Ch. 521..530

Chapter 521

Jack reappeared at Duorda’s side. The black-bladed katana was already in motion, arcing toward Duorda’s elbow. Blood-red energy coated the blade as Jack struggled to cleave through the crypt lord’s arm, leaving a wave of powerful sword energy fading against the ceiling.

"CRACK!"

After much effort, Jack used the skill again to back away. He still felt uncomfortable as Duorda only laughed harder after tanking the attack.

"Good... It’s been too long since I’ve received true damage," Duorda commented, casually picking up his forearm from the ground. Then, the crypt lord reattached it with a wash of black energy. After that energy faded, the arm was restored to its perfect, undead form while some of Duorda’s health had vanished.

Startled, Jack asked, "You can fix your broken body at the cost of some health?"

"A perfect ability since I can just steal health at will, don’t you think?" asked Duorda, unfazed by the last attack. "You’re much better than the past heroes I’ve faced. Few could face me as you have. On one hand, I can count the people who have bested me one-on-one. But with my true strength unleashed, none have bested me in a duel."

"No one? Well, there’s always a first for everything!" laughed Jack, getting a chuckle out of Duorda. "Are you going to fight me seriously or not? I know you’ve got more skills than that. Where are your summons?"

"I guess it’s time to take it up a notch..." Duorda shrugged while shaking his newly attached arm.

Another pulse of dark energy spread throughout the vast room. It did nothing to Jack but the hero was familiar with what came next.

The ground below shook. As patches of earth split apart, draconic skulls emerged from the ground, still roaring despite not having any lungs or a throat.

"Undead Dragons?! What happened to the goliaths?!" Jack complained.

Duorda laughed, "Zombie Goliaths would only be fodder for your katana. I want to know just how strong you are, so why use such weak summons? Good luck!"

Three twenty-meter Undead Dragons took flight with their skinless wings. They charged Jack mercilessly with reckless abandon, proving that they were still as unfeeling toward pain as any other undead.

Jack backed away but kept his katana at the ready. The dragons were already on top of him so he didn’t want to use the long-range bow in close combat, even if it offered more versatility than the katana. Instead, red energy coated the blade again as Jack swung his sword. However, the attacks did little to no damage as Jack failed to hit a joint directly.

With such a result, Jack determined that the low-level sword skills he had gotten from Maynard weren’t enough. With twelve thousand five hundred and sixteen skill points at his disposal, Jack opened the skill menu at the side of his view. While evading the claws and jaws of the Undead Dragons, Jack skipped the mid-level skills and found the high-level skills that Argyle, Kims, and Jin used. The hero selected Argyle’s sword wave skill, wanting the five-hit combo that could be used at almost any range. Also, Jin’s high-level skills were far more expensive and Jack was in a saving mindset at the moment.

Seven hundred and fifty skill points were spent to unlock the skill, but Jack felt it was a worthy expense.

Immediately, Jack felt a surge of pure white energy cover his sword. Similar to Jin, Argyle had no natural affinity for magic and was a pure warrior until his pact with Dradich. Hence, Jack felt the pure technique that was Argyle’s skill paired with Jack’s magical prowess could flip the stakes of the battle.

The pure white energy of the unadulterated mana was tainted red as fire energy was added to the attack. With his new skill ready, Jack rushed to the nearest Undead Dragon without any hesitation.

Roaring, the beast attempted to tank the attack while covering its claw in dark energy to counter.

Both attacks clashed as the beast whined, its claw broken apart by the impact of the flaming sword. But a second attack followed. Then a third. A fourth came next. And finally, a fifth strike was made against the Undead Dragon. All five of those attacks were made against the crumbling claw but their residual sword waves also hit the Undead Dragon’s torso.

Broken ribs fell to the ground as the right foreleg of the dragon fell apart. But Jack’s follow up combo left the other foreleg in pieces as well. Also, the shoulder of that arm was completely broken as half the dragon’s chest fell to the ground.

It roared and whined but Jack showed no signs of backing off. Even as the dragon took to the air in evasion, Jack’s sword waves reached the fleeing beast and shattered one of its wings.

The second and third Undead Dragons rushed Jack but were met with similar results. One lost a leg while the other had its chest cut apart. Neither took much damage though as Jack kept his focus on the broken dragon. His next two combo attacks destroyed that dragon’s neck and head, letting Jack break the remaining bones with ease.

It was then that Jack heard Duorda laughing again. Jack glanced at the crypt lord, ready to defend or evade if necessary. But nothing came at him. The hero only saw the crypt lord staring at him as if Duorda was enjoying the show.

"What? No attacks?" Jack shouted his questions. "What’s the point of having these here if you won’t attack me while I’m distracted?"

"We’ve only just begun. Why rush? I haven’t had a good fight in a millennium, so let me savor this while I can," answered Duorda, still not acting against Jack.

Without Duorda interfering, Jack faced the remaining two Undead Dragons with relative ease. He had to be cautious and on his toes but Jack managed to deal with them without taking any extra damage. But even though Duorda made no attempts of attack, Jack remained on guard and kept an eye on the crypt lord while finishing the Undead Dragons.

 

Chapter 522

As Jack finished the third Undead Dragon, he turned to Duorda and began his walk back to the main fight. But the earth shook again as four more Undead Dragons revealed themselves.

Duorda commented, "You shattered their bones... A good move. That keeps me from resummoning them."

Jack challenged the dragon’s charge, understanding that Duorda likely had more summons than the hero could imagine. If Duorda was old enough to know of Daruun and his true role in the world, then there’s no telling how many different beasts or people had come to challenge the crypt lord over time. And remembering Duorda’s earlier comment in the battle, Jack assumed that these Undead Dragons were once Duorda’s challengers. This was more clear as the newest four Undead Dragons were different from the first three.

The first three dragons were all twenty meters long and were thinner with a large wingspan. But the cour new dragons had no wings. Instead, they were huge in stature, and their bones were incredibly thick and dense. Jack could assume that the first three were made from Storm Dragons while the newest Undead Dragons were once Quake Dragons.

Those four dragons ran at top speed into Jack’s blade. Their stronger bone structures proved more formidable against Jack’s powerful sword strikes, but not unbreakable.

It took more swings of the sword, but Jack learned that he could still manage against those four dragons with his current skill set.

As the lead Undead Dragon attacked Jack yet again, Jack vanished with Sudden Death. The hero reappeared above the dragon’s neck. Purple energy coated his blade this time, using Spatial Slash in conjunction with the five attack combo. It ate a lot more mana but it proved to be incredibly potent.

