Chapter 196 Beyond The...?



'On an Olga... Standing... On an Olga...'

Images of Zephyr and Raven passed through Mark's mind.

'If I want to get strong, I have to...!'

"MARK!" Elisa shouted as she extended a hand towards him.

By this time, her feet were in the air already.

Mark stared at the hand extended to him, and reached.

A second too late.

'Wha-'

His lips moved, but she couldn't hear the words uttered.

With the Moonlit Feline between her arms, Elisa was blown off and swallowed by the blizzard.

...

"That fucking..." She whispered. " You okay...?"

In a pit of snow, Elisa and the Moonlit Feline lay.

Cough-

A drop of blood went down Elisa's face.

"A typhoon with that kind of power... Simply from moving around..."

The two had been blown away from the Olga's back.

As if they were leaves, the blizzard moved them around and around.

Using the Wind, Elisa could lessen the impact of the fall, but that also meant allowing the blizzard to move them around more easily.

During the descent, she kept the Moonlit Feline protected between her arms.

Even when hitting the ground, she purposefully turned around to land on her back.

"Tsk... That's not even the worst of it..." Elisa whispered as she slowly sat up.

Most of the damage had been avoided thanks to the spherical barrier of wind she had cast.

Elisa raised her gaze, and so did Krista.

The pit of snow at the bottom of which they were, was about five meters deep and had been created by the impact of the spherical barrier hitting the ground.

"We should leave. If those Skeletons encircle us on the surface..."

Krista nodded and turned away.

Using her Ice Magic, multiple spikes were created.

Pierce-

"A staircase... How nice..." Elisa whispered before coughing again.

A minute later, they stood on the surface once more.

"Shit... What do we do, Krista? What do we do?" Elisa repeated absent-mindedly.

The fall had left her slightly dazed.

Lost in the endless blizzard, they had no idea where he was.

They didn't have a map either.

The endless blizzard stared at them.

"North... Where the fuck is north...?" Elisa whispered.

Krista lay on the snow.

"Are you serious?"

The Moonlit Feline did not react.

"We have no way of finding him... No way of knowing where we are... Or where we're going... And you're just...?"

Krista wasn't too worried.

Meanwhile,

'FUUCK!' 

Mark was holding on for dear life.

'I'm killing it... No matter what. I'm killing it... I'm Devouring it!'

The snow that covered the ground had been blown off, leaving the Olga's white pelt for all to see.

Holding onto the Dark Corrupting Spear embedded into the gigantic Monster's body tightly, Mark did his best to fight back against the wind.

With each movement of the Olga's fins, the blizzard seemed to move.

'Just how big is this thing?'

Even though Mark was standing on top of it, an outsider would have had trouble noticing him.

'I've never seen something... Something so...!'

Mark was forced to lower his body and get on one knee.

The wind was merciless, and he was starting to realize that as ice started forming at the tip of his horns.

Would it freeze him to death? Mark doubted that thanks to his Cold Resistance Passive Skill, but the idea remained in his mind.

'Should I jump off...? This is...'

He relaxed his grip over the Dark Corrupting Spear slightly.

"NO!" Mark shouted suddenly as he tightened his grip over it once more. "I might not... Get another chance. If I can kill this... If I can Devour... Something like this...!" He whispered to himself.

The Olga's body was at an angle.

Which meant that Mark, too, was standing at an angle.

'It's going up... If I want to kill it, I'll have to go for its head and eyes. Otherwise...'

But how could he do that, when letting go of the Dark Corrupting Spear meant being blown away?

When one wrong step meant being blown off?

'How to...'

Mark suddenly remembered.

It was obvious, as he had seen it many times.

"This is..." Four limbs similar to spider legs left Mark's lower back. "So freaking amazing."

Their sharp ends immediately pierced the ground. Or rather, the Olga's incredibly thick fur.

With those planted in, Mark felt a lot more balanced and like it was less likely for him to be blown off.

"Alright. Now..."

Mark also remembered Levi and Fiery.

