Chapter 148: Beastlord Core Manifestation

The air inside the deep trench was so heavy it felt hard to breathe.

Standing forty feet tall, the Level 70 Mutated Abyssal Behemoth glared down at them. Its body was covered in thick slabs of purple spatial crystals, and its two massive horns buzzed with dangerous waves of gravity.

Evren raised the glowing purple core of the Level 65 S-Rank Void Devourer high into the air, his eyes locked onto the beast.

"Beastlord Core Manifestation!" Evren commanded.

The boss core in his hand burst into blinding violet light.

A massive magic circle, wider than a football field, burned into the rocky floor of the trench. Deep, rumbling sounds echoed through the ground as waves of cosmic purple mist poured out from the circle.

ROOOOOAAAR!

An earth-shaking roar tore through the canyon, loud enough to rattle the stones in their chests.

From the glowing circle, a colossal, sixty-foot spirit rose into the air. It was the exact form of the S-Rank Void Devourer, made entirely of swirling purple starlight and starry scales. Its giant claws slammed onto the ground, shaking the entire trench.

Amber gasped, her golden eyes wide with shock. "Evren... summoned a boss-level spirit?!"

Beside her, Zephyra froze in complete silence.

Her violet eyes were fixed on the sixty-foot beast. She vividly remembered when Evren had fought this terrifying apex predator to harvest its Umbral Heart-Stone for her final cure.

Now, the savage monster that Evren had slain to save her life stood before them as his loyal summon, bowing its massive head to its new master before charging into battle.

A warm, deep feeling filled Zephyra’s chest, leaving her breathless with pure respect and love for the man beside her.

"Crush it!" Evren ordered, pointing his Frost-Bane Cleaver forward.

The sixty-foot Void Devourer leaped across the trench. It crashed straight into the Level 70 Behemoth, locking its giant spectral jaws around the monster’s glowing horns.

BOOM!

The impact sounded like two freight trains smashing together. The Behemoth’s gravity field shattered as the Void Devourer pinned its head down against the stone.

"Amber, Zephyra, hit its sides!" Evren called out, rushing forward on foot. "Break the crystal nodes!"

"On it!" Amber shouted.

Amber flew into the air on her golden wings, firing two blazing crescent waves of golden light into the Behemoth’s left shoulder. The intense heat cracked the monster’s thick crystal plates.

Zephyra vanished into the shadows, reappearing on the right flank. Her twenty-foot whip-blade lashed out, wrapping tightly around the Behemoth’s back leg. With a sharp pull, her blade sliced through the tough tendons behind its knee.

The Behemoth let out a scream of pure rage.

It swung a massive, razor-clawed arm through the air, trying to swat Zephyra like an insect. Before the blow could land, the Void Devourer whipped its starry tail across the trench.

CLACK-BOOM!

The tail intercepted the giant arm mid-swing, knocking the monster’s attack completely off course.

In the same fluid motion, the sixty-foot spectral serpent coiled its body around the Behemoth’s torso. It tightened its coils with crushing force, making the monster’s thick stone ribs groan under the pressure.

The Behemoth roared in fury and threw its weight backward, slamming the Devourer hard against the rocky canyon wall.

Huge rocks shattered into dust from the impact, yet the Void Devourer held on. It sank its spectral fangs into the monster’s shoulder and dug its claws deep into the crystal armor, pinning the Behemoth against the cliff.

Then, the vortex of dark gravity in the center of the Devourer’s face began to spin like a screaming turbine.

SHRRRR-CLACK!

A concentrated beam of swirling void energy blasted directly into the Behemoth’s chest at point-blank range.

The violent gravity blast tore through the thick purple crystals, blasting them into thousands of flying shards. Deep fissures spread across the monster’s chest, exposing the raw, pulsing flesh beneath the shattered armor.

"Now, strike together!" Amber shouted from above, diving down like a golden raptor.

Her twin sabers flared with blazing solar heat as she plunged both blades straight into the cracked chest plates, setting the exposed wound on fire.

Evren arrived right behind her, his boots kicking up clouds of stone dust as he closed the gap.

He gripped the Frost-Bane Cleaver with both hands, swinging the heavy weapon in a brutal horizontal sweep.

CLANG-CRUNCH!