The Undead Dragon roared as its neck was severed and its head dropped to the floor. When the head finally grew quiet, Jack attacked the head with his fire combo. It managed to crack the skull and leave the rest of the skeleton lifeless as it collapsed to the ground.

Repeating this tactic, Jack targeted the next Undead Dragon. However, as Jack decapitated that dragon he noticed a ray of black energy fall upon the last dragon that Jack slew.

"So long as at least eighty percent of the skeleton remains, I can keep them as soldiers," Duorda commented as the other skeleton reformed without a head and whipped its club-like tail a Jack.

Unhappy to see that, Jack finally covered his entire body in flames. Keeping his flame body at Jack’s usual size, Jack wielded the katana with white and black flames. Combining the sword wave attacks with his hellish fire was devastating to the headless skeleton. It was reduced to cinders, as was the second Undead Dragon that Jack finished off.

"Oh, so you were still hiding your strength? Wonderful!" Duorda shouted.

Jack paid the crypt lord less attention as he rushed on the third dragon, only to find both the third and fourth Undead Dragons working together. And as Jack reached them, a black bolt of lightning shot toward the hero.

With Sudden Death, Jack managed to evade the black bolt while also cleaving one dragon’s head in two. Using Sudden Death, the sword technique, and the bloodline skill together allowed Jack to destroy the skeletal remains of the dragons with relative ease.

"Then try this!"

The crypt lord laughed as another pulse of black energy filled the chamber. Everything shook as over a hundred human skeletons rose up from the ground.

Jack was ready to take them on but was startled by their apparel. It was nothing like the typical horde that Duorda would summon in-game.

Each skeleton was wearing armor or a magical robe. Then, each skeleton picked up one of the many items littering the chamber floors. But half a dozen skeletons were unarmed, even though there were still plenty of weapons strewn about.

One skeleton charged at Jack with haste. It had a taught bun of withered hair and wore a tattered kimono in deep need of a wash and restitching, but Jack recognized the legendary getup instantly.

Not hesitating, Jack tore into the skeleton. His flaming combo attacks aimed for the forearms, ankles, and neck, all of which were left unguarded by the kimono. Being outside of the game meant that even legendary items weren’t as effective now that they too had to follow the logic and physics of reality.

As Jack rendered the skeleton unable to attack, he stole the kimono and shattered the remains. It was obvious that the undead samurai was after the katana that Jack wielded.

Following that, Jack was swarmed by the skeletons with close-combat weapons and barraged by attacks from undead mages, archers, and other long-range fighters.

"Now you’ll understand what I’ve experienced all these years!" shouted Duorda, cackling to himself. "Show me your everything! If not, your death will only come quicker!"

Unflinching, Jack used Sudden Death to reposition himself and avoid the barrage of attacks. While those long-range attacks fell on the warriors that charged Jack, the hero reappeared fifty meters away and still inside the horde.

But the skeletons became slower while Jack only got faster. Jack cast Spatial Disruption while adding the minokawa form to his flame body. His menu was open again as Jack covered the surrounding enemies in flaming wind blades. This held them off and gave Jack a moment to upgrade a skill, his companion bloodline skill.

As the bloodline skill reached lv. 7 for six hundred and forty skill points, Jack noticed a drastic decrease in his mana consumption. He knew it would help him in this long battle but not to such an extreme. However, it made sense when Jack thought about how much mana it would cost for three bloodlines to be active at one time.

Over a dozen undead warriors were turned to ash as their most powerful items were left among their remains.

Witnessing that, Duorda chuckled, "Magnificent! Show me your everything! Perhaps I’ll gain the chance to show you mine!"

 

Chapter 523

Duorda was laughing heartily as Jack tore through the skeleton horde. Flaming wind blades flew everywhere as Jack was seemingly teleporting from one part of the horde to the next. His speed was incredible and overwhelming, leaving many of the less adaptable skeletons to face their demise.

It was simple for Jack to eliminate the skeletons, even if they had such great equipment. They were far too slow to keep up with him and their levels weren’t enough to withstand a higher-leveled hero with a plethora of powerful passive skills.

"Amazing..." Duorda sighed, letting loose another pulse of dark energy. However, this didn’t summon anything. Rather, it caused the remaining skeletons to return to their slumber underground.

Jack dropped his transformation momentarily, staring at Duorda. "What are you up to?"

"I don’t want you destroying all of my treasures. It’s taken me ages to collect so many and it would be pointless to lose them so easily," stated Duorda. "But their interference has cost you plenty of mana, so their losses aren’t entirely wasted."

"Does that mean..."

Stretching both arms out, Duorda showed more of that dark miasma from earlier. "You’ve proven strong enough to face me, but you’ve yet to learn what true power is!"

Dense black energy flooded the entire space. It felt harmless but Jack already knew about the life-draining properties of the attack.

Not wasting time, Jack rushed straight forward. The katana in his hand streaked through the air as Jack retook his hellish minokawa form. He left nothing to chance. Jack didn’t want to spend a single second more in that miasma than necessary, which meant Jack needed to fight as hard and as fast as possible.

As the miasma parted and Jack rushed forward, Duorda stood firmly with even denser dark energy around his hands. More black lightning bolts shot out toward the incoming attacker.

Neither backed off. Jack evaded the first few black bolts while Duorda waited patiently for Jack’s charge. Both finally connected. At such a range, Duorda stood still and tanked Jack’s attack combo while his black lightning hit Jack directly in the chest.

The crypt lord wasn’t knocked back at all. Duorda stood firmly without hesitation or flinching in any way. While his arms, chest, and skull had been slashed and carved into, the dark-boned skeleton kept his curious gaze on Jack. He was more interested in how Jack was fairing after receiving those black bolts at point-blank range.

Coughing, Jack stepped back a couple of meters. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as Jack was unable to keep some from dribbling past his lips.

"You’re good, Jack! Much more amusing than the others," commented Duorda.

"Thanks..." Jack spat out some of the blood, wiping his lip clean and staring back at his opponent. He watched as black energy covered Duorda’s body and restored the crypt lord to tip-top shape. Still searching for what Daruun had hinted at, Jack asked, "Why fight?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why should we fight?" Jack repeated his question. "You’re so strong and I don’t understand why you stay here. There were times when I felt facing you was more difficult than fighting a god, so why stay hidden away instead of rising to the heavens like them?"

"I have a purpose. Until that purpose is fulfilled, then I’m unable to leave," Duorda answered.

Feeling like he was finally getting somewhere, Jack sighed, "Then... What is that purpose? Is there a way I can help?

"You’re already helping me," answered Duorda.