Did you climb all the way up-

Using your hands and feet like ice axes-

Good one. I completely forgot that you couldn't fly-

Their first time on the Dungeon's Final Floor.

A chuckle immediately escaped Mark's mouth.

And that chuckle quickly turned into all-out laughter.

Almost crazed laughter.

"Using my claws wouldn't work. That Growing Yeti's fur was too thick for me to slash or pierce properly. There's no way I could pierce this...!"

Mark moved his right hand away from the Corrupting Dark Spear.

He could immediately feel that a difference in posture and stance was necessary.

The Evolving Monster took its time adapting properly.

"Inventory!" Mark called out.

A Timeworn Elven Dagger appeared in his right palm.

'This might be too small, but it's the sharpest thing I have. Much sharper than a spear made of bones could be!'

Mark lowered his body even further.

He was basically laying flat on his stomach, as he extended his right arm as far as possible in front of him.

Pierce-

There was no blood.

And as he had expected, no change in the Olga's movements or behavior.

Mark pulled himself closer to the Timeworn Elven Dagger planted forward.

Something pulled him backwards.

He stopped moving for a bit, and focused on his sharp limbs.

'I need to advance while constantly moving them at the same time... Like a rope holding me in place or something.'

Mark chuckled as the limbs out of his lower back pierced the Olga's fur once more, in a way that would allow him to move forward.

'I need to move...'

With all his might, he focused on the sharp limbs and on the hand holding the Timeworn Elven Dagger.

'Like a spider.'

Mark slowly relaxed his grip over the Dark Corrupting Spear.

A couple of seconds later, he let go of it.

"Perfect..." He whispered. 

With his left hand, Mark took hold of the Olga's fur.

He pulled himself forward until the Timeworn Elven Dagger in his hand was close to coming into contact with his shoulder.

It was time to move the dagger further.

'I can't hold onto its hair alone... It's silky and wet due to the wind and ice...'

Mark raised his empty left hand to the side.

Dark Corrupting Spear-

He reached as far as possible forward, and planted it.

'Good. Let's keep going!'

As one might expect, the previous Dark Corrupting Spear had disappeared upon being let go of.

Or rather, it had turned into the Dark Corrupting matter it was made out of, and entered the Olga's body.

Of course, Mark didn't expect it to show any effect.

The Olga's size made him look like an ant.

Which meant that much, much more Corruption would be needed for it to even have any kind of effect.

Mark pulled himself forward, and a third Dark Corrupting Spear was created.

'Let's go... For its head...'

And of course, he planned on letting much, much more Corruption enter the Olga's body.

The smaller the enemy, the stronger and quicker the Corruption is.

But in the end, Corruption remains a form of "Poison". A form of "Poison" that is, admittedly, very different, but that, nevertheless, grows stronger the more of it is used.

The first step to using a Poison well, is not letting the Poisoned realize that it has been Poisoned.

Or in Mark's case, not letting the Corrupted realized that it has been Corrupted, or is being Corrupted.

In front of a Monster with such size, this wasn't a complicated task.

'Just a bit more... Just a bit more...' Mark repeated himself.

Despite climbing and climbing, he still couldn't see an end to the Olga's body.

He still couldn't see the extremity of that body.

Its head still seemed far, far away.

The next second, the ground below shook powerfully.

Mark braced himself and took a deep breath.

'The air is getting...'

Fwoosh-

'Thinner and thinner!'

The next second, Mark's eyes widened.

He raised his gaze.

His whole body shivered slightly.

"That..."

Riding the flying Olga, he had gone up and up for a while.

Until the air had grown too thin for comfort.

"..."

His mind went blank.

Mark had left the blizzard.

The angle at which the Olga kept its body lessened, until it was parallel with the ground.

'...'

The view from above the blizzard.

Mark stared upwards, and he couldn't look away.

For the first time since he was Reborn, he could see it.

For the first time in who knows so long, he could look at it.

Without even meaning to do so, Mark extended a hand towards it.

The dark sky of a starry night.