Chapter 85: King Solomon

Chapter 85: King Solomon

-----

“Welcome to my throne, tainted one.”

[The Final Boss of the Trial Dungeon: [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)] greets you!]

The moment I entered the throne, I was greeted with what I had already expected to see. King Solomon is now a statue.

His figure was much taller than his knights, and he had three pairs of wings, probably the highest rank an angel could attain aside from the Archangels, which apparently become constellations.

And well, the thing is...

He’s S-rank.

I was expecting something like this, but seeing it still makes me feel really uneasy. If I use all my trump cards, I’ve already fought and defeated beings that could be considered S-rank.

So why do I feel so much fear then?

Maybe because I’m alone? Those who always stood by my side, even Violet, gave me the strength to fight and push forward.

But without them, I feel strangely empty.

However, I know this is merely a trial.

I have to do my best and complete it.

“King Solomon,” I said. “I have come to end your suffering.”

“My suffering?” His face was distorted into one of anger. “After having come this far, destroying my eternal army and my eternal temple, you now say I am the one suffering from this?”

“You aren’t?” I asked. “Don’t tell me...”

“This is what I’ve always wanted.” Solomon smiled. “An eternal kingdom... eternal guards, eternal people! A world where everything remains still, where I can control everything! And what better than to convert them all into statues? Beautiful, silent, and always admiring and glancing at me! This is what a real kingdom should be like! This was my ideal world. And you came and shattered it all into pieces. Why? What do you desire out of me, tainted one?”

“I have been sent here to destroy you. At first, I wasn’t even aware of who you were or if you were the final boss. But after learning of this place’s story and after talking with the victims, I’ve learned why I came here." I sighed, smiling at him. “I’m here to serve your just desserts, bitch. Karma, pretty much.”

His face slowly distorted into anger. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t know why I was feeling lonely. All of those people I’ve freed, and that angel, Julio, and his little sister Gabriela, were there for me.

And they gave me enough of a reason to end this once and for all. In this ruined world devoid of life, I will give the poor souls that Solomon trapped for eternity the freedom they deserve.

And also, I’ll avenge them.

“Y-You... You’re merely a tainted soul! A putrid mortal! A monstrous creature! AN INSECT!” He roared with fury, pointing at me with his hand. “TAINTED! TAINTED! TAINTED!!!”

His eyes started to shine brightly, gathering a strange divine power from within!

[The [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)] has activated his [Celestial Eyes of Greed] Skill!]

[Whatever touches the rays coming from his eyes will instantly turn into a petrified statue!]

The two beams surged furiously, like two shining stars coming directly towards me. I instantly tried to avoid it, but the beams chased me down, growing closer and closer to my body!

“Become my eternal statue, you TAINTED fool!” Solomon laughed.

“The mirror!”

I quickly took out the mirror from my inventory and pointed it directly at the two beams. It was quite obvious what the mirrors’ ability was supposed to be for. Reflecting Solomon’s deadly cursed eyes.

[You have used [Gabriella’s Golden Mirror (A Rank)] to reflect the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed]!]

[The Magic Power of the Celestial Eyes of Greed rushes back to its owner, hitting his eyes with the equal force of magic power!]

[Uses Left: 4/5]

BOOOM!

“Uargh...!”

Solomon screamed in agony. As his eyes suddenly received the beams back, small pieces of stone fell from the wounds left behind, his eyes slowly beginning to regenerate as he glared at me with utter disbelief.

“Y-YOU... W- What sort of trick have you used to reflect my almighty eyes?!” He roared. “Ungh! I-I can’t use my ability?!”

[Due to having reflected the attack back into his eyes, the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed] Skill cannot be used for the next 30 seconds.]

There it is! My chance!

“M-My eyes... I can’t use their power! W-What is this?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” He screamed in fury, his hands grabbing and rubbing his eyes.

“RAAAAH!”

I rushed towards him, with Gram in one hand and my Dragon Tooth Dagger in the other, all while my Mana gathered with all force into the rest of my body, and then...

