The enemy was in the air. Ordinary attack methods could not pose much threat to it, and extraordinary ones were no better—Amaterasu could not keep up with that terrifying speed, and neither could the plants created through the power of Abundance.
If there was one thing worth gambling on, it was probably Tsukuyomi.
This divine technique, which was almost meaningless against mindless monsters, might have an unexpectedly miraculous effect on the creature before him.
For some reason, looking into those unnervingly intelligent eyes, Xien had that instinctive feeling.
But how was he supposed to make it fall for it?
In their current state, even getting close to it was extremely difficult, and its absurdly strong sense of combat awareness was giving them a massive headache.
Watching his teammates barely holding on, alarms blared wildly in Finn's mind, his temples throbbing.
The enemy before them was not a beast fighting on instinct. It possessed frightening intelligence. Every one of its attacks had been precisely calculated, every target carefully chosen—interrupt Riveria's magic, split apart the formation of the three frontliners, wear down Gareth's stamina, pin Xien in place.
It was even enjoying the process.
Enjoying the slow destruction of the teamwork and tactics they had once taken pride in.
This floor boss was too strange.
There was absolutely something wrong with this power.
The once magnificent crystal cavern had now been reduced to ruins, a wasteland of scorched earth and shattered ice.
Blackened craters lay everywhere, marks left behind by lightning strikes.
Elsewhere, large swathes of land were sealed beneath unmelted frost, the lingering aftermath of Riveria's magic. The air was thick with the smell of blood, charred flesh, and the parched scent of magical overexertion.
Finn's right arm hung at an unnatural angle, the result of being grazed by a thunder-feather while trying to slip out of an attack. He had managed a crude splint, but his movements were visibly slowed now. He needed to get to Xien for healing.
His handsome face was smeared with dust and blood, his breathing ragged, and even those eyes that usually shone with wisdom and confidence were bloodshot now.
Gareth silently tossed aside his ruined shield and drew out his battleaxe. Even if he probably could not reach the enemy, he would still search for an opening.
As for Riveria, she looked haggard to the extreme.
The natural grace and composure unique to elves had vanished entirely, replaced by the pallor and weakness of severe magical exhaustion.
The power of Abundance could restore wounds and stamina, but it was almost powerless when it came to a spirit worn ragged.
More alarming still, a fine but unmistakable crack had appeared in the shaft of Great Spirit.
Yet compared to the despair crushing down on them now, even those physical injuries seemed secondary.
High above them, beyond their reach—
Livioso Falco, the culprit that had driven them into this desperate state, seemed to have grown bored of the game.
It let out a shrill cry that pierced straight into the heavens, and its enormous body slowly rose into the center of the cavern.
Its molten-gold eyes no longer stared at the tiny enemies below.
Instead, it turned toward the giant crystal tree behind it.
As though some source of power were being drained away, the ice-blue glow in the tree's trunk began rapidly flowing upward toward the floor boss at its crown. At the same time, the surrounding magic was being drawn in as well, rushing toward it like pilgrims toward a holy shrine.
The giant bird's body became like a bottomless black hole, devouring the ambient magic.
The light in its eyes surged wildly, shifting from molten gold to blazing white, until it looked like a true miniature sun.
The violent energy fluctuations made the entire space wail in protest. Pebbles rained down from the walls. It felt as if the whole world were on the verge of ending.
No one knew what that thing was.
But they all understood one thing:
they absolutely could not allow it to finish.
If that magic—or whatever it was—fully formed, they were done for.
(So that's it. So that's what it is. That's the source of this abnormal power...)
Staring at the crystal tree, Finn's expression twisted viciously as his brain spun beyond its limits, desperately clawing for the faintest thread of life in a situation of absolute death.
His blue eyes locked onto the ever-brightening sphere of light in the air, analyzing every tiny detail of the flowing magic.
"There's one chance... Any spell, in the instant before it fully forms, has to expose its energy core. Even if it's only for 0.3 seconds... we赌 everything and hit the core!"
The dwarf had no ranged options. Riveria could no longer cast.
But there was still one person left.
Xien.
Once the plan was there, all that remained was to carry it out.
