"You alright?"


    "I am good."


    Eugene exhaled after hearing Dawn''s reply. She hadn''t been touched by the attack of the monster thankfully. A single spit had destroyed three dozen of his hundred shields.


    Taking in a short breath, Eugene lowered his stance. He hopped away from the walls of the cave and charged at the monster.


    "GRAH!"


    The monster screamed. Its enormous wings pped in the air and feathers the size ofnces came tearing through the wind.


    Eugene hopped and rolled in the air as he avoided everything he could. He kicked a stone and knocked away one of the feathers in his way and swung his sword at another as he rolled on the ground and leaped closer to the monster.


    The monster growled, and dozens of webs came hurtling toward him.


    Streaks of Ki passed Eugene by and crashed into the webs, sending them away.


    Dawn was handling the backup at the perfect time.


    Pushing myself off the shields again, he jumped in front of the monster''s mouth.


    "GRA!" It scoffed as if mocking them for repeating the same techniques. Its mouth contorted as it readied tounch a spit.


    Eugene smirked, and his fingers snapped.


    "[Intermediate Spell: me Lance]"


    Ance of fire formed in mid-air and rammed itself into the sides of the monster''s face. It wobbled slightly. Taking that chance, Eugene sent his mana to the ceiling of the cave and brought down a stctite from the top.


    The stctite rammed itself into the head of the monster, sending it wobbling even further.


    Eugene jumped on one of the many stone pirs and collected his mana tounch another attack.


    The ground below him trembled slightly.


    "Fuck!" He screamed as he jumped off the pir. The stone pir was crushed from within as one of the nine tails of the monster tore it apart from the inside. Before he could react, at a terrifying speed, the monster swung another tail and sent rows upon rows of debris toward him.


    Eugene, still in mid-air, brought his hands together and summoned the shields to cover him. A few of the stones passed through before he could block himself and nestled themselves all over his torso, sending him crashing to the ground.


    "Dusk!" Dawn screamed, brandishing her stick and rushing toward the monster.


    The monster raised its many sharp and tough legs to crush Eugene but was stopped by Dawn who mmed its stomach with a Ki shot.


    Eugene coughed the dirt away and pushed himself up. they hadn''t made direct contact with the monster yet by pure luck. He twisted his neck and massaged his shoulders as he stood back up.


    "This bastard..." he muttered.


    Dragging things on would be making it worse. Not only would he run out of Mana or Ki, but avoiding contact with the monster will be impossible. A single graze and they''ll be turned into whatever that thing was as well.


    Biting his lips, Eugene held in a sigh and made up his mind.


    Max firepower.


    "Synergy..."


    His whisper didn''t reach any ears, but itsmand was heard by the world.


    The entire cave started shaking tremendously as the mana and the Ki present inside shook. All of it was taken over by Eugene.


    The usual purple glow exuding his elements changed into a deeper, darker, malignant shade of ck.


    Both the monster and the adventurer froze in their tracks.


    Eugene ran.


    He swept two of his fingers over the t side of his de. The ck glow grew from the base of the sword and filled the de as far as his hand reached.


    "[World''s]"


    The trembling mana and Ki in the air coalesced in his de.


    "KRIEEE!" The monster screamed. Its legs wobbled as it slithered away from Dawn at a speed impossible for its size and rushed toward Eugene.


    "[End!]"


    The monster stopped in front of Eugene. It''s body morphed in a disgusting manner as its many legs shrank and gathered into a single, reinforced one.


    It didn''t matter.


    Eugene''s synergy could crush through everything.


    The monster''s leg swung down, and Eugene''s de dashed upward.


    "[SLASH—]"


    —Crack!


    A loud cracking sound reverberated.


    The ck glowing de copsed and cracked.


    The ck energy stream back into Eugene''s body like a river flowing backward as the de of his sword snapped in half and turned into dust.


    The monster''s attack didn''t stop.


    Summoning all his strength and bearing the pain of the reverse flow, Eugene jumped back. His one hand held the broken half of the de as he jumped away, but he couldn''t avoid itpletely.


    The reverse flow of Synergy had given him a great boost, but his first finger was still grazed by the attack.


