Udaeus

(The Throne Room)

Lyze faced down the large, green draconic being that fixed him with a hiss. The boy simply stood, undeterred from confronting it as he flexed his hands and kept his attention on the spines which were rattling on its back. The Peluda grew angry at seeing how the boy was not twitching in fear at all.

It growled before opening its mouth and spat out a stream of liquid, its famous deadly poison which was also very corrosive to the touch right at the boy's face. Lyze leaned out of the way so it sailed past him, and just as he had expected, the Peluda had used the poison as a cover to blind him to the spines that were now shooting towards him like spears.

Lyze withdrew Excalibur and his arms became a flurry of slashes as the projectiles were cut up into several pieces. The Peluda roared as it ran up the wall and across the ceiling before jumping at the boy with a stream of fire this time shooting out of its throat. Silver electricity covered Lyze as time slowed down for him and he looked up at the gaping jaws closing in on him.

Lyze shook his head and held up a hand. Above his palm formed a ball of pure Darkness which emitted a sickly miasma. He allowed it to float up into the monster's mouth before he quickly leapt aside as the monster's face impacted the ground, dislodging rocks and dust as it swallowed the ball of dark power.

The Peluda rolled onto its feet as it swung its head from side to side to get rid of the disorientation as well as the stun from its face hitting the floor. It turned to Lyze and opened its mouth again, ready to blow again before it's limbs suddenly drew tight and it choked out only a small plume of fire. It shivered for a few seconds before its legs completely seized up and it collapsed on its side.

Slowly the green colour of its scales began to turn grey and its underbelly shrivelled up as its skin drew tight against the bones, giving it an emaciated look as its breathing became ragged. It yelped as two chains of silver lightning latched onto its face and yanked out its soul, which Lyze then absorbed into his body as its head fell limp.

Lyze hummed in satisfaction as he dispelled the chains and smiled. He'd come to know that the weaker the monster was, the easier it was to drain its soul from it. And the executives certainly appreciated this ability now, although they were still freaked out by it, because they were able to farm more materials from the corpses besides just the monster cores and the drop items. Lyze immediately got to work with Geranos, cutting deep into the monster's body before peeling back the layer of skin.

As he removed the Darkness from the corpse, the green colour of the scales came back and he soon had a roll of what looked like a rug, encrusted with bright emeralds. Just the skin alone would fetch high prices because of the oil that could be taken from it or the leather that could made out of it. It could even go into being used in jewellery and accessories or the scales would be used in smithing and armoury.

He didn't care which it would be, because all that mattered was that they handed these things into the guild. He then used Excalibur to hack out its teeth but not before he took a few used potion bottles and drained out the poison from its glands. The poison was still hot enough to make the glass warm but Lyze was relieved that the glass held against the acidity.

He then tore out the remaining spines, the claws from its feet, its eyeballs and finally the core and tossed them all into his storage space before lighting the corpse with his Flame and he incinerated it. Lyze stretched as he glanced around at at the narrow walls of the Throne Room. This was the home of the next monster rex.

Udaeus.

And Lyze had been chosen again to participate in the attack. His power had had grown so much and he'd displayed such remarkable potential for damage that Finn without question admitted him to the attack team. And as the hours went by, it seemed that the Pallum was also slipping on the upcoming fight with Balor. Lyze clenched his fist as he shut off his 'eyes' and focused deep within himself.

He'd encountered a problem. The Flame was constantly growing inside him, but it put a lot of pressure on his soul, when Chaos was already doing enough of that. To prevent his soul from simply exploding, Lyze had looked for ways in which the Flame could grow but not grow short of space. It was then that Lyze faced an extremely hard dilemma.

He had several skills written upon his soul as well as some inherent powers of his. The subskills he had underneath {Xenia Khaos} came purely from Chaos, but they did take up a lot of space. He'd already fed a couple to the Flame itself and it turned out that feeding it innate powers was like adding uranium to a bomb...a whole lot more fuel. And those were just small skills.

He had some small intention parting with the skills that focused on Elemental powers like Gilthunder's power and Howzer's...but what actually came into question was actually his own Elemental powers.

There was a difference between the skills that granted him elemental attacks and then there was his own born power of being able to use every element freely under no restrictions by incantation. If he were to give up that ability alone, more than half his soul would be left spare for the Flame to take up. But by doing that, he'd lose the ability to generate fire, ice, lightning, water, earth, wind and all the other stuff. He'd also lose his practical spells too.

