L.E. Miranda
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SSR - Book 2 Chapter 71: Improvement
🕑 Added 2025-07-10 00:59:45 +0000 UTCRylan took deep breaths as he looked at the four Golems far ahead in front of him.
They were all perfectly shaped like humans, two males and two females. Each of them had ten wings on their backs, made of metal feathers intricately woven together. At the same time, he expanded his senses to cover the entire room he was in. In terms of appearance alone, it wasn’t much different from all the other rooms. Nevertheless, it was much more massive, being hundreds of meters wide and over two hundred meters high. At the farther end, as usual, were the stairways leading to more of the labyrinth’s paths. This time, there were only two possible paths.
Rylan narrowed his eyes.
I’m close to the end.
Letting out a breath, he looked back at the Golems, which were already readying themselves to attack him again. One ‘male’ and one ‘female’ were flying, while the other two were on the ground. As if on cue, the two Golems on the ground started running toward him.
Rylan tightened his grip around Silver Twilight’s hilt. Then, he pointed the blade at the incoming enemies.
“Tide.”
The mana around him resonated with his will. His sword matched its song. Less than a second later, the mana coalesced into water that raged toward the Golem’s feet as a fierce flood. The water quickly covered the ground, and the Golems continued to run toward him, uncaring. Meanwhile, the ones in the air started circling him from above, as if readying themselves to swoop down. Rylan lowered his center of gravity.
Falling Snow Steps: Snowstorm.
The air became as great a support as solid ground. Rylan quickly shot to the side, stepping on the air as if it were solid ground, his balance unshakable. At the same time, he remained perfectly aware of the two Golems above, throwing them a glance before focusing back on the other two.
The running Golems fearlessly stepped right into the water. Rylan waved his finger, making the current turn into a whirlpool around the Golems’ feet. In the next moment, his sword resonated with the world again.
Frost.
Starting from the water around the Golems’ enormous feet, the entire flood quickly froze into a domain of ice. The movements of the Golems were hindered for a brief moment. It was all he needed. Rylan held Silver Twilight’s hilt with both hands and ‘stood’ parallel to the frozen floor.
Stormcaller Sword Style, Fourth Movement: Tempest Break.
His mana crackled like lightning within him, then moved to create an ethereal blade around Silver Twilight. In the next moment, Rylan shot toward the closest of the two Golems, carrying the fierceness of a storm with him. In just over a second, he arrived in front of his opponent’s face. He swung his sword.
The blade sliced clean through the crystals that were the Golem’s eyes to reach its insides. The moment it did, Rylan focused his concentration.
Lesser Lightning.
His mana’s crackling will turned to reality in the shape of a lightning bolt. However, instead of letting the spell follow its natural course, Rylan forced it to stay true to his Sword Art’s intent. He clenched his jaw at the difficulty of the task, but there would be no meaning to his training if he didn’t try something like this. All he needed was for his magic to bolster his Sword Art – he could do it.
Responding to his thoughts, the Lesser Lightning spell followed Tempest Break’s movements to devastating effect. Rylan could perceive the way it fused with his Sword Art’s mana to wreak havoc within the massive Golem’s body. His perception found the core in a heartbeat. In the next second, it was destroyed completely.
One down.
Rylan didn’t slow down even a bit. He immediately stepped on the now-ruined Golem’s face and jumped backward, just in time to avoid having one of the giant wings split him in half. It clashed against the falling Golem to create a storm of flying sparks, but Rylan only stepped on the air again, faster than ever. He twisted his body to look up. The two Golems were diving toward him like eagles, their expressionless metal faces looking eerie.
In response, Rylan only gripped the hilt of his sword and let out a breath. He ran to the side as the two Golems arrived, outspeeding them by just a bit. The two Golems crashed against the floor feet-first with enough force to flatten a hill. The floor vibrated in turn, dispersing the energy. As the Golems recovered from their attack, their wings didn’t stop moving. Like blades, they sliced through the air toward Rylan’s position. In response, he only shot toward the nearest Golem.
Stormcaller Sword Style, Second Movement: Crackling Edge.
Channeling his Sword Art, he weaved between the wing attacks, slowing down and speeding up as necessary. Even as the metal feathers drifted off the wings to create a veritable cage around him, he didn’t even falter. Masterfully, Rylan avoided all attacks and arrived in front of the face of the Golem he was targeting.
