The Heavenly Slaughter Star Finds an Egg
The words came from Undine, who was watching Rionne as she trailed after Enoch. [You really are something else. Something else, I tell you.]
Rionne ignored her and kept her eyes fixed on Enoch’s small back. That proud little frame marched forward with steady, determined steps.
‘Our Enoch… you can do it…!’
*
Enoch didn’t let his attention wander. He headed straight for the dungeon. Thanks to the countless times Rionne had drilled the information into him, the journey felt short. Before he knew it, the entrance loomed right in front of him.
‘Sometimes they have strange traits, but most of the time they don’t…’
If the rules inside a dungeon differed enough from reality to be called a trait, it was safe to treat the place as its own small world. Naturally, creating such a miniature world was no simple matter. That was why dungeons with special traits were so rare.
‘My condition is perfect. No, it’s even better than usual.’
Maybe it was because of the wonderful dream he’d had last night. Having spent an eternity with Rionne—even if only inside a dream—his current state had broken straight through its limits. He felt like he could whip up any martial technique he wanted on the spot.
‘Oh, right.’
Come to think of it, it was almost time. Once a month he sparred with that blue fly. Rionne would watch their bouts closely, then give him the advice he needed. And of course she never stopped there—if he required it, she would teach him something new. It was the one day he could stick to her like glue, so his chest swelled with secret excitement.
BOOM—!
A heavy rumble cut through his elated mood. Enoch snapped back to his senses and quickened his pace.
*
The enemies emerging from the dungeon had a clear theme. Golems. Everything he’d encountered so far could be grouped under that name.
At least until now.
A mud golem that looked as if it had been formed from slaughter-soaked clay was swallowed by lightning.
CRAAAAACK—!!
The attack swept across a wide area in an instant and shattered even the golem’s core. Enoch didn’t bother celebrating. He left the wreckage behind and pressed deeper into the dungeon. His still-thrumming heart urged him to reach the next realm as quickly as possible.
Next came a steel golem made of iron. Unlike the mud golem, it couldn’t be destroyed in a single blow, so Enoch dismantled it methodically. First, the arm.
CRUNCH—!
When Enoch swung his hand, half the steel golem’s arm was torn away. The creature swung its remaining limb with a metallic screech, but it was too slow. Enoch twisted in midair, planted a hand on the sweeping arm, and used it as a pivot to spin. His legs lashed out like a whirlwind.
BOOM—!
One of the golem’s arms flew off. It would regenerate soon, but until then it only had one. Electricity crackled in Enoch’s eyes.
CRACKLE—!
Lightning coiled around his hand. He compressed every scrap of time he could spare into the bolt. Slaughter—one origin. The condensed technique traced a simple path, and the moment his palm touched the golem’s body—
FLASH—!!!
The released current lit up the entire space. The steel golem looked untouched, yet Enoch simply dusted off his hands as if it were obvious. THUD—! Just as he expected, the steel golem collapsed. The electricity had flowed through its metal body and destroyed the core.
Next.
He crushed golems made of wood, glass, ore, shadow, and more. His exhausted body heaved with each breath, yet Enoch’s eyes had never been clearer. That unbreakable will forced his muscles to squeeze out one last surge of strength, and he took another step forward.
“This is…”
What he faced now was completely different from what he’d expected. He had assumed another golem would appear, but what greeted him was something else entirely.
“Spirits?”
White, blue, red. Faint, colorful lights drifted through the cave like floating lanterns. They were nothing like Undine, though. According to that blue fly, she possessed a “great body”—in other words, she was a highest-grade spirit. Such beings were rare even in the spirit realm where they lived. The ones floating here were the lowest-grade spirits, not even self-aware yet. Closer to natural phenomena than living creatures, they drifted lazily through the air like beautiful lanterns.
Enoch thought carefully. Sometimes acting on instinct was advantageous, but in most cases it was better to think first. Having learned that lesson while fighting golems yesterday, he scanned his surroundings.
‘Nothing else has changed. It’s still a cave. The only difference is that the opponents switched from golems to spirits.’
To be precise, the spirits weren’t really enemies. They had no self-awareness and were simply floating in the air. Enoch stayed on guard as he moved forward.
The straight path without any forks eventually opened into a vast chamber. A glass orb placed at its center immediately caught his eye.
‘Is this the end of the dungeon?’
He couldn’t be sure. Still, most dungeons were anomalous spaces born from excessive or twisted mana. At their center there was usually something that had absorbed the full impact of that distortion. It could be an elixir that instantly boosted one’s mana, a rare ore used to forge exceptional weapons, or sometimes an object with unusual powers. Whatever it was, it could help raise Enoch’s realm, so he didn’t hesitate. He walked straight to the center of the chamber and placed his hand on the glass orb.
“Hm?”
He had thought it was just an ordinary glass orb, but up close it was slightly different. Something was faintly visible inside, curled up.
‘An egg?’
His doubt lasted only a moment.
RUMBLE—!
The chamber shook with a thunderous roar. Enoch shifted lightly, dodging the falling fragments of rock. His eyes darted around, quickly assessing the change.
