Chapter 153: The Hollow Crown [6]

Looking at the leaderboard, Evelyne’s jaw dropped in utter shock.

1st - Klein Faress - 35th Floor

1st - Austin - 35th Floor

"...N-Now he’s tied with Austin in first place," she whispered in disbelief.

"He’s on the thirty-fifth floor..."

The media also immediately reacted, and cameras flashed nonstop.

Reporters shouted over one another, scrambling to confirm the feed.

A first-year had not only entered the record zone, but he also matched the current peak score in a single continuous dive.

Near the medical tents, Austin was resting with his injuries treated.

The moment the updated ranking reached him, his head snapped toward the massive leaderboard.

And color drained from his face.

"...How?"

He stood up quickly, ignoring the protest of the medical staff nearby.

His composed smile from earlier was completely gone, and what remained was pure, unfiltered shock.

"How the hell did he reach the thirty-fifth floor already?!"

Austin’s voice termbled as he stared at the glowing name tied with his own.

He rushed forward and glanced up at the tower.

Seeing him, the media also moved toward him with their microphones.

"Austin! What do you think about a first-year matching your new record?"

"Do you think he can break past it and reach the next floor?"

"Or is the thirty-fifth floor the final limit?"

Austin stared up at the tower in horror "Even if you reached the thirty-fifth floor, that monster waiting there is undefeatable for a first-year like you! Don’t be stupid! Retreat while you still can!"

Reporters were startled to hear this and looked at each other in surprise.

---

35th floor-

Klein took a step forward, and the moment his foot crossed the threshold, the space in front of him shifted.

It started as a faint rise in temperature, but it climbed steadily, pressing against his skin and curling into the air around him in slow, wavering distortions.

Klein raised his gaze and in the distance saw an enormous cage.

As he walked closer, the temperature around him increased.

The temperature rose, and it became harder to breathe as the faint scent of ash began to settle into the space.

As he walked closer to the cage, he noticed something...

Flames.

Sweat formed along his temple almost immediately and evaporated just as quickly under the relentless heat.

Inside the cage, a shape of living flame and brilliant plumage shook the cage slightly.

Feathers of deep crimson, gold, and pure white fire overlapped in layered brilliance, trailing embers that never quite fell to the ground.

A long, elegant neck rose, and a head crowned with a crest of white-hot flame turned toward the approaching human.

A Phoenix.

The enormous phoenix inside the cage looked at him in complete silence.

The heat around the cage was so intense that the metal bars themselves glowed a dull cherry red color.

Klein stopped a short distance from the edge of the platform beneath the cage, and the air scorched his lungs with every breath as ash drifted lazily through the distorted heat waves.

"This is going to be annoying with my current level..."

*THOOM*

With a single powerful beat of its wings, the metal bars of the cage glowed white-hot and then simply ceased to matter.

The bird blasted outward in an explosion of pure flame, and the cage shattered apart behind it.

Molten fragments of metal rained down across the platform as the phoenix flew into the superheated air above.

It wheeled once, then opened its beak.

*SWOOOOOSHHHHH*

A torrent of scorching fire erupted downward from its mouth.

The stream of pure, condensed flame was wide enough to swallow the entire section of platform where Klein stood.

Klein’s eyes narrowed.

He thrust his free hand forward and activated the barrier skill he bought using Lyra’s money.

A translucent blue dome appeared around him an instant before the flames arrived.

*THOOOOSH* The fire crashed against the barrier with a deafening roar, completely enveloping the shield in a swirling inferno of crimson and gold.

Heat still bled through in waves, scorching the air inside the barrier and forcing Klein to reinforce it immediately with more mana.

The platform around the protected space turned molten.

Gale snarled at his side, and the jaguar spirit’s body was already beginning to show signs of strain because the environment itself was hostile to a wind-attribute spirit of its current level.

"Return."

Gale’s form dissolved into motes of green light and vanished back into the Spirit Realm in a single breath.

The burden on Klein’s mana lessened slightly, and the barrier around him stabilized further under his full concentration.

Outside the dome, the phoenix continued to pour flames downward as it hovered in the burning air above the 35th floor.

The torrent of flame finally stopped.

The enormous phoenix hovered high above the platform, beating its wings slowly.

