130. The Cheat Item
I hadn't updated my gear much since Floor 9, but the equipment infused with my mana had exceptional durability. It held up fine even on Floor 16, and there was no real need to replace anything on the lower floors. But that golden axe infused with lightning and starlight sliced through my shield like it was nothing and severed my arm.
The axe that lopped off my entire left arm didn't stop there—it dug into my side. I hurriedly activated Mana Reinforcement.
Mana Reinforcement
-Kurrrung! With my enhanced physical abilities, I stomped the ground and retreated. Not only had my arm been torn off, but my side was deeply gashed too.
Fuck, what the hell is that thing? It completely ignored my defense and durability. If I hadn't pulled back, my torso would've been split clean in half. My body, which has Steel Heart that reduces final damage by 60%, was treated like tofu. This wasn't just some "ignores 100% defense" option. It defied all common sense.
"Shit, is it some kind of... space-cutting bullshit or something?"
And that wasn't all. The severed part of my left arm and my side were burned too. Probably additional electric attribute damage. Power that slices through everything in a diagonal line without resistance, plus an effect that pierces my resistance skills and zaps me with electricity. Aside from the flashing, it looked like a normal cold weapon, but in terms of effects, it was closer to a lightsaber.
"What the fuck is wrong with this goddamn Tower's sense of fairness?!"
-Tadak! I spat out my rage and bolted. First, I scooped up my severed left arm that the axe had chopped off. With the level of potions I had, I couldn't heal a lost limb. Any delay, and it'd be permanent.
I pressed the severed arm against the stump, pulled the highest-grade potion from my inventory, bit off the bottle cap with my teeth, and poured it straight onto the wound. The effects of Super Regeneration and the potion synergized, and the severed part slowly began reattaching.
Good, it was dangling a bit, but it was roughly back in place. I grabbed bandages from my inventory and wrapped my left arm tight to secure it. I'd avoided becoming a cripple, but I wouldn't be using it for a while.
-Thud! Thud! Thud! While I was doing emergency treatment, the Minotaur had picked up its axe again and closed the distance. It raised the axe high and brought it smashing down. I predicted the path and rolled lightly to the side to dodge.
-Kwarung! Glowing mana exploded from where the axe struck. Did it have AoE damage too? The Minotaur yanked the axe out of the ground without resistance and swung it vertically. I'd already secured a safe distance, but something felt off, so I ducked quickly.
-Kwang! Something flew over my head. A beam shot far off and casually sliced through the wall. It could fire slashes at range. It wasn't exactly like the true sword energy Kaleon had shown me, but the phenomenon was similar.
"This is insane..." A weapon with indefensible attack power, attribute damage options, and built-in ranged attacks? No conscience at all? Even epic-grade weapons probably couldn't match this.
If it was just a fight with a massive power gap, I'd handled that plenty of times before. Like escaping the lizardman ruins on Floor 3, dueling Mercedes on Floor 7, or my first clash with the high elf king on Floor 9—not to mention all the other times hunting hidden bosses.
But a fight where the attack power gap was this extreme? This was a first. And the difference was way too one-sided.
-Kwang! The axe I barely dodged slammed into the ground, spewing shockwaves in a mad burst of light. Taking that head-on might've turned my whole body to dust. That axe's power truly defied logic.
After the initial clash, I'd tried countering it in various ways, but they all failed. The weapons that had clashed with it were scattered on the floor like broken toys—you could tell at a glance. Could Erwen's sword block it? Doubtful. Even ebony steel would be like tofu against that destructive power. I'd need at least mithril, no, adamantium or orichalcum-grade weapons with superior durability. Obviously, none of that was available on Floor 17.
Of course, there was no need to obsess over parrying the axe. The weapon was cheat-tier, but the Minotaur itself wasn't overwhelmingly strong. A scrub relying on a cheat item? I could leisurely take it down and snatch the weapon. The problem was, this Minotaur wasn't scrub-tier.
Its raw specs weren't that impressive, and its axe handling had plenty of sloppy spots. But damn, it wielded that axe masterfully. Had it internalized how to exploit an item that surpassed its own strength? Its normal axe skills weren't anything special, but with that axe, it was flawless. Probably trained from the start assuming it'd use that axe.
An extreme bastard all around. It never gave openings to disarm it, never let me find angles to strike gaps. Even targeting blind spots, it noticed and countered instantly, reading feints effortlessly. It wielded that extreme attack power with textbook perfection. And ranged attacks? Useless.
"Hup!" I hurled iron marbles in erratic trajectories at the Minotaur. But it casually slammed the ground, unleashing massive lightning that dropped them all.
Similar to the white lizardman's electric barrier from Floor 3, but obviously superior. No matter what I threw, one axe swing countered it. Dumping items like I did on Mercedes probably wouldn't work either. That axe turned any obstacle to powder in one hit.
Damn, if only the space was wider... The boss room was annoyingly cramped too.
"What now."
I still had options. Hell, I could just bail to the next floor. I'd touched the transfer gate earlier, and even with the boss revived, it still let me proceed. But I wanted to take this guy down... What if the reward was that axe? Wait, no—hold up. If I could go to the next floor, didn't that mean it wasn't registered as the boss right now?
Good idea.
-Kwang! I dodged the charging Minotaur's attack and activated Haste to sprint. Its attack power was transcendent, but the rest of its specs fell short of mine. Speed-wise, I dominated; if I pushed it, it couldn't catch me.
Of course, endlessly lapping the boss room was pointless—it'd end eventually. Or so I thought.
But if it wasn't boss-registered, then this should work too, right?
-Bam! I ran straight ahead and kicked open the door at the end of the boss room, bursting outside. I waited a moment, and soon the lightning-wreathed Minotaur came charging from afar.
Boss monsters are strictly confined to the boss room and can't leave. But this guy, reborn as Asterios with a name, followed me out.
"Knew it."
If the stage wasn't limited to one boss room, I still had ways to win.
"Keep chasing me."
Time to use some real space.
The labyrinth on Floor 16 was notoriously complex, even compared to other floors. You'd wander the twisting paths, only to get ambushed by a massive Minotaur popping out. Modern challengers with perfect map shares didn't mind, but the first-gen folks suffered hard.
And here was one such sufferer, just like those first-gen players—struggling with the maze. Not me, since I used community resources well. It was that bull-headed cheat-item wielder.
-Bam! Kwang! Bam! The Minotaur barreled straight through the complex paths, swinging its brutally powerful axe. But if straight-lining broke the maze, it wouldn't be called complex.
It stepped on traps I'd nimbly avoided, got crushed by massive iron blocks, and plummeted to the lower level. And I leisurely chucked iron marbles at it from afar. Of course, it deflected them with its signature lightning defense and climbed back up through debris to chase me.
But as I said, this labyrinth was designed for quick Minotaur encounters.
-Pause. The one pursuing me by smashing obstacles halted abruptly before its kin.
Were all the Minotaurs here its subjects or something? Whatever the reason, its charging steps and swinging axe froze for a moment.
"Opening!"
-Kwajik! I thrust the halberd from my inventory straight, skewering both Minotaurs at once. No crit thanks to the meat shield, but solid hits.
-Uoooooooh!!! Whether from pain or rage, it roared and chased again. But at that speed, no catching me. It just risked bumping into more kin and exposing gaps.
Its normal Phase 2, after ten horn shards, was transforming into human form. But even as a human, it'd see the sacrificed horns on the altar, lose its mind in fury. So what if it kept witnessing its kind getting caught in the crossfire?
"Come on, rage out."
Lose your shit, rampage, and give me those openings. I won't miss. Pay dearly for bringing that cheat item out like a coward.