Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

A Couple Hours Later

The moment I regenerate the last unit of health, my health, mana, and chaos energy finally being fully topped off, I climb to my feet atop the block and begin to fly upwards. I've spent the entire last several hours planning out how I would take on the Goliath of the Maze, and I'm still not sure how I'll succeed in taking down something that big on my own. But I also used this time to wait and see if anyone would join me in this Domain. Or if anyone could even join me.

And judging by how no one ever came in despite me having been in here for nearly two days now, I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume no one can enter.

Which leaves me fighting the mini boss on my own.

I am a little surprised that the System updated me about the quest's advancement, telling me that both the Serpent of the Maze and the Wraith of the Maze have already been killed. But I guess we have been in here for a while now. And there's bound to be some higher tier enforcers with stronger 'abilities' in the tutorial.

I do have to wonder though. Which matters more. The level of the person, or the power of their skills?

Would a level one be able to take on a level ten if their skill was strong and high enough level?

It's interesting to think about.

Although I've not managed to level up any skills so far. Which is weird.

But not important right now.

I slowly fly up over the ledge again, surprisingly feeling rather apathetic about this despite my situation. Since I know there's a good chance I'll end up dying instead of winning this fight.

That's obvious just from identifying the monster and seeing its size.

♢ Level 15 Goliath of the Maze – 318 Potential Skills – X ♢

The thing even has a blue identify tag instead of a black one like other monsters have.

What's most important right now though is finding out how many actual skills it has out of those potential skills and surviving. Which means killing this massive block of stone.

I slowly move until I'm right above the ledge before touching down. And the moment my feet touch the ground, a large wall suddenly shoots up from the edge behind me, sealing me inside a massive, cubic chamber with the mini boss.

Then the mini boss slowly begins to start moving, with little bits of dust falling off of it with every cracking and creaking sound I hear from the enormous golem.

Yeah, this'll be tough.

Slowly the creature's eyes creak open to reveal glowing yellow orbs. And the second they land on me, I feel a shiver run down my spine. But not out of fear.

No, it's more like the thing is sizing me up.

And for some reason, I get the feeling it finds me lacking.

My eyes narrow ever so slightly at that. But otherwise, I don't show any reaction.

The golem rips one of its feet off the ground – quite literally – along with some of the stone it was standing on. Then it rips the other one out.

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As if the goliath was attached to the floor or something.

And, without making a single sound other than the creaking sounds of the stone connecting joints of the massive monster, it slowly moves one foot forwards. Only to make the entire ground tremble when its foot touches the ground.

Right. So, I'm the size of a mosquito to this thing.

I stare rather blankly and apathetically at the massive stone goliath for several seconds as it gradually makes its way across the enormous room towards me. The creature being rather slow, likely due to its size.

But… I'd rather not be hit by a punch from it.

I get the feeling I'd be turned into a paste if I did.

Well, time to see what it can do.

First I try to fly up into the air, only to immediately feel a strange pressure forcing me right back to the ground. A pressure that makes me realize that I'm not able to fly in this area.

A realization that… I don't particularly like.

But I don't let it distract me as I change plans and run towards the massive goliath, watching its gaze follow me as I do so. And when I get within about fifty meters of it, the massive goliath suddenly launches a punch.

A punch that, while at first is incredibly slow and lethargic, rapidly increases in speed as its strength pushes itself forwards.

So fast that I only barely manage to dodge its blow when I stumble backwards. And even then, I don't dodge the aftermath.

The entire ground around the impact shatters into shards of stone that fly everywhere, with some large chunks of stone mixed in that slam into me and send me flying. All the way till I land several dozen meters away while coughing out blood over said rock.

Ouch.

I grit my teeth as blood leaks out between them, but I do notice that the pain isn't as bad as I would've expected. Likely due to the many skills I've built up so far that are meant for resilience.

Then, to my surprise, the rubble on me suddenly begins moving off of me when I try to push forwards a bit. And not because I pushed forwards, it's more like it moves on its own somehow the moment I find myself unable to move.

My eyes narrow ever so slightly.

Unchained.

So it affects more than just magic and being bound.

Looks like it's anything that keeps me from moving.

That's good to know.

I climb to my feet, my face twitching ever so slightly from the pain in my chest and gut. No doubt having more than one rib broken from that rubble.

The mini boss, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care about my plight. Considering how it's already stepping forwards again.

I ignore my wound and the blood still dripping down through my lips and down my chin as I move as quickly as I can away from the goliath. Towards what I believe to be a safe distance.

Then I turn around to face it. To analyze it.

I watch every small movement the creature makes from the small creaks of the joints to the seeming difficulty it has keeping itself standing other than areas that appear to be glowing with a very faint purple light, all the way to how it seems to shift that purple light to other areas whenever it begins moving those areas. Almost like it isn't controlling its body directly but with the light. Or rather, it's helping its body move with that light.

Maybe its body is too heavy for itself to move? So it's using some sort of magic to help it along?

Is it telekinesis? Gravity? Something else?

Gravity might make sense with the pressure thing if that pressure is the mini boss's work.

I don't get much time to contemplate it before I'm running away again, avoiding another fist slamming into the ground. And this time I make sure to go in an arc instead of straight back so that the rubble that's sent flying doesn't slam into me again. All while I feel the wounds on my chest and ribs healing through both Minor Regeneration and my health that's ticked down a couple bars.

After running around for several minutes studying the monster, occasionally dodging its attacks – or trying to, since I still get hit a fourth of the time, bringing my health down further – I come to a decision about this battle.

I'm screwed.

My eyes narrow ever so slightly at the monster as I jump to the side to get out of the way of another fist slamming into the ground, making the terrain of this chamber more and more covered in rubble and craters.

The goliath, while slow at first, is incredibly fast with its attacks. To the point that if I don't notice it moving in that initial slow movement then I won't be able to dodge it in time to get out of the way of the rubble. It's also heavy as hell and is making indents in the ground whenever it takes a step, so I don't want to find out what it's like to be crushed directly by its fist.

But our little game of tag comes to an abrupt end when the mini boss does something unexpected.

The purple light coating its body suddenly starts spreading further, meanwhile the yellow light in its eyes begins to turn purple on the edges.

And just like that, the mini boss becomes even faster than it was before. Like it's able to move more at one time.

I let out a pent up breath describing how I'm feeling right now to a T.

This battle is getting dangerous.

And bothersome.