Sorry this chapter took so long, i was busy settling in after moving, and I was working on my own Original Novel idea that isn't a fanfic, so I do hope you all enjoy this chapter. :)
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Three days have passed since I cleared that dungeon and awakened. I had planned to take a nice break to relax in this new life, but then I remembered that the entire plot of Solo Leveling took place in little over a year, if not two.
That brings me to where I am now: in a remote location, holding a key made of ice crystal. The key to the instant dungeon I received...
'Well, here goes nothing...' I thought to myself as I twisted the key in the open air, the ripples spreading as if something had been unlocked.
Vwoomm
A large icey-blue portal opened before me, allowing a chilling cold to burst forth, but it had little effect due to the mana that coated my body. Without hesitation, I entered the portal and stepped into a frozen wasteland. Not far ahead of me, I noticed a massive ice tower with about 5 floors, each of which appeared to be enormous.
"I guess I have my work cut out for me, huh?" I muttered to myself as I pushed open the 8-meter-tall door and stepped onto the tower's first floor.
"Welcome to the first floor of the Glacial Crucible. Here in the tower you will face 4 mighty warriors each of growing might, and at the top you will find, and face your final challenge." An armored figure said standing silently with a sword in hand as the doors closed behind me.
"And I'm guessing you're the first person I have to fight here?" I ask as the figure nodded.
"If you are ready to begin, then I'll do you the honor of letting you have the first blow." The knight said his frost based armor and that shimmering ice blue blade releasing an ominous feeling.
With a light shrug, I point my fingers at the guy and fire a large Dismantle with an 800 mana burst, thinking I would just get this over with... however...
SHIINNNG!
CLANG!
Despite my much greater strength than before, the bastard easily parried the attack.
"Haha, very clever. You intended to kill me in one strike rather than wasting energy for the next few opponents... unfortunately for you, it will not be that simple!"
He said, leaping towards me and slashing at my head.
Wooshh!
I duck beneath the attack, but a wave of ice engulfs everything 30 meters behind me in bone-chilling cold. Taking advantage of his wide open stance, I kick him in the chest to get some distance, but he raised his knee in time to avoid meaningful damage.
Landing on the ground, the knight narrows his eyes before stabbing the ground, causing a frosty mist to spread from that point and block my view of him.
'Dismantle'
I think to myself once more, using that false infinity to block two pillars of ice that are attempting to crush me as they are reduced to nothing more than harmless snowflakes.
"I sense you, ya know!" I say, releasing five Dismantles in his general direction. He reacts quickly, blocking two of them and leaping out of the way of the other three. However, this gave me enough time to flank him and punch him from the sky into the adjacent wall.
BOOM!
A cloud of dust engulfs him, but a burst of mana clears the view as he swings his blade in a wide arc, unleashing a powerful wave of ice that leaves a trail of dark blue ice in its wake as I smirk, touching it and cleaving it in twine.
"I do not know, man; this appears to be simpler than you previously stated." I said, landing back on the ground as he swings again and I tilt my head, another arc of ice passing over my head as he jumps at me.
I fire a Dismantle in his direction, and he blocks it with ice, kicking it at me as I cut it to dust.
BANG
I catch his punch and headbutt him, causing him to stagger as I use this opportunity to kick his sword out of his grasp while charging my fist with mana.
"No fucking..."
The mana around my hand turns a deep black with red outlines, and as the punch strikes his chest, that mana transforms into violent sparks as I feel my mana shift.
"...way!"
The knight was sent flying bouncing off the floor before slamming into the wall once more. I just landed my very first, [Black Flash]!
There is even a system panel saying I unlocked it as a new skill.
[Skill: Black Flash Lv. 1]
Active skill.
Mana required to activate: 1,000 per use.
Using this skill, you can enter a state of intense focus for a brief period of time. If you use this strike while in this state of focus, [Black Flash] will occur and deal 2.5x damage to the target. This applies to anything that uses mana.
Current focus duration: 0.000001 seconds.
After landing, it seems like my understanding of mana has improved, and I am now operating at 120% of my Mana output!
'Wow, what a rush! This skill will be very useful in the future, although it works a bit differently based on that description. I thought black flash was only for physical attacks, but it appears that it can be used on anything that uses mana.'
Looking back, I see the boss standing with a large dent in his armor and blood pouring from the helmet's mouth opening.
"That was... unexpected," he said, standing up and ripping off his chest plate, taking a deep breath as a massive deep purple bruise appeared on his chest.
"Are you ready to end this?" I asked, as he nodded and fashioned a new sword out of his ice.
BOOM!
I rush him at full speed, firing dozens of slashes at him as he jumps up to avoid them, despite being slower than before.
"Frost Rain!" He screams as large ice stalactites, 10 meters long, rain down on me.
I change my trajectory and jump after him as I leap between these spikes, getting closer, but just as I am about to reach him, a wall of ice forms between us, my fist landing with a bang as cracks spread across it.
As I look through the cracks in the wall, I come across another ice wall that is at least 50 meters wide from end to end.
"Oh, sh-."
The new ice wall expands, slamming into me as I look behind me, realizing that the smart bastard had led me up so high to do this.
We were currently 250 meters in the air, almost to the ceiling of the first floor, and the boss added more mana to this attack, causing it to expand by 50 meters and descend faster to the ground.
I charge up more and more mana as I get closer to the ground, and as I slam into the ground, which immediately bursts under the weight, as if struck by an astroid, I activate black flash at the same time that I release a cleave charged with 2,000 mana, cutting the massive and heavy pillar of packed ice into hundreds of cubes.
Standing after the attack, I noticed my arm was broken from holding that weight up for even a few seconds, and my thighs and calfs were also torn.
'R.C.T.' I thought healing all of these injuries instantly.
'That bastard almost got me with that dirty trick... hope he doesn't mine me retaliating!'
Charging up an additional 2,000 mana I fired two dismantles in a cross shape, which he tried to block with layers upon layers of thick ice. Unfortunately, he appeared to have reached his limit as his mana ran out from all the large-scale attacks he used, and his ice production sputtered out as the weakened but still powerful slashes connected, severing him into four pieces that fell to the ground dead.
[Level Up x7]
"Damn, that was harder than I expected... I didn't screw myself by entering this dungeon too early, did I?" I muttered as the second-floor door appeared on one of the first floor's outer walls.
Walking toward it. I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for whatever lay ahead. After all, it is too late to back down now, right?