The sound wave made the long mountain range tremble.
Landslides and tremors occurred everywhere. Rocks broke loose, entire slopes gave way, and the ground itself cracked into several segments.
The vibration ran through the entire floor in pulses.
Rygar remained still, but briefly looked into the distance and felt glad to see that Eris was already very far away — and getting even farther, without looking back. It seemed her Foresight Eye was being very useful.
He felt the wind like an impact, and saw his cloak flutter violently under the effect of the roar, but it was not the impact of the shockwave that surprised him.
It was the fact that he recognized this type of Magic very well.
This was the Howling Magic of the Beast Race. It was unmistakable.
But something seemed different about it, it felt more… authentic.
For a single instant, Rygar felt as if his mind were melting and buzzing. From personal experience, and due to his own mastery over that Magic, he recognized it immediately.
But then the Magical and Mental Block of the Sköllvindr Armor came into action. And, at the same time, the Clear Mind effect of the Armor made his mind work faster and more calmly, recovering his focus in an instant.
Upon feeling that, Rygar roughly measured the effect.
That terrible Howling Magic could turn even the minds of unrivaled warriors into chaos.
He was certain that even superb swordsmen like Reida or Jino would have no chance of resisting if they faced that.
It was a Divine and marvelous level of Howling Magic, unlike anything ever seen before — not even he dared say he surpassed the Beast before him, at least in skill and understanding.
It was as if the Magic he used was in its purest form.
Unfortunately for the monster… Rygar was different.
Having achieved the unification of Mana, his Magic and Touki were as one.
A single thought was enough to regenerate his body, create mental barriers, and reflect adverse effects away from his body with Disturb Magic — and that was without counting his Armor that defied all logic and comprehension.
Basically, although the Boss Monster's trump card was absurd by any measure or against any opponent… Rygar was simply a very complete warrior — and even more monstrous than it was.
He recovered in that very instant.
At this point, he already had an idea of whom this monster was supposed to represent, but before thinking further, he acted by extending his senses to the utmost.
More and more of the mountainous and forested floor entered Rygar's perception.
He did not have much hope of finding the entrance to the next floor, since boss floors usually were not unlocked until the Boss was killed, but he still did it to make sure.
Meanwhile, blue flames began to flow incessantly inside his armor, and the mountains and trees around him began to glow and melt as Sköllvindr became a source of uninterrupted heat — as if there were a sun forming inside it.
From time to time, lightning also appeared and crackled violently.
Under the gaze of his Demon Eyes, he analyzed the Floor Boss once again.
The more he saw, the more convinced he became that it was a grotesque and monstrous copy of what should have been the First Beast God, an Original God.
Obviously, being a copy created by a Labyrinth, it would never be equivalent to a real God, but even so, its presence was suffocating and oppressive.
Rygar saw it move toward him again.
Its monstrous strength and speed made the mountain beneath it collapse while it growled and drooled like a true beast. It was fast, yes — one of the fastest Rygar had ever faced.
But this time, Rygar was already prepared.
He advanced with the same momentum, heading into a direct collision with the false Beast God. And, as he moved, dozens — hundreds — of Vacuum Bullets formed around him and advanced together with him.
Rygar looked more like a bolt of blue flames than a human.
The Beast God seemed to sense the danger when Rygar advanced faster than it, and immediately retreated, but that meant nothing.
Since Rygar was not holding back, he was not conserving anything either.
With a snap, he used Spatial Leap, teleporting and appearing at the monster's flank.
The enormous Beast reacted with a violent strike of its claws, creating huge claw-shaped gouges, tearing through several mountains in succession in a perfect, almost artistic way.
But Rygar leapt through space again at the last second, appearing just a few meters above — and again, he recited:
"Sunlight Laceration."
Another flaming slash struck the Beast from top to bottom, creating a gigantic fissure in the mountain range.
The flaming blue crescent seemed to split the world in two, sinking the monster several hundred meters deep while burning and cutting everything in its path.
Before it could rise, a rain of Vacuum Bullets fell over where it was, as if they were guided.
Incinerated and bleeding, the monster did not even have time to leap before being riddled by extremely piercing Vacuum projectiles. Even its abnormal skin, resistant to Magic, was not capable of withstanding such a phenomenon.
With a deep, bleeding cut, and riddled with wound holes, the monster rose again and roared with all its will:
"GRAAAAAAARRGH!"
But once more, interrupting its cry, a pillar of blue lightning light fell upon it and expanded in an instant. Only Rygar's voice echoed beneath the explosion:
"Lightning Judgment!"
The monster, covered in wounds, was electrocuted, burned, and charred by the thick pillar of unavoidable plasma.
That was how the fight continued.
The false God tried to run, only to be swallowed by a miniature Black Hole and have seventy percent of its body violently absorbed.
It tried to face him head-on, and had its body incinerated and cut into pieces.
Its monstrous nature prevented it from giving up.
A legendary monster, created based on a God. Supernatural strength, endurance, and speed. Unique and unavoidable Magic. It should have been a great obstacle.