“King Solomon, it is time to pay for your sins! {Anubis’ Judgement}!”

Suddenly, it felt as if time itself had stopped momentarily. As a huge golden balance emerged in the middle of the air, both of our hearts were extracted from our chests and placed on the balance.

“W-What is happening?! This presence... the power of a constellation!" Solomon panicked.

“W-What is this?!” He groaned, quickly kicking me away furiously and with tremendous speed, unbefitting of his huge size and weight.

BAAAM!

“GUH...!” I ended up vomiting a mouthful of blood as I landed on the floor, but quickly stood up, glancing at him with a nasty smile. “Heh...”

“Poison? Do you think something like that could affect my perfected stone-made body?!” Laughed Solomon. “You’re too much of a fool, child!”

“I never intended for that anyway.” I smiled as he quickly noticed my Dragon Tooth Dagger incrusted between the cracks my sword had caused in one of his wings when he used them to defend against my initial attack.

“HUH?!”

BOOOM!

A huge explosion was followed by many smaller explosions. That poison was something I had used back then in my first dungeon against that one snake bastard, Combustion Venom!

Crack!

CRASH!

Two pairs of wings crumbled into the ground instantly; the power of the explosions was tremendous! It seemed that because I had already created some cracks, the explosions spread easily. His debuff to his stats, which also involved his defensive stats, worked in tandem as well.

The result was...

“Uargh! M-My beautiful wings!”

Solomon screamed in horror.

“I WON’T FORGIVE THIS!”

He boldly flew directly towards me, and I quickly realized he wasn’t being as bold; his eyes were shining brightly!

It’s coming!

I first tried to evade, moving to the left and hiding behind a large pillar, only for his eye beams to hit the pillar and shatter it into pieces.

BOOOM!

“DIEEE!”

His eye beams drew closer, only for them to be one more reflected by my mirror, which I had hidden inside of my inventory, giving me the advantage of surprising him, as he didn’t know when I could bring it out!

[You have used [Gabriella’s Golden Mirror (A Rank)] to reflect the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed]!]

[The Magic Power of the Celestial Eyes of Greed rushes back to its owner, hitting his eyes with the equal force of magic power!]

[Uses Left: 3/5]

CRASH!

The beams hit his eyes once more, making them crumble into pieces as they started to slowly regenerate once more...

“M-My eyes! URGH! You DETESTABLE child!”

[Due to having reflected the attack back into his eyes, the [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)]’s [Celestial Eyes of Greed] Skill cannot be used for the next 25 seconds.]

Wait, 25 seconds? The timing is going down!

I have to kill him as soon as possible!

“{Sunlight Blade}!!!”

I quickly charged recklessly against him, unleashing a barrage of sword attacks while my daggers flew around, hitting his entire body as I manipulated them with Violet’s threads!

Crack... crack...!

His entire body constantly gained more and more cracks, as Solomon desperately reflected using his huge Sword, Oblivion, but he was definitely overwhelmed, unable to defend himself with his wings anymore. The cracks spread across his body, growing larger and larger, as a bright divine light surged from the cracks!

Is this it?!

CRAAASH!

His entire body exploded into pieces as he couldn’t handle more, quickly crumbling apart. A huge amount of dust spread everywhere as I desperately looked around for his heart.

However, it was not there.

“You’ve really forced my hand... Tainted soul.”

Completely out of my expectations, shattering Solomon’s stone body didn’t kill him. In fact, it “freed” him. However, what remained below his stone body wasn’t flesh.

He resembled the faint silhouette of a six-winged angel made of pure golden light, with a bright golden jewel in the shape of a heart in the middle of his chest.

“Nobody has ever pushed me this far! I’ll have to end you, no matter what."

[The Final Boss of the Trial Dungeon: [Petrified Celestial King of Greed: Solomon (S Rank)] has been temporarily freed from his stone prison and transcended into his second form: {Divine Six-Winged Celestial Angel Spirit}!]

[All of his Offensive Stats have increased by +200%, his Speed Stats have increased by +100%, and his Defensive Stats have decreased by -90%!]

-----