Overpowered Awakening: I Became Invincible With A Broken Talent-Chapter 135: Deadlight District (26)

If her story was genuine, then it could only mean that a being within the portal had the power to interact with the outside world, something that had never been heard of before.

Thinking about it carefully, Marlon already had a prediction of what kind of creature the boss was. Aurax.

And this time, it seemed to possess the power of hallucination and teleportation, two unique abilities.

So far, no one had been able to awaken a teleportation talent. Only a few had managed to awaken talents with minor hallucination effects, but none were as full-fledged and powerful as this one.

"Can you tell how long you have been here? An estimate would do," he asked.

He needed to know this.

The woman turned to look at him and fell into contemplation.

"I don’t know exactly, but it should be around two or three days," she responded.

Then she continued.

She told him about the strange sensation she always felt.

She described it as blacking out and waking up while feeling as though she was forgetting something she should never forget.

Hearing this, Marlon formed a suspicion.

Unfortunately, he could not share it with her.

How would she react if he told her that she had died more than five times in only a few minutes?

It was better to leave her guessing.

For now, he had to find the last key.

And as if responding to his thoughts,

The ground beneath them trembled.

He quickly grabbed the woman and swiftly moved backward.

At the spot where they had once stood, a bright purple portal opened up, and a key floated out.

[ You’ve found the last key ]

[ You can now unlock the boss trial by fusing the three keys ]

He nodded.

This was exactly what he needed.

But for now, he had to exit the cave and take care of something else.

Seeing how this encounter had gone, he made up his mind to face the boss alone.

The portal on the ground remained and continued to expand even after he retrieved the key. Because of this, he suspected it was their way out.

Although the woman was scared of entering, after a bit of convincing that everything would be fine, both of them jumped into the portal.

Following the swift sensation of traveling through space, the two of them landed on the other side.

Marlon reacted immediately and prevented the impact of their quick landing. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Caleb and Clarissa were already growing quite impatient.

They suspected that something had happened and that Marlon was in trouble.

A few times, they even shared the thought of entering the cave through the portal themselves.

"Marlon."

Relief washed over them as the portal appeared and spat the two of them out.

Clarissa rushed forward and hugged him, while Caleb stood still, observing the stunning woman in front of him as he fell into a dazed state.

Clarissa separated from the hug and turned her attention to the woman, who looked just as confused as the two of them.

Noticing the rising confusion, Marlon explained everything that had happened within the cave, including the story of how she had been summoned. Of course, he excluded the loop part.

"This... this has never happened before," Caleb and Clarissa reacted.

Clarissa then turned to the woman and asked her a few questions, which she answered one after another.

Unlike Marlon, who did not bother to inquire about her identity, Clarissa introduced herself and asked what seemed like unnecessary yet vital information, such as her name, where she lived, and other minor details.

The woman was named Theresa Clarks. She was from Sunbay City, Southshore Nation, and she was married.

Hearing that she was married, Caleb felt disheartened, but he quickly recovered.

"We will get you back to your family as soon as we defeat the boss," Clarissa assured her with a gentle smile.

Theresa nodded, feeling relieved by the healer’s presence.

Things would have definitely been awkward being stuck with only men, especially Caleb, who had made her uncomfortable with his lingering, lustful looks.

As for Marlon, she had not been able to see his face clearly while they were inside the cave.

But now that they were standing outside, she felt as though she had seen his face somewhere before. However, her mind was too occupied with lingering dread to think deeply about where she might have known him from.

"Marlon, did you find the last key?" Caleb asked, forcefully shaking the lustful thoughts from his mind.

Hearing the name she called him by, her eyes lit up.

The Golden Child and the Lunaris Beater.

How could she not recognize him?

"You’re him. I can’t believe it," she let out in disbelief.

Marlon simply gave her a small smile before turning to Caleb and responding to his question by equipping the three golden keys.

"The boss trial will unlock once I fuse them," he explained.

"Good. Let us go and defeat the boss and get this over with," Caleb said as he equipped his sword.

"That won’t be necessary. I am going to face the boss alone."

Caleb and Clarissa were immediately concerned.

"We only allowed you to enter the cave alone because we believed it was within your power, but please, we cannot allow you to face the boss alone," Clarissa said.

"Yeah. At least let me go with you. You will need a healer, and even if my enhancement skills are still low-level, they would still be a great help to your clones," she added.

The two of them protested gently.

Unfortunately, Marlon’s mind was already made up.

He called them aside and explained his reasoning.

He told them about the loop, how he had been forced to kill his own clones, and how those same clones had killed Theresa repeatedly.

Then he explained his theory regarding the boss’s abilities.

"Facing such an opponent as a group has more disadvantages than advantages," he concluded.

"Fine, but please be careful," Clarissa sighed, speaking in a caring tone.

"Take care, dude," Caleb added.

"I will. You two don’t have to worry about me. Take care of Theresa and wait for my return."

They nodded and left.

After they were gone, Marlon focused on the three keys.

He then channeled his aether into them, causing them to glow radiantly.

The three keys floated into midair and fused together, forming a larger one that emitted a much sharper glow. Then, in a split second, it exploded into a burst of golden light that enveloped Marlon.

Once the glow faded, neither the key nor Marlon remained.

===

His eyes fluttered open in a place that bore a strange resemblance to the ancient hall with multiple doorways. The only difference was that there was not a single doorway in sight.

Torches were lined along the brown brick walls, lighting up the ominous interior.

At the center of the hall stood a seat made of shiny steel, glistening under the blazing illumination of the torches.

The back of the seat was facing him, but he spotted two familiar black-golden horns.

"Aurax," Marlon murmured.

His eyes sparkled with readiness.

"Haha, a human who knows about us. Interesting," the Aurax laughed maniacally as it spoke.

Then, in a stylish manner, it made the seat spin until it was facing Marlon.

He looked exactly like the last Aurax Marlon had faced, the same height and appearance.

Without a doubt, it was an Index-2 Aurax.

The fact that it could speak the human language further cemented this conclusion.

Meanwhile, as the Aurax scanned him, Marlon did the same. He activated his inspection, but just like the last two Aurax he had faced, it was completely useless.

The Aurax, having finished extracting all the information it needed, smirked.

"You managed to kill that brat. You are indeed not normal for a human," it said with a fascinated expression, causing Marlon to wonder who it was referring to.

But that was unnecessary for now. Killing the Aurax was the priority.

"Although I am curious how you managed to kill him, I won’t press you for it. He was very weak compared to me, even though we are of the same age. That same luck that granted you victory against him would, at best, grant you a quick and painless death against me."

After saying that, it stood up from the steel chair. With a flick of its wrist, its body dispersed into speckles of light and vanished into thin air.

"Hallucination," Marlon recognized what had just happened.

With this, one of his speculations regarding its abilities had been confirmed.

"Does it also have teleportation?"

He was no longer sure.

Nonetheless, he prayed that it did not possess it, because no matter how fast he was, there was no way he could defeat an opponent that was completely unpredictable.