The heavy edge bit deep into the Behemoth’s exposed ribs, flooding the wound with biting frost mana.

Trapped and bleeding, the Level 70 Behemoth went completely wild. Its spatial horns crackled with black lightning as its core overloaded.

"Evren, look out!" Zephyra shouted. "It is overloading its core!"

The Behemoth drove its crackling horns straight into the Void Devourer’s chest.

CRACK-BOOM!

A blinding Spatial Singularity Pulse detonated at point-blank range.

The Void Devourer roared, wrapping its tail around the blast to absorb the explosion and shield the team.

Under the crushing force of the singularity, the spirit shattered into purple embers, having broken the boss’s defenses and absorbed the fatal blast.

Yet the explosion left behind a storm of warped gravity.

The ground beneath Zephyra wrenched sideways, pinning her against the jagged trench wall.

The wounded Behemoth saw its opening.

Its tail... tipped with a three-foot crystal spike, whipped forward like an armor-piercing spear, aimed straight at Zephyra’s chest.

Zephyra strained against the warped gravity, but her shadow magic was completely jammed.

The deadly spike closed the distance in a fraction of a second.

Just then, a bright red light flashed across Evren’s vision:

[DANGER SENSE FLASH: BONDED HEROINE ZEPHYRA UNDER LETHAL ATTACK!]

[ZERO-LATENCY INTERCEPT TRIGGERED: UMBRAL BLINK COOLDOWN RESET TO ZERO!]

Pure protective instinct took over.

FLASH!

Evren phase-shifted through space, materializing directly in front of Zephyra.

He planted his boots into the stone, activated his Titan Body Density, and brought the flat of his cleaver up like an iron wall.

CLAAAAANG!

The crystal spike slammed into the cleaver, sending shockwaves through the canyon floor. Evren stood like a solid mountain, holding his ground without giving an inch.

Behind him, Zephyra felt the wind wash over her face. SLowly, she looked at the broad back of Evren who had stepped in the face of danger to protect her once again.

Evren’s eyes burned with cold fury. "You dare target her?"

Before the Behemoth could pull its tail back, Evren dropped his left hand and caught the tail with his bare fingers.

His grip locked on like a steel vise.

Channeling his SS-Rank strength, Evren swung his entire body around. The multi-ton Behemoth was ripped off its feet and slammed face-first into the cliff wall.

CRASH!

Boulders rained down as the Behemoth screamed in agony.

Evren leaped fifty feet into the air, channeling his Gravity Domain into his Frost-Bane Cleaver. "Gravity Cleave!"

He brought the cleaver down in a massive vertical strike.

SHRRRRR-BOOM!

A sixty-foot blade of pure gravity and ice cut straight through the air, slicing the Behemoth cleanly in two. The monster froze solid, then shattered into glowing clouds of purple ice and fading stardust.

Silence returned to the deep trench.

A golden screen appeared in Evren’s vision:

[SYSTEM QUEST COMPLETED: HEROINE #3 SECOND-STAGE CATALYSTS SECURED!]

[ACQUIRED: 1x ASTRAL VOID TENDONS (PERFECT S-GRADE SPECIMEN)]

[ACQUIRED: 1x LEVEL 70 SPATIAL CRYSTALLINE CORE (100% PURITY)]

From the monster’s remains, two glowing items floated into the air: silver tendons and a pulsing purple core. Evren’s Core Siphon pulled both items straight into his hands, and he stored them safely inside his ring.

The catalysts for Calista’s cure were finally secured.

Amber landed softly beside him with her sabers sheathed. "Incredible, Evren! You cut a Level 70 boss in half with one hit!"

Evren turned toward Zephyra as the gravity pressure faded. "Are you hurt?"

Zephyra shook her head, her face slightly flushed. "I am unhurt, Master... Thank you for saving my life."

"You don’t need to thank me," Evren smiled gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I will always protect you."

Zephyra leaned into his touch for a warm second before stepping back with a respectful bow.

A deep tremor ran through the ground, and an exit portal formed fifty paces away.

Above them, distant explosions echoed down from the surface.

"Walter and the forty hunters have been holding the two side rifts for nearly an hour," Evren said, drawing his cleaver. "We need to get up there and help them."

Amber and Zephyra nodded, their weapons ready.

"Let’s go," Evren said, leading the way through the exit portal.