Sein didn't know what was happening to Shoun. His attitude was completely different from just moments ago when he had been injured. Kaze, glancing briefly at the young man, remembered their fight against the Hydra. It didn't surprise him that Shoun was acting this way—after all, he had been like this before. What was so strange about it happening again?
Shoun, for his part, paid no attention to the looks from his companions. He moved forward and positioned himself beside them. After absorbing the equivalent of twice the capacity of his core, his body was bursting with electricity. Logically, he had to redistribute it more or less evenly throughout his body to avoid imploding from the overload. In exchange, he felt a persistent pain in every part of his body, a sensation that made him want to tear off his own skin just to release the energy. But he had no choice but to accept it to keep fighting.
The only part of his body that didn't improve was his right arm. After all, it was now a charred, useless mass of flesh. So instead of sending electricity to that part of his body, he channeled it all into Iron Serpent. He had never given his new weapon this much electricity before, so despite being in the middle of a battle and in a semi-delirious state, Shoun was still curious to see what would happen.
His curiosity was soon satisfied. As he injected such a massive amount of electricity, Iron Serpent underwent a surprising transformation. First, the artifact slithered up to coil around Shoun's neck. Then it began to grow, reaching two meters in length. The electricity emanating from the chain gradually formed a more tangible body. Now, Iron Serpent looked like a real serpent—one made entirely of lightning. Its face, which had previously been barely recognizable, became more defined, with sharp-pupiled eyes and a pair of fangs made of electricity.
—Hahaha, now you look stronger, Serpent. Let's not waste any time—let's kill that thing!— Naturally, the artifact didn't respond with words. Instead, it mimicked the sound of a hiss with the thunder generated by its mere existence. The now-overloaded Shoun began running forward, straight toward Kalgoros, with Sein and Kaze backing him up on either side.
The lion, before being overwhelmed, decided to eliminate the weakest link among its enemies—Shoun, who appeared to be injured. It launched a fireball at him.
Shoun, facing the lion's attack, simply glanced at Kaze, who returned the look. The masked man immediately understood what his companions wanted and unleashed a wind slash that dispersed the fireball. The young men's advance wasn't being stopped, but Kalgoros knew that launching multiple fireballs in quick succession wouldn't be effective due to Kaze's presence. So it tried a different approach.
With a powerful stomp, two massive walls of fire rose and shot forward. The young men easily dodged the direct attack, but that was the vestige's intention. Now, they were all isolated from each other.
Once again, Kalgoros tried to eliminate Shoun with a fireball. Faced with this, the young man could only laugh.
—Do you really want to play with me so much, kitty? Come on, I'm waiting!— Shoun quickly formed his left hand into a gun shape and fired a powerful bolt of electricity that collided with the fireball, canceling both out— (Kaze will take a moment to destroy these walls... I need to create another opportunity for a new offensive.)
Making a quick decision, the smiling Shoun looked directly into the vestige's one remaining eye. Meanwhile, the supercharged Iron Serpent began to move along Shoun's body until it reached his right leg. Then, just a few meters from Kalgoros, Shoun kicked hard, sending the artifact flying toward the lion.
The vestige had no choice but to redirect its next attack toward the approaching chain. After all, it already knew what would happen if the chain made contact with its body. A fireball was launched and intercepted Iron Serpent, which fell to the ground as its electric serpent form became slightly more transparent. Moments before, when Shoun kicked Iron Serpent, he quickly took position and aimed with his left hand, firing all the electricity from his left arm at the lion.
With no other options, the tyrant flexed its body and leaped, narrowly dodging Shoun's shot. But in the moments it was airborne, three things happened. First, Kaze managed to dispel all the walls of fire. Second, Sein, seeing the lion in the air, quickly calculated where it would land and launched a thrust. The vestige saw this out of the corner of its eye and twisted its body mid-air to avoid the attack.
But just as the lion thought it had dodged the entire offensive, the third thing happened. A massive black arrow flew across the battlefield and pierced the creature's right leg, leaving a gaping hole that spilled large amounts of the vestige's signature purple blood.
—GRAA!— The lion staggered. Unfortunately, despite its incredible body and vision, it couldn't detect Deuz, who was currently hiding under the shadow of a tree when he fired.
The brief moment was seized by Sein and Kaze, who launched their respective attacks, further deepening the wounds on both sides of the vestige's massive body. Meanwhile, Shoun took the time to retrieve the faltering Iron Serpent.
—It's okay, buddy. You did well. This will be over soon... Ugh!— The young man gasped after giving even more electricity to his chain to repair it and restore its electric serpent form. He felt the full weight of the battle bearing down on his body— (No, not yet!)
Refusing to give in, Shoun redirected some of the electricity from his core to other parts of his body. This brought back the pain that had subsided just moments ago, keeping his mind awake but in constant torture.
Finally, the lion regained control, launching fireballs and bursts of flame to push the young men back, even if only slightly. Seeing this, Shoun moved Iron Serpent back to his right leg, a move noticed by everyone present.
