Trial of Cruelty (II)

Chapter 291

Cain had been wailing away at the witch in the sky for hours already, and despite the fact that it wasn't hard... it was tedious and boring. It was like working a meaningless job in a glassless cubicle, except if he made a mistake or forgot something, he'd die and not just get reamed out by an ungrateful boss.

All the while, Te'gha would occasionally pop his head out of Cain's inventory and toss a few crosses and jabs before dipping back, as though he were never there.

Beyond that, however, there was little else to distract him from the mundane reality he was stuck in, the one in which he, a mage, needed to physically strike a boss with a weapon nearly five thousand times. He would occasionally pause for a few minutes and pay close attention to the Queen's health but, luckily, he natural regeneration rate seemed to be quite low.

This meant that he didn't really need to strain himself--every few hours, he'd pause for a few minutes, take a snack or drink some water and reset his psyche, before resuming the beatdown.

It was boring but, for a change, Cain could deal with boring. The alternative, after all, was a short-fused but death-at-every-corner sort of a fight, the kind that he has been having ever since entering the Tower. Nearly every boss he fought could kill him if he made a minute mistake, but the difference there was that making that mistake was incredibly easy. Here? It was like driving a car on the flat stretch of road going on into infinity. Unless he fell asleep behind the wheel or purposefully steered himself off-road, there was little in the way the boss could do to harm him.

This was discounting potential phases, however, which was also why Cain never truly relaxed, always keeping an eye out on any and all potential changes the witch might undergo.

Nonetheless, as the days went by, and soon a whole week, there was no change. What was worse, nobody even came about to investigate--beyond just fighting the witch, Cain kept an eye out on potential scavengers, but none ever arrived. Not to investigate, not even out of curiosity. It was as though the world around the two of them ceased functioning for the time being, or even existing altogether.

Outside of the clashing sounds of their fights and the witch's cries and occasional obscenities, the world was... eerily quiet, as though the two of them existed within a snow globe, a show put on for the masses watching them. And yet, Cain's quite attuned and keen senses were unable to pick up any gazes. Nobody was watching them, as far as he knew--and he even sensed back when fighting Mael that the powers-that-be were watching them since they weren't exactly shy when it came to their curiosity.

"Hey, Te'gha," in the midst of boredom, Cain resorted to chatting with the only other soul here besides him and the witch.

"Hm? What is it, stupid human? You ready to rest? Give Te'gha some snacks! Snacks!!!"

"Not yet," Cain groaned, noticing the glint in the little feline's eyes--the thing was addicted, he realized. Addicted to candy. "You seriously need to chill with that shit, it ain't good for you..."

"Humph!! What does a stupid human know?! Great snacks for Great Te'gha! A perfect match! Stupid human!"

"Yea, yea, yea," Cain played along but didn't take out any candy. "No, I wanted to ask you some stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Any stuff," Cain shrugged. "Like, do you know what you'll look like when you grow up? I mean, when you, uh, grow... bigger?"

"Humph, of course! Great Te'gha knows everything!"

"What's eight multiplied by twelve?"

"..."

"..." awkward silence lasted for a while, so much so in fact that Te'gha eyes grew even slightly teary. Eventually, even Cain was unable to press forth any longer.

"So, what are you gonna look like?"

"G-great Te'gha will look great!" the pup restored his confidence rather quickly, puffing his tiny chest out. "My fur will shine and my tail will be a million--no, a billion miles long!" Cain rolled his eyes but remained silent, using the conversation merely as a distraction from the absolute state of boredom he'd otherwise be in, fighting the damn witch.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, yes!" Te'gha nodded furiously. "Great Te'gha will look mean and strong and big and large and... and..."

"And magnificent?"

"Yes, and magnificent! Feel lucky, stupid human, that I've chosen you as my servant! Kekeke~~ others will be jealous when they see me!"

"Man, you really do love yourself. Bah, whatever. Tell me about your Awakened skills, then." not unlike everyone else, the beasts like Te'gha also underwent Awakenings--it was just that theirs were extremely conditional and could not be skirted around. Though Cain had absolutely no idea on the conditions for Te'gha, he suspected they weren't mild.

