After Zane entered the boss room, he found nothing but a plain white room. There were no walls, no ceiling, and no floor boundaries but just an endless, suffocating expanse of absolute emptiness.
"Mmm... Where am I?" Zane said while looking around the room.
He took a step forward, but his footsteps made no sound. He tried to feel for the flow of energy in his veins, but his mana felt completely sealed away.
"WELCOME TO MY DOMAIN!" A deep, reverberating voice echoed all over the chamber.
"Domain...?" Zane shouted, looking around with confusion because he was not able to use any mana in this room.
The pressure in the air was heavy and suffocating. He tried to summon his system panel to check his status or use an item, but nothing responded.
"What is going on, System?"
"..." The room remained silent. No interface appeared, and no voice replied.
And then...
CRACK! CRACK!
A sound like breaking crystal echoed through the air. Spiderweb fractures spread across the white emptiness in every direction.
The whole room started cracking slowly and shattered.
The whole environment, atmosphere, and surroundings changed. The cold, empty silence vanished, replaced instantly by the overwhelming noise of roaring engines, blaring horns, and chatter.
"What is going on...?" Zane said while looking around.
The ground under his feet was black asphalt. High-rise glass buildings stretched into the clouds above him, and sunlight burned his eyes.
"What is this...? This is Earth... but I was in the dungeon?" Zane thought to himself.
His eyes started shaking and his body was trembling upon seeing cars moving around, people using phones, and tall buildings. It felt so real the smell of exhaust, the heat of the sun, the wind against his face.
And then, the whole surroundings shifted, and he was standing near the classrooms. Seeing his past life unfold, this time he saw himself being rejected by his girlfriend...
She stood in front of him with a cold, disgusted expression, tossing his gifts onto the floor while his classmates snickered in the hallway.
And then the whole area shifted again, and he was taken to his friend’s house. There, he saw his past self opening the door and seeing his friend sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, the one he had just broken up with that morning. His friend just said:
"Get out, can’t you see I’m busy?" He smiled while pushing him outside and locking the door.
Zane stood there, watching his past self pound on the locked door in tears while laughter echoed from inside.
And then it shifted again. This time, he was in the classroom. People were laughing about his girlfriend sleeping with his friend, pointing at him and whispering as he walked past their desks.
It shifted again, and this time he was 14 years old. After he fought some gangsters, they caught him and forced him to watch them kill his parents and his sisters. The metallic scent of blood filled his nostrils, and their screams echoed in his ears while he lay pinned to the ground, powerless to stop it. New chapters come out on novelping dot com first.
It shifted to when he chose to sell his family properties, started trading, and lost all the money. He saw himself sitting on a dark floor surrounded by overdue notices and bankruptcy letters, staring blankly at the wall.
And then he was moved to when he was locking himself away having no family, no friends, no girlfriend, and living a lonely life...
In his face, a huge amount of rage and despair was rising. The suffocating weight of every failure, every humiliation, and every loss piled onto his chest all at once. Then it shifted to when he saved the girl and died. And..
"Mmm..." Zane’s eyes widened when he saw that the girl he saved was visiting his grave and smiling.
After that, the area changed and became dark. Huge meteors started falling, smashing down on that girl, and blood splashed onto his face.
Zane was speechless, opening his mouth just to watch. The warmth of the blood on his skin felt horrifyingly real.
Everything changed again, and he was standing under the sky...
The whole world was shattering into pieces. The clouds broke like glass, and the ground split open into endless darkness.
"Are you done watching now? Why don’t you stop this?" Zane said while turning back.
"Mmm... Interesting. You did not break, and you knew I was here," a voice echoed.
FWOOSH!
Zane released a large amount of aura, shattering the illusion. The surge of power blew away the dark skies and shattered reality like a mirror hitting concrete.
CRACK.... SHATTER!
After the illusion shattered, a man appeared, sitting on a giant stone. Above his head, ancient glowing runes revealed his identity: The Mind Weaver.
"For you to be able to shatter my illusion, one that is combined with time magic..." The Mind Weaver said while opening his eyes, and gold dots appeared.
Two dots appeared in the shadow, and Zane prepared to attack.
"When did you break free from my illusion?" Mind Weaver asked while walking out from the shadow.
"The moment I saw my ex," Zane replied.
"I see... It seems my skills have declined from aging."
"Mmm... Why don’t we finish this? I have no time to chat," Zane said, making a serious face.
"Boy, the rage and despair you released have made me strong, and my body has returned to that of a 25-year-old!" Mind Weaver smirked as his wrinkled skin smoothed out and his muscles surged with immense magic power.
"Well... let’s see about that!" Zane shouted while shooting forward.
When Zane charged, Mind Weaver dodged and landed on top of the stone he was standing on.
"You are not a talker, huh?" He said.
"Like I said, I have wasted most of my time here," Zane said while looking at the top of the stone.
"Well, if you say so, I will grant your wish," He said while taking out two katanas.
"Well, let’s begin!"
FWOOSH!
MIND WEAVER disappeared and appeared behind Zane, stabbing straight through him...
And THEN....
"You are fast, old man," Zane said, already standing at the top of the stone.
The afterimage began to fade away.
"When did you get there?!" Mind Weaver asked in total shock.
’I was sure I was fast, and my abilities allow me to gain a level of power equivalent to the rage and despair my opponent has suffered. He said he broke the illusion the moment he entered, yet I became this strong from just that brief moment... So how strong is he?’
"You are spacing out, old man," Zane said, touching his shoulder.
"AAAH.... !" The Mind Weaver was so terrified that he couldn’t utter a word or even look at him.
A blinding flash of force passed through The Mind Weaver before his eyes could even register the motion.
"Farewell, old man. You have allowed me to create a skill that won’t allow anyone inside my mind and body," Zane said as he removed his hand from the old man’s chest, leaving him to collapse after being stabbed.
[ DING ]
[ MONSTER DEFEATED: THE MIND WEAVER ]
[ REWARD: 1,000,000 GOLD COINS ]
Meanwhile, Sofia was going crazy on the mountain. The icy winds howled across the jagged cliffs as she wiped monster blood off her blade. After one year of endless searching and fighting, she had defeated more than 1,000 monsters, but her eyes remained fixed on the summit.
"My Princess, we have looked around and we didn’t find any dungeon entry," Joshua said, bowing his head as he stepped through the deep snow.
"Well, it’s time we enter deep inside," she said while picking up her sword and heading toward the depths of Demon Mountain.