He swung his sword, dragging the edge along the Golem’s face. The sound was eerily silent, as if the metal were simply disappearing instead of being ripped apart. Only a few sparks flew as the attack created a long scar. Rylan stepped on the air again and hid under the Golem’s chin to avoid a punch from another Golem. The attack sent the atmosphere into a whirlwind, but he didn’t even blink. Instead, he balanced his body by stepping on the air and pointed his blade diagonally upward. Thunderbolt ripped through the whirlwind and penetrated the golem’s throat. Once more, he cast Lesser Lightning to empower the Sword Art’s effect, magnifying its destructiveness. No, it was a matter of trying to make it return to its ideal self.
Rylan perceived the final remaining Golem approaching him from behind. His figure almost disappeared as he retreated, widening the distance between himself and all the enemies. Floating in the air, he evaluated the damage he’d inflicted. The Golem he’d attacked with both Crackling Edge and Thunderbolt had its face marred by a long wound that connected with a large hole in its throat. Through them, Rylan could see the core. The other two Golems were looking at him, one of them starting to flap its wings to ascend once again.
Instead of closing the distance, Rylan only changed his stance to hold the sword parallel to the floor.
Sharpgale Sword Style, Second Movement: Cutting Wind.
Wind Blades.
He sliced the air. From the wound he inflicted on the atmosphere, a half-moon of condensed air and mana shot forward. He repeated the movement over and over, sending blades of wind at the Golems, each much bigger than his ordinary Wind Blades. The moment the blades reached the Golems, they dragged themselves on their surface amidst a storm of sparks, almost slithering toward their eyes. As if they could tell, the two Golems standing on the floor hurriedly covered their eyes with their hands, while the one in the air rapidly rose. It was the opening Rylan had been aiming for.
Using Snowstorm, he shot forward like an arrow, his breathing fierce. Tempest Break roared into life with overwhelming might, landing straight in the middle of the wound he’d already created on the damaged Golem. Its core was split in half a moment later.
Two left.
Without missing a beat, Rylan combined both Sharpgale’s Fierce Wind and Stormcaller’s Thunderbolt to close the distance between himself and the nearest Golem, then sank his blade through the gaps in its fingers and into its eye, casting Lesser Lightning again. The electric current reached the core and damaged it irreparably. As evidence, a System notification rang out in his mind. He looked up.
One left.
The last Golem was staring at him, expressionless as they always were, all wings spread out.
“You won’t beat me in air combat,” Rylan mumbled to himself with a grin.
The Golem started diving toward him. In response, Rylan only dashed upward with Snowstorm, easily avoiding the attack once he was close enough. Now looking at the Golem from above, he used Tempest Break again. The ethereal blade pierced through the construct’s back and right through its core as it was turning around. Using its husk as support, Rylan jumped upward and stood in the air, looking at the enemies he’d slain. He let out a breath.
It's getting a bit harder, but I’m definitely growing stronger.
He looked down at his body. There were no injuries, but his clothes were a testament to what he had been through in the last fifteen days. They were his fourth set of clothing, but they were already all torn and bloodied, as if he’d walked through a battlefield. Still, the rate at which he’d been getting injured had reduced considerably, even as the number and power of enemies increased.
By this point, he’d ascended so many floors that he was already close to the Dungeon’s peak, where the Boss arena likely was. Naturally, there were no people around at all. This was a solitary war. Rylan analyzed his body under his clothes. His muscles had become even more hardened by the continuous Leveling up.
I’ve also managed to learn two supplementary Sword Styles and how to cast spells through my sword.
To begin with, Silver Twilight was an artifact that increased both his physical and magical abilities. Because of Moonlight’s intervention, it had become the weapon that suited his current self most. This connection with magic was what allowed him to make so much progress so quickly, even if the spells cast through the sword weren’t at full power yet.
And most importantly, I can now use both spells and Sword Arts at the same time.
Rylan smiled to himself. This Dungeon had played its part. Now, he should head to the other two and push himself further against a different set of enemies. But before that, there was one more thing he wanted to do. He looked at the stairways leading to the only two paths at the farther end of the room.
It’s time to check out this Boss.
It didn’t matter how dangerous it would be. For the sake of getting more Levels and battle experience in his current body, he would fight the Boss of this Dungeon alone.
It was the only way to become powerful enough to protect his family from what was coming.
Comments
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter.
Some Guy
TFTC
