Chương 48: The Boss Room Part 2

The black wisps of mist filled the room with corruption. It was similar to the corruption Adolin found outside the dungeon, but also different. For one, the feeling of wanting to destroy it wasn't there. The unnaturalness was still present, but not nearly as strong as the corruption outside. The difference, Adolin noted, was that this corruption behaved more like mana. Something the corrupted used. He wasn't sure what the difference truly was, but he knew there was one.

A few guesses came to mind, alas, he didn't have the time to think about them. The corruption already threatened to corrupt him. Or destroy him. The corrupted mana kept building inside the creature. It was already more than twice the amount Adolin had inside his core. His mind turned into a whirlwind of thoughts. He had to do something. Stop the creature from gathering more mana. He wasn't sure what would happen once the process finished, nor did he want to find out. The wisps kept growing larger.

Half the room was already filled with them.

"What do we do?" Edrin asked. His face was pale, and drops of sweat were running down his forehead. The grip on his sword had loosened, and his hand shook. The temperature in the room kept rising, and the spell protecting them was already beginning to fail. Well, not fail. It was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. Protecting them from the heat and corruption filling the air. But the spell was working overtime, strained to its limits, and it wouldn't last much longer. There was also the mana problem.

He had already used more than thirty percent of the mana he had available. The lower-tier spells wouldn't kill the creature, but the higher tiers would drain his mana far too quickly. Spamming lower-tier spells would be dumb, so he discarded that option. That left the higher-tier spells. The ones that could get the job done before he ran out of mana. The general charged again, corruption lashing out everywhere it passed. The black wisps tore through the air like whips.

Adolin had a feeling getting hit by that corruption would be a bad idea. A terrible idea. He grabbed Edrin and blinked to the edge of the platform. The corrupted slowed to a walk, grinning as it continued moving toward them. With every step it took, the area around it was flooded with corruption. Visible corruption. Dark wisps of mist levitated through the air. For what he planned, he needed about half of his mana pool, so he had to conserve mana. The biggest problem was the corruption.

He wasn't certain he could purge it in time if—when his body was exposed to it. The whole room would be filled with it within the next minute or so. At least, that was his estimate. The corrupted kept getting closer as Edrin's hands tightened around the hilt of his sword. The shaking in them slowly stopped.

"Well, you should try to escape," Edrin said.

"There's not much we can do without getting ourselves corrupted."

"Buy me some time," Adolin said. Edrin frowned.

"Can you do anything about the corruption?"

"Not sure." Edrin shrugged and brought his arm close to his heart.

"… Goddess," he muttered in prayer before moving toward the corrupted general. He looked like a man who had already accepted his fate. Then they clashed. Adolin kept his eyes on the fight while trying to come up with a plan where both of them survived. The corrupted mana flowed toward Edrin's body. He was soaking it up like a sponge. The barrier kept most of it out, but some still managed to leak through. Then the barrier cracked. Adolin cast an ice spell, keeping the heat away from him.

He couldn't do the same with the corruption. A few moments later, Adolin gave up on trying to learn anything from the corruption. It was too volatile. Studying it was still possible, but for that he would need hours. Hours he didn't have. The corrupted kept pushing Edrin back with every clash. He was growing slower with each exchange against the corrupted general. He wouldn't last much longer. Adolin had to do something soon. The good thing Adolin noticed was that the general couldn't use skills anymore.

At least not now. Whatever skill—or spell—it had used was already active and draining all of its mana. To defeat it, he would need Archmage-level spells. Or something close to that level of power. The problem was that he didn't have enough mana for it. That left him with only one option. The spells he had created himself. Spells he knew well enough to cast with the smidgen of mana he had left. They would be far from their full strength, but he hoped it would be enough.

The spell he was most comfortable with was Calamity. The first Archmage-level spell he had ever created. But he needed certain preparations before he could use it. First, he needed a way to clear the corruption filling the room. Using Calamity would drain all of his mana, and if the corruption survived the spell… it would corrupt him afterward. He glanced at Edrin, whose skin had already started turning a darker shade. The barrier was already destroyed, and the corruption was flowing into him uninterrupted.

The halberd descended toward Edrin while another sword swept at him from the side. Edrin stepped back, the blade missing him by an inch. Then the axe head of the halberd slammed into his shoulder, carving down across his chest. The spear tip protruding from the axe head bit deeper into his shoulder with a sickening crunch. Edrin fell to his knees, blood pouring from the wound. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Fuck," Adolin cursed as he blinked next to him. Shockwave. The blast sent the corrupted flying a few meters back. Adolin looked at Edrin's wound. The shoulder bone was crushed, and a deep cut ran from his shoulder down across his chest. Blood flowed freely from the wound. It was terrible. But his constitution would keep him alive. The corrupted mana around him flowed toward his body. A Mana Barrier, a spell equivalent to an Archmage tier spell, was needed to block it fully. He didn't plan on blocking it, though.

