(Riven POV – Dungeon, Floor 17)
Hot air tears from my lungs as I sprint along the shattered wall, feet speeding on broken stone. The once grand and pristine 17th floor is a mess now. Craters, rubble, and destruction spread unchecked.
And behind me…
BOOM.
Black Goliath's foot slams down, the impact cracking the floor like glass and sending vibrations through my bones as the ground trembles.
Don't slow down… don't stop… don't die…
"This is… getting old." I wheeze as I run.
At first, it was exhilarating. I was learning its patterns, dancing with death, and finding new ways to survive.
But three hours in, the thrill has died down. A fight is interesting because you can hurt and be hurt. And when I could neither hurt Goliath, nor afford to be hurt by it…
"It's so frustrating!" I yell, the ground ahead of me detonating as Goliath unleashes another roar. I skid sideways, rubble pelting my skin as the shockwave slams into me and throws me back toward the beast.
I twist mid-air, palm slamming into the floor, flipping over its fist as it smashes where my head had been a heartbeat ago.
The ground bursts open once more, but I'm already sprinting up its arm, boots pounding against muscle, and leap when its other hand swats for me.
I slash at its eyes, and…
Clang.
My blade sparks uselessly off its eyelids, leaving shallow imprints that heal instantly.
I flip over its head, land hard behind it, roll through dust and debris as it turns with terrifying speed.
After five hours of this, I feel…
'Tired.'
Not physically, but spiritually.
This isn't a fight.
It's a mind-numbing, yet impossible to disengage from.
A single mistake means death, which only makes it more tiring.
Sun Breathing keeps my stamina high, potions and magic keep my body healed, Ariel keeps me fast…
But nothing soothes my mind.
'Soon…' I tell myself. 'GS will be done any minute now.'
And until then, I'll continue to endure.
Then—
[Notice: Task completed. A method to integrate Falna and Elven Magic has been developed.]
The words echo in my mind just as Goliath turns, jaw opening wide.
My muscles loosen in pure relief.
"…Finally."
I don't even look at it as its chest swells, my body automatically moving to evade.
The knowledge crashes into my mind, instantly being assimilated. It's purely for understanding, since the operations of it will be left to GS.
Then I trigger Thought Acceleration at full output, and the world grinds to a near-halt.
Goliath's roar, just having left its mouth, crawls toward me in slow waves of distorted air.
The sudden tranquillity stands in stark contrast to the chaos inside my head.
'This is an insane gamble.' I think. 'I don't even know if it'll work.'
Excitement coils with dread.
Hope tangles with fear.
Because if this fails…
'I'll have lost. Running would be the only option left.' I sigh internally. 'Black Goliath isn't something I can find on demand, and regeneration skills are rare.'
But…
That's exactly why my heart is pounding like this.
From now on, it'll be a real fight. Where either of us can now die.
Then… I reach for it.
Something I've been avoiding all this time.
An ability that supports me just as much as it scares me…
IronHeart.
I will the skill to activate at full power, and—
[Warning: Unique Skill: IronHeart is attempting to influence your psyche. Activation suppressed.]
'So it does work. That's good.' I think. 'But that's the point, GS. That's what I'm aiming for.'
[Warning: Continued influence may cause permanent changes to personality, will, and soul.]
'Yeah…' I reply. 'I know.'
It's why I've ignored the skill to this day.
Am I still the same person I was before I got it? Will I be the same if I activate it at full power? If one day it evolved or got stronger… would I completely lose my emotions?
I've kept these worries at the back of my mind, but for now… I need to use the skill.
'I'm not too worried, GS.' I lie, hoping to convince myself, as well as her. 'After all, I'm trusting you to make sure it doesn't get that far.'
If I lose myself… she'll pull me back.
There's a short pause. Then…
[…Notice: Command received. Ceasing suppression of Skill: IronHeart.]
The world seems to drain of colour, as something inside me awakens.
(Riven POV – Dungeon, Floor 17)
The feeling is hard to describe.
Or rather… there is no feeling at all.
It's like a switch was flipped the instant I closed my eyes, and the world became less impactful.
I slow down Thought Acceleration to a speed where I can move my body normally as my breathing steadies, and muscles loosen.
My face relaxes, settling into a calm, neutral expression that stares at Goliath apathetically as all excess thoughts are cut away, severed like loose threads.
Fear, excitement, doubt… all gone. Along with anything else non-functional.
'GS.' I think flatly. 'Show me all weak points on Goliath.'
[Notice: Displaying weak points.]
Marks bloom across the Black Goliath's body. Lines showing where best to strike, X-ray analysis on body composition and the corresponding weak points in its body. Everything is laid bare.
Its roar speeds towards me, and detonates beside me, stone exploding upward as the attack misses. The shockwave tears through the air, slamming into me after I had sidestepped the attack with minimal movement… but I hold my ground.