Embers drifted down from its blazing plumage, hissing where they struck the molten stone below.

Klein did not waste the opening.

He dismissed the barrier in the same instant he moved.

Mana surged into his arm as he gripped the spear, took one sharp step forward, and hurled it with full force.

*sleesh* The black spear became a blurred streak of motion, cutting through the superheated air toward the phoenix’s chest.

The bird reacted instantly.

It twisted its massive body to the side and folded its wings just enough to let the spear pass by.

The weapon continued upward on its trajectory and slammed into the distant upper ceiling of the chamber with a heavy *thud*, burying itself deep into the stone high above.

The phoenix’s eyes narrowed, and it prepared to dive now that the human lost his weapon.

Klein simply raised his free hand and pulled back the spear with his telekinetic skill.

With a sharp pull, the weapon ripped free from the ceiling in a shower of stone fragments and shot back downward.

Klein caught the shaft cleanly in one hand without breaking eye contact with the phoenix, spinning the spear once before settling back into his ready grip.

"CREEEKKKK!" The phoenix let out a piercing cry and folded its wings, diving straight toward him in a streak of crimson and gold fire.

Klein sidestepped at the last instant, and the heat of its passage scorched the side of his face and burned the edge of his jacket .

He extinguished the flames with a pulse of mana and immediately countered, thrusting upward with the spear.

The tip scraped across the phoenix’s underbelly, tearing a shallow line through the living flame.

"CREEEK!" The bird let out a furious cry and banked hard, sweeping its wing down in a wide arc of pure fire.

Klein raised a partial barrier just in time.

The flaming wing crashed against the blue light with explosive force, driving him backward across the platform.

His boots slid through the stone, and the barrier cracked under the pressure but held long enough for him to dismiss it and leap clear before the residual flames could engulf him.

The moment the phoenix pulled out of its dive, Klein used telekinesis to accelerate his own body forward in a sudden burst.

He closed the gap faster than the bird expected and drove the spear toward its neck in a rising spiral.

The phoenix twisted, avoiding a fatal strike, but the blade still carved a deep gash along the side of its throat.

Brilliant golden blood spilled out in a hissing arc, splattering across the platform and melting everything it touched.

The bird recoiled, then counterattacked by beating both of its wings at once, generating a hurricane of scorching wind and flame that swept across the entire chamber.

*SWOOOOOOOOSH*

Klein planted the spear into the stone and poured more mana into a full-dome barrier.

Fire and superheated air slammed into the shield from every direction.

The barrier shuddered, with cracks spiderwebbing across its surface as the temperature inside rose rapidly.

He reinforced the barrier with a second layer, then a third, against the strain on his mana core.

When the storm of fire finally stopped, the platform around him was reduced to a glowing sea of molten rock.

Klein dismissed the damaged barrier, exhaled once, and settled back into his form.

’I thought of saving my mana and energy for the final boss...but I guess I should use some of it now.’

In the next instant he opened his second mana core.

*SWOOOOOOSHHH*

Mana flooded through his body and pulsed outward in all directions, distorting the air itself.

The phoenix sensed the change immediately, and the flames along its wings intensified in response.

A thin red glint passed through his eyes.

Dark Moon Technique.

Dark Moon: First Form - Crescent Slash

The spear drew a wide, elegant arc through the superheated air.

A crescent-shaped blade of deep crimson-black energy separated from the tip and shot upward with terrifying speed.

*sleesh* The phoenix tried to dash aside, but the crescent followed its movement, expanding as it flew.

It carved straight through the outer layer of the bird’s left wing, shearing off a long trail of feathers and flame.

Golden blood sprayed in a hissing arc.

"SCREEEEEEECHHHH!" The phoenix cried out in rage and retaliated with a full-body dive, spreading both of its wings to engulf Klein in fire.

A faint grin appeared on his lips ’I will be having Phoenix meat today, you damned fucking bird.’

Dark Moon: Second Form - New Moon Veil

Klein’s free hand swept across his body.

A thin veil of energy unfolded around him like the edge of a new moon.

The phoenix’s flames struck the veil and were silently absorbed, vanishing into the black sheen without leaving even residual heat.

Klein stepped through the dissipating fire unharmed and was already launching the next form before the bird could recover altitude.

Dark Moon: Third Form - Fallen Eclipse