Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Then Kaizen let the ball he created with the dust from the statues fly against a nearby wall.

*TROMMM*

The sound of the stone ball's impact was so loud that it not only echoed throughout the chamber and the corridors of the crypt, but also caused a small earthquake that could be felt even on the surface of the verdant forest, startling the Black Cloud mare for a moment.

Immediately after the bang, a horrible squeak rang out in Kaizen's ears in response to his action, and it made him smile.

*Sksshaaaaaaaaaaa!*

A few seconds later, Kaizen heard the sounds of something moving nimbly down a few corridors. The same thing that was making the noises was also knocking over some statues as it crawled with its huge body. Then Kaizen looked in the direction of the crawling sound and saw the tip of the Gorgon's tail, only this time much closer.

He had accomplished what he wanted, luring the Gorgon, now the problem was dealing with the creature.

Kaizen wasn't sure if it knew he was there, but he didn't want to risk exposing himself to an easy attack, so he quickly hid, perhaps taking it by surprise.

So he hid behind one of the statues near him, his heart racing, and waited patiently for the moment when the creature would pass through the corridor parallel to his own.

Finally, when it was close enough that Kaizen could hear it breathing, he ventured a glance in its direction and could see it clearly for the first time as it lay on its side, looking straight ahead.

This Gorgon was a terrible creature, with long hair of living snakes that twisted and twitched, and yellow eyes that could petrify any living thing. His dark, scaly skin glowed with the orange hue of the fire from the torches on the walls, and his mouth was a cruel slit revealing sharp, poisonous fangs. It was not for nothing that this creature lived in such a dark and forgotten place, where the sunlight never penetrated, for it was one of the most horrible things Kaizen had ever seen in his life. Probably with such a horrible appearance, she loved her role of terrorizing those who ventured into the depths of this crypt.

However, Kaizen was not a man easily intimidated. He was there to accomplish a goal, and nothing would stop him. So, with cold determination, he slowly rose from behind the statue, his right hand grasping an arrow and his left hand, fingers spread, slowly closing.

The Gorgon quickly turned her head away from him when she saw something move in her peripheral vision. There was a gleam of terrible fury in her eyes. Immediately, she cast her petrifying magic at the Psyker.

But Kaizen did not even give it a chance to succeed. With a cry of defiance, he raised his left hand, palm up, and used <Telekinesis> to create a barrier between himself and the creature. This was the only ability Kaizen knew that could counter magic and other things, so he quickly thought that it might also work against the Gorgon's main ability, like a magic shield. This was nothing more than a gambler's gamble, a crazy gamble at an unlikely time against a powerful enemy. If he was wrong, he would be petrified and die within 15 minutes, but if he wasn't, he would automatically become the greatest opponent this Gorgon had ever faced in its entire existence.

The Gorgon roared with rage as Kaizen raised his <Telekinesis> barrier, but she was soon paralyzed with panic as she discovered that this invisible barrier was far more powerful than she could have imagined. This barrier made him completely immune to the Petrifying Stare, and for the first time in her life, the Gorgon looked another living being in the eye without killing it.

When Kaizen decided to use the <Telekinesis> class skill to create a barrier against the Gorgon's petrifying magic, he had hoped that this skill would work as a magical shield against the creature's main skill, but even he couldn't know if it would actually work or not. Thus, when this move proved to be effective, his smile of excitement turned into a smile of happiness, which gradually turned into an outrageous laugh.

"PUAHAHAHAHAHA! It worked!? Really!? This thing is way better than I thought!" He exclaimed, his loud laughter echoing around him.

Instinctively, she desperately tried to crawl towards his magic barrier to break it, but when she banged her head against it, it felt like she had hit a hard metal wall.

The Gorgon grew angrier and turned to slam her tail into the barrier.

Kaizen was ready and unafraid to face the creature head on, now that he knew how to counter its main skill. This was the true beginning of this battle.

[You have begun a battle against the boss of the Seven-Headed Crypt, 'Steno, the Oppressive Gorgon'.]

The message came in for Psyker.

"Um. In the end, there was indeed only one Gorgon here." Kaizen said.

He then grabbed the arrow in his right hand and shot it, turning his face to the opposite side.

The Gorgon thought that the fact that Kaizen turned his face meant that the barrier was finally breaking down, so she wisely decided to use that moment to try to move in on him and kill him once and for all. However, Kaizen only turned his face because when the arrow he had shot reached halfway, its metal tip opened and like a light grenade, the true arrowhead hidden by the metal tip exploded with blinding brightness.

The true, explosive core of the arrowhead was made from a mixture of the blue crystal shards used by the Ironstones and a dash of gunpowder and aluminum. All of this mixed together created a powerful source of light when exposed to the air.

Esteno still tried to keep her eyes open as this blinding glow filled the entire chamber, but just keeping them open was enough for the light to make her eyes burn with pain.

That was the moment the Psyker decided to move quickly towards the boss, for defending herself with the barrier alone would not be enough to win this battle.

The Gorgon was blind for a moment, but she was not deaf. She heard Kaizen's hasty approach and immediately activated her survival instincts. She knew she couldn't fight with her sight impaired, so she used her long tail to flail around in an attempt to protect herself and prevent an approach. This destroyed several statues around her.

Kaizen was not one to be stopped easily, and a few more obstacles would make no difference to him. Taking advantage of the fact that he had nothing in his hands, he leapt over the stone wall formed by the debris of the statues and charged at the Gorgon with everything he had.

Now that the glow of the arrow was fading, the Gorgon saw Kaizen approaching as she opened her eyes, so she quickly raised her right hand, ready to strike with a scratch. She was not very skilled at using her hands to attack, as she never needed to, so this was nothing more than a desperate move on her part.

Kaizen was fast and had incredible agility, so he dodged the Gorgon's attack and landed a punch in her stomach.

His punch was powerful, and it was enhanced by the <Giant's Lungs> skill, which temporarily doubled his attribute points. As a result, when Esteno felt the impact of the punch, she also felt her internal organs being crushed and compressed, and her entire body shuddered in pain.

The Gorgon was surprised by Kaizen's agility and physical strength. She hadn't expected that a mere human could be so good at hand-to-hand combat and at the same time cunning enough to avoid her paralyzing gaze. Esteno had never met a human who possessed those two qualities; all those who were resourceful were weak, and those who were strong were stupid. At that moment, she began to despair, for she understood the situation she was in.

For the first time in Steno's life, she was not the hunter, but the hunted.

In a state of desperation, she flicked her tail and luckily hit Kaizen, throwing him several meters to the side with her enormous strength.

[You lost 250 HP.] Kaizen heard.

As much as Esteno was a Gorgon who hadn't fought an opponent of her level in a long time, she was still a virtually implacable and mythological beast, so even a mere attack from her tail had the potential to be deadly.

Amidst the wreckage of several statues, Kaizen stood up a little dizzy from the blow he could not avoid.

This blow also served as a warning to Psyker that if he was not more careful than he already was, he would lose. The enemy before him was not just any creature, but one of the three Gorgon sisters and a Dungeoneering boss.

One hesitation or mistake and Kaizen would lose not only a few levels, but also the items in his inventory, such as the Eye of Storm and the Næġling Falske.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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