Then, I raise my sword.
'Let's begin.'
White Wind ×3.
I activate the magic thrice, and the air around me begins to twist.
A colorless wind coils into existence, threading around my limbs and torso, layering itself again and again like armor. It spins with so much force, it's virtually impenetrable, capable of shredding all that comes close.
Unlike Ariel's usual green currents, or the soft, pure, white wind I expected when using this magic… This wind lacks colour.
While clear and transparent, it lacks a sense of purity. It feels… hollow.
It carries no joy. No serenity or peace… only a steadfast will devoid of distraction.
The pressure alone makes the ground groan beneath my feet as the wind passively cuts through the stone.
My body grows lighter, stronger, and much faster than anything I could achieve through my normal Ariel.
'A normal Ariel at full power is about as strong as Level 3 magic, while providing a boost equal to a full Level up.' I analyse. 'Yet this wind is about mid-Level 4.'
Of course, the increased power is due to Lefiya's Fairy Canon. But even then…
I know it isn't enough to kill Goliath.
And more than that… I know the side effects will kill me soon.
'I have a few minutes at most.' I note dispassionately. 'Beyond that, my body will fall apart on its own.'
Next, GS gets to work, threading in Elven flame magic.
What occurs next is a display of pure magical control.
Red flames burst to life around me, radiating volatile heat, before being taken by the wind.
The flames are sucked in, flowing with the current under GS's control, and quickly, begin to mix and merge with the wind.
They spiral closer… and closer.
Fire and wind overlap.
Elven magic and Falna magic do not mix.
Elven magic is flexible, while Falna is not.
They operate at different magical frequencies, but if someone could identify and match the frequency Elven Magic operates at, with that of Falna, and precisely control them to resonate with each other…
The two forces press together… and something changes.
The flames vanish entirely into the wind.
Rather than being extinguished… they're absorbed.
The currents shift.
They're still transparent… still feel empty…
But now, a dim crimson glow pulses within them, like embers buried in glass.
'It was a success.'
The temperature of the entire floor spikes in an instant.
Air warps and shimmers as the stone walls groan as heat floods through them and veins of molten red crawl across the dungeon's surface.
'It's hot.' I think.
People have a high resistance to their own magic, bordering on immunity. It's why mages can cast fireballs without burning themselves.
But even with that… the heat hits me too.
The floor beneath my boots glows red, stones hissing as they bake from the inside out. My clothes smoke, despite having the Durandal attribute. The fibers charring at the edges, as smoke starts to rise.
Even Sword begins to glow as the Adamantite turns faintly red, heat bleeding through the metal and into my palm as my skin begins to smoke, while my palm chars.
I simply accept the feeling of my flesh burning, even as first-degree burns bloom across my hand, forearm, and all over my body as my skin blisters wherever the wind passes.
'Good.' I think coolly. 'If it burns me this much… it's purgatory for everything else.'
The Black Goliath finally hesitates.
Its stance lowers, arms raised as it observes the steam rolling off its body as the air itself scorches its flesh. Its black hide burns slowly, skin peeling off as its regeneration works to repair the damage.
But it does little to dull its violence.
And the pain only adds to its fury.
But now… we both know I can hurt it.
If it can be hurt… it can be killed.
'It's time to end this.' I decide. 'I have even less time now.'
Without ceremony, I slam my foot into the glowing floor and launch forward, bursting the stone beneath me.
"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Goliath charges too, rage and agony burning in its eyes.
Breathing alone scorches my lungs, but it's something I'm forced to do regardless.
Goliath's fist crashes down.
I twist sideways and use Ariel to blast myself forward, wind hurling me past the impact as the ground detonates where I stood.
I draw on the knowledge GS feeds me, recalling and reshaping Ais's technique…
A single strike condensing all of Ariel isn't enough. So… I change it.
Into a flowing cut, concentrating Ariel on the edge of my blade, GS keeping it contained as I swing Sword, and a flowing cut slices towards the creature.
SLASH.
Sword screams through its wrist, blade burning a deadly crimson as its edge is wrapped in superheated wind. Goliath's flesh parts instantly, but there's no blood… only cauterized ruin.
The hand falls limp, as its tendons, muscles, and nerves are severed.
Goliath howls, sound cracking as its own arm cooks from the inside.
'I can't cut through its bones.' I note, immediately changing plans.
I don't stop.
I continue forward, reaching its leg and driving the blade into its ankle, Sword's tip piercing deep into the joint.
Then—
"Unleash." I utter plainly.
Every strand of Burning Wind surges inward.
The currents rip off my body and flood into Sword, racing down my arm, through the hilt, and into the wound.
There's a heartbeat of silence.
Then—
An explosion tears through its foot.
Wind and flame erupt outward, carving a molten crater into the dungeon floor and blasting Goliath's leg apart from the inside.
