Entering the gate, Shiro was not overwhelmed by any sources of light or loud sound. It was completely silent and devoid of light. Nothing could be seen, not even her own hands.
“Well it’s not the most desirable but at least my eyes aren’t blinded by the might of the sun.” Shiro shrugged as she preferred this kind of dungeon instead since she didn’t have to shield her eyes.
Strangely enough, there was not a single notification from her system as she couldn’t even see that anymore.
Without the familiar view of her system interface, Shiro could see that this sort of situation would be quite traumatic for someone. Surrounded with silence on all sides and their system couldn’t be seen. It would make one think that they were already dead.
However, this was nothing to Shiro.
Closing her eyes, not that it did anything in this kind of environment, Shiro summoned her sword and released her killing intent. However, just as she did this, she felt danger all around her.
‘SH*T!’ Cursing in her mind, Shiro immediately backed off and slashed towards the points that she felt danger from.
*KISH KISH!!!
Hearing the sound of two metal like objects hitting one another, Shiro knew that she hit her mark but the chances of it actually doing something was slim.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro prepared herself for the next attack but nothing happened.
Tilting her head, Shiro wondered if the monster only reacted to her killing intent.
Stepping forward a few times, Shiro couldn’t feel danger any more which only served to give her a sense of unease since she knew danger was right in front of her! But there was no killing intent, no intent to harm her nor was there the sound of it breathing or moving around. Everything was silent.
Frowning slightly, Shiro decided to release her killing intent once more as danger surged around her.
Summoning her spear, she tried to parry one of the attacks but the force sent her crashing across the ground and into a wave.
“KUAH!!!” Coughing out some blood, Shiro could feel the force travelling through her body as she quickly drank some medicine.
‘So I know the monster so far is very sensitive to killing intent. But with the lack of vision, I don’t know how big he is nor do I know how big the room is. I need a way to ‘see’ in this darkness without making the monster aggressive.’ Shiro thought with a frown while forcing herself to stand up.
‘I guess the first step is to map out this room manually first.’
Placing her right hand against the wall, Shiro tried her best to walk silently but it was kind of hard as the heels of her boots would clack against the ground.
Feeling her hair stand on end as if someone was watching her, Shiro tried her best to keep her breathing even and calmed her mind.
After walking around for a while, she had finally mapped out where the walls are and so far it was a circle with a radius of roughly 400 meters. As for the height, she didn’t know just yet but from the size of this boss room she could guess that the boss was rather large.
Leaning against the wall, Shiro was in a stalemate of sorts against the monster even though that wasn’t the case in reality.
So far, she had experimented with releasing her aura to do the same but the monster was highly sensitive to any kind of aura that she used. If not for her mastery of suppressing her aura, she would have had to face the monster’s continuous bombardment of attacks.
Crossing her arms, she had a frown on her face since this was a difficult fight. Since she had no energy signal right now, the monster couldn’t track her either.
With neither of them being able to track one another, they were in a situation where they couldn’t do anything until they revealed their intent to the other.
‘No wonder Caedus said that only when I break past the boundary can I pass. However, unlike me, he didn’t have the leisure to just sit around without attacking. Once I get past the boundary, I’ll be able to sense the area around me without even releasing my killing intent. It’ll be like me being able to access the rift. If I can do the same with this boundary, I’ll be able to take the initiative in fighting this boss.’ Shiro furrowed her brows.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro wondered if the monster could sense sound. When she arrived, she had talked to herself and made some noise but he didn’t attack so there wasn’t much she could guess from that.
Thinking about it for a moment, she decided to summon her spear and throw it towards the centre of the room.
Staying silent, she perked her ears up and listened carefully.
*Ping!
Just as she heard the sound of her spear hitting against something, she heard the sound of the spear getting knocked back.
Feeling danger, she quickly ducked down.
*CRACK!!!!
Hearing the sound of her spear stabbing into the wall, Shiro grabbed it with her hand and pulled it out.
‘Probably shouldn’t throw it into the centre where he might be if I’m seeing if he could sense sound.’ Shiro facepalmed at her own stupidity before throwing her spear to the side. However, unlike before, there were no movements so Shiro could guess that the monster only really reacted to the sense touch and intent which was pretty much the same as her.
‘Wait… is the monster on the edge of the boundary too?’ Shiro wondered to herself as this meant that they were essentially equal if you if one ignored the fact that their physical power differed greatly.
Narrowing her eyes, she tried to remember everything she knew about the only person to have ever passed this test.
In addition to this, she tried to remember everything that Caedus had told her.
She needed to be able to tap into this state naturally like breathing. Like the reflection of the water, she needed to be able to ‘see’ everything without disturbing the surface at all. Only when she saw what she wanted to hit, does she strike and when that happens everything reacts.
However, she couldn’t use her energy or else the enemy will find her. She couldn’t use her intent either as the enemy was sensitive to this feeling.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro sighed heavily and sat down. She was going to compile all of the information she knew and analyse it slowly.
###
“She actually passed.” Quella cheered happily with the other sisters who were also excited since she should have a good chance to pass right? She had two divinities which makes her essentially the strongest human in the forgotten realms.
While they didn’t know the details in regards to the Tower of Nyx, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
While they were cheering, both Tricia and Beril returned.
“Where’s Shiro? Or has she passed already?” Beril asked curiously seeing the empty area with clear signs of battle slowly being repaired by the tower.
“Shiro managed to defeat the final guardian and has now entered the tower.” Quella nodded her head as Beril smiled.
“Mn, that’s good.”
“Is Mr Tenma going to attempt the skip test now?” Tricia asked as she glanced towards Tenma who flinched a little when his name was called.
“Mn, I just need a moment to digest the information.” He nodded.
However, his reply caused both Beril and Quella to frown since Shiro had completed the skip without prior preparation and yet even after Shiro essentially showed him the way, he was still hesitant? What kind of hero was this?
“Say sis, how did we even get a hero like him anyways?” Quella whispered over to Beril’s ears.
“Who knows. I wasn’t there when he was picked. If they picked him on talent alone I guess that’s understandable but his personality is rather unfit. I’ll have to go back and ask about which sister chose him.” Beril whispered back as Quella nodded her head.
[They’re speaking about how unfit you are to be a hero hahaha. And I have to say, I agree.] The voice laughed.
‘Shut up! She’s not normal. Did you see how she fights? She’s crazy.’ Tenma retorted as the voice only laughed.
[That’s why I agree with them. You’re spineless. However, just leave it to me, I’ll help you pass the skip. Whether or not you can pass it is down to how well you follow my instructions.] The voice said as Tenma nodded and walked towards the skip.
Narrowing their eyes at him, both Tricia and Beril kept their attention on everything he did.
