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  “Magnifit” were his words.

  Paul and Chris were staggered by that ridiculous word; this thing had only been seeing them as nothing but eai, and a cheap o that.

  Its pns were as clear as water: to e all matter, burning it with its fmes, and therefore further expanding its own influence.

  The Unending Crimson was an Outer One, which Paul could assume meant it was a god-like entity that lived outside of every Realm, within a space he had read about in a magazine.

  It ce called the “Outer Void” where all Realms resided, resting within bubbles hanging down as fruits from the Great ic Tree.

  Or so he assumed, he had seen an illustration of the world of Fantasy Story Online in that one online magazine, and it showed this artwork with every realm in such a way.

  He still remembers that, at the bottom of the artwork, right beh the roots of the Great ic Tree, there were strange, bizarre creatures.

  A mass of red crystals and fmes expanding everywhere; endless green-colored, slimy tentacles and eyes; tless bck eyes.

  Whatever that was, he thought it might have been just some sort of decoration to make it seem more iing.

  But he quickly realized that the Unending Crimson, which also went by the he Crystal Fme”, erhaps one of such bizarre entities beh the Great ic Tree’s roots.

  If that were the case, the Outer Ones were beings they couldn’t defeat, but at the same time, Paul assumed that they could have restris as well!

  Beings so powerful couldn’t desd into the mortal realm so easily; the same thing was true for all Gods, Evil Gods, and the Moon Goddesses.

  They possessed their own Divine Realms, as the magazine’s introdu to the lore stated, but the Gods closely watched over mortals and would grant blessings or curses as they pleased.

  The very reason such a powerful being as the Outer One was using a Dungeon as a duit to invade a Realm might also be reted to the fact that Dungeons are pocket dimensions.

  Perhaps breag directly into a Realm’s dimension is forbidden, but through a smaller, unprotected dimension such as a Dungeon, it might be possible!

  “I suppose I should fight nht? You’ve shown me how incredible your skills and abilities are. Especially that equipment, just how did you get your hands on such amazing ons and armor?” wohe Unending Crimson.

  The Obsidiaon Lord that they had taken over was pletely covered in dark purple and red crystals, f the shape of heavy armor.

  Crimson fmes erupted, c the monstrous crystalline skeletoire body. Then, it summowo enormous swords made of red crystals and fire.

  “Don’t you feel ashamed that a crippled dhampir and an incubus have destroyed your little army, Unending Crimson?” Paul wondered. “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

  “For a being such as me, there is no such thing as defeat. I always try again, aime. While you mortals wither and die, I am eternally trapped withier Void. Yet my craving for life... It’s unending, just like my crimson fmes. Fire must e it all, little fmes. If you ruly uand my philosophy, then there is very little for us to even talk about. Let us get over this. Your lives and your delicious souls will feed my fmes for many years to e,” the skeleton started walking towards them. “I am grateful.”

  "Yeah, right, keep babbling!” Chris pointed his bow at him, firing a Holy Ice Arrow by imbuing Holy Light into his Ice Arrow!

  FLASH!

  The arrow fshed through the wind, resembling a blur of gold and azure light and quickly reag the skeleton’s crystalline, bzing armor.

  BOOOM!

  An explosion of holy frost covered the vessel of the Outer One, yet the ice immediately erupted into mist, evaporating due to the tremendously high temperature of the skeleton.

  FRSSH!

  “How adorable!” the Unending Crimson ughed. “Now’s my turn.”

  RUMBLE!

  With a siep, the Outer One’s vessel reached Chris within a split sed, both of his swords aiming towards his ned his stomach at the same time. Not only was he aiming to kill him instantly, but also to divide his entire body into three pieces.

  SLAAASH!

  Aion of fmes emerged as the bdes impacted Chris' body. The fmes engulfed him and everything within teers into an endless inferno.

  “Shit! CHRIS!”

  Vd rushed into the fmes themselves, cheg if he currently had roughly 20k Ara left; he had been using it intensively ever sihey ehe Dungeon.

  As he braved the fmes and reached the vessel, his eyes widened as he saw Chris kneeling on the floor, his body intact. There hantasmal veil c him, which slowly started to transform.

  “Ugh, my wings…!”

  Chris quickly started running away, his wings beginning to burn. He might have been able to survive that lethal attack, but anything afterward would hurt him anyway.

  “Iing, a oime use veil of invulnerability?”

  “ROOOAAR!”

  The Phantasmal Veil quickly took on a nee after saving Chris from death, being a ferocious Phantom Wolf taining the infernal fmes that its defensive effect had nullified.

  “Right, he had that!”

