Chapter 114: Arcana (1)
James and his daughter Miracle who follows him had indeed travelled through the canyon as fast as expected, or rather, they had made it almost to the end of the canyon. According to Nyx, they would have to fight a boss monster at the very end of the canyon.
It was going to be a good workout for James, after all, it wasn't his goal to get through the floors fast, he wanted to get as strong as he could and progress until the floors were literally watered down.
He had already accumulated quite a lot of material for his gacha ability. What he meant by this was that there were almost 300 zombies following him slowly and stealthily.
Hundreds of zombies had fled from James because of the title of terrorising undead he had won, but none of them were afraid of Miracle, which meant that Miracle seemed to have become a decoy for James.
Of course, it was a bit strange and rude that he seemed to be using his daughter as bait, but there was no need to worry about Miracle, after all, with or without James, this little girl could at least climb up to the 30th or even 40th floors, thanks to the durability of her skin alone.
However, James realised they were finally making their way towards the canyon's end. The wall around them was now practically flat and smooth, and the stones on the ground began to take on strange shapes.
"Are those runes?" James suddenly asked.
["Exactly, after the tenth floor you are introduced to new styles of magic and aura. Like adding an element or style to your aura, runes are one of the branches of magic. Since your aura already has the weighted flame attribute, the tower is trying to show you the rune style, you'll have to kill the boss monster to find out].
James realised again how interesting the tower could be when he read what was written in the message window that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Alright then...Where's the monster?" James suddenly asked as he took a few more steps and suddenly saw the runes around him begin to glow and a bluish, electric-like energy began to gather in the empty space in the centre of the runes.
"What the hell is that?" James asked.
[Arcana energy. The reason the floor is crawling with zombies. Known as the energy of death, decay, or life and flourishing. It can go both ways, either killing you or turning you into a perfect being. Just like the zombies outside and the boss monster in front of you].
After reading this message window, James shook his head and then said, "So you need to have this energy to use the runes, it's partly a modified form of magic."
The being before him had a heart of stone, just like the golems, and the energy around it seemed so detailed and functional that James could not help admiring the sight.
He felt as if he was now seeing something on par with the beauty of the scenery on Mount Olympus.
It was as if the thing before him had been created out of nothing as if the arcane energy from the runes had created it.
The energy travelled so turbulently towards the stone that it was as if the arcana energy itself was painting a portrait.
After a few minutes of waiting, the formation of the boss monster seemed almost complete. James wanted to wait because he wanted to fight the monster with all his might.
After removing Clarent from his inventory, he turned to Miracle and then said, "Hide behind that rock over there and watch me fight." The little girl nodded and ran behind the rock.
As soon as James saw Miracle hiding, he rushed towards the zombies behind him and started mowing them down one by one. Even though some zombies needed to be mowed down more than once, the fact that he spent a maximum of two seconds on each one seemed to indicate that the 300 or so zombies would disappear quickly.
As he did so, he was aware of the electric energy coming from behind him. Every time there was a surge of energy, he could hear the rhythm behind him.
It was a very strange feeling, on the one hand, he was killing the zombies one by one, and on the other hand, he was waiting for the form of the boss monster behind him to be completed.
It had only taken him five minutes to kill each of the zombies, and it looked like he was trying to give Miracle a lesson in attacking by staying as fit as possible.
When James had completed all this, he turned around and realised that the boss monster was staring at him.
The arcana energy around the stone had managed to revitalise the boss monster. It had a pair of eyes and a humanoid body, but the lack of any extra features made it look like a slightly different creature.
James didn't know exactly what the arcana energy could do, so he stood still. Even with help, he had killed two Fallen Gods, he was not going to be defeated against such a monster.
Still, there was no harm in being in a determined and serious stance.
He made himself as relaxed but determined as possible and then waited. He was breathing deeply and trying to wait for the first attack to come.
Even if Miracle had done well against the Fallen God, he still had a lot to learn, just like his father James. James' goal was to teach his little girl how to counter attacks.
Just as expected, the boss monster formed from the arcana in front of him suddenly attacked and a deep energy covered the entire area.
Chains of arcana were placed on the walls of the canyon, and it seemed that the boss monster was trying to stabilise itself.
In the aftermath, a huge wave of magic formed in the boss monster's chest and fired like a beam towards James.
James instantly dodged the beam and then pulled out Selene's Throwing Knife and threw it at the beam's centre.
"SHATTER!"