Even monsters such as Shell Crabs and Fire Dragons would not look so threatening when viewed through the God Eye-projected Monitors. To an uninformed viewer, perhaps they would seem intimidating at first, but the audience was bound to get used to them after seeing them so often. This was the same feeling Xeno had as a result of spectating almost every single day.
But during his first times actually fighting the Shell Crab and Fire Dragon, Xeno had in fact been quite terrified. Creatures of such colossal sizes normally would require anti-monster magic tools and dozens of trained soldiers to defeat. It had been unbelievable at first to Xeno, someone from the Royal Capital, that the Explorers here had to fight them only in teams of five.
Naturally, he had also been terrified upon facing the Mount Golem, currently the largest confirmed monster in God’s Dungeon, for the first time. He had previously only heard of such things in folklore, and thought them terrifying even as he watched them through the Monitors.
“<<Combat Cry>>!”
On the outside, however, he showed no sign of fear as he pulled the Mount Golem’s aggro onto him and then narrowly dodged the heat ray attack from its eyes. His body did not tremble, and his movements were as fluid as ever. He proceeded to get ahead of Daryl and landed near the Mount Golem’s feet.
Being a more lightweight unit compared to Daryl, he could dodge some of the Mount Golem instant-death attacks such as the stops and claps. This was exactly why Pico had advised him to stay close to its feet.
Most first-timers were likely to be too scared to stay this close to the monster. Even though its attacks were relatively easy to avoid due to it currently being in the middle phase, it was mentally taxing to know that those attacks were sure to kill in one successful hit.
“Weak! You are so weak! Even the Fire Dragon was more intense than you!” Xeno shouted dramatically as if he was a stage actor, provoking the Mount Golem as he hopped back to dodge its kick.
The monster proceeded to slam its hand down at him, and he slipped past it while blocking the falling rock fragments with his buckler.
“There! <<Taunt Swing>>!”
Xeno then used his buckler to bash the Mount Golem’s hand as it was stuck on the ground, then, when the monster fired a heat ray at him, he backflipped and flew into the air to dodge it. But then it intercepted him with a straight punch. Xeno tried to avoid taking direct damage by blocking it with his buckler, but he was blown away in a blink of an eye.
Due to him not being in control of the direction in which he was going, Xeno almost fell into the sea of lava, only narrowly managing to regain his bearings in mid-air. Having taken such a tremendous impact for the first time ever, he was forced to stop for a moment to recover from the resulting dizziness.
“Ngh… n-now THAT is what I call a punch,” Xeno said, coughing up blood as the Mount Golem walked toward him. “Perhaps you’d be the next martial arts champion if you were to enter the tournament!”
Meanwhile, the damage he had just taken was in the process of being healed by Korinna’s <<Blessing of Recovery>>.
As he had expected, the Mount Golem’s attack was extremely painful. Despite being far from a direct hit, he still ended up with some serious internal injuries. And despite sounding as carefree as ever — minus the ragged breathing — the blow had in fact almost crushed his fighting spirit to pieces.
[That… bloody… HURT! Just how powerful is that thing!? And this Clan’s original members have gone through a whole fight’s worth of it before!?]
Seeing that Daryl had been perfectly fine this whole time, he had expected it to not be a problem for him as well, but now that he took one hit, he did not think he would be able to take another. His buckler had been bent out of shape by the punch, and the arm holding it was in too much pain to be fit for combat. Xeno’s legs trembled, his knees looking to collapse from his injuries any second now.
The God Eye moved close to him as if to check on his condition. Xeno made eye contact with it, making it seem like he was looking at the audience.
[…No, I can’t afford to fall here.]
He assumed that his beloved wife was watching on the other side, her eyes fixing on him — not to mention the readers of his articles, and the fanbase that he had garnered, all gathered in front of the Monitors to watch this battle.
“Hahaha… that was a good punch, but still not a match for THE Xeno! You there, all of you, watching on the other side of the screen! Your cheers will be the source of my strength! Thank you, and again, thank you!”