But to Rygar — a God in multiple Styles, a God in multiple Magics, and more importantly, carrying two Artifacts no less Divine than that God — he ran over the Great Boss of the 600th Floor without much difficulty, after giving it his all.
Of course, it was not as if he could fight like that on every floor. His many magics and techniques, in addition to his two Artifacts, cost him an enormous amount of mana.
He was exceptionally resilient, but fighting through three thousand floors like that was inconceivable.
In the end… after Rygar cut it into seven pieces with a Technique that mixed the Sword God Style and Spatial Magic, the Floor Boss finally died for good.
A great symbolic lightning bolt crossed the skies when that happened. The world itself seemed to lament and cry.
And at the top of one of the only intact mountains, a portal appeared.
Rygar looked at the dead Boss's body, and then extended his senses throughout the entire floor once again, with the goal of tracking Eris.
And as soon as he did, he teleported to her.
Eris jumped into his arms as soon as he arrived. Rygar caught her in his arms, holding her like a princess. Judging by the timing of her jump, she had probably already foreseen his arrival with the Foresight Eye.
"You took long enough! Also, did you really need to cause that much destruction?"
She looked around. The ranges and mountains around them had, for the most part, become vast desolate and sterile zones.
Rygar flew toward the entrance while carrying Eris and spoke in a doubtful tone:
"Honestly… it wasn't necessary... I feel like I got a little carried away in that battle. I was especially eager to defeat that monster in an absolute display of power. I'm not really sure why."
In truth, Rygar had an idea that it might be related to his Race. It was because he was facing his ancestor or something like that, but those were only loose theories that made no real sense.
Eris added cheerfully:
"Well… it was really cool to watch! I won't lie."
She began humming while Rygar approached the Portal, and she jumped out of his arms when they got close.
"I believe something may change drastically from this floor onward, I just don't know exactly how. Stay alert."
Eris nodded, activating the Foresight Eye. Rygar could tell she wanted to fight just from her posture; it seemed battles were some kind of addictive drug to her…
He laughed internally while holding her hand and entering once again, crossing the floor.
The environment around them changed once more, but before that, Eris — whose Demon Eye was glowing — spoke hurriedly to Rygar:
"Submerged, Barrier!"
Without thinking twice, Rygar cast two Barrier spells around their heads.
Eris relaxed when she saw the translucent Barrier form and stabilize, and then, just as she said… the two of them reappeared underwater.
A vast ocean stretched for miles in every direction, with no sign of limits. Rygar could not stop being surprised by this Labyrinth the more he came to know it.
He had expected a change, but not one so drastic. From the wild and forested environments that Eris and he had seen until now… suddenly, they were faced with an ocean?
The depths could be seen clearly.
And, just as at the beginning, enormous strange structures had been built all around — of every shape and size — and some that did not even make much sense.
It was the remnant of an ancient civilization completely different from the beasts: an underwater or maritime civilization.
The ocean was limpid and clear, without the slightest trace of dirt. And there was a source of light that Rygar could not even identify, but it definitely was not a sun or anything of the sort.
Eris looked around curiously, floating in the ocean, seeming even more excited, actually. She asked, still staring at the infinite blue horizon around them:
"Huh… Rygar, do you know where we are?"
Rygar let his eyes sweep over the scenery for a moment, putting together what he saw with the pattern he had already understood.
"I have an idea…"
It was easy to reach that conclusion after understanding the mechanics of the first six hundred floors: the beginning and fall of a beast civilization, which in the end was destroyed by a Dragon God… well, it just so happened that the Beast World was not the only one destroyed by the Dragon God.
Rygar thought for a moment, and then touched Eris, saying:
"Blessing of the Sea."
A great amount of mana flowed.
Eris felt her body become lighter, more adaptable — and more than that: she felt as if she could… walk on the ocean floor?
It was a strange sensation, as if the water stopped being malleable and became "ground" around her, as if movement had different rules now.
Before she could ask, Rygar explained:
"That was an Emperor-tier Magic mentioned in the Future Guide. It allows a land-dwelling being to move through water as if on land. I don't know how true that really is… but you're going to test it today!"
Saying that, he moved toward the gigantic monstrous presence he felt a few hundred meters away: a sea serpent coiled around a structure, moving "stealthily" in their direction.
Eris hurried after him, while trying to understand the strange sensation of "walking" in the middle of the ocean.
---
Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Gaia.
Nina was flying on her Red Dragon, Skyl, whom she had chosen when she arrived in the Kingdom. She was wearing her training clothes, but she was not heading toward the place where she usually trained, the Combat Temple.
No. This time, she was going to a secret place, where she came from time to time to train alone.
This was one of the only secrets she kept, even from Jino.
And she liked this place in particular. It was there that she advanced in understanding quickly on two occasions. It was an environment that brought her a sense of serenity that she found difficult to encounter anywhere else.
After flying for some time, she finally spotted it: a half-subterranean waterfall, half-hidden by the dense vegetation around it, but very distinctive due to the trees with orange and white leaves nearby.
She smiled while ordering Skyl to land and remain in the vicinity.
She took her sword, and once again headed toward her private sanctuary, a place that hid a secret that only she knew.
----
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