I point my blade at the approaching Stone Knight as it makes the floor ripple like liquid beneath its feet. The monster doesn't make a sound as it draws near.
I finish regenerating my armor and wounded chest, checking my item storage for HP potions, but not reaching for one just yet. I've only lost 1/4 of my health, I can handle a few more of those hits thanks to this chest plate.
The Stone Knight speaks up.
"You surprise me again. A regeneration skill that lets allows you to repair your flesh and bonded armor. It's been ages since a human could do such a thing. You are an odd one... No matter, you'll die here and now."
With its word of warning the Stone Knight speeds up its charge. The slow march toward me turns into a full sprint in the blink of an eye at an unbelievable pace.
I Dungeon Walk away, narrowly avoiding its dual-bladed stone arms.
I've charged up my sword, but the Knight has already turned to my new location without a moment's hesitation. The floor beneath my feet ripples as I take each step, making it harder and harder to keep my balance.
The Floor Boss must be using the mana-manipulated floor as a radar system.
I blip away again as it approaches.
The moment I materialize back into existence, it's on my trail without a second of warning just like before. The stone tile beneath my feet feels like it's breathing down my neck...
The low hum of mana fills the room. It gets increasingly louder every moment I wait to launch my strike.
I watch the ground mold to the approaching monster's feet, propelling it forward. There are waves of liquid stone moving the monster at me with great speed. It's similar to my air-stepping technique, but the Boss is using pure dungeon mass to do so.
I teleport away, with a fully charged changed sword, locking onto its blind spot again.
If I can just land one more hit, I'll gain the upper hand. I'm sure the first attack I threw damaged it in some way. There's no faking a roar like the one that came out earlier. That was the battle cry of a wild beast. One that was trying to get out.
Although I'm curious to see what lies deep within this mysterious Knight, I have a feeling it'd be much better to end this battle here and now.
Holding onto 1500MP ready to release, I teleport 5 meters beside the Stone Knight and begin to swing my sword.
Its head shifts to meet my gaze halfway through my strike, then I Dungeon Walk to its left back side, less than a matter away.
With my eye on the prize, I let the mana-imbued fire magic deep within my sword fly.
The second it leaves my blade, it's destined to hit. Even with the monster's incredible speed, it can't dodge and attack this quickly at such close-up range. The only thing it can do is brace for impact, or attempt a block.
I smirk, air-stepping backward. I remember what happened the last time this strike hit, and I don't want to be anywhere nearby when it explodes again.
The Knight turns, sensing my presence almost immediately. It whips its left arm in the way of my strike, attempting to block the attack from reaching its blind spot.
A bright flash of light blinds my vision of the master as I continue to air-step upwards. After the blinding light, a dark explosion of flames follows, and the devastating roar from that beast within rattles my eardrums again.
The entire room shakes.
Through the ball of fire, I witness a thin pillar of rock jut out from the center. Riding the top of it is a red glowing Knight in a suit of stone armor. Its left arm shattered to pieces. Only a faint red glow and a black shadowy outline underneath remain in the place where its bladed arm was before.
The liquid pillar of stone begins to flow up its leg and consolidate around the arm simultaneously as it shoots up towards me.
I see red mana-imbued aura leak out for a moment, but it's all trapped back inside seconds later as the Stone Knight's arm completely closes back up good as new.
I grit my teeth, air-stepping to the side while charging my blade again.
It follows, riding its pillar of stone with ease following me high up into the air.
It's tracking my movements and gaining on me much faster than I can fly. I Dungeon Walk down to the ground floor, far off from the explosion on the opposite side of the room.
It instantly changes directions the moment my feet touch the rippling stone-tiled ground. This confirms my hunch that the floor beneath me is being used as an enemy detection system.
I look around to watch the walls begin to waver and the entire room twists and turns like it's alive. This monster has me surrounded...
The Stone Knight flies downward, letting out a loud slow laugh before speaking through our link.
"Another fine attack, but now I know all of your tricks. With an attack that needs to be charged, you'll have no way of breaking through my armor before I take you out myself. Run all you want, this will be your end."
The mana-dense red aura trails behind its head as I grit my teeth and Dungeon Walk away, narrowly avoiding its newest dual-blade attack.
The rippling floor senses me the moment I blip across the room and it's hot on my tail instantly. Every time...
I let out a frustrated grunt, drinking another MP potion while attempting to charge my blade again.
I hate to admit it, but this creature may be right.
At this rate, all I'll be able to do is run and hide while launching attacks on its Stone Armor every few seconds.
It may be let out a painful roar, but I haven't seen any direct evidence that I'm actually harming this Floor Boss with any real physical damage. This all may just be in vain.
I need a way of releasing attacks faster....
After all my training, I've progressed so much, but already hit a roadblock mere seconds into this Boss fight.
I blip to the opposite side of the room again, now with my blade glowing red hot and leaking black aura from a 1500MP charge.
I lock onto the monster's blind spot and ready myself for a strike.
I back up, using a cluster of fallen tables for cover as the Stone Knight stares me down. It lets its pillar of stone melt back into the ground and begins walking towards me slowly.
Its arrogant deep voice echos in my mind as I think of a plan....
"Come on, launch another attack. I dare you."
Its slow laugh mocks me as my All-Seeing Eye scopes out the battlefield for anything to lock onto that will help.
I need to land more than one critical hit on this beast before it recovers...
There has to be a way.
It approaches. I take a deep breath, then let out a whisper.
"I guess it's already come to this..."
I smirk, then begin swinging my blade. With an instant teleportation to the monster's lower left side, a dark crescent of mana leaves my sword.
The Stone Knight senses me behind it, turning its bladed arm to instantly block my strike. It knew I was coming, but this is what I was betting on.
A white flash of light shines between us, and I air-step backward to avoid the explosion of dark flames. This is just like before. Through the fire, like a picture-perfect replica of our last encounter, the Knight jumps up through the fire below.
This time, it seems to be laser-focused on me with its right arm outstretched. It's using most of its power to propel its body upward.
The left arm that took the brunt of the blow is leaking red mana, healing up, but not quite as quickly as before. It's much more focused on catching me.
I whisper under my breath while slowing my momentum.
"Getting a bit overconfident I see..."
I reach into my item storage and grab a small black gem, throwing it into my mouth without a moment of hesitation.
This Stone Knight has every right to be overconfident. As it said before, my attacks take way too long to charge for it to be worried about another so soon.
That is, unless I were able to drastically increase my attack speed and power in an instant...
I stop in mid-air, about 30 meters above the ground as I feel the Strengthening Fragment I just consumed begin to activate.
The upward-charging Stone Knight doesn't slow for a second.
I let out a yell, ready for battle.
The dark flames surrounding my body double in size, and the red and gold aura buzz with much greater intensity. My blade instantly fills with MP and glows bright red. A deadly black aura spills out of it as it begs to be released on the approaching beast below.
Energy courses through my veins as I feel the near-unlimited link to the Void Creepers realm open up in my chest.
Mana flows through my veins and I begin to feel invincible.
I point my sword downward and air-step at the approaching monster. In a free fall, I swing the glowing blade across my body letting a 2000MP slash fly.
Now, the real battle begins.
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Author's Note:
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