Tower Awakening: I Have Limitless Potential Trait

Chapter 9 – The Undead Warden, 1st Floor Boss (2)

Swoosh!

A massive blade cut through the cold air, completely missing his head by mere inches. He rolled forward, feeling the freezing wind pressure scrape against his skin.

"Pant... pant..." he gasped for air, his chest heaving up and down.

The fight went on, and he managed to dodge and survive the Undead Warden's relentless attacks thanks to his newly enhanced stats. But he knew this situation couldn't last forever. His legs were getting heavier, and his stamina was draining fast. If he made even one small mistake, he would be cut in half.

"I can't let this drag on," he thought, gripping his cracked rusty sword.

He remembered the weakness Elian had mentioned earlier. The rusted joints behind the knees and elbows. He waited for the giant knight to swing its heavy executioner's sword again, waiting for the brief three-second window when the boss lost its balance.

He dashed in, swinging his blade with all his might at the exposed gap behind the monster's knee.

Clank!

The attack landed, but the impact was too shallow. His rusty sword couldn't bite deep enough into the dense, corrupted bones and thick armor. The Undead Warden simply flinched before turning its glowing crimson eyes back to him, raising a heavy armored gauntlet to backhand him away.

He quickly stepped back, barely avoiding the hit. It was too difficult to strike the weakness. He couldn't safely close the distance due to the boss's towering strength and the constant threat of the Severed Soul Strike. And when he did manage to land an attack, it just didn't have a big enough impact.

As he leaped backward to avoid another crushing stomp, a familiar transparent panel popped up in his vision.

Glitch-glitch

[Action-Based Growth triggered.]

[System Warning: Anomaly detected.]

[You have continuously evaded fatal attacks at the limit of your physical capabilities. Trait: Limitless Potential is abnormally forcing neuromuscular adaptation.]

[Agility +1]

His body instantly felt a bit lighter, his reflexes sharpening just in time to duck under a horizontal slash. But extra speed wouldn't kill the boss. He was getting exhausted, and he desperately needed an attack that could give a massive impact.

He started thinking deeply. "What kind of attack can break that armor?"

He looked at the Undead Warden, remembering the terrifying black energy wave the boss had released earlier. The Severed Soul Strike. It was a condensed wave of dark mana that flew through the air, carrying enough kinetic force to obliterate a stone pillar and damage human consciousness.

"A wave... a slash that travels," he muttered to himself. He didn't need the soul-damaging effect; he just needed a high-impact attack to injure the boss deeply. He needed a wind slash.

Since the boss used dark mana to create its wave, he figured he had to use his own mana to create wind. He mentally recalled his status panel. He had 11 points in the Mana stat. It had been sitting there completely unused since he entered the Tower.

"I don't even know how to use magic..." he gritted his teeth as he sidestepped another heavy vertical smash. The stone floor shattered, sending debris flying into his face.

He closed his eyes for a split second, observing the way the Undead Warden released its skills and the flow of the air in the room. He imagined an energy flowing from his chest, down his arms, and into the hilt of his cracked sword. He swung his blade forward, trying to command the wind.

Swoosh!

Nothing happened. It was just a regular, empty swing.

"Damn it!" he cursed, forced to throw himself to the ground as the Undead Warden retaliated with a sweeping kick.

He scrambled to his feet. He didn't give up. He tried again. This time, he focused entirely on the air around him, trying to force the invisible energy inside him to grip the wind. He felt a faint, warm spark in his chest, a strange sensation he had never felt back on Earth.

But right as he was about to swing, the boss roared and lunged at him. Losing his focus, the warm spark vanished instantly. He barely parried the attack, the impact sending a jarring pain up his arms.

"Pant... pant... one more time," he whispered. His vision was starting to blur from sheer exhaustion. This was his third attempt, and probably his last chance before his body gave out completely.

He took a deep breath, blocking out the sound of Elian fighting the skeletons in the background. He focused every ounce of his high Willpower. He grabbed that warm spark in his chest and violently dragged it through his veins, forcing it into his hands and onto the cracked, rusty blade.

Suddenly, the air around his sword began to warp. A pale green light coated the rusted metal. The wind in the massive room began to swirl, violently gathering and condensing around the blade. The rusty sword groaned loudly, cracking further under the intense pressure of the raw mana.

The Undead Warden raised its massive executioner's sword high, preparing to unleash another Severed Soul Strike.

"Take this!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

He swung his sword forward with everything he had left.

BOOM!

A massive, crescent-shaped blade of compressed wind and mana exploded from his sword. It tore through the air with a deafening screech, slicing the very ground beneath it. The big wind slash collided directly with the Undead Warden just as it brought its own sword down.

Craaack!

The sound of thick armor and dense bone shattering echoed throughout the entire antechamber. The massive wind slash cut cleanly through the giant executioner's sword, before sinking straight into the center of the Undead Warden's chest.

For a second, everything went completely still.

Then, the towering boss slowly slid apart. Its massive body had been split perfectly into two pieces. The glowing crimson flames in its helmet flickered weakly before dying out completely. The two halves of the giant knight crashed onto the stone floor, shaking the room one last time before turning into a pile of black ash.

[Congratulations. You have defeated the Floor 1 Boss: The Undead Warden.]

[Floor 1: The Forgotten Catacombs has been cleared.]

[Calculating rewards...]

[You gained 500 Tower Coins.]

[You obtained: Warden's Executioner Core (Grade: Rare) x1. Item automatically transferred to Inventory.]

[You obtained: Rusted Knight's Gauntlet (Grade: Uncommon) x1. Item automatically transferred to Inventory.]

[Party Experience Buff (2x) applied.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have reached Level 7.]

[Through extreme enlightenment and action, you have created a new skill.]

[Skill Acquired: Wind Slash (Grade: Uncommon).]

A massive flood of golden and blue text filled his vision. A bright, warm light enveloped his entire body, instantly healing his scrapes and bruises as the multiple level-ups restored his physical health.

He knew he had obtained something incredible. But as the adrenaline finally left his system, a terrifying weight crashed down on his mind.

"Ah..." he murmured, his eyes losing focus.

The physical wounds were gone, but the mental exhaustion of constantly facing death, forcing his trait to mutate his body, and forcibly draining his untrained mana pool was far too much. The mental fatigue was absolute.

His cracked rusty sword finally crumbled into pieces of dust in his hand. His knees gave out, and he collapsed heavily onto the cold stone floor.

As his consciousness rapidly faded into darkness, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps echoing across the room.

"Daniel! Hey, Daniel!"

Elian's panicked voice was the last thing he heard before the world went completely black.