Fate might have been laughing at Jack because just as he resolved to abandon Arlcard's quest by the end of today, he found that they had reached the bottom.
They knew they had reached the bottom because what they saw after coming down to the next floor was different from what they had seen before. The cubicle they were in was much larger, probably ten times larger. Furthermore, there was no door in all four walls. There was no next room. This was the end of the labyrinth.
The place was mostly empty except for a single pedestal at the center. On the pedestal was a blood-red urn.
"I found it… I found it!" Arlcard suddenly exclaimed.
Jack looked at his companion and was surprised to see Arlcard's normally emotionless face showed such a colorful expression. Arlcard's emotion was easily seen through his current face. It was a mix between longing, relief, and elation.
The vampire suddenly rushed forward.
"Hey, Arlcard! Wait…!" Jack yelled. He was taken aback by his companion's sudden action.
"There could be traps!" Jack ran after Arlcard, but the vampire was very fast. His speed didn't lose to Jack.
When Arlcard got near the red urn, what Jack was worried about came into being. Red smoke erupted from the urn. This took Arlcard by surprise and forced him to stop.
Arlcard had natural mana sense. He could sense the danger from that smoke. The red smoke formed a large column which came at Arlcard. Arlcard split into a swarm of bats just as the column smashed into the floor Arlcard was standing on a moment before.
The bats flew around the smoke, trying to get close to the urn but were unable to. The smoke completely covered the urn. Arlcard was unable to get close. The red smoke expanded, seemingly about to engulf the bats.
"Arlcard, get back!" Jack yelled. At the same time, he fired Mana Beam into the red smoke.
Damage number appeared when the beam pierced the red smoke. Once it did, the red smoke shaped into a form. It was vague, but Jack thought that perhaps he saw a face inside the smoke. One that stared at him with a grimace.
'That thing is alive?' Jack thought and used Inspect.
*
Tethered Soul (Mythical Monster, Magical), level: 82
HP: 1,940,000
Strength: 4380
Physical Defense: immune
Magical Defense: 4250
*
"Immune?" Jack uttered after reading the description of the thing's physical defense.
He had summoned Therras, his spirit weapons, and the golden wolves. Therras and the golden wolves charged into the smoke, but their attacks were useless. They mostly dealt physical damage. Their attacks just went through the smoke as if it was real smoke.
The spirit weapon fared better since its attack dealt chaos damage. It was in ranged mode and firing from a distance.
The bats retreated after unable to find a way through the red smoke. Some of them were caught when they tried to fly in and were dissolved. The bats merged into Arlcard and he received damage in proportion to the number of bats that were destroyed.
Arlcard could see now if he wanted to get to the urn, he had to defeat this smoke creature first.
His standard attack was also physical but he had many darkness-based skills. He cast a spell and his rapier was now coated with dark energy. All attacks done using his weapon now dealt dark damage.
Arlcard cast his protective shadow veil on himself before flying back to the red smoke. The vampire seemed to be very eager to defeat the enemy. He flew around at high speed while his rapier slashed the smoke every time he zoomed past. The smoke was having trouble keeping up with Arlcard's speed.
The smoke suddenly exploded. At least that was what Jack first thought, but he then noticed the explosion was slowing down. Turned out the red smoke was simply changing shape. It now had multiple tentacles coming out of its center. These tentacles chased after Arlcard and blocked his flight path at the same time.
"Arlcard, get back!" Jack shouted again. He had been firing magical attacks from afar when Arlcard engaged the smoke. He was now casting a spell while channeling his mana.
Arlcard was reluctant to retreat but he had been struck by the smoke tentacles a few times. He could still tank the damage but those tentacles stuck to the things they touched. Jack's ten golden wolves had been glued to those tentacles, unable to move. Damage numbers continuously appeared each second they were bound.
If not for his shadow veil, Arlcard would have suffered the same fate as those wolves. His shadow veil prevented the tentacles from attaching themselves to Arlcard's body after hitting him. He finally retreated when his shadow veil was almost destroyed.
Therras was originally also bound, but it used its Autocratic Roar which dispersed the smoke for a second. It quickly retreated afterward.
With all his allies retreated except for the wolves, Jack unleashed his spell. It was the mana manipulation-empowered Perpetual Lightning Judgement.
Uncountable thick lightning snakes erupted from the completed spell formation. Jack directed them all onto the red smoke. At the same time, he used Lightning God Barrage.
Sensing the danger, the red smoke retracted its tentacles and coiled into a sphere. The lightning snakes arrived first and the smoke sphere resisted the lightning. The divine lightning balls came then. The explosions they caused created holes in the sphere's wall. The lightning snakes then punctured through these holes, making the holes even bigger. The lightning snakes then concentrated inside the smoke sphere. The gathered lightning energy reached a critical mass and exploded.
When the explosion was gone, they saw the red smoke was no more. Only thin red mists were seen around the red urn.
"Holy… Did I one-shot a level 82 mythical?" Jack asked in disbelief, which made Peniel rolled her eyes. Weren't the attack just now two moves? Peniel's eyes said.
"Hahaha. I guess I have become too strong for my own good," Jack laughed.
"In your dream! You just momentarily disable it," Peniel uttered.
Jack didn't truly believe it was that easy. He was just joking. He could still sense the mana of the smoke monster lingering.
Arlcard was less mindful. When he saw the red urn again, he turned into a shadow and zoomed forward.
"Arlcard, look out!" Jack exclaimed when he sensed the mana from the red mists became active.
The red mists tried to gather. No doubt to reform into the red smoke monster, but Arlcard was faster. He managed to arrive before the red urn and grabbed the urn using his hand.
As his hand touched the urn. The urn broke apart. But rather than saying it broke apart, it was more like it sublimed away. It turned into a smoke that was thicker and redder than the red smoke monster. Its color was as red as blood.
As it did, this blood smoke wrapped around Arlcard and entered the vampire through his nose and mouth. Arlcard was screaming throughout the process.
