Chapter 141: Endless Slash
After reaching the 90th Floor, Alen’s figure appeared in a dark, expansive hall. He once again couldn’t see through the immediate surroundings without activating his ’Night Vision’ skill. As his glowing azure gaze pierced through the thick darkness, what appeared in front of him was a massive space. It was, more appropriately, a dark throne room. Several empty seats were lined up on both sides of the hall, while directly in front of him lay an empty walkway that led straight toward a dark throne situated on the uphill elevation of the room.
A person, or more accurately, a dark, demonic figure, was seated on the grand throne. He rested his head lazily against his knuckles, his arm propped up on the armrest. He sat in that relaxed position like a bored, lazy predator that had been waiting for decades for its prey to finally walk toward him.
*Thud!*
As the heavy door behind him closed, Alen stood in the hall entirely alone. The dark figure’s glowing eyes turned toward him, as if analyzing the prey to see if he was enough to satisfy his hunger.
{Hmph... An interesting person has finally come... Your body is quite pure and even blessed with the ’laws’ of the ’world’. It seems I got a new prey to have some fun with. It would be nice to possess your youthful body. Come toward me, my prey. Hehe...}
Before the demon could even continue his arrogant monologue, Alen’s figure blurred in a rapid motion. He directly appeared right before the throne as his Crimson Dagger sliced upward through the darkness. The violent Crimson Lightning emitted from the dagger effortlessly cut through the thick hide of the demon sitting on the throne. Before the creature could even react, his neck was already severed, the sharp dagger cutting smoothly through his dark flesh and bones.
*Thud!*
The demon’s severed head dropped onto the hard floor, rolling down the elevated steps toward the distance before finally halting.
As the massive hall once again turned dead silent, Alen stepped back, intentionally maintaining his distance from the throne. He remained highly cautious, fully expecting that the demon was going to respawn again.
Just as he expected, a thick, dark miasma started to leak from the upper stump of the demon’s severed neck. It shaped the dark flesh rapidly, and a brand new head was reformed right in its place.
{Hehehe... Do you really think your cheap tricks are going to work on me, little guy? I cannot die! I am an Immortal Demon, staying in this exact place for thousands of years. Hundreds of challengers have tried to fight me. Some even managed to kill me once or twice, but eventually, they all died of exhaustion. You are not some new, special figure who can overcome that. Hahaha... You can’t kill me. Just give up!}
Before the demon could talk again, Alen sliced his dagger forward once more. A compressed wave of Crimson Essence slashed toward the Demon, splitting his upper body right through his chest.
As his upper torso fell down from the throne and dark blood spilled across the steps, for a few seconds, nothing happened. But then the dark miasma again took over. It started to coil around his upper torso, reforming and reattaching the body once again, acting as if his body had never even been sliced before.
{Hahaha... I have stood the test of time, kid. That parlor trick won’t work on—}
Another rapid slash came forward toward his body, splitting his torso vertically right in half as his body fell apart into two symmetrical pieces.
But once again, the miasma played its regenerative part and began reforming his body anew.
{Hahaha.... hah... hah... You should just give up, boy. It is completely useless...}
Alen didn’t react. He stared at the monster calmly as another sharp wave of Crimson Essence shot forward to split his body just as he respawned again.
Alen didn’t wait around. He walked toward a nearby seat beside the empty walkway and sat down calmly, casually crossing his legs. The Crimson Essence continued to work in the background, as endless, automated waves of volatile essence continued to release from the dagger resting under his hand. It continued to split the revived body endlessly.
{Hey, stop! Stop this right now! I warn you, I am going to kill you if you do not stop this! Ahhh—! Stop this, you motherf*cker!}
The demon started to scream in absolute madness as he continued to endlessly die and revive continuously in a brutal cycle of agony.
Ignoring the demon’s frustrated screams, Alen rested his elbow on the stone armrest. He leaned his head on his hand and closed his eyes to take a much-needed rest, all while the floating waves continued to torture the boss endlessly.
