Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

Chapter 84 An Even Greater Foe

That fact fired Yeong-Un up, who smiled fiercely while smacking both of his swords together.

"Alright–I'm pumped now!" He called out.

The fishman he faced was clad in indigo, stiffened armor that protected its vitals, and seemed to amplify its strength as it stomped towards him.

Before he could go for a swift slash, the fishman spewed a compressed stream of water from a hole in his hand, shooting towards him like a boiling laser.

"Ghh–!"

He was forced to dodge from nearly point black, countering with a slash to the creature's gut, only managing to embed a shallow cut across its stomach.

"Raegh! Raegh! Raegh!"

–The wide, muscular fishman grunted as it unleashed haymaker after haymaker without any form or grace, attempting to bash his skull in, but his natural reflexes allowed him to evade each hit, though it was close.

"Get back, ya' fishy bastard!" Yeong-Un yelled out.

Stomping his boot down, he created a small shock wave that momentarily stunned his opponent, allowing him to clutch his blades as a swirling heat birthed itself on the sharpened steel.

"I'll grilla ya' into a nice dinner!" Yeong-Un spun around, gathering momentum for his next strike as the flames began to form in full, "--Flaming Slice n' Dice!"

He unleashed a set of four strikes, each propelling a thin veil of flames towards the fishman. Differing from a normal flame enhancement to his swords, the very slashes he set out inhabited the element of "burn".

Even though the air-pressurized slashes couldn't fully shatter the dense armor of the fishman, the residual heat melted it away, leaving it defenseless for a moment–a pivotal moment.

"Gotcha'!" Yeong-Un grinned fiercely.

While the half-fish, half-man creature was left unbalanced and taken aback by the fierce heat, Yeong-Un was already rearing his blades back for another attack.

"To sashimi ya' go!" Yeong-Un called out with a laugh, "Swordsman's Haste!"

The skill used by the dual spellblade resulted in a burst of hyper-energy engulfing his body, sending him into a temporary "overdrive" of sorts, only for the singular attack he'd unleash–the swiftness of his slashes were unmatched.

Before the fishman could so much as raise its ooze-covered fist, the wild-haired, smiling man swung into over thirty slashes–all in a singular second before the augmentation spell came-and-went just as fast.

"...Fish outta' water."

After sliding his blades back into the cross-formed sheaths on his back, Yeong-Un smiled as the fishman remained still as a statue before–one…two…twenty…thirty–into a plethora of pieces of flesh, the gray-skinned foe spilled into mincemeat.

"Easy peasy," Yeong-Un smirked, having turned his foe into what he had promised: a pile of fish meat.

In almost unison, Jeong-Hui finished his foe as well, managing to catch it off-guard with a [Blink Step] into a dagger through the back of its neck.

["Holy Water Dweller" Defeated | EXP + 500 | 8600 /9000]

Close to level twenty-three…Being in a party really is helpful, he thought.

"Tougher than expected," he commented, sheathing his daggers as the three met back up.

"Nah, they ain't that tough!" Yeong-Un laughed.

"Phew…"

Sol stood by them, using his spear as a crane to kneel down and catch his breath.

"Nice job," he smiled.

He extended his hand down to the hazel-haired, amber-eyed friend of his, who looked at it in confusion for a moment before smiling himself, accepting the hand as he stood up.

"It was pretty much all luck, though," Sol laughed a bit, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

Yeong-Un slapped him on the back of the head lightly, causing Sol to let out a slight "Yow!" as he stumbled forward.

"What was that for?!" Sol barked, holding the back of his head.

"Stop selling yerself' short, idiot!" That's yer' problem!" Yeong-Un told him.

It was an astute observation; somewhat surprising coming from the lips of the abrasive, wild-haired young man, but at the end of the day–he was the most affable of them all.

"Yeah, yeah…I can't help it," Sol pouted a bit, sighing out afterwards.

"Anyway, that was our greetin', huh? Not a bad warmup, I guess! Ha-ha!" Yeong-Un said, marching forward as he stretched his arms.

"You and I have totally different understandings of what a "warmup" is," Sol sighed, following behind him.

"Agreed," he chuckled a bit, walking alongside them.

The curved bridge swayed slightly as they walked across it, suspended only by golden ropes above the enigmatic, foggy water below.

"I wonder if those things will be our main enemy of this dungeon," he asked, looking down as he watched his steps.

"Those fishes? No damn problem, if so!" Yeong-Un proclaimed with a confident laugh.

