After escaping, Akimi immediately rushed to Asuna's side.
Asuna looked at the Terrain Demon, whose HP had dropped by a quarter due to her flurry of attacks just now, and frowned.
The wounds on the Terrain Demon had already begun to rapidly heal, and its HP had recovered to full.
"What's with this monster? Why does it recover so fast?"
"Mmm—because it's a demon," Akimi explained.
"These types of monsters have extremely powerful regenerative abilities, you could even call them immortal. They also possess all kinds of strange abilities. But they do have a weakness—sunlight."
"Sunlight?" Asuna asked with a puzzled look.
"They're afraid of sunlight?"
"That's right. If they're exposed to sunlight, their bodies rapidly deteriorate and turn to ash," Akimi said as he raised his Nichirin Blade.
"And the Nichirin Blade can produce a similar effect. Attacking a demon with it can suppress its regeneration to a certain extent. If you decapitate a demon with a Nichirin Blade, it'll disintegrate into ash. That's because Nichirin Blades are forged from ores rich in solar energy. If you use other weapons, even if you decapitate the demon, it won't die."
"So, you're saying the LA (Last Attack bonus) for this monster can only be taken by you?" Asuna raised an eyebrow.
"Seems like it..." Akimi scratched his nose and said, "Ahem, anyway, forget about the LA for now. The EXP from this quest is enough to level us up again."
After clearing Fuscus, Akimi and Asuna had reached levels 19 and 18 respectively.
If they leveled up again today, they'd likely be the highest-leveled players among everyone.
After all, Kibaou and Lind hadn't gotten a share from the fifth-floor boss and were still at level 18, while Kirito probably wouldn't level up until tomorrow.
Without hesitation, Akimi charged at the Terrain Demon with his Nichirin Blade, kicking off the second round of battle.
Now that they had basically figured out the demon's abilities, as long as they were careful, it posed no real threat to the two of them.
Defeating it wouldn't be difficult.
"Water Breathing: First Form – Water Surface Slash!"
Akimi unleashed a sword technique aimed at the Terrain Demon, who raised its arm in an attempt to block the attack.
However, the Terrain Demon's combat AI seemed highly advanced—it knew that simply blocking the attack wouldn't be enough.
So, before its arm made contact with the Nichirin Blade, it quickly covered it with a layer of dark red rock.
"Clang!"
The Nichirin Blade collided with the rock-covered arm, producing a sharp, metallic sound.
As expected, the Nichirin Blade couldn't slice through the Terrain Demon's arm like it had before—it was blocked by the rocky layer.
However, that layer of rock was now shattered and crumbling.
"Haaah!"
Akimi exerted more force with both hands, driving the blade toward the connection between the Terrain Demon's head and body.
At this point, his strength stat was comparable to that of tank-class players like Agil, and his agility rivaled Asuna's.
That's the terrifying power of the Breathing Techniques.
Under Akimi's immense force, the Terrain Demon's already-hunched posture became even more caved-in, as if it was about to be driven into the ground.
The demon let out a roar, and in the next moment, stone spikes shot up behind Akimi.
He withdrew his Nichirin Blade and performed a backflip, landing on one of the spikes and using it as a springboard to launch himself into the air.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
A powerful overhead strike descended with unstoppable momentum.
The Terrain Demon hurriedly manipulated stone spikes to try and knock Akimi off course, but Asuna, holding the rear line, shattered each spike one after another before they could reach him.
As the Nichirin Blade drew closer, the demon roared and formed a thick layer of dark red rock around its claws, then reached out to grab the blade.
For a moment, the Nichirin Blade and the rocky claws clashed—but then, the blade cut clean through, slicing off both the rock and the claws.
Unfortunately, the strike's trajectory had been slightly deflected, so instead of decapitating the demon, it only cut off half of its body.
The half of the demon with its head began sinking into the ground, trying to escape pursuit from Akimi and Asuna.
But there was no way the two of them would let it get away.
Akimi activated his Terrain Ring, forcibly halting the demon's descent, while Asuna used her Stun Ring, freezing the demon in place.
Akimi rushed over, plunged the Nichirin Blade into the demon's body, and with a powerful motion, hurled it into the air.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
The blue Nichirin Blade carved a circular arc through the air—decapitating the Terrain Demon in one clean strike.
The Terrain Demon let out a mournful scream before crashing heavily to the ground, then slowly turned to ash and vanished.
With the death of the Terrain Demon, Akimi's quest interface showed a notification indicating that the first stage of the quest "The Thousand-Year-Old Demon King" had been completed.
Among the ashes where the demon disappeared, a blue, fist-sized stone shimmering with radiant light appeared.
Akimi stepped forward and picked it up, triggering a system message:
[Obtained Rare Item: Water Stone]
According to the description below, Akimi learned the Water Stone's effect: after infusing a Nichirin Blade with the Water Stone, the power of Water Breathing techniques would be greatly enhanced.
The blade would also gain a unique skill, "Hydrokinesis", allowing its wielder to generate and control water to a certain degree while equipped.
Asuna looked curiously at the Water Stone and said, "That's amazing… but that 'Hydrokinesis' skill kind of sounds like magic, doesn't it?"
Akimi nodded in agreement.
He didn't think the ability to control water seemed all that useful, but the part about enhancing Water Breathing techniques was certainly valuable.
Although his proficiency with Water Breathing was steadily improving, it was still far slower compared to normal skills.
"Now I need to find a blacksmith to upgrade and forge it," Akimi said.
"But I don't know of any trustworthy player blacksmiths… Should I ask an NPC instead? The results should be similar, I guess."
"Huh? A player blacksmith?"
Asuna paused, as if recalling something.
She said, "I actually know a really good one. It's the blacksmith friend Miss Liten mentioned earlier."
"Hm… Are they trustworthy?"
"Don't worry. That blacksmith player is really nice. If I remember correctly, her name is Lisbeth."
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