"How can I--"

"Survive and you’ll fulfill my purpose!"

The black energy around Duorda gathered in his palm and extended out from there. It condensed more and more until a large black sickle made from pitch-black bones was created.

"Wait! Aren’t you a mage?!" Jack shouted, utterly floored to see Duorda with such a sickly-looking weapon.

"Yes. Also, I’m a warrior," Duorda stated as he took some warmup swings.

"But... you’re a spell blade?!"

"Correct! And you’re one of the few opponents worth going all-out. Be proud, Jack, for your demise is at hand! Struggle to remain in existence!"

Leaping with terrific strength, Crypt Lord Duorda charged Jack with his double-edged sickle at the ready. Heavy dark energy was pouring out of the sickle as Duorda swung it around with one hand, proving his physical prowess.

Jack leaned back and avoided the first swing. The hero was confident in his ability to dodge but he was still shocked to see how quick and strong Duorda’s physical body actually was. Also, Jack recognized the aura around the blade as a more condensed version of the draining miasma that filled the air. It was a blade that Jack didn’t want to block, let alone touch.

Surprisingly, Duorda’s strikes were extremely precise and viciously quick. The moment Jack evaded the first attack, he could barely keep up with the follow-up strike.

Crypt Lord Duorda was more excited than ever. His joy was at an all-time high. After failing to even have an opponent for five hundred years, Duorda found himself fighting a man who could keep up without needing to seal his strength. And Duorda was amazed further to see that Jack was still so lively after destroying multiple Undead Dragons as well as dozens of high-level skeletons with magical gear.

"Good! Great!" Duorda shouted, spinning around along with his swings to continue generating momentum with his huge sickle. "Show me more, Jack!"

As Duorda swarmed Jack with a frenzy of sickle strikes, Jack evaded in amazement. He understood that Duorda would be lv. 89 but Duorda was the first opponent to act unaffected by fighting within proximity of Jack’s poweful flame body. While most undead were naturally weak to fire, it was hard not to be startled by Duorda’s reckless abandon to charge Jack’s flaming person.

Jack didn’t use three bloodlines at once, not yet. He didn’t want to burn through mana unnecessarily when he still had no clue about the limits of Duorda’s strength. Not once, not twice, but three times now had Duorda shocked Jack with abilities that the crypt lord never had in-game. And seeing Duorda’s natural confidence made Jack assume that there was still more to come.

 

Chapter 524

With mana conservation as his top priority, Jack prepared for a battle of attrition. He understood that Duorda wouldn’t be so confident under normal circumstances, even after showing off three unknown trump cards.

This most likely meant one of two things. Either Crypt Lord Duorda was a truly a mad, battle-crazed being or he still had aces hidden up his sleeve. And Jack assumed both to be correct, just in case. He’d rather be overprepared than to get caught off guard and killed. That would be the worst scenario given Duorda’s unique Permadeath spell from earlier.

The crypt lord chuckled and charged again. His giant sickle was over a meter long, arching to slice Jack’s torso in two. Duorda acted as if the flames erupting from Jack were nonexistent.

Suddenly, the checkerboarded flames faded out. Jack’s true body was left behind, only it didn’t look like anything he had shown before. Now, his minokawa wings were gone and a pair of faint purple, draconic wings sprouted from his back. The katana in Jack’s hands was gripped tightly by strikingly sharp claws and purple scales took form over Jack’s skin. Finally, Jack’s teeth sharpened and a crown of horns emerged on his brow.

The hero’s draconic eyes followed Duroda’s quick movements and hesitations but his body wasn’t reacting. Jacks’ torso remained still while Jack swung his katana in a counterattack.

However, just when Jack was prepared to exchange blows, he was startled to see Duorda take a step back. "What’s wrong? I thought you liked trading attacks with your draining skill?"

"I don’t know how you can have so many forms..." Duorda mentioned, tapping his foot in thought. "Those flames matched those of a Hell-flame Fox and your earlier form mimicked a minokawa. You even combined those two to blend their absolute speed and power, a fine tactic. But your most fearsome form is definitely this one, utilizing the form of a Spectral Dragon. How are you doing this?"

"I’ll tell you if we can stop this fight and talk," answered Jack.

Shaking his head, Duorda sighed, "Oh well... But to think you had another hidden trick, more and more you’re proving to be Daruun’s chosen one."

"Then--"

"All the more reason to face you head on!"

Resuming his charge, Duorda lunged forward. The dense miasma thickened as the black sickle raced toward Jack.

This time, Jack blocked the attack. Though he couldn’t remove the draining effect entirely, his Spectral Dragon form had heightened magic defense to aid Jack’s resistance to the effect. At least he could keep from losing too much while also increase the potency of his spatial attacks.

While blocking with his katana, Jack dove his other claw into Duorda’s chest. The dense spatial energy coating the thin claws rivaled the black miasma as Duorda’s ribs were cut to pieces, like mincemeat.

But Duorda didn’t do anything to heal at the moment. Instead, Duorda hurled another bolt of black lightning into Jack at close-range.

Jack didn’t evade but he smiled all of a sudden. Once again, black and white flames exploded from his body as his claws turned into a bone blender. Finally, Jack caused the crypt lord to groan in worry as Jack eviscerated half the skeleton’s ribs and a portion of his shoulder.

Canceling the black lightning, Duorda jumped back and assessed the damage he had taken.

"Still want to keep fighting?" Jack asked, dropping his flame body again to meet the crypt lord eye-to-eye-socket.

"Though I’m able to heal, you understand that most skeletal beings have low health points in comparison to most beasts. You want to try and eliminate all my health in one go, don’t you?" Duorda reasoned.

Smiling, Jack shrugged. "Can you blame me? If you want to fight so badly, then I don’t have any reason to drag it out and let you drain me for no reason."

"True, I would attempt a similar strategy if I were you," Duorda agreed. "Too bad it won’t be so easy for you..."

The black energy dancing around Duorda’s free hand dispersed completely. He didn’t heal himself like before, exchanging some HP for his physical body’s reconstruction. To Jack’s surprise, white holy energy began to emit from Duorda’s left hand.

"What?! You can’t be--"

"I told you. You’ve proven to be worth going all out. In this fight, I won’t hold back anything. Survive and I’ll answer any question you wish!" Duorda shouted as more holy energy coated his left arm, spreading to his broken shoulder and chest. All the cleanly cut bones began to rapidly regenerate, visibly returning to their usual condition.

"You’re cheating?!" Jack complained.

Duorda laughed, "It’s not cheating. Nothing is cheating during a fight to the death! Come at me with everything, or you might die full of regret!"

