Kairos felt himself slowly come to a conclusion.
He didn’t have to begin the swing when his knees were fully bent. Rather, he could begin the swing beforehand, and use that brief moment of stability in order to accurately land a hit.
Then, immediately after the hit was made, he could jump away in whichever desired direction.
And so, he tried doing just that.
He pulled back his weapon, then began swinging it as his knees began bending. Then right at the moment he felt it mattered most, his knees suddenly stopped, while the spear in his hands had thrust forth. It had only hit air, but Kairos felt that it was a success nonetheless.
After that, he abruptly jumped to the side, dodging one of the mana arrows the mana figure fired.
Kairos couldn’t help but smirk, as nearly all of the awkwardness had disappeared. Instead of a faulty forced technique, it was an actual viable one, which he could truly use.
With those thoughts in mind, he decided to do exactly that.
Kairos rushed towards the bowman, sidestepping to the left and right to avoid the various arrows.
Then, his knees began bending while his spear shot forth.
The mana figure attempted to leap to the side, but that was when Kairos suddenly stopped bending his knees before shifting the trajectory, stabbing right where its heart should’ve been.
The mana figure had actually been using the same technique, and thus was able to fire a mana arrow at Kairos.
However, he had expected that, and easily dodged out of the way.
Then, the mana figure disappeared, despite it being his first time striking it.
[Dungeon Currency Transfer – 1 added]
Kairos let out a soft sigh. He was fatigued both physically and mentally, but since he didn’t have any injuries, he figured that he could continue on without consuming a green orb.
And so, that’s exactly what he did.
Kairos continued scouring the place for rooms, eventually finding a place with a skilled swordsman.
He eventually found a technique that he liked, before letting himself get hit by that same technique to make the mana figure continue using it.
Kairos also tried to push the boundaries on how many times he could dodge before the mana figure would stop using the attack, and it seemed that just a single dodge was enough for the mana figure to begin cycling between other attacks as well.
In the end, Kairos just let himself get hit by that same technique several more times to force it into continually using the same one. He frankly wasn’t sure if his short-term memory was strong enough to slowly take in bits and pieces of said technique after several long breaks.
As such, he figured that he would pay each showing with the price of blood.
This time, Kairos didn’t make the mistake of only having one part of his body be injured. Instead, cuts began appearing all over his body, save for the more important areas such as his neck, eyes, and chest.
Kairos did eventually learn the technique.
But by that time, he was also horribly bloodied.
He then took out one more green orb, consuming it quickly as well to quell his fatigue and injuries.
When Kairos felt himself feel quite full once more, he opened his status panel again.
[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: 492/1500 Evolution Energy – 500 required for Rankup]
[Objective: Clear Dungeon]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 41.4]
[Stats –
Strength – 14.9
Endurance – 14.9
Agility – 14.9
Willpower – 14.9
Mana Capacity – 9.0
Magic Affinity – 7.2]
[Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F), Gale Spell (F)]
[Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F)]
[Hide]
He had gotten quite close to being able to evolve, though he was still a tiny bit away. Kairos couldn’t think of any method to increase his evolution energy for that sake.
…Well, he could definitely think of one, which was eating a monster.
Or even a human for that matter.
However, Kairos didn’t really want to eat anything related to a person right now.
As such, he just forgot about it.
Instead, he focused on the only stats that weren’t maxed out, his magic. Though Kairos had no plans of using it any time soon, he figured it was best to be prepared.
[Mana Capacity – 9.0 – 14.9 | Points – 41.4 – 35.5]
[Magic Affinity – 7.2 – 14.9 | Points – 35.5 – 27.8]
Like usual, Kairos felt that his body had heated up quite tremendously. On top of that, he could also feel the sensation of mana becoming far clearer. It began feeling he had actually been deep under the ocean, but now took a breath while above the surface.
Kairos immediately felt quite hungry once again, but did not think much of it as he imagined he was going to use another green orb soon. Though, there were only ten left.
He rubbed his chin before telling himself that he would use the green orb for every two techniques he had mastered.
And so, with that in mind, he left scouring for even more rooms.
He used his entire body to take on attacks from techniques he wanted to learn. As such, it didn’t take long for his clothes to be badly ripped apart, and wet blood to soak every inch of it.
It looked rather disgusting, to say the least.
However, it was in this state that Kairos continued to look for more rooms, before eventually finding another in which he took on attacks again.
He found it was much harder than last time and almost suicidal in a sense.
Kairos pushed him further, just so he could learn the technique. Even when his mind was getting muddled from all the pain signals firing, he continued to push on.
He could feel the blade pierce into his skin again and again, but he always kept his focus on the technique, which helped in distracting himself from some of the pain.
