Chapter 178: Death’s Domain

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Death’s Domain

The skeleton drew its great sword.

The black blade rose from the skeleton’s lap. The death aura intensified. The air inside the dome became thick, suffocating, each breath pulling cold death energy into Lucian’s lungs.

The skeleton slashed.

Lucian activated Light Acceleration. His body coated in light mana. He accelerated — the world blurring into streaks of grey and black as he vanished from his position dodging the slash of death energy.

But the skeleton was already above him.

Its great sword descended in a vertical arc aimed at Lucian’s spine.

CLAAANG!

The blade caught Lucian across the back. Light Armor and Crimson Vessel absorbed most of the impact . The force still drove him into the ground. BOOM. He tumbled across the dark surface, rolling twice before stabbing Aethon into the ground to arrest his momentum. Sparks flew from the blade’s contact with the strange dark floor.

A wound across his upper back. The blade had cut through both defensive layers and into his flesh. But what made his frown deepen was what happened next.

The wound didn’t close. Eternal Regeneration — the ability that had knit broken bones and pierced organs in seconds — was been stalled? The edges of the cut remained open, dark veins spreading outward from the wound like ink bleeding through paper.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

The attack was infused with Death Energy. Death Energy is inhibiting Eternal Regeneration. Regeneration speed reduced by 70% until Death Energy is purged.

Lucian gritted his teeth. His greatest passive defense — the thing that had kept him alive through fights with vampires, zombies, and Grand Core cultivators — was being smothered.

The skeleton walked toward him slowly. Its great sword dragged behind it on the dark ground, producing a grinding screech.

Lucian created four Blood Clones. Each one materialized beside him, armed with blood swords. The clones spread out, forming a semicircle around the approaching skeleton.

The skeleton increased its pace.

It went from a walk to a sprint in a single step — an instant burst of speed that defied the laws of physics. It closed the distance to Lucian in a blink, great sword rising for a downward cleave.

Lucian parried with Aethon. CLAAANG! The impact sent shockwaves through his arms. His boots skidded backward on the dark floor. The skeleton’s strength was enormous — Mid Grand Core physical power channeled through undead muscle that never tired. Lucian held his ground, his Peak Core strength reinforced by Transcendent and Vampire Body and months of alchemy training pushing back against the downward pressure.

He kicked toward the skeleton’s midsection. His boot connected with exposed ribs. CRACK. Two ribs shattered — but the skeleton didn’t flinch. It jumped back, distancing itself.

The four Blood Clones attacked simultaneously. Blood slashes screamed toward the skeleton from four directions. The skeleton’s great sword moved in precise arcs, parrying each strike with efficiency. TING-TING-TING-TING. Sparks flew where blood met black steel.

The clones pressed the attack — striking again, forcing the skeleton onto the defensive. Lucian used the opening. He clapped his hands together. Light mana gathered between his palms. The energy compressed into a shape — a giant sword of pure light, five meters long, hovering above his hands.

The four clones simultaneous launched Blood Chains at the skeleton. Crimson links wrapped around its body. The skeleton strained. The skeleton’s death energy flared. The chains rotted — dissolving from the points of contact, black spreading through the crimson links like poison through water. They shattered.

The skeleton swung its great sword in a wide arc. A wave of death energy rolled outward from the blade. CRAAAACK. The four Blood Clones dissolved instantly — their constructs unable to withstand the death aura. The giant sword of light met the wave and shattered like glass. BOOM. The shockwave pushed Lucian backward, his boots carving trenches in the dark floor.

His eyes widened.

Death energy is on a completely different level.

He couldn’t summon the manticore. The beast was still injured from their fight — stored in the Beast Domain to recover. Sending a Mid C-Rank beast against a Mid Grand Core undead would be suicide. Afterall, a mid grand core master could even clash with a late C rank beast.

Mental attacks wouldn’t work either. Mind Spike required a living consciousness. The skeleton was undead with no mind to attack. That left one option.

Lucian’s body started emitting a reddish energy. The crimson glow of his eyes intensified — deepening from their usual crimson. His muscles trembled. His blood raced through his veins at increasing speed.

