Chapter 161: Zephyix, Instrument of Torture

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING… IN MY COURT?"

The undead woman's voice boomed across the chamber, echoing off the walls and mountains all around.

"Ngh…" Neither Nadeshiko nor I could even move, forced into a kneeling position under this entity's pressure.

"… HM. I SMELL MY SISTERS' BLOOD ON YOU. TELL ME, LIVING SOUL, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?"

"We… put them to rest…" I mustered out weakly, struggling to even talk.

"PUT THEM… TO REST?"

The woman appeared confused, so I laid it out in a clearer way for her.

"They… you… you're all already dead… yet you're being kept conscious in a place like this… a chamber of eternal torture."

"HM."

The terrifying woman fell silent for a short while, then continued.

"ANSWER ME THIS, LIVING SOUL. ARE YOU A FRIEND OR ENEMY?"

"Neither," I replied with a smile. "I am… your salvation."

"… I SEE."

Suddenly, the woman lifted her hands and began chanting in some ancient language I didn't understand. In an instant, we were shrouded in green light and warped away.

*****

"Mmn… where are we…?" Hina-nee asked, looking around in a daze.

"You got teleported too?" I blinked in surprise.

"Yeah. I don't know how though…"

"This place…" Furuwa's eyes widened as she glanced at our surroundings. "I've read about this at the Qilian Library… The Pit of Sorrow, home to Zephyix, Instrument of Torture."

"That's quite the ominous name," I noted. "Though… I suppose it kind of fits."

We currently stood in the middle of a large platform that was raised up from the ground. The platform had 4 corners that were each elevated using stairs, and at the top of each elevated section was a scarlet tower just like the ones we've seen before.

The left one was empty and so was the right. But the one facing us was not — there stood the 'queen' who had talked to us just now, stone eyes seeming to see through anything.

"WELCOME… TO THE PIT OF SORROW."

"So you were right…" I murmured.

"You were doubting me?!" Furuwa cried.

"YOU CLAIM TO BE MY SALVATION. BUT DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES, I WONDER?"

As if on cue, we all heard a sudden noise behind us and quickly spun around.

"Good lord…"

Before us stood a colossal knight made of obsidian, with glowing green veins tracing through its body that converged in a single eye on its face. Within its hand was a massive greatsword, even bigger than the one I had salvaged from the other Witch.

"Grrr…" The knight breathed out of its mouth made of rock, letting out grey gas that looked like steam.

"THAT, LIVING SOUL, IS WHAT KEEPS ME HERE. IF YOU ARE MY SALVATION… THEN DEFEAT HIM, AND FREE ME FROM THIS CAGE."

The 'King' from the altar, huh…

I quickly ran an Inspect on the massive knight.

[Name: ???]

[Race: ???]

[Level: 75]

[STR: 1000]

[AGI: 100]

[INT: 0]

[DEX: 500]

[MAG: 1000]

[LUC: 0]

1000 STR and 1000 MAG… you've gotta be kidding me, right?

Suddenly, a long yellow bar suddenly appeared at the bottom of my field of view along with a string of text below it.

[——————————————]

[Zephyix, Instrument of Torture]

"What the hell?! Is that this thing's HP bar?" Furuwa cried out in shock, having seen it as well.

"This has never happened before when fighting other enemies!" Hina-nee shouted in a panic. "Could it be… this is a special kind?"

"… Yeah," I replied quietly. "He's not just any enemy. He's a boss — and a major one at that."

*****

'Blade Barrage.'

Leaping up into the air, I unleashed a storm of explosive knives onto the massive knight, before landing back on the ground once more.

BOOM!

The knives detonated all at once, but the knight didn't seem injured at all. I glanced down at his HP bar and saw that my attack did no more than a mere sliver. Not even 1%.

His obsidian body walked straight out of the smoke as if nothing had happened, then slammed the floor with all his might.

CRASH!

"Tch-!" I quickly dodged out of the way. Luckily, this guy's AGI stat was only 100, meaning he was pretty clunky. If I could just hit his eye again like what I did with the other Witch…

"Guys, distract him, let me try something!" I yelled, circling behind the knight.

"Roger!" Furuwa and Hina-nee joined forces, aiming for the green veins on the creature's legs. Meanwhile, Nadeshiko swung her scythe at his sword, hoping to pry it out of his hand.

Not wasting this opportunity, I jumped up onto the knight's head while he was busy distracted by the other three.

"Take… this!"

I plunged Dokujin straight into the creature's single glowing green eye, as hard as I could.

"GRAHHHHH!" The knight roared and shook his head violently, throwing me off.