A full day had passed, or perhaps maybe even a week. Alen had finally fallen deeply asleep. Because of the constant pressure of back-to-back battles, along with the heavy mental strain of keeping his mind sane through the death loops, he had been exhausted to the very brim.
The dark hall was just filled with the exhausted, pained screams of the demon, who was still being split open and revived continuously, over and over again without a single pause.
After a while longer, Alen’s eyes finally fluttered open. He took a look at his surroundings.
"Hmph... Where am I again?"
He rubbed his eyes as he slowly remembered where he was. He was on the 90th floor where the demon boss resided—the same type of creature who had killed him hundreds of times and made him climb the Spire from the very bottom.
His azure eyes turned toward the withering demon who had once sat on the throne so arrogantly. The monster was now laying on the ground helplessly, desperately trying to shake away from the automated waves of Crimson Essence. But the magical waves followed wherever he crawled, as if they had already locked onto him as an absolute target. He wasn’t able to dodge. Even with using his dense miasma and several defensive spells, everything felt completely ineffective against the endless, overlapping waves of Crimson Essence.
{AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!...}
The sound of the miserable scream still continued to echo. Since the Demon was supposedly an immortal being and couldn’t die—at least not by any normal person’s hands—Alen had decided to test his absolute limits. It had turned out to be quite effective. He looked at the withering demon, noting that the monster’s healing speed had significantly lessened now that he had exhausted so much of his internal miasma.
Alen looked at him in a slight daze, staring at the pathetic sight. He stood up from his seat and walked toward the throne with calm, measured steps.
"I think you should just give up now.... Are you still not finished yet?..."
He stepped closer to the demon and looked down at him. As the Crimson dagger now got much closer to his body, the energy waves became much denser and sharper. The demon’s bodily pain reached toward the heavens as his flesh started to split and heal at a much more agonizing rate.
{AHHHHH! STOP! STOP! I GIVE UP! I WILL TELL YOU THE REAL WAY OF GETTING OUT!!!! JUST STOP!}
As the demon practically begged for him to stop the torture, Alen finally halted the constant waves of the essence. As the relentless attacks finally ceased, the demon slumped onto the stone floor with a thoroughly defeated look. He weakly raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the ceiling directly above the throne.
"If you sit on the throne for three seconds, you will be transported to the next floor...."
Alen looked at him with intense, untrusting eyes. He coated his bare fist with Crimson lightning and directly punched the demon’s body.
*BOOOM!*
A large, gaping hole appeared right in the demon’s chest as it slowly, painfully started to heal.
{AHHHHH!!!}
"Don’t you dare play cheap tricks with me. I have repeated my mistakes five turns already on this floor. If you try anything fishy again, then I will gladly give you another extended dose of the torture, with the personal addition of my own fists until one of us falls permanently. Do you really want that?..."
A small, chilling smirk appeared on Alen’s lips, which perfectly contrasted with his eyes, which were currently filled with quiet madness.
The demon looked into his eyes but wasn’t able to meet his gaze for long. A cold chill ran down his spine, and he didn’t dare to play dumb anymore.
{’Insanity.... Pure insanity... This human is worse than a demon!....’}
The demon then pointed frantically at the ceiling above them, where a thick crystalline glass lay hidden in the dark architecture.
"You have to break that glass ceiling and enter inside it! You will reach straight toward the 91st floor...."
Alen nodded, preparing to launch himself straight toward the designated place. But suddenly, he halted his steps. He looked back down at the demon with that same dark smile once again.
"Thanks... Because of you, I have actually improved my endurance quite a lot..."
After saying this, Alen used his wind magic. He flew upward toward the ceiling, punched the thick glass into shards, and flew inside, heading straight toward the next floor. Pieces of broken glass fell down onto the floor, while some jagged shards dug deeply into the demon’s regenerating body. But the demon paid it no mind, as it was nowhere near as painful as the absolute torture he had just faced for an entire week.
{That crazy guy is definitely going to break this Spire for sure...}