The Greatest Genius Alchemist Of All Time Wants To Retire - Chapter 24 - Death Fight At The 10th floor
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- Chapter 24 - Death Fight At The 10th floor
Translator: Xean
Editor: SevenTails
“Kyiiiiiiiii”
With a cry, a giant spider landed on the ground. We should probably call it a variant from now on for convenience, it was an extraordinary specimen. It was simply too huge.
We were intimidated by this variant, which was a size larger than the normal type, but we quickly got ready for battle.
“Fii, Monica! Let’s do this!”
“ “Got it!” ”
The variant moved and launched an attack from three different directions. We had expected this to happen, to some extent, beforehand, so we kept our cool and began to fight.
The formation had me as the vanguard and Fii and Monica as the rearguards. The two of them were tasked to stop it with ice, and I attacked with <<Usabakagero>>. I’d prefer to participate in the alchemy attack using <<Absolute zero>>, but then I’d have to use the Philosopher’s Stone. It’d be a waste to use it since this was only the tenth floor. I was also feeling strained from overusing ice-based alchemy. Hence, I wanted to proceed with melee combat for now.
I cast alchemy to strengthen my body, gathering up the First Quality Primamateria from my surroundings and use it to draw out my potential beyond the limit.
“… Fu~!”
I ran towards the variant’s legs at unprecedented speed and immediately slashed them with <<Usabakagero>>. The legs were cleanly cut in half.
I’m sure we will be able to beat it.
“… ugh!”
It was hard. I was using alchemy to strengthen my body and slash with <<Usabakagero>>, but I could feel my hands going numb. I knew that in terms of sharpness, not even a magical sword is comparable to <<Usabakagero>>.
That said, it was not hard to cut off the variant’s leg. <<Usabakagero>> was so sharp that you could barely see the cut. I especially made it that way.
“… ki, ki, kyiii-!”
A few seconds later, a large amount of fluid covered the surface of the leg I slashed, muscle fibres emerged from it… and the leg regenerated.
Regeneration. It was extremely fast as well. It only took it about a second to recover.
The situation turned worse, and we’ve already used up a lot of magic power before coming here.
Our magic power was gradually running out. We needed an alternative.
What to do now… I’ve been thinking… When the variant released silk from its spinneret[1], it wasn’t aimed at us. It was shooting thread in the wrong direction.
“Not good! Move out of the way! Fii! Monica!”
I noticed something. At the end of the thread was attached an alchemy formation. Then, the formation appeared, spread throughout our surroundings.
I knew this formation… Both Fii and I were very familiar with it. It was an alchemy formation we always used.
I was sure this was… transfer alchemy. It was transferring threads through alchemy and now we weren’t sure which direction the attack was going to come from.
“What’s this?! Where did they come from?!”
“Is this… transfer?”
The two used alchemy to stop the threads from reaching them. They managed to burn them all in time. Meanwhile, I launched an attack on the variant.
“Uooohhhh!”
I jumped sky high and let out a roar as I put all my weight on <<Usabakagero>> and swung down, aiming at its brain.
It was finished… or so I thought until my attack was blocked by an invisible barrier.
“Damn! There is a defence formation on its head!”
The First Quality Primamateria that concentrated on its head became an invisible wall. The variant constantly deployed defence formations. Its technique was quite advanced too, supported by the fact that it was only cast on its head.
“Fii! Monica! Its head has a defence formation! Can you dispel it?”
“I can’t! I’m already doing my best at blocking its random attacks!”
“I’m in a tough spot too!”
“Damn! This is getting worse!”
If the situation continued, our magic power would run out before the variant’s. However, its magic power consumption is also not a small amount.
Currently, Fii and Monica were dealing with random attacks, while I was facing its body alone.
“…”
I was observing it from a distance, and it was also staring back at me. It instinctively knew that I was the biggest threat.
“… Fu-u!”
After a deep breath, I rushed to the spider’s abdomen. Once underneath, I would be able to attack all I wanted. It was my strategy for victory.
“Ki, kyiiii…!!!”
The variant swung its leg towards my head, but it was too slow. I cut its stomach… or that’s what I thought I did.
“Wha-?!!”
A moment later, when I thought that my sword would pierce its stomach, the variant blocked using legs and countered with an attack aimed at my head.
“Damn it! It can also use transfer on its legs! Dexterous bastard!”
