[Kill him! Don"t leave even a single strand of hair of that arrogant brat!]
Lilith"s sharp voice resonated within the palace. The statues flashed their golden muscles and charged towards me. As I was keeping my eye on them from the beginning, I could feel the giant lump of mana within them and how they were following Lilith"s commands.
[I am Dortu. I can make them weaker for about 0.07 seconds.]
"Then when I give you the signal, weaken them in order."
Dortu seemed to be upset because of Lilith stealing command over the weapons he controlled. He informed me that he could weaken the statues for a moment, and I immediately answered him as I fixed my grip on my spear.
Although Dortu was only born recently, because I kept feeding him my mana when he was still an egg, I could communicate with him much quicker than with words. As such, 0.07 seconds was more than enough.
I first tried fighting a statue without borrowing Dortu"s power. I thrusted my spear towards the statue"s stomach, but a terrifying strength pushed back against it. Right, it was the statue"s power.
Of course, a part of the statue"s power came from the mana within it, but there was something about it that went beyond my comprehension. If this mysterious force wasn"t mana, it could only be one thing.
"This isn"t gold!"
[Who would use such a frail metal?]
[I am Dortu. I"ve never experienced this metal. Dortu must eat it.]
My spear handle clashed with the statue"s fist and an eerie creaking noise rang out. At the same time, Dortu went crazy over the metal he was seeing for the first time. Just in case, I asked him.
"What about weakening them?"
[I am Dortu. Dortu must eat that metal.]
"… Sure, go ahead."
If that"s what you want to do, you shouldn"t have brought my hopes up!
With no other choice, I gave up cleanly. Immediately after I gave Dortu the okay sign, a small chunk disappeared from the fist of the statue I was facing. It was as though someone bit it off.
[An elemental!? Hmph, everyone attack!]
Lilith wasn"t called a world"s enemy for nothing. She instantly realized Dortu"s ident.i.ty and ordered her servants to attack me. It was naturally for the elemental to disappear once its contractor died.
Even before Lilith gave the order, the statues were making their moves. I knew Ruyue would protect me with ice barriers in the worst case, but considering the impact I felt when I clashed against one of them, Ruyue"s barrier probably wouldn"t last more than one attack.
Though shocking, even my enhanced body couldn"t destroy one of these statues in one blow. In that case, I only had one choice left. It was what I was prepared for even before I entered the 35th floor.
"Overlord!"
Immediately, my body doubled in size. An unknown mana, Enigma, shot up from thin air and covered my body. As I felt the chilling and electrifying sensation from Enigma, a smile broke out on my face.
Enigma was a mana I possessed. Not even Lilith could seduce mana under my control. Even if it materialized and formed an armor, it was still mana in the end.
Consequently, I was no longer revealing my skin, as the armor of Enigma enshrouded me.
"Huaaaaaa!"
When all directions were blocked off, it was best to take the initiative and break through. As such, I charged forward with a roar. There was a total of five statues in this direction. The rest chased after me from left, right, behind, and above to try and crush me. I clenched my teeth and shouted.
"Kaaaaaaaaaak!"
The sound and breath I roared out became blazing flames and spread out. With the logic of metal being weak to fire, I had used Crimson Roar.
Thankfully, things went as I expected. The temperature of the palace shot up and a blazing fire was ignited on all metal-bodied beings. It was most likely thanks to Enigma"s power.
[This is a power beyond logic! Iiiiik!]
I could hear Lilith shrieking in frustration, but I couldn"t see her well because of the statues surrounding me. In return, I drew in the surrounding flames to my spear and added Lightning G.o.d"s lightning to create a whirlpool.
"Break!"
In the past, the skill I could most easily use after learning Peruta Circuit was Tempest, a skill that only required 300 mana. But with Peruta Circuit mastered now, I felt sorry comparing the old Tempest to the current Tempest, as I could draw in surrounding mana and throw out an infinite number of Tempests.
Not to mention, I even had Ultimate Avariace and Crimson h.e.l.l"s Tattoo now! As Tempest was an extension of Peruta Circuit, I was filled with more mana every time I used Tempest.
This mana, in turn, transformed into Enigma and gushed out to my spear. An infinite cycle.
"No matter hard you might be, I doubt you can hold on when I suck out all the mana from you!"
[I am Dortu. I will eat as quickly as possible.]
Dortu muttered as though he was scared I would take his food away. Immediately, the statue I believed Dortu was staying on became noticeably slow. I swung my spear around, freely shooting out Tempests, then thrusted my spear towards a statue trying to punch me.
