25 Orb of Guidance - VI

I closed my eyes, channeling the darkness that surrounded me.

<Power of Death> was invoked at full power, blanketing this wide cavern in deeper and deeper darkness.

I poured mana into my invisibility, shutting off my heightened senses for the first time in a long while.

"It's about time I took a risk..." Muttering to myself, a storm was brewing inside me.

The <Power of the Sea> was catastrophic and difficult to control — a testament to nature's rage, and a symbol of immensity.

It was this power that I allowed to rampage.

—RUMBLE!

The sleeping <Wyrm With No Name> was startled into awakening.

"..?"

Its topaz eyes, which I had only seen through [Absolute Awareness] were on full display. His irises widened at the sheer darkness that surrounded him.

—[ WHICH BASTARD DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?! ]

A roar laced with poisonous indignation and spoken in an ancient tongue shattered the rock beneath its feet. The wyrm's voice was deeper than the deepest dwarven mines. A bass that was felt more than it was heard.

Shaking my heart and rattling my bones.

—CRACK!

This prided rage was the signal of his end.

—CRACK!

The earthquake that I called upon this dungeon weakened its walls, breaking its pillars and forcing it to succumb. The ancient structures that were all a testament to this place's timelessness were nothing but sticks in the face of Mother Nature's wrath.

The floor collapsed in on itself.

The ceilings descended.

Rocks and boulders smashed through each of the dungeon's floors.

A distant ghostly howl echoed throughout the devastation.

It was in this chaos, while the Wyrm was being buried by his own home, that I snatched the <Orb of Guidance> from right under his nose.

—Vwhoop!

Disappearing from thin air, the beautiful silvery-white orb was absorbed into my ring.

Now, even the natural energy that could've allowed the dungeon to regenerate had disappeared. Its end was truly approaching.

—[ GRAAAAAAAH! ]

It seemed like the <Wyrm With No Name> didn't even realize it.

"Welcome to your tomb,"

Leaving these words behind, I fled up the chute I had used to enter, weaving through the falling stones, and praying to the gods that I could still find my way up. Such was the benefit of being small.

And so, my senses once again opened up. Spreading outward, searching for the most viable route.

It only took me an instant to situate myself. This made me realize something.

"Damn,"

This was going to be a more daunting task than I thought.

***

It was like an ant's dance in the rain, where dodging the falling raindrops to avoid a lethal dose of drowning was all the grace and poise it could offer.

However, I was much more pathetic than that.

My control over the <Power of the Sky> lacked the grace that Mother Nature had. Perhaps even the wrath I had displayed with <Power of the Sea> was also in a state of insufficiency.

I could not fly beautifully.

Should I have created an even stronger earthquake to shatter the rocks into smaller pieces?

Would that even work in the first place?

Honestly, if I had the mana, I would've checked.

Unfortunately for me, despite all the information I had at my disposal, it was still not enough to act on the best possible course of action.

Sure, I knew the best way out. The weakest points in the dungeon to break. Et cetera, et cetera.

However, who said that I was capable of exploiting these things?

Frustrated, I was growing battered and bruised. The crumbling 600-floor dungeon wasn't kind to its lower-floor inhabitants.

The <Wyrm With No Name> still raged about in the depths.

I could hear his heart-shaking roars incessantly sounding in my ears. It was an unpleasant distraction.

It was then,

—BOOM!

Suddenly, a pillar of reptilian scales burst forth, climbing to the heavens almost instantly. Shredding all the rocks and debris, the 600 floors worth of stone were nothing to a being that neared its godly draconic ascension.

"...Holy shit,"

I...

I was shocked.

I was stunned in place.

I couldn't help but feel small in the face of such power. It happened in an instant, like a flash of light. The natural disaster I had summoned was reduced to nothing but dust.

I knew that the <Wyrm With No Name> was strong, I also knew that 8th Circle mages were capable of dissolving whole mountains.

However, my mere mortal mind could not comprehend its reality.

"...Fuck,"

***

Humans, to put it simply, have cognitive limitations. Like how many people would have difficulty imagining large amounts of a single object in detail, I also had that issue.

I had [Absolute Awareness], yet I was incapable of truly comprehending what constituted a <God >. Instead, I would siphon what information I could from the complex algorithms of their existence. I would reduce them to an interpretable existence that my mind could fathom.

This was my workaround. It was also my gift's only weakness.

I was once again realizing how small I was in the face of extreme power.

Now, the <Archmagus > Daimyuon was human. He had the consciousness to be reserved. To properly control his aura to avoid crushing the souls of those he leisurely encountered. I was able to be a little cheeky because was still holding back.

Had Daimyuon gone at me with full intent to kill, I wouldn't have been able to blink.

The <Wyrm With No Name> however, was fully enraged. He had gone feral.

With nothing to protect, he let the full brunt of his aura out, spreading it over a huge radius. No living being within his space was capable of movement. My companions in the caravan were all trembling due to his influence.

The winds refused to heed my commands. I could feel myself plummeting back into the depths. A slight moment of regret washed over me.

My mind was wavering.

I could feel myself shifting into a nightmarish daze. The sheer helplessness of having no control over myself... The looming threat of death...

It was like suffocating in quicksand.

I was facing the abyss of existential dread.

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