–Those arrogant words would quickly be stifled as they entered into the next chamber, which had its entrance shrouded by a seraphic fog that hovered around the threshold.

"Oh, good," he let out in a sarcastic breath.

It was vast, in all regards–stretching far above, and expanding in each direction. Enormous, quartz pillars that were engraved with golden swirls separated different sections of the chamber, holding contaminants of water behind them.

Though there was no glass or shielding from keeping the water suspended in the air from spilling, yet it remained unmoving. Separated stars ascended in a spiral, reaching to separate platforms upward into what looked like their path to the next area.

"Water? The hell?" Yeong-Un asked.

It was a confusing sight; the sections of water persisted alongside the air, making for an environment inhabitable by both land dwellers and water dwellers.

"Looks like we should get comfortable with fishes…" He said, drawing his daggers preemptively.

"...Crap, even more of those…? I barely handled the one!" Sol whined out, hesitating to follow the other two.

Though the sounds of the surrounding, suspended waters rippling forced him to begrudgingly follow behind the two as they ascended the mystically placed steps.

Each step echoed off of the acoustic walls of the towering domain; protruding from the walls, hundreds, if not thousands of sculpted faces of what looked to be angels watched them in their steps.

"...See anythin'?" Yeong-Un asked quietly.

He was constantly looking side-to-side, watching the mystical, airborne sections of water carefully.

"Nope. But…" He lingered his words.

"Yeah," Yeong-Un kept moving up the steps at the very front of the group, "...They're waitin'."

The first platform was reached, leaving them surrounded by a dome of suspended water that hung over them in an air of enigma.

However, they soon realized an error in their thinking: it wasn't multiple presences swirling from within the enigmatic depths of suspsenses water, and it wasn't a horde of fishmen awaiting their arrival for an ambush.

It was one, singular foe.

Something lurking within the waters, and large enough to cause the waters to ripple from multiple angles despite being in one place.

"Hey, hey, hey…this is a joke, right? Something like this…!" Sol began to say, hesitantly holding his spear as he gulped down.

"It's real, and itsa' comin'!" Yeong-Un laughed out, welcoming the challenger within the water.

"Yeah, yeah…let's get this done," he added, holding his daggers.

They all watched the same spot in front of them from the suspended walls of water as it began to spiral and ripple, witnessing a shadow approaching from behind the veil of water–quite a large shadow, at that.

In an impact they couldn't brace for, a wave of water splashed out as the wall of aqua parted, revealing the gargantuan foe that left its bounds.

Similarly to the fishmen from before, it possessed a humanoid physique, yet stood well over five meters tall, dressed in abyssal, seaweed-laden armor of a black tint, with the head of a vicious, great-white shark.

[Enemy Identified: "Holy Deep Sea Tyrant" | Level: 26]

"Izzit a boss…?" Yeong-Un muttered.

"I don't know, but it sure looks like one–!" He replied.

Him and Sol were both caught off-guard as the towering, shark-man dressed in illustrious, eerily-grooved armor moved with blinding speed despite its massive build, only being stopped by an interception of Yeong-Un between them.

"...Focus!" Yeong-Un strained out, gritting his teeth.

Both of his blades were required to guard against the large fist wielded by the tyrant, which was as large as the eccentric adolescent's torso.

"I almost died…! I almost died a virgin–!" Sol let out in shock.

"Get it together, man!" He yelled out, moving Sol to the side to get him going before he set off, aiding Yeong-Un.

While the dual spellblade was holding off the fist of the armored sharkman, he rushed forward, staying low as he used a [Blink Step], aiming the sharpness of his blades at the beast's ankles.

Gotcha! He thought.

–Though with surprising agility, the armor-dressed shark pulled away from its clash against the two blades, shifting its attention to the assassin as its beady eyes watched him.

It's able to keep up with my speed that casually?! He questioned.

Before he could properly react, the behemoth of a shark was already propelling its fist towards him with utter, indifferent bloodlust.

"Disperse-!" He yelled out.

[Spirit: -300. Remaining Spirit: 2700/3200]

It was a quick release spell, making it so that upon impact from the shark's large fist, he would automatically [Blink Step] away to a safe position and leave a cloud of black smoke in his place.

"That was close…" He mumbled.

He had warped back next to Sol, who seemed to have no idea how to engage in this battle as he looked on nervously, already sweating as he constantly shifted his grip on his spear.

"Sol, we're going to need your help on this one," he said, standing back up.