"What?" Finn's voice rose in surprise, drawing several adventurers' attention. Finn noticed that as well; his next words came out quieter than before. "You want to fight the monster rex alone? That's reckless, Arin, even for you,"
"What do you mean even for me?" I replied, clearly offended by the way he said it.
"I would like to ask you that." He said.
"Hmm…" I put my hand on my chin, trying hard to remember any such instances where I had been reckless, "haa… sorry Finn, I tried, but nothing comes to mind." Yup, I was as innocent as a newborn baby.
"Really?" he questioned, "Maybe we should get girls' opinion on this," he turned his back, his eyes focusing on Riveria, who was giving pointers to Lefiya and other mages. "Gir—umph!"
Before he could call out to them, my hand quickly shot forward, covering his mouth, "Okay, Fine! Fine! I get it! I had been reckless all the time!" I answered honestly. Once he nodded, I released him.
"Should've started with that, but anyway, since we have a lot of strong allies this time, it will be fine to indulge in your request," Finn said, his gaze falling on adventurers getting ready to fight the monster rex.
"Really? Thanks, man." I wasn't expecting him to agree so easily, but I am glad he did.
"But I'm not the only one you need to convince, you know," he said.
"Yes, I know, I will inform the girls as well."
"Good luck with that," he said and went towards the rest of the group, leaving only me behind, as I thought of several ways to let the girls know about my plan.
___________________________________________________________________________
Most of the adventurers who were level 4 and above started entering the boss room—me included—while some second-class adventurers remained behind to support and guard the lower-level adventurers.
Ais and others also followed the vanguard group fighting the monster rex. I'd managed to convince them to let me fight alone, but even after assuring them several times, their faces still lined with worry.
Ryuu was walking by my side as she spoke, "Arin-san, I still think it would be better for all of us to attack," she took a breath, her ocean blue eyes, gazing straight into my black ones, as she spoke further, "But I would put my faith in you and hope that you would call us if the need arises."
"Thank you, Ryuu, but you don't need to hope; I would definitely need your help." As we talked and walked, the passage opened into a wide room—The boss's room.
The inner room was dyed the same white color as the rest of the dungeon area on this floor. The room was easily wider than 1000 meters, with a height of around 100 meters.
"Good luck then," Asfi called out as I was observing the boss room.
"Thank you, I am off then," I replied as I entered the wide room.
Even though no monster was present in the area, I knew that would no longer be the case. Just as I reached the center of the room, a huge rumble followed; the whole ground shook violently, and a long fissure appeared on the ground, followed by a hulking black figure that tore through the earth as if it were made of paper.
Only half its body had emerged, but it already towered over ten meters, made entirely of black bone. The monster gave off an eerie vibe. A big magic stone could be seen through its ribcage, situated in the place where its heart should be. Its red eyes—orbs of crimson light burning in empty sockets—fixed on me.
The colossal frame of the monster, along with its level 6 strength, made me sweat just thinking about fighting it, even when I knew I wouldn't lose. That did nothing to calm me down.
Crap—maybe I made a hasty decision trying to fight it alone, I thought as the monster's crimson-red orb-like eyes fell on me. Standing a slight distance away, I took a breath to steady myself. Silver and gold light flared around me, strength flooding my body far surpassing my level.
Udaeus's right hand formed a fist, despite the colossal form of Monster Rex; its attack was fast, way faster than any monster we encountered till now. I jumped back, legs surging with power to avoid the strike. Its fist cratered the ground where I'd stood moments before.
I formed a foothold mid-air and launched myself forward at speeds surpassing sound. Blue hot flames wrapped around my swords. I appeared before its face, blade aimed for the skull.
Before my sword could go through its skull, the monster twisted away—faster than something that size should move. My blade caught its horn instead, shattering it.
Before I could land, it counterattacked. Its palm swept toward me like a battering ram. I twisted mid-air, planted my feet against its palm, and launched myself higher.
Instead of attacking, I backed off, thinking of what my next course of action should be. Just as my feet touched the ground, another rumble echoed with a lot of sharp black spikes emerging from the ground, making me retreat further.
The exchange continued for a short while; in terms of strength and speed, both the black warrior and I were equally matched. Whenever I attacked, it would use its long arm to keep me away and use its spike attack as I landed on the ground. The only advantage I have over the monster is my ability to stand on air.
I glared at the monster, not understanding why it hadn't brought out its sword yet. As if reading my mind, the ground shook again as another fissure appeared on the ground near the monster rex, and out it appeared a huge black sword.
The monster rex grabbed the sword hilt, lifting the massive blade as if it were weighted nothing. In return, I didn't wait long for it to attack as I gave the signal to Finn, standing near the entrance along with the others.
"I could use some help now!" Hearing my yell, Finn and others charged into the boss's room. Udaues, seeing more additions to the foes it had to fight, the black warrior didn't wait, the huge sword raised towards the ceiling and brought down, along with it came pure destruction. The whole floor protruded, rocks flying by the impact.