I managed to dodge at the last moment, but I was still scraped. Blood gushed out of my cheek.
“Elle! Are you okay?”
“Ahh… I somehow survived.”
Once again, I faced the variant. <<Usabakagero>> sharpness hasn’t diminished at all, and I still had a lot of physical strength left. I could do it. I could still fight.
We continued fighting. I managed to avoid its transfer and kept chopping off its legs over and over again, but its regeneration never stopped. I didn’t have enough firepower. I really wanted to ask Fii and Monica for reinforcements, but I couldn’t. The two of them were busy holding against the variant’s attacks. I had no choice but to do it myself.
“Should I use it…?”
I glanced at the Philosopher’s Stone in my hand. With this, I could use the <<Singular Special Alchemy>> one more time. With <<Absolute Zero>>, we would be able to manage. The alchemy that freezes everything.
I looked at Fii and Monica and saw that they were pretty worn out too. I couldn’t be reserved anymore. I had to use <<Absolute Zero>> to annihilate all the enemies.
I made up my mind and decided to use the Philosopher’s Stone to activate <<Absolute Zero>>.
“Fii! Monica! Buy me a minute, I’m going to use <<Absolute Zero>>!”
“… Got it!”
I unleashed all of the Philosopher’s Stone power.
“… Ugghhhh!”
The white Philosopher’s Stone, which I was holding in my right hand, overflowed with an unusual First Quality Primamateria. It was converging inside my body.
“Arrggghhhh!”
My body was screaming in pain and was about to explode from inside out. And it was not in a metaphorical sense by any means.
I’ve tried it experimenting with it in the past with vegetables and rats, but they always exploded when the First Quality Primamateria went over their limit.
Vegetables were shattered and rats were pulverized. I remembered the result well, with tiny pieces of meat flying around. Even though it was a lab rat, it was simply too miserable. That was the end result of such an experiment. The amount of First Quality Primamateria was simply too much. It would be nice if I could adjust the rate it’s released, but it wasn’t easy. It all flowed out quickly.
“Arrrggghhh!”
I started bleeding from my ears and nose, there was even a little amount slowly trickling from my eyes. Cracks appeared all over my body and started forcefully bleeding. My whole body was already covered in blood.
I almost finished the alchemy formation. I was building the whole formation in my brain. With the variant’s size, a huge amount of magic power was needed to freeze it.
This was it. This should be decided here and now… and everything was ready.
“Fii! Monica! Come here!”
In an instant, Fii used transfer to get her and Monica behind me. When I felt I was ready, I activated it. A realm of permanent ice and snow, that felt as if it could freeze the entire world, spread out…
“Freeze everything… <<Absolute Zero>>.”
I spread my hands out and unleashed an icy wave towards the variant.
“Kii, ki, kyiiiaaaahhhh”
Its screech was loud enough to hurt my ears, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to use the formation until I froze that thing completely.
“Guuuhhhhhh!!!!” (EN: I have no clue what this is or it’s supposed to mean.)
The variant’s resistance was so great that, although some of it was already frozen, it was still trying to hold against <<Absolute Zero>>.
“… You’re kidding me, it’s still not enough?”
“What the heck is this thing?”
The two of them were saying something, but I could barely hear it. I was still casting <<Absolute Zero>>. I couldn’t stop. I had to finish it with all I had.
<<Absolute Zero>> had already exceeded one minute of use. It would normally be impossible to continue using a <<Singular Special Alchemy>> for a minute, and even if one could, their body would surely collapse.
But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t care anymore about the blood spurting out of my body. I needed to completely freeze it.
And then, the opponent probably ran out of magic power and lost all resistance at once. I didn’t miss the opportunity.
“Ki, ki, ki, ki, ki, kyii….”
Finally finished…
In front of there was now a super-sized ice sculpture. I was so exhausted that I collapsed on the spot, but Fii was there to support me.
“… Ah! Is it over? I am…”
“Are you okay!? Elle!?”
“Elle-san! Please stay strong!”
I saw the previously closed door open with my very own eyes. ‘Ah… So the way to leave the room was to defeat the variant…’ I thought to myself. That’s right, a little bit more of the labyrinth’s secret was solved, but… I felt very sleepy. All the power seemed to drain from my body…
And I lost consciousness.
[1] Spinneret – From where spiders release silk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_anatomy#Abdomen