Chapter 330: Immortal Spirit Particles, All Stripped Away

Galeos was horrified.

But it wasn’t Lance’s attack that surprised him.

What he found unbelievable had happened just a moment ago.

He knew his opponent had just used a special ability similar to a Heroic Spirit Protection.

But!

How was that possible?!

When the Star Realm first granted a Protection to its host, its strength and rules were set in stone.

And yet.

He had clearly felt the Star Realm’s judgment suddenly skyrocket without any warning!

And the root cause behind this manipulation was…

“Immortal Spirit Particles?!”

Galeos recoiled.

His opponent had just burned the very Immortal Spirit Particles that only Heroic Spirits could access and use!

In other words, what the people of the Material Realm called Reputation Value.

This was the very core of what allowed a Heroic Spirit to exist eternally in the Star Realm, uneroded by the passage of time.

But.

This substance could only be used safely after death, upon one’s transformation into a Heroic Spirit.

If a living creature from the Material Realm were to forcibly use Immortal Spirit Particles…

Then…

…the jumbled thoughts of the countless mortals mixed within them…

…would instantly burn out the user’s mind, turning them into a complete and utter idiot!

‘He can use Immortal Spirit Particles as a living person?’

The Mad King never entered the Heroic Spirit Hall in the end!

A storm of shock raged within Galeos.

However, before he had a chance to ponder it further, Lance had already launched his counterattack.

His left arm was broken, the bone jutting out.

For Lance, who was currently in his [Combat Continuation] state, this did nothing to hinder his movements.

In this state, as long as his head wasn’t directly twisted off, he could continue fighting until he bled his very last drop.

Lance formed his remaining right hand into a knife-hand strike.

He quickly channeled the rampaging Ether Elements around him.

The red flames rapidly converged in midair, forming a hissing fire serpent that coiled directly around his right arm.

Then.

He executed the fierce opening stance of the [Dragon-Slaying Spear].

With an unstoppable momentum, he thrust straight at the [Mutated Snake Pupils] embedded in the armor on Galeos’s chest!

‘This eyeball provides a Magic Shield, too. I’ll just rip it right off!’

At that moment.

The [Covered Scale Bronze Hand Armor], which had previously turned into a stream of liquid metal due to Soldier Resolution, lacked a suitable weapon to attach to, and had strangely intertwined with the Ether-flame serpent in midair.

The two streams of Energy, one red and one gold, spiraled together, carrying immense heat and destructive power as they stabbed viciously toward the giant eyeball.

“THUD!”

A direct hit!

However.

The material of the [Mutated Snake Pupils] was unexpectedly resilient.

Lance’s strike, infused with all his strength, failed to pierce it, merely leaving a deep white gash on its surface.

At the same time.

Galeos, having recovered his senses, launched a vicious counterattack.

He formed his hand into a claw and, in the instant Lance’s attack fell short, plunged it ruthlessly into Lance’s abdomen.

“SQUELCH!”

His five fingers pierced flesh and blood, and Galeos squeezed hard.

The intestines and organs in Lance’s abdominal cavity were instantly crushed, and a torrent of blood mixed with bits of viscera gushed out from between Galeos’s fingers.

Faced with this fatal wound, Lance didn’t retreat. Instead, a crazed glint flashed in his eyes.

“You’re not getting away!”

[Royal Armory], activate again!

[Deprivation check initiated…]

[Target Item Resistance Threshold: Originally 13 points. Due to damage from high-intensity impact during the previous Desperate Breathless Death Struggle, plus the recent close-range physical piercing attack, the current Resistance Threshold has been lowered to 9 points.]

“Burn! 3,000 General Concept Reputation Value!”

[Check successful! Deprivation successful!]

[Soldier Resolution]!

The giant [Mutated Snake Pupils] on Galeos’s chest instantly lost its luster.

With a crisp cracking sound, the eyeball shattered, transforming into a stream of purple-red liquid, a Martial Corpse Burning Stream.

‘Finally got it!’

However.

In the same instant the eyeball shattered, Galeos suddenly felt Lance’s movements come to an abrupt halt.

Immediately after.

Lance’s blood-soaked arm fell limply to his side.

Along with it, his indomitable aura vanished without a trace, like a suddenly popped balloon.

Even the Martial Corpse Burning Streams that had been circling in the air suddenly began to droop toward the ground like sludge.

‘He’s dead?’

Galeos froze for a moment.

He looked at the young man before him—head hanging low, abdomen still gushing blood—and withdrew his hand, a flicker of doubt in his mind.

‘He was so ferocious just a moment ago. How did he just drop dead?’

‘It’s too sudden, isn’t it?’

But.

This doubt lingered in Galeos’s mind for less than half a second.

His expression instantly turned grave again.

Because.

Just an instant before the liquid Martial Corpse Burning Streams dripped onto the bronze floor, they suddenly stopped!