“Oh…”
What he had assumed was just a wide chamber was actually riddled with hidden passages. Golems were bursting through the walls. There were all kinds—rock, iron, ore, shadow, and more. It was as if every golem he had faced so far had gathered in one place.
Enoch was briefly startled, but then his face brightened with a wide smile. Many enemies? That simply meant more opportunities to fight, which meant a greater chance of reaching a higher realm. In the end, it meant the day he could stay with Rionne forever might come just a little sooner.
“Yeah.”
Enoch gave a serious nod and summoned his lightning once more.
*
Undine: “What the—?! How is this dangerous?!”
Rionne: “There’s too many of them…!”
Undine: “Hey! He always handles things on his own just fine!”
Rionne: “But still…!”
Undine: “Ugh, forget it. I give up.”
*
The area around Enoch was littered with golem fragments. His already exhausted body began to sag, and the lightning that usually flowed at his command now flickered weakly.
“Haa… haa…”
Enoch panted heavily as he scanned his surroundings. Plenty of golems still remained. His stamina had reached its limit. So had his mana. Yet his will remained rock-solid.
A higher realm. Eternity with Rionne.
The power of a resolve that ordinary people would dismiss as mere delusion poured strength back into Enoch’s body. With bloodshot eyes, he tore his lips into a savage grin.
“Uraaaaaaaaah—!!”
RUMBLE—!
With a peal of thunder, Enoch’s body was engulfed in lightning. But the enemies didn’t wait. Two massive golem fists came crashing down.
BOOM—!
The twin fists slammed into the ground. Enoch, who had leaped upward to dodge, kicked off one of the arms and charged straight in. The golem right in front of him was made of ore—he didn’t know the exact type, but it had a faint greenish tint.
CRACK—!
Lightning compressed in his right hand. Slaughter—one origin. His thrust sank nearly two handspans into the golem’s chest.
SCREEECH—!
The golem reacted instantly, swinging its arm. He felt a gust from behind as well—probably another fist. Enoch grit his teeth and twisted his body. The wind pressure whipped his hair, but the second fist from behind was still coming. No time to turn his head. He relied on instinct. The moment the thought crossed his mind, the trajectory of the unseen fist appeared clearly in his head.
WHOOSH—!
As Enoch reacted, the fist merely grazed his hair. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. He didn’t know why, but at some point he had begun to sense everything around him. His evasion was flawless, and it flowed straight into an attack.
CRACKLE—!
He squeezed out the last drops of mana and wrapped his hand in lightning. Slaughter—one origin. Just as he was about to thrust, a flash of insight struck him.
‘Do I have to?’
The Slaughter technique compressed its path before striking. That was Slaughter—one origin. But it required two steps: first Slaughter, then compression. Following his sudden intuition, he tore the technique apart from the very beginning. The result stayed the same, but he created a better process to reach it.
And so, the second form of the Heavenly Slaughter Star Lightning Art was born.
CRUNCH—!
His straightened fingers pierced straight through the golem. The essence of the second form was concentrating power at a single point to penetrate the target. He yanked his hand free after skewering the core perfectly, and the golem crumbled apart.
“Hup…!”
Enoch didn’t rest. He immediately launched himself forward again. WHOOM—! A golem fist passed through the spot where he had just been. Rage surged up, along with irritation. He suppressed the Heavenly Slaughter Star’s maddening frenzy. His mind had to stay cold. Rampage was only for the very last resort. Why? Because Rionne had told him so.
SWOOSH—!
A faint, almost imperceptible current swept across the space. At the same time, every single thing around him was etched into Enoch’s mind.
‘Ah.’
So that was why he had been able to see everything so clearly earlier. With that realization, Enoch moved even more boldly. He slipped between three golems—
THUD—!
A slight twist of his body let him dodge every attack. At the same time, the faint current let him sense the location of each golem’s core. He instinctively gauged the minimum power required and thrust with the new Piercing Slaughter.
CRUNCH—!
Another golem returned to nature. As for how many remained…
Enoch chuckled. No need to count. He just had to destroy them all.
CRACKLE—!
Once again, Enoch’s body was wrapped in lightning.
*
“Huff… huff…”
Enoch trembled as he barely managed to stand on both legs. Strength refused to return to his body. The mana he had wrung out to its limit had run completely dry, and his torn, overworked muscles screamed in protest. Simply standing still felt like a miracle.
“Heh heh…”
Yet Enoch laughed. He could feel his own growth. If he fought yesterday’s self right now, he was confident he would win every single one of a hundred matches.
Step. Step.
Enoch staggered forward. The glass orb he had seen when he first entered the chamber remained perfectly intact amid all the chaos.
‘Is it alive?’
He didn’t know exactly what it was. But since he could see something inside, maybe it really was an egg?
At that moment—
CRACK—!
A fracture appeared on the glass orb. Enoch flinched and gathered the last of his strength. He had no idea what might emerge from it. He didn’t sense any threat, but the safest option was to kill it before it could do anything. Without hesitation, he drove his fist forwar—
Undine: “YOU IDIOTIC BASTARD!”
Enoch’s body went flying.