The huge monstrosity roared in a loud and hoarse voice. The voice seemed to be mixed with pain and anger. (If not for the fact that Aidel's mind and senses have already corroded, that transformation would have caused him horrible pain the pain would have been so unbearable that his mind might shatter again.)
After roaring Aidel flung his snake arms and charged at Rio madly, there was no strategy, no thinking done it was a brutal and violent charge of a made beast, who just wanted to devour and kill its opponent with just its brute strength.
'Easy easy, what's the hurry…' (Rio)
Rio easily jumped out of the way, which caused Aidel to collide with a nearby pillar, the massive pillar broke apart and the debris went flying everywhere.
The pointed tentacles were flung randomly in the hope of hitting Rio somehow, but most of them ended up hitting each other.
'He has several eyes all over the tentacles, but he is still not able to accurately hit me… a weird sight indeed…' (Rio)
Rio clenched his sword and got in the stance.
[Elemental Sword Arts: Fire Type: Horizontal Shift!]
Flames covered Rio's sword and continued to extend. The flames condensed and took the shape of a sword, extending the length of the sword. Rio swung his sword horizontally and the intense flames melted away everything that stood in his.
With that one attack Rio split Aidel's body in two. All the tentacles got separated from Aidel's upper body and fell apart, even several nearby pillars were also cut into two neatly.
There was no wastage of mana in Rio's attack, his sword's flames were so condensed that they only burnt a very small area with intense heat while the other places remained unharmed. This shows that Rio's control over his mana has already reached a terrifying level.
'This thing is kind of weak… well…. after rotting for 50 years, he has lost a lot of his strength…' (Rio)
Rio shook his head in disappointment. He had expected this outcome but not to this extent.
'Compared to Link, this thing is soft like butter…' (Rio) (What Rio doesn't take into consideration is the fact that he is comparing this badly injured monster to the greatest talents of an era. Even during his peak, Aidel would not have been the opponent of Link at all.)
(Rio's comparison standards have gone haywire after fighting a meat shield like Link for an extended period.)
Rio slowly walked towards the tentacles which were still wriggling around even after separating from the main body.
[Elemental Sword arts: Fire type: Consecutive shifts!]
Rio used his flame-covered sword to split the tentacles hundreds of times until they were reduced to fly ash from the continuous barrage of attacks.
After solving the tentacles, Rio slowly walked towards the head of Aidel.
The two snake heads which were transformed from his arms tried to bite Rio but with a single flick of his Sword Rio split them apart. The snake heads fell on the ground and twitched from time to time, but Rio paid them no mind.
Rio stretched his hand and placed the sword near the neck of the fallen Aidel.
"Okay, now you can blast yourself, quick I am waiting…" (Rio)
As if proving Rio right, the turtle shell started to glow brightly.
"Forgive me Nicolas and-" (Aidel)
Aidel seemed to have gained back his sanity during his last moments, he wanted to ask for forgiveness from Nicolas and his lover whom he had neglected. But before he could finish his sentence, his body blew up and a huge explosion occurred.
All the residual demonic energy was used up in this explosion. The explosion was so bright that even an A-ranker might end up getting injured from this explosion.
With that explosion, Aidel's body blew up in smithereens and a huge crater was created at the place. The ceiling collapsed and the clear blue sky became visible.
Rio looked at all this while standing around with his usual expressionless face. He had covered himself with sword intent. He didn't even get a single scratch from that fancy explosion.
He had only one thing to say about the explosion.
"Okay" (Rio)
…
Originally, Aidel would have been a very difficult opponent for Fade to defeat. At the time of the battle, Fade was still just at the early stage of B rank and this monstrosity could be considered a semi-A rank, which would have been quite a difficult opponent for Fade.
Eventually, Fade wins just like it usually turns out for all protagonists. But Aidel makes a last-ditch effort and blows himself up and causes a huge explosion, Fade gets seriously injured but somehow luckily survives a self-explosion of a semi-A ranker.
Thus, Rio knew from the start that this guy would blow up and his guard was up from the start. Thus this explosion didn't even make him flinch.
This same thing would have happened during the final battle in the group survival test if Rio's sword intent had been activated on time. If his sword intent had activated on time, Rio could have easily avoided damage from Liam's attack too.
(This insane versatility is the reason why 'Sword Intent' is considered a legendary ability. Everyone wants to get this ability. Sword intent can defend, attack, support and in some occasions even heal, this is the horror of this insanely overpowered ability.)
…
Rio walked towards the center of the explosion and picked up the 'Red Gem' that was left on the ground after the death of Aidel.
'Finally, I have the last key…' (Rio)
For Rio to obtain this Red gem, it is necessary that Aidel blows himself up and all his residual will and life essence get condensed into the form of this gem.
Rio could have killed Aidel at the very first sight and wouldn't have even let him transform if not for the fact he had to obtain this gem from him.
'Sometimes patience is the key to victory…' (Rio)
With the Gem in his hand, Rio jumped out of the huge crater and walked towards the throne on which Aidel was sitting originally.
After reaching the throne Rio, brought out all the key items he had collected.
Rio put the medal, necklace, and Red gem on the throne in a triangle formation.
The throne started to glow brightly all of a sudden. Rio jumped back just in case this thing also ended up blowing up, but it didn't happen.
The three items that Rio had placed floated in the air and returned to Rio. Rio took them and put them back in his space ring.
As if some mechanism had been triggered, the throne started to rise and a treasure chest appeared under the throne.
'Finally, I got this..' (Rio)
Rio stretched his hand and opened the treasure chest, although his face stayed expressionless he was excited in his mind. (Anyone would be excited when receiving rewards for their efforts, except those who have lost all hope and have already gone numb to the ways of the world…)
The treasure chest opened and a pitch-black ring appeared out of the chest.
Rio took the ring and placed it on his index finger.
When Rio put mana in the ring, a shadow appeared out of the ring and covered Rio's whole body and turned into a black and elegant Robe.
'Nice' (Rio)
Rio immediately tried the robe's abilities.
He walked toward a nearby pillar and sure enough, Rio directly passed through the pillar when we willed it. He again tried to do that by putting his hand, and sure enough, his hand went inside the pillar without any resistance.
'It indeed is the genuine artifact…' (Rio)
…
[Item Name: Lamont's Robe]
[Item Rank: S++]
[Item Title: Dark Walker, Shadow hound's assistant, Silent Assassins Robe]
[Item Description: A Robe imbued with the blessings of an S-rank dark mage. It was worn by the famous Dark Elf assassin Lamont Orion. This Robe was the reason why Lamont was famous for his feat of appearing and disappearing like a ghost in broad daylight.
This is the greatest artifact an assassin could ever hope for. It accompanied Lamont till the day when the Maya continent and Lamont's homeland were destroyed by the demon army. Lamont survived the disaster with the help of this artifact but later died at the hands of Demon General Azazel.
Later this Robe was somehow obtained by Aidel. It stayed sealed with Aidel's rotting body for many years.]
[Item effects:
1.Shadow Walker: The user can pass through things of the same or lower rank as the robe.
2.Auraless Ghost: The user can change or suppress their presence to match someone else's.
3.Faceless: The user can change their face according to their will by covering their face with the shadows of this robe.
4.Locked due to Low rank of the user.]
…
…
Author's Notes.
Question of the day.
What would you do if you got an artifact like this robe?
1.Go further on the path of cultured men…
2.Cheat in exams
3.Prank your friends
4.others
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.