The whirlpool of black mana enveloping my spear made the spear look triple its size. Like being slammed with a hammer, the statue shattered into pieces with a ear-piercing sound.
[You over there, don"t move!]
It was at this moment that Lilith"s voice rang out. As I expected her to prevent me from freely fighting the statues, after seeing Ruyue form a barrier around me, I drew Absolute Soul"s power to its peak.
Lilith"s magic was a type of mental magic but was closer to being a curse. Unfortunately for her, I was probably the most suited to block such an attack in all of Earth.
[I"ll crush that handsome face of yours!]
"Huuu…!"
At the same time that Lilith"s magic power began to restrain me, three statues shot towards me from the left, right, and above.
To think she could restrain me to this extent when I was using Overlord… It was a power worthy of a world"s enemy. It seemed I needed to take back what I said about her only having a high charm. If I was any weaker, I might have lost. No, I would have lost to her charm the moment I saw her.
"But it"s too bad you met me a bit too late…!"
After taking a short breath, I pulled my spear inward. Peruta Circuit stopped momentarily, and circulating it in reverse, I concentrated the discharging mana back towards my spear. This strange flow of mana also affected Lilith"s mana flowing into me, causing its previously steady flow to shake and eventually be outed by Absolute Soul. At the same time, the tattoos on my fingers let out a radiant light and concentrated all sorts of mana into my spear. Lilith"s mana quickly lost its purpose and was sucked into the spear.
The ability to concentrate all power into one point. This was my unique ability resulting from my innate talents rather than being the result of Peruta"s ability. More specifically, it was the principle behind the spear technique pa.s.sed down in my clan.
Right now, I was concentrating Peruta Circuit"s power, Crimson h.e.l.l"s power, and Absolute Soul"s power together with the power of nature which didn"t belong to me. Enigma gathered all these powers together and strengthened them. These powers, which originally should clash against each other, became docile under Enigma"s command.
Any ordinary spear would have been destroyed and I would have been injured by the recoil, but the spear I was holding was Chaotic Spear reinforced with Dortu"s power. Rather than being destroyed, the concentration of several powers made it radiate with a brilliant light.
"Haaaaap!"
Almost like pulling a rubber band and letting it go, I instantly returned Peruta Circuit to its normal rotational direction and shot my spear forward. The concentrated energy blasted out like a laser, piercing through several statues and hurling towards Lilith, my real target.
[Kyak!]
I didn"t check whether she was hurt. I didn"t have the time. I used Lightning Spear Storm at the statues coming towards me. With my eyes wide open, I accurately pinpointed the location of the statues surrounding me and thrusted my spear at the statues one by one while dodging their attacks!
"Uaaaaaaaah!"
Although I couldn"t break them with just one attack, my continuous barrage of spear thrusts drilled huge holes in the statues. Dortu spoke disappointedly.
[I am Dortu. There are less to eat. I must eat quicker.]
"If you can, hurry, Dortu!"
[I am Dortu. I can a.n.a.lyze the metal soon.]
I inwardly cheered Dortu on and took my spear back. Then, I jumped back and swung my spear fiercely. Two statutes swooping down on me from above fell after being cut in half.
[Impossible…! Oreichalcos was so easily cut…!?]
Orichalcos? I"ve heard that name before! If I remember correctly, a more common name for it was orichalc.u.m! One of the most powerful metals comparable to mithril! That means… Those statues are all orichalcos!? Lilith, you"re filthy rich!
"It"s simple. The mana I"m wielding now is a bit different than yours."
[I already know that your mana has reached a new realm, but you still shouldn"t be able to cut orichalcos so easily!]
"If you just release your mana, of course it"s impossible. But if you concentrate your mana like this…"
I effortlessly concentrated over 100,000 points worth of mana into my spear. An aura containing several energies mixed together was dizzying to look at originally, but with Enigma swallowing everything, I could control this aura easily. As I concentrated the aura along the spear blade, it stopped emitting light and became thin like a well-grinded edge of a blade.
This wasn"t possible in the past because of my lack of mana. But if it was simply concentrating mana to strengthen my attack, I was able to do it for a long time. With the addition of Overlord, I was now capable of fusing other mana into my own!
Now, including the power of the dungeon, I had well-over 900,000 mana. Using this technique to cut apart orichalcos was easily done.
"You all better get out of the way!"
I thrusted my spear backwards. As I was getting closer to the wall of the palace, there weren"t many attacking me from the back, and the attack just now incapacitated most of the statues that did. Then, I jumped on the wall. I could easily run in mid-air, but running was the wall on cooler!