  Paul quickly remembered Chris' equipme ability, {Phantasmal Bck Wolf’s Veil}! Not only did it protect him from ohal attack every day, but o was over, it would summon a phantom wolf for an hour, taining the power of the impact it nullified.

  “Such straricks... But isn’t that also fun?”

  The Unending Crimson ughed as the phantasmal wolf rushed towards him. After Redy died by being a mighty arrow for Chris to shoot aroy the st skeletons, the incubus felt relieved that he had yet another familiar to rely on.

  And one much stronger and more reliable than the previous two!

  CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

  The bzing phantasmal wolf immediately attacked the Unending Crimson’s vessel with a barrage of explosive, bzing cws that mao push the behemoth a few meters away.

  “Hmph!”

  However, the vessel immediately pushed forward, both swords sshing against the bzing, phantasmal familiar and cutting through its entire body.

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  “GRRRHH…!”

  “Oh?”

  Despite the injuries, the phantasmal familiar quickly turned into a phantom and recovered its body back to normal, surprising the vessel.

  “ROOARR!”

  The beast tis onsught of attacks, distrag the vessel, as every time it was sshed into pieces, it regeed back to normal.

  This small amount of time recious for Chris and Paul.

  The two immediately took their preferred positions; Chris flew high above once his wings regeed within these given seds, while Paul immediately charged against the vessel!

  [Pyer: Vd Von Sange VII]: [Chris, keep firing ice arrows! While you do that, occasionally hit it with the trident!]

  Chris noticed a chat message sent to him because Paul khat their foe was smart, they couldn’t afford to speak their strategies out loud.

  And naturally, the crafty incubus nodded, immediately uanding what he meant.

  Chris quickly analyzed his current Ara reserves, which are less than six thousand.

  Enough for a few dozen arrows, or only a handful of big ones.

  His trident, however, cost almost no Ara to move around and unleash a Lightning Strike, he just had to find the perfect opportunity.

  And his special Heavenly Core didn’t use Ara to produce its Holy Light; it had its own reserves of Heavenly Energy, aill had plenty of it even while being at Tier 1.

  But above all, the equipment was carrying him—the magic bow, the trident, and his equipment, all of it made or reinforced by Paul.

  Chris had to admit it; Paul was amazing.

  At least in this game!

  “Hm?”

  The Vessel of the Unending Crimson quickly noticed the incubus charging his bow at him, Ara gathering into owo, and then three ice arrows.

  “Arrows again? They will not do a thing to me,” he spoke, suddenly swinging both of his bdes at lightning speed, cutting through the phantasmal wolf into pieces.

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  His own fmes covered the phantasmal wolf, who had been torn to shreds and was about to quickly return to its inal fain.

  The Unending Crimson quickly realized that the phantom’s seemingly “endless revival” was tied to Chris’ equipment.

  It would simply endlessly revive within 1 hour, then disappear, and ot be summoned after a whole day.

  Yet… As long as he could restrain it.

  “{Bzing Crystallization}!”

  “Awoo?!”

  The wolf's phantasmal body was suddenly covered by a red crystal, crystalizing its own fmes before it could move further, and then falling into red-colored jewels over the floor.

  The small jewels kept trying to recover, but they were pletely sealed within their crystalline form, shaking around in annoyance.

  “The fmes ot only burn, but they also restrain,” said the skeleton lreeting Vd, who was right beside him.

  Vd’s Blood Power and Soul Aether biogether, emerging from his body as a crimson and golden aura. A barrage of punches reached the Unending Crimson, imbued and strengthened by the armor’s Spells.

  “{Sharpen Senses}! {Lightweight}! {Bzing Aura}! {Winds of Speed}!”

  Four buffing Spells, all engraved into the set of armor.

  Sharpen Senses enhanced his rea speed.

  The Lightweight Spell made his body lighter and more easily capable of moving quicker.

  Bzing Aura created an aura of fire that increased his physical strength.

  And Winds of Speed enpassed his body with winds, enhang his speed with windy gusts.

  All four of these buffs bined enpassed Vd with an aura of bzing winds.

  With his fists moving rapidly, following the teiques of the [Soul-Eating Fist Teiques], his fists impacted the vessel with explosive strikes.

  “{Soul-Eating Fist Teique}: {Soul Star Fist}!”

  BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

  “Ungh?!”

  The vessel was quickly pushed several meters; all five of the puhat reached him created cracks through his body and, at the same time, took a k of... his soul!

  “What sort of teique is that?!”

  The Unending Crimson, through his almost eternal life, had never fought a mortal capable of taking pieces out of his own soul!

  Even if it was minuscule in parison to his greatness, it was without a doubt a teique that could evolve into something that one day...