They hovered eerily in midair, as if held up by an invisible hand.

Then.

Galeos saw it clearly.

Great plumes of scorching steam suddenly began to rise from Lance’s previously lifeless body.

His life force, which had completely withered and hit rock bottom, in that instant, defied all logic and erupted like a volcano, surging back to full strength!

Even more so.

He could clearly feel that the Ethereal Melting Furnace inside his opponent’s body, which should have been completely burned out from overuse, had suddenly begun to burn ferociously once more.

And its intensity was more violent than ever before!

The memory of the Rising Dragon Fist that had briefly knocked him unconscious flashed involuntarily through Galeos’s mind.

He even felt a faint phantom pain in his jaw.

An absurd thought rose in his mind.

“Am I the Hydra…?”

“Or are you the fucking Hydra?!”

Just as Galeos was reeling in shock, suddenly, Lance’s eyes snapped open.

Everything had gone according to Lance’s plan.

At this moment.

The time had just crossed midnight since he had first activated Desperate Breathless Death Struggle.

The [Ouroboros Ring] had successfully reset!

This was why.

During the previous battle, he had so decisively chosen to activate his first Desperate Breathless Death Struggle and go all out.

Because he knew.

As long as he could survive past that specific time, he would be revived at full health and regain his peak combat strength once more!

“It’s over.”

In that instant.

A massive, sinister, dark-red great spear made of Dragon Remains Crystal materialized out of thin air in Lance’s hands.

At the same time.

The two Martial Corpse Burning Streams of distinctly different colors, which were hovering in the air, as if answering their master’s call, instantly converged upon the tip of the Dragon Remains Great Spear.

Dark gold and purple-red light intertwined.

Lance gripped the spear with both hands.

He locked onto the large, vulnerable gap on Galeos’s Bronze Full Armor, exposed when the [Mutated Snake Pupils] had been forcibly stripped away.

With unstoppable momentum.

“Die!”

The Dragon Remains Great Spear shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

Faced with this fatal blow, Galeos could only hastily cross his arms in an attempt to block.

But…

It was too late.

“BOOM!!!”

Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the Dragon Remains Great Spear detonated the instant it made contact with Galeos.

Countless globules of scorching liquid metal, imbued with the terrifying [Melting Gold Armor Shattering] Trait, splattered across a large area of Galeos’s Bronze Full Armor in the explosion.

It even seeped through the fine seams of the armor.

The entire hall was instantly filled with the “SZZZZ” of melting metal.

Under this terrifying blow, Galeos was finally injured.

But.

This didn’t make him retreat; instead, it completely unleashed the Bronze Tyrant’s savagery.

He ignored the burning damage to his body.

He directly activated [Ninefold Deceit Attack].

Eight illusory Hydra heads opened their gaping maws and lunged at Lance from all directions, tearing at him frantically.

Since Lance needed to be in close range to touch his opponent to activate [Royal Armory], he couldn’t retreat to create distance and could only choose to press forward.

He frantically formed layer after layer of Dragon Crystal Armor on his body, attempting to block the dense barrage of attacks.

But.

Under Galeos’s desperate counter-assault, the Dragon Crystal Armor was quickly torn to shreds.

Lance was struck head-on by [Ninefold Deceit Attack] again, and several new lacerations, deep enough to expose bone, instantly appeared on his body.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

But he didn’t even knit his brows.

His right hand finally pressed against the Bronze Full Armor on Galeos’s chest.

“Come off!”

[Royal Armory]

[Deprivation check initiated…]

[Target Item Resistance Threshold: Originally 16 points. Due to sustaining damage, the current Resistance Threshold has been lowered to 12 points.]

But.

Lance’s previously stored Reputation Value was nearly depleted.

Just when he thought this deprivation attempt might fail, he was suddenly overjoyed to discover that in the short time since he had started fighting the Heroic Spirit, for some unknown reason, the “General Concept Reputation Value” on his status panel had suddenly shot up by more than two thousand points, as if it had gone mad!

Although he didn’t know what was happening outside, the current total was more than enough!

“Burn! My last 6,000 General Concept Reputation Value!”

[Check successful! Complete deprivation!]

[Soldier Resolution]!

Before Galeos’s very eyes, the [Eroded Scale Bronze Full Armor] on his body instantly transformed into a massive Martial Corpse Burning Stream.

It exposed Galeos’s muscular upper body.

Without that frustrating armor and its high damage reduction, the Bronze Tyrant was finally and completely exposed to Lance’s tusks.

“Time to die!”

Lance held nothing back.

Desperate Breathless Death Struggle, activated again at full power!

But.

This time was different.

He didn’t have many embers left.

The time he could maintain this state of extreme burst power was even shorter than before—perhaps less than ten seconds.

He had to end this quickly!