Chương 1448: 1447. The Cookie crumbles

Ultimately, it was the right decision, not to play fair. Despite the extreme difference in equipment, it was not easy to overcome the level difference. The golden scales that covered her body were comparable to those of a dragon. Although not as impenetrable as legends told, without their upgraded equipment, they might not have even been able to break through the defense of the scale with any normal attacks. The bloodline of a gorgon was no joke.

Even the wounds that accumulated slowly across her body were also healing at the same time. Although they sealed the creature's worst weapon and turned it into a one-sided fight, it was not as easy as they had expected. Still, it was clear that they had the upper hand. Now, Seth also joined, brandishing the Dragonburned Messer.

"<Lacerate>!" The blade cut straight across her back, and a fountain of blood shot in the air. The deep slash exposed the cut shoulder blade and nicked spine. The damage suggested that the gorgon counted as dragonkin, but even this wound was already closing at a visible speed, defying the effects of the skill. Soon after Seth joined the fight, creation cut all over her body, and the gorgon suddenly froze. Her cries of panic and pain had fallen silent, and the cave was suddenly quiet.

The attacks didn't stop, but she ignored them. She clenched her fist and screeched, the volume so loud it was hard to believe that she was wearing a closed mask.

"Shit, isn't the silver dulling?!" Monique suddenly exclaimed, drawing their attention to the change in the metal. She was right. The reflective surface was slowly losing its color as the ear-shattering scream held on. They all knew what this meant and quickened their movements. They had been holding back to carefully shave the health of the Phinene down and not accidentally kill her, but time was of the essence now.

If the creature managed to petrify the mask and then break it, they could only rely on the potion effects to continue fighting. Under the attacks of the four people, mostly clad in legendary equipment, its body turned into a mangled mess, but she was completely focused on petrifying the mask. They started unloading their skills at full force to end the fight before it could succeed, but a lvl. 188 gorgon could not be underestimated.

Her health bar kept bouncing back and forth, and her defense and health regeneration resisted the onslaught. Overall, it steadily grew smaller, but the <Olympian Silver> around her head was already the color of coarse gray stone, the same as the statues and ships in the harbor. Phinene's brass-colored hands shot up, crawling across the mask again. When the mask broke, they would not only face the petrifying gaze of the gorgon, but also the curses, attacks, and spells of a near legendary beast.

Mina, Fin, and Monique were about to unleash their ultimate skills when the mask started crumbling. Was it too late? Yes, it was.... She felt her flesh being rent, her throat was getting sore, but it did not matter. It would heal once this was over. All she had to do was endure for now. Enduring the pain, she relied on her body to resist the attacks while concentrating all her focus and mana into petrifying the shell in front of her eyes. She soothed herself with thoughts of what came after.

Once this thing was off her head, she would grind whoever was responsible to dust. These maggots attacking her, she would gift them immeasurable suffering! Emitting the Petrifying Rays from her eyes, mouth, and every snake on her head, she could feel it slowly penetrating and converting the metal into stone. But, just what was this material? It took so long to turn... Every moment was stretching into an eternity as the pain tried to break her concentration.

She kept fueling her rage to endure the pressure, but she couldn't help her thoughts wandering. Doubts started rising. Would she be able to do it in time? The unthinkable thought kept rising up in her mind. Would she die here? You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Could she actually lose her life in this backwater dimension? No! She didn't accept it. She kept going, despite her life rapidly draining, and ultimately, it became clear. She had won this bet! She was almost done.

Just a moment longer! Just a little more! She started hectically clawing and striking the weird mask that had clamped around her head. Cracks started spreading. Light was returning to her world, not a moment too late. She was already feeling the shadow of death looming over her, but now she would be able to heal herself, and then she would indulge in the suffering of her enemies! She would- The moment the world outside reappeared before her eyes, she felt a cold gauntlet grasp her nape with a firm grip.

Suddenly, there was an overwhelming pain piercing her self. Spreading across her whole body, it felt like she was skinned alive, from the inside out. Her mind was filled with pain as it felt like everything inside her was compacted into a tiny ball and ripped away from her skin case, sucked out through her nape by the cold gauntlet. The light before her eyes vanished again. Everything vanished. The light, her sight, the pain, the heat of her body, the feeling of damp air on her skin...

Only she was left, and a cold darkness encased her. Was this... death? She was too late.... Against expectations, the gorgon had actually managed to petrify and break the mask made of epic <Olympian Silver>, enchanted with Olympian Durability. He had underestimated her, but it was all too late, nonetheless. The moment the mask broke was also the moment she was so close to death that the Spirit Blacksmith could harvest her soul. Her health had already fallen below 5%.

The massive level difference meant nothing when the target was this close to leaving the mortal plane on their own. It also helped that the gorgon had exhausted herself in petrifying the mask. But the how was not important. What counted was that the soul of Phinene was firmly held in the grasp of his Wraithguard, as her now lifeless body crumbled on the cave floor. Mina, Fin, and Monique stared at the gorgon who had just managed to free herself from the silver gimp mask, only to fall over dead the next moment.

The prepared attacks were canceled as their eyes jumped up to him, when the blacksmith suddenly appeared behind the corpse. He had changed his helmet back to Laraweg, the Scorpio Helmet.

"Good job, everyone. That went a little worse than expected, but things worked out in the end." he gave them a thumbs up and stored the body and soul of Phinene in his inventory. With this, they finally had the last missing materials for the Aegis.

"I was actually scared for a moment. You really took your time," Fin punched his shoulder, relieved.

"Right, I was getting a little worried," Mina agreed with a laugh. They didn't know that Seth still had Tatzel up his sleeve, for the worst-case scenario. He decided not to tell them right now.

"Haha, sorry, sorry. Her health had to get really low, and I even had to use the Wraithguard to harvest her soul," the bard explained apologetically.

"Does that mean we have everything now?" Monique asked in anticipation.

"Yep, we have everything needed to finish your armor," he confirmed.

"We can go home now." The party collected Robin and Grodin, who were frozen in shock for a long while afterward. Watching a battle on this level had broken their worldview, at least a little. It was a good thing neither of the two was needed for the way back to the mainland. They did not walk back across the island; the other shore was close. The party walked down to the beach, killing a couple of monsters on the way. When they reached the beach. Seth brought out the silver vessel.

Since Seth now had the course shown on his <Map>, he just had to follow the way they had come from. With the blacksmith controlling the vessel, the way back was slightly less enjoyable, but it took them only a single day to rush back to Larida. Robin and Grodin regained their senses on the way back, but the way they treated the delegation from Minas Mar had fundamentally changed. Robin kept assuring that he would keep their secrets, even when nobody asked him to.

But his new attitude allowed them to evade another meeting with nobles. While Grodin was left in Larida to report to his lord, the imperial aide brought them directly to Blackfeather. They could have used a Vessel to get back to the Demon Cave; however, Seth decided to reveal his trump card in the end.

"Tatzel was with you the whole time?" Mina asked, betrayed, realizing that the fight would have been over in an instant if the Imugi had stepped in. After all, Tatzel was currently stuck at lv. 199 and was waiting for his chance to become a true dragon.

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have gotten to properly use your new equipment for once," he said with a laugh and mounted Tatzel. The short flight back, he had to justify himself, but only a couple of hours after reaching Blackfeather, they reached the Hell Gate back home.