BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 45 – The Boss’s Aura.

In my previous life.. even though it was only a few months ago.. do I have the right to call it "previous"?

Yes, I believe so.. merely moving to another reality qualifies as being in another life.

An employee might work all day and the next day move to another job.. and call it a "previous life."

A person might quit a hobby and start another immediately.. and call it a "previous life."

To leave a love relationship of years and suddenly, the next day, say "previous life."

If those things are called a previous life.. then what about my transition to an entirely different world?

Yes.. I am the one who truly has the right to say I possess a previous life.

Returning to our subject.. in my previous life, my friend..

I loved two types of games.

The first was strategic games.. but not all of them, for I have a specific taste. Games like Age of Empires fascinated me completely.. games like Foundation as well. All of them depend on building and precision.. and one could say I actually drew from some of them in developing the village to what it has reached.

The other type.. was open-world third-person games set in the Dark Ages. What I can say freely is that my favorite game of all time was of that type: The Witcher 3. My other favorite was Elden Ring.

And here.. comes the true moment of what I want to reach.

Whether you have played Elden Ring or not, you might have come across those clips showing its specific bosses. That dread that begins when a boss is introduced.. when the entire environment starts reacting to present the boss.. that is the moment you know with all certainty..

That you are before a Boss.. who will give you a taste of agony.

That very moment..

It is here before my eyes.

I can almost feel every cell in my body throbbing with dread before this monster that suddenly regained all its strength.

I swear my eyes see its movement behind the dust and its emergence with that smile.. as if in slow motion.. as if a professional editor produced that dread.

But I wasn’t before a game.. where I could die a hundred times as happened with Malenia.

I am not before a game where I memorize my opponent’s moves and win when I go to level up and return..

It is only one life now.. and I have only one choice.. winning.. or

"NOOOO!" I shouted... "There is no ’or’."

I must compose myself.. it’s not as if I’ve lost.. what I wanted has been achieved. I eliminated the deer.. and now I am alone with Radian.

"This is what you wanted.. isn’t it?" I whispered internally.. then

I stepped forward a few paces.. closed my eyes.. then

"It is time to bring you down," whispered the Echo Shadow manifestation within me.

The distance between me and Radian was no more than what allowed it to attack.

"I saw the attack of its limb.. its range is large.. but it isn’t fast enough to hit me," I whispered.

Radian was surrounded by eight hooked, long limbs.. circling it in a way that allowed it to direct multiple and varied strikes quickly.

40 meters. Perhaps less separated us.. then we both stopped moving... like American cowboy movies.. both opponents waiting for the other’s move.

Despite the distance, those crimson bulbs representing its eyes were beaming toward me as if analyzing every part of my body.

The monster was stationary for a fraction of a second...

Then it moved.

Eight black limbs, longer than tree trunks, slammed into the grassy ground with savage violence.

The ground beneath it was no longer grassy; it was like a mangled corpse. Under the weight of all previous battles.. the grass was uprooted, and the soil exploded into deep craters, as if the place had been subjected to continuous shelling, resulting in varying mud pools.

At that moment..

Every limb of Radian was hooked like a scythe, sharp to the point that piercing the ground seemed easier than plunging a knife into soft meat.

With every thrust, the earth shook, and dense clouds of dust rose until the bottom of its body vanished inside a choking brown storm.

"What is it doing?" I whispered internally.. and I couldn’t say I understood anything of what it was doing.

Then...

The monster pulled its limbs back all at once.

It wasn’t a jump.

It was an explosion.

The giant body, which exceeded ten meters in length, launched upward driven by the force of its eight limbs, leaving behind a devastated crater where it had stood.

The air screamed with a sound like a powerful buzz. The dust scattered like rain.

In a moment.. it was 30 meters above my head..

And the shadow it cast upon me swallowed me before I could realize what was happening. My lips parted in surprise..

In one moment, the monster jumped from its place.. and in another, it was in the sky...

Eight open scythes, directed toward me, and a dark body descending upon me as if a mountain had decided to fall.

Then... it released all its scythes toward me from above...

My body barely made a move before eight fast and massive stakes began shelling me from above like heavenly spears.

Block them?

"Of course not..!!"

A voice within me shouted moments ago.. and moved to exit the circle of shadow.

BOOOOOOOOOM..

My feet were racing the wind to escape.. and the sound of the scythe-cannons thundering down with utter cruelty..

BOOOOOOOOOM..

BOOOOOOOOOM..

A right step forward..

And a left step forward..

Every zigzag was at my maximum possible speed.. I no longer heard anything..

All my focus.. was concentrated on escaping.

In any moment one of my five senses turned to know another detail, such as the number of strikes that fell or whether the monster had landed or not.. it was like an early notification of my fall to those strikes.

With all my possible focus and high speed..

I was barely running for survival.

At a distance of more than 30 meters.. I jumped.

Then I finally turned around...

The monster’s eye submerged me again.. it was standing in my previous place.. as for me.. I had become closer to the village.

