Chapter 34: Underworld Wraith King (2)

Leon didn’t wait for the King to attack again. Leon raised Stormcaller’s Conduit and unleashed a relentless barrage of Arcane Requiem.

Green, black, and blue energy tore across the room.

Malakor spun his massive scythe with effortless grace, swatting the Gold-Rank spells out of the air as if they were annoying insects. But the Sovereign underestimated the secondary effects. Even as the bolts were deflected, the Decaying Effect and Poison splattered against the blade of his scythe and splashed onto his tattered robes.

The dark shadows of his spectral form began to hiss and bubble.

"What is this?" Malakor growled, looking down as the decay actively began eating away at his ethereal body.

"That," Leon said, sprinting forward, "is just the appetizer."

Leon closed the distance, his Agility pushing him into a dead sprint. Malakor roared, raising his scythe high above his head to bring it down in a devastating vertical chop.

"Alpha’s Roar!"

The concussive blast of intimidation struck Malakor mid-swing. The Wraith King was a Level 30 Boss; he wasn’t going to be crippled by a C-Rank talent, but the sheer, unexpected force of the roar caused him to flinch. His swing hesitated for a fraction of a second.

It was all the opening Leon needed.

"Gorgon’s Decree!"

Leon locked eyes with the Sovereign. The pale grey light of petrification blasted directly into Malakor’s face.

The King shrieked. Even as an undead wraith, the Deathless property of the petrification forced the necrotic energy in his face to harden and calcify. Half of Malakor’s skull turned to solid, brittle stone, blinding his left eye and locking his jaw shut.

Leon slid under the King’s guard, bringing Bloodfang Edge up in a brutal, two-handed upward slash.

"Verlimon’s Judgment!"

Slash!

The Platinum-tier wind crescent erupted from the blade, enhanced by the Tremor Impact. The strike caught Malakor directly in the center of his chest. The corrosive edge of the sword melted through his spectral armor, and the shockwave exploded entirely inside the Sovereign’s body.

Malakor was thrown backward, crashing violently into the steps of his own dais.

Ding!

[Arcane Requiem: Leeching Effect triggered.]

[HP drained: 220. Restored to user.]

Leon didn’t let up. He knew that giving a Level 30 Boss a moment to breathe was a death sentence. He leaped into the air, using Gale Weaver to suspend himself high above the staggered King.

He pointed the tip of Stormcaller’s Conduit directly at Malakor.

He didn’t fire a barrage this time. Instead, he channeled every ounce of his massive, 1,400 MP pool into a single, overwhelming attack. Eternal Mana allowed his reserves to instantly begin refilling, ensuring he wouldn’t suffer mana exhaustion, but the output of the spell was pushed to its absolute breaking point.

The tip of the Gold-Rank staff began to glow like a miniature, sickly green sun, sparking with violent black decay and blinding blue lightning.

Malakor scrambled to his feet, raising his left hand. "Soul Severance!"

A massive, crescent-shaped blade of pure, concentrated death energy erupted from the King’s hand, tearing through the air directly toward Leon. It was a guaranteed-kill skill, designed to rip the soul directly from the body regardless of physical defense.

Leon didn’t dodge. He couldn’t dodge.

Ding!

[Band of Deflection has activated!]

The unremarkable iron ring on Leon’s finger flashed with a brilliant, blinding light. The permanent chance to entirely negate an incoming ranged projectile—an effect he had obtained from the Thorned Basilisks—triggered at the most critical moment possible.

The wave of death energy struck an invisible barrier inches from Leon’s chest and completely shattered into harmless black mist.

Malakor’s remaining purple eye widened in pure, unadulterated shock.

"Checkmate," Leon whispered.

He released the spell.

A pillar of absolute destruction erupted from the staff. It wasn’t a bolt; it was a continuous laser of poison, decay, lightning, and leeching energy.

The blast struck Malakor dead center. The throne room was bathed in blinding, violent light. The roar of the spell drowned out the King’s final, agonizing scream. The decay ate his armor, the lightning shattered his bones, the poison dissolved his spectral form, and the sheer concussive force of the blast drove him straight through the obsidian floor of the dais.

Leon held the spell for a full five seconds, pouring his limitless mana into the attack until the dais was reduced to a molten, glowing crater of slag.

Finally, he cut the flow of magic.

He dropped to the floor, breathing heavily, his staff lowered.

The throne room was completely silent. The Domain of the Dead instantly vanished, the oppressive weight lifting from the chamber.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

And then, the system exploded into life.

Ding!

[You have killed "Malakor, Sovereign of the Ash (Level 30, Zone Boss)"]

[Calculating Experience...]

[You have gained 45,000 experience points.]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 26!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 27!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

Leon fell to his knees, letting out a breathless, exhausted laugh. He had done it. He had walked into a dungeon meant for players nearing the end of the 100-day cycle, on day ten, and he had completely dismantled it.

He was Level 27.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[An extraordinarily rare, world-altering drop has been detected.]

[Malakor, Sovereign of the Ash has dropped:]

[- 500,000 Eternal Coins]

[- The Sovereign’s Mantle (Platinum-Rank Artifact)]

[- Skill Rune: "Wraith-Step" (Platinum-Rank)]

[- Core of the Underworld (Mythic Material)]

Leon sat in the dust for a long time, staring at the sheer volume of wealth and power floating in the notification window. Platinum-Rank artifacts. A Platinum-Rank skill rune. Half a million coins.

And then came the final notification.

Ding!

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Domain of the Dead" (Fragments Available: 10)]

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Soul Severance" (Fragments Available: 10)]

Twenty fragments from a Level 30 Zone Boss.

"Store them," Leon murmured, his voice hoarse. "Store them all."

He didn’t have the mental energy to process fusions right now. He simply wanted to see the sky again.

He stood up, collecting the massive haul of loot from the crater. The moment the final item entered his inventory, the ruined wall behind the melted throne shimmered.

A portal of swirling white light opened, cutting through the oppressive darkness of the dungeon.

Ding!

[Zone Cleared: Underworld Realm]

[Exit Portal Generated.]

Leon adjusted the grip on his staff, dusted off his cracked Fanghide armor, and walked toward the light.

He stepped through the portal, leaving the ash and ruin behind.

The familiar, cold air of the dead valley greeted him. The sun was just beginning to set, casting long, fiery orange shadows across the petrified trees. The Underworld Altar behind him crumbled into dust, its purpose fulfilled, never to open again.

He looked around the empty valley. Mira was long gone, likely assuming he had died the moment the gate closed behind him.

Leon smiled faintly, looking up at the fading sunlight.

"Ten days down," he whispered to the wind. "Ninety left to go."

He turned his back on the ruined altar and began the long walk back toward civilization. He had 10 unspent Stat Points, 4 Evolution Points, a hoard of Platinum-tier loot, and a massive arsenal of stored talent fragments waiting for him.

The elimination cycle had wanted a bloodbath.

Leon Wes fully intended to give them one.