Again, Duorda darted for Jack. Both of his arms swung backward, preparing his black sickle to strike. The white energy in Duorda’s left hand grew abundantly until another matching sickle appeared, made of pearl white bone and doused in holy energy. The blend of the opposing colored energies around Duorda was similar to Jack’s intimidating flame body.

Instead of tanking the charge, Jack vanished from where he stood. The hero appeared forty meters away, standing amidst a variety of weapons. Jack let loose a sigh as he calmed his nerves and picked up a second, simple-looking katana from the ground. Though it was only a mythic-tier weapon, Jack wanted to keep his blades balanced and would be happy with the added weapon’s effects.

When Jack picked up the new katana, Jack felt his speed increase. And that katana was able to use all energy types. Even if the added boost wasn’t as powerful as the black and red katana, at least Jack could still use his already boosted spatial attacks with it.

"Oh, so you dual wield as well? Or are you just getting desperate?" Duorda laughed, lunging back to Jack. "Are you ready now?"

As Duorda reached Jack, the sickles swung toward the katanas and Jack’s katanas swung in challenge of the sickles. But Jack and his katanas suddenly vanished before they made contact

 

Chapter 525

Seeing Jack vanish was no surprise to Duorda. His skeletal head turned inhumanly as Duorda looked behind him. "Try harder!"

Jack’s reappearance and sudden change of attack was of no concern to the crypt lord, whose limbs inhumanly turned around to block Jack’s dual strikes. The holy sickly blocked Jack’s Spatial Slash and the deathly sickle blocked Jack’s flaming blade.

Frowning slightly, Jack jumped back and vanished again. He didn’t like how his heath would be drained even when Duorda blocked him, and that quick exchange was enough proof that Duorda’s dual-wielding was a massive hurdle that Jack would need to clear in order to win.

"Where are you? Don’t tell me you’re running away after all that!" Duorda shouted, toying with Jack.

Jack remained invisible this time. He needed to come up with some way to get past Duorda’s defenses, otherwise, there was no hope for victory.

Hurrying through his menu, Jack opened his skill list. Given his current abilities, the hero had an idea that may allow him to break Duorda’s defenses without needing to buy some insanely powerful and expensive skill.

A few seconds passed and Duorda was getting a little impatient. "If you’re going to hide, then I’ll just use summons to find you. Since you prefer not to fight directly, then I’m forced to resort to overwhelming tactics."

"Hey!"

Hearing Jack’s shout, Duorda turned to the side. He found Jack’s reappearance and immediately put up his defenses. His sickles clashed with Jack’s katanas before Jack disappeared again.

Reappearing on the opposite side, Jack readied his follow-up strikes. But they were again blocked by Duorda.

This same maneuver repeated again and again. For more than half a dozen attempts, Jack failed to break the crypt lord’s defenses and had a fraction of his health drained each time, albeit a tiny fraction.

"That it? Have you finally--"

"Shut up!" Jack came at the crypt lord yet again, repeating his past failed attempts.

Duorda defended again with both sickles, stopping the katanas in their tracks. The crypt lord sighed, "Come on... What happened to all the excitement? Don’t tell me--"

"Shut up! Here I come!" Jack shouted all the louder, reappearing behind the crypt lord.

Shaking his head, Crypt Lord Duorda repeated his prior actions. He easily mounted a defense and braced for the imminent impact. If he had facial muscles, Duorda would’ve been frowning in disappointment. After all the hype thus far, just when Jack seemed to be able to clear Duorda’s tremendous strength, Jack’s efforts failed to grow stronger.

As the two collided again, Duorda sighed. But the crypt lord’s more relaxed approach to defense was never contested.

Directly in front of him, Duorda witnessed the image of Jack fade into obscurity the second it came into contact with his defense. At the same time, Duorda felt his spine, chest, and shoulders be bombarded from behind.

The crypt lord faltered and fell away from the invisible strikes from behind. All disappointment and depression vanished from Duorda’s thoughts as he realized the truth of the situation. "You can remain invisible while attacking? Marvelous!"

Jack reappeared, showing both katanas doused in either fire or spatial energy. "You left yourself wide open."

"You never truly moved that time. You made yourself invisible and created an illusion of yourself to attack from behind, tricking me into exposing my back for a wide-open attack. Well done, Jack!" Duorda praised Jack as he healed his bones with an abundance of holy energy. "That spell was at least greater illusion. That means you’re proficient in illusion, fire, spatial, and wind magic... Astounding!"

"Enough talk, unless you--"

"Right, enough talk!"

Duorda rushed Jack, not wanting to lose the hype yet again. He was anxious to see Jack’s true strength unravel. "If you’ve got any more tricks, please use them now! I don’t want to kill you before understanding how spectacular of an opponent you truly are. That way I can understand your abilities after you become my summon."

"How about you become my summon?" spat Jack, tired of being degraded.

"Survive and we’ll discuss that option later!" laughed Duorda, hurling one attack after the other.

Jack vanished as Duorda carved into the ground where Jack once stood. The excitement he felt was exhilarating. When Jack reappeared, the crypt lord swung his holy sickle to create a wave of sword energy and dissipate the illusion. As he felt a sword attack carve into his side, Duorda attacked instead of defending.

A deathly sword wave swung into the invisible hero, who backed away disillusioned. The exchange of blows wasn’t what Jack was after, albeit better than his prior situation.

Still invisible, Jack asked, "Are you still holding back or not?"

"And what if I am?"

"How about we show off for each other? You’ll finally show your biggest trump card and I’ll reveal my final form?"

"Ohhh... You’ve still got more forms?!" Duorda questioned in excitement. "Only if you show me while you’re not invisible. I want to see this final form in full glory!"

"Okay."

Jack became visible, standing only ten meters directly in front of Duorda. "Since I’m the challenger, would you mind going first?"

"Alright, but you’d better not disappoint me. Otherwise, I’ll have to kill you on the spot..." Duorda chuckled, dispersing all energy gathered around his body. "Watch carefully. You’re the fourth person in history to witness this. And should you survive our exchange without fleeing, you’ll be the first being to ever overcome my true abilities."

Silent, Jack watched as Duorda took a neutral stance. Both sickles remained in the crypt lord’s hands while his arms rested at his sides. Then, Jack witnessed another ability that had never existed within "A Hero’s Tale".

While no energy was gathered around Duorda, the red glow of his eyes suddenly faded. For a moment, the dark grey skeleton appeared to be standing there lifeless. But only for a moment. Duorda’s skull suddenly turned to the left and to the right at the same time. However, the color of the skull was now different... The rest of Duorda’s body followed suit, turning left and right at the same time also. Then, it took a step to the left while also stepping to the right. Duorda’s body seemingly, and effortlessly, separated into two individual skeletons, one pitch black and one pure white.