    Time seemed to have slowed down for Eugene as his mind rushed for solutions.


    In what would seem like an instance for everyone else, a long time passed in Eugene''s elerated thoughts.


    His gaze shifted on his hand.


    The curse would spread, it was a small cut.


    Next, he peered at the leg of the monster. The reinforced appendage was digging into the ground half a centimeter at a time for Eugene, who could see everything much slower than it was.


    Lastly, he looked at his other hand. Only a small part of the de was left, it was still sharp, though cracked.


    There wasn''t a better solution.


    Eugene twisted his hold on the weapon and brought his hand closer.


    Time moved normally again as he contracted his body, preparing for the aftershock of the monster hitting the ground.


    A surge of air and debris pressed against him, blowing him away, but he didn''t care.


    Without a shred of hesitation, Eugene swung the remaining part of his de on his other hand.


    And cut his finger off.


    His finger flew away, leaving behind an arc of blood, and Eugene wasunched away.


    "Eugy!!"


    "Dusk!"


    Dawn and Titania screamed. The little fairy rushed through the cave and toward herpanion while Dawn turned toward the monster.


    A sense of fear filled her. That attack was likely all of Eugene''s power, but it was left ineffective.


    She alone didn''t have enough strength to even hold this thing back, let alone defeat it.


    "At least..."


    Dawn held her breath and brandished her weapon again. Thest of her Ki filled the ck staff as her wings streamed out of her back.


    "KIekie!!" The monster smirked. It was mocking them.


    Dawn swung down her stick with all her mana and rushed into the monster. She engaged the monster in an intense melee as she attacked and distanced herself like a fly, piling up the minor injuries on the monster.


    It continued to attack her back, she was slowly running out of strength.


    "HEY FAIRY!" Dawn screamed. Even though she couldn''t see her, she knew that Eugene''s fairy was there all the time. She tightened her grip on her weapon and her wings contracted. cing all her strength in ast stand, Dawn kicked off. "Run with him from the dungeon!!"


    There was no reason for him to die with her.


    With her speed reinforcing her strength, Dawn used thest of her Ki to attack the monster''s reinforced legs. Her tremendous force managed to dig through after piling many hits on the same spot, and she cut off the monster''s leg.


    A shockwave spread from the impact, knocking her away as well.


    "KRAAAAK!!!"


    The monster screamed in rage as its leg dangled. It writhed about in a senseless rampage, crushing away parts of the cave with its tail and acidic spit.


    When it could think again, its eyes burned with an intense hatred for Dawn and rushed at her.


    Dawn, unable to even move, struggled and raised her weapon again.


    ''At least he escaped...'' she thought. She was ready to greet her death head-on.


    The monster stopped in front of her. All nine of its tails rose and peered over Dawn.


    The monster growled, seething in rage.


    It''s tails cut through the air and were about to smash into Dawn.


    "—Who said you can look away, bastard?"


    The air stopped moving.


    At a scale even greater than before, all the mana and Ki in the wind trembled.


    Dawn cranked her gaze to the side in surprise.


    There, with the base of his white hair turning ck, stood a lone boy. His previously red eyes gleamed a shade of purple as jet-ck lightning cracked around his arm.


    "Swords? I don''t rely on that shit."


    Fear.


    Fear crept up the angel''s back.


    His low voice, his cold words, his immense strength.


    "Didn''t I say, Titania...? I am a magician through and through."


    All of it was fear-inducing.


    "Synergy"


    ck glow emerged from his body.


    "K-Kraa!!"


    The monster screamed and charged at Eugene. It had to, or else it would die.


    With a finger missing from his outstretched hand, Eugene only greeted the monster''s charge with a smile.


    "[World''s]"


    The ck glow coalesced at his palms. The monster hastened.


    "[END]"


    His voice nigh a whisper.


    Tiny ck wings appeared in front of his palms.


    "[Beam]"


    A butterfly.


    Two.


    Tens.


    Dozens.


    Hundreds.


    Thousands of ck butterflies emerged from his hand. Like a torrent of wind, the butterflies rushed through the air and toward the monster.


    The world inside the cave was covered in ck.


    The world inside the cave...


    ... was facing its end.