Chapter 241

Chapter 241: 241

The downpour inside the central district drainage grid didn’t drop in clean lines; it sheeted sideways through the cracked iron ventilation grates, washing a thick, oily film of diesel grime off the masonry walls. The air down here was cold, wet, and vibrated with the heavy, electronic hum of the city’s primary transmission lines running five levels above the concrete wharf.

Jun-ho stood exactly three paces from the outer defensive threshold of the Sun God Main Treasury Bunker. His large rubber boots were planted two feet apart in the gray soot, his left hand keeping an iron-hard grip around the rough black hemp wrap of The Ash Remnant. Under his dark gray hood, the stone-gray panels of the Ashen Monarch Core Plate remained perfectly dry, the absolute physical density of his Level 41 frame making his chest plates hum in a slow, deep frequency.

Right at the corner of his left eye, the solid black status text remained rock-steady.

[Level: 41]

[Mana: 3700/10000]

[Active Trait: Ashen Domain (Phase 4 – 70-meter radius)]

[Kinetic Framework: 8,000x Strike Weight]

[ New Utility: Monarch’s Decree (Ready)]

The barrier blocking the vault line wasn’t a standard steel plate door. It was a three-layer structure built from reinforced gray mountain granite blocks set straight into the bedrock, its edges sealed with a thick crimson mana-lock weave that pulsed with an active Tier 5 security current.

"The security log has two entry points, Jun-ho," Eun-bi’s voice called out from behind his shoulder guard. She had her canvas bag slung tight across her waist, her gray flannel shirt left undone at the throat because of the suffocating heat coming off his mana pool. Her dark hair was wet and messy, loose strands sticking to her chin, but her sharp face carried that regular, flat public-sector drawl as she adjusted her clipboard. "The main granite door is three inches thick, backed by unrefined marine alloy deadbolts. If we force it directly, the network will drop the secondary stone seal from the ceiling. But the stolen copper scroll shows a low-frequency secondary filter console inside the lower drainage grid that can disarm the loop manually."

Lilith slid right up to his left arm, her exceptionally long, smooth legs cutting a clean line through the low purple mist of the floorboards. The tight crimson leather of her outfit pulled dangerously flat across the voluptuous, perfect curve of her round hips, her narrow waist twisting with a deliberate, heavy rhythm that brought her frame right against his denim trousers. Her massive, half-visible chest rose and fell in quick, deep gasps against his bare upper arm, her full red lips parting into a low, breathless murmur that carried the sharp scent of raw sulfur and dark incense straight to his neck.

"The little nurse wants to spend twenty minutes tracing copper wires in the dark, big guy," Lilith whispered, her wide crimson eyes glowing with a lazy, dangerous fire under her long ink-black hair. Her long fingers, tipped with sharp crimson nails, slid slowly up his bare arm, her palms burning hot against his cool skin as she marked her placement. "My ledger has the old unranked bypass coordinates from the lower channels. Let me handle the drainage grid with Rea, Jun-ho... we can slip past the inner mages and clear the security terminal before the alarm stone can even release a single spark."

Rea slid off the secondary structural rail right behind her shoulder, the high-slashed silk of her black tunic parting all the way to her upper thigh to show the long, smooth line of her leg under the yellow safety lamps. Her golden-blue eyes spun slowly in a lazy, dangerous circle under the gray sky, her full crimson lips tightening into a thin, jealous line as she wedged her own voluptuous hourglass shape tight against Jun-ho’s opposite sleeve, her wild orchid perfume cutting sharp through Lilith’s sulfur incense.

"The demon girl is right about the path for once, big guy," Rea murmured, her bare arm rubbing against his shirt fabric with a heavy, possessive friction that competitive edge turning her tone sharp. "Our Phase 4 rogue speed is high enough to clear the mages without triggering the baseline metrics. But you have the raw mass to break the line right through the center if you want to skip the tunnels. Tell us which option you want to execute."

Jun-ho didn’t shift his weight back from either woman. He looked at the massive three-layer granite door, then down at the dark iron grating of the lower drainage slot.

"We execute both," Jun-ho said, his voice quiet and dry.

He didn’t drop into a vanguard block. He looked straight at the three corporate mages visible through the high iron viewing window inside the vault room, his dark eyes locking onto their silver staves.

[Class Skill Active: Monarch’s Decree (Phase 4).]

[Target Group: Vault Guard Mages (x3).]

[Decree Log: Freeze all active mana channel lines for 120 seconds.]

[Mana Cost: 1,000. Current Mana: 2700/10000.]

A sudden, terrifying rush of white mana shot out from his core plate armor, traveling straight through the air without making a sound. Inside the vault room, the three security mages froze instantly, their arms staying pinned to their chests, their silver staves turning a dead gray color as their internal logic loops were completely locked by the decree.

"Rea, Lilith, take the drainage grid and disarm the console," Jun-ho ordered flatly. "Tae-woo, clear the frame."

The two master rogues moved together in a single, fluid blur of red leather and black silk. With their multiplied Phase 4 speed, they dove straight into the dark iron grating of the lower drainage slot, their long smooth legs cutting a clean line through the purple mist as they glided through the narrow secondary channels to secure the inner terminal before the mages could recover.

Jun-ho took two long steps forward, stepping straight up to the center of the massive granite door. He raised The Ash Remnant with his left hand, the new black hemp wrap dry and solid in his grip. He let the lake of cold mana behind his ribs break its banks completely, the Ashen Domain - Phase 4 expanding outward in a flat, seventy-meter ring of thick grey frost.

[Ashen Domain Phase 4 Active.]

[Perimeter State: 70 meters (Extended by the Monarch’s Torc).]

[Mana Cost: 500 per minute. Current Mana: 2200/10000.]

He simply snapped his left wrist, driving the sharp matte edge of the eight-thousand-fold blade straight down onto the center of the reinforced gray mountain granite slab.

The sound inside the subterranean channel wasn’t an ordinary blast; it was a localized earthquake that shattered all three layers of the massive granite door into thousands of tiny stone shards. The force of the strike, multiplied eight thousand times by the weapon’s bound trait, didn’t just clear the entrance; the shockwave traveled straight through the threshold, fracturing the six steel security vaults inside the main room and throwing the iron deadbolts clean off their brackets.

[Target Neutralized: Main Treasury Bunker Granite Portal.]

[The Monarch’s Ledger Multiplier Active: 100x Vault Asset Calculation Applied.]

Right through the thick cloud of stone dust and white frost, the interior of the Sun God main treasury bunker lay wide open, the six massive vaults pouring a mountain of high-density unrefined crystals across the granite floor blocks under the brilliant blue glare. Rea and Lilith burst through the inner drainage door at the exact same microsecond, their obsidian blades clean and ready, their golden-blue and crimson eyes spinning in a lazy, victorious circle as they met him at the center desk.

"The security grid is completely dead, big guy," Lilith called out, her voice a deep, sultry purr as her voluptuous hips leaned hard into his right side to mark her territory.

Jun-ho lowered his sword, his fingers uncurling from the rough hemp grip as the solid black text at the bottom of his eye began to count down the final level-up resource values.