Sylas took the first step and the phantom surged at him, piercing into his forehead. But the moment it touched him...
BANG!
The phantom shattered to pieces, scattering into the wind.
'Interesting...'
Sylas took another step and the scene replayed itself. Although the phantoms all lunged differently and had different war cries, their intentions were all obvious.
'They are like Astral Will projections...'
Sylas had the skill <Astral Will Fission>, and it was one of his more interesting ones, but he had never thought of using it to attack like this, nor was he certain that he could.
'Well, I might be able to. But it seems suicidal. There's no way to retrieve my Will after it shatters, so I would just be cutting my own Will stat down...'
Sylas was almost casual as he continued to think and walk forward at the same time. None of the phantoms were capable of even making him give them more than a single glance.
Still, he was finding their methods fascinating to the point he began to study the Runes in the air. Luckily he had replenished his mental state, or else he certainly wouldn't have the luxury of doing such a thing.
By the time Sylas was halfway through, he realized that he was touching on something incredibly profound. The only unfortunate part was that this kamikaze-style mental attack wouldn't be worth it for day-to-day battle.
To take on a permanent loss to his Will, he would have to really be in a dire situation.
And the worst part was that if he was in such a bad situation, the opponent's Will would almost certainly be great as well. That meant he would have to give up a substantial piece of his own.
'Unless...'
Sylas looked around and found what he was looking for.
Indeed, as expected, this kamikaze attack also incorporated Ice-Poison into it. What if he could pull back on the amount of Will he used to instead use it as an injection point for Ice- Poison itself?
His manifestation of Ice-Poison was a Rune. And after comprehending Rune Soul, he understood that there was very much a soul aspect to Runes that couldn't be ignored. If he could use Rune Soul to attach Ice-Poison to this kamikaze Will attack, with Astral Will Fission as a foundation, he might be able to create a potent mental attack that just might kill an opponent before they knew what was happening.
Unfortunately...
It was a great idea but he didn't dare to test it out. How could he run a test that would require a permanent loss of his Will? Especially since the minimum bar for Astral Will Fission was 100 Will.
'It seems I'll have to wait until the situation is truly dire to know whether I'm a genius or a fool.'
Sylas calmly took the last steps of the Will challenge, rebuffing everything he came across with hardly any effort at all. It felt almost too good, to the point where Sylas was looking around to see if there was more trouble waiting for him around the corner even after he had finished it.
However...
There was nothing at all.
He stood in a snowy plane and there was a single bonfire up ahead. However, this time, there was no old man behind it.
Sylas stood around for a long while, but nothing seemed to be coming.
'Is there something wrong?'
After realizing that there was nothing, and there certainly wouldn't be anyone following in behind him since Brisa had failed, Vayu was dead, and Aerwyna had escaped, he took a step forward and approached the bonfire.
Even after approaching the bonfire, nothing happened.
Sylas used Enchanted Scholar to look around again and found nothing, so he looked directly into the fire this time.
What he saw made him blink.
'Are those rewards?'
Sylas looked up and around again. But there truly wasn't anyone, and for a moment... he felt speechless.
Was he supposed to take his own rewards?
That was fine, but technically speaking, it was also a bit unfair. If he didn't have Rune Soul, he wouldn't even be able to see this and he would even likely be stuck here forever. What kind of Dungeon was this?
'This has to be related to how my Dungeon run was messed with. If this bonfire is analogous to the one outside, then it probably means that either the old Sylph is the one that targeted me, or he was harmed and even likely killed by those that were. But... this is just fine by me.' Sylas began reaching into the bonfire, but he suddenly stopped, a frown marring his brows. 'It's not a fake flame. It's even far hotter than the lava world...'
Sylas sighed inwardly. Why could nothing ever be easy?
His Aether skin wasn't likely to be powerful enough to resist this fire. It was a fire that only an E-grade existence like that old man could casually put his hand into.
'Seems I'll have to use my telekinesis again. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong this time.'
The last time Sylas used his telekinesis to avoid something hot, he ended up trapped in a mirror world and had the sorriest moment of his life. It was safe to say that he still wasn't quite over that.
Luckily, this time, everything went well.
He pulled out four bundles of Runes from the bonfire and they quickly formed into orbs.
The first thing he saw was armor which almost immediately ticked him off. These Scorned Wraps were truly the bane of his existence. There was no way that was a normal armor.
However, luckily, the other three items didn't have a weapon among them, and there were no other armors, so he should benefit at least in part.
'Might as well look through them now. There's no rush to return, and there's probably only danger waiting for me outside.'
After making his decision, he was about to pop the first bubble when something changed.
[Quest "War of Worlds (Legendary)" Completed]
[Clearance Level: Legendary]
[Rewards]