Chapter 152: The Power of Soulayer

'...'

Soulayer was the first to take a step toward Stark, the water beneath his feet creating a small wave as it was infused with powerful aura.

The area around them was filled with tension.

'...'

Stark would have loved to immediately dash toward Soulayer in the hope of killing it quick, but no matter how much he thought about it, THAT thing was ready for any of his attacks, basically, he needed to find an opportunity and then deal the maximum amount of damage to it.

"SOUL STRIKE...!" and so before Stark could even finish thinking, Soulayer suddenly dashed toward the boy, closing the distance between in less than a second.

Some souls inside of the water emerged from below and placed themselves around the edges of the greatsword, as if covering it to give more power.

And they did, which is why it's called [Soul Strike].

~FWISH~

"INVINCIBLE DODGE!" Stark couldn't afford to try a [Perfect Dodge] with such a powerful attack as it was suicide, so he just rolled away, and the sword fazed right through him, surprising Soulayer.

A trail of white/green aura emitted from the sword as it swung, that aura was filled with the faces of the souls, all tortured.

'...' Soulayer didn't back down, though, he always liked to overwhelm his enemies before they could even do anything.

"AURA SMASH," wanting to takes2 advantage of that momentum, Stark sent two crimson fists at the dashing boss.

But...

"SOUL WALL!" Soulayer placed the tip of the sword on the water, then swung it upward.

~VRAM~

A wall of black water, filled with many souls again, appeared before him.

~BOOM, BOOM~

"-0! -0!"

The water, as well as the souls, received the damage and completely blocked the two crimson fists from reaching the boss.

"SHADOW STEP!" suddenly, Soulayer used this skill while still behind the wall.

But that was something Stark didn't know, so he just waited for the wall to go down to spot the boss.

~FWISH, VIOUM~

But once the wall of black water went down... Soulayer was nowhere to be seen?

'Huh?' Stark was confused, how could he possibly disappear out of nowhere...?

[Behind you...]

Soulayer was so precise and fast that even [Focus] took a few moments to notice where he was, and the moment it did, it warned Stark.

"...?!"

Stark turned his head, and saw that Soulayer was already there, his greatsword centimeters away from Stark's neck, the aura of the souls so close he himself could feel it.

Stark's pupils shook violently as time slowed down around him: that boss was too fast.

And it seemed to be the right call, as...

[Perfect Dodge!]

The world around Stark turned gray, and time slowed down so much that Stark could see Soulayer's sword faze through him thanks to the invincibility frames.

'...'

Right in front of him, only a few centimeters ahead, was Soulayer's determined and soulless gaze, watching the human, and even the trail of crimson aura coming out of the small hole of his helmet was slowed down.

'...!' and when he saw that, he figured a way that could make him do lots of damage.

Hitting Soulayer, even in this slow mode world, wouldn't do any type of relevant damage because of his sheer defense and HP pool, meaning that Stark would need to cause huge amounts of damage at once, enough to cause the [Dominated] status to the boss, or to at least cripple him.

But it didn't mean Stark couldn't do at least some damage...

~SPIN, KICK~

Using Soulayer's body as a platform, he used his knees to spin around and kick the boss in the chin while focusing his aura onto his legs.

"-42919!" surprisingly, the damage was still very high, or maybe it was because the chin was one of Soulayer's weaknesses?

"CRIMSON SPEARS," and while the boss was beginning to get sent upward because of the powerful kick, Stark summoned his three spears and sent them all toward it.

Respectively toward: its leg, torso, and... neck!

The first two spears hit the boss without any issues, and it didn't even try to defend them.

"-24726! -25012!"

But for the last...

"CRAKKARR~" it suddenly roared again, then placed one of its shadow armored arms in front of the jar holding the three green spheres.

"-12931!" it did less damage because of the armor which blocked most of the damage.

The spear, although it was headed toward the neck, was still going to have to destroy the jar to pass through.

But that meant...

'Is that jar important...?' Stark's eyes widened and he mischievously smiled.

Stark wanted to make use of everything to win... and this was jackpot.

~SPLASH~

Soulayer dropped stylishly onto the ground, then immediately checked the jar and the three spears, his expression, although it wasn't visible, softening when he made sure they were safe.

But that calm was only but temporary, as the moment he checked, his turned his head back to Stark, and the aura around him became ten times as strong.

It was both crimson, but it also had the faces of souls repeatedly going upward on it.

He truly deserved his name: The Bearer of Souls.

And now that he was mad... it wasn't fun time anymore.

"REAP SPIRIT, ETERNAL DARKNESS," these weren't his ultimate skills, yet they were just as terrifying.

Stark just smiled as he positioned himself again, ready to take it all, plus, he already had a plan in mind to take care of that boss.