Killing the Demi-Spirit, Gugalanna, would be super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Well, not 'super' or 'barely,' but it wouldn't be too, too life-threatening. First off, its magic stone was exposed in its belly button for the world to see, like a big red button in a supervillain's evil technology.
Yes, while—according to Scavenger—the magic stone was harder than steel and would be impossible for a level 4 to even crack, it wouldn't be a problem for him. All he needed to do was find an opening with the help of Scavenger and Parallel Mind, and then Berakh HaKele that shit to oblivion.
The problem, however, was that he wanted to scavenge it, meaning he had to either find a way to kill it without destroying its magic stone or down it long enough to pull out its magic stone and absorb it. Both were vastly harder than the first and would be 100% life-threatening.
Killing a monster whose skin and muscles were as hard as adamantite would be fucking impossible. Maybe if he used his strongest ultimate attack, but that needed time—time he wouldn't have, since he was fighting solo and didn't have a tank to draw its attention long enough.
So yeah, he was going to do this the hard way, but if he succeeded, it would be well worth it.
"I fucking hope so!" Rex roared, activating Goliath Roar++ to nerf the bull as he then performed multiple random hand seals from Naruto.
"Domain Expansion:" He clapped, then slammed his palms onto the ground. "World of Flowering Trees!"
In an instant, roots and wood burst from his Swampfire armor, twisting like serpents as they coiled over one another while spreading outward from the epicenter. They thickened as they surged across the floor that's larger than a football field like a flood of wood.
The wood quickly slammed into the four walls, but it didn't stop there, scaling the walls rapidly like snakes, then the ceiling was covered. Within seconds, the entire chamber's surface was swallowed in a mass of dense, brown growth.
From various points along the wooden surfaces, green rose-like flowers bloomed—each large enough for a person to lie comfortably atop. Then, all at once, they released a burst of pollen into the air, flooding the chamber with a thick green fog of his green-dragon poison.
With every entrance and exit sealed shut by layers of dense wood, the poison had nowhere to escape, transforming the room into a sealed gas chamber deadly enough to kill a Level Three in seconds.
Seeing this amazing display of wood magic and despite the room being saturated with poison, Gugalanna only smiled with glee.
"Ha-ha… HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
She roared with laughter as the massive bull reared onto its hind legs, effortlessly breaking free from the roots that had tried to bind it. Vines as thick as tree trunks snapped like brittle twigs, shredding apart like paper as its towering limbs rose more than five meters into the air.
"Oh sh—!"
A thunderous crack shook the walls as the bull stomped its forelegs with such force that it obliterated all the roots in the immediate vicinity, splitting the adamantite floor beneath its hooves.
Massive fragments of roots flew through the air like meteors, and without pause, the Demi-Spirit charged towards him with a speed that would've left him stunned if he hadn't already seen its stats.
Rex leaped to the side, easily dodging the maddening rush. But the creature itself wasn't the only threat he had to worry about—its charge created massive blasts of air that pummeled his body, powerful winds sending him flying like a ragdoll.
Mid-uncontrollable spin, a sunflower bloomed on the sole of his feet, releasing a jet of orange/yellow fire that slammed into the wood-covered ground with a resonant boom. The pressurized flame slowed his backward flight, and with another fiery burst from his sunflowered palm, he blasted himself sideways—heat trailing from his body as he rocketed across the room just as the bull thundered past where he was again.
As he flew away from the bull's charge, Rex twisted in midair to face the bull as he continued flying backwards. He outstretched his left arm, palm aimed squarely at the bull, now halted from its missed charge.
Supporting his left wrist with his other hand, he summoned a flame shaped like a candlelight in front of his palm. The fire intensified rapidly without growing in size, releasing a piercing whistle akin to a boiling kettle as it drew in the heat continuously radiating from his body and fueled by his mind. The flame rapidly shifted from orange/yellow to an intense blue, and then—
*BOOM!*
The pressurized flame erupted into a powerful, surging stream of blue fire, roaring towards the bull just as it turned its humanoid head in his direction. The intense blaze expanded outward like a flamethrower as it rapidly closed the gap between them. The bull couldn't react in time as the massive creature was completely engulfed in a blast of fire.
"KA—HAHAHAHA!"
But this did nothing; the bull charged out of the flames unharmed, heat radiating from its body as it barreled toward him again.
Pivoting sharply in midair, Rex kicked back and unleashed bursts of flame from his feet and palm, rocketing himself forward. The bull immediately pursued, each thunderous step pulverizing the wooden ground beneath it like fragile eggshells, horns lowered as it chased its elusive toy.
