[Brain Consumed: Lunar Devastator (Level 82)]
[Experience Awarded]
[You have leveled up! 23 >> 33]
[Strength +90, Speed +100, Vitality +100, Magic +70, Resistance +50]
[Skill Upgraded: Divine Magic Affinity I >> Divine Magic Affinity II]
[New Skill Acquired: Divine Blast I]
[2 Trait Points Awarded]
That monkey had a big brain, a big, beautiful brain, and Chloe couldn’t help the deeply satisfied grin that spread across her face as she stood there. She was happy to bask in the simple, undeniable truth that said brain was now exactly where it belonged, which was inside her stomach.
Chloe stood for a bit, still savoring the aftertaste as she ran her tongue over her teeth, replaying the whole experience in her head. Getting into the skull had taken a bit of effort, but not that much since parts of the skull were already heavily damaged.
She had cracked it open with a few solid hits, pried it apart with her hands, and then just leaned in, scooping and tearing into the soft mass inside. And of course, she completely ignored the mess as it smeared across her hands and mouth while she ate her fill.
She did get some memories from the monkey, but it was all pretty boring. Basically just some replays about how the monkey totally smacked some poor adventurers to the ground a couple decades ago.
But as nice as the brain was, for something that big, she really hadn’t gotten as many skills as she felt she deserved, which honestly felt a little insulting the more she thought about it. Because seriously, what was all that brain even doing if not storing useful abilities for her to take? Still, it wasn’t like it had been a complete waste.
She had gotten a lot of levels out of it, more than enough to make the whole thing worthwhile. That mattered more the longer she thought about it, especially since it meant she was getting closer to her next evolution, which was easily the most exciting part of all this even if the skill count had been a bit disappointing. Also, Chloe did get some Trait points, which she planned to save up and spend on a super special trait once she had even more points.
And besides, it wasn't like she didn't get anything from that brain. Chloe got a lot of levels, a skill upgrade, and more importantly, a brand new skill: Divine Blast.
She let the words sit there for a second, her grin slowly returning as her imagination kicked in, because if she had to guess, and she was very good at guessing, it was probably some kind of scaled-down version of that massive laser the monkey had fired earlier. And even if it was scaled down, that still meant it was a giant beam of destruction, which was very cool.
“Oh this is gonna be so fun,” she said, her grin widening as she walked off and looked for a place to test things.
She quickly picked out one of the few trees that had somehow survived the earlier chaos. She then stepped back several paces to give herself enough space and prepared to attack.
Chloe adjusted her stance at once, planting her feet firmly against the ground as she turned her body slightly to the side, one hand pulling back while the other extended forward with her fingers spread wide, her entire pose strikingly similar to the fighters she used to play in video games as a kid.
“Okay wait, no, this is important,” she muttered under her breath, making a few small adjustments to her footing and posture as if fine-tuning the pose would somehow make the attack stronger.
A faint glow began to gather in her hands before slowly growing brighter. The glow sharpened and condensed as more and more of it gathered into a single ball.
And then, Chloe let it go. A beam of condensed light burst forward from her hand in an instant, shooting straight ahead and hitting the tree dead center.
A perfectly round hole appeared straight through the trunk, faintly glowing as the beam punched cleanly out the other side, leaving a tunnel of empty space where solid wood had been just moments before.
Soon, a cracking sound followed as the tree gave way under its own weight, and then, with a long creak, it began to tilt before finally collapsing. Chloe lowered her hand slowly, staring at the result for a second. Yes! This has to be one of the coolest things I can do now.
Chloe kept staring at the fallen tree for another second, her grin slowly stretching wider as the reality of what she had just done settled in. She bounced a little on her feet and immediately decided she needed to do that at least one more time.
She picked another tree and shuffled back into position with far less care this time. It was time to fire off another lazer. The glow gathered in her hand again, though this time it flickered unevenly at first, the light pulsing in before finally settling as she forced it together.
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“C’mon, c’mon…” she muttered.
She fired another beam of light, but this time it didn’t come out clean. It tore through the tree in a rough way instead of slicing neatly through it, sending splinters flying everywhere instead of leaving behind the smoother hole she had made before. This new hole didn't really satisfy Chloe, so she decided to try one more time.
The third shot came out much stronger as it shot forward with enough force to punch straight through a tree and keep going, drilling cleanly through another one behind it before finally fading, leaving two smoking holes lined up in a straight line. After that, though, things started to get messy.
The next few attempts changed in strength and control, with some beams coming out clean, while others sputtered at the start or came out thinner than she expected, forcing her to adjust mid-shot or just deal with a weaker result. She kept going anyway, pushing through the inconsistency as she tried to get a better feel for it, but the strain began to build with each use.
