Chapter 15 - Solael's Castle II

Anderson observed the people behind him before he opened the door towards the boss room. Almost all of them had faces that showed their dependence on him because they knew their lives were in his hands the moment that they entered this room.

But as usual, there was one person, one face that seemed to be overly calm with nothing to worry about. Anderson let out a vicious smile before opening the door and heading inside the BOSS room

He would show them all today. What strength really is. What power really is. In the face of strength, everything else has to bow down.

The inside of the gigantic room held a huge statue that was reaching almost 10 meters tall. They seemed like ants compared to something this huge, but Anderson had a confident expression on his face. He had done this multiple times in the span of a few months. Not a single time had he died. A few others had died, of course. But that was out of their negligence. You had to be strong in order to avoid death.

Surrounding a huge titan were it's ten guards who seemed just as imposing but only four meters tall, and they were still double the size of the hunters that were about to face them.

Anderson pulled out his sword as he began walking towards the huge statue that did not in any way take him into account.

Halfway there his body shone with an imposing red glow. [Giants Strength] was activated. The only B rank skill floating around Outer Bank X, and the skill that allowed him to go toe-to-toe with this huge titan. He grabbed his sword and he swung it towards the TITAN

A red crescent blade that was two meters tall struck out and hit the chest of the statue, instantly calling to attention it's ten guards and disrupting the peace in the hall. Anderson ignored the ten guards as he rushed forward to continue attacking the giant statue

The two tanks that were equipped with extremely large shields, along with the two mages Dina and Stacy, and Rachel had all begun to cast their spells. The tanks reinforced themselves as the guard statues came and attacked them.

The two Mages had already cast their spells as huge clouds that began releasing lightning as if it was endless. Rachel's sword was pulsating in a red light as multiple red blades were released from it, going forward to attack then coming statues.

As for Noah, He had cast the same skill that allowed him to move a huge cable of flames forward. The cable of flames quickly formed into a disc and shifted back and forth as it moved from one statue to another either taking their legs or their hands or completely smashing their heads.

Cohen was observing all of this as he continued to fight with the boss. He had observed all of his team members over the past weeks and he had been observing the new team members today.

The new girl was fairly strong but nothing to worry about. The only one he couldn't peg was Noah. He couldn't exactly see all the way through him. He wanted to believe that he was as weak as he showed himself to be but something very simple was giving him away. The fact that this entire time while going down this dungeon, going to each room and taking down huge statues of monsters, not a single time was he fl.u.s.tered or worried.

He showed no fear. No apprehension. To Cohen, this meant that this person is hiding more power, but he was not showing it. He wanted to see the extent of this guy's power.

The ten guards had lost their jobs as they were quickly taken down and transformed into rubble. The rest of the team soon came to reinforce Cohen in his fight against the ten-meter monster.

As soon as the tanks came in, Cohen moved back to get a breather. The two tanks worked together to deflect the punches that were barreling down as the mages cast their specialty spell and more dark clouds formed overhead with lightning striking down, chipping at the huge body of the TITAN

Blade edges were coming out of Rachel's sword as she continued to release the red crescent blinding lights. Noah's skill was more straightforward where his rapidly spinning disk of flames had been borrowing itself onto the knees of the huge beast trying to quickly cut off its legs and make it lose mobility.

He would not succeed though. As the TITAN was quickly enraged by the continuing damage that it was taking, and the fact that none of the ants that were dealing it damage were taken care of.

OOOOH!!!

A loud roar resounded from the Titan as Cohen yelled "Take cover!"

The mages ran behind the tanks who lifted their shields up while the TITAN was roaring. Cohen went towards Rachel and Noah and stood in front of them as the whole place seemed to shake as huge boulders then began falling from the ceiling.

This was the Titans skill. A type of skill that only began appearing on rank C BOSSes and above. At the moment it was dealt a certain amount of damage, the skill was activated and boulders would begin raining from the sky.

If you were slow in responding for even a second. You would find yourself squashed on the ground.

The stones began falling down and heavily hitting the ground. The 2 tanks had their shields lifted up slanted at an angle. Whenever the stones hit the skills on their body shined and they grunted, but they survived. The two mages beneath them were still safe and sound.

As for Anderson, he was even more straightforward, keeping his eyes on the ceiling and using his blade to strike down any incoming stones. If he missed any of the boulders fallen from the ceiling, Rachel would quickly move in and release another one of her plate lights, striking the huge stones and veering them away from their location.

Noah as a mage should be taking cover with his weaker defenses, and could only have his skill ready to be fired in the case any stone were to come his way.

