Chapter 142: Best Tactic


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    You havepleted Grit Castle!


    Difficulty: Normal


    Number of Participants: 5 | Average Level of Participants: 37


    Rewards: 5 000 Talys, Petrification Antidote x3.


    Note: Mary rewards will be given to every member and the rest will be given to the party leader.


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    You will automatically be transported outside in one minute.


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    Rakna saw the potions appear in his Item Box and they were transported out of the Dungeon after collecting the item dropped by Mae upon her death. When they reappeared in the desert in front of the castle, they looked at each other before focusing on the small dagger in Rakna’s hands.


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    Designation: de/Dagger


    Name: Fang of the Gorgon


    Rarity: Blue


    Attack power: +120


    Durability: 100%


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    Perks:


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    – Petrification de: With every hit, the weapon will drain a silver of mana from the wielder and turn whatever it touched into stone if their resistance allows it.


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    – Gorgon’s Hiss: If this de is stabbing someone, they will have to pass an END and INT check and in case of failing, they will be paralyzed.


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    Rakna twirled the knife between his fingers with a hum and tossed the weapon to Nyx. “You can have this. An aside, you’re the only one who doesn’t have a proper melee weapon. You might as well take this one.”


    The former goddess caught the weapon and expertly wielded it with a nod. “Thank you,” she said and stored the dagger.


    “So, we go back in now?” An said. For some reason, he was oddly impatient to confront themia again. It had been fun fighting her. “How do we deal with the angels this time around?”


    “Hm,” Rakna mused. “Let’s do it this way; we’ll go in and I’ll send my shadow wolves to keep all of them in check. Then, we’ll position ourselves back-to-back in a circle. I’ll order my wolves to set up a blind spot and then we’ll close our eyes. Normally, the angels should rush at us from the blind spot, and their trajectory will be obvious to us.”


    “In that case, it will be easy to hit them back without looking at them. I will act as your sensor and warn you whenever there’s an angel in range. You’ll just have to attack forward at full strength.”


    “Also, Ganymede,” the therian added as he looked at the star entity. “You’re good to go. We don’t need your help anymore,” he said and the manifested legend’s eyes flickered briefly. He responded with a nod and Rakna cut the link with his magic, effectively dispelling the constetion. He would have to research his Star Monarch more thoroughlyter on.


    “So, are you ready?” He asked and they all nodded before going inside the castle again. This time, Rakna selected the hard difficulty. They easily defeated the sentinel statues outside and opened the doors of the castle. They then proceeded to enact their n.


    Rakna summoned his wolves and spread them all over the Dungeon. Then, he purposefully made them ignore a certain direction. To test his tactic, he put himself first. He closed his eyes and he carefully listened to the air fluctuations as well as the minute spikes of soul powering from the living statues.


    In this way, he was able to cut apart the Skulking Angels with Sonata. Every time he hit, he would have the feeling of shing flesh but when he opened his eyes, they would always appear as nothing more than pieces of stone.


    Following that first attempt, they all spent the next hour or so baiting the angels and dispatching them one by one. Compared to the normal difficulty, they just had a slightly higher level as well as a higher speed but nothing too dangerous.


    Afterpleting the first floor and collecting their spoils, which were much less precious than during the first try, they went on to challenge the other floors and there was nothing for them to fear. They were already back to the Boss floor in a mere hour.


    When they saw Mae again, she was still wearing the green dress via had given her. It seemed that she was able to keep it as her own from one Dungeon run to another. She smiled happily when she saw them again and asked one more time for a duel.


    “I will win this time,” she dered as she faced An for the second time.


    “Heh, we’ll see that,” An retorted and started the fight. They both were already familiar with the other’s capabilities so their battle began with a closebat bout enhanced by wind magic.


    The two of them grinned at each other as fists and palms shed, sometimes breaking through and sometimes deflecting. After reaching a stalemate, they began to use more and more magic and thanks to the increase in difficulty, Mae had ess to more mana and spells.


    She summoned the same giant snake from earlier as well as a winged one. The two of them began to charge a wind spell and An was forced to hastily use his void dome. He wouldn’t be able to dodge both spells and his wormhole could only stop one while his shell was near its limit.


    When darkness fell around him, he felt his agility increase and rapidly made his way to where his opponent was located. He threw a punch from behind her but his attack nevernded as a wall of snakes abruptly blocked his blow.


    “I said the same trick won’t work twice,” Mae’s voice echoed and a pair of slit eyes pierced through the darkness. A scaly tail wrapped around An, giving him no chance to react, and constraining his movements. At the same time, the void dome was dispelled and Rakna’s group was presented with the sight of Mae, who had turned back into amia, coiled around the blond with her tail as their faces were just a few centimeters away from touching.


    “How will you get out of this one?” She asked with a sensual tone and An almost gulped from the proximity but the sea of snakes slowly encircling him as well as the giant ones aiming their spells at him sobered him up.


    An gathered his cool and returned a smirk of his own. “Who knows… what about you? You can’t get through my defense without your snakes’ spells, but you can’t let yourself be hit by them just to hold me down in ce, can you?”


    “Why not? I’m not the one at risk of dying for good,” she replied and the giant snakes increased the energy output of their spells.


    “Is that so?” An sneered and the two fell silent. On one side, the wind magic was about to be cast and ravage the ce and on the other, the brawler’s gloves were sneakily glowing, ready for the opportunity to be used. “But I think you may get more than what you’ve bargained for.”


    Mae’s eyes shed with a peculiar light before a certain sweet feeling raised in her chest. “I could say the same to you,” she countered.


    Rakna watched them from a distance with a cocked eyebrow. For some reason, he had the feeling that something was going to happen but he just couldn’t put his finger on what.


