Jack put a hand on the portal. He felt like he was touching a solid wall.
"It's blocked… I can't pass through," Jack uttered.
"Shit!" He cursed and looked around, but this was the only portal in sight.
"Do you think there is another exit?" He asked Peniel.
"I don't know…," Peniel shook her head.
By then, the thirty-third wave was already approaching.
"F*ck!" He cursed again and went to meet this next wave. He fed his amulet a hundred mana cores and summoned Ice Demon Fiend.
As expected, there were nine rare elites inside this wave. Luckily, his Therras was still in its Sovereign mode. Jack had it fired its ultimate attack, Earth Core Bomb. While at the same time, he used his Supreme Dragon Transformation and fired his Soul Breath. The combination assault took out a large portion of HP from the incoming horde.
Jack activated Therras' supersonic mode while it was still in its sovereign mode. Its speed increased and it mowed down the special elites that were low in health. Jack also instructed Ice Demon Fiend to use its ultimate attack, the Ice Spears Rain, to strike the remaining special elites.
The rare elites again converged on Jack. When they all rushed to Jack, Jack waited until they almost crashed at him before he used Hundred Shadow Strikes. Jack vanished just as the combined attacks from the nine rare elites arrived. In exchange, twenty shadows struck all the nine rare elites.
After delivering the attacks, the twenty shadows fused back into Jack next to the nine rare elites. Jack took the chance when they were still disoriented to clash directly with them.
Too bad Jack's Asura state was no more, he could only do his best contending against these many rare elites with his Formless Flowing Sword style. His Ice Demon Fiend was behind him, supporting him with its slow aura and its ranged freeze balls.
Jack cast Acceleration on himself. The nine rare elites which were already slowed by Ice Demon Fiend's slow aura, appeared even slower after Jack's Acceleration spell took hold. It was similar to the slow-motion effect of Dragon Eye's active state, but he himself was still moving at normal speed.
His two dragon claws burst into a torrent of attacks. It was the burst attack of his sword art. Forty-eight rapid attacks struck the nine rare elites accurately on their multiple weak points. He never missed his daily training on his sword art. He felt like he was near the third phase of his sword art.
During the ten seconds Acceleration duration, which was fifty seconds in Jack's perspective, he continued to throw burst attacks one after another. He concentrated one wave of burst attacks on one opponent before moving to the next, to take advantage of the combo multipliers' damage boost. Because Acceleration slowed down time, the break from one burst attack to the next didn't reset the combo multiplier. The combo continued to build up and enhance the damage. He felt great fatigue by the end of his spell's duration.
'Maybe I've pushed it too much,' Jack thought as his movement got dull.
The nine rare elites were also no longer in slow-motion effect. They hit Jack from all angles. Jack used his Wing Shield to defend, he crouched down and covered himself with his wings. At the same time, he instructed Ice Demon Fiend behind him to fire its Ice Beam.
The Ice Beam hit all nine rare elites and Jack. A thick ice wall was formed, encasing Jack and the nine rare elites inside.
Jack used Willpower and broke free from the ice prison. He then fired ranged spells at the encased rare elites. The ice wall couldn't hold the rare elites long. Cracks appeared in a short time and the ice wall was soon shattered.
Jack again dove in and clashed with the nine directly using his sword art. Peniel cast Healing Field to keep Jack alive.
After a long and tiring battle, Jack finally brought down all nine rare elites just as his dragon form ran out of duration. At that time, most of the other special elites were already defeated by Therras as well. Jack saw in the distance the thirty-third wave appearing.
He had no doubt there would be twelve rare elites inside. No way he was going to survive this next wave with all his most powerful skills and spells still on cooldown. Should he run? But where to?
Seeing no solution, he decided to help Therras and Ice Demon Fiend to finish up the remaining special elites before that next wave arrived. Perhaps if he died, he would be sent back out? He would lose half a level, though. Which was throwing away the exp points gained from entering this portal.
When the last of the special elite fell, Peniel exclaimed, "Look at the portal!"
Jack turned and looked. The previously red portal had now turned into a green color.
'Does that mean the portal is passable now?' Jack thought.
The thirty-third wave was already near. Jack had the Ice Demon Fiend go and block them while he ran to the portal. When he was close, he jumped with his feet first into the portal. Different from before, the portal no longer barred him entry. When he passed through the portal, Therras was automatically unsummoned.
Jack was at full speed when he dove into the portal feet first. When he came out of the tree where he entered, he fell on his back to the ground.
He was still panting while lying on the ground when he heard a voice, "I was tempted to have you go one more wave inside there."
Jack turned to the voice and saw Greed standing beside the tree with the portal he had just come out from.
"Didn't you say you are only coming back tomorrow?" Jack asked.
Greed shrugged. "I break my words. So what? What are you going to do about it?"
"Uh… nothing," Jack replied.
"I thought so," Greed said. "So, do you like it in there?"
"I will love it if I'm allowed to exit on my choice."
"But then, you won't be pushing your full potential. You have to keep pushing yourself more than what you are capable of. That's how you can keep on improving. That's how you can get more, and more, and more, by keep on pushing."
"That's… a very greedy method, indeed," Jack remarked.
"Greed is good," Greed said.
"Hey, I heard that line before in a movie… I can't remember which one…," Jack muttered.
"All right, tell you what. You enter one of these portals daily, and I will let you live."
"Huh? Are you not planning to let me live before?"
Greed shrugged. "I was still considering it. Now, after seeing you entering this portal and how entertaining it is to see you struggle, I think I am going to keep you around."
"Until how long?"
"Why? Does it matter?"
'Duh!' Jack uttered in his mind. Outside, he said, "I still have many things to do in the outside world."
"Those can wait," Greed said nonchalantly. "I might even give you that Eye of Illios you covet so much if you entertain me enough."
Seeing that he had no choice anyway, Jack said weakly, "All right…"
"Hey! Don't look so dispirited. It displeases me!"
"All right!" Jack said with fervor.
"But each day must be a new portal than the one you have taken before," Greed added.
"They are not the same? What's inside the other portals?" Jack asked.
Greed shrugged. "You will find out when you enter. All right, get some rest and give me good entertainment tomorrow."
Greed then vanished again.
Jack looked around. Although Greed had gone, Jack was sure he was still being watched, as had been proven.
Jack spent the rest of the days practicing mana manipulation and his sword art, with an emphasis on his sword art. The battle just now had given him a good feeling that he was about to reach the third phase of the Formless Flowing Sword style. Yet, after practicing till night, he felt that there was still something missing. He just couldn't cross that final hurdle. He had tried using Dragon Eye's active ability while executing his burst attacks, as he did the last time when he mastered the second phase, but he couldn't find the flaws that needed improving.
He went to sleep with a mind full of thoughts about his sword art.
*
The next morning, when he woke up. Greed was already waiting.
"Ready for your next portal?" Greed asked.
"Not really," Jack answered.
"You still have to take one. If you want to live, that is."
Jack sighed. "Let's go."
They went into the small forest. During Jack's walk inside the forest yesterday, he counted around twenty-two trees with the portal. He came to the one he had entered yesterday and found it to be red.
"You can't pick the same one as yesterday," Greed said.
Jack nodded and walked to the next closest one. Since he didn't know what was inside each of the portals, there was no point in choosing. He turned to look at Greed who was grinning before turning back and entering the portal.
As he appeared on the other side, he was surprised to find himself underwater.
"What the f*ck…" He uttered and ended up swallowing a mouthful of water.
He looked back. There was no portal. He looked around. He was on a seabed. There was no portal as far as his eyes could see. There was no exit.