Xeno put up a bold front, pointing at the God Eye and cracking a radiant smile. Still, if not for this bluff, perhaps he would have become too demotivated to continue. The resolve to not be an embarrassment in front of Pico and all the others watching him — that was the pillar of his strength.
For a moment, Xeno considered drinking a Potion, but then he remembered that Daryl had not needed one yet. Although the latter’s VIT was higher, he had taken tens of hits without needing even a single sip. Xeno pulled his hand back, deciding to not resort to it for the time being.
Then, when he noticed the sound of a signal arrow, he shouted out as if to blow off his turbulent emotions,
“EXCELLENT! Make sure it’s beautiful, Diniel!”
“And I wish you’d be quiet,” Diniel grumbled as she shot up another arrow, this one turning into a blue meteor shower.
Xeno whistled in amazement at the raining arrows, and continued to boldly stand his ground against the Mount Golem.
At this point, Daryl was helping out Melchor — and Xeno as well — by drawing the attention of the minions that spawned automatically from the Mount Golem’s back. Melchor, at his current level of effort, could destroy five to six of them in quick succession, so Daryl’s workload was relatively light — which enabled him to steadily recover his stamina. For some reason, though, he seemed dissatisfied about something — a rare gesture coming from him.
Xeno dodged the heat rays in the air and darted around the Mount Golem’s legs. All the time he had spent training in the Valley and Canyon layers made him adept at aerial maneuvers. Making use of his mobility and defense, Xeno’s method was more of a hybrid between the classic and evasion-based Tank styles.
Still, his performance was not quite on the level of the more experienced Daryl. This also resulted in <<Stream Arrow>> not hitting as much as it should, and there being more randomness involved in who the heat rays would target — the latter of which spooked Korinna quite often as she was forced to defend with her Scorchstone Robe.
And as the number of minions dwindled, the Mount Golem moved faster. By the time there were six of the left, Xeno was starting to be hit more and more often.
“No… not yet! <<Combat Cry>>!”
Hit by more punches and kicks, Xeno was starting to talk less as she lost more of his composure. Still, he kept his tone as hammy as ever and continued to stand his ground.
Korinna prioritized healing Xeno with <<Blessing of Recovery>>, but he was getting hurt faster than the spells could heal. Panic started to set in, narrowing Xeno’s thoughts and causing him to forget that he should be drinking a Potion right about now. In fact, he was no longer sure what he was even doing anymore.
“Sir Xeno, switch!” Daryl called out to Xeno, having understood — from the latter’s actions rather than words — that he was almost at his limit.
However, Xeno was too cornered by the Mount Golem’s attack to hear the call, obstructing the process of the Tanks’ switching.
The Mount Golem, its speed boosted so much that its movements no longer seemed mechanical, kicked Xeno, sending him flying — which, after a few rebounds, ended with him tumbling into the sea of lava and bursting apart into light particles.
――▽▽――
“Miss Korinna!”
“Two minutes until revival!”
“Got it! Sir Melchor, we’ll leave the little Golems to you!”
Daryl, despite regretting that he had incorrectly assessed Xeno’s limit, kept a cool head and, after sending a new set of instructions to the team, unleashed an indigo blue <<Combat Cry>> powered with as much mental energy as he could pack in.
“Miss Diniel! Stop attacking until Sir Xeno revives!”
There were six minion Golems left. By the time that count was down to three, the Mount Golem would turn up its shining red eyes and unleash its wide-area attack, signaling the transition into the final phase. Dealing damage to it now would hasten the flow of battle, resulting in the smaller Golems being destroyed more quickly — and in turn, the wide-area attack being whipped out earlier. Considering that it would be most unfavorable if Xeno were to revive in the middle of that attack, Daryl had decided to have Diniel pause her attacking for now.
“<<Defensive>>.”
Trading his AGI for a boost of VIT, Daryl was able to defend head-on against the Mount Golem’s attacks without sustaining lethal injuries. Being hit still meant being hurt, however, which made his situation not so different from Xeno’s.