Once again, the young man delivered a powerful kick. Kalgoros reacted instantly and fired to intercept the chain mid-air. But surprisingly, the fireball simply crashed into the ground—after all, Shoun hadn't fired when he kicked.
The small momentum created by Shoun allowed everyone to unleash their pre-prepared attacks. Wind slashes, light cuts, and black arrows flew toward the creature, leaving it in a pitiful state. Kalgoros was exhausted. It had lost an eye, its right leg had a gaping hole, and numerous scratches were causing it to bleed steadily. The tyrant was being dethroned by a group of ants.
The group, however, wasn't in much better shape. While Shoun was the only one visibly injured, the others were running low on spiritual energy. If they ran out before the battle ended, they would be practically useless. So everything would come down to the final offensive.
This time, Shoun didn't bother trying to deceive the lion. Iron Serpent slithered up to his left arm, ready for action. Surprisingly, Kalgoros didn't waste time with ranged attacks. Instead, it charged clumsily but still at great speed toward Shoun. After all, he was the cause of most of its injuries. He was the one who had enabled the others to harm it. So if it was going to take one of them down, it would be him!
The vestige ignored all attacks directed at it. Kaze and Sein fired everything they had, but the lion stubbornly continued its blind rage toward Shoun. Seeing this, Shoun stopped and let Kalgoros approach, a fearless smile on his face.
10 meters…
8 meters…
—Shoun, get out of the way!— Sein shouted desperately as he tore into the vestige's flesh with a thrust.
6 meters…
4 meters…
—...— Kaze didn't shout, but he looked into Shoun's eyes as if asking, What are you doing? The young man didn't respond. He simply returned the look and turned his attention back to the vestige. Seeing this, the masked man trusted his companion but began launching slashes faster and more recklessly, even missing a few despite the vestige not dodging.
2 meters…
At this distance, Shoun couldn't dodge or get out of the way. In just a moment, he would be trampled and killed by the vestige. Yet, the young man simply kept staring at Kalgoros, waiting for the moment when the shadows would strike—and it didn't take long.
Black tentacles manifested from the shadows all over the street. Trees, cars, lampposts—every object with a shadow saw it vanish, only to reappear as tentacles shooting toward Kalgoros.
—You took your time— Shoun commented briefly with a playful tone as all the shadows ensnared the vestige. Gradually, the tentacles subdued it completely, leaving it sprawled on the ground.
Shoun had seen earlier, out of the corner of his eye, how Deuz made his bow and arrows return to his shadow while running toward him. Assuming Deuz had a plan, Shoun had simply lured the vestige in.
—Ugh!... Hurry up and kill that thing— Deuz, who wasn't far away, was under immense pressure controlling so many shadows. They were breaking rapidly under the tyrant's strength, forcing the beret-wearing boy to constantly remake them and expend a ton of spiritual energy. He was even using the shadows under his clothes to keep the tyrant imprisoned.
—Yeah, yeah— Shoun fired Iron Serpent, which latched onto the creature's snout like a viper and discharged all the accumulated electricity.
—GRAAAA!— Despite everything, the lion still managed to roar and writhe in pain. Gradually, the tentacles gave way under the vestige's strength, but thanks to Iron Serpent's discharge, they held on a little longer—just long enough for Shoun to prepare his final attack.
Unsummoning Iron Serpent to keep it safe, Shoun aimed his left hand at the paralyzed lion. Gathering a massive amount of electricity, he fired at the creature's head, partially destroying it but leaving the vestige still alive.
Naturally, Shoun couldn't pour all his electricity into his left arm—not unless he wanted it to explode. So he fired strong but brief shots.
—Don't worry, there's more where that came from— he commented as he fired the second shot, then the third, the fourth, and finally the fifth. The last shot finally pierced the creature's skull, destroying its brain and traveling further, causing much of the corpse to explode and shower everything nearby with viscera and purple blood—including the nearby Shoun.
[You have killed Kalgoros, Tyrant of Adversity. Difficulty bonus obtained.]
[You have completed the Residence Test!]
—Phew...— The young man briefly glanced at the messages that appeared in front of him without saying a word.
—We won!— Sein ran and jumped on Shoun, tears in the corners of his eyes, nearly knocking the young man over in the process— We really did it! We killed an alpha brute!
—Well... cough... good job, everyone... cough— Deuz congratulated between coughs. That last trap had drained him of energy.
—Good work— Kaze also congratulated them, though in his usual monotone voice. He stepped in front of Shoun and extended his arms.
—Do you want a hug from Shoun? That'll definitely hurt him! Let me heal him first!
—A hug? No, what's happening is that usually this is the moment when—
—Cough! Cough!— The masked man's words were interrupted as Shoun vomited a considerable amount of blood onto the ground before collapsing, caught by Kaze, who had been prepared.
—Shoun!—