Kairos couldn’t help but feel he was back to the times when he would stab himself with a kitchen knife in his future vision.
In all honesty, Kairos had somewhat forgotten the reason he had even begun to do such ‘training’ in the first place. His reason for continuing was that it would be beneficial for his overall survival.
However, when he tried to think about why he even started to use this method in the first place eluded him. Though, that was fairly reasonable since those memories were from a very long time ago.
As such, it would be naturally difficult to remember.
While treating it like the time he had stabbed himself with the knife, the pain suddenly had a different meaning to him. It was a sense of progress.
Kairos continued forth almost like a machine, repeating this bloody process over and over.
Until eventually, he had used up four of the green orbs, leaving him with only six more.
Despite losing quite a large amount of a precious resource, Kairos had also gained plenty of knowledge in return, which he deemed was worthwhile.
And even if he wasn’t completely focusing on the other techniques that all the mana figures had used, they gave him impressions of the types of moves one could pull off. Though he wouldn’t be able to execute a perfect copy, he could get a general idea.
That was something he took from each of his fights, though Kairos also felt these experiences were tainting him slightly.
It was making some of his combat experience unrealistic, since the dungeon obviously didn’t know how to fight properly. As such, he also tried to purge any bad instincts he had picked up while fighting against these things, but that was easier said than done.
After finishing up with another room, he left it with heavy and wet steps. Wet with blood. His clothes were badly torn as well, nearly making him look a little perverted as most of his skin was revealed. Though embarrassing, he decided not to think about it too much.
Kairos’ breathing was heavy, almost making him sound like a beast. Though that was pretty natural given his condition. Despite his wounds, he couldn’t really notice them because he was intently focused on continuing. It was a strange mood that he also had while stabbing himself with a knife that let him push on.
Yet, if someone else looked at him right now, they would think he was on the verge of death.
And while he was in this state, he suddenly froze in the middle of the hallway.
Because a few meters away in front of him was a familiar face.
Alice.
She was standing alone, with her hands innocently behind her back. Nonetheless, Kairos was pretty sure the karambit was on her.
He never dropped his guard around her for a second and had no intention of doing so now.
“…What do you want?”
Alice smiled a little bitterly.
“Um, big bro-”
“Don’t call me that.”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t even have any siblings, alright?”
Alice tilted her head to the side.
“But… that doesn’t mean you can’t get one in spirit.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“But I also don’t want one.”
Alice pouted and looked down at the ground.
“Ok… Kairos.”
Kairos sighed.
“What do you want? I’m busy.”
Alice shifted uncomfortably.
“Kairos, could you… help me deal with Aria and Kyle?”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Help you deal with them? What do you mean exactly?”
Alice began licking her lips, like she was hungry.
“…We kill them, then we can split the meat.”
Kairos couldn’t help but feel a little speechless.
“You mean eating them?”
Alice tilted her head to the side.
“I’m just… so hungry, Kairos.”
With a sigh, Kairos couldn’t help but wonder why everyone here seemed to want to eat other people. Even he unintentionally got caught up in it.
“Frankly, I don’t really care, alright? Deal with it yourself.”
Alice’s lip began trembling.
“But… I’m really scared.”
Kairos found his interest dipping to a low that he didn’t even know was possible.
“Wow, that’s great.”
He then began to walk away, searching for more doors to open.
Alice shouted.
“Wait!”
Kairos paused. He initially had no plans of even acknowledging this girl’s existence. Yet, for some reason, he ended up turning around.
“What.”
Alice blinked a few times.
“I never wanted to join them. The moment I reached here, they essentially forced me, just like they did with you.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Ok?”
Alice took in a deep breath.
“I think… they are going to try and kill us.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“So you’re basically saying they are the exact same as everyone else.”
Alice slowly brought the karambit knife from behind her, holding it in her hands gingerly.
“I don’t know if I can defend myself with just this. I am not a strong person.”
Kairos nodded.
“And I’m not very strong as well, so it seems we should just separate and hide.”
Alice furrowed her brows.
“When you came here, there were five people we knew that had died. Four of them were by the doors. As for the last, he had provoked the twins. Then, he was killed and eaten in front of everyone.”
She swallowed.
“Now… everyone can’t stop thinking about trying the same thing on someone weaker.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. Look at me and all my wounds.”
Alice’s eyes shone with determined light.
“No, that’s not true at all. You killed both Ines and Darren. You went through countless rooms here, despite nobody else surviving past the third one.”
She took a deep breath.
“And the way you look at me, doesn’t contain a single ounce of fear, despite the fact you don’t even slightly trust me.”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“Alright, I’m a strong person. Why in the world should I help you?”
Alice bit the bottom of her lip.
“I…”