Chapter 144: Keep It Bound (1/2)

Smoke filled up the place, and the boss started spawning. Yet, even though Ed couldn't see the boss, he knew it wasn't Mehen. Just the quality and amount of QI this boss had allowed him to figure it out. The boss this time was a large blue Scorpion, like the one Ed killed before. It could use freezing flames, but it wasn't much of a challenge. The tenth boss was another Gryphon, while the eleventh was a Unicorn.

The Unicorn had many abilities. But as expected, Merry who was the strongest boss of the eleventh floor could kill it with ease. Ed also gave Merry the ability to use Nen, and she turned out to be a Transmuter. He told everyone to hurry up and make their Hatsu, so they would have time to develop it. Ed himself had already finished his.

Due to killing the bosses, Ed actually managed to level up to Heavenly Establishment level 5. Although most of the Exp was gotten from the Eleventh floor's monsters. Another week passed, and now the final boss was going to spawn. Ed and the others were tense, as the enemy would probably be tough to beat. Ed had an idea about the type of the monster that would be the top of the tower.

The same thing happened with this boss, as smoke came out of the circle and this time, it filled the whole floor. No one could see the boss, but they could feel its QI. The QI felt evil, everyone got a fright from feeling it. It was also the biggest amount of QI they ever felt from a monster, even above Ed who had the largest pool of QI among them. The smoke receded and they got a good look at the twelfth-floor boss.

A fifty meter long Dragon was standing in the middle of the floor. Its body was black, and no part was an exception. It was a western Dragon instead of an eastern one. Unlike the wyverns, it had four limbs and a pair of wings on its back. The end of its tail looked like a mace ball, as it was round and had spikes on it. The back of the dragon also had spikes rather than a smooth back. A ride on this Dragon would not be comfortable.

”Everyone be care-” Before Ed could complete his words, the Dragon attacked. It wasn't a gigantic wall of flames, nor was it the Dragon itself attacking using its body. Instead, it was a simple concentrated beam of black QI. Its speed was unfathomable as no one could see it. Only Ed knew that the Dragon attacked, as the beam punctured his chest and left a hole. Even the chainmail armor that protected Ed's vitals all the time was broken by this attack.

'Shit!' Ed couldn't help but swear. He immediately grabbed a Healing card and crushed it before he could collapse. The hole was slowly recovering, but Ed didn't have the time to take it easy. The Dragon was continuing his assault. Ed's companions put up their guard and went into protection mode. They all stood in front of Ed in order to protect him. They felt shame since they let him get injured.

The Dragon released another one of its dark beams, but this time Merry stopped it. She surrounded herself with white magic energy and stood in the way of the beam. Little by little, the magic energy was decreasing. After a little, the beam hit her directly but didn't injure her. She clad herself in Nen, more specifically Ken, and used Ryu to concentrate her aura on the hit zone. As the beam weakened as well, she wasn't injured.

”Are you okay?” Ed asked her.

”Yes.” Hearing her confident answer, Ed rushed and followed his companions who already started their assault on the Dragon. Before they got close to him, the Dragon flapped its wings creating several Wind blades. These blades were sharper than normal Wind blades, but Ed and the others managed to dodge them all. But, they couldn't dodge what was coming next. The Dragon's scales shined in a red light, and it howled with its face upwards. A wave of flames was released from its body and surrounded everyone in an instant.

The attack's was comparable to Ed's Providence Blade, a concentrated mass of Qi and flames. As expected, they were injured. Only Sieg, Ed, and Raikou managed to escape the attack. Ed withdrew some potions and quickly helped the others drink it. However, before he could reach Suika, the Dragon targeted her and used its giant hand to crush her. Ed's heart skipped many beats. He almost turned berserk. Luckily, he managed to notice a few feathers. Merry managed to save Suika using her feather control ability just in time.