"Everyone! Fan out!" Everyone ran to the sides before Finn's command completed. The result of the attack left the whole ground destroyed in a fan shape.
Finn, Ais, Ryuu, Alise, Kaguya, and Lydia quickly tried to close the distance but were stopped by the spike that continuously grew from the ground, keeping everyone at a distance.
Finn swung his spear, destroying the spikes that grew to skewer him. I teamed up with Finn, handling the monster sword attack, stopping it from using that wide area swing attack.
Ais made full use of her Ariel magic, her speed incomparably faster than before. As she dodged and destroyed the spikes growing from the ground.
Ryuu followed beside her, constantly covering any blind spot; their teamwork was impeccable.
"Owa! Fighting the monster rex Udeaus! So exciting." Alise cheered as she and Kaguya constantly attacked the monster joints.
"Focus, you idiot!" Kaguya, but back, she dodged another barrage of spike attacks.
Riveria prepared her magic from the back, with Asfi flying all around the battlefield, attracting the monster's attention, as she threw several bombs at the black warrior's face.
The stalemate continued before the hair at the back of my neck stood on end, "Everyone retreat!" Just everyone backed off, sensing the same kind of danger as I. Hundreds upon hundreds of spikes, far bigger and covering far more area than before, erupted from the ground.
"First that sword and now this, what is happening with this monster?!" Asfi cried, landing near us.
"Yes, even though we never fought with this monster, it's clearly way too aggressive," Ryuu stated her observation.
"Why don't we ask Arin? It was his plan after all." Kaguya said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion, which is valid.
"Ma, ma, isn't it fun, Kaguya seeing the monster rex fight in a different way than ever before?!" Alise chimed in with her characteristic cheerful voice.
Instead of answering anything, I looked back to see Riveria still in the middle of her chant. I turn back to see the monster eyeing our group.
Making a decision, I stepped forward, "Finn made an opening for me." I said, my sword returning back to the scabbard. As I lowered my center of gravity, my feet dug into the ground.
"You idiot, what are you doing!" Kaguya spoke, while the others stared with only Ryuu gazing at my stance that resembled Kaguya's.
"Nothing much, just in the mood to show the result of your training," I replied, my eyes still fixated on the monster. Finn also held his spear in his right hand, ready to carve the path open for me.
"Stop, I will do it," Kaguya added, her voice tense, at the implications that, in that moment, I get close to the monster, it would be a one-on-one battle for that split second, and I would be unable to use any other attack while using this magic I was preparing.
"No, Kaguya, it is my adventure, Finn. I am going ahead." I launched forward, the ground destroyed by the sheer pressure, as my body traveled through the air, the Black warrior just observed confidence in the defense in the form of sharp spikes it had built.
I didn't stop solely focusing on preparing the magic attack, as the sharp spikes grew near, "HAAA!" from behind Finn threw the spear, creating a sonic boom in the process as it traveled through the air in a straight arc, destroying all the sharp needles standing in my way, stopping after creating a straight path for me.
Seeing its absolute defense fail, the black warrior raised the sword again, this time clearly intending to crush me under it. My steps didn't falter, as the huge Blake blade started falling on me, I also withdrew my trusted sword from the scabbard. Time seems to slow down as I activate the magic, my senses becoming sharper and sharper..
"Gokou!"
I used the magic taught to me by Kaguya, creating a total of seven slashes that met the monster rex sword. The first slash did nothing but slow the advance of the huge blade; the second and third slashes created a long crack on the sword, and the fourth slash spread the crack further as the huge sword came to a halt.
The fifth final slash destroyed the black sword completely. The broken pieces fell to the ground like rain.
I felt the monster's eyes widen as those red glowing orbs shone with intensity. Before the monster could recover from the shock, I retreated hastily, just as the Riveria magic chant was completed as well.
"My name is Alf! Rea Laevateinn!" Several tornadoes of flames erupted from the ground, trapping the black warrior in a cage of inferno, the spike it was so proud of, melted before the hellfire. Before long, the fire tornado engulfed the monster rex.
The fire raged on before stopping, leaving behind scorched marks all over the boss room. I quickly ran near the place, Monster Rex was before it turned into ash, in hopes of seeing the drop item.
And what I found was a huge sword-shaped black bone; it doesn't completely look like a sword, but was more like a branch children might use to play pretend as heroes.
"Was this the reason you wanted to fight the monster rex alone?" I heard Riveria's voice from behind me.
"Yup, it's about time you explain it." Asfi supported from the side.
"I would also like to hear your reasoning, Arin-san," Ryuu added gently.
"Me too," the usually quiet Ais also seemed curious.
The others also looked like they were interested as well.
Right… how do I explain this? I thought, looking at their curious expression, as they all awaited my response. I am in trouble, aren't I?