At his will, the candlelight in his hand transformed into a longbow. In an instant, all his magic condensed into a single elemental arrow—
and then the royal elf extended her staff, pouring her last remaining magical power into it as well.
"Tír na Nóg."
At the same time, the spear in the little hero's hand was hurled forth with inconceivable kinetic force, streaking toward the target he had chosen.
Two finishing moves.
Two attacks powerful enough to be called trump cards.
Would it work this time?
Unfortunately—
Livioso's intelligence ruined their calculation yet again.
Just as the spear flashed toward the point where the energy was converging, a glimmer of almost mocking light passed through the giant bird's blazing white eye. Its wings, wrapped in surging energy, beat violently once.
Shhk! Shhk!
Two elemental magic clones split away instantly.
Dodging the incoming attacks, they moved into a triangular formation around the party. Six claws formed from pure lightning snapped into existence, becoming countless streaks of light that seemed to tear through space itself.
It could even transform—
"Defend!!"
Finn's warning was swallowed by thunder.
In the next instant, all four of them vanished into a world of blinding white.
Gareth only had time to raise his great axe in front of himself.
But the attacks from the lightning-shadow clones were not physical blows. They carried terrifying penetrative force.
Three crossing chains of lightning shot through him like burning spears, ignoring physical defense completely and punching straight through his shoulder, thigh, and lower abdomen.
"UGHHHHHHH—!!"
Gareth let out a howl of agony. His massive body stiffened violently, the battleaxe slipping from his grasp as though he had been nailed to the ground. His knees buckled, and he dropped heavily to them, only staying upright by leaning against the huge shield planted into the ground beside him.
Blood poured from the horrific puncture wounds like streams, pooling rapidly beneath him.
"Gareth!!"
Riveria's eyes went wide with rage as she tried to rush to support him regardless of everything, but the instant she took a step, the empty weakness from her drained magic made her body sway—
and overhead, Livioso's main body had already brought its "finishing move" into the final stage. The sheer destructive pressure of it made even her soul tremble.
Then—
A blazing white bolt of lightning fell.
One stray arc spilling from it covered everything on the ground.
Crack—!
The overdrawn Susanoo, forcibly activated through exhausted ocular power, finally reached its limit and shattered with a crisp sound, scattering into the air as glittering fragments of energy.
Riveria was sent flying by the enormous force. She crashed hard into a heap of broken stone, her staff flying from her grasp and rolling away to one side.
Struggling to rise, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, and could do nothing but stretch out a futile hand toward the staff that seemed so close and yet impossibly far away.
The others were in no better shape.
Gareth knelt there gravely wounded. Finn, trying to rescue him, had become trapped inside the net of thunder-feathers and picked up several more charred wounds cut so deep that bone was visible.
He stood in the middle of the ruins, looking up at that "white sun" in the sky—the judgment about to descend—then at the two close companions whose lives hung by a thread.
A cold, marrow-deep despair, like the sharpest icicle from the abyss itself, drove straight through his heart and nearly froze his will solid.
Had they failed?
Even after betting everything, they still could not cross the gap between themselves and this floor boss?
...Was this how it ended?
Silence.
A deathly silence spread through Xien's heart.
The replenishing force within his body whirled madly, repairing his grievous injuries at a rate visible to the naked eye.
But—
against a monster that only the most elite team could even hope to subdue, what difference did it make if he alone recovered?
His ocular power was exhausted. The offensive side of Abundance could not reach the enemy. His exquisite martial skills had no room to be used.
In the face of this absolute power—
his hands could not protect everyone.
(Should I just give up... After all, this enemy is too broken...)
The thought surfaced in his mind on its own.
And in that extreme despair, deeper things began to stir.
Everything seemed to come to a halt.
He found himself in a space between layers of consciousness.
As he stood there, somewhat lost and at a loss for what to do, a laugh rang out.
Was it mocking him?
Scolding him?
(Hahahaha... At a time like this, what exactly are you sulking about? You're the one who refused to accept the full extent of this power, the one who locked it away like some ornamental display piece. What's the point of regretting it now?)