The stone liquefies instantly, while the air screams.
I dive aside as the monster crashes down to one knee, the impact sending burning shockwaves across the floor.
Sword is… no more. Disintegrated into pieces of scrap I have neither the time, nor the care to search for.
'Even Adamantite can't endure it.' The blade fractures into glowing fragments and vanishes in the blast.
'It's good that I got some from Hephaestus.'
A new greatsword forms in my hand, freshly forged from the Adamantite stored in Stomach.
Unlike Sword, it's solid Adamantite, with no attributes.
'I won't waste Mind on enhancing a consumable.'
The Goliath struggles to rise, smoke pouring from its ruined limb, the burnt flesh hindering regeneration.
The entire floor glows like a furnace, as the dungeon has become a crematorium.
But still, there is a corpse that refuses to burn.
I draw White Wind back around my body, force it into resonance with fire once more, and move, charging forward.
Black Goliath lashes out wildly now with frantic, uncoordinated swings born of rage and pain. Its remaining limbs crash into the dungeon with reckless force, stone shattering with every miss.
I slip past it all like an eel through grasping hands. I slide past its guard, driving greatswords into exposed joints, ruptured muscles, fractured bone… then detonate them all.
Each explosion rocks the floor.
Its screams are no longer roars of dominance, but shrill, broken howls of agony. Arms, legs, neck… any and everything it could use to defend itself is destroyed. What remains of its body collapses onto the floor, unable to support itself.
I don't hesitate, nor show mercy.
And just as this battle began…
I stand atop Goliath's chest once more.
Superheated wind cleaves through scorched flesh, splitting it open to reveal its core. The magic stone, finally exposed, glows brightly as I activate Predation.
Ariel's heat prevents it from regenerating.
Victory is soon at hand.
And yet…
I draw a long, ragged breath.
My body is ruined.
Third-degree burns lace across my skin, flesh charred and peeling open faster than potions or Blue Papilio Powder can repair. My burns, which would have killed most adventurers many times over, are my least severe injuries.
Every breath scalds my lungs, and the backlash from using Ariel at full power tears through me with each second. Muscle fibers are shredded, bones cracked, and organs close to rupturing.
I remain conscious only because I cannot feel pain… because my body is being constantly healed… and because it simply has not yet collapsed.
Barely.
So, I wait.
I continue using Ariel, even as my body continues to degrade, waiting for the moment the magic stone becomes mine, when—
"…I didn't expect this." I say flatly as the sound reaches me.
The low, hollow whistle of air being drawn in.
My eyes shift.
Black Goliath, reduced to little more than a torso, is inhaling.
Its head is gone. Its lungs are destroyed. It shouldn't be capable of doing anything.
Yet—
Its chest begins to swell.
The flesh beneath the crystal bulges grotesquely as it constricts its own throat, compressing what remains of its body. I recognize the intent instantly.
A suicide roar.
Moving now would disrupt Predation. And with my body in this state, evading would be difficult anyway.
So I stay.
I focus.
And then—
The Goliath sacrifices itself.
BOOOOM!
Its chest detonates outward, flesh and stone tearing apart as I'm hit with the equivalent of a bomb exploding at point-blank range.
I'm right at the center of it all.
Blood, smoke, stone, and molten flesh explode in all directions. The shockwave tears through me and hurls my body across the dungeon, before I slam into the wall hard enough to crater it.
Then I fall… landing on my back, as the world tilts around me.
'…I can't feel my left side.' I note calmly.
I turn my head, only to see that my left arm is gone.
A gaping cavity yawns where part of my chest used to be, ribs shattered, and organs exposed. Blood pours freely, splashing onto the floor—only to boil instantly against the still-glowing stone.
From the Goliath's perspective, it was the correct choice.
The attack would cripple me, escape Predation, and destroy its body enough to allow regeneration after all I did to cauterize every wound.
Its plan almost worked.
At the last instant, I activated Ariel at full power, expelling the wind outward and creating a fortress of superheated wind that absorbed most of the blast.
Most.
Even with that, I still ended up like this.
'…It's over.' I think, without relief.
[Notice: Black Goliath magic stone successfully absorbed into Stomach at the moment of impact.]
The monster killed itself.
In doing so, it removed all remaining resistance against Predation for that single moment that GS managed to take advantage of.
I lie there, bleeding onto the burning stone, struggling to draw breath as my chest cavity lies open to the air.
And I recognize the feeling immediately.
'I'm dying again.'
There's no panic this time.
No fear.
Not even peace.
Just familiarity.
'It is what it is.'
[Notice: Black Goliath has been eliminated. Now suppressing the activation of Skill: IronHeart.]
Her voice echoes inside my head.
'No.' I answer at once. 'Keep the skill active. Even if I lose consciousness.'
That had always been my contingency.
