Chapter 297: Summons Sealed? Then I’ll Kill It Myself[1]

Twentieth Floor...

The teleportation light had barely faded when Zich raised one hand and tried to summon Iron.

Pale runes gathered in the air, rapidly taking the shape of a summoning array. Before the formation could stabilize, an invisible force swept across it and shattered every rune.

"Huh." Zich’s eyes narrowed.

He quickly reached for Slimy through their contract. A second summoning array flickered into existence, only to collapse under the same invisible suppression.

The contracts were still intact. He could clearly sense every connection, which meant they had not been severed.

Soon, several lines of text appeared before him.

[Twentieth Floor Trial: Sealed Battle.]

[Trial Objective: Defeat the Guardian.]

[Special Rule: Contracted summons cannot enter this trial space.]

’So that’s why,’ Zich thought inwardly.

He stretched out his right hand, and the Frostgrave Scythe appeared in his grasp.

Because Frostgrave was a soul bound weapon spirit, it was unaffected by the trial’s rule. His personal skills remained available as well, and he could still access the Spirit Bombs prepared and stored within the Graveyard.

In other words, the Tower had taken away his summons, but it had not left him defenseless.

His gaze swept across the battlefield.

Towering black stone pillars enclosed the circular arena, and cracks left by countless battles covered the ground.

Directly ahead, a tall figure clad in heavy black armor slowly raised its head.

Boom!

The stone beneath its feet exploded.

The massive armored figure crossed the distance between them almost instantly, its fist tearing through the air toward Zich’s chest. Frostgrave snapped up in a horizontal guard just before the blow landed.

Bang!

The impact drove the scythe shaft against his body, sending a violent shock through both arms. His boots carved two long trails across the ground as he slid backward, but the Guardian gave him no chance to recover. Its other fist was already sweeping toward his head.

Zich dropped beneath the blow, twisted with the motion, and slashed Frostgrave across the Guardian’s exposed waist. The pale blade struck black steel with a sharp clang, leaving only a shallow mark before the recoil carried him beyond the reach of its arms.

"Strength, speed, defense... Not one of them is weak."

Even before he could judge his opponent, the Guardian was upon him again.

Heavy fists came from one angle after another, every blow arriving before the force of the previous collision had fully left his arms. Blocking one exposed him to the next, while slipping aside only allowed the Guardian to close the distance again. It stubbornly maintained the range most favorable to close combat, denying Zich the time to draw, aim, and safely use a Spirit Bomb.

If Iron were here, it could withstand this frontal pressure. If Slimy could enter, Silk Barrier would create the opening he needed.

Yet the trial had sealed away precisely what a Spirit Summoner relied upon most.

Another fist descended with a shriek of displaced air. This time, black energy erupted beneath Zich’s feet.

[Shadow Blink!]

The punch smashed through his fading afterimage.

Zich reappeared beside the Guardian’s rear flank, Frostgrave already cutting forward. Blood Arc surged along the pale blade and struck the exact mark he had left on the black armor.

Bang!

The shallow line deepened, and the concentrated impact knocked the Guardian forward for the first time. Its balance had barely shifted when one armored arm swept backward without warning, transforming the stumble into a counterattack powerful enough to crush stone.

Frostgrave withdrew as Zich ducked beneath the blow. The two figures crossed in opposite directions, and before his slide had ended, his left hand was already reaching into the Graveyard.

A prepared Spirit Bomb emerged in his palm, black blue energy churning violently within the compressed sphere.

The Guardian reacted the instant it saw the bomb. Instead of continuing its frontal pursuit, it cut toward Zich’s flank, angling its charge to block his retreat before he could take proper aim.

"Hmph!"

With a snort, Zich hurled the bomb.

However, a sudden sidestep carried the Guardian out of its path. The black blue sphere brushed past its shoulder armor and landed among several broken stone slabs at the base of a black pillar.

Surprisingly, there was no explosion.

The Guardian abandoned the seemingly wasted bomb and crashed back into close range. Its fists hammered Frostgrave from alternating directions, repeatedly driving the shaft against Zich’s chest and forcing him deeper among the surrounding pillars. Every collision made his arms heavier, while the accumulated impacts built into a dull pressure inside his chest.

His footing, however, never became chaotic.

Whenever the Guardian tried to drive him straight backward, a narrow turn carried him around another pillar. Whenever it shifted to seal one route, he yielded along the next. The Guardian’s relentless pressure dictated the pace, but Zich quietly chose the direction.

Another violent collision sent him past the broken slabs and around the opposite side of the same black pillar. Frostgrave intercepted a fist aimed at his ribs, and while the clash concealed his other hand, a second Spirit Bomb slipped from his fingers and settled into a fissure in the ground.

One bomb rested beside the pillar’s outer base while the other was hidden on the opposite side.

Zich’s fingers had barely left the fissure when an armored fist came crashing toward his head. There was still no time to detonate either bomb. Twisting aside at the final instant, he allowed the strike to pass so close that the pressure tore through his hair.

The fist struck the pillar instead.

Boom!

Stone fragments burst across the battlefield. Thick cracks spread outward from the point of impact, further weakening the massive structure between the two planted bombs.

He had realized that simply throwing Spirit Bombs at an opponent with this level of speed and defense would never work. Even if one exploded nearby, the Guardian could escape the center of the blast before its full power reached it.

Then there was no need to hit the Guardian directly.

He only had to make it walk into the trap itself.

Zich tightened his grip on Frostgrave, planted his feet, and stopped yielding ground.

The Guardian possessed no emotions, so the sudden change caused it no hesitation. Its massive frame surged through the scattered debris, carrying all its momentum into a punch aimed directly at his chest.

Blood colored energy erupted from Frostgrave.

The Guardian raised one arm as Blood Arc crashed against its black armor just as its other fist drove forward. At that exact moment, Zich Vanished evading the punch completely.

He reappeared on the opposite side of the damaged pillar, leaving the cracked structure between them.

The Guardian quickly turned and pursued him around it, its first step passing directly over the Spirit Bomb concealed inside the fissure. Its massive body entered the narrow space between the two prepared bombs.

Right at that moment, Zich’s five fingers clenched.

And then...