By the sixth beam she fired, Chloe winced as the strain of firing off those Divine Blasts really started to get to her. She decided that she had enough of firing lasers for now.
It probably had something to do with her divine magic affinity not being that high yet, which was honestly kind of annoying, because she wanted to spam this. But hey, she'd probably get to do that more in the future.
Soon, Chloe's wings faded as she stretched her arms slightly and glanced around. The giant monkey was dead, which meant there had to be an exit somewhere.
It took her a while, mostly because Chloe kept getting distracted. She circled the clearing at her own pace, occasionally crouching down to poke at anything that looked even remotely suspicious, like a half-burnt stump or a weirdly shaped rock, only to then move on without a second thought. At one point she spent a solid minute staring at a crooked tree because it “felt important,” before shrugging and walking away. Eventually, though, she found something that actually did look like a doorway, half-hidden around some trees.
It wasn’t a normal door, not even close. Thick roots twisted together, weaving into each other to form a natural archway that was pretty nice to look at, in a weird foresty kind of way. Chloe didn’t think about it any further than that, because of course she didn’t, and just walked straight forward as she knew that she needed to get a move on and explore the rest of the dungeon.
The moment she stepped through, she was back inside the dungeon proper. And then she immediately went back to wandering.
Chloe tried her best to remember the route that led to the sun boss's room. Along the way, she occasionally smacked things just because they were there, knocking loose stones from the walls or kicking at random debris with absolutely no purpose.
Eventually, though, something changed. She slowed slightly as she stepped into a wider hallway, her nose scrunching as a wave of warmth brushed against her face, the temperature rising just enough to be noticeable.
Chloe kept walking until the passage opened up into a massive chamber, and Chloe immediately stopped, eyes widening just a bit as she took it all in. It looked less like a room and more like some kind of underground cave, the ceiling arching high above with rock formations hanging down, while below, the ground broke apart into stone ledges surrounded by rivers of molten magma.
The magma glowed a deep, angry orange, bubbling and shifting as heat radiated off it. Here and there, bursts of flame flared up from cracks in the ground, hissing and crackling before dying down again. And moving through the area were none other than fire elementals.
Chloe stared at them for a second. Oh wait, I remember these guys!
A laugh slipped out of her as recognition clicked into place, because yeah, she totally remembered this. One of her first fights ever had been against a fire elemental, back when she was still going after that Luther guy. That was back when things were simpler and she was, well… still kinda bad at everything. These fire elementals looked a lot scarier than the one Chloe fought before though.
Each one stood over twice her height, with bodies formed from thick, flowing magma. Their bodies resembled knights, with heavy plating sculpted from cooled, blackened crust that constantly split apart at the seams. Their heads were shaped like helmets, and every step they took left behind faint, glowing footprints that slowly faded as the stone cooled again.
Each of them carried a different weapon, and none of them looked even a little bit friendly. Some held massive fiery greatswords while others carried long spears or heavy halberds formed from condensed fire. The heat coming off those weapons warped the air around them, making everything shimmer.
One of the taller elementals dragged its halberd across the ground as it walked, the tip scraping against the ground with a slow, grating sound. Wherever it passed, it carved a glowing line into the ground, cracks spreading outward from the mark as molten heat seeped into the rock, only for it to cool and darken again a few seconds later like nothing had happened. Another stood near a bubbling pool of magma, lifting its weapon before slamming it down again for some reason.
As cool as they were though, these fire elementals were guarding the place, and that meant Chloe had to get through them. Because there was these large doors at the end that she wanted to get to. So, she went in deeper, fingers twitching as sparks of electricity began to flicker around her hand.
Then, she snapped her hand forward, and a chain of lightning burst out in a sharp, crackling arc, splitting midair into multiple branches as it lashed toward three of the nearest elementals at once. However, the three elementals reacted almost instantly.
Each of them raised a hand and created flame shields in front of them to block the lightning. Electricity crawled across the surface of the shields, hissing and spitting as it tried to push through, but the fire held, bending and absorbing the force before finally dispersing it into the air in a burst of fading light. When it was over, the shields collapsed.
Chloe stared at them for a moment, her expression going flat as the last sparks of her lightning fizzled out against their shields. “You guys are gonna be annoying, aren’t you?”
The three elementals she had just attacked turned toward her at the same time. One lowered its halberd, angling the burning blade forward as if preparing to skewer her, while another lifted its greatsword over its shoulder.
Chloe watched them come closer, and figured it was time to try out her new move. She planted one foot back while her other foot slid forward just enough to steady her stance. Light started to gather in her hands, growing stronger with each passing second. Let's see you block this!