Chapter 42 - Twenty-Third Floor (2) (1/2)

As Ned rushed towards Lumen, Shaya prepared her own attack.

”Den of Snakes!” Twenty-one serpents made of green water formed in front of her and flew towards Lumen.

Cecro, in the air, had grown five times bigger than before. Purple particles were flowing out of his moth-like wings and forming a sphere of highly concentrated Shinsoo in front of him.

Ned bypassed the black orbs, reaching Lumen in a second, and wherever he passed, he left frost marks behind him. Even more, ice formed on Ned's sword as he was about to attack when a sudden pressure descended on him, slowing his movements.

He was standing between the black orbs, and Lumen had infused his gravity powers to them along with the darkness. Combining the two qualities was easier than what he imagined, but darkness and gravity were the only two he could combine in this way for now.

Depending on the position of the black orbs, they could create a gravity field in between them.

Two metal tentacles formed on Lumen's back, and he entangled Ned's arms. The control of his armor didn't require him to manipulate Shinsoo, and it was an innate ability. The metal tentacle that caught Ned's sword arm was slowly being covered in the ice, while the other one was fine.

Lumen stabbed with his spear of darkness, and the lizard head at the top opened up, revealing its sharp fangs. It chomped on Ned's left arm and shoulder, and its fangs managed to slightly pierce his body. Ned, as a Ranker, had a durable and Shinsoo resistant body.

At that moment, eight of the green water serpents landed on top of Lumen while the others were absorbed by the black orbs. With his naturally high Shinsoo resistance and with the Shinsoo resistant armor, he wasn't that hurt from that attack. However, he was covered by the green water, and it was slowly corroding his armor. A bit of the corrosive water had splashed onto Ned as well, and his skin was slowly starting to erode.

Despite that, the attack from Cecro is the one that alarmed him the most. The purple sphere was made of an extremely high concentration of Shinsoo. From right above him, Cecro fired off a massive purple beam of light towards Lumen. ”Sludge Beam.”

Two more metal tentacles formed on his lower back, and he used to those to push himself out of the way. At the same time, using the other two and the spear that was holding onto Ned, he moved the swordsman in the direction of the beam, using him as a shield. Lumen's black orbs also flew in an attempt to absorb the massive beam of purple light, but they weren't successful in doing so.

The beam of purple light had hit Ned and disintegrated the left part of his body. Despite that, the swordsman was alive and staring daggers at Lumen, while a massive sword of ice was forming above his head.

Cecro's beam had also hit Lumen, and he was missing his right arm. A black mass bubbled out of his missing arm as it formed his armor. Under his armor, he used his white flames and the abundance of life force that he had to restore his right arm.

Four of the black orbs flew up in the air, in an attempt to catch Cecro in a small gravity field like the one around Ned, but he was able to stay away from them.

Unfortunately, one of them had come a bit to close, and Lumen grabbed one of the black orbs next to him while jumping inside another one, just as Ned's giant ice sword flew past his location.

The black orbs could act as gates among each other, and the user could move between them.

Lumen appeared from the black orb next to Cecro and shot a massive whirlwind blast of Shinsoo. ”Damage Counter - Rain of Darkness.”

Under the mask of the blast, he shot out his black flames and covered Cecro entirely. Being attacked by the accumulated damage that the black orbs absorbed and the black Phoenix flames, Cecro stood no chance even with the body of a Ranker. It took a few seconds, but Cecro disappeared without even leaving a trace.

Receiving a few years' worths of life force from him, Lumen's eyes were already starting to redden, but since he had already experienced this before, he was prepared for it this time and didn't lose control. He kept his cool since there were two more enemies left.

Now the fight was a 2v1, and Ned was missing the left side of his body. However, Lumen didn't have any more energy stored in the black orbs for another Damage Counter. Thankfully, he took care of the flying enemy. Now, he didn't have to worry that one of them would manage to escape.

Four black orbs flew in the air and formed a square, four more formed a square on the ground, and the eight together formed a cube with the two Rankers in the middle of it. The other four dissolved in the air and filled the area with darkness. ”Gravitational Domain of Darkness.”

The entire area inside the cube turned into darkness, and a suppression force enveloped the two FUG members. They couldn't see a thing, and their bodies felt heavier. Their fighting strength was greatly reduced inside the domain.

Ned was looking around in vigilance, prepared to jump into action at the slightest movement, but he couldn't see nor hear a thing in the darkness.

Suddenly, he felt a maw chomp on him as its fangs pierced his body. There had been absolutely no signs of an attack coming, and yet, the maw was clearly chomping onto him. Ned slashed with his sword to where he presumed the attack came from, but there was nothing there.

More and more similar attacks that came out of nowhere hit Ned and knew he had to do something about this. Massive amounts of ice started forming around him and covered him up as well. He was planning on freezing the entire area of darkness to break out of the domain.

Lumen tried attacking the ice, but he wasn't able to break it with his spear. ”Tsch.”

He tried using his black Phoenix flames, but that had little success as well. Lumen dissolved his spear of darkness, and with an annoyed look, started gathering two Baangs of Shinsoo that he infused with the black flames. Forming them together into a black Phoenix, he sent it flying towards the ice. ”Phoenix Wrath.”

The black Pheonix exploded and evaporated Ned's ice. The FUG member was also caught within the blast, and the black fire covered him up. He tried putting out the fire with his ice, but the black Phoenix flames that were infused with Shinsoo melted his ice in seconds. In a moment, he was burned to ashes, without leaving a trace behind.