He stored Aethon into his Shadow Storage. His claws couldn’t grip the sword properly in this form anyway.

Since there’s no one here that I care about — I can use this freely.

"Predator Form."

His hair lengthened — flowing past his shoulders, the tips darkening to deep black. His fangs extended past his lips. His fingernails elongated with a sharp organic sound — schlikt, schlikt, schlikt — curving into obsidian claws. His muscles swelled. His posture shifted. A crimson haze radiated outward from his body, distorting the air.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Predator Form Activated.

All Physical Stats +80%.

Lucian turned toward the skeleton and rushed forward.

The speed was blinding. His enhanced Agility — now sitting at over 675 with Predator Form’s 80% boost — carried him across the dark space in a fraction of a second. His clawed fist drove forward.

The skeleton raised its great sword to block. CLAAANG! The impact created a shockwave that cracked the dark floor beneath them. The skeleton was pushed back. Lucian pressed forward. His leg lashed out in a kick that caught the skeleton’s chest. BOOM. Ribs shattered. The skeleton was sent flying backward, tumbling through the dark air before stabilizing itself.

Unlike when I fought Hoffman — Lucian’s mind raced even as his body moved. — my strength has increased from Mid Core to Peak Core. A jump of two stages. Right now, with Predator Form, I’m far more powerful than I was nine months ago — when I was struggling against C-Rank beasts and had to run.

The skeleton’s death energy intensified. Dark aura poured from its bones, thickening the air. It swung its great sword outward — a horizontal slash that released a crescent wave of concentrated death energy. The wave howled toward Lucian.

Lucian couldn’t hold Aethon — but he had a weapon of his own. He infused his claws with Sword Intent. Dark Light shimmered along the obsidian tips, bending the air around them.

"Heaven’s Severance!"

His claw slash tore through the air. Spatial distortion rippled outward from his fingertips. The attack met the death energy wave head-on — and cut through it. SCHLIKT. The wave split in two, dissipating on either side of Lucian, dissolving into harmless dark particles.

He rushed forward. Claws glowing with Sword Intent, he slashed at the skeleton’s skull. The skeleton raised its great sword — parrying. CLAAANG. Sparks flew. The skeleton pushed back. Lucian’s claws scraped along the black blade, producing a screech.

The skeleton fired a blast of death energy from its free hand — a concentrated beam aimed at Lucian’s chest. Lucian jumped back. Activated multiple Light Shields plus Light Armor and Crimson Vessel reinforcement. The beam struck.

KRRRAK-KRRRAK-KRRSH!

All three shields shattered. The beam slammed into his reinforced body. BOOM. He skidded backward, his boots carving trenches. Pain flared across his chest. Death energy seeped through the defenses, dark veins spreading across his skin. His regeneration fought it.

The skeleton rushed forward — great sword raised for a killing blow.

It’s time to end this.

Lucian closed his fist as he activated blood eclipse art. Blood Chains erupted from the ground beneath the skeleton. Dozens of them, reinforced with every scrap of Blood Eclipse Art enhancement he could muster. They wrapped around the skeleton’s body. The skeleton thrashed. Death energy rotted the chains — but Lucian was producing them faster than they could dissolve. Blood poured from his palms, forming new chains to replace the rotting ones.

Lucian pointed two fingers at the skeleton. Light mana gathered at his fingertips compressing and spinning as the energy built. The air itself screamed from the concentration.

Light Acceleration.

He was in front of the skeleton in a heartbeat. His fingers — still gathering light — pressed against the skeleton’s skull.

A concentrated Light Bolt fired point-blank into the skeleton’s head.

FWEEESH-BOOM!

The skull exploded. Bone fragments flew in every direction. The dark light in the eye sockets — flickered once as it died.

The skeleton’s body went rigid. The death energy around it flickered and then collapsed. The dark dome above cracked, split, and shattered like black glass.

The skeleton’s bones clattered to the ground.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Predator Form Timer: 6:22 remaining.

Lucian stood over the skeleton’s remains as he deactivated Predator Form.

His breathing was ragged. Blood trickled from his nose. Dark veins crawled across his chest and arms where the beam had struck.