"Peika, Sharana!"
[Full power!]
[For Master!]
I gave closer to half of my remaining mana, an amount totaling 300,000, to my elementals. Immediately after they received my mana, Peika transformed into a giant lightning dragon coiled around air.
Although I couldn"t see Sharana, I could feel her inside Peika, strengthening her ability to the limit. A technique I learned after mastering Spirit Aura, the ability to make one elemental infuse into another.
Of course, it wasn"t possible with just any elemental. It was only possible for elementals like Peika, who had extremely high potential, and Sharana, who was optimized to strengthen others" ability.
[A truly powerful elemental… But will that be enough to injure me?]
"At the very least, she can destroy everything other than you."
[I am Dortu. a.n.a.lysis complete.]
Before Lilith could even finish talking, Dortu announced confidently. At the same time, the statues" movements became strange. They suddenly came to a stop in the middle of charging towards me as if their feet got stuck in place. Then, their human-shaped body began to distort. Dortu was getting his revenge for what Lilith had done to him before.
I shouted.
"Now!"
[Kuaaaaaaaa!]
Peika let out a fearsome roar and uncoiled herself to begin charging straightforward. The terrifying lightning she emitted shot out in all directions and cleanly erased the flames that were still burning. Not only that, but the statues that couldn"t dodge her charge disappeared like they never existed. With her giant mouth wide open, Peika flew straight towards Lilith.
With the metallic statues gone, I could finally see Lilith. Half of her face was still dripping with blood, and blood of shooting out from a small hole in her stomach. That hole must have been the result of the Heroic Strike I used before.
However, facing Peika"s terrifying charge, Lilith smiled faintly. When I saw her smile, I immediately knew.
Someone who could seduce inanimate objects was surely capable of seducing elementals!
As chills ran down my back, Lilith opened her mouth.
[Elemental, you can see me, can"t you?]
[I can.]
[No, you"re not yet.]
When Peika retorted, Lilith made a definitive reb.u.t.tal. Immediately afterwards, Lilith"s magic power billowed out like a blooming flower.
The palace, burning from Crimson Roar and crumbling from the Tempests I shot out, became filled with Lilith"s magic power. Even I, who was preparing an attack, suddenly felt suffocated because of it.
Should I unsummon Peika and just attack by myself? Just when I was thinking about my next move and drawing up Absolute Soul"s power, Lilith"s voice rang out sonorously throughout the palace.
[I will show you why I am Lilith.]
Before I noticed, the injuries on her body was gone. The blood on her face evaporated, and the eyeball I plucked out was properly adorning her face. She began to radiate light. Although my charm stat was amplified to an absurd level with Overlord, I lost grip of my spear when I saw Lilith"s face.
d.a.m.n it! I"m still lacking in training!
[Indeed, you"re a special human. I didn"t think you had the ability to cut orichalcos, really. I was caught off guard quite a bit, and even suffered some injuries…]
Peika"s charge stopped. It felt like my heart was stopping too.
[You tried your best, and it was quite enjoyable, but in the end, you can"t defeat me. There"s only way to beat me, and that"s… To. Surpa.s.s. My. Charm.]
How did she recover from all those injuries? Thinking that I had to fight her from the beginning again, strength left my body as I let out a hollow laugh. Just when I was thinking about giving up, I realized what was happening. This was all just Lilith"s magic.
Lilith had lost. It was because she lost to Elesia"s female Hero that she was in the dungeon. Then did that Hero surpa.s.s her in charm? No, that was impossible. Lilith was lying.
But what was terrifying was that the charm she was currently emitting had the power to make people believe falsehood as truth. Even I felt like nodding and agreeing with her words.
I frantically circulated Peruta Circuit. I returned Chaotic Spear back into my hands and pointed it towards her while glaring at her with a piercing gaze.
I was currently considering the worst case scenario, one in which Peika turned to Lilith"s side. I tried to unsummon Peika the moment I saw Lilith in her fully restored state, but it didn"t work. Since I couldn"t hurt Peika, I would have to somehow dodge her and kill Lilith.
It was okay. Because I didn"t know what trump cards Lilith was hiding, I had also kept my own trump cards. I had yet to properly use Divine Speed, and I still had much of Overlord"s energy left. Like she said, it was her charm that was most dangerous. As long as I could overcome it, I had a chance.
[Elemental, what do you think?]
[Krrrrrr.]
Lilith asked Peika, and Peika growled quietly in response.
Then, she swallowed Lilith.