Chương 76

Morax didn't find the joke funny. The Great Demon's black eyes narrowed. The freezing mist leaking from his face turned into a thick, swirling blizzard.

"You mock me," Morax rumbled.

"A human with stolen Titan tricks and a chef's knife. I will freeze your blood." Morax slammed both his hands down onto the icy floor. CRACK! A massive shockwave of black ice erupted from his palms. The floor didn't just freeze; it violently spiked upward. Hundreds of jagged, razor-sharp ice spears shot out of the ground, tearing across the cathedral directly toward Rudra. Rudra didn't back off. He shoved a thick piece of leftover Sun-Kissed Mantis Steak into his mouth. He chewed it fast and swallowed.

[Health Regeneration has greatly increased!] [All stats increase by 30% for 3 hours.] A deep, heavy warmth flooded his chest, violently fighting off the biting cold of the room. Rudra gripped his staff, channeled mana into his boots, and kicked off the ground.

"[Abyssal Step]." He stepped onto the empty air, jumping over the first wave of ice spikes. The invisible platforms cracked under his weight. He didn't run away from the blast; he ran straight up it. He bounced off the rising ice spears, turning the chaotic attack into his own personal staircase.

"Get down here!" Morax yelled. The demon swiped his hand. A dozen heavy chunks of dark ice ripped out of the walls and hurled toward Rudra like cannonballs. Rudra spun the Staff of the Fire Lord in front of him. CLANG! SMASH! He batted the heavy ice chunks out of the air. The thick bone shaft shattered them into snowy dust. He rode the recoil of the last block, flipped forward, and landed heavily right in Morax's personal space.

"Sweeping Gale." Rudra dropped his hips and swung the staff low. Morax raised a thick shield of black ice to block. The staff slammed into it. [You have dealt 31, 000 damage!] [... The fiery explosion has triggered!] [You have dealt 45, 000 Fire damage!] Orange fire blasted against the ice shield. It didn't break, but the heavy physical impact forced Morax to slide backward. Rudra kept moving. He didn't let the staff stop. He pulled it through the swing, spun on his heel, and brought it right back around.

He chained his basic attacks, throwing his entire body weight into every single rotation. Thwack! Thwack! [You have dealt 35, 000 damage!] [You have dealt 34, 000 damage!] The bone staff hit the ice shield again and again. With every unbroken circle, the weapon picked up more momentum. It got faster. It got heavier. The fiery explosions triggered back-to-back, filling the dark cathedral with bright orange light and rapidly chipping away at the demon's massive health pool.

"Enough!" Morax roared. The demon dropped his shield and lunged. He completely ignored a heavy strike to his ribs that triggered another massive damage notification. Morax grabbed Rudra by the front of his black trench coat. The demon's grip was like a vice of pure ice. He raised his other hand, forming a sharp blade of dark frost, and drove it straight toward Rudra's neck. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Rudra was too close to swing his staff.

He didn't panic. He just let go of the staff with his left hand, pulled his arm back, and slapped Morax directly across the cheek. SMACK. The sharp, incredibly loud crack echoed through the freezing cathedral. [Critical Hit!] [You have dealt 110, 000 damage!] [The target is temporarily Stunned!] It wasn't a magic spell. It was just a raw, completely disrespectful slap backed by his massively buffed physical stats.

The hit snapped Morax's head to the side, throwing the Great Demon off balance just enough to ruin his aim. The demon's ice blade missed Rudra's neck, plunging deep into his shoulder instead. [You have suffered 14, 400 damage!] Rudra winced. The pain was blinding, and his health bar instantly plummeted into the red again. The cold from the blade started to freeze his veins, making his arm feel numb and heavy. But he didn't try to pull away. He leaned into the hit.

"Targeted Manifestation!" [1% of your Maximum Mana is being consumed per second.] The blue energy of the Mana Heart flooded into his arms. The invisible steel cables of mana forcibly pushed the creeping frost out of his muscles. Rudra grabbed his staff with both hands again. He was standing inches away from a Level 250 Great Demon. He was bleeding, freezing, and his mana was draining fast. Rudra smiled. The wild, scrappy thrill of the brawl totally took over. He didn't wind up.

He just started hammering the staff into Morax's sides, chest, and knees. Short, brutal, non-stop strikes. Thwack! Thwack! CRACK! [You have dealt 150, 000 damage!] [The passive effect of Blunt Force has triggered!] [16% of your physical damage bypasses standard armor.] [You have dealt 92, 000 damage!] Morax grunted in pain. He tried to freeze Rudra's boots, but Rudra just stomped the ice to pieces. He tried to summon another ice sword, but Rudra smashed his wrist before he could cast it.

Rudra completely dictated the pace. He crowded the demon, forcing Morax to take the heavy, rattling impacts. The infinite momentum built up to a terrifying speed. The staff was just a fiery blur.

"You insolent...!" Morax roared. The Great Demon finally snapped. He stopped trying to block. He let out a deafening, unnatural scream. A massive, swirling aura of absolute zero cold exploded from Morax's body. It was a desperate move. The temperature in the cathedral dropped so fast that the air literally crystallized. [Warning! Extreme Demonic Frost detected!] [Movement speed is reduced by 50%!] Rudra's arms slowed down. The heavy momentum of his staff hit a literal wall of freezing air.

His muscles screamed as the cold bit through his coat. Morax raised both his hands. A giant, jagged spear of pure black ice formed above his head. It was massive. If it hit, no amount of defense or food buffs would save Rudra. Rudra looked at his mana bar. The Targeted Manifestation was eating it fast. He had just enough left for one final trick.

"Super Sensitivity." [All mana has been consumed!] The roaring blizzard went completely silent. The world turned grey. Rudra's senses exploded. He could see the exact path the giant ice spear was going to take. He saw the tiny, fractured weak point in Morax's icy chest armor from the repeated blunt strikes. He had exactly six seconds. He dropped his stance low. One second. The giant ice spear launched. Two seconds. Rudra stepped forward. He didn't try to outrun it.

He slipped right under the massive shadow of the black ice. The spear scraped past his back, tearing a chunk off his coat but missing his body entirely. Three seconds. Rudra stepped right inside Morax's guard. Four seconds. He gripped the Staff of the Fire Lord with everything he had left. His arms were shaking. His health was basically gone.

"Crushing Strike." Five seconds. Rudra brought the heavy bone staff up in a massive, brutal uppercut. Six seconds. KABOOM! The grey world shattered back into color. The fiery explosion was deafening. The heavy staff smashed directly into the fractured weak point on Morax's chest. [Critical Hit!] [You have dealt 250, 000 damage!] The blunt force cracked right through the demon's borrowed body. Morax's eyes went wide. The pale blue skin literally shattered like glass.

The Great Demon let out a broken, hollow gasp as the fiery impact blasted straight through his core. Morax fell backward. He hit the icy floor and didn't move. [You have defeated the 14th Great Demon, Morax (Borrowed Body)!] Rudra didn't celebrate. He didn't even look at the ashes. The Staff of the Fire Lord slipped out of his numb fingers. It clattered loudly on the ice. Rudra's legs simply stopped working. He fell straight backward, hitting the cold floor with a heavy thud.

His health was sitting at a pathetic one-digit number. His mana was completely at zero. His stamina bar was empty. He just lay there, staring up at the dark, frosty ceiling. He let out a long, ragged breath, watching the white mist curl into the air.

"I really..." Rudra mumbled to the quiet, empty cathedral.

"... need a nap." He closed his eyes, completely and utterly exhausted.