Chapter 93: No Mercy For Those Who Falter.

“So it’s in the joints…” upon learning this, a smile formed on my face.. But there was no time to celebrate. The spider, enraged, leapt at me, its multiple legs moving at high speed.

Each strike was lethal, and though I managed to evade most, some of its claws grazed me , but the armor and gloves prevented it from penetrating even as the damage was building up.

My body was reaching its limits. Fatigue was building up, but my will was still strong. The beast was still advancing. I knew I had to end this fight fast, before I exhausted all my energy.

I took advantage of its next attack to slide underneath its body. With a precise movement, I drove my hand into the base of one of its hind legs, right where it joined the abdomen.

The creature roared again, but instead of retreating, it turned its body to try to crush me.

bamm!!

I rolled out of its reach, but the creature wouldn’t let me rest. It fired a series of crystalline spider webs, forcing me to keep dodging to avoid being trapped. If I fell into one of those spider webs, it would be the end.

The spider kept throwing crystalline webs with deadly accuracy. I couldn’t keep up the evasive pace much longer, the fight had to end soon. My energy was on the decline.

I could feel the wounds and fatigue weighing on my body, but determination kept me going. I could not afford to fail, in the early stages of the plan.

“Art of Lust, First Stance: Blazing Surge of Lust.”

CLANG…crak…CLANG…CRAAAACK!

I focused on the vulnerable joints I had identified. With a shout, I unleashed a flurry of precise and powerful attacks, directing to the many joints that had gradually worn out.

My hands moved at speeds I could barely keep up with, piercing with intensity as the beast recoiled, its legs slowly breaking under the pressure.

Weak spots flashed before my eyes as contellations, guiding me to each blow, but the spider was resilient and would not go down so easily.

The creature let out a deafening shriek and, in response, its body began to emanate a blinding glow as it reared up on its many remaining hind legs, ready to crush me with a single blow.

“Art of Lust, Second Stance: Ardent Pulse of Desire!”

fwhooshh!

A vertical attack that combined strength and precision was my best option. I leapt backwards, evading its crushing blow while directing a downward strike towards one of the remaining legs.

The force of the impact reverberated through my arm, but I managed to break a joint, rendering the leg useless. The glass covering it crumbled, leaving a shiny trail on the floor.

The spider wobbled, momentarily losing balance. This was my chance.

“Art of Lust, Third Stance: Seductive Touch!!.”

bamm!!

With my remaining speed, I closed in on its body, aiming a piercing blow at another of its vulnerable joints.

The creature roared in fury, twitching in desperation. But it no longer had the same mobility.

Now it was all about endurance. I knew I could beat it, but its ability to adapt made it more dangerous as the battle continued.

but she seemed to want to get this over with quickly as well since he I watched as her body began to vibrate, charging energy for her next attack.

Before she could launch her offensive, I prepared myself .

I was going to do a technique that was on the edge of my current capabilities, I only had one chance .

The spider lunged toward me in a last-ditch attempt to crush me with its full weight. I waited for the right moment, letting it get close enough.

As its body was about to impact, I channeled the energy of its attack towards me, feeling the pressure build.

“ART OF LUST, FOURTH STANCE: ERUPTING EMBRACE!!!!.”

BOOOMMM!!!

With a cry of effort, I redirected all that energy in a devastating blast into its abdomen in a near-perfect counterattack.

The creature was thrown backwards, crashing into the glass trees with a deafening roar. Fragments of its body began to fall like rain, scattering all around me.

I didn’t know if that attack would be enough, but my body was barely hanging on. The creature lay shattered, but it could stand up, I watched it carefully, but luckily its inner light was dimming and small mats of light were coming to my body, which meant that it was indeed dead.

“huaaa….aahhh… “I released the air and relaxed a little I didn’t know how long this would go on and I wasn’t sure I could take anything stronger than that spider, so I was about to head for the pillar of light, until I heard.

[Congratulations, you have completely cleared {The Rite of Shining Beasts}. Hidden reward acquired: crystal key].

“Oh fuck, I thought you could only acquire it in one of the examinations in part two, but with this I already have what I needed.”

This key is an important pillar of what I was planning for this place.

This place was built by the first king with the help of the god of light, who gave him a fragment of his divine realm where he could build this Trial.

While the god of light knows of its existence and supported William Avenir, he does not administer it directly.

Well, he could, but his interest in William is not yet high enough to see what he does every second.