As the huge stones fell down with everyone focusing on keeping their lives, Anderson turned towards Noah as there was something we wanted to confirm. He wanted to know the extent of this guy's power and what exactly he was hiding.

The TITAN's skill was about to finish, and three more boulders that were heading their way. Anderson put on a fierce expression as his sword struck out towards the incoming stones.

Rachel took care of the second stone and Noah cast his spinning line of flames towards the third stone that was nearing his side

At this instant, though, an...accident occurred. The stone that Cohen was taking care of did not break and veered off-track. He made a sound as if he had slipped and his blade just quickly grazed over the boulder that was coming down. The boulder that was now coincidentally heading towards the mage beside him

Noah returned his face up in the direction of the boulder with a surprised face as it quickly struck him.

PAH!

The sound caused the party members' faces to turn ashen. The two tanks and two mages off by the side quickly turning around to look at Cohen with an unbelievable expression

Rachel had an expression of disbelief on her face as well as she stared at Anderson and looked over the rubble where Noah was supposed to be.

A brief second passed before a movement was heard and a person came out of the rubble. The sight they feared to see did not actually happen, as the hands there were reaching out to push the rubble of the stones aside were clear. His face was clear. There wasn't a single spec of damage on the man's body.

The four party members quickly let out a relieved sigh and returned their sight towards the boss, as they couldn't spare a single other second with their eyes off the huge monster

Cohen spared Noah a glance before he quickly turned around and dashed towards the boss.

The disbelieving expression did not leave Rachel's face as she was very close and saw exactly what happened. There had been no accident, and that was all intentional. So, she was shocked and didn't understand. Just what sort of irreconcilable problem had occurred between these two hunters that would cause something like this?

Noah was coming out of the rubble with a surprisingly calm expression and dusted himself off as he looked at Anderson that was rushing towards the boss.

How was he taking this so naturally? Did he not almost die? Rachel had a complex expression on her face as she shook her head and focused on the fight at hand.

The two tanks were quickly blown away and Anderson filled in their spots to hold the boss at bay. The Thunderclouds from the mages were above them again, constant streaks of lightning striking down on the body of the TITAN

Rachel held her Blade behind her as a blinding light was becoming more and more apparent on her sword. This continued on for 10 seconds before she released the blade of light, that was not more than 2 meters long towards the leg of the BOSS. Noah was not far behind, quickly throwing his signature disk of flames towards the same location he was attacking before.

With this teamwork, it didn't take long for one of the legs of the huge statue to start cracking before it could not support its entire weight. Its left leg had shattered from the constant damage that was being dealt

Its upper body had huge dents and scratches from the lightning that was falling down and the blade attacks that Anderson kept sending its way. The huge TITAN quickly fell on its knees, Its hands smacking on the ground and sending a shock wave that disoriented the party members.

The two mages were quickly knocked back from the blast as the tanks were not there in time to prevent the blast from reaching them. Rachel and Anderson seemed fairly okay and surprisingly, so was Noah.

The TITAN guided its right hand that had fallen down, formed a huge fist, and swiped towards the puny ants around it. This attack would take out all the party members if it was not stopped.

Cohen had his face in a twisted expression as he began to feed more anger to bubble inside of him. This was good. This was what he wanted. The angrier he was, the stronger he became. That was the inherent skill that he awakened. Wrathful.

It fed on his anger. The angrier he got, the more energy he had, the more power he had, and the more destructive he became. He wanted to show these people just what true strength was.

He reactivated his highest skill that took most of his energy as his anger kept on rising. [Giant's Strength] was activated once more. A dark, baleful energy was permeating from his body as he grabbed his sword and rushed towards the incoming fist.

BOOM!

A resounding sound was heard as the fist was stopped on its tracks, causing the titan to scream once more. Anderson kept the momentum going, using his increased anger as a source of fuel and propelled himself towards the face of the ten-meter monster that was now crouching down.

The red energy released from his body mixed with the lightning that began appearing on his blade. [Blade of Lightning] was activated, its color quickly becoming tinged red and forcefully smacking on the head of the kneeling TITAN

BOOOM!!!

After the sound that almost ruptured the hunter's eardrums disappeared, half the head of the BOSS went with it. The TITAN breathed its last as it's huge body crumbled to the ground, the force holding it together thoroughly gone.

Cohen Anderson stood atop the rubble releasing a pulsating red light. He looked down at the hunters staring at him as his blade released the last sparks of lightning. This was strength. This was the power that allowed him to do whatever he wanted. This was what he wanted these hunters to have ingrained in their minds.