Chapter 55

The King Centry looked down upon Seth with its two dozen eyes, each of them staring down at him with unconcealed fury. It was the second time he had seen the creature, but it still looked as terrifying as before.

Its numerous legs clicked and clattered across the rocky ground and the chamber barely felt enough for its colossus body. Golden, serrated exoskeleton made with chitin shone due to the faint light coming across from gaps in the walls and its mandibles opened and closed with a rhythm.

To top it off, its tail simmered in the air like it was waiting for a command.

If Seth hadn't been frozen in place, he would have already started running away. Besides him, Rebecca cowered seeing all the eyes of King Centry looking down on them with fury.

Her legs gave up as she stared at the sight in front of her.

The only one who seemed to be unfazed was Noah who stood in front of them with a casual expression on his face like a giant centipede monster didn't stand just paces away from him with dozens of its minions.

When the Abyss corrupts the mind, nature always seeks to destroy it, to protect itself from the one corrupted by the Abyss.

Noah's words rang in his mind. It took more than a second for him to comprehend it.

It wasn't hard to understand, but he just didn't want to accept it. He knew that abyssal mana was rare. He also knew that it had an inclination with the Seven Seals, but he hadn't expected that nature itself would repel against it.

Though, it made him question things as his gaze bore down on Noah's back.

“If that's the case, then, why didn't the monsters attack me when I first arrived here?” He asked, barely holding his voice together. “Even when the Abyssal Horror broke through the Abyss, the King Centry didn't come after me after dealing with it.”

Before Noah could reply, King Centry's tail moved. It lashed towards them, heading straight for Seth. Just before it could touch him, a wall of dark flames erupted out of the ground, pushing the tail back.

Without giving the King Centry a moment to rest, Noah jumped towards it and landed a punch straight at its chest.

A painful shrill echoed as it glared down at Noah, mandibles clicking together in anger.

It whipped down at him. Noah dodged it with a graceful slide and flashed a smile before flames enveloped his hands.

He looked back at Seth before the tail moved through the air. He jumped up, pushing himself towards the ceiling and throwing the flames towards the King Centry.

They hit its chitin and burned it, but it didn't seem to have any effect as the monster stomped on the ground.

“To answer your question, when you first arrived in the world, Abyss hadn't taken over you. It hadn't even started back then, just been a bud if I say so,” Noah said as the Giant Centries attacked him from the side, trying to claw his face with their mandibles. He dodged each attack thrown at him as he talked. “As you have grown in strength, Abyss has corrupted you further and it continues to do so. That's why monsters are now aware of you and the abyss that's corrupting your mind.”

A line of poison shot at Noah and he shot his flames toward it to evaporate it. Smoke rose as another Giant Centry attacked from the side, gnawing at his face with its mandibles.

Clicking his tongue, he touched the Centry and bright flames burned it as an anguished shrill filled the chamber.

More of these flames erupted around him from the ground and enveloped Centries, killing quite a few of them and scaring the others to not get close to him.

He seemed to be toying with them.

Shaking his head, Noah looked back at Seth, “I have been observing you for the past week. That's why I wasted time and took you on seemingly meaningless quests. Even with the Trolls, they were only attacking you and not me. Why do you think that was?”

The King Centry shrieked as Noah spoke. Seth looked at it and its dozen eyes shone with something as it again stomped down on the ground. The whole chamber shook and Rebecca casted a barrier around them.

Spiked rocks shot out from the ground, heading straight towards Noah. Seth had seen the King Centry use the attack before towards the Abyssal Horror and it hadn't been able to do anything.

Unlike the Abyssal Horror, Noah didn't seem to be affected by the incoming attack.

He smiled and the spiked rocks stopped just before they touched him, breaking into pieces as they scattered all around him.

An invisible barrier protected him. It seemed like the exact copy of Rebecca's barrier, but way stronger.

The King Centry shrieked again with anger and rushed at Noah, but he raised his hand. The scattered spiked rocks floated all around him in a circle before flames engulfed them.

He shot it towards the King Centry and they crashed against his chitin. It broke off as the monster cried, green goo like blood dripping on the ground.

Before the monster could retaliate, Noah charged towards it and punched right in its ugly, centipede looking face.