 

Chapter 526

As Duorda’s body seemingly separated into two individual skeletons, Jack was in utter awe. He had nothing to say nor did he have the ability to say anything if his brain was properly functioning at that particular moment.

The most jarring thing wasn’t even the separation into two skeletons! Jack’s system instantly changed the title that Duorda’s statistics had shown prior. For as long as Jack knew it, Crypt Lord Duorda was the most feared boss, with the exception of rare god-facing events in-game. But that most feared title became all the more unique and startling.

[Duorda, Yin Yang Death Knight]

Reading that title left Jack completely dumbstruck for a moment. He watched as both the white skeleton and the black skeleton turned and faced Jack, each wielding their respective sickle. Then, rectangular shields appeared in each of the skeleton’s off hands.

"You’re not a spell blade?" Jack asked, finally managing to put together some words.

"No... I have a unique class and subclass," the black skeleton answered. The white skeleton then stated, "But given your abilities, I’m sure you’re similar. Now, we can fight in our true forms. It’s your turn."

"Right..." Jack sighed, shaking his head. "Just give me a moment. I wasn’t expecting to see such a unique and cool skill from you."

"Take your time. I’ve waited thousands of years for this, so a few minutes of a few days are nothing to me."

"Before I transform again, let me explain something," Jack stated, trying to be nice to the most overpowered boss beyond his imagination. He was still trying to imagine what Daruun’s advice meant.

"Go ahead."

Jack continued, "My transformations come from all the beast companions that I have. My unique class and subclass allow me to access their bloodlines. Up till now, I’ve only shown you three of the four bloodlines I have access to."

Earth energy erupted from Jack’s body as he assumed his Draconic Centipede form, causing Duorda to fill with even more excitement.

"You formed a contract with a Draconic Centipede? Amazing..." commented Duorda, admiring the powerful claws and body armor Jack created.

"You’ve already seen me combine bloodlines, boosting their potency according to my needs. But you’ve never seen me combine three bloodlines at one time," explained Jack. "Would you like to see it?"

"YES!" Duorda emphatically shouted.

Taking a deep breath, Jack also assumed a neutral position. "Very well.. Give me a moment, as you’ll be the first person to see me do this."

"Even better! Take all the time in the world!"

Assessing the situation, Jack pondered for a moment about what three bloodlines would be best for the situation. Once Duorda had shown his true form, Jack lost the ability to see-through the boss’s health and mana stats, but Jack was sure both forms were at decent levels of both. And since Duorda proved he was beyond comparison to any boss in-game, including himself, Jack felt it was best to assume that both skeletons that were Duorda were stronger than his former form.

"Do we really have to fight like this? I’d much rather work with you than against you," stated Jack. "I don’t see why we have to--"

"Jack, I’m not opposed to the thought of being allies," Duorda mentioned, surprising Jack. "However, that’s only if you prove more capable than I. If not, then you’ll fail to fulfill my purpose."

"And what purpose is that?"

"Find out after defeating me. Either die now in suspense or succeed to learn everything there is to know."

"Everything there is to know?" Jack scratched his head, trying to understand such a statement.

Duorda added, "But without proving yourself capable, you’ll remain in the dark. Now show me this final form!"

"I’ll be honest..." Jack sighed. "I can’t yet use my final form. To do that, I need to upgrade my skill more and combine all four of the bloodlines, then--"

"That would be beyond spectacular!" shouted Duorda. "The pure ferocity of the Hell-flame Fox’s fire... The undeniable speed of the Minokawa... The absolute defense of the Draconic Centipede... The versatility and adaptability of the Spectral Dragon... To have all four combined to form an indomitable bloodline... I feel giddy just imagining such a form!"

"But like I said, I can’t do that yet," continued Jack. "For now, I can only merge three bloodlines. If you want to see my final form, your best bet is to work with me until I can max out my bloodline skill."

"A tempting offer... But I can’t accept until you overcome me," Duorda stated firmly, sidelining his earlier excitement.

"Too bad... Then I’ll at least show you my penultimate form..."

Jack clenched his fists tightly. All muscles of his body flexed as he half squatted. "Aaaaaaaahhhhh..."

He began to yell as ferocious amounts of energy exploded out of his body. Streaks of red, yellow, and purple wildly danced around Jack. The purple wings remained on Jack’s back, however, a layer of exoskeleton armor rushed over the portions of the wing where bone was found. Long protruding claws jutted out of the wings’ tips, thinning to a needle-like point at the end. The white of Jack’s eyes darkened, almost turning black as the three energy types made themselves present in his Draconic iris’. Fire pulsed in and out of the minute gaps of the exoskeleton, matching Jack’s breathing. The hero kept his hands and sharper-than-razor claws but could feel the heat hiding beneath the exoskeleton trying to escape through the gaps of armor around his fingers.

"Beyond comparison..." Duorda was in awe. He giddily watched as Jack showed the magnificent form. "The destructive fire of the Hell-flame Fox, the complete defense of the Draconic Centipede, and the versatile abilities of the Spectral Dragon... Indeed, you’re the most formidable of all opponents that have faced me, even though you’re a whole level below what they were. Absolutely amazing..."

"Does that--"

"No, you’ll most definitely fight me," stated Duorda. "But now I’m not so sure what will happen in the end. Perhaps, you truly may fulfill my purpose."

"But if I kill you, then how can we--"

"Come at me, Jack!" shouted the white skeleton. The black skeleton added, "Give my undead life meaning!"

 

Chapter 527

"Give my undead life meaning!"

Both skeletal knights rushed Jack. They attacked in tandem with perfect synergy, not getting in each other’s way as their strikes overlapped and they defended one another.

Still wielding both katanas, Jack roared in confusion. He didn’t want to kill Duorda when Duorda agreed to work with Jack after the fight but it didn’t seem like Jack had a choice in the matter. Flames erupted and covered Jack’s armored body. His three bloodlines were cohesive yet prominent in all their glory.

The holy knight attacked first and the deathly knight attacked second, seeking an opportunity to sap some health from Jack as a counter. However, Jack pressured the holy knight in return to avoid a direct collision with the deathly knight’s draining abilities.

Thick spatial energy sliced through the air as Jack carved through the air as it slashed across the holy bone shield. And though Jack’s back was to the deathly knight, his wings hurled flaming wind blades to keep it at bay while Jack pushed the holy knight further back. Jack didn’t want to face their tag team as they were the embodiment of partners being of one mind, literally. He was determined to at least keep them from comboing him to death.