"K-Kuh…"

I coughed up some blood from the impact. This guy was no joke… if my STR stat was lower, I may have died there. I then glanced at the monster's HP bar and saw that it went down by quite a bit.

'Okay, good… now then… Corrupt!'

'…'

'What…?'

I was hoping to get it to stab itself like I did with the other witch, but this guy wasn't affected at all.

"The Corruption isn't working," I said to the others, getting back to my feet and wiping the blood off my mouth. "But I did find out its weakness. Everyone, target the eye!"

"On it!" Hina-nee turned invisible using Vanishing Steps, then suddenly materialized a bow out of nowhere and shot it directly towards the knight's eye.

"GRRR!"

The creature attempted to block using its greatsword, but the arrow somehow phased staight through it and struck its eye. My jaws dropped in shock at the amount of damage that did. The knight was almost dead, with only about 20% of its HP remaining.

"Hina-nee… what skill was that…?"

"Void Arrow," she replied, gently landing back on the ground as the knight roared in fury and staggered backwards a few steps. "It can go through any obstacles and only hit the part I want it to hit."

"Huh… that's usef-"

"Look out, Kaze!" Furuwa called out right before it was too late.

I quickly jumped out of the way just as fire erupted where I was just standing.

"GRAHHH!"

The knight screamed in rage as its veins turned from green to red, signaling this was his final stand. He spewed fire out of its mouth at the four of us, instantly engulfing the arena in tall flames. We were forced to each back out onto one of the four elevated platforms.

"Tch… what now…?" I muttered, trying to figure out a solution. Magic, perhaps? No, that's too easily blocked… I don't have any Marksman weapons, and Hina-nee just used a powerful ranged ability like that… I doubt she has another one ready. My plan now was to use the Essence Arts I just unlocked, but-

Suddenly, my thoughts were cut off.

"STAND BACK, LIVING SOUL. YOU HAVE DONE MORE THAN ENOUGH."

Above me, the final Tortured Witch, the Queen stood. She clasped her stone palms together as a powerful green energy began forming in them, so bright that I had to cover my eyes.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME WE CUT THESE TIES, ZEPHYIX."

Slowly, she pulled her hands away from one another, revealing a green orb of light between them.

"MAY YOU REST IN PIECES."

As the knight turned his head, a surging beam of light shot out of the orb and straight into its eye. It traveled faster than light, and there was no way to block it.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The knight screamed and roared, dropping its blade with a loud crash, but there was nothing it could do now. I watched as what was left of its HP bar vanished in a single instant, and the obsidian creature began crumbling into pieces.

"I… LOVED… YOU…" The knight mustered out, right as he completely faded away.

The queen closed her eyes.

"IT IS TIME."

Her body too began splitting apart, chunks of rock falling off and away from one another.

"Wait! You can't just steal my kill and XP like that then die!" I shouted in disappointment. How many levels would I have gained from killing that guy…? Oh, man, my heart aches just thinking about it.

"THANK YOU, LIVING SOUL. YOU TRULY ARE… OUR SALVATION."

The queen's body crumbled to dust completely, rendering the entire room silent. The flames in the center of the platform dimmed away shortly, and the four of us gathered around where a chest had spawned in.

[Tr̛i̧al ̶ơf B̧roken̶ Hea̢ŗt̵s ͞—̀ ͠C̵ómp͘l̴ete͘.]

"Trial of Broken Hearts, huh…?" I murmured thoughtfully. "Looks like this Pit of Sorrow… it has a deeper backstory than I thought. But if this place exists in a book from the Qilian Library… why is it now a Vault?"

"Stop worrying about that and take a look at what we all just got," Furuwa said with a smirk as she glanced down at her inventory.

"This is… quite amazing," Hina-nee mused, eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Fufu~ how do I look, darling~?" Nadeshiko asked as she twirled around seductively, winking and licking on her own finger.

She had changed armor sets just now. From the normal Deceiver set she had on, to this mainly red and black, somewhat revealing armor set. It was made of rusted metal and generally wouldn't exactly be considered beautiful, but had a certain air to it that appealed to some.

"Hm… let's see here."

I walked up to the chest and opened it up.

[Would you like to store the items?]

[Yes/No]

Naturally, I tapped on 'Yes'.

[Obtained Casque of Torture x1]

[Obtained Cuirass of Torture x1]

[Obtained Leggings of Torture x1]

[Obtained Socks of Torture x1]

[Obtained Greaves of Torture x1]

[Obtained Mark of Zephyix x1]

[Obtained Ring of Torture x1]

[Obtained Gloves of Torture x1]

[Obtained Beyond the Grave (Daggers) x1]

"Oho… interesting."