In favour of letting his own Magical Power grow, he'd have to cut down his combat capabilities by over a half. Was that worth the sacrifice?

Of course, if he had full control over Chaos then that would be no issue as he'd be able to call up the same elements but there was no telling when he would be able to use Chaos Magic freely, or if there perhaps came a time where it would be inaccessible to him. The Flame of Origin gave him fire, lightning, telekinetic powers and the ability to inflict soul damage as well as devouring those souls and converting the life force into high quality Excelia.

The more focus he gave to the Flame, the more efficiently it would do its job and the greater his Excelia gain would be which was vital as he levelled up further. Gaining Excelia when you were a first class adventurer was a complete nightmare as it took horrendously long.

That was the hard decision he was faced with. Faster progress in expense of a greater range of attacks. Was it a wise choice?

Lyze's attention was drawn away from the burning corpse and his internal debate to the noise of multiple sets of feet walking around the corner as the Loki Familia came into view, pack and carts heavy with goods and valuable materials harvested from the monster corpses.

Finn came tapping forwards with the butt of his spear as he examined the burning body. Surprisingly he was able to identify what monster it was, even from the charred remains.

"A Peluda." Finn said in surprise as he raised both brows. "That's a tough one...but you're immune to all poisons and its fire would be useless against you. So I guess it was just down to physicality."

"No, I killed it with magic too." Lyze said. "How else could I farm its body parts intact?"

"Hm." Finn looked around the walls of the Throne Room just as Lyze had done. "We need to get to the exit first before we confront Udaeus. We got a little side-tracked but we've mostly made back the extra time. But if we want to wrap this up before the end of the day, then we should start moving a little faster."

"Why don't we get Riveria and her elves to pin the monster down with the arrows I created from my feathers?" Lyze suggested. "That should be able to stun it for us to get a good few attacks in. And by the way Captain, could I challenge it first?"

"I'm not letting you fight it alone if that's what you're asking Lyze." Finn deadpanned. "You've certainly gotten a whole lot stronger, and I did allow you to spend some time alone with Amphisbaena, but this is a monster rex that is quite a lot more nasty."

"I'm just asking you to let me go first." Lyze said. "I can easily evade its first attacks, even any surprise ones since I can become airborne."

"Like you did with the squid?" Finn raised a brow.

"...That's a low one." Lyze said grimly.

"I jest." Finn said. "You know something don't you Lyze? And you want to find out yourself by challenging it upfront."

"How could you tell?"

"I've come to know your ways quite well." The Pallum replied. "Also, if I am to believe your divination claims, like knowing the current identities of Dim and Fianna, then what's to say you're not divining secrets about monsters we are fighting? You certainly have seemed to know quite a lot about monsters you've never fought before." Finn turned to the burning corpse. "How else could you defeat a monster that it takes first class adventurers to kill?"

"I just simply noticed that monsters tend to reveal hidden cards when they are challenged by a single opponent." Lyze said. "I want to see what card Udaeus has up his sleeve. The bony bastard is bound to have one."

"...Well go ahead." Finn conceded. "I'm excited to see what mad plan you have up your sleeve."

---

Lyze watched as the last carts made their way down the stairs and into the 38th floor, which was the third safe zone. One of the last people to go down the stairs was Ais and she momentarily turned around to give him a strange look he could not quite decipher. But sensing her concern, he smiled the most reassuring smile he could muster amidst the anticipation and waved at her. Ais gave him a small smile and waved back before grabbing onto the rail of the last cart passing by her and off she disappeared.

Lyze's smile dropped as he released a deep sight and sheathed Excalibur. He cracked his fingers and began stretching, making sure to pull every muscle to the max so they would contract quicker. Udaeus was a monster that did not rely so much on magical attacks as it was a monster whose abilities were centred mainly around physical attacks.

And the problem was that the blast waves were so powerful that it easily dispelled magic most of the time. But Lyze had an edge...because most mages could not fly.

Noir smirked and walked over as he examined the boy.

"I can hear your heartbeat from over there." The old man remarked. "You that nervous?"

"I'm about to face down a level 6 monster rex as a peak level 3." Lyze said. "As much as I am forced to admit how exceptional I am amongst other people of my level, what I am doing is stepping into territory that the world would collectively agree  is suicide, and that I am not ready to step into."

