Overpowered Wizard-Chapter B4 Ch43: Foodie Versus Jack

Foodie remembered how Gnoll Princess Ezda and Arnold of Ambrose had coordinated to take down a powerful dragon boss on their own. For the past thirty years, Zarian and Ruvaria had thrown her into carefully orchestrated matches against eldritch menaces that were difficult to identify and lacked proper profiles, but were all boss-like threats. Going from the Level 160s to the early Level 180s seemed pretty slow in the span of thirty years, but Mother Ruvaria had insisted on a more foundational schooling that made the largest difference. If that hadn’t been the case, Father wouldn’t have gotten even scarier while still at Level 200.

So, when the notifications arrived with the rising tempo of boss music, revealing her foe to be Level 185, Foodie felt a little disappointed. Then Jack unleashed his aura in a series of explosions, dropping the seals binding him, arousing Foodie’s anticipation far more than she’d expected. Her heart fluttered. Tingles traveled along her spine and to the tips of her toes. She licked her lips.

“Oh, you’re actually going to put up a fight.” Foodie smiled wickedly.

The boss arena was a massive nave with polished mosaic floors that reached from horizon to horizon in all directions. The sky was covered with stone arches and stained glasses that poured many colorful lights down upon them. Even with her less-than-stellar magical senses, Foodie sensed the potential powers at play, some subtly active, others charging with so much potential, they throbbed with a need for release. The arena itself was just as much alive as the two contestants, with Foodie finding the shape of her foe even more amusing.

He was humanoid. He looked more like Jack, but with eerie features that hinted at the uncanny. Larger eyes that shone with inner white light. A large mouth filled with sharpened teeth. Talons. A skeletal torso with lengthy limbs. And completely naked, which didn’t bother Foodie much. She was a goblin, and she was heavily indoctrinated into the Floridian way of thinking now.

She did find Jack’s wings pretty enough. They were wide, with thick feathers that had sharpened edges. They twinkled like crystals, reflecting the many lights shining from the stained heavens above. As the two combatants took a measure of each other, Foodie bobbed her head to the music, her smile widening as she noticed Jack’s uncanny mask shift further toward outrage.

“You remember me, don’t you?” Foodie asked huskily. Maybe she was bound to get something cathartic out of this.

Jack moaned, shaking his head from side to side.

Foodie stepped forward, and he shuffled back. She laughed unkindly. “Oh yes, that’s it. You know me. You remembered how I spared you when I could’ve ended you. You looked up to me, but you hated how I admired Zarian.” He wasn’t the only one affected. Foodie’s chest became a hive of prickly barbs and stingers. The memories cut both ways. “Then you sided with Wicky. You became my tormentor. All while saying it was good for me.”

Jack’s moaning grew louder, and the boss music attuned itself with their anguish and toxic bond, becoming more haunting and sorrowful with a small undercurrent of fury. Foodie found herself caught up in the grandeur and the music as well. This was her moment. She was no longer a slave, no longer a tormented captive, no longer a tragic figure to be used by greater forces than her. She was one of those greater forces now.

“Zarian’s a father to me these days. I love him with all my heart. And I will stand as his number one child, adopted or not.” Foodie pointed her bigger cleaver at Jack as she gloated, letting the maniacal goblin come out fully. “You sucky suck! I win big big! Now die again, pissy piss bastard!”

Jack roared, words failing him. Most boss monsters could talk, but he couldn’t, a blessed relief. Maybe that was why he was stronger than normal as he channeled his wrath into his powers and slashed down a blindingly white sword that appeared from nowhere.

Foodie recognized the power involved and elected to dodge aside. It would’ve been a costly mistake if she wasn’t half-way aware of the insidious traps of the boss arena. The holy sword struck the mosaic floor and converted a long patch into lashing vines and thorns made of a crystalline substance.

Foodie dashed away, avoiding each vine-grasp. Jack slammed down another towering blade of light, and Foodie dodged that as well. Another patch of the mosaic floor transformed into rising spears that shot upward and looped downward in a thunderous fall that pierced and blasted like armor-penetrating missiles. But the type that could blow a large hole through a mountain.

Once again, Jack slashed down at Foodie, and once again, the boss arena floor became affected with transmutation. The next consequence was more surprising, rousing golem-like orbs that reminded Foodie of Hannah’s capabilities. The golems orbited around her and fired magic lasers frequently, each volley happening at different intervals to keep from being predictable.

“Not bad,” Foodie said under her breath.

This was a little too much for her to dismantle effectively. So, she didn’t bother using a subtle touch and opted to use the hammer. Or more specifically, the cooking flame.

She slashed the edge of her smaller cleaver over the edge of her bigger cleaver, summoning sparks she captured and enhanced with sorcery. Then she cast a spell that made use of those sparks to a voluminous degree.

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“Transmutation Flame Feast.”

She covered the area with a golden fire that transmutated the mosaic floor, the orbital laser golems, the bombardment spears, and the crystalline vines into hard-rock candy. Then, with another spell from her bibliotheca – Feed Me – she drained everything into her awaiting maw like it was a black hole.

The feast supercharged her aura, and it was tasty, too!

By the time she finished, Jack closed the distance in a wink and challenged her with a saber of light and extreme insecurity. That wasn’t the real danger. His speed was, and fortunately for him, he was just fast enough to get in and do some damage.