It was just that Daryl had an exceedingly high tolerance for pain, perhaps as a result of his training. He saw this pain he was enduring as a trial — a trial to overcome his own limits.
His mentor, Garm, was a frontline fighter capable of dishing out firepower comparable to those of Attackers despite being a Tank. Of course, there were many other excellent Tanks besides Garm whose efforts were just as admirable… But Garm alone was able to stay a frontline fighter because he always strove to overcome his own limits.
Death was no stranger to those who explored God’s Dungeon. The acceptance of this form of death was an Explorer’s first barrier of entry — most who could not get accustomed to being killed many times would soon be unable to continue exploring the Dungeon.
As such, seasoned Explorers were used to it — even accepted it. To an individual Explorer, perhaps it was merely a thing that came naturally, but oftentimes, it would result in them being TOO used to it.
Some who had grown accustomed to dying would choose to die in order to escape pain. After all, the only penalties incurred here were material things. There was always the option of starting over — the option to exert more effort next time. Perhaps it was only natural that most Explorers would develop that mindset.
Just about anyone would want to avoid feeling pain. To them, dying was the preferable choice over drinking a Potion to stay alive. All they would lose was their equipment, and even then, they would get to keep the most valuable piece. As such, many ended up never pushing themselves, letting themselves die at the first sign of struggle.
But Garm was different — he was of the kind to face death head-on and fought back. He always fought with all his might, and would never give up even in desperate situations where his comrades would choose to kill themselves. Unlike most Explorers, Garm had never accepted this form of death, and as such, had never dulled his senses to accommodate it.
The last ounce of strength of a creature in the face of death — by invoking it, Garm was able to push his body to its limit. It enabled a low-STR Knight like him to stand on the front lines, though, in combat, his appearance was one of a madman. As a result, in awe of his display, Explorers had taken to calling him the Mad Dog.
Still, while great power could be attained by such perseverance, Garm would never encourage others to do so. He knew full well how painful it was, and as such, he had not taught it to Garm, his apprentice.
What he had done, however, was talk about it. He had explained that it was a power one could unlock when there was nothing left to fall back on — and that it was what enabled him to achieve such heights he had.
He had seen this battle as an opportunity to try and work himself to the limit. Last time, he had tried to stand again but failed — getting him a fair share of swearing from Amira, and a great deal of shame from himself. Due to having been hailed as Garm’s apprentice, he felt as if he had disappointed everyone. He did not want to go through that again. That was why he was now trying to draw out all of his power just like Garm.
A while earlier, when he had been cornered by the Mount Golem, was when Daryl felt the best he had ever been in his life — his hearing had become so keen that he heard everyone’s breathing, and he could clearly read the Mount Golem’s every move. Just when he had thought he could unlock that power, he had been interrupted by Xeno. If he were to be honest, Daryl would say he was quite offended, and even more so considering how many Golems remained at the time.
Regardless, Daryl was sure that he had a glimpse of what his limit was like.
[Remember, Daryl. Remember how it felt…]
He recalled how it had felt just now, right after he had been sent flying by the Mount Golem — and then the bitter defeat he had suffered last time. Daryl forgot to even blink as he watched the Mount Golem’s movements, hoping not to make the same mistake twice.
Each time he was sent rolling on the arena’s burning terrain by the Mount Golem, he got back up and rushed back into the fray. Then, right when the <<Blessing of Resurrection>> took effect and brought Xeno back to life, Daryl unleashed a combination of his skills,
“<<Warrior Howl>>. <<Taunt Swing>>.”
The combo overrode the aggro Korinna had generated on her with the <<Blessing of Resurrection, preventing the monster from targeting her. Daryl then blocked its heat rays with his tower shield.
“Cover Sir Melchor until it launches the wide-area attack!”
“Understood!” Xeno, now resurrected, replied to Daryl’s call as he was putting on a spare armor set with Korinna’s help.
And then, when the number of Golems was down to three, the Mount Golem’s eyes started shining as it looked upwards.
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