Chapter 88 - Killing The Peak D-rank
The golden flashes at the end of the pipe immediately alerted the parasitic host.
It raised wall after wall in front of itself, clearly aware of what was coming.
Theo simply smiled at it.
He glanced back at the thunder cloud one final time.
Then—
He snapped his fingers.
Large amounts of mana instantly left his body, making him tremble slightly from the strain.
Everything inside the thunder cloud collapsed into a single beam.
Theo didn’t wait around. He dashed towards the nearest skeleton.
He jumped up on its head before kicking off towards the ceiling again.
His body shot through the air.
A massive yellow beam erupted underneath him, tearing through everything inside the tunnel.
At the last moment, Theo drove his umbrella into the ceiling.
Everything below him vanished in an instant.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The skeletons shattered one after another.
The beam didn’t slow down.
Not even for a moment.
It continued straight towards several thick layers of bone walls.
CRACK! CRACK!
The beam tore straight through them, crushing everything in its path.
At the end of the tunnel, the parasitic host let out a distorted screech.
All eight of its razor-sharp arms rose in front of it, forming another ribcage.
BOOM!
The beam collided with it head-on.
It was dragged across the floor, the ground shattering as it was forced backwards.
Its screech grew louder, and more desperate.
Finally, after a few seconds—
The beam slowly faded away.
For a moment, everything was silent inside the tunnel.
Theo glanced down slowly.
Everything below him was scorched red or even yellow from the extreme temperature.
’It was weaker than usual,’ he thought. ’I guess that’s what I get for improvising.’
Without another thought, he dropped from the ceiling, opening the umbrella to slow his descent.
Beneath him, a faint layer of water cooled down the scorching ground.
As his legs hit the ground, they nearly gave out underneath him.
"...Hah..."
His breathing had turned heavy.
"Don’t have a lot of mana in me anymore," he muttered, raising his head.
At the end of the tunnel, the host was still there.
Five of its arms had been completely erased.
The remaining three trembled violently, barely holding together with massive cracks running through them.
Faint yellow light still flickered through its scorched body.
At the same time, a white light shone underneath it.
It was trying to regenerate.
But as Theo took a closer look, he couldn’t help but smile.
"You wasted too much mana raising those corpses," he said. "Now you don’t have enough left to regenerate."
He slowly stepped forward.
Seeing him approach, the host immediately gave up on regenerating.
Instead, a thin spike shot out of the ground right in front of him.
Theo’s eyes snapped down.
He swung his umbrella horizontally immediately.
SNAP!
The spike fractured.
Theo continued walking, his eyes locked on the host.
CRACK! CRACK!
He shattered the next spikes without slowing down.
Each step echoed through the tunnel.
The host was backed up against the end of the pipe, its remaining arms trembling violently.
It let out another desperate screech.
Another spike shot out in front of him, but slower and smaller this time.
Theo knocked it aside without even looking.
’It’s done,’ he thought, his breathing still heavy. ’It’s completely out of mana.’
As he neared it, a white light flickered between them.
It tried to raise another wall.
Yet... only a thin layer of bone formed before collapsing instantly.
Theo’s eyes narrowed.
He kicked through the stack of bones, raising his umbrella beside him.
The host froze.
Suddenly, one of its remaining arms cracked open, something inside writhing violently.
With all its strength, it threw the parasite forward.
Straight at his chest.
Theo didn’t even dodge it.
"That doesn’t work on me," he said, glancing down.
The parasite landed on his chest, immediately trying to fuse into him.
CRACK!
A single flicker of lightning surged through his body.
It instantly flushed the parasite out and turned it into dust.
Theo didn’t stop walking.
His grip tightened around his umbrella.
The host let out one final, broken screech.
Its body trembled violently as it backed into the wall.
Theo stopped right in front of it, breathing heavily.
For a moment—
Neither of them moved.
Then, he raised his umbrella.
A thick layer of water began swirling around it immediately.
"Let’s end this."
The water surged immediately.
Theo’s grip tightened as the swirling mass compressed around the tip of his umbrella, growing denser each second.
The host twitched.
Its remaining arms lifted weakly, trying to form one last defense.
Theo stepped forward, one step after another.
The distance between them finally disappeared.
Without hesitation, he raised his umbrella beside him.
Then—
He thrust forward.
CRACK!
The tip pierced straight through the creature’s arms, plunging deep into its chest.
It let out a final screech, flailing around.
That’s when the water crashed into it.
BOOM!
The mass burst inside the parasite’s body, tearing through it in an instant.
Cracks spread across its entire body.
Bones broke away layer by layer, finally revealing the grotesque creature inside.
It had completely absorbed and altered a human’s corpse as its main body.
Theo didn’t hesitate.
He pushed further, the water submerging its body immediately.
All its flesh was stuck inside, the pressure pressing hard against it.
Finally, its body caved in.
Its green blood splattered everywhere as the pressure molded its body into a single round mass.
Theo cut off the water immediately, his umbrella falling to his side.
For a moment, he just stood there, breathing heavily.
"...Hah..."
The corpse fell down in front of him.
At the same time, the faint echoes outside abruptly cut off.
Silence filled the tunnel.
Theo exhaled slowly, staring at its corpse.
"It’s over."
Just in case, he formed another lightning bolt and fired it off.
It pierced into the corpse, disintegrating it.
Finally, he nodded.
He turned around slowly, glancing through the long tunnel behind him.
"Owen... Ethan," he muttered. "You two better be alive."