Chapter 30: Underworld Cerberus

Leon gripped the Stormcaller’s Conduit in his left hand and the Bloodfang Edge in his right, stepping forward through the ash. The landscape began to shift as he ventured deeper into the Underworld Realm. The flat, featureless plains of grey dust slowly gave way to broken paving stones and towering pillars of blackened basalt. It looked like the ruins of a massive, subterranean city, its architecture sharp, imposing, and completely devoid of life.

The silence was heavy, broken only by the crunch of Leon’s boots against the loose stone.

It didn’t take long for the dungeon’s defenders to realize their outer perimeter had been breached.

As Leon stepped into a wide courtyard flanked by crumbling statues, the shadows between the pillars began to lengthen unnaturally. The temperature dropped, a sudden, biting cold that bypassed his clothing and sank directly into his skin.

From the darkness, heavily armored figures stepped into the dim light.

[Monster Detected: Underworld Guardian (x12)]

[Level: 24]

[Type: Elite Undead Sentinel]

[Innate Talent: Deathless Resolve, Phalanx Formation]

Twelve of them. They were larger than the guards at the gate, wielding massive tower shields in one hand and serrated broadswords in the other. Their armor was pristine, a stark contrast to the ruined city around them, glowing with faint crimson runes along the chest plates.

Without a sound, the twelve guardians locked their shields together, forming an impenetrable wall of iron and bone that spanned the width of the courtyard. They advanced in perfect, terrifying unison, their heavy boots striking the stone floor like a single heartbeat.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Ten minutes ago, a coordinated wall of Level 24 elites might have forced Leon to retreat and look for a tactical bottleneck.

Now, he simply smiled.

Leon didn’t wait for them to close the distance. He raised Stormcaller’s Conduit, the Gold-Rank staff humming violently as he channeled his newly amplified Intelligence into it.

"Let’s test the new stats."

Crack!

Arcane Requiem erupted from the tip of the staff, but it didn’t look like the bolts he had fired earlier. Bolstered by his 75 INT, the mana bolt was nearly twice as thick, swirling with violent green poison, black decay, and erratic arcs of blue lightning.

The spell slammed into the center of the shield wall.

Boom!

The impact sounded like a siege engine striking a fortress wall. The guardian in the dead center of the formation was physically lifted off its feet, its massive tower shield shattering into dozens of jagged shrapnel pieces. The decay effect splattered across the three guardians next to it, immediately eating away at their pristine armor.

Ding!

[Arcane Requiem: Leeching Effect triggered.]

[HP drained: 110. Restored to user.]

The shield wall broke. The guardians stumbled, their perfect synchronization ruined.

Leon didn’t give them a second to reform. He activated Gale Weaver, commanding the wind to wrap around his legs. His Agility was already at 35, but with the wind reducing his air resistance and pushing him forward, he crossed the courtyard in a literal blur.

He arrived among them before the shattered pieces of the first shield had even hit the ground.

Slash!

Bloodfang Edge hummed through the air, completely bypassing the armor of a staggering guardian and severing its head in a single, fluid motion. Corrosive acid hissed violently as the creature’s body collapsed.

Ding!

[You have killed "Underworld Guardian (Level 24, Elite)" and gained 1,100 experience points.]

The remaining ten guardians reacted with frightening speed, dropping their ruined formation and swinging their broadswords in wide, sweeping arcs designed to box him in. Three blades converged on his position simultaneously.

"Obsidian Carapace," Leon muttered.

His skin darkened instantly, taking on the smooth, light-absorbing quality of volcanic glass. He didn’t dodge. He stepped directly into the path of the nearest blade.

Clang!

The serrated broadsword struck Leon’s shoulder, and the sound it made was identical to a sword striking a solid anvil. Sparks flew. The blade didn’t penetrate a single millimeter.

Instead, a pulse of kinetic energy rebounded from Leon’s skin, traveling directly back up the guardian’s weapon. The undead creature’s wrists snapped backward with a sickening crack, disarmed by the sheer force of the recoil.

Leon drove his sword through its chest, twisting the blade to maximize the corrosive spread.

Slash! Crack!

He fired point-blank blasts of Arcane Requiem with his left hand, blowing massive holes through their armor, while Verlimon’s Judgment triggered from his sword strikes, sending seismic shockwaves through the courtyard that shattered the cobblestones beneath their feet.

The battle was a massacre. The level difference had been erased, and the stat advantage was overwhelmingly in Leon’s favor.

Ding!

[You have killed "Underworld Guardian (Level 24, Elite)" and gained 1,100 experience points.]

[You have killed "Underworld Guardian (Level 24, Elite)" and gained 1,100 experience points.]

Within sixty seconds, all twelve elite guardians lay in pieces across the courtyard.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Rare Drop Probability significantly increased.]

[Underworld Guardians have dropped: 24,000 Eternal Coins, 6 Obsidian Whetstones, 1 Guardian’s Crest.]

Leon collected the drops seamlessly, barely breaking his stride. The Talent Devourer notification popped up, offering fragments of Phalanx Formation, but he dismissed it into his storage. He had no use for a team-based defensive talent as a solo player.

He pressed deeper into the ruins, following a wide, ascending staircase carved into the side of a subterranean cliff. The air grew thicker, carrying the distinct scent of sulfur and burning ozone.

At the top of the stairs, the path opened into a massive antechamber. Beyond it lay a set of towering double doors, forged from what looked like solid dark steel, bound in chains the size of tree trunks. It was clearly the entrance to the dungeon’s core.

But the doors were not unguarded.

Lying on the polished black stone before the entrance were two massive hounds. Each beast was easily the size of Garrick’s entire merchant carriage. Their fur was the color of dried blood, and heavy iron collars rested around their thick necks.

But it was their heads that gave Leon pause. Each hound possessed three distinct, snarling heads, their eyes burning with literal hellfire.

[Monster Detected: Underworld Cerberus (x2)]

[Level: 25]

[Type: Hellborn Beast - Mini-Boss]

[Innate Talents: Hellfire Breath, Shadow Step]