SSS Awakening: I Can Create Skills By Will

Chapter 144: After the Storm

Arthur rolled his shoulders slightly and stretched his neck.

"Man..." he muttered.

"That was close."

What they hadn’t seen happened in less than a second.

The moment the fists came down, Arthur had expanded his Sovereign’s Domain even more.

The invisible field around him compressed instantly.

The space itself tightened.

That alone gave him just enough resistance to survive the initial pressure.

But that wasn’t the real trick.

At the same time Arthur’s fingers moved.

Intent Weave.

Threads shot out around him like invisible wires and wrapped around the descending fists.

He didn’t try to stop them.

He knew that was impossible.

Instead he slowed them.

Even the smallest delay mattered.

The threads dragged against the incoming force and bled away a fraction of the speed.

A fraction of the power.

It lasted less than a heartbeat.

But it created one crucial moment.

And that moment was enough.

Arthur’s eyes sharpened.

Vector Deflection.

He activated the skill at the exact instant the fists reached him.

The downward momentum.

The massive gravity force.

Everything that had been meant to crush him...

Arthur treated it like a projectile.

And redirected it.

Not away.

Back.

The reflected force slammed upward through the ogre’s own arms and straight into its body.

The boss never expected it.

The shock traveled through its bones and blasted it off balance.

Most of the attack bounced back into the monster itself.

The small portion that slipped through Arthur’s defenses still hit the ground.

That was the explosion they all saw.

That was the cracked battlefield around them.

But the main force...

Belonged to the boss now.

Arthur exhaled slowly.

"Good thing that worked."

He glanced down at the monster lying on the ground.

The boss struggled to move.

Its body trembled.

The gravity field had vanished.

The explorers finally felt the crushing weight disappear from their shoulders.

Several of them collapsed in relief.

But their eyes never left Arthur.

The man who had just survived the boss’s final attack.

Arthur dusted off his coat and stepped forward.

Slow.

Unhurried.

Each step echoed softly across the shattered floor.

The fight was already over in his mind.

The boss had poured everything into that last slam.

Arthur could feel it clearly.

The monster’s mana was almost empty now.

The giant creature struggled to push itself up.

Its arms shook.

Its empty eyes locked onto Arthur.

But there was no rage in them anymore.

Only exhaustion.

Arthur stopped a few steps away.

For a moment the two stared at each other.

The explorers watched in silence.

They couldn’t understand what had just happened.

One second Arthur had been about to die.

The next second the boss lay helpless on the ground.

It felt unreal.

"Does anyone know what he did?" one explorer whispered.

The captain shook his head slowly.

"...no."

But one thing was clear.

Arthur had turned certain death into victory.

Again.

Arthur tilted his head slightly while looking down at the monster.

"So this is how it ends."

The boss tried to rise again.

Its arm pushed against the ground.

Its massive body lifted a few inches.

Then it collapsed again.

Arthur sighed.

"Don’t bother."

He crouched slightly.

"Your mana’s gone."

The monster stared at him.

For the first time it looked... afraid.

Arthur chuckled softly.

"What? Now you want mercy?"

The ogre’s arm twitched as if trying to reach him.

Arthur kicked it aside.

"Too late."

He straightened and rolled his wrist.

Mana gathered around his dagger.

But this time it wasn’t just a simple strike.

Arthur’s intent flared.

Execution Intent surged outward and spread along the blade.

Then something else followed.

The threads of Intent Weave appeared again, circling around the dagger like thin glowing lines.

And finally—

Fire.

Manifest Intent ignited across the weapon.

Not wild flames.

Controlled ones.

Layered.

The dagger began to glow.

The explorers could feel the pressure building from where they lay.

Arthur raised the blade slightly.

"Let’s finish this."

The threads tightened.

The fire spiraled around the dagger.

Execution Intent sharpened the strike.

Arthur stepped forward.

The air itself seemed to tremble.

For a brief second the boss lifted its head.

And then..

Arthur moved.

Intent Step carried him forward like a flash.

SHRRAAAK.

The glowing dagger drove straight through the monster’s skull.

A burst of energy erupted from the impact.

The flames flashed once before fading.

The threads snapped apart.

And the chamber fell silent.

Arthur stood there for a moment with the dagger buried deep.

Then he pulled it free.

The boss ogre’s body went still.

Completely still.

A faint echo rolled through the dungeon as the massive corpse collapsed fully onto the cracked stone floor.

BOOM.

Arthur let out a long breath.

"...yeah."

He looked back at the explorers.

A small grin returned to his face.

"Now it’s over."

For a moment after the boss died, nobody moved.

The cavern still echoed faintly from the last impact and dust hung in the air like a fading fog. The massive body of the ogre lay motionless on the cracked stone floor.

The dungeon was silent.

Arthur wiped his dagger on a torn piece of cloth and slid it back into its sheath.

"Alright," he muttered to himself, letting out a long breath. "Now it’s actually over."

Behind him, the explorers slowly started moving again.

The gravity field was gone now and the pressure that had pinned them down had completely disappeared. Still, their bodies felt stiff from being forced against the ground for so long.

One by one they pushed themselves up.

Some stretched their shoulders while others rubbed their arms, trying to shake off the numbness.

Ryn sat up first and let out a long groan.

"Damn... I’m going to feel that tomorrow."

One of the explorers nearby laughed weakly.

"We’re lucky to see tomorrow."

Another one replied, "Fair."

They slowly got to their feet, but their eyes kept drifting back to Arthur.

The atmosphere around the group felt strange.

Awkward.

Everyone knew who had actually cleared the dungeon and solely defeated the boss.

The captain walked forward after a moment. His boots crunched against the cracked stone as he approached Arthur.