"Well we all have to grow up someday." Noir patted his back. "You're just lucky to do it earlier than most...or should it be something unlucky? Most of the time, I have a serious problem deciding which it is when it comes to you."

"Your opinions would most definitely be shifting to the latter category after your most recent encounter." Lyze said grimly. "I'm sorry about that."

"No need to apologize." Noir pulled back his cheek with a finger. "See this missing tooth here? It was bothering me for quite a while. But given that we are adventurers, it takes adventurer strength to remove it. I was saved from having to do the job myself by getting socked in the face by your master. So not all things were bad eh?"

"Your smile is not reaching your eyes."

"...I've seen people with that look in their eyes before." Noir said. "I've met them, sat with them, fought with them. Your master is of a category of extremism eccentric even amongst the extreme...but, he does not seem to be evil. More like...indifferent."

"That's an understatement." Lyze said.

"That said, I still don't want him near you anymore." The old man grimaced. "That sort of supervision is something we can never condone in this Familia."

"You won't be able to stop him if he does come back."

"That we won't." Noir sighed. "His posture was so relaxed and his movements so lazy...we were nothing before him. All of my best moves deflected with the back of a FINGER...it's no wonder you're my equal."

"Now hold on." Lyze stopped stretching at that statement. "There is absolutely no way on earth I am your equal when it comes to the sword."

"Oh but you are." Noir laid a hand on his shoulder. "Your skills match and outstrip mine in some cases. My experience is what gets me through...but in due time, your raw power will be enough to overshadow even that. Technique is always triumphant over brute strength...until a certain point. An umbrella does not hold itself against a tornado."

"Because it's meant to protect against rain." Lyze wished he could roll his eyes. "Your analogies are really bad sometimes, you know that Noir?"

"My rhythm lies in my blade." Noir laughed. "Not my eloquence of speech."

"Your speech is cleaner than most." Lyze said as he raised a brow. "In fact, I don't think I've ever heard you swear...which is a stark contrast to a lot of adventurers out there."

"Including yourself." Noir smacked his head lightly. "Better watch your tongue young man. Riveria will only tolerate it for so long."

"She's not my mom." Lyze grumbled.

"She might as well be." Noir shook his head before he caught sight of the executive group leaving the area in search of the monster rex. Dain waved back over to them with a questioning look, urging them to follow. "Buckle up Lyze. It's going to get quite bumpy from here on out."

---

Lyze's finger wrung themselves over and over again as he surveyed the battle formation, even as the ground shook and dust fell from the ceiling, signalling the coming of the Risen. The mage team was positioned at different points along the wall of the small hallway they found themselves in. The dwarf tanks were positioned in front of them to protect from shockwaves and rubble that could fly their way and disturb their chanting.

Concurrent chanting was a rare talent and Lyze did not know how far Riveria had gone in trying to teach them wordless magic as he had taught her. But knowing the general attitude of the elves, they would not bother to learn the technique of a human even if their princess used it. Tensions were high between him and the elves...he kind of hoped that a rock or a pebble did clock them in the heads. Perhaps it would knock a little sense into them.

He was with the executives. Finn, Gareth, Riveria in the back, Bara, Dain and Noir upfront. And Lyze was in front of even them as a giant boulder, about as big as the Pantheon building of the guild rose out of the ground, while the light levels dipped as they usually did when a floor boss showed its face. Finn gave him a nod, granting permission to Lyze to move forward.

The boy shook off his nervousness and approached the giant boulder as a large crack split down the middle, before the two halves burst apart revealing a giant skeleton monster, bones as black as night with a giant stone inside its ribcage, positioned a little to the left like a heart. Its head was adorned with two large horns and its empty eye-sockets shone with a red light, like a burning furnace inside its skull and sharp teeth jutted out from the jaws.

If anybody wanted to know what the skeleton of the biblical Devil looked like, this was a pretty good place to start imagining things.

Udaeus, King of the 37th floor.

The monster rex turned its head all around as it made note of every adventurer in its room before looking down at the boy that was approaching it. It grinded its teeth, the scraping noises like multiple pieces of giant chalk being dragged down a giant blackboard as it clenched its fist and lifted its arms.