While they were gradually pushed apart, Jack made sure to keep the holy knight as his first target.

Unlike the black, deathly knight, the holy knight couldn’t passively heal itself. It would need to use spells actively to do so, but those same spells could be used on the deathly knight as support. And the key to any great battle is to remove the supports first! This was especially true when Jack was under time constraints of maintaining his three-bloodline combo.

One possible way of remedying this was if Jack upgraded his dual-wielding skill to aid him in facing such a tactful duo alone. But he was impulsive and searched for a better tactic if it was available.

"More! Keep it up, Jack!" Duorda cheered for his challenger, excited to see Jack’s determination and wit in action.

A heavy layer of miasma filled the chamber, proving to Jack that he needed to end this fight as soon as possible. But Jack got an idea, wanting to test an old, in-game phenomenon.

While hammering away at the defending holy knight, Jack used Sudden Death to flank the deathly knight. The hero willingly clashed swords for the first time. It made no sense to Duorda until he saw Jack lean the back of his hand against the black shield.

A small wave of white, holy energy pulsed out of Jack’s hand and into the shield, then entering Duorda by default. Jack clashed swords once again and was happy with the results.

Reengaging with the holy knight via Sudden Death, Jack chuckled to himself, "So, that wasn’t just some glitch."

"You remembered! Magnificent!" Duorda laughed as well.

"How couldn’t I? Everyone knew that resurrection spells would jam your draining ability, even if it’s only for a second. Besides, that glitch was the only way for me to solo you back then," stated Jack, repelling the holy knight further back.

"You soloed me? You’re Jack_J.! You’re him, right!" More excited than ever, both iterations of Duorda attacked Jack with a new sense of vigor.

"You remember me? From a thousand years ago?"

"How could I ever forget?!" Duorda clashed against Jack’s wind blades to close the gap, attempting to reunite his two halves. "I’m so glad Daruun chose you in the end. Now I get to fight you for real! Don’t hold back, Jack. You’re giving me hope still!"

Jack turned up the DPS as he refused to let the tag-team get back together. Spatial Disruption slowed the knights as Jack leaned into the holy knight’s shield. A bright flash of light filled the room for a moment, leaving the deathly knight behind without Jack or his other half.

That deathly knight cackled, still mentally connected to the white death knight and seeing everything on the other side. "Jack! A stupendous plan, indeed!"

Without anything to do, the black death knight took a neutral stance and waited patiently.

A second bright flash of light emerged else, far from the ninety-ninth floor and Earthen Keep. The empty third floor of the Leisure Guild’s storehouse suddenly had life reappear outside the small, abandoned town.

Jack backed off for a moment and smiled at the holy knight. "Sorry if I don’t have time to explain where we are, but fighting your two halves together would only make it harder for me. No one else is here and the floor has a lining of roxite so we won’t destroy it."

"Jack! A stupendous plan, indeed!" the white death knight laughed along with the hero. "Then hurry and finish me off. Be careful or you might become too weak to finish my other half."

They clashed again, only now Jack could divert his full attention to a single foe that couldn’t steal Jack’s health passively.

Spatial Slashes flooded the area as Jack held nothing back. Combo attack after combo attack with flames was paired with it the barrage as well. Simultaneously, Jack was utilizing Sudden Death to attack from a new angle with each barrage of strikes. Everything Jack did was purely to bring about the demise of the holy death knight.

As Jack chipped away at the holy death knight, Jack noticed cracks and cuts appearing on the skeleton’s body. It was still casting healing spells and focusing on defense, but Duorda’s white half failed to keep up without the aid of his passive life drain ability. Such was the weakness of Duorda’s unique ability. It was terrifying when both halves fought together but weakened when separated.

Finally, Jack appeared just above the holy death knight and decapitated it after signs of damage were prominent on the head. Once the head was decapitated, the body still moved on its own of course, but Jack kept the disembodied head tucked under his elbow.

With a big smile on his face, Jack then teleported again, leaving the scrambling body of the holy knight alone on the empty dungeon floor. Once its head was long gone, the skeleton fell to the ground, completely inactive and motionless.

 

Chapter 528

Reappearing on the ninety-ninth floor, Jack laughed and tossed the white skull to the far-off entrance of the vast chamber.

Seeing the action with his own eye sockets, both Duorda’s black body and white skull were hysterical as well. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

"So, does that mean we can--"

"Fight me, Jack!" Duorda insisted, not backing down at all. "Though my other half is incapacitated at the moment, to fulfill my purpose, you’ll have to shatter at least one half of mine. Now hurry!

Shrugging, Jack rushed to keep the initiative. Jack wasn’t certain how long he could maintain his new transformation and he didn’t want to find out the hard way.

Glad that he wasn’t bound by game logic, Jack allowed his mind to go through some intense mental acrobatics, pondering the best way to deal with the threat before him in as little time possible. Still defending himself, Jack felt the miasma get thicker as it condensed to cover less of the chamber and followed Jack around instead. He would need to be quick as Jack cast Greater Replenish for the fourth time in that long battle and watched his health get sapped away.

Waves of powerful sword energy rocked against Jack as the black death knight didn’t dare to defend. Duorda relied wholly on his draining ability to make up for his purely offensive pursuit of Jack.

The hero utilized Sudden death as an evasive tactic while pondering how to deal with the remaining half of the Yin-yang Death Knight. And hearing Duorda mention shattering one at least one half made Jack curious what would happen. It was clear to him that Duorda wasn’t put at the bottom of Earthen Keep solely as a boss monster in-game. If Duorda had been on that ninety-ninth floor since before gods had ascended, Duorda’s true purpose and existence had to be something key to the world’s design. In that case, Duorda and his true, hidden strength had to be connected to the world’s creator.

"What is Daruun to you?" Jack asked.

"You’ll learn after you overcome my existence," answered Duorda.

Jack kept asking while he evaded all attacks, "But why did he put you down here? Does it have something to do with that door? Us heroes thought it was just decoration since you were the crypt lord yet we couldn’t enter there even after defeating you. If it’s not your crypt, then where does that door lead to?"

Duorda chuckled as he hurled more sword attacks at the hero. "Defeat me as I am now and you’ll learn all. That is my purpose and the purpose of that door..."

"So..." Putting his gamer knowledge together with his gained knowledge of Kartonia, Jack inferred, "Does that door lead me to Daruun, perhaps?"

