Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



The sense of sight was one of the five senses that collected data from the surrounding environment and sent it to the brain which in return interpreted these data and sent signals to the body to respond either chemically or physically.

Just think about it, someone who had been relying on his sense of sight since his time on earth, suddenly had one of his senses stripped from him. it wouldn't be hard to imagine that he would fail miserably due to having difficulty perceiving anything.

Simon was battered by the logs which were buffed by Irene. Days passed by with Simon sprawled on the ground most of the time unable to remain standing. What was worse, was that he was not allowed to use his skills or attack back.

All he was allowed to do was dodge. Because he was used to moving after thinking, it took an inhumane amount of perseverance to reverse that.

Thanks to the hellish training, Simon's other senses started strengthening to the point where he even acquired the skill [Enhanced Six Senses]. Now he could dodge the logs with just their sound and smell.

However, even that didn't last long. After his sense of sight, Irene stole his other senses and sent him tumbling back down to the point where he started. Simon wanted to complain at the injustice, but every time he brought it up, she would restate the words he said earlier making him unable to retort.

Just enhancing his six senses took him more than a month of time. Now that even that was stolen, he was left with no choice but to literally pit his body against the logs. Thus a hellish training where Simon was forced to spit out blood, started once again. 

With all of his senses stripped from him, his body went into overdrive and his instincts started taking control. Days passed by and soon Simon arrived in front of a state where in his black vision he could see vague things coming towards him.

When he dodged them, he instinctively realised that it was the logs. However, that state didn't last long, it appeared for a second and disappeared. Nevertheless, having hope was better than nothing.

Now that Simon knew what he had to do and where to divert his efforts, he started working more diligently. Months passed, and the state he touched that day, he started entering it more frequently.

Even with all of his senses stripped, Simo was able to sense the logs and dodge them effortlessly. It wasn't long after that that he acquired the [Intuition] skill.

However, that was just the true beginning of the hellish training. After seeing that Simon got accustomed to the training, she started mixing more variations. Unexpected things started occurring.

Just when Simon thought that he dodged the log, he would be hit by an icicle. Not only that, but sometimes while dodging he would trip over a stone that shouldn't have been there. And sometimes he felt like the logs behaved unusually. 

It was as if they had suddenly sprouted arms and legs and bashed him out of nowhere. even if he dodged that, something or the other would be waiting for him. As a result, Simon started developing a keener instinct.

His body would react at the first indication of danger. His body and mind reached a new level of synchronicity. However, even that wasn't enough. There were too many things he had to dodge at once.

No matter how synchronised his body was with his mind, something or the other managed to hit him every time. There were things that even with his speed he couldn't dodge and things he couldn't perceive.

So what was to be done? Simon had no answer. When he brought that question to Irene during one of his rare rest times, she told him that the answer was inside him and that he should continue doing what he has been doing up until now. 

Simon laughed bitterly and started repeating his actions like a madman who didn't know anything else. Days passed by with him making no progress; no, it would be wrong to say that he didn't make any progress.

He started gaining higher mastery over the [Intuition] skill and his body and mind started becoming sharp. His movement due to dodging various kinds of projectiles again and again had reached a harmony of sorts where he could dodge anything with minimal movements just by perceiving them once.

However, he still had no answer for things he couldn't perceive or was too fast for him to dodge.

"The answer is within you"...  One day, while Simon was repeating his routine. He continued to mutter what Irene told him the other day in his head like a mantra. Hoping that he would stumble upon some epiphany.

He was dodging as usual, but maybe due to his mind being preoccupied with Irene's words, he failed to notice a small stone near his feet and stumbled upon it.

What happened next could be expected, with numerous logs, icicles, weapons and various unperceivable things came attacking him, Simon was sure to get hit and blown back for the umpteenth time.

However, surprisingly nothing of that sort happened. Right before Simon's body hit the ground, something unusual happened. His mana synchronised with his movements to create his own unique skill

Simon's body which was about to fall, disappeared in a flash dodging all the projectiles that were about to hit him.

[Flash Steps]...

Melinda was so fast that in the blink of an eye, she appeared behind Simon as if teleporting and hacked her sword towards him. The blade made of razor sharp feathers easily chopped his body in half or so it was supposed to.

However, the thing that the Harpy Queen's sword slashed was none other than an afterimage. Simon's real body had long since moved from that spot.

"What?!"

Melinda was unable to believe her eyes. When did the demon move? The afterimage looked so real that she couldn't even tell when the demon moved away from the spot. Strictly speaking, she was much faster than the demon due to her developed wings that were a cut above even amongst all the harpies.

No matter how the demon moved, it shouldn't be able to go unnoticed by her. So then what happened? How come the demon disappeared without even her sensing anything?

"!!!" At this instant while she was thinking that, her body jolted and her instincts screamed for her to dodge.

Before she could even realise it, the demon was standing behind her.

SHIIIING... the moment she turned around, she saw that broken, burnt out sword come attacking her. As the blade of the sword slowly crept closer, the eight pupils of Melinda were finally able to see it.

The violent distortion of the space around the sword. This distortion was not ordinary and was the result of an extraordinary amount of heat being released. Make no mistake, the sword did not release any flames, it was just that the…

'The flames were compressed inside the sword to a point where even the blade of the sword was unable to handle it and became all burnt out like that' Melinda realised.

Everything around the sword, whether it be the moisture or the mana particles was being vaporised instantaneously.

DEATH!!...

She had to dodge it, her instincts begged. If she allowed the sword to touch her, her only inevitable ending would be her death.

Melinda placed her [Reinforced Feather Sword] in front of her to defend. But how could Simon's sword be stopped that easily? Even before the [Reinforced Feather Sword] of the Harpy Queen could come in contact with the blade of the burnt sword, it was violently distorted and turned into dust.

The [Reinforced Feather Sword] was only able to stop the burnt sword for a mere fraction of a second. However, that fraction of a second was what Melinda precisely needed to narrowly dodge the attack.

After moving away from the path of that sword, the queen of harpy took a deep breath of relief. Her skin tingled whenever she thought how close that encounter was.

The sword was just a few inches away from her. For the first time in a long while, did Melinda feel the grasp of death ever so close to her.

She glanced at the demon who had his eyes closed at this moment, he looked relaxed and composed. Be it that sword of his or that movement earlier, both of them were definitely of a high grade.

She cannot let her guard down against him. 'I guess I have no choice but to use that' Melinda bit her lower lips so hard that, blood came out of it.

After failing his surprise attack even after revealing his [Flash Steps], Simon started going more on the aggressive.

[Flash Steps], the Lost Superior tier skill that he learned after his mana and movements achieved a harmony during his training where he was forced to dodge all kinds of unperceivable attacks.

The skill allowed him instantaneous movement from any position or stance that he was in. What's more, since activating it needed very little movement, it was almost untraceable. 

Using the [Flash Steps] Simon was capable of leaving afterimages behind. He could finally catch up to the speed of the Harpy Queen. With that, the fight between the demon of the east and the queen of the harpies unfolded, encompassing the entire sky. 

They appeared like a flash of light before disappearing equally fast. BANG... BANG... BANG...  powerful ripples capable of crumbling down mountains, spread from their clash.