As he walked towards the light, the moment reminded him of when he was first born into this world. For some reason, he had a moment of reminiscence. A moment of clarity, to see once again why he started this journey in the first place.
It was always at the back of his mind, but each time he directly thought of it, his will was fortified that much further. He was going to become free from every single shackle in life no matter what.
Finally, as he neared the end of the light, where it was the most bright, the cheers became muffled and he lifted his hands above his face to block out the blinding effect.
With another few steps, Lyrian lowered his hands and opened his eyes, as his hearing became clear again, and the sounds of loud cheers resonated through his entire being, shaking even his heart slightly.
With the thudding of the feet and the excitement in the air, he opened his eyes to see that he was in a ginormous arena, something that looked like a goddamn coliseum.
There were 20-foot high walls made of white granite that lined the round walls of the giant arena of hardened dirt that was dusty and looked light brown. Above those two-foot walls were lines of thousands of beings, Magma Dwellers, of all shapes in sizes that screamed to their heart's content as Lyrian walked out of the tunnel.
Above him was a giant roof full of amber crystals, and the walls that seemed to be thousands of feet away were made of dark stone. There was no doubt that he was still in the rock tower, but this was completely out of his expectations.
Finally, as he became less dazed, he saw in front of him a higher elevated platform which was the emperor's seat box. There was a seat there, however, no one sat on that seat for some reason.
Looking down from that elevated platform, Lyrian noticed a Magma Dweller was there, standing in front of him; a big one at that. It looked like some sort of rhino that stood on its hind legs, fully covered in Blackstone and magma like the rest of them.
The creature looked at Lyrian, seeming to smile, as it showcased its weapon, which was a pair of revolving sythes attached to chains.
'What in the world is this?' Lyrian was at his limit of confusion at this point.
*Ding*
'Huh?'
[Dungeon Quest started]
[Defeat the Floor Ruler and retrieve the key to enter the next floor]
'A dungeon quest? Is this rock tower a dungeon!?'
Lyrian attempted to Scan the creature in front of it as quickly as he could.
[Error!]
[Something is stopping you from Scanning]
'What?' Lyrian couldn't think of what it could be, 'Is it this?' He looked down at the shackles on his arms. He couldn't be sure, but he looked back up at the beast about 100 meters away from him.
'That thing is powerful, there's no doubt about that. But, I guess I have no other choice but to beat it right now.'
Instead of thinking of a way out, Lyrain was now going to focus purely on defeating the creature in front of it. The Magma Dweller in front of it stepped forward, and so did he.
"RAKKAA!!" The creature screamed a guttural roar from the depths of its stomach as it pointed one of its two sythes attached to the chain to itself, inciting a giant cheer from the crowd. Then, it pointed the scythe toward Lyrian.
'My name?'
He looked around. The Magma Dwellers didn't seem to be super unintelligent creatures. For some reason, their emotional intelligence and even intellectual intelligence were higher than most creatures from what he had seen.
The creatures on the sides looked at him almost in awe, waiting eagerly to hear him speak. From what he could tell, they were impressed by his opponent speaking the human language and wanted to hear more of it.
Turning towards the beast, Raka, Lyrian infused his vocal cords with mana, strengthening them, as he yelled, "LYRIAN!!"
His voice sounded similar to a roar as well, booming throughout the entire arena room as silence swept through the entire crowd for a few seconds. Clearly, no beast was expecting Lyrian to do such a thing, since he seemed so weak.
After only a short moment of pause, the crowd suddenly broke out into an even louder cheer for the boy. Lyrian smirked as he heard this, it was pretty entertaining. Looking at his opponent, he didn't seem to be so happy.
Without wasting any more time, it began running towards Lyrian quickly, swinging its scythes around its body. Lyrian was in the same position of not wanting to waste time, so he also ran forward.
'Should I try to preserve mana?' He thought to himself for a second.
The two opponents closed the distance to about 10 feet. The air was charged with anticipation as they prepared to clash. Raka swung its scythes with a sweeping motion, the chains whirling around in a deadly dance. Lyrian met the attack head-on, his resolve unyielding.
He deftly sidestepped the swinging scythes, his movements fluid and instinctive. The scythes whooshed through the air, narrowly missing their mark as Lyrian dodged with the precision of a swordsman. The crowd's cheers intensified as they witnessed the young human's agility and bravery.
Lyrian lunged forward, his own weapon—a noggin infused with Enhanced mana—surging forth as he aimed a well-aimed headbutt onto the beast's dome. The strike connected, cracking the tough black stone armor slightly.
Raka let out a guttural roar of pain and fury. The strike had wounded it, but it was far from defeated. The creature retaliated by swinging its scythes again, this time in a rapid, unpredictable pattern. Lyrian had to rely on his instincts, his eyes locked on the lethal weapons as he evaded each swing narrowly.
Sweat formed on Lyrian's forehead as he continued to dance with death, his heart racing in his chest. He managed to dodge most of the scythe strikes, but one grazed his shoulder, leaving a searing burn. The pain only fueled his determination, his focus sharpening.
With a surge of determination, Lyrian saw an opening. As Raka's scythes swung wide, he dove forward, rolling between the creature's legs. As he emerged behind it, he unleashed a powerful kick to its back, his leg slamming into the black stone with a satisfying crunch.
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