Saying nothing in response, Duorda only laughed and continued his charge. After a few more seconds, the false crypt lord stated, "If you only dodge, eventually my miasma will drain your life to nothing. Hurry and fulfill my purpose while I have hope for you. Don’t die so easily!"

"If you say so..." Jack was smiling, feeling that he had finally figured out one of the great mysteries that Daruun had never explained. He was only a single foe away from claiming something he had longed to know of.

Jack vanished from where he stood, reappearing to flank the black death knight. However, Duorda felt the first of a few strikes cut into his back.

The black death knight ignored the visible image of Jack, letting it fade as it falsely attacked Duorda. With his black, bone shield, Duorda covered his rear and defended himself from the barrage. As the attacks ceased, another image of Jack appeared but Duorda cut through it with a sword wave attack. He managed to defend the next invisible barrage, failing to block only the first strike.

Now, two images of Jack appeared at the same time. Both were ready to hammer into the black death knight mercilessly.

"Good, but you’ll need to try harder!" Duorda laughed, slicing the two false images apart with sword waves.

When no follow-up attack came, Duorda kept himself on guard. That proved to be a good decision when four thin, earthen walls boxed-in Duorda from all sides, bursting from the ground with great force.

"Earth magic as well? I should’ve expected as much with the centipede bloodline," still chuckling, Duorda turned in a complete circle to slice the four walls to pieces. Then, he found seven different images of Jack rushing him from all sides as well. "That’s better!"

The death knight worked as quickly as he could to attack each image. In case Jack had hidden himself among them, Duorda had to be sure they were all false while they were all still in the open.

However, more walls of earth continued to erupt from the ground and block the many sword wave attacks. When the many images of Jack reached Duorda, he didn’t have enough time to attack them all. Finally, he felt the pressure of being someone’s prey.

Another black pulse spread through the room as Duorda shrunk the coverage of his miasma to deal more damage to all those inside. Now, it was patent enough to remove the false copies of Jack.

As all seven of the images faded, Duorda readied himself to defend.

He felt a sharp object clash into his back yet again. Eager for more, Duorda spun around to defend but was baffled by his findings.

A small, sharp earthen pillar was jutting out of the ground and stabbing Duorda’s spine. It did little to no damage but it was enough to activate Duorda’s defensive reactions. But it was too late to stop Jack and his onslaught.

Holy energy flooded into Duorda’s black half as Jack cast Revivification on the skeleton. This was followed up by Time Stop, granting Jack time to cast more targeted attacks.

While Jack had been evading, he had purchased the cheap, high-tier spell Earth Wall for fifty skill points. It was perfect to combo with his many illusions and worked to distract Duorda also. But that wasn’t the only thing that Jack had purchased.

 

Chapter 529

Jack still had ten thousand nine hundred and seventy-six skill points. He didn’t want to spend too many but Jack understood his situation. Without a powerful skill or spell to work as a finishing blow, Jack was going to fail and die.

Some basic requirements needed to be filled by the chosen skill, such as: the attack shouldn’t waste all of Jack’s mana in one go, it should pair with one of Jack’s bloodlines to increase its potency, there couldn’t be a drawback or negative effect on the caster, and it needed to be an instantaneous attack that didn’t need time to charge. These conditions helped Jack narrow his search and hasten his decision.

Rendering Space was extremely powerful and unavoidable but it had to charge first, eliminating it. Jin’s phasing swordplay could prove impactful as well but it would take time to master outside of battle. Lina’s and Lunara’s many spells were tempting also but they had no affinity or boost from Jack’s bloodlines. All of those options and more would be amazing to use later. At the moment, however, Jack was fighting an uphill battle to finish off a self-healing foe.

Considering all of that, Jack spent one thousand and five hundred skill points on an attack that he hadn’t personally witnessed. His comrades had told him about the attack and its battle ending use during the battle against the syndicate after Jack had passed out.

During that instance of Time Stop, at point-blank range, Jack’s flaming body spat out three balls of white and black flames. They were much smaller than Jack had expected the fireballs to be much larger given what he had heard from the others.

Time Stop ended and Duorda had only a sliver of a second to notice the three fireballs appear out of thin air. They touched down on Duorda’s shoulders and face at the same time though, not giving the death knight any opportunity to avoid what came next.

Both Jack and Duorda were consumed in the eruption of all three fireballs. The black miasma was burned away and Jack was glad to have his flame body active.

Duorda, on the other hand, had no means of defense against such an outrageous point-blank attack. He laughed loudly, embracing the damage he took with glee. As a skeletal undead, Duorda had no sense of pain but Duorda understood that if he could feel it, that instance would’ve been the most painful he had ever experienced, barely eclipsing one of the past challenger’s attacks.

Jack didn’t let up though. While the fire expanded and toiled around him and Duorda, Jack was covering Duorda in a barrage of Spatial Slashes and cast Greater Replenish for the fifth time. His body was aching, nearing collapse, but Jack refused to flee or die. After destroying Duorda’s undead body Jack would willingly collapse, but not till that moment.

Three more fireballs were spat out as Jack paired Spatial Slashes with Sudden Death. His swarm of attacks kept Duorda on the ropes. The death knight wasn’t able to heal via miasma as the fireballs were destroying all nearby miasma and Jack was attacking from a couple of meters so that Duorda’s sword could physically connect with Jack.

"Good! GOOD!" Duorda cackled, chasing after Jack while his skeletal body was gradually burning away. "You’ve almost done it, Jack! Hit me again!"

Since Duorda was giving him such advice, Jack did as he was told. While stepping back to avoid losing health to his sword, Jack cast Greater Replenish again to repeat the barrage with four fireballs this time.

"Yes! Once more, Jack!"

Cracks riddled Duorda as the living flames were impossible to quench, not without his currently-incapable white half. It was only a matter of time till his body was reduced to ash. He finally felt the threat of death and the satisfaction of fulfilling his purpose.

"ONE MORE, JACK!" Duorda shouted again, doing everything in his power to harm jack with his sword.

With sore veins and a weakening gaze, Jack recast Greater Replenish once more. Leaving nothing to chance, Jack spewed six fireballs and reserved all remaining mana to evasion.

All six fireballs hit their target and all six exploded vigorously. The false crypt lord’s body was covered in char and cracks. Portions of his limbs and parts were falling off as Duorda was now unable to run.

The black skeleton lost one foot and fell face-first to the ground, laughing harder than ever as his cries echoed in the vast chamber, "You did it... YOU DID IT!!!"

Jack was also motionless. Dropping his transformation, Jack kept only the flame body active until the miasma was too weak to threaten Jack’s life. Then, Jack also fell to the ground but on to his knees and not his face.

