บท 83: An obstacle - something you clear (Pt. 3)

"Looks like your "infinite" supply of mana is coming to an end. A little sad the fight ended in such a one-sided beat up." The thousands of cuts I left on the boss' body finally started to have an effect.

The steadily huge supply of mana, which was supplied by the mental rods sticking out from the walls, was decreasing fast. His regeneration ability, unlike mine, uses mana. Once his mana runs out, it's gonna be an easy win for me.

"Just in time. [Zonal Control]." At that moment, I saw a glimpse of his face - a sadistic smile on it -, and everything started deforming.

The white walls, the metal rods, the ground, the ceiling; everything shifted and deformed before our eyes.

Things took shape, and only then did I realize what his real plan was.

The demon put the few minutes I spent cutting him left and right to great use. Instead of just recovering his body until his mana ran out and dying, he spent all that time channeling a spell.

Channeled spells are cast a lot faster if the caster is standing still, which is exactly what he did.

"Blood.. I'm fricking stupid." I said with a sigh.

"So am I." The goat head replied.

~~~

Our new surroundings were grim. The white room was gone, and the only thing left of it was a plateau* in the middle of a hellish landscape. And I don't just mean it was as bad as hell - it was literally a cavern full of magma, with a few plateaus* and spikes sticking out here and there.

(*An area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain, that is raised significantly above the surrounding area, often with one or more sides with deep hills.)

They didn't look particularly strong either, as, by the looks of things, those points of high ground were made out of dirt. A few hits is all it would take to break them down, at which point I would fall into the molten rock..

..Which wouldn't actually hurt me.

"I gotta give you the credits for being pretty smart. A channeled spell to change the environment to something more favorable to you." Blood looked at the demon with a bit of admiration, and so did I.

"Sadly, your cute little plan won't work. Ya think a little heat can damage me? I'm immune to all statuses. That includes getting too hot or cold, getting poisoned, being affected by magic, or anything else, for that matter." I guess he deserves some praise for making a last-ditch effort to finish me off.

"I figured as much. I used 8 different debuffs on you, yet you didn't even flinch." His plan seems to go a bit further than I expected. Interesting.

"So you knew. Then what's the real purpose?" I was curious to see what he does, but also caution.

"How about I show you?" He lifted his hands into the air, and magma from the surroundings started to gather up above him in a sphere.

He lowered his hands, and that very instant the huge ball fell down on me. Just in case, I raised my arms for protection but was dug into the ground with such an enormous amount of weight.

The molten rock around me started to swell up and formed a cocoon.

"Since magic doesn't work against me, he decided to go with the sheer mass and weight of magma." These are some of the best tactics I've seen my enemies use, all time.

"Welp, not like that will work against you. With your strength, you should be able to break out of this coffin just fine." Blood was calm about this.

I slammed my fist against the wall with full force, expecting half of the room to get blown away along with it.

A shockwave from the impact ran down my hand, shredding it to pieces.

"Shit. Good thing I used my left hand or this could have been you." But how? How did the wall of molten rock manage to put up that much resistance?

And how did the boss do enough damage to hurt me through my overpowered cloak in the first place? I was too entranced in the fight to pay attention to those details, but, now that I think about it, all of this is very weird.

I tried teleporting out of the cocoon, but it didn't work either. What kind of material is he controlling? If, in theory, he coated his claws in the same material he used to make the cocoon out of, then it would make sense how he managed to make them strong enough to pierce me.

Unless..

"Are you controlling the indestructible material the dungeon is made out of?" I asked, a bit of fear and excitement in my voice.

"So you've figured it out. Yes, that is my true ability. I have dozens of skills at hand, but they are all just complimentary. Sadly, Albert didn't allow me to use the ability for self-protection, but using it to trap the enemy wasn't something Albert prohibited me from doing." Does that mean there is someone giving him instructions on how he can and cannot use this overpowered ability?

"Then, can I ask a few questions before you kill me?" I was hoping to win some time to come up with a strategy, but at the very least I want to know what the ability is called and how it works.

"Sure. You put up a good fight, so I guess I'll answer the questions I can." Good. At least he as some sort of pride thing going on.

~~~

"Soo.. What's the ability called?" It's an obvious question. One of the things I really want to know before death. Though I might just survive - we'll see about that.

"The ability, which allows you to freely manipulate an indestructible material however you like is called.. [White Spawn]." He stated grandly.

"Excuse me.. what?" I couldn't believe it.

"[White Spawn] is the name of the ability. If Albert didn't make the damn rules on how I was allowed to use the ability, I would have crushed you in a split second." He kept complaining about this so-called Albert, but all of his words flew by my ears.

I was too shocked to listen. After all, I had the same ability and just haven't tried using it yet.