The skeleton screeched as it received a powerful attack that ignore the barrier it created. It suffered greatly and stumbled in the mid-air. It almost fell but a flame flickered within its eye sockets.
A black beam suddenly erupted from its chest. It flew out at high speed causing the air to boil as the energy violently whip out.
Souta's eyes shrank as he moved his body to the side. He barely avoided the powerful attack. Then, he felt a chill on his back.
Bang!!
Before he could even react, a loud bang exploded as the giant undead smashed him. Its attack tore the [Shadow Cloak] and [Armored Scale Formation], slicing a decent amount of his health points.
"Not bad!"
Souta smiled as he spun in the mid-air. The giant undead felt something was wrong. When Souta slashed his sword, he vanished out of thin air.
Swoosh!
Souta reappeared on the ground once again. At the same time, lightning struck down at his position destroying the traps that the skeleton prepared. He knew that the skeleton grasp his [Shadow Ball] spell so he was prepared this time.
"Nice try."
He kicked the ground and arrived in front of the skeleton instantly. The skeleton moved away while creating several layers of barriers.
But how could Souta let him get away?
Souta dashed forward while using gravity to increase his speed. Then, he thrust his sword once again penetrating the barriers around the skeleton.
[Sixth Form: Piercing Thunder Strike]!!
Subsequently, he opened his other hand and thick webs shot out. It wrapped the undead's legs and Souta pulled the web in his hand.
[Fifth Form: Rage of the Thunder God]!!
Torrents of black lightning swallowed the skeleton. Cracks formed all over its body but it was still struggling. The enormous energy it possessed was enough to block some of the damage caused by the lightning.
Souta charged once again. He pulled back his sword and heavily swung it down. The slash generated a powerful black lightning that descended from the dark clouds.
Bang! Bang!
Under Souta's violent attacks, the skeleton couldn't even find a way to counter. It could only take the attacks repeatedly.
"Hahaha!!"
Souta laughed madly as violent lightning flooded the whole area. It looks like it was trying to destroy everything in sight.
BAM!!
The horrifying lightning continued to spread out and it even affected the giant undead.
At the moment, the water in the entire swamp had already evaporated. There was nothing left aside from the thick burned soil on the ground.
"More! Give me more! Hahaha!
Souta dashed through the air and grabbed the skeleton's skull. His eyes which contained bloodlust stared at the skeleton's eye sockets.
"Ehe~ good! You're good!"
He grinned madly. The next second, he slashed the skeleton and a violent torrent of lightning slowly disintegrated its body.
BOOM!!
When Souta heard the system notification, he turned his attention to the giant undead.
"You're next!"
Before he could charge, Souta heard Saya's voice inside his head.
'Souta, think about it! Calm yourself! You're losing yourself!' Saya said.
Souta realized that he was getting carried away. His emotion was unstable and it's even influencing him. He took a deep breath and bit his tongue once again.
Ugh!
"Thanks for the warning..." Souta said as he wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth.
He waved his hand and devoured the soul of the skeleton before he charged forward. The giant undead was also staring at him. Both of them collided in the air causing a powerful shockwave to sweep out.
Bang!!
...
The body of the giant undead slowly fell to the ground.
Thud!
"It's not enough..." Souta grumbled with a hint of disappointment in his tone.
When he was fighting he canceled his Second Mode and fought the giant undead squarely. He only used his Archetype and it took him ten minutes before the undead crumbled into dust.
He wanted to use the giant undead to push his Archetype to 50% mastery but it seems that it wasn't enough. The giant was tougher but it didn't have any powerful attack like the skeleton. That's why Souta choose it as a training partner but it seems that it couldn't provide him with what he needed.
He sighed and looked around. His shadows have eliminated the other undead so this place was clear.
There's no threat. With his current strength completing this quest wasn't a problem for him.
As for why he took this quest. The answer lies inside that old castle.
Souta's eyes flickered as he strode toward the castle. This was the most important thing for him.
Lerna Island and Heracles. The second labor of Heracles.
"This is it!"
Souta stood in front of a giant rock that was emitting ominous energy. It was too dense and ordinary people would have died from the pressure of energy in this place. The giant rock had strange runes carved on its surface and various metal poles protruding around it. Outside of it, there were dozens of golden-colored metal chains crisscrossed around.
'A sealing technique...' Saya muttered.
"There are four layers of seals in it." Souta nodded at Saya's words. "The first seal was inside that giant rock and the second one was the giant rock itself. The third and fourth were the metal poles and golden chains."
He laughed lightly and stretched out his hand.
Bang!!
His hand seemed it hit a barrier and a mysterious force pushed his hand away. It was powerful as it destroyed all the defenses in his hand and it even caused him to bleed.
"It's strong..."
Souta glanced at his hand. With the power of his parasite, it quickly returned to normal.
The ancestor of the Veinu Kingdom was a powerful necromancer and he was the guardian of this castle. There's even a barrier around the castle that prevented anyone from approaching the swamp.
Heracles and the ancestor have a master and subordinate relationship. He asked the ancestor to guard this place tightly.
The question is... What is he guarding?
The answer lies within the layers of seals.
"To open this seal..."
Souta turned around. He went downstairs and found a huge and spacious room.
This was a throne room. A red carpet lies on the floor, beautiful chandeliers were swaying on the ceiling, and a majestic throne was situated at the end of the room. At the throne, there was a skeleton wearing a red robe and it was clasping a purple staff.
This was the skeleton of the ancestor of Veinu Kingdom. The guardian of this castle was nothing but a corpse now.
Souta smiled before he walked forward. He stopped in front of the skeleton and remove the equipment on its body. The staff, robe, boots, and belt were only high quality orange grade.
These were useless to him but his men could make use of these artifacts. A bunch of orange grades could considerably increase an S-rank battle prowess.
But these things weren't his target. His goal for coming here was the thing inside the throne.
"It's here..."
Souta raised his hand and the skeleton to the side. At the top of the throne, he could see a ring embedded in it. The ring was golden and there was a green gem flickering on its surface.
If he removed this ring, all the seals above would crumble and the being inside it would be free.
Well, Souta knew the mechanism behind this. It would be a problem if the sealed creature rampaged once it broke free. There's a fifty-fifty chance whether he could stop that creature or not. If it could use suppression after getting out of the seal then he was undoubtedly gone. That's why he didn't want to risk it.
He was doing all of this to survive so if he could die why would he do this?
Souta narrowed his eyes. He reached out his hand and caressed the ring on the throne.
'This is... A dark grade artifact?!' Saya was stunned at the discovery.
"Yep, it's a dark grade." Souta nodded calmly.
'Hey, it's a dark grade, you know, a...' Suddenly, she stopped as she recalled that Souta had two universal grades and another two dark grades.
Souta shook his head and ignored her. It was true that the ring was a dark grade artifact. It was one of his artifacts in the game called [Burning Ring Seal].
This artifact was used as the core of the seals.
Souta moved his fingers and slowly rotated the ring.
Ohm!
The ring emitted a dim light and a loud sound echoed. The whole castle trembled as if something terrifying occurred.
"This should be enough..." Souta muttered before he turned around leaving a doppelganger to guard the ring.
If he took the ring, the creature would be fully unsealed and it would be bad for him. Souta only removed the first two seals and this would give him a chance to converse with that creature.
It was his goal from the beginning.
Soon, he returned to the seals.