"Thank you... Jack..." Half of Duorda’s black skull was missing already and there was no stopping the flames from ruining the rest of him. "I’m glad... that Daruun... listened to me..."

Out of breath and wheezing, Jack grasped at his chest. "What are you..." Jack failed to finish his sentence. His mental exhaustion paired with his physical aching to keep Jack’s body and mind from functioning properly. All Jack could do was squint and watch as Duorda’s body was being cremated at an incredible pace.

"Take it... Take... the... key..."

The final words of Duorda’s black, skeletal body weren’t anything more than a whisper. They barely reached Jack nearby but were enough to grab the hero’s weak mental focus.

When there was only ash left behind, Jack saw the flames begin to die down. A dark glow, remained when the fire dwindled away, however. It came from under the ash, barely visible under its loose covering.

Jack wanted to reach out and grab it but Jack didn’t think he had the strength.

Suddenly, Jack’s aching body felt a rush of energy. The soreness was soothed partially and his body could at least move. By no means was Jack able to fight or act out in any way but at least he was mobile, to the extent of a crippled and hobbling old man.

Using his swords as walking sticks, Jack got to his feet and slowly neared the ashy remains of the black death knight. He painfully leaned over to brush away the ash. There Jack found something he had always wanted in-game. A pitch-black key that matched the keyhole of the large black door on the ninety-ninth floor.

 

Chapter 530

Jack clutched the key with all his strength, which was just enough to keep a firm hold of it.

Notifications were flooding the corner of Jack’s vision, reminding Jack of the meaning behind his victory. Also, this prompted Jack to open the menu and notice something interesting.

His level had gone up. It had shot up from the peak of lv. 88 to the very tip of lv. 89, giving some explanation for the minor relief that allowed Jack to hobble around. In fact, Jack’s system showed that he still had a surplus of EXP that should’ve propelled Jack directly into lv. 90. But Jack hadn’t.

After opening his notifications, however, Jack learned why. The first of many notifications caught Jack off guard.

[Mandatory System Update]

[Insufficient skill points to perform the process. Required: 30,000 skill points]

Already weak from the fight, Jack groaned and fell back onto his rear. He knew that something was going to be expensive thanks to Daruun’s advice but Jack didn’t want it to be quite so costly.

Jack allowed the other notifications to play through as well, letting his new achievements console him.

[Who’s the boss? I’m the boss!: completed]

[New dungeon record!: completed]

[First ever victor: completed]

Opening them one by one, Jack claimed the massive rewards with a tired smile and let their descriptions sink into his mind.

[Who’s the boss? I’m the boss!: claimed]

[Successfully take on more than one hundred coordinated experts over lv. 80 and come out on top. Legendary reward: 3,000 skill points.]

[New dungeon record!: claimed]

[As a solo party, conquer all ninety-nine floors of Earthen Keep in record time, even when compared with hundred-man raids. Legendary reward: 4,000 skill points]

[First ever victor: claimed]

[Become the first person in history to defeat the temple guardian, claim the entrance’s key, and gain the right to enter Daruun’s Temple. Divine reward: 10,000 skill points]

Twenty-six thousand four hundred and seventy-six skill points... Reading his new total filled Jack with satisfaction, only to remember that he was still short of paying for his system update. And that’s not including how Jack felt knowing that all of his hard-earned points would imminently vanish in a single instance.

Jack was still taking everything in for a moment, especially the confirmation of that door leading to Daruun’s temple, when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, Jack! You forgot about me!"

Looking near the entrance of the ninety-ninth floor, Jack spotted the white skull laying on the ground. "I thought..."

"Tell you what," Duorda stated, "you take me to reunite with my body and I’ll heal you up. How’s that sound?"

"Duorda... You just tried to kill me... And I’m exhausted..." reasoned Jack. "If I tried to do that now... I’d collapse and--"

"Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure you’re able to walk in no time, just get me to my body," Duorda interrupted, unconvinced. "Besides, we’re allies now. You may have used some dirty tricks to get the job done, but that’s just the way the world works. You won fair and square. Now take me to my body and I’ll patch you up before we go see Daruun."

"We?" Jack sighed, taken aback by Duorda’s bluntness.

"Mhmm. Now pick me up and take me to my body!"

"One sec..."

Taking his time, Jack got up from his knees one leg at a time. Still using his "bladed crutches", Jack gradually neared the disembodied skull. Finally, Jack picked the skull up and held it against his side. "How can you heal me like this? My body is a wreck on the inside. Magic can’t--"

"Magic can’t fix anything, but I can," Duorda confidently responded. "You’ll see. Just get me my body and you’ll be feeling better in no time."

Jack hesitated to forcefully use the last bit of mana he had. The only time he had felt relief from mana exhaustion was when Daruun had healed him after a successful summoning. Tying Duorda to Daruun did help the skeleton’s case though, as did the confirmation of Duorda being the guardian of Daruun’s temple.

"Fine... but you owe me one..."

Duorda agreed, "Very well, now let’s go!"

Taking a deep breath, Jack felt the last of his mana squees out of his exhausted body. The pair was transported away and instantly arrived on the empty third floor of the storehouse.

"Finally!" Duorda laughed, spotting his body nearby. His bones came back to life, reassembling and rushing to pick up Duorda’s skull. After reattaching his skull to his neck, Duorda moved around for a few seconds. "That’s much better... You have no idea what it feels like to lose your body like that. Jack?"

The white skeleton found the silent Jack lying on the ground. Shrugging, Duorda squatted over Jack to get a better look at the unconscious hero.

"He really did a number on himself. I can’t heal that without time, at least not fully..."

Holy energy washed over Duorda’s bony hands as the skeleton pressed into Jack’s chest. Rather than pure, shining holy energy, however, the holy energy that Duorda used was murky and cloudy, like the draining miasma from earlier but white.

A few moments later, Jack sighed and blinked. He was unsure as to how, but Jack was waking up to the sight of the strange holy energy.

"What... What kind of energy is that?" Jack asked, certain that it wasn’t anything he’d ever seen before.

"It’s not magic," answered Duorda. "I’m not originally from Kartonia, so my full abilities can’t be explained with your logic. Now stand up. I did my best so I’m sure you can at least run around."

Taking Duorda’s advice, Jack jumped to his feet. Some soreness lingered across all of Jack’s joints and muscles, even his veins, but Jack could move without any real pain at least.

"Now, take us back. I gave you some mana and Daruun is waiting for us," stated Duorda, catching Jack’s attention.

Placing a hand on Duorda’s shoulder, Jack used Greater Teleportation to carry the two of them back to the ninety-ninth floor.