at the beast.

"Congratulations.", I congratulated the beast, for it was the first one to push me to such heights. Normally, I never faced anything unprepared. Everything, to the minute details was always planned by me, making it always end in my easy victory.

'But it had pushed me to my limit.'

*Crack*

My body started to transform into my own final form.

I was revealing my Astral Body.

Revealing the Astral Body means showing the weakest part of the body, but it also allows one to use the power of the element the being's core is made up of.

One can use Core power with a normal body, but for me, who was newly ascended had barely proper control over my Astral Core than the beings who were formed naturally.

*Crack*

My body cracked, as my body transformed into an eldrich being as I gliched from reality itself.

*Crack*

As my body gliched and transformed, I grabbed the space itself and imbued the weapon that was with me with the element of infinity. The space slowly contracted and formed a huge spear which I continued to imbude with my Paradoxial Powers.

"RHAHHHHHHH!!!"

<Infinity: Infinite Damage>

<Infinity: Infinite Range>

<Infinity: Infinite Speed>

My body cracked once again, this time it was truly on the verge of collapsing. I could feel my body and soul being destroyed, while my Astral Body was the only thing that remained.

With all those enhancements, I pulled my right hand and launched the spear in my hand.

"..."

*Shewwww~*

The spear instantly disappeared into the void and a deep silence was the only thing that remained.

Until...

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!*

The whole world tuned white for a second.

[[0:00:11]]

[[0:00:10]]

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[3550]

Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

Thank you!

-SR_2027.

=====