Chapter 75

The Fate of the Thief (II)

The dots slowly began to emerge and connect inside Cain’s mind as the whole picture of the first floor became apparent -- anyone who recognized him as the Time Thief... has slowly led him down this path, little by little. Furthermore, it also explained slightly the ‘luck’ he had throughout the first floor. Te’gha almost immediately jumped at the chance of becoming his companion entirely, it seemed, due to its connections with the Ruined King. Similarly, the cat gave him the answer to the Stellar puzzle entirely because it knew Cain would eventually end up here, fighting.

The Shopkeeper, similarly, seemed to be aware of everything that would transpire. If he was to die, Cain realized, the losses to the Shopkeeper would be considered just small, failed investments, but it really was true that the exotic benefits, if he continued to prevail, would be worth it. There’s still the puzzle of the Sword Spirit... how does it figure into the whole story?

“That’s enough, Thea,” the voice said, pulling Cain back from his thoughts. “Retire to the Thief’s pocket. Should he defeat me, I’ll fulfill the last promise I made to you. If he fails, you are never to return here. Understand?”

“... Atty--”

“Do you understand?!” the voice asked angrily, the sheer outpour of energy causing Cain to hold his breath.

“... I understand,” Te’gha replied with a low tone as it jumped up and floated momentarily in front of Cain’s face, its pair of eyes looking deeply into his. “You are strong, Thief! Stronger than before you those! Defeat Atty! You can do it!” and, with that, it retreated back into the inventory -- but not before Cain pulled out a single pearie and a pack of cigarettes, immediately lighting one up to calm his nerves.

“He’s quite the prankster, isn’t he?” the voice asked.

“Sounds to me like he’s more of a pet scorned a long time ago.”

“... I suppose that’s true, too,” the voice assented. “Your friends... you have made quite a group, Thief.”

“Are they alright?” Cain asked as his heart tightened.

“You needn’t worry,” the voice replied. “Rather, shouldn’t you be more worried about yourself?”

“What for?” Cain shrugged, taking a puff. “I’ll do what I can either way. If I can defeat you, great, if not... well, I’ll still defeat you.”

“That’s some confidence.”

“You mentioned something that caught my attention,” Cain said. “I interpreted it as you saying that I’ll be facing independent floor bosses, all on my own. Is that true?”

“Sometimes,” the voice replied. “There will be challenges designed specifically for you. Just sometimes, however.”

“Oh, good.”

“Any more questions?”

“Just one.”

“Hm?”

"When I defeat you... can my solitary reward be to hide from others that I'm a Time Thief? It's getting kinda lame how quickly Tower natives are recognizing me..."

“... ask when you have defeated me, Time Thief.”

The skeleton suddenly shuddered, and with it did the entire Throne, and with the Throne the entire room. It slowly unclasped its arms from the chair and moved them, the sounds of the creaking bones echoing out into the world that continued to quake more and more violently.

Cain took the last puff and tossed the butt away, taking a deep, clean breath and disintegrating any and all stray thoughts. He chose to believe in the four and their capacity to overcome whatever is thrown at them -- for them to succeed, however, he can’t falter here and lose. No matter what.

It took skeleton a while to get up, but Cain didn’t attack. Not because he was honoring some duel code or anything but because the dense Mana in front of him still remained and prevented him from attacking.

As it stood up, the rusted bones of the skeleton shimmered ever so faintly in the golden light, the two hollow sockets alighting with radiant embers. Right then, the field of Mana preventing Cain from attacking vanished. Rather, it was better to say that the skeleton’s body sucked it back in -- in the form of a ghastly whirlpool of energy that made it remarkably difficult to breathe.

The radiant embers focused on Cain as the skeleton raised his right arm and suddenly flicked his fingers, causing a resplendent spark to fizzle in and out of the existence within a breath, temporarily alighting the world.

“Elementalist...” the voice groaned as the crown on top of the skeleton’s head spun and shone in rainbow-like colors for a moment. Within those colors, however, Cain sensed all the elements he was so familiar with -- the ones that constitute the Elementalist Class. Did... did that bastard just re-classify himself?!! What in the God’s fu-- “Let us begin...”

The skeleton abruptly charged Creation, Fire, and Aether as he flung its body back. Coiling serpents of purple-dyed flames shot from the halo-like rings that spun around him, shooting off magics one by one.

Cain replied quickly, charging Wind into his feet and pushing himself back while simultaneously charging Creation and Earth, erecting a wall in front of him to absorb the impact. Sensing the ripple in spacetime, he quickly used Blink+ and tossed himself back, glancing at the spot he escaped from as it was engulfed in a storm of elements.