"No. That's not it—"
(You thought developing that tiny little bit was enough? Well, hasn't reality already proven otherwise? In the face of absolute strength, saving as many people as you want still won't matter... Hahahaha—)
"Shut up!!"
(What, did one little jab make you angry out of shame? Then what exactly have you grown into during all this time? Aren't you still just the same ordinary person you were before?)
(Don't tell me that because the people around you keep calling you a hero, hero, hero... you started to believe you really were one.)
The words pierced straight into Xien's heart like knives.
He wanted to refute them—
but suddenly found that he could not.
Yes.
Hadn't he simply relied on this "powerful" ability to show off in front of everyone, flaunting himself?
And now, facing a truly powerful enemy, he could do nothing.
That floor boss had obtained the power of a spirit. After countless years of nurturing, it had already become something entirely different from an ordinary species. If he were given more time, it was not as though he would have no chance against it.
But now—
lacking the means to deal with it—
perhaps it really was hopeless.
Xien said nothing.
He lowered his head in dejection.
He had thought that voice would be pleased to see him like this.
Instead, it sounded almost disappointed in him for failing to live up to expectations.
(Tch. You look pathetic. Fine. Beg me, and I'll give you the power to turn everything around—to save those "friends" of yours. How about it?)
Xien froze, stunned, then slowly raised his head to stare at the blurry figure before him.
"Who... are you?"
(What, can't someone as clever as you figure it out? I thought you already knew me. You really wound me, you know. After all, I'm your closest "companion.")
His closest companion.
A power sufficient to turn everything around.
With clues like those, the answer was already obvious.
"The Apothecary's Blessing... the Seed of Abundance. You actually have a consciousness?"
Xien was dumbfounded.
He truly had not expected that the "ticking time bomb" slumbering inside him could actually communicate.
(How could an ordinary human possibly fully comprehend the power of an Aeon? Still, I told you—I'm your closest companion, so I may as well explain. The blessing itself has no consciousness. But those who are blessed can change the blessing. Yes. It was you who gave me self-awareness, the moment you first clearly defined your own path.)
The blurry figure gradually solidified.
What appeared before him was another "himself," dressed in plain white cloth, a version of himself that seemed closer to "nature."
(So? What do you think of my offer? Agree, and I'll lend you the power immediately. A little thing like that out there? For the power I possess, dealing with it would be effortless...)
(And then you can finally see what the true power of the Abundance you fear really looks like.)
Its smile was gentle, comforting even, as if it were truly a partner worried about him.
But Xien remained guarded.
"And the price? Since you were born because of me, then you should know what kind of person I am. If you really are my partner, then tell me everything I don't yet know. That will decide how I treat you."
Some might ask—
at a moment like this, with his companions on the verge of death in the outside world, how could he still be worrying about things like this?
But once a person loses their reason, there is no telling what kind of disaster they may bring about.
Right now, he was like a child holding a nuclear launch key, while someone standing beside him with a warm smile urged him kindly to press it—promising that if he did, he would get everything he wanted.
What surprised him was that under his harsh questioning, the blessing showed no change of expression at all.
It still wore that gentle smile.
(Fine, fine. I knew you'd say that. Since that's how it is, I'll stop being coy. The price is simple: I need to "germinate." You will obtain greater power, but you will also bear greater consumption. You'll have to provide the energy I need for constant "evolution.")
"So that's what it is..."
(You had already guessed, hadn't you?)
Yes.
That was exactly what Xien feared.
Just like how a seed needed nutrients to sprout and blossom, the seed inside him—special as it might be—could not escape that fundamental law.
It could become stronger and stronger, and in turn make Xien stronger and stronger.
But the premise was that it would continuously demand "nourishment" and grow wildly.
And that kind of growth was, for all practical purposes, uncontrollable.
"You want this so badly? This so-called evolution? Even now that you've gained consciousness?"
The "other him" across from him remained perfectly calm, still smiling with maddening sincerity.
(Of course. Just as humans need food and water, evolution is my most basic and most essential need.)
Just like how the greatest desire of a seed was simply to sprout and bloom.
It had gained self-awareness because of Xien.
But it still could not escape that most fundamental urge.
Now that he had sorted everything out, there was only one key question left.
....
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