My eyes dart back and forth, watching both my body double and Ember on either side of the beast. The growing explosion of sparks and red aura from my last barrage of attacks is getting larger, and I feel an ominous pressure emerge from the Minotaur taking my hits head-on.
Gritting my teeth, and looking down at my MP bar that's just fallen below 30% of its remaining stores, I decide I need to finish this now.
I don't know what kind of hidden ability or special ending move this boss has, and I don't plan to give it time to show me.
I yell through my link to Ember as well as my body double while charging everything I have into my flaming sword.
"We're finishing this right now, everything you've got before it has a moment to recover."
The enormous black dragon in the sky releases a wall of flames over twice the thickness as before, and my double charges in, glowing white, to explode at the center.
I grin while swinging my flaming sword across my body and letting out a final slash with nearly every bit of MP left in me.
A glimmer of the beast's glowing red eyes can be seen through the debris, and the crossing of both its purple swords appear in the trajectory of my attack.
An earth shaking clash rings out and the two swords are shattered to pieces as my final wave of crimson and black mana-imbued fire slices the final boss in two.
Simultaneously, it flies backward into Ember's wave of flames, and the destructive force of my double adds to the magnificent display. The same golden crack in its chest like my previous strike starts to form, but this time it's followed by the release of a ball of energy that cracks the ground with a shock wave.
I'm thrown backward by the blast, and everything within 20 meters of the monster is decimated.
The streams of water are evaporated and the ground below is dug out for many meters down in a huge crater.
I still grip my dagger and sword tight, on guard for if anything happens next, but eventually see the dust settle and the burnt flesh and shattered blades all remain in a blackened pile.
Ember flaps his wings slowly, hovering in the air high above it all, and I creep forward after confirming there's nothing left of the final monster.
"We did it... just like that...?"
As the purple glimmer of the final key and a large purple stone make themselves known beneath the dissolving remnants of the beast, I let out a sigh and deactivate all my buffs.
The immense fatigue and pain throughout my body that follows is far worse than I expected...
I take a step forward to continue and collect my loot, but both of my feet feel as if boulders are tied to each of them.
My shoulders droop and my eyelids are so heavy that they shut on instinct as I drop to my knees and let the dagger and sword in my hands hit the floor.
I cough up blood and grunt but manage to stay conscious through the pain.
It's just the side effects of my Red Hydra's buff, but don't have Abby to heal me at a moment like this.
Ember flies down to meet me by my side.
"The battle is over, you did well."
I hear his voice in my head, and want to keep my eyes shut and fall asleep, but decide to ignore my instincts and power through.
"It's not over just yet. There's one last thing to do."
Pushing myself up off the ground with closed fists, I place my dagger and sword back in my item storage before walking over to the place where the monster was slain.
The movements feel like I'm lugging around so much extra weight that my feet have to be dragged and my bones ache more with every step, but once I set my mind on what I need to do, I put myself into a tunnel vision trance-like state to get it done.
I'm sure once out of this realm, I'll be able to heal myself without a problem.
I tighten my grasp around the key and enormous stone, and stare down at both of them.
Ember's voice echoes in my head again.
"Let me take you to the tablet. The hard part is done, we can leave now and you can claim your rewards."
Turning to my right, I see his black scaled wing and walk up to hop on his back.
We soar through the air for a moment before touching down in front of the tablet with a final keyhole remaining.
I pick up the two other stones from my previous fights, then Ember lifts me up to eye level with the final hole to insert the key and turn it in place. With a click, the curved stone glows bright purple like it has many times before. This time, however, it stays glowing for much longer and doesn't go out after a single pulse.
In this moment, my eyes don't have any trouble staying focused on the events taking place in front of me. All I see is the purple light grow brighter and brighter until it's almost white.
As the light grows, the area around me starts to fade from view. Eventually, I begin to feel the same weightless sensation I felt when entering this rift for the first time.
I hold my breath, and look back and forth over both shoulders as we're transported back into the grassy and rocky Minotaur dungeon we initially came from like nothing happened.
The moment mana fills my senses, I immediately begin to plunder it from the dungeon around me and activate my self-regeneration skill to repair the small amount of mana fatigue I can manage.
It helps a bit, but does not do much to negate the effects of this buff's aftermath.
Regardless, I stare down at the 3 purple stones that still glow bright on the rocky dungeon floor. They range from the size of a small fruit I could hold in my palm, to the final boss' crystal being larger in diameter than my entire open hand.
Each of them has their own unique shape, with jagged glossy black edges, but their cores all glow bright purple with a hint of white light deep within.
While fully consumed in these item drops, wondering what I'll be able to do with these stones, Ember brings two other items to my attention.
Off to my left, there's a small black key along with a ring of the same color. They both look exactly like they're made from the same material as my dagger, and they fell from the rift after it completely collapsed.
Taking these 5 items, I store them all in my item storage to examine once I have a clearer head. Now isn't the time to experiment.
I may be tired, but the grin across my face confirms that this mission is complete.
After attempting to use lifesteal for extra HP, but it having no effect because I'm already at a full bar, as well as my Hibernation skill oddly giving me no messages stating there is anything wrong with my body, the only other option on my mind is to sleep.
Without another thought, I hop on Ember's back and do exactly that. He flaps his wings and brings us high in the air above the dungeon's cloudline and out of sight. It feels like the natural thing to do before the sun rises. I'll need to be in better shape before I can hand in my quest rewards at the mercenary bar in the morning.
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