Chapter 314: The Battle for the Summit [1/2]

When Zich stepped onto the thirtieth floor, the figure at the far end of the hall was still sitting on its stone throne.

He took a few steps forward, and the creature raised its head. The chains wrapped around its body slipped down one after another, striking the stone steps with heavy clangs.

[Thirtieth Floor Trial: Kill the Soul Devourer.]

Zich stopped and tightened his grip on the Frostgrave Scythe.

The Soul Devourer rose.

It stood much taller than Iron, with thick scales covering its shoulders and back. Its hanging claws nearly reached its knees. Once upright, it neither roared nor charged immediately. It simply watched Zich across half the hall, slowly tightening its grip on the chains.

The reopened wound on Zich’s shoulder was already bleeding through his clothes.

The fabric stuck whenever he moved his arm, and he kept his elbow slightly lowered as he adjusted his stance.

Zich positioned Iron directly ahead of him, kept Slimy at his side, and sent the four Undead Skeleton Soldiers spreading out along the flanks. He was in no hurry to summon the Myriad Beast Chimera. Even with the Ring, summoning it would cost 102 mana. If he started burning through twenty points of mana per second before understanding his opponent, there would be nothing left for the rest of the fight.

"Iron."

The bone greatsword rose, and Iron advanced into the center of the hall.

The Soul Devourer moved as well.

A chain whipped across the floor so fast that Zich barely managed to make out its tip. Iron lowered its shoulder, raised its sword, and brought the blade down against the dark blur.

Clang!

A metallic clash rang through the hall.

It had blocked the strike.

Iron’s feet scraped backward, leaving two pale tracks across the stone, but the greatsword remained between it and the creature.

But the Soul Devourer had already released the chain, its massive body rushing in behind it. With Iron’s sword still pressed downward, one claw clamped onto the spine of the blade while its other hand reached straight for Iron’s skull.

A Blood Arc slashed toward it.

The Soul Devourer tilted its head to evade, finally slowing its hand for a fraction of a second. Iron seized the opening to pull its sword free and retreat, though the claw tips still carved several deep grooves across its breastplate.

Zich did not send it forward again.

That first clash had already revealed the creature’s strength and speed. Iron could not withstand it alone. Even holding it back head on would be difficult.

Worse still, it refused to give them any breathing room.

The chain still sliding across the floor suddenly rose, swept around Iron, and shot toward Zich’s waist. Zich twisted aside, but just as his feet moved, another black chain swept across his path, cutting off his retreat.

Tiamant appeared in front of him.

Her bone chains tangled with the black chain. Both snapped taut, dragging the bone dragon’s front claws several feet across the floor. Zich rushed past her flank, the Frostgrave Scythe trailing a bloody glow as it slashed toward the Soul Devourer’s arm.

This time, it failed to dodge completely.

Blood dripped down its scales.

Zich felt no satisfaction. The instant the blade struck, the Soul Devourer caught the scythe’s shaft and wrenched it toward itself.

His feet left the floor as his entire body was dragged forward.

He pulled against the shaft instinctively, but without anything beneath his boots, he could do nothing to stop himself from moving.

"Let go!"

Iron crashed in from the side, smashing its bone greatsword against that arm. Zich used the opening to wrench his weapon free, but a sweeping claw still tore a gash across his chest. Slimy’s white threads wrapped around his waist just in time, pulling him beyond the reach of the second claw.

Zich stumbled two steps after landing and glanced down at his chest.

The wound was not deep, but had he been a little slower, the creature would have torn through far more than clothing and flesh.

The Soul Devourer flung Iron aside and turned its gaze back to him.

Zich wiped the blood from the scythe’s shaft, gradually steadying his breathing.

He could not keep letting it dictate the fight.

Since their first exchange, he had done nothing but rescue his summons. When Iron was in danger, he attacked to cover it. When Tiamant restrained the creature, he moved in close. As long as the Soul Devourer watched his summons, it could predict where he would appear next.

"Spread out."

This time, Zich left no summon standing in front of him.

The instant the Soul Devourer came after him, he sprinted to the right. A chain skimmed past his back and smashed into a pillar. As shattered stone flew, the Myriad Beast Chimera suddenly materialized on the opposite side and slammed into the Soul Devourer.

At last, the impact forced it from its position.

The enormous lion body drove the Soul Devourer back several steps, and Tiamant’s bone chains immediately locked around one of its arms. Zich followed close behind. Instead of going straight for its chest or neck, he ducked low and swung his scythe at the leg supporting its weight.

Scales shattered, and the Soul Devourer’s knee buckled, its weight shifting onto the other leg as it pulled against the chains around its arm.

Almost simultaneously, the Myriad Beast Chimera’s scorpion tail struck downward toward the exposed side of its neck.

Just as the strike seemed certain to land, the Soul Devourer suddenly let its footing give way and allowed itself to fall backward. The scorpion tail grazed its shoulder. An instant later, it planted both feet against the Myriad Beast Chimera’s belly and used the momentum of its fall to flip the enormous body away.

Zich’s vision abruptly darkened.

[Shadow Blink!]

He narrowly escaped the falling lion body, but the chain following behind lashed across his shoulder and back.

Pain exploded through him as he slammed into a broken pillar, nearly losing his grip on the scythe.

"Damn it!" Zich growled under his breath.

He wanted nothing more than to stay there and rest, but there was no time. The monster was already upon him again.