“H-how strong is he?” Rebecca muttered next to him, clutching his hand tight. Seth had the exact same thoughts as her as he looked at the battle in front of him.

Rather than a battle, it felt more like a beating by Noah.

“Stronger than anyone I have seen,” he replied, his hands shaking.

Noah spoke again as the King Centry whipped its mandibles at him.

“Seth, I know you don't see the effects of the Abyss corruption yet, but trust me, it's increasing rapidly and if it continues like this, you are going to cease being yourself. The King Centry and its minions immediately sensing it when you put foot into the dungeon is a proof of it.”

“What do you mean by I will cease being myself?” Seth asked, taking in everything.

“Your body will be taken over by The Abyssal One. You will be nothing but a host of an evil creature who would do anything to destroy our world. We went over it before, but it seems like the corruption is way more than I expected. You have grown rapidly, and with that the corruption has too.”

He dodged the attacks and flames circled around him. He threw it towards the King Centry and it burned away it's chitin. Noah kicked at that and the insectoid beasts cried out in pain before shooting up poison towards him.

The poison hit the surface as Noah disappeared and appeared just behind it.

His flames burned away another part of the exoskeleton as the King Centry barely managed to push him back.

“Then, how do I prevent it?”

Seth asked and as he spoke, he noticed something moving towards him. One of the Giant Centries leaped towards the barrier to slash at him, taking advantage of him being distracted.

Seth held up his dagger as it used its mandibles, but flames suddenly enveloped its body. Its screams tore through the chamber and after a few seconds, only a burned carcass remained as Rebecca gulped beside him, looking at the corpse.

“I will tell you once I deal with these pests.”

Noah said, sending more flames towards the Giant Centries to keep them in place before looking at the King Centry. It shrilled and its antenna stood upright like it was on alert towards the human who was barely an inch of its total length.

Still, fear clearly showed in the eyes of the King Centry. Maybe, after years it had clashed against someone who had completely overpowered it.

Even Abyssal Horror had only been as strong as the King Centry, not domineering like Noah.

Huffing a breath, dark flames covered Noah's arms and legs as his eyes changed colour to amber. Staring towards the King Centry, he rushed at the monster. Spiked rocks rose from the ground, trying to stop his charge, but like before, they didn't work.

They melted and broke from places as Noah tore through them before punching the chest of the King Centry. The chitin burned and peeled off as it shrieked in anguish before hitting Noah with its mandibles.

They only touched the rocky surface as Noah reappeared behind it, sending a flaming kick on its face.

Like that, Noah kept beating the King Centry, the Giant Centries not even bothering to interfere, knowing very well that they would only be burned to ashes.

Finally, The King Centry cried out, dragging itself a few steps back from Noah. It gave a look to him before staring at Seth who froze, then it shrieked.

Seth didn't understood its language, but it didn't seem like a battle cry.

“Seth, it's retreating!”

Rebecca said as she saw the King Centry jump right back into the fissure it had emerged from. The remaining Giant Centries gave each other's look before moving back into the pathway that had come from.

It seemed like they had given up on killing Seth, knowing that Noah was just too strong.

“Finally, they are gone. Took more time than I thought it would take.”

Noah said, extinguishing the flames and walking towards Seth. Rebecca took off her barrier and glanced at Seth who looked to be considering something.

“So, what's the way to stop me from losing myself?” he asked after a bit of hesitation. He doubted Noah had brought them all the way here just to prove that monsters would seek to destroy him now.

“The only way to purge the building of abyssal energy in your body is to dispose of it back into the Abyss. If we try to dispose of it in our world, it would just corrupt the surroundings and it won't be good.”

Noah explained, but both Seth and Rebecca still seemed to have doubts.

“What do you mean to dispose of it back into the Abyss?” Rebecca asked. “How are we going to do that?”

“Good question,” Noah said, flashing a wide smile. “Why do you think we are here? It's not for me to defeat this dungeon.”

“Then?” Seth blinked his eyes in confusion.

“I heard about what happened with the Lizards and the Abyssal Horror. Those creatures aren’t known to be smart, but they managed to open up a window to the Abyss. Now, the residual energy from that would still be around and we are going to use it to open up a crack into the Abyss and dispose off the corruption from your body.”