If I blacked out, IronHeart would normally revert to a passive state. That was the safety net I'd built for myself.
Which meant…
This exact scenario was one I'd feared.
The moment where, under IronHeart's influence, I ordered GS not to turn it off.
GS goes silent.
I can almost feel her processing the conflict, old orders conflicting new ones. But I know, newer orders take priority over the older ones—
[Error: Command Denied!]
Her response was unexpected, but I accept it.
'…Why?' I ask simply.
[Answer: Unknown.]
'I see… That's unfortunate. I'm more logical like this.'
[Notice: Beginning suppression of Skill: IronHeart.]
The world shifts.
Like a switch being flipped back.
Emotions return instantly where once there had been a void.
"I'm… back to being me." I cough, blood spilling from my lips as I smile despite myself. "I knew I could count on you."
Silence.
'Come on.' I tease weakly. 'I'm much more entertaining this way, right?'
Still no response.
…Fair enough. Probably not worth answering.
'Either way…' I think, sincerely. 'Thank you.'
[Answer: Acknowledged.]
I stare up at the ceiling through the haze of heat and smoke and can't help but find the situation funny.
'Let's see…'
'I look like Gojo.'
'I'm getting fried like Jogo.'
'And I got my chest blown open like Toji.'
A wheezing chuckle escapes me.
'At least my waist is intact.'
My blood keeps pooling beneath me, as cold creeps into my limbs. My thoughts start to drift, dark spots clouding the edges of my vision.
I know what this is.
The end.
'Hestia is going to be furious…' I muse.
Strangely, that makes me smile.
But I'm not afraid.
Because even if I pass out…
'I'm counting on you… part… ner…'
My eyes close.
And as consciousness slips away, a quiet unease settles in my chest.
I feel like I forgot something important.
But… it's too late now.
Seconds pass, and I drift closer to death.
Then—
[Notice: Skill: Goliath's Roar has evolved into Black Goliath's Roar +.]
[Notice: Skill: Rapid Regeneration has been acquired.]
[Warning: Loss of consciousness detected. User in critical condition and hostile environment. Command activated.]
Something ignites inside me.
My bleeding slows, muscles knit back together as bones reform. Even my blood regenerates.
My chest quickly begins to seal itself, and my arm starts regrowing. And at that moment, the dungeon trembles.
Stone ruptures as the sealed path to the 16th Floor bursts open. Roars echo as monsters flood into the chamber.
My eyes open.
Where they had once been brilliant blue…
They glow red.
I rise unsteadily to my feet and face the approaching horde.
"[Notice: Auto-Battle mode activated.]"
***********
A/N: Hello Everyone! How are you all? If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
So yeah... This chapter took a while. It's about 3.2k words, and what mainly delayed me was IronHeart🫠. I needed to know if it's something I wanted to actually do, and once I did, I needed to get the shift correctly, which kinda changed my writing style, and that slowed me down.
Overall, I think the chapter was awesome🙂↕️, but I might be delusional😭. I tried a lot of novel things, so I'm gonna explain my logic below.
I guess, the most interesting would be GS. The amazing waifu! She's awesome. So, base GS would never be able to refuse a command, no matter the BS I'd try. The change here comes from Riven's original request. He asked for a partner like GS, which, gives her that little who in this moment. And it's develop as he levels up.
Secondly, the magic. Ariel's White Wind was based on Ais's feelings towards Bell and letting go of her hatred. Here, I'm assuming White Wind required emotional clarity, and focus to achieve, hence why Riven used IronHeart. And, because it was more empty, than serene, hence the slight difference from the original.
For the resonance, I just assumed frequencies, and make Elven Magic match Ariel's frequency, and the 2 together could result in something greater than the sum of their parts. And as for the level and magic strength...
Riven's Magic stay is around 2k, let's say low to mid Level 2. Max Ariel, could be considered a +1 to level, with Fairy Canon, it'd jump to maybe 1.5... so, his magic, in strength, would be around low to mid Level 4. Plus the boost from it being White Wind, would push it to about high Level 4.
Then, merging with Elven Magic, it's firmly in Level 5, when using Ais's technique that concentrates all the wind. For the slash on Goliath's wrist, he modified the technique so it doesn't discharge, so it could be continuous (something for Ais to learn), and then yeah... Swords exploding is another application.
And R.I.P. Sword. The first GreatSword. It's gone for good, in case anyone held our hope😔. I mean, you could petition for its revival, but I doubt anyone read this far.
There's obviously more stuff, but I'd like to be asked for anything you guys are suspiciously of🤣. And yeah, the IronHeart thing won't be mainstream.
Oh, and apologies for the image. A quick AI one to show the general landscape. Thought it'd help🫠.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at Patreon.com/AMV_WEAKLY
So... I think that's all from me. I hope you all enjoyed, and have a wonderful rest of your day/night😁