Chapter 34: A Piece of History

"...Urgh!" Typhon slams Nio violently against the ground, hitting her again and again without stopping. Nio fires multiple beams from her two cannons at Typhon, but she dodges them with ease.

"Switch weapons. Now," Typhon says it like an order, spinning and hurling Nio, who instinctively twists in the air and hits the ground sliding, spreading her wings to come to a complete stop.

"You—" Before Nio can speak, Typhon has already lunged forward with a headbutt. Nio grabs her horns as she’s violently shoved back hundreds of meters, unable to withstand Typhon’s physical strength. Dust rises and branches snap and crack under the force.

’D-Dammit, as a mage my physical power is low. I might seem absurdly strong in terms of physical strength, but that’s only because I have a good class setup and I’m max level...’ Nio’s body slams against a large boulder as she’s pinned against it.

Her body is pierced by Typhon’s horns. She gasps, spitting blood. The pain and burning sensation make tears spill from her eyes. It’s the second time she’s been wounded since arriving in this world, but unlike just broken fingers, this is a deep puncture wound through multiple points in her stomach.

"[Omni-Trax]"

[Omni-Trax] Generates an explosion of whatever element the user chooses. The explosion size can be set to 5 levels.

The nightmare flame explosion engulfs everything around her, incinerating the entire rocky area and the surrounding forest. The blast pushes Typhon back, forcing her to defend herself.

"..." In the crater left by the level 5 explosion, Nio kneels, touching her stomach. It won’t stop bleeding, but her various passive regeneration skills begin to slowly mend her body.

’I-It hurts...’ She doesn’t overreact. Her race grants her a relatively high pain tolerance, but that doesn’t change the fact that her regeneration is costly and painful. It doesn’t fix things magically all at once. It gradually consumes Nio’s magic, generating a deep, uncomfortable ache.

"That’s it, Nio. You’re a mage. You should use magic, not those toys you love so much." Typhon’s tone is neutral, but when she refers to Lucifugus and Metratoron, her voice gains a hint of jealousy.

"..." Nio controls both of them, trying to attack Typhon from behind, but Typhon reacts by snatching Metratoron out of the air.

She observes Metratoron in her hand for a moment, then looks at Nio, and then she bites the weapon, leaving Nio bewildered.

Crack

"NO!!" Nio screams, staggering to her feet. Both cannons fire, but they deal no damage to Typhon, who finishes devouring her weapon. The fragments vanish as Typhon’s mouth opens in an inhuman way, literally fitting the entire cannon inside her body, showing yet more traits of her inhuman physiology, like a snake swallowing things far bulkier than itself.

’Where is it?’ Nio looks at Lucifugus, unable to see Metratoron regenerating. That’s strange, because it used to be an extremely fast process.

[Permanent Damage Identified: Metratoron has been completely damaged beyond natural regeneration repair]

An alert appears in front of Nio, and she realizes something terrifying. Her weapons, which were unbreakable in the game, can be broken in this world. She quickly recalls Lucifugus as her mind fully grasps the situation. She has lost Metratoron forever. One of her favorite weapons.

"M-Metratoron?...you...you!! YOU!!" She screams in hatred, staring at Typhon, realizing that Typhon has some ability or passive that completely destroyed even a secret-grade weapon that was supposed to regenerate.

"Why did you do that?! Why did you destroy it?! I—"

"I know how important that weapon was to you. You loved them deeply. They were your favorite little toys that shaped your class choices." Typhon interrupts Nio, staring at Lucifugus, which has retreated behind Nio.

"You loved those weapons. They brought you so much joy and were your most precious treasure among the many weapons you collected. And I hate them deeply. So for your disrespect in fighting me without your main class, I devoured a piece of that trash. Think of it as payback. You are not an archer. You are a mage. So use magic." Typhon’s tone makes Nio bite her lips in hatred.

"Do not think you can underestimate me again, assuming I’ll struggle against a mere secondary class! I am not inferior to you, Nio. Have you forgotten? We are tied in many areas, and superior to each other in others."

Nio glares at Typhon, letting out a sigh that hides the urge to cry over the loss of a piece of her history. She hides the tears because she understood immediately. Typhon will always be like this. It’s in her very existence to destroy everything Nio has, and the weapons Nio adores so much are also part of what must be destroyed in Typhon’s eyes.

"I knew it. You’re a goddamn wretch. You’ll destroy everything I have if I don’t destroy you first! You are my enemy!!"

’She really will try to destroy everything I have. My paranoia has just been justified...’ Nio puts Lucifugus away, realizing that if she uses that weapon, Typhon will destroy it too.

"Your enemy? How cute that you see it that way."

’It’s impossible to repair Metratoron... it was a unique weapon... and it wasn’t just broken, there’s nothing left of it... I doubt there’s a blacksmith in this world capable of recreating it just by looking at Lucifugus...’ She decides to take this more seriously, taking out her most powerful weapon.

"Yes!! That’s it, Nio. Now I see you’ve decided to take this seriously." Typhon’s tone is excited. As the item leaves Nio’s inventory, the air around them seems to shatter, space itself colliding and folding in on itself.

[Blood Prismatic Pentagon] A pyramid-shaped object of pink color. It can assume any form as long as it resembles a staff. It amplifies any magic used by the user by up to 800%, while its existence distorts nearby space and dimensions, and it allows the cost of any spell to be reduced by 80%.

It is also a [Secret] grade weapon that binds to the user’s soul, becoming a part of them, sharing in their life, blood, and existence until death.

’This weapon is something Typhon could never break... because it’s fueled by my life and can only be destroyed if I die... in the game, it was a weapon I never used, because if I died while using it, the weapon would cease to exist...’ Nio had kept this weapon more as a collectible, the queen of her collection.

To keep it balanced, they made it so that despite its absurd power, it was an item that broke when the user died with it equipped. Naturally, Nio never had the courage to keep this item in hand, because if she died to a trap she’d lose the weapon. But now that this is no longer a game, this weapon must be used.

"You’re going to pay for breaking Metratoron." In Nio’s hands, the prism takes the form of a long staff, with a floating sphere at the tip. The sphere gleams in hues of a universe, while the wood of the staff has a darkened mercury metallic tone and a pattern of dragon scales.

"Good. Very good. You’ve converted all your fear into rage to attack me, but you haven’t abandoned your strategic rationality. It shows the dignity of someone who is my beloved second wife." Typhon smiles at Nio with a loving gaze, watching her "second wife" decide to get serious.

"[Crimson Nova]"

[Crimson Nova] A spell that generates a small sphere of light split between white, blue, orange, and crimson. The Crimson Nova produces an explosive release of extremely hot energy.

Nio casts a spell amplified by her staff. Thanks to the staff, the spell’s casting time is reduced to merely speaking its name. The tiny crimson sphere touches the ground.

Immediately, it unleashes a massive wave of energy forward. Everything in front of the attack is obliterated. Trees, rocks, and a mountain in the distance receives an immense hole that engulfs over half of it, leaving only two thin peaks at either end, as the crimson energy pushes the clouds in the sky away in its passing.