He slashed her back three times before dodging away from a swing of her big cleaver. Darting into another opening, he slashed under her rib, avoided a retaliatory cleaver thrust, and cut into her torso again, sparks flying from each hit, blood splashing and boiling. Then Jack backed off to assess the damage.

Foodie’s wounds struggled to close, but the damage to her eternal clothing vanished quickly. They didn’t block damage or pain. They weren’t made for that. Jack didn’t seem to care about the implications. His eyes shone with blasphemous glee from the pain he’d inflicted.

“That’s it?” Foodie spat. “Zarian’s a nice guy, but he’s hurt me worse than that. And you can’t imagine the torture I’ve been under with Ruvaria.”

There was a difference in the pain Foodie had suffered under Jack and Wicky compared to her current father and mother. The former had hurt her for the sake of hurting her. The latter had done it while teaching her valuable lessons to strengthen her.

“Don’t go soft on me now. Come at me, Jack-o-boy.” She smiled nastily at him, and Jack couldn’t help himself but respond.

Foodie responded in kind, cheating. While she could affect gravity herself, time magic was still beyond her. Her eternal clothing facilitated the use of time sorcery, slowing things down while allowing her to move quickly. The aura requirement was up there. Her smaller cleaver fed her consistently, and she was thankful for that, because Jack could speed up as well.

The two blurred around each other, with Foodie sweeping and windmilling her larger cleaver around in broad strokes and powerful thrusts. Jack maneuvered less like a monster and more like an expert fencer, darting in and out, slicing and bleeding Foodie, just like the good old days. Then he applied more of his powers as he grew more confident, emitting bright flashes that overloaded the senses, shooting power beams that could rearrange the geography, and shouting wrathfully with a voice that could knock down all the walls of a bunker. He revealed more of his traits and skills, growing in power insidiously, revealing one of the sickest jokes Foodie had ever seen.

He was still in the traditional good alignment.

He could power up for free because the heavens mandated it.

The pressure on Foodie grew, and so did the excitement, the goblin woman smiling as Jack slashed, stabbed, burned, and bled her, JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

When they came to a stop, she was covered in wounds that blackened her flesh and left her bleeding in many places. She looked more dead than alive, but her time-enchanted clothing remained pristine while covered in glowing runes that kept the speed of the fight manageable for her current power tier. Jack looked at her with rising joy. He was getting off on this.

Foodie loved to see it and felt an eerie bliss like no other. She was getting everything she’d wanted out of this. Jack hadn’t disappointed her.

“I wish we could keep this going longer,” she said, low and husky. “This is our special thing, isn’t it? I will never forget. And I will never forgive. So that’s why I wanted to extend this as long as possible, but I need to move on. Goodbye, Jack.”

Her old tormentor frowned. Then his face morphed into pain after taking a sudden punch to the gut from Foodie’s fist.

She’d closed the distance with a speed that was new, enhanced by a wide range of powers, especially one that sped her up based on how much she recently consumed. She sent Jack tumbling backward until he scrambled to his feet, preparing to respond. He didn’t have the time. Foodie sped up even further with one of her oldest powers.

Aura Ignition.

She only used the Half Stage. There was no wild explosion of aura that accompanied it. There was barely any excess waste other than a shimmering blue coat of light glimmering faintly close to her skin.

Most, if not all, practitioners of Aura Ignition would’ve fallen on their knees and begged for their lives upon seeing such control over the Half Stage of Aura Ignition. Naomi would’ve lost her mind. Foodie’s control was that godly and powerful, which made the prospect of facing her higher stages even scarier.

Her bigger cleaver was stored away in a pocket dimension, and the smaller cleaver was slipped into the back of her pants while still active. That way, Foodie could slap Jack around without risk of cutting him too soon.

She hit him with her palm. She hit him with the back of her hand. Each side of his face suffered her careful administration of a smack down that he more than deserved at speeds that were too fast for most Champion Rankers to track. Jack flailed and fought, but it was pointless as the punishment carried them from horizon to horizon across the entire boss arena.

Then the inevitable happened. Jack tried to cheat. He enforced his will on the systemic nature of the dungeon and called down a specific set of wards that froze enemies upon touch. Then he widened the wards until they covered the entire room, passing over Foodie multiple times.

She stopped like an insect stuck in amber. For a moment. Jack waited too long before Foodie revealed the full extent of her power and how the levels and ranks were a formality of comparison with her lessers. She cast system command magic.

[Taskkill / Supernova Hater Petrifying Wards]

The entire dungeon shuddered, Jack moaning in horror as his wards shattered the moment Foodie sent out her command. The cost was horrific for Foodie, of course. Her aura dropped sharply, forcing her Aura Ignition to end.

She still had plenty in the tank, but the lack of finesse was costly. If it weren’t for her high Wonder stat, she wouldn’t have the power for her godly demand.

She must’ve seemed vulnerable after that. Unfortunately for her enemies, she was far from weak still. Granted, Foodie preferred being on the safe side and drank a blue draught she’d brewed herself, made mostly from her own aura, a trick Ruvaria had taught her.

It would never be as good as a true high-quality alchemical blend, but with enough time and preparation, she could cannibalize her old aura she’d stocked up over the years. It took about five draughts to fill her back up to adequate margins, and to her chagrin, Jack had done nothing to stop her.

He was waiting on his knees, his gaze filled with hopeless anguish.