    That’s when it happened. Mae suddenly smirked wider than ever before and in a blur, she leaned forward and nted her lips on An’s.


    “Huh?!” “Eh?!” “Hm?!” The three spectating girls all had their reactions. Pronos and Tyran were a bit confused, however.


    Rakna blinked dumbfoundedly. “Did she just…” His voice died down as he saw An respond to the kiss on his own. “…they’re just making out at this point.”


    “{…why am I not surprised?}” Higure uttered in genuine confusion. “{Well, the sexual tension was indeed strong…}”


    “{Hoho! So, this is what they call love at first sight! It’s my first time seeing it,}” Fray said.


    “I’d call it… passion at first sight but that’s fine too.”


    Meanwhile, Mae backed away after a full minute and happily licked her lips clean with her slightly elongated and forked tongue; just like a snake. “That was nice…” She whispered to the dazed blond and grinned. “I really hope you survive this one,” she then said and the snakes released their spells.


    “OH, YOU-!” An shouted and they were both shrouded by two destructive cyclones of wind. The onlookers shielded their eyes from the wafts of wind and therge debris that were broken apart from the castle’s floor.


    Rakna casually erected a GHB with extreme ease and controlled it mentally, making it fly right and left to catch the debris before they could even get close to him; something that only a perception freak like him could do. He wasn’t too worried about his friend since he had seen a few interesting elements in his status earlier. Moreover, the ne from the Skulking Angel would reduce the magical damage.


    When the aftermath was terminated, there was arge crater in the middle of the Dungeon and all the summoned snakes were gone without a trace.


    In the center of the depression, An groaned and stood up as he cleared the dust and debris on top of him. Mae had turned into particles after the Dungeon recognized her defeat.


    “That crazy girl,” he muttered but without any sort of resentment in his tone. “If I didn’t have that spell, I would have been done for,” he added and thepletion notification sounded. After they were all teleported out of the Dungeon again, everyone looked at him weirdly.


    “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” He blurted out. He already knew why but even he felt quite embarrassed about it. He didn’t need them to stare at him on top of that.


    “…to be fair, it was a nice tactic to kiss you and lower your guard so you wouldn’t escape her grip before she couldplete her spells,” Rakna suddenlymented. “In a sense, she did win this battle even if you were the one to survive.”


    An snorted. “Yeah, right. An awesome tactic that was,” he uttered, his voice oozing with sarcasm.


    “By the way, how did youe out of thatst attack without injuries?” Evelyn inquired. “There was barely a scratch on you except a bit of dust and a few rubbles.”


    “Ah, that. It’s a void spell. Basically, it’s something I can use whilst immobile and I can pretty much resist 99% of the damageing my way with it. But it takes a lot of mana and it has a half-a-day cooldown. So, I won’t be able to use it again until tomorrow,” he said and scratched his head. “How annoying. It was my trump card.”


    “Well, you’ll just have to learn more in the future to make sure you have something else to rely on other than that one. For now, let’s enter onest time. Cheer up; we’re on our way to meet your newest girlfriend for the third time,” Rakna quipped as he opened the gate of the castle again.


    “Who the hell are you calling my girlfriend?!”


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    When they reached the final floor in the fiendish difficulty, Mae once again weed them from her throne, in her human form. She grinned at An who self-consciously evaded her eyes. She giggled at his behavior and stood up.


    “This time,” she spoke up. “I wondered if you could be the one I fight,” she said whilst pointing at Rakna with a serious face.


    An scowled at her. “What? You got bored of fighting me?”


    She smiled and shook her head. “No, I just… don’t want to kill you.”


    “…” He blinked in surprise.


    Rakna hummed. “I see. You are probablypelled by the System to fight, right? There is no way you are allowed to simply give the victory to Hosts because of personal sentiments.”


    “You’re correct. In this difficulty, my full strength is unsealed. Only you can fight me without risk to your life,” she said solemnly and An looked at her with mixed feelings.


    “As expected, women are weird as heck …” He mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear and themia smiled in amusement.


    “You’re a hundred years too early to even start deciphering a maiden’s heart,” sheughed and he rolled his eyes. “So? Are you ready?” She turned back to Rakna.


    The therian shrugged and his scarf moved on its own into his hand and turned into a Guandao in the blink of an eye. “If that’s what you want. I’ll warn you though, I’m not gentle.”


    “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she retorted and without waiting further, opened her eyes wide and triggered her petrifying ability. An had been able to nullify it with his magic but that didn’t apply to Rakna. Unless he also had a method to resist it. ‘There’s no way, right?’ She thought nervously and her eyes crossed with Rakna’s. Then… nothing happened.


    “Really?” She said in a defeated tone. “Why are you people all resistant to my strongest ability?”


    Rakna snorted and whirled Sonata. “Your ability can bypass aura but at the end of the day, it’s just a sort of DNA altering trick at its fundamental. This means that it can be interfered with as long as theposition of my body isn’t something you can affect.”


    “Then that means…”


    “Yes,” Rakna nodded impassively as a cold mist finally began to erupt from his body. His hair and fur whitened as his Cold Star Reinforcement started visually disying its effects. “Do you think you can turn a star into stone?”


    Mae’s eyebrow twitched. “A star, huh? Were you that confident? What if it hadn’t worked?”


    “Well, in that case, there would be the antidotes generously given by your Dungeon. I would have not minded fighting with my eyes closed anyway.”


    She snickered. “Of course.”


    “Now focus,” Rakna dered and gripped his polearm tighter as he took a prowling stance. “I won’t hold back. Try to keep up for more than a minute.”