The additional boosts from his fire and Jack Bird Dash only allowed Rex to reach the speed of a mid-level six, allowing the creature with level 7 agility to rapidly close the gap. Noticing this, Rex shifted direction abruptly, spinning midair to point his feet and palms downward. Another blast of orange-yellow flame shot him upwards, rapidly carrying him toward the ceiling—
"!!!"
Suddenly, the bull's hooves appeared directly above him—it had leaped with astonishing speed, effortlessly passing Rex unnoticed to position itself overhead.
"Huuuaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggh!" The maddened bull's roar blended eerily with the sweetly sadistic laughter of its upper half's as it brought its hooves crashing down toward Rex.
[Iguazu Dash]
He had somewhat expected this, and with an Iguazu Dash, Rex vanished in a blur just as the bull's forelegs crashed down where he had been moments before.
The bull continued its descent, slamming into the ground forelegs first with a thunderous impact that cratered the thick adamantite floor. A powerful shockwave erupted outward, tearing through the surrounding roots on the ground and hurling Rex through the air despite his distance.
This sent him spinning uncontrollably through the air before slamming back-first into the wall of roots, the force knocking the breath from his lungs. His body tore into the thick wooden barrier and only stopped once he struck the solid adamantite wall behind it, burying him beneath a 2 meter thick wooden wall.
Gugalanna laughed gleefully with her arm thrown into the air above her as the bull charged again towards Rex, still lodged in the wall. But something suddenly caught the corner of its jade-green eyes: a flower blooming on the far wall revealed a sunflower within, and in front the sunflower hovered a dark-blue apple-sized fireball.
*Hummm*
The fireball shot toward the bull, intercepting its path perfectly and heading straight for its humanoid face. Gugalanna reacted quickly, thrusting her right arm out to the side. The fireball struck her palm and immediately detonated in a brilliant burst of blue flames with a streak of purple, sending a wave of heat outward as it engulfed her completely.
Without pause, over thirty sunflowers bloomed across the wall around Rex, and more than seventy-five percent began firing rapid volleys of orange-yellow fireballs like machine guns—the remaining sunflowers launching blue fireballs every three seconds.
The barrage intensified the storm of blue fire engulfing the demi-spirit in a relentless cascade of heat and color, one that was as beautiful as it was dangerous.
Within the wall, Rex quickly opened a part of his Swampfire armor to pull out three mind potion—
"Pierce, spear of lightning!" A chant reached his ears. "Your envoy beseeches thee, Tonitrus! Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning—!"
'Shit.' Rex quickly pushed out of the hole he had been driven into just as a golden magic circle flared to life in front of Gugalanna's right palm within the blazing fire. Thrusting her right arm in the direction of its assailant, the spirit screamed;
"Thunder Ray!"
With a menacing hum, a thick lance of golden electricity appeared instantly before Rex's Swampfire-covered face.
[Iguazu Dash]
At the last moment, Rex vanished, reappearing over fifty meters away in midair just as the lightning ray struck the spot he'd just vacated. The wooden surface disintegrated instantly, and the adamantite wall behind it barely slowed the attack. Rex watched the lightning lance tear through the adamantite wall with a blank expression as he landed on the ground, skidding backward on all fours.
'This is…' Of course, he knew he was dealing with a spirit whose magic would be nothing to underestimate, but this surpassed even his expectations.
The lance of lightning faded into scattered ray golden sparks, electricity crackling around the newly formed four-meter-wide hole in the adamantite wall. Through it, he could see the destruction extending further beyond. The lance had managed to blast through two additional adamantite walls, only stopping after slamming into a fourth, leaving golden sparks of electricity crackling wildly across its surface.
'Damn.' He blinked.
Wasting no time, the plant over his mouth crumbled to ash and Rex shoved the three mind potions into his mouth without even opening them. He clenched his jaw, crushing the glass flasks between his teeth, and thanks to his high durability, the shards couldn't cut him.
After swallowing the liquid, he spat the broken glass onto the ground and slammed his palm onto the roots beneath him. A pulse of green energy spread out, and the destroyed roots rapidly regrew, reclaiming the walls and ground, sealing the hole on the wall, preventing his poison gas from escaping. New green flowers then bloomed across the room, releasing another wave of poisonous pollen into the air.
At that moment, the demi-spirit stepped out from the dying flames, her right palm up to the elbow covered in burns—especially her palm, which was scorched to the point of third-degree damage. Aside from that, the rest of her body remained completely unharmed.
