I exploded toward the Hero, the ground under me splintering. As I moved, the tattoos on my body began to glow. I adjusted my dungeon points to concentrated on speed and strength, then began to attack him savagely. I had previously been fighting him reservedly. I had been holding back and reserving my strength. I saw no reason to do that now.
I was a white mage. I could heal any damage I received. Even after all this time, it had been instinctual for me to avoid damage. This Hero, who it was anyone’s guess if he even felt pain, would naturally fight to the death for Miki. As for me, I had been avoiding taking damage, because even if I could ignore pain, it wasn’t like I’d just sit back and allow myself to get hit. I changed my strategy, allowing myself to be hit if I could inflict damage on him as well.
When I needed to, I backed away and healed, and then went at him again. My attacks were more aggressive now, and the Hero’s mocking smile had slowly turned into concentration. It was hard to think which one of us took more hits, but I healed after each of mine, while his wounds started to accumulate.
“We’re running out of time.” He declared. “You’re wasting time!”
“Then, die already!” I snapped.
His body glowed and he used a powerful attack. This was similar to the attack he had used when my blade had broken. Knowing this, I went to receive the attack, but at the last minute, I brought the third sword from my inventory and attacked with that. Finding my body phase-shifting through his attack, he lost balance, and a moment later, he lost an arm.
We split, and his arm fell to the ground. I wasn’t able to do that without taking a bit of a hit. I ended up spitting out some blood. However, I was already healing myself and preparing for the next attack. The once gentle and flirtatious smile on Hero’s face had become sinister and angry.
“You think you’ve won?” He snorted. “You seem to be misunderstanding something. You believe that Miki is somehow in control here. If Miki had things her way, do you think she’d allow you to be hurt?”
“I figured it wasn’t all Miki,” I responded. “After all, there is always a bit of a disconnect between the dungeon and the dungeon master. Since Miki’s soul is taking the place of this dungeon core, then naturally, who was the one protecting it?”
Hero grinned. “So, you realized.”
“The one thing I didn’t understand was why you would go about destroying Miki. The dungeon boss exists to protect the dungeon. While dungeon bosses have been known to concede their dungeon, they would rarely act so self-destructive. Of course, if you never intended to destroy the dungeon in the first place…”
“Hahaha…” He laughed, his voice changing slightly, and it sounded strangely familiar to me.
Miasma rose around him and all of the damage on his body was healed in an instant. For just a moment, I could feel something about him that was off and combined with his voice, I put together the part I had been missing.
“The head scientist!” I took a step back. “I should have known you’d be here. You were the dungeon master when she absorbed it. The lore had to have an imprint of you on it.”
“Ah? So, we have met? I should have guessed when you took my secret tunnel down here. If it’s any consolation, you were supposed to be the dungeon master, but I managed to infect her creation. I’ve been given this new, powerful body, and soon I will have complete control of this dungeon too!”