Lyze's hand floated above Excalibur's hilt before Thread picked up movement coming up from the ground below...a lot of movement actually. Lyze smirked as he recognised the dirty trick and he leapt up into the air as a row of giant spikes burst out from the ground underneath him, attempting to skewer him from below. Lyze floated in the air and watched as the destruction carried on through the room, forcing the executives to jump aside also while Gareth merely smashed the spikes apart with his axe.

The boy's attention was drawn to the giant bony fist suddenly headed his way, aiming to punch him right into the rocky wall. Of course Lyze was expecting this, it was a most obvious plan of attack especially after he detected its spike attack. But the air pressure of the punch actually surprised him. He could literally see the pressure field covering the clenched bones as the giant fist hurtled towards him. Even from several metres away, air pressure began rippling the skin on the front of Lyze's body.

As that pressure increased, Lyze recognised the threat of actually having his skin ripped off his face before Udaeus actually hit him and he quickly teleported out of the way as the fist smashed into the wall, the Throne Room shaking with the force of the attack. Udaeus was drawn to the purple flash of Lyze teleporting and so focused on the boy once again when the same purple flash appeared in front of his face.

Lyze was upside down as a tendril of Darkness wrapped around his right arm. Lyze quickly pointed that arm at Udaeus's face.

"{Darkblade}" The boy said. In an instant, a giant razor thin blade of condensed darkness slashed towards the monster rex's face.

The force of that slash knocked Udaeus's face back in a whiplash. When it righted itself, there was clear cut in its bony face that was alight with demonic black fire. Udaeus tried to lean forward and bite him in half but Lyze teleported above the skull.

"{Cruel Sun}" The boy shouted as a quick, miniature sun smashed down onto the monster's head, an explosion of searing heat and fire melting the rock around the monster rex's head. In a blind rage, it swiped out with its free arm but luckily missed the boy as its vision was clouded. The draught however blew Lyze across the room. The pressure of the draught nearly shattered his ribs but he bore the pain and flipped so his feet landed on the opposite wall instead of his back.

Silver electricity began storming around his body as silver fire covered his body like an aura. Lyze grit his teeth as his body bulged up with muscles as the Loki Familia were met with the same spiritual pressure as they were yesterday but of course on a much lower level. Regardless, pebbles and debris began to levitate in the air as the pressure of Lyze's magical strength filled the Throne Room.

Riveria was convinced now more than ever that Lyze's mind pool was inconceivably more vast than hers. The amount of magical energy she was simply feeling as a prelude to Lyze's attack was equal to one of her high level spells.

Lyze roared as he shot off the wall with a flex of his legs. His jump was so powerful that the wall, which was made out of Dungeon bedrock take note, completely shattered and more than that, cracks spewed forth along the ground beneath where he had jumped off, making a couple of mages trip over as they found their foothold suddenly not so stable anymore.

Lyze's body became a streak of fire with a trail of lightning being left behind in his flight path as he called all his physical might and magical might into a singular punch as he impacted one of the shoulders of the monster rex. The shoulder ball completely shattered and the monster's body was slammed into the wall with so much force that the entire room shook violently and rocks began raining down from the ceiling as they created mini-earthquakes with each impact.

Udaeus groaned as it pulled itself out of the hole its body made in the wall before angrily shrieking as the shoulder ball disconnected completely and its whole arm fell off. Lyze quickly drew back, wincing and cursing as he hurried to heal his broken hand. The Risen looked down at its lost arm on the ground before it growled and the ground began shaking again.

Over a very specific place on the floor, it held its hand as what looked like a tower of black bone began rising out of the ground. Udaeus grabbed the top and pulled it out, turning it around to show the side and reveal that it was in fact a cruel looking bastard sword that was covered in a red aura.

"Udaeus has a sword?!" Riveria gasped, her eyes wide in surprise.

"This is what he was looking for." Finn grinned. "The hidden card. Lyze was right."

"That's what you two were chatting about earlier?" Gareth asked in surprise. "How does this kid always surprise us with the crazy stuff?"

"The more important question is, do we step in?" Bara asked.

Finn watched as Lyze drew Excalibur in response to the giant sword. Remembering one of Lyze's signature moves, the Pallum smiled and gripped his spear a little tighter.

"Let's hold off for now...something tells me we won't be the ones to take it down."

"And once again, the kid steals the thunder." Bara sighed and shook her head before grinning. "Let's hope he puts on one hell of a show to make it worth it!"

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