SWNOVELXO Chapter 21: 21. Dragon
The stone golem seemed to sense his steeled resolve. Its crumbling body groaned as it rushed forward, like a charging truck made of granite.
『Rushing Thunder God! (A)』
Licht's body sparked with violet lightning as he dashed past the stone beast, his form flickering like a phantom.
Though primarily a sword technique, the name 『Rushing Thunder God』 made one thing clear:
Speed was its true essence.
Licht's blade whirled, trailing a streak of storming lightning with each and every motion.
Each strike sent tremors through his arm, but with every clash, more lightning was fed back into his body, intensifying his power.
By the time Licht delivered the third blow, his body locked up. His knee buckled slightly—he had hit his physical limit.
But that didn't matter as his "charging" was complete.
He stepped forward, his foot cracking the stone floor beneath him, and brought his sword down with a roar of momentum.
-Bang!
His blade shot forward like a blood-crazed shark, slashing and tearing through the crumbling stone exterior—until it finally pierced and shattered the golem's core.
As soon as the sound rang out—like glass shattering inside a grandfather clock—the giant stone body stuttered, then collapsed into lifeless rubble.
Hssss...
Licht finally exhaled, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Damn it…"
『Storm Chain Edge! (A+)』—a revolutionary technique that allowed the user to generate lightning mana with each strike, feeding it back into their body to increase power.But the technique's true potential depended entirely on the wielder's physique and endurance.
And Licht's body… was still far too weak.
He had barely lasted three strikes before he had to release all the energy building up inside him.Any longer, and his body might've collapsed under the strain.
When using his 「Infinite Copy Eyes (SSS)」, this issue had never existed.
In that transcendent state, controlling mana was as easy as breathing.
But now without that mystical skill, lightning mana, which once flowed like a calm stream, had turned into a wild, raging bull.
Licht looked down at his trembling hands and sighed.
He opened his backpack and pulled out a small, glowing red vial.
Anyone who'd ever played a video game would recognise it instantly:
A healing potion.
Though it didn't instantly restore injuries or health like in the gamified version of this world, it was still effective enough to stabilise wounds and support limited physical recovery.
Licht quickly gulped down the potion as a gentle warmth spread through his body. His aching muscles eased slightly, the spasms in his limbs beginning to fade.
Although Licht was slightly recovering, He still was shocked by how much effort it had taken just to defeat one golem.
"Just how much effort will it take to defeat all of them?" he muttered grimly.
As if in answer, a deep tremor echoed through the corridor.
Boom.
Heavy footsteps thundered in the darkness ahead. One by one, more decaying stone golems emerged—shadows taking shape, their massive frames shaking the ground with each step.
Licht clenched his jaw and reached into his bag, pulling out a few more glowing red vials. He gave a long, weary sigh.
"…It's gonna be a long night."
--
A short while later…
Licht stood over a pile of mangled stone bodies.
To be honest, the fight had been anything but glamorous.
It was chaotic and it was humiliating.
He'd had to sprint back and forth, covered in dust and disbelief, just to find enough time to chug another potion.
The sword he carried was decent—well-crafted, but still a fairly common weapon. The golems, though old, were the products of master craftsmen. Their hardened stone forms dulled and scratched his blade with every clash.
Despite this, Licht had won the brutal, grinding slugfest.
The trail of shattered cores and crumbling debris behind him was proof enough of that.
At last, he stood over what seemed to be his final opponent, its chest split open, the light in its eyes flickering out for good.
Huff… Huff…
Dragging his battered body forward, flashlight flickering in his grasp, Licht followed the corridor until it opened up into a massive chamber.
When he stepped through the archway, he couldn't help but pause.
Vast.
It was colossal.
Licht now stood at the edge of a ledge, staring out over an enormous pit that stretched down into shadow.
All along the stone walls, ancient torches burned with crimson flames. They crackled softly, casting eerie, flickering lights across the chamber. Despite who-knew-how-long they'd been burning, the flames showed no signs of fading.
But as intriguing as the ever-burning torches were, Licht's eyes couldn't be torn from what lay at the bottom of the pit.
Treasure.
Piles and piles of it.
A sea of gold. Jeweled chalices, cracked relics, glittering gemstones, armor adorned with forgotten crests—shimmering in the flickering red light like something out of a dream.
Licht felt himself leaning forward, spellbound.
Yes… this was the true nature of the dungeon.
It was not just a tomb of golems and traps but a vault. A hidden trove for storing untold riches
But as Licht stepped forward to get a better poo, the edge of the ledge beneath his foot gave way. A chunk of ancient stone crumbled and tumbled down the side of the massive crypt, hitting the sea of gold below with a metallic crash that echoed like thunder.
A moment later, the air shifted.
A heavy mist swirled upward from the treasure pile, coalescing into the shape of a colossal, wraith-like dragon.
It was massive, towering high above at an almost unbelievable height.
its form was spectral yet still had undeniable weight and physicality to it, Like cursed dream given form . its pale, ghostly body glimmered faintly with an ethereal cursed light.
And yet, its ferocity was anything but ethereal.
The behemoth was something spectral but at the same time equally physical,
it breathed.
Its chest rose and fall with an unnatural Rythm, each breath more a like a ripple in reality than a natural sound. Two glowing violet eyes on the dragon snapped open, and locked directly onto Licht.