The effect on Edrin was minimal for now. That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. Given enough time, an hour or two by his estimate, the corruption would either corrupt them or kill them. The general wasn't trying to kill them. It was trying to turn them into its loyal minions. The corruption entered his body. Just like with Edrin, his body was swallowing it. He focused inwardly while still keeping most of his attention on the general. The mana flowed toward his chest. Toward his core. Shockwave.

He cast it toward Edrin, stripping most of the mana from the spell. The blast pushed Edrin far away from him, close to the edge of the platform. The corrupted stared at him. The smile on its face was gone, replaced by a frown. It took a step forward, and the corruption flowing from its body intensified. Inwardly, the corruption was trying to enter his core. Every core had a natural defense against intrusive mana. It was fighting against the corruption, barely managing to push it back. His guess had been correct.

It would take more than an hour before his core could no longer resist it. That should be enough time for him to find an answer against the corruption. He was down to a little less than sixty percent of his mana. He needed to lower it just below fifty for the spell to work. Using a spell that required far more mana than he had carried a high chance of backlash. That was why he hadn't tried to use it so far. Just below fifty percent of his mana was enough for the spell to form.

If he had more mana than that, the spell would try to grow larger before stabilizing. And that would cause the backlash. In his current situation, the backlash would be enough to kill him. Or wound him badly enough for the corruption to either kill him or turn him into a slave of it. The corrupted general moved toward him, its weapons ready to descend upon him. It wasn't even running anymore; it was just walking calmly. Maybe calm wasn't the right word. The creature looked pissed. He focused on casting Calamity.

Visualization was the most important part of spellcasting, especially with Archmage-level spells. The next step was supplying the spell with enough mana. In this case, it wasn't necessary. The spell would take every bit of mana his core held. The final step was moving the mana in the correct patterns and giving it its nature. Something he had already started the moment he chose the spell. The patterns were almost complete.

The mana nature stabilized with them, slowly reaching the point where the spell could fully form. Ten more seconds. That was all he needed before Calamity could be unleashed. Which left him with one problem. He still needed to spend the remaining ten percent of his mana. It wasn't really a problem. It was time to have some fun with the creature. And hope that Calamity would be enough to deal with it. The spell pattern started forming, and the air in the room stiffened. Like the air before a storm.

The corrupted's eyes widened. Then it charged toward Adolin. He had to keep away from the creature for ten seconds. With only ten percent of his mana left, that wasn't easy. It was enough to use Blink twice and still leave a little mana for Mana Control. It was only a moment away from reaching him, so he used Mana Control, planting dozens of earth spikes in front of it. Then he wrapped mana around the earthen spikes, transforming it into a thin layer of sharp ice, while freezing the ground in front of the spikes.

It was his way of using Freeze while spending less mana than the spell normally required. He was certain it wouldn't hurt the creature. He only needed it to slow it down. The creature stepped onto the frozen ground. The ice shattered beneath it, failing to slow it down in the slightest. Then it crashed into the spikes. The earthen spikes shattered apart. And the creature was already in front of him. Blink. He cast the spell and moved to the other side of the platform. Eight seconds remained.

He wasn't sure he could keep the corrupted away from him for that long. He cursed inwardly. Edrin hadn't lasted as long as he needed him to. The creature was already moving toward him at the same impossible speed as before. His mind spun. The ice on the ground had shattered because of the force behind the creature's steps and the heat rising from the platform. Behind him was a three-meter drop into lava. That should buy him enough time for the spell to fully form.

Through Mana Sense, he watched the creature approach. And he waited. Seven. It was almost upon him. He flooded the area with his mana, taking control of it and forming a large earthen boulder that would launch him off the platform. The mana settled into place. He spread another layer of mana across the floor, forming a thin layer of earth followed by a thicker layer of ice. Then he added water over it, making the ice even more slippery.

The creature was already in front of him, the halberd thrusting toward him like a spear. He let the mana constructs finish forming and waited for the perfect moment to Blink. He turned his body slightly to the right while ducking at the same time. The spear pierced through his shoulder instead of his heart. Pain exploded through his shoulder. The earthen construct was already falling, a hair's breadth away from the corrupted. Blink.

He was next to Edrin when the boulder fell beside the general, crashing against the platform. Six. The wet ice and the shockwave from the boulder were enough to send the creature sliding off the edge of the platform. The creature fell. Five. A hand grabbed the edge of the platform. Four. The general pulled itself back onto the platform. Three. It was already rushing toward him. Fuck. He felt mana gathering to his left, where Edrin stood. A huge arc of sharp sword intent shot forward.

It was the deadliest sword intent he had felt since coming to this world. Enough to severely wound the creature. Two. The creature was forced to move aside to dodge the deadly arc. It gave him just enough time. One. He smiled as Calamity fully formed.