Chapter 150: Sorry, You Can't Poison Me
Was it when I went to sleep? Did I sleep for three days??
It was the only explanation. William was a bit upset about losing so much time, but it couldn\'t be helped. His initial plan was to clear the entire Gravitas Ruins in two months, but considering just this one impossible trial had taken so long, would even two years be enough?
William realized that he was greatly pressed for time.
I need to clear this trial first. The later floors are taking longer and longer to clear, what if the last fifty floors take an entire month?
He killed the Griffin that he had locked in the air for half a day using a simple Nature\'s Exile, teleporting to the 148th floor. Awaiting him in the center of the floor was a single green ogre with two heads. The statue had already shattered, the twin-headed ogre taking large strides toward William with a wide smile on both of their faces.
One of the heads had spiky hair and controlled the right arm that seemed to be crackling with electricity, while the other held a bright green fireball that radiated an intense heat.
William had never seen green fire before, so he made a mental note to be extra wary of that arm\'s attacks.
He controlled the Array Puppets as usual, sending the unarmed ones forward first to learn the enemy\'s attack patterns.
-official
This turned out to be a good move, since the ogre placed both hands together and melded the green fire with the lightning, transforming into an incredibly fast green ray of light that instantly burned a hole through the Puppet, while the follow-up electrical shocks disassembled the Puppet into its component arms and legs.
The green fire covered all of the Array Puppet\'s body parts, incinerating the pieces until they were no more. None of the defensive measures placed on the Puppet seemed able to resist the ogre\'s attacks.
It can use Magic Fusion!?! This is going to be a difficult one... William thought to himself. He was also able to use Magic Fusion, but this was the first time he met a Magical Beast that could do the same.
He kept a close eye on the ogre, controlling the remaining Array Puppets to rush towards the it and deliver heavy punches to its knees and groin. He wasn\'t embarrassed by this method of battle; searching for a weak point was sometimes an awkward task but it had to be done.
The Array Puppets were able to successfully damage the ogre\'s knee joints, but it was a Nascent Soul Magical Beast and would take more than a single hit to break any bones.
The ogre\'s right arm changed from the Lightning Element to the Life Element, healing the damage to its knees while the left arm became a mass of sinister Mana that was more violent than the Darkness Element.
With an inspection of his memories, William connected the Mana with the feeling he had when he unlocked the Death Element. He had only messed around with the Death Element a few separate times and never used it in battle, so William wasn\'t too sure of how to deal with it, nor did he know much more than the fact that it was both corrosive and could drain someone\'s vitality.
It was a perfect counter to opponents with incredible regeneration abilities, and William wished he could have used it against the twelve-headed hydra a few dozen floors ago. Unfortunately for him, there always seemed to be a threat hanging around the corner that was just waiting for him to use a rare ability.
It was actually quite absurd, a problem that William would do everything to solve in the future. Why gain so many powerful Talents if he couldn\'t even use ten percent of them?
He jumped backwards then did a side flip to dodge a literal ball of death; a fireball coated with the Death Element that moved a bit faster than he expected. He knew the Death Element moved quite slow, but that weakness seemed accounted for by combining it with the Fire Element.
William released the armed Array Puppets to fight the ogres at this point, having mostly understood its abilities. He arranged the Starmetal Bow Puppet to stand close to him for a very specific reason, then had it stand at the ready while he organized the other Puppets.
The Bow Puppet launched a poison-tipped arrow at the twin-headed ogre, piercing its skin with ease and attracting its attention while the poison spread through its system. The ogre responded in kind by switching its arms back to the green Fire and Lightning Elements, then fired the same green ray of light at the Bow Puppet.
William saw this coming and controlled the Bow Puppet to dodge to the left, his reaction speed bordering prediction as he made effective use of the time-slowing effect of his Reflexes Talent.
This was why he had the Starmetal Bow Puppet stand near him, since the time-slowing ability would only take effect when he himself was in imminent danger. This way he would have more time to send an order to the Puppet and not risk losing it to what seemed to be the ogre\'s most dangerous spell.
The poison continued to spread through the ogre\'s system, but it suddenly switched both arms to the Poison Element, controlling the Poison Mana to counter the effects of the arrow.
William was surprised to see the Poison Element, but he could still take advantage of this. The ogre was only able to use one or two Elements at a time, so this was a perfect chance to get some physical damage off.
William ran forward with his Sword of Shifting Sands raised, slicing at the left arm of the ogre. The arm was lopped off, but the left head of the ogre released a booming laugh as a poison cloud spread through the area, entering William\'s lungs and making him cough.
It seemed that this was the ogre\'s plan all along. While William\'s coughing intensified, he took a knee and bent over slightly with the tip of his sword touching the ground. The Array Puppets paused their movements, making the ogre smile with delight.
The ogre walked forward calmly, proud of itself for outsmarting the human despite its loss of an arm. It raised its right arm and prepared a large fireball, but just as it brought its arm down, the eyes on both heads widened in shock as they fell to the floor with one clean sweep of William\'s sword.
"You thought you had me, didn\'t you?" William gave the stunned ogre a smile of his own.
He controlled the Array Puppets to surround the headless ogre that was somehow not dead, lopping off the other arm with another sword strike just for good measure. As the twin-headed ogre finally turned into particles of light, William spoke one last time before he teleported to the 149th floor.
"Unfortunately for you, poison can\'t do anything to me."