When Jack's combined assaults struck the Kraken, the resulting explosion pushed the water aside. The ink produced by the Kraken was heavier than water. After the explosion pushed everything aside, the water returned soon but the ink stayed aside. As a result, the water around the Kraken became clear. As it did, something caught Jack's attention.
'That's… Is that what I think it is…?' Jack said while pointing.
Peniel looked in the direction Jack was pointing. 'Hey, I think it is, and it's green!'
What Jack pointed to was something that looked like a small green oval plate from a distance, but both Peniel and Jack knew better what it was. It was the exit portal.
'So that's what this place is about. We are never meant to defeat this mythical-grade monster. It's too far-fetched, even for that crazy God's idea of pushing past my limit. Our task is to sneak past this mythical monster and safely reached the exit!'
Knowing the objective, Jack's spirit was fired up again. Luckily, his Supreme Dragon form's duration was not out yet. Too bad he had used his acceleration spell. Otherwise, it would be easy to fly past the Kraken. But the Kraken had also lost two arms. With only six arms, it should have a harder time catching Jack.
When Jack thought in that way, he saw the arms that had been blown apart by his ultimate attacks, slowly grew back again.
'F*ck! It can regenerate its lost limbs!' Seeing that, Jack had no time to delay. He immediately shot forward.
He again flew close to the wall. His Shooting Dash was off cooldown. The Kraken's arms came as expected and Jack used Shooting Dash as planned. His three consecutive dashes afforded him to dodge all the Kraken's arm attacks while successfully passing the monster's position. Now all he needed to do was rush to the green portal.
The Kraken's arms were fast, but its main body was slow. So once Jack had gone past the Kraken, it was easier. The Kraken continued to snap its arms at Jack, preventing Jack from reaching the portal. Jack activated Dragon Eye. Although his body can't move as fast as when he used Accelerate, he could see the arms in slow motion. Hence, he could control his movement more precisely, dodging the arms at a hairbreadth.
He just hoped the Kraken won't be using the mouth-sucking move again. Considering that was a big move, Jack assumed the monster couldn't do it often.
Just as he dodged the last arm's grab and was about to reach the portal, something suddenly protruded out from the tip of the last arm. It was a long hook, and this unexpected hook covered the distance and stabbed into Jack's leg. Jack received damage as well as felt great pain from the stab. He was also afflicted with poison status.
The arm that hooked him dragged him away from the portal and threw him further.
While he was still unbalanced, he was captured by another arm. With the suckers holding him in place, it was impossible to escape.
'Damn it! Don't you think you can hold me!' Jack uttered in his mind and used Willpower.
The race skill broke Jack free of all movement restrictions. The arm was forcefully knockback from Jack's body. Peniel also cast Fast Heal on Jack, recovering his HP and all the negative effects.
Jack immediately flew towards the portal again. While he did, he used another of his race skill, Ambition. This skill increased his movement speed by fifty percent as well as lowered all the damages received.
While giving another try to reach the portal, he activated his last skill that sort of manipulated the time, Gold Dragon Sight. The arms assaults again appeared slow-motion in Jack's perspective. This time, Jack paid attention to the possibility of the hidden hooks at the tip of the Kraken's arms.
However, this time, the Kraken was also more prepared for Jack's attempt to enter the portal. It had moved itself close enough and was now placing one of its arms directly before the portal, preventing entrance.
'F*cking cephalopod!' Jack cursed.
The other arms came at Jack again. Jack was done playing games with this octopus, he decided to use brute force. He continued relying on his Gold Dragon Sight to get close to the blocked portal. He also used Strength of the Wild to increase his speed even more. Once he arrived, he used Flame Strike.
'Move aside!' He yelled as his sword collided with the arm that was blocking the portal.
With his already high strength stat and all the additional buffs, the heavy arm was knocked aside, albeit slightly, but it was enough for him to slip through.