"Heh, listen to this, stupid human!" the cat sniffled, almost like a human, as means of showcasing pride. "I will be able to see stats of everyone! Every stat, of everyone! Without any limitations! Ke ke ke, what do you think? Super amazing, eh?! Kekeke~~"

Cain nearly lost control over the fight for a moment when he heard what Te'gha said. Amazing? Corners of the Cain's lips twitched violently for a moment, having realized that Te'gha had absolutely no idea how ridiculous and game-breaking the Awakened ability--if it truly was just as he described it, without limitations-- was.

'Without limitations' implied that not only could Te'gha see every stat of whoever he was inspecting, but also their skills--which was beyond broken. Until 20th floor, nearly every boss would be given some sort of a description--the more difficult ones ascribed a full 'guide' of sorts to their skills--that detailed what they did and outlined how they ought to be faced. Starting with the 21st floor, however, that would no longer be the case.

In his previous life, every raid consisted of three-pronged approach: the inspection, the test, and the actual raid. The inspection was usually met with a lot of deaths, the test with fewer, and the raid with the fewest. People's lives were tossed in as a trade for knowing what the bosses did and how to fight them. If Te'gha could actually see through the bosses, that would effectively be 50% of the fight.

"Does that include bosses?" Cain asked.

"Kek, of course! Great Te'gha sees everything, stupid human! So you better feed me properly, ke keke!"

"Tsk, broken-ass shit," Cain mumbled, dodging a very slow bloom of fire from the witch and retaliating with another strike, causing her to cry out again. "Any others?"

"I... I'm not sure," the feline replied uncertainly.

"Aagh, enough!!" Cain's and Te'gha's conversation was interrupted by a high-pitched scream and a bout of displacing energy that knocked them both back several dozen feet.

Alarmed, Cain recovered swiftly and focused forward, only now noticing that the witch's health had hit a 50% mark. Sighing, he realized it was time for a new phase.

The surge of Mana blew him out further once again, an invisible tornado forming with the witch acting as the eye. What made Cain worried, however, was that her health was sapping--from 50% to 49% to 48%... in fact, it dripped down all the way to 'measly' 10%. While just 10%, it was still a massive health pool--though, what the sudden drop meant was that her offense likely skyrocketed.

Realizing that he'd no longer be just mucking about boringly, Cain put away the sword and raised his awareness to the max. A few moments later, a completely different figure from before emerged from the violent storm--beyond just the shift in countenance, the woman's looks changed drastically as well, her eyes losing all color but white, her hair turning silver, and her outfit covering up far more parts of her.

[Emergency Quest Update]

AGAIN? Cain groaned inwardly, rolling his eyes until he was see the insides of his skull. This was the second time the quest was updated and though it was not unprecedented, it was rare... and annoying.

[Trial of Cruelty's difficulty has been adjusted to 'Guardianship']

[A new boss discovered: Byrna the Shattered]

Byrna is not a person but a concept borne of fragments. Unfeeling, unmoved, untouched, she was the perfect weapon during the War of Astrys, having charged on the frontlines successfully more than a dozen times. A perfect hybrid of a Knight and a Mage, she was a conceptual design of a perfect fighter. Though flawed in the outcome, she was good enough to get the technique that made her permanently outlawed.

Cain sighed, having read everything. More and more, he realized, he was needing to fight ridiculous things that nobody, not a group and certainly not an individual, in his previous life had to. While he was a Thief, that hardly meant he was invincible and all-powerful, especially when considering things he had no knowledge off--Byrna, whatever she was, included.

"Enemy spotted... analysis..." she had a woman's voice, though it was quite patchy and emotionless. "Spellweaving Mage, high-level. Strengths: long-range artillery, control, adaptability. Weaknesses: low survivability, limited Mana pool, short-range skirmishes. Adapting... engaging mid-melee system. Defaulting..."

Though it seemed stupid that she was outright saying what she was doing, Cain figured that it was actually the Tower's way of giving hints about the boss. Effectively, she broke down his class--theoretically--and then adapted a system to it. She wasn't wrong--Spellweavers were the weakest in short and mid-ranged combat. They thrived in prolonged engages with a lot of party members involved due to the class' nature.

However, that was the issue with theory--it didn't account for the person behind the class. The woman swapped into a sword-shield combo and flew forward speedily at him, holding the shield against her body, protecting it wholly, while keeping the sword out, aiming at the center mass of his body. Cain took a deep breath and Blinked sideways, dodging, and realizing that the true test was here. He was about 99% certain that the woman was hand-crafted to test him and push him to his limits. That was what his gut was telling him.

Well, he mused, charging Mana into his fists. Can't disappoint the fans...

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