[Finish him]
Warden was kneeling, all his organs screaming for him to get up, yet it was impossible as all his cores had been destroyed, which were basically his hearts and the thing that kept his ‘essence’ alive.
Even if he somehow found the strength to get up, not only would he not be able to use his hammer, let alone summon it, but he wouldn’t be able to use any of his skills or his sculk either.
He was fucked.
“Goodbye,” Stark drew a circle in his palm, then pointed at the ceiling: he wanted to end this with a bang.
“HEAVEN’S WRATH,” the crimson glow appeared on the ceiling, slowly charging up while Warden was unaware of it above since he couldn’t even use [Horns Detection] properly either.
Then… Stark just ran away, heading toward Sora, and arriving in front of her in less than a second.
“C’mon, you owe me a lot for this,” he shrugged as he carried her body and put her on his back, giving her a piggyback ride.
“…” Sora was back to her neutral and emotionless self, she had felt strong emotions during the fight as she knew her life was also on the line, and all that happened was frankly crazy, but now she was back to her normal self, “What about him,” she pointed at the Warden, who was clenching his fists, his face mere centimeters away from the ground as he let out lots of blood from his mouth, “Aren’t you going to kill him?”
“He is already done for,” Stark looked back at her, and she just nodded as he pointed above, making her notice that crimson glow that was on the verge of exploding, its aura so powerful even Sora knew this was bad.
“Huh, what about it-” she didn’t even have the time to finish her sentence that…
~BOOOOOOOM~
The powerful ray of crimson light descended from above, piercing through the ceiling and reaching Warden, who could only look up at the last second, his expression filled with utter despair as the attack reached him.
The blast created a shockwave that echoed throughout the entire prison, and it was for one simple reason: the beam actually traversed the ENTIRE foundation of the prison, from top to bottom.
Unfortunately, all monsters were “unsummoned” once all participants reached the next floor, but this would have made Stark get at least 10 levels otherwise.
“AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH-” Warden screamed pierced their ears as they stood in front of the beam, observing its beauty, strands of golden holy aura also apparent in it for some reason, “PRIISOONNNERRRRRR-”
And then… nothing, no more sound, no more nothing, the Warden’s presence had been completely erased.
The crimson of the beam hit Stark’s and Sora’s face as she peeked from his shoulder, her head cutely placed on it, although she wasn’t blushing or anything as she remained emotionless, all she wanted was just to leave and go back to the safety of her home (well more like mansion, y’know).
“…” Stark looked at the beam for a whole minute, not averting his gaze even after it had disappeared, and it was as if he was lost in his own thoughts after everything that happened, his mind trying to replay the entire fight to assure that he did everything he did right.
“Hey?” Sora shook her hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.
As the beam disappeared, all that was left was a massive circular crater, and below it, you could see the four other floors as the power of the attack was so strong that it broke through the entire structure of the prison.
Warden was nowhere to be found, not even his ashes were visible anymore, like the other enemies Stark annihilated with the destructive beam.
Warden’s legacy… was truly over.
And so that could only mean one thing…
[You have slain ‘Warden, The Prisoner Killer lvl125’, gained 5,240,000EXP!]
“Finally,” Stark let out a sigh of relief, still gazing at the spot where the beam had struck.
No more tricks, that thing was truly dead.
And even cooler, the amount of EXP Stark got was exceptional.
“Did you get experience too?” he asked Sora, wondering if such a system existed as it would be unfair for only one person to get EXP if everyone fought, although this time he did most of the work.
“Yes,” Sora nodded, “Around 1.8 million, what about you?” she asked.
“Haha…” Stark scratched the back of his head, “Huh, a little above 5 million!”
“…” Sora didn’t show or say anything, but deep inside even she was astonished by the amount: this was beyond ANYTHING they had gotten until now.
She almost felt humiliated that she had gotten so little since it meant that she did much less work than Stark (which was true), and she was ashamed of herself for letting him save her not once, but twice!
In the end, she just sighed as she acknowledged the boy’s strength: there was no denying he was her savior, and she was grateful for that.
~DING~
~DING, DING~
Sora was surrounded by the golden glow of leveling up once, while Stark twice.
‘Feels farm…’ she thought, she had never been close to anyone, but the warmth of someone as they leveled up felt very comfortable.
[Your level has increased to level 59, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Your level has increased to level 60, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Experience: 1293711/2150000]
‘…’
He was level 60, meaning that he would be able to unlock another skill using a card.
But before he could even do that… a crimson panel appeared in front of both Sora and Stark.
And it could only be one thing…
[The ‘Warden’ has been defeated!]
[Survivors: 2]
[CONGRATULATIONS], as this panel appeared, dozens upon dozens of confetti and fireworks lit up and exploded right before reaching the high ceiling, the face of both Stark and Sora drawn with the fireworks.
[You have officially completed the second domination trial “Lucullus Prison” from the “Death” difficulty, granting both of you incredible rewards based on effort in the trial!]
And then, another panel appeared before Stark, this one different from Sora’s as it was the rewards they would receive, each one of them getting different ones as it wouldn’t be fair for all of them to get the same rewards if one person clearly did more than the other.
And obviously…
[MVP: Chosen]
[+3 Equipment Pieces, +20000 HP]
“Ready,” Stark suddenly said while looking at Sora, who was also inspecting her panel.
“…” she just nodded, making sure to hold Stark as her legs were pretty damaged from the attacks of the warden.
“Alright!” he warmly smiled as he began to walk toward the giant metal door.
And right as they checked all their panels…
[Opening exit!]
The sound of machinery became ten times more intense, gray smoke escaping from every part of the giant metal door as pipes were going up and down, buttons were flickering, and cogwheels were turning.
~CREAK~
The middle part of the metal door began to slowly separate one side from the other, opening itself as Stark continued walking toward it.
A bright light could be seen on the other side, impossible to see what was beyond as it was completely white.
And after a minute…
~SWHIP~
The sound of machinery completely stopped, and the metal door stopped moving as it opened more than enough for them to pass through.
Stark stopped right before he was about to enter the light, with no way to return, looking back at floor 0.
There was lots of damage on it from the battle of him against Warden, and all he could do was sigh as he remembered everything that had happened.
10 were alive at the fourth sublevel a few hours ago, and now that they were at the top, only 2 were left, mostly because they all killed each other for rewards and items.
“…” Stark let out a quick smile.
“Let’s just go,” Sora dared to ask, she truly hated that place, especially this floor.
“Fine,” Stark shrugged as he passed the threshold of the metal door and entered the light.
[2 people have successfully escaped the ‘Lucullus Prison’!]
[Sending you back to a “safe place”!]
Stark’s body began to slowly evaporate, starting from his legs and going up his torso and head, and Sora as well.
“Hey, Stark,” Sora suddenly spoke, breaking the silence as they were traversing the threshold between reality and the trial.
“Oh, you know my name, huh,” Stark sighed, “What do you want?”
“Thank you,” this was all she wanted to say as she actually ALMOST let out a smile.
“No problem,” Stark patted her head, it was just a reflex at this point and he quickly realized what he did so he removed it, “If we meet each other again, which probably won’t happen, then just treat me somewhere!”
“Deal,” she nodded.
And then…
~FWISH, FWISH~
Their bodies evaporated, then were sent back to reality.
[Congratulations on completing the second ‘Domination’ trial!]
[You’re on a roll, Chosen!]