The act of him hitting the arm, however, had allowed a pause for the Kraken's other arm to come to him. But Jack was ready for it. Before the arm touched his body, he activated Lightning God Suit. This suit not only protected him from damage and dealt lightning damage to all enemies that came near, but it also gave him complete immunity from all movement restrictions.
The arm touched Jack's back but the suckers failed to glue Jack's body onto the arm. Jack pushed forward and entered the portal.
He came out headfirst from the portal this time and fell to the ground.
"Lightning God Blessing. I've sensed it within you but seeing it still impressed me," Jack heard Greed's voice. Jack turned himself while still lying on the ground all wet. He looked at Greed who was standing beside the portal he had just come out from.
"Are you entertained?" Jack asked.
"Can't say I ain't," Greed replied with a grin. "I also notice you can do mana sense. Otherwise, you won't see shit around that Kraken's water. You are getting more and more interesting, outworlder."
Jack deactivated his Lightning God Suit and stood up.
"So, what now?" He asked.
Greed shrugged. "We wait till tomorrow, for you to attempt another portal."
Jack sighed. He was not looking forward to it.
"All right, see you tomorrow."
"Wait!" Jack called out before Greed disappeared.
"Oh? Is there something you need?" Greed asked.
"Can I enter that portal?" Jack pointed at the portal that he had entered yesterday. "But without you blocking the exit!" He hurriedly added.
The portal he had entered just now didn't provide many exp points. The ones he got were only from killing one Great White and one Megalodon. It was not much. The portal from yesterday was more bountiful in terms of exp points. Since he can't grind monsters here, he wanted to use that portal instead to increase his levels.
"Sure," Greed answered.
"You truly won't block the exit, right? I can choose to go out at any time?" Jack tried to make sure.
"When you say it like that, it tempts me to do the opposite," Greed replied with a wicked grin. "But no, I won't block the exit. You are free to enter and exit that portal as you like. I have had my share of entertainment for today. See you tomorrow."
Greed then vanished.
Jack sighed again after Greed was gone. He didn't see any good prospects for his current situation. He was practically a prisoner here, but that didn't mean he would just give up and do nothing. He would continue to do as before, work hard to become stronger, and improve his levels. With that determination, he entered the portal to face the unending waves of Greed's hordes.
*
In the following days, Jack continued to enter one portal after another. Each portal contained different challenges. Some even didn't require any fighting at all.
One for example was a place filled with puzzles similar to the ones he encountered at the Temple of the Divine Squall where he had gotten his Lightning God Blessing.
He had to solve one puzzle before he could proceed to the next room. And that room would contain another puzzle. After probably around ten puzzle-solving rooms, he finally found a room with the green exit portal.
Another was some sort of a horror setup that required him to survive by sneaking past an unkillable entity that could kill him with just one touch. Greed didn't give him any warning about it. He had to find out after he tried fighting the entity and ended up getting killed. He revived back at the starting point and was advised he had two attempts left. Apparently, the setup gave the participant three attempt chances.
He cursed Greed profusely for letting him waste one precious attempt. He had played this kind of horror game before so he was not alien to it. The layout was inside a huge gothic mansion with various rooms and locked doors. An ominous sound would be heard when the entity was near. He had to hide somewhere whenever that happened. When it was safe, he had to look around the places to find the keys to unlock the locked doors.
His radar didn't detect this entity, probably because it wasn't categorized as any normal unit. However, his mana sense helped a lot as it allowed him to sense if the entity was still around or had left while he was in hiding.
Luckily, his stats and skills were still usable here. He had Peniel cast Second Life on him, which saved him one attempt. Then during the time when he was unlocking the last door, the entity found him. He continued unlocking while Peniel cast invulnerability, allowing him time to open the door, and ran into the exit portal without dying.
Then there was a portal where he was faced with a murder mystery case, in which he had to find enough clues to pick the correct murderer among six suspects. Picking the wrong suspect would have him die a wilderness death.
Suffice to say, there was no dull moment for Jack. Every day was a new experience while he was in Greed's lair. And the host seemed sufficiently satisfied with Jack's performance.