  “Hah! Not bad for a mortal; perhaps your fme is not as small as I imagined!”

  The skeleton quickly rushed forward, his aura resembling an endless wave of pure fmes, reag Vd, and pushing him back.

  “Ugh…!”

  “But you truly go against me toe-to-toe, you foolish dhampir?!”

  With a burst of furious ughter, his two giant bdes swung dowically and horizontally, unleashing a barrage of several bzing cuts, c Vd’s entire body.

  His armor stantly reverberated with loud metallic sounds, its Durability going down by the hundreds with each blow!

  CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

  “Your armor is surprisingly tough, but you simply ot go against my swordsmanship with your mere fists!”

  “Yeah, I know.” Vd smiled. “{Ice Shard}!”

  Summoning his wand out of his iory, Vd unleashed dozens of Ice Shards at the same time, including the Wand that had twelve thousand more Ara, which he had yet to use at all!

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  The frost quickly started c the vessel’s body, but it was useless; his fmes burhrough the tough magic ice, melting it and then evaporating it all into a cloud of magic vapor.

  FRRSH!

  But that was good too.

  “{Geomancy}: {Mist’s Illusion}”

  FLUOSH!

  Abusing his great amount of Ara left, Vd immediately jured Geomancy again, this time using all the mist that the vessel created and transf them into several es of himself.

  Because the Mist’s position was made of magid Ara, it felt much more believable, eae having its own aura of Ara.

  Meaning that the Unending Crimson was uo tell whie was the real one!

  “Your use of such a pitifully pathetic spell is surprising! Perhaps your kind is truly worth burning into ashes now, haha!”

  The reckless vessel charged forward, attag the es made of mist as they came, all while Vd jured Stone Walls, surging from below his foe aabilizing his foothold.

  RUMBLE!

  “Again with these! Ugh?!”

  At that moment, three es of mist appeared from above, attag him. He quickly waved his bzing swords, destroying them, only to feel the impact of a dozen punches hitting his back!

  “{Soul-Eating Fist Teique}: {Soul Star Fist}!”

  Vd’s armloves fred with the fme of his very soul; each punch was like a small star, exploding into tless sparkles and fire.

  BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

  “Again, with that?!”

  The vessel quickly spun around, twisting his body and greeting Vd with both of his bdes. Even as he had to dislocate his body, he was an undead vessel, so it didn’t matter anyway!

  SLAAASH!

  A sshing wave of crimson fmes impacted Vd, sending him flying away.

  “At the end of the day, you’re nothing but a little fme, yes... One worth assimiting—that’s it! I will enjoy dev your soul and-”

  “Where are you looking at?”

  “Wha…?!”

  Suddenly, another Vd, a copy of him, appeared behind the vessel, unleashing the same barrage of punches as the previous oargeting all the cracks already made, and nothing else.

  BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

  Crack, crack…!

  The cracks tinued spreading and being deeper, and the Unending Crimson realized he was not fighting a mere mortal but one riddled with tricks!

  “Just how many trump cards do you have below your sleeve, mortal?!”

  His body erupted with fmes as his swords swung down, about to split the Vd in front of him apart, only for three ice arrows to strike the cracks in his back!

  Frost quickly started to spread deep within his vessel!

  “You…?!”

  The skeleton looked at the ceiling, notig the Incubus he had fotten about!

  “PAUL!”

  Chris gave the and as Paul and his e, created out of his armor’s ability, [Blood Phantom e], rushed towards the vessel.

  Their fists verged into a storm of attacks, striking the arrows deeper into the armor made of red crystals, frost spreading deeper and deeper.

  “Y-You really… Hahah…! You’re truly amusing, little fmes~!”

  While ughing manically, the Unending Crimson’s body was covered with tless cracks, icicles growing out of them as Vd bined his Geomancy with his fist attacks, expanding the ice further deep!

  Crack, crack…!

  CRACK!

  “This is it!”

  Vd and his e’s fists struck down the skeleto time, stantly bearing the damage of the vessel’s bzing aura.

  Until finally.

  Crack, crack…!

  “Hah, well pyed…”

  CRASH!

  His entire body exploded into pieces—bones, crystals, everything.

  The presence of the Unending Crimson then pletely disappeared, and the glowing red crystals ihrone room lost their color.

  And the high temperature of the entire dungeon slowly lowered.

  “We… we did it?” Vd wondered.

  Ding!

  [gratutions! You have successfully defeated the possessed Dungeon Boss and stopped the Raid of the {Unending Crimson} from happening on Elderbridge!]

  “WE DID IT!”

  Chris rushed down towards Vd, hugging him tightly as the two jumped, celebrating.

  -----

  Pach