My eyes narrowed again with increasing concern.. that attack wasn’t random.. rather it was

"An attack similar to my own attack that brought it down earlier.." I whispered internally.. while

The monster slammed its feet again.. and jumped.

I didn’t wait.. step after step, I fled again.. this time to return to my old position.

After moments.. I arrived.

"When you understand the attack.. evading it becomes possible," whispered a voice within me.. I knew it well but I ignored it.. why?

Simply because.. it was the reason for my decision to exit the monster’s shadow quickly and discover that its attack is a saturation of many strikes at once..

Despite that... this cursed monster... its limbs had become even stronger.

The idea of reaching it and directing a giant blade strike.. seemed impossible with eight scythes ready to attack me in an instant.

The sun.. began to appear..

I must shine now..

Perhaps I don’t possess an attack.. but.. I possess speed.

Step then another.. I moved to the side..

One of the scythes passed like an arrow and embedded in the ground.. inviting me to hit it.. but

"I am not a fool to fall for that trick."

Another scythe launched toward me consecutively..

I evaded it quickly.. then another scythe.

5 scythes all at once..

But they were directed toward a small area of space..

A shift to the side then.. evasion..

Then suddenly..

The eight limbs pounced on me in a single moment.

I didn’t think.

I moved.

A limb from the right.

I jumped aside.

The ground exploded where I was standing.

A limb from above.

I ducked.

The sharp edge passed over my head, and I heard the air being torn. But I didn’t have the luxury of thinking comfortably..

A third limb.

A fourth.

I was no longer counting.

My feet were sliding over the mangled soil.

A short jump.

A tight rotation.

An evasion by the skin of my teeth. But it was perfected.. I haven’t lost the rhythm yet.

"Don’t stop!" the voice within me shouted, and I continued..

Another strike.

I barely evaded it.

The ground around me turned into a trap.

Holes.

Cracks.

Every step could kill me.

Then... after several minutes..

I felt it.

The strikes... changed.

They were no longer random.

Rather, they were no longer predictable..

Suddenly.. several limbs all at once again..

I moved... but..

One limb anticipated my movement before I moved.

Another closed my escape angle.

One remained suspended in the air, waiting for me to run into it.

I accelerated.

Faster.

Closer.

My breath broke.

And my chest began to burn.

My body began to lag behind my mind.

the edge of one of the limbs passed adjacent to my chest.

A sudden cold.

Then a sting.

If I had been half a second late...

I would have been split in two.

Amidst the exhausting, continuous evasion..

The truth was clear..

The monster is learning.

And I? 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

I’ve started to lose the rhythm.

"I must reduce the limbs... by any means," I whispered.

The chaos isn’t random.

I forced myself to watch despite the gasping and the evasion that didn’t allow me to breathe..

Then the total limb attack ended.

"When all eight limbs attack.. the attack is slower and less heavy than the rest."

The voice within me analyzed..

"The monster relies on its limbs to stand. When it uses them all, it is forced to use another way to stabilize itself.. it is the tentacles."

"But they weren’t more than flexible tentacles.. even in large numbers, they cannot be strong enough to support the monster for a long time.. Therefore—"

"The total attack of the limbs.. is always shorter in time than the rest and less heavy to reduce pressure on the body and the tentacles supporting it."

I whispered.. and at the same time, another idea knocked on my mind quickly.

Every time the eight limbs launch together...

The next attack only comes with two.

Or three limbs at most.

A constraint.

A weakness.

That is what I must exploit.

The Echo Shadow’s thinking within me was at its peak.. I allowed it total control.. and to analyze the situation.

Suddenly.

A limb lunged toward me.

I moved before I thought.

I slid aside,

And the limb embedded in the ground behind me with a violence that made the soil jump.

I didn’t pull away.

I entered its shadow.

The black wall of the limb blocked the monster from me for a moment.

I raised my hand.

The wind blade emerged from my palm,

Thin at first...

Then I compressed it.

Expanded it.

And intensified it.

Until it became a large, sharp mass, vibrating before me with a silver glow.

Suddenly... it didn’t take long.

Before I could complete the blade..

Two limbs lunged from the front.

Fast.

Angry.

There was no escape before me.. I knew the risk.. but I decided to take it.

I pushed the wind blade before my chest.

Then..

BOOOOM!

The collision shook the entire arena..

Making everyone’s eyes pop with concern and fear..

The pressure crushed me.

The ground suddenly.. disappeared from beneath me.

The earth became close to me and far, then close... my body spun like a rotating rock.

My body flew dozens of meters...

Before it crashed violently.

AAAAAAHH..

I screamed, and my mouth was dragged through the soil...

The air left my chest all at once.

I heard the snap...

A rib broke.

And immense pain.. covered most of my body..

I writhed on the ground like a worm..

Blood flowed from my lips.

Its taste was metallic.

Hot.

The pain tore through my body.

"Stand up," I whispered.

I moved my body like a reptile..

I raised my head with difficulty toward the monster..

And despite my injury and the pain gnawing at my body..

I....

Smiled.