This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL

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“Now's your turn young lady.” (Boeotian Sphinx)

[...]

Irene threw a desperate look at me as her face slowly began to turn blue. At that instant, we both knew we were fucked. Who knows, maybe Irene is smarter than she looks? Gathering all the trust I could muster in my sister, I then decided to create battle simulations in my head.

Let's be honest, Irene didn't stand a chance in hell to get these riddles right, so I needed to begin preparing a plan B and even a plan C.

"Round she is, yet flat as a board. Altar of the lupine lords, Pearl on black velvet, jewel in the sea, unchanged but e'er changing, eternally. What is it?" (Boeotian Sphinx)

“EEErrrrrr.......” (Irene)

That's bad... Such an easy riddle yet she's already struggling. Irene was holding her hands in between her legs and making circles on the ground with her right foot. I could tell, her mind was blank and she was beginning to panic.

When she looked at me I rolled my eyes upward trying to give her a hint but she showed me a face that clearly said “uhh?”.

“Round, yet flat as a board... THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE ARRRRRRR!!!!!!” (Irene)

Sighhh. From my battle simulations, our chances of winning against this sphinx were barely 23%... If Irene were smarter, all of this would have been so much easier.

"Only 30 seconds remaining." (Boeotian Sphinx)

[...]

"5-4-3-2..." (Boeotian Sphinx)

“FOR FUCK'S SAKE IRENE! IT'S THE MOON!!!!!!” (Kneeko)

“Sniff* sniff* Sorry brother.. cry*” (Irene)

"You have failed, now prepare to die." (Boeotian Sphinx)

The giant sphinx suddenly gathered mana in his claws, then raised his front leg.

“ON THE GROUND!!!!” (Kneeko)

Irene and I threw ourselves on the ground, barely avoiding a giant wind blade which severed everything it made contact with. The giant columns supporting the ceiling slowly began to creak and fell to the ground in a loud thunderous crashing sound.

There were bits and pieces of stones flying all over the place but we didn't have time to bother with them as the sphinx had already prepared his next attack. Our lives were in danger and hiding the clan's technique from me shouldn't be Irene's priority right now so I yelled at her.

“We don't have time for secrets right now!!! Take your dragon appearance and lets both fight it with everything we've got!” (Kneeko)

“Eerrrrrr*” (Irene)

“Sorry brother, how am I supposed to tell him that I have yet to become a dragon.” (Irene)

“WHATTTTT??????!!!!!!!!!!” (Kneeko)

“Hiiiiii* What what? I didn't say anything !!” (Irene)

For fuck sake, who would have thought that I had been fooled all along. Irene wasn't a dragon, she was still a wyvern who had yet to rank up. This made sense, this explained why Irene wasn't particularly smart like a dragon should be...

Then it all became clear, why she was going off on her own to kill monsters while I was doing my arcane magic and why she was so competitive with me. She obviously didn't want me to become a dragon before her. Useless to say, this was very bad news.

We once again barely avoided another attack when I finally decided to go for plan C. Running up to Irene, I transformed into my basilisk appearance, grabbed Irene with my tail and sent her flying across the room then through the door we had previously come through.

Next, I grabbed one of the pieces of broken pillars and threw it at the sphinx. Without even flinching, the sphinx destroyed the pillar into dust with a mana wave which shook the entire room.

[Poison Spit]

Finally something that made the sphinx flinch! With a small regain of confidence I lunged at the beast and bit its neck. [Viper Bite] I coiled around the beast trying to strangle it like a boa constrictor but the sphinx reacted by clawing my body like a crazy beast which made me lose HP at a scary rate.

I had no choice other than letting go of it since I would have been the one dying first if I had kept at it. [Tail Whip] ! A violent hit with my tail on its head barely managed to make it take a step back. I slithered away trying to increase the distance between us and suddenly turned around to face the beast once more.

[Death Stare] This rank S attack took 5000 mana out of my mana pool but I estimated it to be worth it. The beast roared and began trashing around visibly in pain as it began to steadily loose HP. Now completely enraged, the sphinx rushed toward me with a murderous glare in its eyes.

“Not yet you fucker!!” (Kneeko)

When the sphinx arrived only a few meters away from me I used my last hidden card, [Deadly Breath] !!! Green smoke violently exited my mouth, hitting the giant sphinx straight in the face. The sphinx jumped backward and roared once more as its fur began to melt like wax.

Quickly analyzing the situation, I had to admit it. The monster had lost 1/10 of it's HP, while I had lost more than 2/3 of mine. This was a defeat... As I thought that, the sphinx began accumulating mana in its mouth. I could feel that what was coming was a finishing move.

