Chapter 749 Boundary
Fighting against this boss for hours, Shiro's movements were beginning to feel sluggish as even with her ridiculous stamina and will fighting such a hard boss for hours was still difficult. The worst part about this is that even after thinking about this for hours she still didn't know how she could achieve the state past the veil.
Sighing softly, she dodged the monster's attack one more time. But just as she did this, she felt her leg tense up as her balance was disrupted.
'Sh*t!' Widening her eyes, Shiro immediately felt danger in front of her as the monster sensed that she was still nearby.
Quickly shutting off her intent, she disrupted the sense but the attack was still cleaving towards Shiro's chest. Despite not being able to see the monster with her grid, the feeling of danger was all she needed to see where the attack was coming from.
Gritting her teeth, she tried her best to dodge to the side.
Time seemed to slow down as she could see that she wouldn't be able to dodge the claw.
Summoning her sword, the best she could do was try to push it off to the side or reflect it entirely.
As she had her senses turned off right now, she didn't know where the monster was. But the feeling of danger was apparent and she can use that to pinpoint where the attack was coming from.
However, as she was in the same state as the monster, she knew that the sense of danger might not be where the real attack was coming so she focused her mind as hard as she could so that she could find where the true source was.
Feeling the claw come closer and closer, Shiro kept her patience while gritting her teeth.
As the claw pierced her skin, she felt a sudden flash of danger behind her neck.
Widening her eyes, she clutched her sword and slashed out.
*PING PING!!!
Deflecting the initial attack and blocking the second, Shiro quickly held her waist and jumped back as the first attack had stabbed rather deeply and the fact that she had forced it to the side caused it to cut across her waist.
However, she remembered that flash of danger at the very end of the attack.
It was like a torch was suddenly placed in this arena devoid of light and revealed everything to her.
The fact that the monster had sent out a second 'hand' from his mouth and aimed it towards the back of her neck. The fact that the monster was hanging off the pillars right now.
During that flash, she was able to see everything despite not releasing her intent.
'That must be the feeling.' Shiro thought while quickly backing off.
Feeling the blood flowing out of her wound, Shiro rummaged through her bag and found that she only had a single bottle of medicine left. After this, she'd be on her own.
However, since she now somewhat understood the feeling she could find a way to break past the veil.
Only problem was what were the conditions to trigger the feeling.
'I'm not a masochist but I might have to make the monster hit me some more to do this.' Shiro mused to herself as that was the only way she can see herself finding this feeling again.
'If Nimue was here she'd probably say that's the feeling of becoming a masochist rather than the barrier.' Shiro humoured herself while saving her last bottle of medicine for later.
'Messing' up her movements some more, Shiro had the monster continuously attack her as she tried to react at the last second.
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"That's…. a rather odd way to attain the new state isn't it." Gaia forced a smile as Shiro was essentially slamming her head against the veil in hopes of it breaking and letting her in.
"Yes but you have to give her credit for being creative. I have to say, the fact that her first spark of inspiration was actually when she was harmed is rather… concerning. If it wasn't for the fact that I know she is sadistic, I would think she's a masochist finding inspiration in pain." Nyx replied with a forced smile.
"Well sometimes people find sparks of inspiration while they're on the verge of death. She is no different. But why does her… boundary feel so different?" Gaia tilted her head.
"Because she has no defence." Nyx laughed.
"When he obtained this state, he was a master of both defence and attack. For Shiro, who has never played an active role as a defensive person, it is going to be difficult to attain this state. Therefore, she made the right choice in choosing to focus on attack when training with Caedus in the short time that she was given. Who knows, she might become like her mother. After all, some think the best offence is the best defence." Nyx grinned.
"Speaking of her parents, I feel like they've reached this boundary but they clearly haven't. Do you think it's the same situation as Shiro? Where they focused on one thing?"
"Not really. I don't know about her father but her mother is definitely a heavy offensive fighter like her. As for the boundary… neither of them are close. Do you know that in the time Shiro had spent in this world, she has already activated several benefits that she doesn't even know about? The upgrade to her elements, fighting instincts, her monster title among many other things. How strong do you think she'll be once she exits?" Nyx asked with a smile.
"I'd say she'll be able to put up an even fight with her mother. But if she masters the boundary even if her mother can see into the future for a few seconds, it'll be useless." Gaia replied.
"Exactly. Now, what do you think would happen when she fights alongside her party that is almost finished with their trials?" Nyx narrowed her eyes.
"They would be unstoppable when they're together."
"Bingo. With them receiving this boost before the Age of Demons and Gods, they'll be able to start setting up the anchors along with claiming territories without a single problem. Plus, they'll also have the demon race on their side if they play their cards right with Madison.
"Plus, they don't know about Isilia yet either so they?" Nyx smirked.
"Did you plan all of this?" Gaia asked.
"Nope. It was honestly lucky that she ran into Madison and Lyrica. All I did was guide her a little during this trial and give her a little nudge in the right direction. What she did with this guidance is absolutely fantastic since she got every benefit and more. She is really a favoured child of the system isn't she?" Nyx laughed.
"Mn. Her first life while tragic gave her great power. Her second gave her protection along with the knowledge of proper magic and her third made her an empress and a being that could surpass us eventually." Gaia nodded.
"This is good since there won't be a fourth with this being the last cycle of our universe." Nyx smiled before turning back to the screen. Watching Shiro slowly walk while focusing her mind, Nyx could see the spark growing large and larger with every attack she dodges.
At this point, without realising, Shiro was starting to counter attack without the use of her intent. The monster was only attacking her thanks to his sense of touch but overall he didn't know her location.
As the flickers of sword slashes increased, the smile on Nyx's face turned to a grin.
"She's done it." Gaia muttered after a short pause.
"Yup. She's attained the offensive part of the boundary." Nyx confirmed.
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Feeling as though the light has returned to her eyes, Shiro could see everything despite not releasing her intent. She could see the grid lines wrapping around the monster's body, shifting with every movement. The tensing of his muscles, the flow of his blood, the twitching of his teeth. Everything was clear.
Flicking her wrist once, several sword lights appeared in front of her as they cleaved into the monster's chest.
Unlike the previous attempts, these chipped away at his armour.
Looking at him through this 'vision', his weaknesses in the armour were highlighted in a bright red, making it extremely eye-catching.
"I see… No wonder the other guy couldn't be hit. It's a shame I can only attack but…" She trailed off with a smirk.
"This should be enough to claim Nyx's Tower."