Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Olivia saw her life flash before her eyes.

She was still suspended in the air, watching as the lava bubbled towards her.

Flapping her wings proved fruitless, there was not enough air, neither was there enough time to build sufficient momentum.

And as if that was not bad enough, all her spells were also lightning based, the worst type of element for repelling attacks!

?!

Just as she gritted her teeth, expecting the pain to come, steel strings suddenly wrapped around her body, just before pulling her down and into Ark’s arms.

Olivia’s eyes widened. Her heart was racing in her chest so loudly that she could hear it pounding, and her breathing had turned erratic.

”Shit... I almost died, didn’t I?”

”There is no time for that right now!” Ark hurriedly said as he sprinted forwards.

Bang!

The obsidian golem slammed its fist into the floor, sending chunks of rock crumbling down and into the lava.

Ark quickly placed Olivia on her feet. No one needed to tell her to sprint along with him, all while the giant followed their path with its eyes.

”So what is the plan now?! That thing’s head is as hard as a rock!” She screamed as she ran.

”Did you really think that attack would kill it?” Ark screamed back. ”That was just the first part of the plan, now we move to phase two!”

”Phase two?!” Olivia stared at him with disbelief. ”You never said anything about a phase two!”

”That is because I just thought about it!”

”...”

Olivia felt her heart drop.

”What?!”

The obsidian giant raised its hand toward them, about to unleash another blast. But Ark stopped mid-dash, then he grabbed onto Olivia’s arm, stopping her as well.

”Do you really think I will allow you to use that attack again?”

He pointed his staff at the giant, sending a burst of lightning coursing into the opening in its hand, just before the fireball was about to emerge.

The results were disastrous...

As the flaming ball met the lightning within the hand, it created an explosion carrying a pressure so great that everything up to the monster’s elbow was blown apart.

”Alright, now let’s see what other moves you have!” Ark snickered like a madman.

The reason he had not formed a second phase of attacks was that it was impossible to create a proper plan when he did not know what the monster could do.

But now, he was about to find out....

The monster dipped its broken arm right into the lava, and Ark watched in awe as it pulled it back out.

The entire arm had been completely healed by the lava, only that the blaster at the end of the hand had been replaced...

By a sword the size of a pillar!

”Holy!” Olivia’s eyes went wide as the monster raised the weapon.

And then the giant grunted, just as it swung down with enough force to bring down a building.

The sword looked deceptively slow as it descended, but in reality, it was extremely fast! And due to its size, dodging it would be a waste of time.

”Olivia...” Ark said in a solemn tone as the world turned orange.

”Hmm?” She squeaked.

”We are going to parry that attack!” He laughed out loud.

”Parry what?! Are you crazy?!”

Ark’s black staff transformed into a long, curved sword that was as tall as him, an odachi.

’System, ten stats into strength! Ten stats into agility!’ He had gathered fifty-six stat points from leveling up, and this was the perfect time to use them.

Olivia had no time to argue, because as the sword came down, Ark’s weapon was coated with raging lightning as he swung it up to meet the blade.

If he was to take that attack alone, he would no doubt be squashed like a fly, so as much as she wanted to run in the direction...

”Why do you keep putting me in this type of situation, Ark?!”

Olivia’s axe was coated with lightning as well as she swung upwards.

BANG!!

It felt as though a planet had descended atop their heads. A heatwave pounded into them, just before sweeping all over the floor, blowing away rocks and chunks of debris.

A shockwave was followed by a thunderclap, and then for a brief moment, the world was drowned in silence.

Ark could feel his bones begging him to stop, he could feel cracks about to form, and yet he was laughing wildly as he pushed back against the blade.

Olivia’s knees were on the verge of buckling, sweat poured down her body as though she had been soaked with a bucket of water.

But she gritted her teeth and pushed back against the colossal blade.

”Olivia, on three!”

”One!”

”Two!”

”Three!!”

CLANG!

The giant blade of the obsidian giant was suddenly sent flying back. The giant staggered, causing the pool of lava to grow unsettled.

Ark smiled internally and glanced at Olivia, who was by his side. ”How did that feel?”

She stared at her hands in disbelief, and then to her surprise, a smile blossomed on her lips.

”It felt good!”

The giant moved, raising its blade once more, but a jet of oil and fire pounded into its chest, pushing it back.

Ark turned around to see Thalia arrive with the salamanders.

”So what is the plan?” She asked as she came to a stop next to them. The salamander’s fire was holding the monster off, but it would not last long.

The giant was mostly unbothered by the flames, it would take a far hotter substance to do any damage. If not for the explosive force behind the fire, it would have completely ignored the attack.

Ark stared at the giant and organized his thoughts. As long as the giant was in the lava, attacking it would be difficult.

All it had to do was retreat deeper into the magma if it felt threatened by them... plus Ark was sure about it now, the reason the giant was able to use such deadly attacks was because it was actively absorbing mana from the magma...

”If we want to beat it, we have to remove it from its home ground.” Ark had to somehow remove the giant from the volcano.

”And how are we going to do that?” Normally, Olivia would have asked in a cheeky tone, but this time, she actually seemed interested in what Ark was going to say.

Ark smiled wide, although it did not show on his face.

”We are going to cause a volcanic eruption!”