So probably his mission was given by a lackey or something, so it doesn’t matter that he draws attention to himself.

And even if the god himself is here, there shouldn’t be a problem, but I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my purpose and an opportunity like this is not easy to find.

I no longer want to keep running away from the goddess of purity and inevitably have to meet her in this world the easiest way to the top is pitifully to be sponsored by a god, but I can’t be chained as in my alternate self luckily he created countermeasures and the last ingredient can only be found here….

Well, I got the key, so most of the plan is done.

while I pulled some recovery potions from my stash.

Without them, I wouldn’t have lasted that long, not to mention that these guys were casting a variant of light magic, these guys weren’t living beings, they were more like artificial creations.

Although they looked like crystal, it was a kind of crystallized light, so their attacks were both physical and magical, which my affinity helped me resist to some extent.

..

.

After spending some time collecting these rare and useful resources I finally passed by the pillar of light.

After a while, my vision blurred and, before I knew it, I was in a white room that brought back bad memories.

It was certainly similar to when I was reincarnated, but looking at it closely, you could see the corners and sides, only they were hard to make out. In them was…

“Uggaaah!!.” As I was about to scan the situation, I received a blow from behind. though quickly I realized it wasn’t an enemy, but little Selene who was strangling my waist and hugging me tightly.

I guess I worried her a little, I could feel a little sobbing from behind. t had probably been more hours than I thought, it was weird seeing her like this,… but still her strength was no joke.

“wait little selene stop squeezing me, I feel like something is going to come out…,ugh… you can really break me in half, arghhh!!”.

..

.

Somehow I got her to stop squeezing me so hard and stared at her. Her eyes were teary, which made me feel bad, since it was my decision to stay for so long and gain more points and strength. So I hugged her and started to comfort her.

“There now calm down, everything is okay. Look, nothing happened to me.” I hugged her, and she hung on me like a koala bear. I guess when someone is important to her, she can act like that.

But that also means that I am someone important to her, I who have not been with her for more than a week have earned a place in Selene’s heart, somehow I feel really happy.

On the other hand, Eira, Lys and Aurora just looked at me in silence, until Lys asked first ….

“Chris, what happened, why did you throw us away? We could have fought together, why did it take you so long?the voice said we had to wait for the last member, it was the only thing that told us you were alive”.

She seemed alivied that I had finally arrived, and began to ask me questions, and just as I was planning to answer, the passively annoyed girl came to speak.

“… You piece of shit, you made my sister worry about you for over 4 hours. It’s not like I care about you or anything, why did you throw us in? With the skill we could…”

“calm down, don’t talk about it…. Haaaah.” I stopped Eria from speaking further, not wanting my trump card to slip out of her mouth, and continued to excuse myself.

“Well, we certainly weren’t going to make it in time, so I did what I thought was best for survival and it work. I’m good at escaping, I just got a little sidetracked and it took me a while to get through them. If everyone stayed, we were going to get screwed before we got to the pillar of light.”

“But still…”

Lys didn’t look convinced, but I can’t tell them I stayed hunting on purpose. Besides, the explanation doesn’t just go to them, I want that guy to also believe that’s why I stayed alone and not because I knew that the more we killed the more points, strength and reward we’d get.

Curiously Aurora didn’t say anything, and she had a thoughtful look on her face as she looked at me, what was she thinking only she would know.

Also, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear Eira talk like a tsundere; I don’t want one of my favorite fantasies and genres, to be played by her.

Anyway, now that I’ve arrived, it’s time to move on. So, after making sure Selene was okay, I even gave her a few delicious things I had tucked away to make it up to her a bit.

approached the entrance to what looked like a mirror maze, where there was a plaque that read:

{Only the worthy dare cross this threshold. The weak-willed, those who tremble at their own reflection, will meet their end here. This is not a place for the simple, nor for those who seek greatness without understanding its true price.

He who doubts his own power, his own worth or his own right, will fall before he advances. Those who possess true strength are not afraid to face what lurks within these walls. Only those who are born to the light, without blemish or hesitation, will be worthy to go forward.

If you enter, let it be with the certainty that there will be no mercy for those who falter.”}

“oh!, what great words….” I was a bit speechless at the nonsensical warning since it’s not like we could just give up, I was already recovered from my fight with the crystal beasts, so I had no problem moving forward

The moment I finally set foot in the labyrinth, a message rang out.

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