I certainly didn't want to get caught up in that attack so I turned back into my human appearance and began running toward the door where Irene was observing the scene in horror. I ran as fast as I could but the monster was about to launch its attack, there was no avoiding it.

This is where I die I guess... Is what I thought at that instant.

“DON'T TOUCH MY BROTHERRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Oblivion]!!!!” (Irene)

A very strange amalgam of energy went by over my head and toward the sphinx. When I looked over my shoulder I managed to see Irene's technique stopping the sphinx attack. It was like her attack had disrupted the monster's mana.

I was still running and as soon as I went through the door, it violently closed behind me in a loud bang. The guardian's room was sealed once again and as for us, we were back to our previous position.

“Pant* pant* pant* FUCKKKKKKKkkk!!!!!!!!” (Kneeko) I couldn't help but vent my frustration by punching the walls with my fists.

“Muhhhh Sorryy big broo wannnnn.* S-sorryy sniff* sniff*” (Irene)

“If you didn't hide all these things from me it wouldn't have happened that way!” (Kneeko)

Irene was crying with snot flowing down her nose. The sight of her made my anger dissipate and replaced it with a wish to comfort her. I walked up to her and patted her head gently.

“I know I know... Mother's words are absolute. It's not your fault sis... Sorry big bro got angry.” (Kneeko)

We awkwardly hugged each other until she stopped crying, then I took out a health potion and drank it to stop my body from bleeding. After a few minutes I had regained my cool and was currently analyzing our situation.

I had poisoned it with the obscuro, viper, and death magic poison. We could simply wait until it's almost dead then go back to finish it. With the monster HP regen rate and his huge amount of HP in general would make it a slow process but we simply had to wait after all.

I wanted to talk to Irene about the technique she had shown me and the “not being a dragon” business but I knew she wouldn't say a thing so I simply placed that aside for now. There would be payback later when we are out of this nightmare.

In the end, all wasn't so bad for us. I lit a fire and began to prepare camp for the night. Tomorrow when we wake up, the sphinx will either be dead, or dying. I grabbed some meat out of my inventory and munched on it until I was satiated then went to sleep.

[The day after]

I woke up anxious to see what had happened to the sphinx. I hadn't received any level up messages so I knew he wasn't dead. Honestly, I was glad he wasn't... I couldn't wait to finish off that fucker myself with my own two han- my own tail...

I approached the door now equipped with a bunch of spell-scrolls of various kind. Once again, the door slowly opened letting a bright golden light seep through. When the door was completely opened I looked around waiting for my eyes to adjust to the bright light.

“No fucking way........” (Kneeko)

“How can this be?” (Irene)

“No.. It's not “how can this be” but more like: why didn't I think of this possibility...” (Kneeko)

The giant room which should have been littered with debris, destroyed items and blood was perfectly intact. The giant columns were back to how they looked before being destroyed, the silk drapery were also perfectly restored.

But the most horrifyingly thing was that the sphinx was also back to his original position, unharmed. Like in the old MMO's from back in the days, if you leave the room the boss get reset. So poisoning it was useless unless you stayed in the room with it until it's dead.

You had to do the battle in one go with no interruption otherwise you would have to redo everything from the beginning.

“Two visitors. Answer 3 of my questions correctly and you shall be allowed to go through, answer wrongly and you shall perish.” (Boeotian Sphinx)

Pissed off, doesn't even begin to describe how I felt at that instant.

STATUS:

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PROFILENAME:KneekoLEVEL:189GENDER:MaleMONEY:445G 36S 31CRACE:Bolt Basilisk (Rare Variant)MONSTER RANK:Medium highHEALTH:4800STAMINA:600MANA:6190STRENGTH:1335(M)INTELLIGENCE:504 (+100)SPEED:22DEXTERITY:18(H)VITALITY:415 (+50)CHARM:40 (+40)LUCK:19 (+40)AGILITY:19RESISTANCE:125 (+50)(S)ENDURANCE:45SKILL POINTS:480FAME/INFAMY:-1700 (Mostly Evil)CLASS:-------------------TITLES:Spoiler : ☑ Elemental Master

☑ King of the pond

☑ Toxic Powerhouse

☑ TycoonPASSIVE SKILLS:Spoiler : Amphibious (E)

Obscuro Poison (B)

Poison Resistance (A)

Viper Neurotoxin (A)ACTIVE SKILLS:Spoiler : Basilisk Cry (D)

Deadly Breath ©

Death Stare (S)

Gardener touch (B)

Lightning Strike (E)

Lightning Discharge (E)

Luminar (E)

Poison Spit (D)

Sad puppy eyes (B)

Tail Whip (B)

TerrorEyes (B)

Vines Hell (D)

Viper Bite ©ARCANE LIBRARY:Spoiler : Arcane FireBall