Despite its adamantite-like durability, its flesh clearly had a lower boiling point. The blue fireball that would have barely marked the dungeon's adamantite walls had seriously scorched palm.
'A direct hit to its face would undoubtedly deal a lot of damage.' He thought as he noticed something new in her expression;
She had stopped smiling.
"Haha…HAHAHAHAHA!" Rex mocked the spirit openly, leaping into the air, propelled by bursts of flame from his feet. "LOL—LMFAO even~!" He laughed as he floated in the air with a flame, his swampfire mouth sealing back.
The bull roared in rage, giant globules of saliva spraying from its mouth as it charged, its humanoid upper half screaming in fury at the sudden turn of events. Abruptly, however, it halted mid-charge, skidding to a stop as its hooves ripped up the new wood he created.
'???' Rex watched in surprise as Gugalanna raised her injured arm to examine the burns.
Then, similar to the Black Goliath, blue particles began appearing around her wounds, healing them rapidly—though noticeably slower than the regeneration he had witnessed from that monster. And watching this, an oddly familiar scent reached his nose.
'My Blue Papilio Powder?' He instantly recognized it as something originating from his body. Scavenger confirmed his suspicion—it was indeed an ability now possessed by the creature. 'But how?'
It hadn't stolen it from him, that much is certain. It hadn't appeared on the spirit's status screen, so it wasn't a skill or magic but rather a physical property. Meaning, during the spirits creation they had managed to grant it his magic as a regenerative physical property.
'But how?' he wondered again. '...Is this what they've been using my dust for...?' A sharp wave of indignation surged through him.
How dare they turn his own magic against him?
Gugalanna seemed to sense his emotions, and an odiously pure smile graced its face.
"KAHAHAHAH!" she laughed again as the bull resumed its charge.
'Shit!' Rex snapped out of his daze, blasting fire from both his palms and feet to shoot sideways. The wind from the near-miss rocked his flight, but it wasn't enough to throw him off.
The bull slid to a stop after missing its charge, destroying the ground as Gugalanna began chanting. "Pierce, spear of lightning! Your envoy beseeches thee, Tonitrus! Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning—!"
It was a short chant, clearly meant for rapid use, but even so—this was too fast. She had finished it almost instantly, like it was only a one-word spell.
"—Thunder Ray!" A magic circle appeared in front of her left palm, which she thrust toward the flying Rex.
Another lance of pure lightning erupted, and Rex barely dodged with Iguazu Dash, the bolt tearing through another part of the chamber's adamantite wall. Disoriented by the burst of speed, and still midair, he struggled to regain control when another chant reached his ears—
"Pierce, spear of lightning! Your envoy beseeches thee, Tonitrus! Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning—Thunder Ray!" This time, she thrust her right palm forward, magic circle flaring.
He hadn't even stabilized before needing to dodge again—
"Queen of lightning—Thunder Ray!"
"SPAMMING BITCH!" Rex roared as Gugalanna laughed beautifully.
"—Thunder Ray!"
"—Thunder Ray!!"
"—Thunder Ray!!"
"—Thunder Ray!!"
"…Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning——!"
But at that moment, a blue fireball streaked from a sunflower across the room from a wall. Gugalanna's upper half was too focused on catching Rex with her magic to notice in time, and when she did, time seemed to slow as she tried to raise a hand to block it—but it was too late. The fireball slammed into her lower jaw, triggering an Ignis Fatuus.
The resulting explosion, a fusion of blue fire magic and the golden detonation of Thunder Ray's Ignis Fatuus, engulfed her upper half in a violent blast. Her screech barely cut through the explosion, joined by the enraged roar of the bull.
Rex took the opportunity to reorient himself, skidding backward across the floor, blood streaming from both nose and bloodshot eyes. He could barely stand, his legs trembling beneath him, a result of the repeated G-force from constant use of Iguazu Dash that had torn up his insides.
Some organs were even damaged—his heart included.
Wasting no time, he tossed two mind potions and two elixir into his mouth, biting down and spitting the shards aside. Then holding his hand out to the left, fingers positioned like he was gripping a shaft, wood began to grow and twist from his palms, spiraling together into a long pole.
The head grew next, forming into an oversized, halberd head, and the sheer amount of mind he used bringing its capability to the status of a second-class weapon.
"O steel baptized in the anvil's hymn, blade bound by oath of blood and iron—hearken!" He began chanting.