Sweat breaking out, he charged Creation, Aether, Wind, and Body, surrounding himself in ripping winds that easily coiled around his body, increasing his speed twofold temporarily. He began to glide sideways, and the skeleton, eerily enough, begun to mimic his movements. However, it instead charged Creation, Water, Frost, and Aether, creating thin chunks of ice that he easily glided over.

Eight halos of light followed him everywhere, shooting elemental bolts. Though they were insignificant in isolation, Cain still needed to be careful not to get overwhelmed by them. Tsk, I can’t believe the bastard’s using that waste of Mana to fight... just how deep are his Mana reserves?

Cain himself could similarly summon the halos as they were technically just a clever use of 'Creation', but they expended far too much Mana for the meekest of attacks... Unlike the skeleton, Cain could barely afford to use it for a few seconds before he would run out of gas. I won’t be able to win this by stat-checking him, Cain’s thoughts raced as he charged Earth, Aether, and Nature into his legs, snapping them abruptly as he dug his heels an inch into the dirt, Right after, a coil of vines erupted from beneath him and wrapped around him, pulling him into the earth and digging through a tunnel before tossing him out of the ground roughly fifty feet from where he was. There, he saw a still-burning crater ejecting thick fumes of smoke into the sky.

He probably has infinite Mana reserves, he continued to mull as the skeleton charged Creation and Wind, summoning two wind blades on each of his sides and flinging them at Cain. The latter took a deep breath and charged Body and Wind, increasing his body’s agility temporarily and dancing in-between the tiny gaps of the blades. Right now... he’s displaying roughly ‘A’ mastery of each element. There’s no wasted Mana in circulation, he easily combos the elements together, and his charge time remains constant whether he’s stationary or on the move.

Cain, in the midst of dodging the blades, charged Earth and Fire into his fist and slammed his fingers into the ground, ripping them out with a roar. He flung a massive block of earth, one well alight with flames, at the skeleton who fizzled out of reality, having used Blink -- or whatever version of Blink it had access to.

I can’t beat him in terms of experience either, Cain realized, gritting his teeth and charging Creation and Wind, forming a palm-shaped gust next to him that cradled and flung him sideways right after, dodging a spear-shaped torrent of boiling rocks which blew yet another set of craters in the ground. So... no stat-checking, no guerrilla tactic, no out-smarting him... no -- I can outsmart him. It would be pointless for there to be a Time Thief if we’d just get cut like wheat on the first floor before making any impact.

Cain landed somewhat awkwardly and was welcomed by a bolt of lightning through his shoulder for his effort. Blood sprayed out as pain assailed his senses, forcing him to bite his tongue and immediately use Blink+ to dash to the side, evading a sword-shaped fire hazard that blew up right where he stood a moment ago. Gasping for breath, he charged Body and Fire, cauterizing the wound. However, that was just a temporary patch -- if he aggravated it, it would only get worse. Aah, son of a bitch; he has me in Mastery, coalescing, and charge speed. He’s probably better than me in attunement as well... so that only leaves... control and design.

“Can you afford to be passive long enough to deconstruct me?” the skeleton asked, seemingly affording Cain a breather. The latter rolled his eyes and performed a quick penta-attunement -- Creation, Fire, Wind, Aether, and Blood, ramming his fists into the ground and screaming out at the top of his lungs. Blood gushed out of his nose as some of the veins in his arms popped, mixing in with the raging fire underneath. After a momentary silence, a worm-like burst of flames erupted from beneath the ground and shot toward the skeleton, who Cain could swear ‘clicked’ his tongue, rapidly dashing back through Blink. The worm, however, followed, almost as though it had a mind of its own. Naturally, though, it didn’t -- it just had a shred of Cain’s battle instincts due to Blood element.

“You really are a cheap bastard!” Cain grumbled, charging Creation, Body, and Blood to repair the ruptured veins and stabilize his body further. “You’re already working with higher stats across the board, and you’re trying to play some cheap tricks? God, I’ll so pummel that bony ass of yours into the ground...”

Cain paused for a moment and glanced to the sky where he saw tendrils of elements coalescing at a rapidly increasing pace, swarming into a sphere. Ah, he chuckled bitterly, charging as much Earth as he could into his feet, repeatedly stabbing them into the ground and raising one dome-like cover after another. He can also ramp the Mastery up to ‘S’... this... won’t be easy.