Dungeon Diver: Stealing a Monster's Power

Chapter 131

"I was supposed to meet Maria and the others to go hunting today... this is... not good..."

I twist my head around in all directions, snarling at the inanimate humming marble walls that keep me captive. I stretch my back and arms one more time while holding both my weapons tight. After that long rest, my body sure does feel rejuvenated.

I sprint around activating my stat-boosting skills while letting out a few practice shots of wind and fire magic at an open wall on the opposite end of the room. With a smirk, I watch the red and white crescents of energy erupt from my blades. I'm hit with a cold hard slap in the face from reality once again. They collide with the unbreakable walls, fizzling out into dispersed mana.

"Fine. I guess it's time to get serious."

I plant my feet and begin taking in all of the mana in the air around me. With each sword by my side, I start channeling energy into both of them. Activating all my buffs, glowing with crimson golden light, the ultimate charge-up begins.

For the first few seconds, the charge-up process is pretty normal. I've done it this way dozens of times, within 3 to 5 seconds I can usually charge an entire bar worth of MP in my blades. If I do both at once, 10 seconds should be more than enough. Unfortunately, normal isn't going to cut it this time.

After about 15 seconds of continuously plundering MP from my environment while focusing them in my blades, the two weapons glow brighter than I've ever seen them glow before. They've both hit full capacity and surpassed their limits. Each one of them holds close to 2000MP worth of pure firepower. That's over double my full MP bar in each blade. It's 4000MP in total for one attack...

The air pressure from my dagger is threatening to explode outwards. The dense flames in my sword crackle, waiting patiently to be released and burn everything in their path. An intense white light comes off my dagger and a deadly crimson glow seeps from my sword. I grit my teeth and continue.

"I can go further."

Another 10 seconds pass, and my blades are nearing 2 times the mana capacity they've ever received. The absorption rate slows drastically the further I push it. Both weapons vibrate violently in my hands.

"Just... a little more...."

Gripping the sentient blades with all my might for another 10 seconds, it feels like an hour passes in my mind. I'm nearly blinded by the white and silver shimmering glow that comes off my dagger, and the dark red flames of my sword become even more ominous. More than 3500MP is stored in each individual blade. A combination attack would be close to four times any full-power move I've ever attempted. That's 7000MP in one attack...

My own sword's flames begin to burn my hands and the dense air around my dagger is making my joints creek trying to hold on any longer.

"It's time."

Letting out a yell as I swing both blades across the front side of my body, an ear-shattering release of force erupts from my blades. A metallic clanging mixed with the buzzing of my own mana reacting with the unique makeup of magic in the air echoes all around the room.

Two massive crescents of pure energy come rocketing out of my blades. One of them is pure silver, if looked at from the side it glimmers in and out of existence, a dense attack of wind magic. The other is a dark red flame with flickering black accents. It crackles and bends the air around it, leaving heat waves in its wake.

I'm thrown backward, but my eyes stay locked on the two powerful energy waves on a crash course for the white wall.

On impact, a ground-shaking twang rings out. It definitely feels and sounds different than all of my previous attacks. The moment they hit the mana barrier, something shakes beneath my feet, I'm sure of it. I feel the vibrations all around me. The two crescents of pure mana dissipate into the air moments after impact, this new reaction gives me a glimmer of hope.

Collapsing to my knees with a smirk plastered across my face, I wipe sweat from my forehead and stare straight ahead at the portion of wall where my full-strength ultimate attack just hit.

"Not even a scratch...."

The wall is completely unscathed, but I did feel a minor disturbance. So far, this is my only clue. After standing to my feet, I slowly walk over to my piles of loot and grab a handful of dried fruit while storing my blades in my item storage again. A breakfast of champions, there's only about 10 handfuls of fruit and 4 1kg bags of dried meat. It'll last me quite a while, but let's hope I can get out of here before food becomes an actual problem.

While chewing on a long strip of dried mango, I begin pacing back and forth along the long room's backside. Activating my All-Seeing Eye is useless, the only thing I can sense around me is this barrier sealing me off from an endless void. Doing so just fatigues my mind and honestly bums me out for no reason...

Dungeon Walker is the same. I can only teleport within this tiny confined space.

The echos of my footsteps while mindlessly pacing begin to fill my thoughts with worry and doubt. The rhythmic beats of my shoe's soles against the hard surface below me begin to be the only thing I can think about.

Every hour or so, I attempt to charge my blades up and attack the same portion of the wall.

The second time around, I have a pretty similar experience. Hands aching, blades shaking, and wall rattling as the attack hits it with nearly 7000MP in total. The whole charge-up process takes about 35 seconds.

My third attempt is a bit easier, the blades still shake and my hands still ache with pain as they grip the overly charged weapons, but to get up to the 7000MP threshold it takes just over 30 seconds. I push my limits for the extra 5 seconds and muster another 200MP worth of firepower into the brutal dual strike. The wall vibrates on impact, but yet again, remains completely unharmed.

As the day goes by, I manage to charge up 6 more attacks. Each time it gets a little easier to charge up to the previous limit and a tiny bit more MP can be squeezed into each weapon. By my final attack, I'm able to store just under 8000MP in both blades combined. That's almost 4000MP each and charged to full in just 30 seconds.

The metallic twangs of fire and wind imbued mana attacks on white-walled mana shields are getting louder, and the room-shaking sensation continues to grow slightly as well.

I've raised the attack's proficiency just by practicing, there's been no leveling up necessary. I guess training really does work... The mana released from each blade feels a little bit tighter and more refined. I've had more mana flow through my body today than I have in weeks worth of intense dungeon training.

I collapse to the floor next to my piles of loot, grabbing a handful of jerky and chugging the rest of my bottled water from this morning. The immense physical output and meticulous mana control have taken a huge toll on my body and mind.

This is good progress. I have nearly unlimited mana to work with in here, I'll train my way out of this madness.

"I'll escape the Titan's Domain."